Daena watched Liria go with a faint frown. Despite Liria's assurances, Daena couldn't help but worry about the other woman's safety. This school was the last place she'd wanted to send Liria, but it was necessary. Liria needed to learn control, and she needed it fast. She had a dangerous elent in her nature, one that could bring her untold power or spell her downfall. Either way, Liria needed training, and she needed it soon. Daena could only hope Seraphis would keep her word.
"Daena, you seem troubled," Seraphis said from her right.
Daena didn't even flinch, her posture never faltering. "Just concerned for the well-being of my protégée."
Seraphis smiled knowingly. "Liria seems like a resilient girl. I'm sure she'll do quite well."
"Indeed," Daena agreed quietly.
"Do you miss it?"
Daena turned to et Seraphis' questioning gaze. "Miss what?"
Seraphis gestured toward the empty chairs. "This. You were always quite adept at your lessons."
"Thank you," Daena said stiffly, feeling a twinge of irritation.
"Is there anything you need?"
"No," Daena replied shortly. She didn't owe this woman any explanations.
Seraphis sighed, her slender tail flicking in a gesture of exasperation. "Daena, do we have to keep fighting? Haven't we moved past this?"
"You want to put the past behind us?" Daena scoffed, her tail lashing behind her in a clear warning. "You think you can just apologize and make everything fine and dandy?"
"I'm sorry," Seraphis repeated firmly. "I made mistakes. But I'm trying to make ands now."
Daena glared at her, her eyes burning. "I don't need your ands," she spat. "I need you to leave alone."
Seraphis reached out, her delicate fingers brushing Daena's cheek. "Is that really what you want, my love?"
"Don't," Daena growled, batting Seraphis' hand away. "Don't call that."
Seraphis smirked, unperturbed by her rejection. "If that's what you want."
Daena's chest tightened, but she didn't say anything else. She never did. That was the problem.
"Why do you hate so much?" Seraphis asked quietly, her voice tinged with pain.
"I don't," Daena lied. "I just don't trust you."
"I know what you think of ." Seraphis sounded resigned. "And I don't bla you. I have no excuses for my actions."
"Do I look like I need your pity?" Daena snarled. "I'm fine. You're the one that needs fixing."
Seraphis nodded sadly. "I know I hurt you. I don't expect forgiveness or even trust, not yet. All I ask is for you to listen."
"Listen?" Daena laughed harshly. "Listen to what? I don't need to hear your apologies or excuses."
"Perhaps not," Seraphis acknowledged. "But you need to understand that what happened wasn't all my fault."
Daena stilled, her anger faltering.
"Things happened in the palace," Seraphis explained. "Things that you don't know about, things that I had no choice but to participate in. I know it doesn't excuse what I did, but please, understand that—"
Daena shook her head, her voice rising to drown Seraphis out. "No! Just stop it."
"Please, Daena."
"No!" Daena repeated harshly, her wings flaring behind her as she stood abruptly. "I don't want to hear it!"
Seraphis reached for her, but Daena was already gone, storming from the dining hall in a flurry of black wings and purple hair. Seraphis watched her go, feeling the familiar ache in her chest. She missed Daena, missed the woman she'd once known before everything went wrong. She'd been trying for years to regain Daena's trust, but it seed like the more she tried, the more Daena pushed her away.
Why did she hate her so much? Seraphis wondered, a pained smile crossing her lips. She knew what she thought of her. She was a coward, a traitor, and a fool. She'd lost the love of her life.
The dining hall faded around her as mories she'd long buried resurfaced. She'd been trying to forget for years, but she never could.
It was the day her loyalty to the crown was tested and she failed.
The throne room of the old demon palace was cloaked in shadows, the flickering light of torches casting eerie patterns on the high, jagged walls. Seraphis stood before the obsidian dais, her tail rigid, her hands clenched at her sides. Her queen, the Demon Empress Daena sat upon the throne, her expression an unreadable mask.
Daena's voice, cool and sharp as a blade, echoed through the hall. "You swore an oath to , Seraphis. To protect not only but the realm itself. Yet here you are, standing before accused of betrayal."
The accusation stung, but it was the disappointnt in Daena's eyes that pierced Seraphis deeper than any blade ever could.
"I had no choice," Seraphis pleaded, her voice trembling. "The council demanded my cooperation. They said—"
"I don't care what they said," Daena interrupted, rising from her throne. Her towering presence seed to swallow the room, her obsidian skin shimring with flecks of violet light. Her horns glinted like twin crescents of death. "You were supposed to be my shield, my confidante. Not their pawn."
The council. The words tasted bitter in Seraphis's mouth even now. They had approached her in secret, exploiting her vulnerabilities and offering veiled threats against her family. To refuse them would have ant war a civil war that would tear the demon realm apart.
"I thought I was protecting you," Seraphis whispered, her voice barely audible.
"By giving them access to our strongholds? By handing over the nas of my allies?" Daena's wings flared behind her, a storm of indignation and fury. "You didn't protect , Seraphis. You betrayed !"
"I was trying to save you!" Seraphis snapped, her desperation bubbling to the surface. "You were too proud to see the danger coming. They would have struck you down without a second thought, Daena. I couldn't let that happen."
Daena's laugh was cold and humorless, a sound that sent chills through the assembled guards and courtiers. "Save ? By delivering to them on a silver platter?"
"It wasn't like that!" Seraphis cried, taking a step forward, only to freeze when Daena's eyes glowed a dangerous, otherworldly violet.
"You broke my trust," Daena said, her voice quiet but laced with venom. "And you shattered my heart."
Those words struck Seraphis harder than any blow ever could. Her wings drooped, her horns tilting downward in sha.
"Please," Seraphis begged. "Let make it right."
Daena's lips curled into a grim smile. "You can't. What's done is done."
Before Seraphis could respond, Daena turned her back on her, the gesture final and absolute.
"You're dismissed," Daena said coldly, her voice devoid of emotion. "Leave my sight before I change my mind about sparing you."
Seraphis blinked back to the present, her chest tight with the weight of mory. She had tried to make ands countless tis since that day, but Daena never let her forget or forgive herself.
Coward. Traitor. Fool.
She deserved all of it.
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