Sorry for the long delay. Work has been and still is killing me. But I wanted to get a chapter out. The story is actually at a slower pace than I wanted but please enjoy this for now. I will soon pick up the pace for a lot of things I have planned to happen in this story.

“Han… Han… wake up.”

Luhan folded himself tighter completely ignoring the familiar voice persistently calling him. A moment later he realized he should have listened. Rough hands yanked his head by the hair and he was dragged a good distance before he was able to right himself.

“Let him go, he is awake now.”

“Shut up vermin. I have orders to deliver you both to the court. Hope they chop your heads off and get it over with. I am sick of both your faces.”

Luhan looked at his companion who had spoken to the guard. Xiumin’s eyes revealed how worried he was. Silently, Luhan held the shorter man’s hand just for a moment before he had to let go and keep up with the guard. They knew this day would come. Almost three and a half years ago when they first came up with the plan to kill the demon prince, they knew their story would end soon after. But Luhan and Xiumin at that time were mere hunters working together for revenge. Now though, they were so much more and Luhan wished he could do something to save the only human being he cared for in life.

They were lead into the throne room. The last time they were there, they had proudly confessed to murdering the demon prince. But the demon king had looked at them disdainfully and told them that he would know if his son was dead but just for the attempt, they would die a horrible death. The only reason why they were left alive was because they were the last to see the demon prince. Thankfully, neither of them was dumb enough to divulge what exactly they had done to the demon prince. There had been torture of course. But they had held on for over a year. Then a human interrogator was brought in who promptly decided to kill Luhan and just work on Xiumin. That had been the deal breaker. But their confession still didn’t help in finding the prince and hence they were left to languish in prison until some other leads came up.

“Lord all mighty, ruler of the demon lands, conqueror of the…”

“Oh please, yeah we can see that the Demon king is here. Can we all sit now!”

The whole council gaped at Sehun, because he just cut short the ceremonious welcome that the demon lord receives every time he arrives to preside over the court.”

“What? Don’t tell me you guys actually spend over two minutes just standing and listening to the list of blah blah blah twice every day.”

Siwon who had stopped in his tracks on the rude interruption fumed. But he had more pressing matters than the annoying brat to deal with. He waved everyone to sit and sat on his throne. On one side knelt the two hunters who had claimed to have killed Kai, on the other thankfully on a seat sat the former king of Asegi with a sleeping shadow Kai on his lap. And with absolutely no reverence or decorum sprawled on the stairs to the throne was Sehun, that connector between the other two pairs.

“Three years ago on the last full moon of the year, my son left the palace after an argument with me. He never came back. All traces of him disappeared and nothing of his was recovered. Investigations revealed that he was followed to the borders of Asegi by the hunters here. They claimed to have performed a spell that was meant to annihilate Kai. But if my son had died, I would have known. That’s how our blood works. So I was sure he wasn’t dead, but I wasn’t sure he was alive either. Then earlier today, Sehun the death demon brought to us the former leader of Asegi who was caring for a creature with the spirit of Kai. Let the court begin and we will solve this mystery today.”

The court came alive with a resounding roar of a yes.

Siwon sat back and looked at the court. He then beckoned a woman standing to the side.

“Bomiya, as the royal healer, check the creature we believe to be Kai and tell what you can discern.”

“Meanwhile, let’s begin with the hunters.” Siwon turned around to Luhan and Xiumin.

“Tell us everything you have done to the demon prince”

Neither hunter spoke. They stubbornly looked down and refused to acknowledge the Demon Kings request.

“Look, I am having a very bad day here. I have an enemy sitting here and a brat getting on my nerves since morning. Worst of all, my glorious brave son could potentially be replaced by a snivelling creatures who can’t even feed himself. You have 5 seconds to start or I am giving the guards behind you to chop your heads off and get it over with.”

The hunters exchanged a look and the Luhan began.

“We are hunters from the Kyiku clan, in fact the only two who escaped after the demon army wiped out our entire village. I am Luhan and he is Xiumin. We wanted revenge and we wanted the demon lord to feel the same kind of pain we did losing our families. So we decided to take out the demon prince. But there was no weapon we could find that would kill him. What we did find was a spell that could remove all his power and render him vulnerable to our attack. Knowing very well that we cannot take him out anywhere near Yakshanav we bid our time and waited.

On the day we decided to take out the demon prince, we followed him to Asegi. There was a celebration going on and we mingled with the crowd and waited because we needed a strand of hair from the demon prince to perform the spell. General Kris had just brought his fiancé to the court and the celebrations went on till dawn, but then we spotted Kai in disguise mingling with the crowd as well. We managed to pluck a strand of his hair in the crowd and soon moved to a deserted backyard to perform the spell. Last we checked, we saw the demon prince following the then lord of Asegi, Suho. For the spell to work, there was no need for us to be in the presence of the prince. We planned to find him and kill him after performing the spell in Asegi itself so that Prince Kai’s death would be blamed on Asegi if it came to light. Asegi never came to our village’s rescue even though we were affiliated to them. Hence we were not too bothered by involving them.” Luhan paused for breath here. The whole court was silent anticipating what happened next.

Xiumin continued their story.

“The success of the spell was indicated by a green smoke that came from the fire of our offering. We did get the green smoke, but suddenly, the palace burst into fire and we ran for our lives. We did not know if the spell had anything to do with the fire, but the sudden outbreak clearly indicated an unusual happening. The next day, we found that only Lord Suho had made it out alive. We believed that the weakened Prince was killed it the following fire until today.”

The court was silent except for the whining of Jongin. The healer was poking him and coaxing him to move aside from Suho but Jongin was having none of it.

“It’s okay Jongin, she is trying to help you.”

Jongin plastered himself closer to Suho and refused to let go.

“Be a good Jongin for me please. Here, you can bite my hand if you are afraid, just stand for some time ok. I will sing you your favourite song and carry you on my back outside to play in the water.”

Jongin seemed to hesitate.

“You like water right? Remember how I used to let you swim when you were small.”

Jongin petted Suho’s head making weird noises. He then took Suho’s palm in his hand and gently bit into it while slowly standing up. He allowed the healer to examine him but when she gently tried to pry Suho’s hand out of his mouth he emitted a low growl and pushed her away with enough force that she hit the far pillar.

Then oh so gently he realised Suho’s hand from his teeth but still clutching it, sat on Suho’s lap and lay his head down on narrow shoulders for a nap.

The whole court watched stunned, until Sehun uttered.

“Well, he never did shy away from showing his strength.”