<b>Chapter </b><b>83 </b>
The Veil between the realms felt thin today. I could sense souls brushing its edge like they wanted to <b>be </b><b>free</b>. Layah leaned back in the smaller throne I’d conjured beside mine. It suited her, dark stone with wed legs and mes licking subtly along the arm,s and Layah? She ruled her chaos like she was born for it. My Kings stood before me, silent, waiting for my nod.
“You know your roles, let’s get some stuff done so we can get back,” I said softly.
Xavier vanished first, no flourish<b>, </b>just absence. The shadow slipping between nes. Haiden followed, spinning a glowing dagger from thin air <b>as </b>he stepped through a portal.
Levi muttered something I didn’t catch, then dissolved into his portal, and Noah smirked, of course. He cracked his knuckles like he was going to war with the concept of peace, then gave me a wink before vanishing in a re of heat and red sparks.
I exhaled and turned to Layah.
“You good?” I asked.
She grinned. “<i>Always</i><i>.</i>”
“Keep them in line?”
“<i>Obviously</i>.”
She pushed up, muscles rolling under her skin. The sound of her paws as she disappeared into the shadows.
I stayed in the throne room. I would have the leaders of the forgottene today.
<b>Layah</b><b>, </b><b>Filtered </b><b>Through </b><b>Envy’s </b><b>Senses </b>
I couldn’t see her, not directly, but our link was sharp now. Subtle vibrations, images, instincts bleeding into my awareness. She was with Xavier, still and silent in the mists between worlds. Layah padded behind him, watching as he reached out to each soul with cold certainty. She didn’t speak much. Neither did he. But I felt a brush of curiosity, a flicker of dry humor from her. And beneath that, a soft thread of something quieter. Respect.
When she got to Haiden, he was warm and chatty. Layah’s presence there was more felt than seen, a stalking calm in a ce. I caught a sh of her smirking at a demon assistant. Haiden’s exasperated patience. <b>Her </bughter echoed faintly in the background. She brought bnce there, even if it was just by existing.
Levi. Cold. Judgment. Stillness. Layah prowled his corridors like she was looking for cracks. She didn’t find any. But the souls flinched in their pods when she passed. Levi met her with that unreadable calm he wore like armor. There was something there, though. A flicker of challenge. Maybe <b>respect</b>. Maybe a warning.
With Noah, the heat hit hardest. Fire and screams, Layah didn’t flinch. She met it with a grin. Walked right through it like she belonged. Noah’s energy red when he saw <b>her</b>, too pleased, too wild, but she met him head–on, brushing him off with that cocky confidence she always wore. They talked. She left. But the grin lingered on Noah’s face long after she disappeared.
Yep, this whole hellhound being able to roam in her own form was definitely going to be useful.
The throne room had grown quiet in their absence, but never still. Power shifted constantly here, thick in <b>the </b>air like smoke and shadow. I’d spent thest hour meeting with various creatures who governed the forgotten. Shifters, demons, fae–born hybrids who’d earned their ce among us. Most brought good news: stable flow, orderly transitions, groups that pulsed with bnce, but a few reported…glitches. Sectors experiencing unrest. Souls are going rogue. One camp had even reported a growing hunger that had nothing to do withck of food, something darker, older, whispering in the bones of the ce. Another spoke of a pocket of corrupted spirits that had begun chanting in syne, trying to summon something unnamed. I listened. I took notes. And when needed, I issued orders.
My guards were more than happy to track the outliers. Any soul stepping out of line would be returned to Levi for reassessment. I trusted him to decide their fates with his quiet, terrifying precision. I’d also checked in with Ss, my favorite goblin, who now wore a crooked little crown I had authorized. He delivered his report with breathless urgency, shuffling through half–burnt scrolls and scrolls that smelled vaguely like swamp water. I still couldn’t get the grumpy thing to go tech like the rest of us, but that’s okay, he had his methods, and I had mine.
“The Veil is thinning faster than anticipated,” he’d said, wide eyed. “In some ces, it’s almost gone entirely. Mortal things are leaking in. Grass. Birdsongs. A breeze.”
1:03 PM P
“A breeze?” I had frowned.
D
He nodded rapidly. “From the sky, my Queen. The sky. There’s sunlight down there. It’s cracking through like this realm.” The Underworld wasn’t supposed to breathe in the light. Not like that.
I felt them reappearing before I saw them. Xavier was first, quiet as always. No dramatic entrance, no shadows. Just a shift in the air and suddenly, he was beside me, his fingers brushing mine. My bones sighed in recognition. Then, Haiden, materializing mid–step, a conjured desk appeared with him as he dropped a heavy file onto its surface. He didn’t look up, already muttering notes to himself about anomalies and soul metrics. Levi walked in next, silent but calcting, his coal–dark eyes scanning the room like it was still full of sinners. Maybe it was. With Levi, judgment wasn’t an action; it was a state of being. Noah strolled inst. Fire licked at his shoulders, curling like affectionate snakes, and his eyes crackled with energy. The smirk ying at the edge of his lips told me he’d enjoyed himself a little too much, and then Layah. She looked like she’d run through hell and kissed every me on her way out.
“All your kings <i>are </i>still in one <i>piece</i><i>,</i>” she said with a casual shrug, flopping into the throne beside mine with all the confidence of someone who belonged there. “<i>Well</i><i>–</i><i>fed</i>. <i>Mostly </i><i>behaved</i><i>.</i><i>” </i>
I arched a brow. “Only mostly?”
Noah winked. “Define behaved.”
Layah rolled her eyes. <i>“</i><i>Let’s </i><i>just </i><i>say </i><i>one </i><i>of </i><i>you </i><i>was </i><i>caught </i><i>daring </i>a soul <i>to </i><i>bite </i><i>him </i><i>back</i><i>.</i><i>” </i>
Haiden didn’t even look up. “Noah.”
“What? They had teeth…Hell <b>is </b><b>a </b>spicy yground,” Noah said innocently.
149
Xavier didn’t speak, but his hand remained linked with mine. Through that cool tether, I felt the echo of satisfaction<b>, </b>of a missionpleted. The quiet kind of pride that needed no words. I looked around at all of them, my kings, my people, my hellhound, and the power that surged through me wasn’t just magic. It was a purpose. This was our kingdom. This was our bnce<b>. </b>And together, we were holding it altogether.
“We’ll head back soon,<b>” </b>I said, my voice soft but sure. “Let the witch test us again.”
I rose from my throne, my crown flickering with energy drawn from the Veil itself. Layah’s throne red beside mine, echoing the power she brought simply by existing.!
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