We ate in complete silence.

                  I no longer had any appetite for the food on the table. I chewed for the sake of keeping sane. I had a nightmare again yesterday. Ever since I acquired Seer ability, I seemed to have premonitions days after nights. Even after I removed the ability, it haunted me in dreams. 

                  “I think you must know the reason I went to the Underworld,” The Lord said, his eyes solely on me. I felt my blood ran dry. He had to talk about this, out of all topics. I frowned like a kid who lost his toy. Pretending to look uninterested, I forked the chicken and put it in my mouth.

                  Jinki looked between the Lord and me. And he too, must have noticed the tension. I convinced myself that I was not bitter over last night’s reunion. But convincing myself was harder than fighting the Hellhound. I was ing bitter. But those were the words I would rather keep to myself.    

                  “I asked Hades where my body is,” He continued, and his stare intensified. “Nobody knows better than he does. And I paid a good price for it, too.”

                  I stopped eating and stared at the white-clothed table. I was supposed to be happy with the news. But I couldn’t bring myself to. All these times, I had looked at The Lord through Baekhyun’s body. And I felt less guilty for developing this unwanted feelings. Jinki was apparently the only one excited in the room.

                  “Where is it?”

                  “Croatia.”

                  “That’s the human world,” I frowned even more. I disliked going back there.

                  “Yes, it is.”

                  “I will call onto the Dragon twins,” Jinki stood up from his seat, his whole face lit up with newfound determination and confidence. Without another word, he went out of the room, presumably to do the business bait. My eyes followed his figure all the way until it disappeared behind the door.

                  “Don’t think I don’t know,” His eyes left mine and for that moment, I felt my heartbeat, beating so loud as if it was about to burst out of my chest. “What you are trying to do… It’s the one thing you’re so good at aside from talking back. You are avoiding me.”

                  I gaped at him.

                  “I am not!” I protested. But he saw through my lie. So I repeated it with a weaker voice, “I am not avoiding you.”

                  “If you can convince yourself that you are not avoiding me, I would be very glad,” He spoke in that melodious tone that was so poisonous to me. I stayed glued on the seat.

                  “How am I supposed to react, then?” I bit back the words I wanted to say. I didn’t want to sound selfish. I didn’t want to make myself more obvious by revealing this feeling. I was good at keeping my emotions bottled in. I must have looked way too calm for the tense situation. “Do you expect me to cry or yell?”

                  “Perhaps,” He had a grin that was too doubtful for its own good.

                  “What for? I don’t cry often,” I snickered and took a forceful bite at the fork. I finally found the courage to look at him. He wore a sleeveless top that showed good years of training with muscles. But of course, all of that was Baekhyun’s body and not his. But I could never think of him as someone ugly. Not with that kind of trained confidence and composure.

                  “I can tell,” He stated the obvious teasingly. He must be enjoying this moment much more than me. “What do you think of Joo Ri after you saw her?” Then he just had to rub the wound on me. “Do you still think that you look like her after yesterday?”

                  I honestly thought she was beautiful, but admitting that she was, would mean that I admit myself as beautiful, as well. But unlike the gloomy and dark me, Joo Ri was radiant, almost as if she was shining with kindness and love; two things I hated most. Our only connections lasted for a good few seconds before she was consumed into nothingness. And then no more.

                  But even when she had this goodness that made it hard to hate her; I did. Or more like I hated the way the Lord looked at her with so much compassion and love. I almost choked in jealousy. There, I admit it. I was bitter, jealous, mad, insane, angry and annoyed. I didn’t like how playful my Lord was when he was with me. But when he was with Joo Ri, he turned into this hot, passionate guy with mellow-melting gaze.

                  Truth was… I wanted to be looked at the way he looked at Joo Ri. I wanted to feel loved, to be acknowledged by him.

                  “What do you expect me to say? I only met her for ten seconds,” I blurted, and then realized how heartless it was to talk about a dead person that way. “But from what I saw, you must have loved her very much… And by the way she talked to you, the feeling is reciprocated.” How lucky it was, to love and be loved in return…

                  “You are right. She was one-of-a-kind kind of love,” The Lord pondered, and smiled softly. His eyes became tender, and his tone had changed, too. “But if I love her that much, I have to let go. For my sake and hers. If I keep on holding on, there is nothing but pain, not that it never hurt before.”

                  “Why are you telling me all these?”

                  I searched his eyes, and out of curiosity I saw relief.

                  “Don’t be so mean,” He stated, “I just want you to know.”

                  About how much I love her? I don’t think so.

                  “You have that look again; cold and distant. As if you were thinking too much,” He smartly remarked. In two weeks of knowing me, he had memorized every single detail perfectly. And yet, I couldn’t figure out anything about him. He tried to get close, but he never revealed too much of himself. He was a mystery.

                  “Trust me, you don’t want to know what I am thinking about,” I scoffed and looked away.

                  “Oh?” He raised his eyebrow, his lips twitching as a smirk threatened to break out of that luscious lips, “Is it about me?”

                  I almost, almost burst out my drink.

                  Oh wait, my skirt was wet.

                  Water dripping from the corner of my mouth in a very unladylike manner. I gasped and grabbed the nearest tissue. , must not blush. Repeat, must.not. I was at loss of words. And I didn’t normally do that. Unless I was trapped. And this male in front of me was especially good at manipulating feelings.

                  I couldn’t find the courage to look at him.

                  “Your face is red. I am right, am I not?”

