Kaelith lifted her easily into his arms before she could start climbing market stalls like last time.
“You are banned from rooftops,” he informed her calmly.
“You climbed rooftops when you were younger.”
He went still. I turned toward him.
“Oh?”
The child pointed proudly. “Your mother told me.”
That explained several things.
Kaelith closed his eyes briefly. “My family discusses too much.”
“You threatened someone with a sword at twelve,” the girl continued happily.
“That feels important actually,” I said.
“It wasn’t.”
The little girl gasped dramatically. “He also punched a duke.”
I covered my mouth trying not to laugh while Kaelith looked moments away from banning his mother from public storytelling permanently.
Then the girl tilted her head curiously toward me.
“Do you still miss Earth?”
The market noise softened around us after that. It wasn’t awkward silence, just quiet enough for the question to settle between us properly. I thought about my apartment rooftop, the coffee shops scattered across Hell, human summers, and my parents visiting often enough that my mother now argued with palace staff like it was a full-time profession.
Then I looked at Kaelith standing beside me beneath silver lanterns while a tiny market menace sat comfortably in his arms like the future king of Hell was simply another safe place to rest.
And I remembered the first night he stood silently in my kitchen pretending not to stare at me over coffee.
Everything after that happened so fast. Portals. Arguments. Hell. Love. But this moment felt simple.
“I think,” I answered, “home stopped being one place a long time ago.”
The little girl seemed satisfied with that answer. Then she pointed dramatically toward the cafe's sign again.
“They made another drink for you.”
I looked over.
NEW SPECIAL
THE FUTURE QUEEN
Sweet at first. Ruins your life permanently.
Kaelith sighed beside me. “I should start ruling through fear again.”
The laugh that escaped me echoed softly through the market square. And instantly, his attention shifted completely back to me.
The same way it always did. Like after all this time, he still couldn’t quite believe I was real either.
Epilogue II