                  This conceited demonic being with no regards of shame… Holy crap.

                  “Can you be anymore frank?” I intended to frown, but I ended up pouting. “Shut up, finish your meal, go back to your room, and stop bothering me!! Why don’t you make yourself useful, yeah?”

                  He mumbled something that was too low to be heard.

                  “They are coming!” Jinki spoke breathlessly. His cheeks reddened in excitement before they went back to the pale, marble-like color. He looked at both of us as if he had just won a lottery. The Lord should have been excited, but I was yet to see smile lighting up his face. In fact, he looked rather bothered. “The Dragon Twins has agreed to it.”

                  I bit back a snarky remark and looked at the Lord, who couldn’t be any more uninterested than he was, now. His green eyes, so contrasting to Baekhyun’s body seemed to lose the fire as they dimmed in brightness. I wondered what was wrong with him.

                  “So this boy…” He said, “Will he be dead or alive once my soul leave his body?”

                  He was talking about Baekhyun and I felt my blood ran dry.

                  “That depends on him, of course,” Jinki clutched onto his humane phone. Nowadays technology communicated faster than witchery. “But I have no doubt he would survive.” And he sent a meaningful glance at me. Perhaps he was reminded he had a deal he sealed with Baekhyun. I too, had no doubt Baekhyun would survive. He was not the man I liked for nothing.

                  The Lord simply looked down on his hands and talked in a monotonous tone. He looked expressionless for that one truthful moment, “That is too bad. I am starting to be fond of this body, too.”

***

                  Ara expected Kris. But when Hana showed up, she was taken aback. All the neutral court had gathered in the front gate, welcoming their King, though Kris had stepped down from the position.

                  The timid Hana no longer looked as frightened as she did back when Ara first saw her. Her ability had increased twice, making her a formidable enemy and a useful ally. Her eyes glowed gold, a sign that she had turned thirteen months since she was last human. The only thing that reminded Ara of who she was, was her old, worn-out jean that she stuck to no matter what.

                  “Lady Ara, I apologize for tagging along, but I need to see you,” She insisted, at first shy and soft. “Lord Kris is good enough to let me… come.” He scoffed and she side-glared him, “I want to ask about the Demon clan.”

                  “What does that have to do with you?” Ara turned around without greeting her brother and walked quickly to the inner palace. She waved a hand to dismiss everyone, and they scattered back to their respective places. Never had Taeyong seen Ara so anxious before. But he understood. The fact that the Vampire Queen was here meant that something must have happened.

                  “It has everything to do with me!” Hana didn’t care if she sounded desperate. “My best friend, Hwang Miyoung has disappeared for three weeks! And I suspect it has something to do with the Demon clan. Her disappearance was around the same time as the kidnapping of the werewolf boy. I thought… maybe… if you knew something? Anything?”

                  Ara felt a pang of guilt pierced her chest. She had known this would happen. The world didn’t. Nobody but her and Kyungsoo knew the Ritual must have been completed, or would be completed. As a Faery couldn’t lie, Ara chose to keep quiet instead. “I think you are asking the wrong person, Hana. I am not in charge of their safety. My duty is to keep my clan safe. That is all.”

                  Hana’s lips quivered and Ara honestly, couldn’t stand it when people cried in front of her. It made her feel pathetic.

                  “Please, please, Lady Ara. I know it’s the Demon clan.”

                  “And what good would the truth reveal to you, Hana?” Ara’s gaze never once wavered. Even Kris himself, felt the chill of her words. She was ruthless. “Had I known…” Ara couldn’t think of lies, “Wouldn’t that make me the bad person here?”

                  Hana bit her lips hard so that those tears wouldn’t fall.

                  “Right. Of course.”

                  “Maybe you need to go the human world if you were so worried. That would ease your mind,” Ara suggested, though if Sehun or Jaejoong knew, she would have to accept a punch or two. Kris threw her a look. “Excuse me, Hana, I have something to talk about with my brother. For the mean time, you can stay here. Taeyong will guide you.”

                  Taeyong sighed and stood up.

                  “Still the same, old Ara,” Kris clicked his tongue the moment Hana and Taeyong was out of reach. “You were never good in conversing.”

                  “You know I know, Brother. You can cut the sweet talk and get to the point.”

                  “And yet you fooled her into hoping that her friend might still be alive, somehow,” Kris shook his head and smirked, “That is cruel of you.”

                  “I think you misunderstand,” Ara’s cold, unchanging eyes stared at his, “I am not planting hope into hers. I am merely suggesting that she should see her friend and check up on her.”

                  “So they got your blood?”

                  “And Kyungsoo’s,” Ara nodded.

                  “Because you are royal as he is,” Kris added on. “Your blood is a pure descendant from the ancestry.”

                  “He might be somewhere in this moment, hiding,” Ara turned sour, “Who knows what will happen next? Perhaps tomorrow the world will collapse, and we will be left in nothing but the dust. Have you no clues on where he is right now?”

                  “I am working on it,” The brother insisted, “No one, but the four of us need to know about this. Do you understand, Sister?”

                  The fact that they would be keeping a terrible secret from the rest made her feel bad. Taeyong and Kyungsoo had sworn royalty to her, and she knew that they wouldn’t speak a single word about this.

                  “You have to find him quickly so we can catch him and send him to the Gods.”

                  “I will,” Kris looked down. “I will hunt him down. Even if the world burns to chaos and ashes.”