Nikolai

"I've never asked you but why her?"

"There is something that draws me to her. I first likened it to a sickness. But in Tartar our 400 years together felt like a blink of an eye."

My mind goes back to the times before I returned to the earth. What felt like 3 years away from the earth to my siblings, was 3000 years in Tarta for me. I was in the darkest parts of my existence. Wherever I searched I found blackness, nothing but pain and torture until she came, Harlow, The Storm Raider, 3rd Legion, Knight of Amon. She brought in the light, she persuaded me to change Tartar. I was the King, the powerful Tempter of The treacherous, and I did. I changed Tartar, made it a place where there was fairness, a life, a place that didn't need to be evil. And years later my land flourished, it was green, flushed with hope and prosperity.

Then she was gone, lost to an abyss of Leegwan's doing all for what?

"Do you think your want for her would grow stronger and you'll be able to create children of your own?" I smile at the idea of my brother's words actually happening.

"My love for Harlow always has been of the strongest rocks, and deepest waterfalls, I doubt it will ever wane or grow."

"Then you know how I feel."

I smile shaking my head, "Not even close. I would hope you do well on your promise."

"The bond can't be severed unless it's activated. I would need to spend time with her, get close to her, mentally, physically, maybe try my hand at friendship." His face is utterly emotionless and it's not the first time something nags at my memory. I was missing something.

"I know how it works," I say. He needed to bond with her, and that meant he was going to eventually show her his true self, activate the mating bond.

For a second or Minute, they would be mated. He would know her true self, he would see what I've been telling him, but I would be there to make sure he fulfills his promise. She is mine and this time I won't stop until I have her fully in my clutches.

"Ara doesn't believe it will work." Lee makes me want to flinch in disgust at the thought of my own blood been so whipped by such a weakling.

"Ara is a fool."

"She's a Goddess of the Knowing," He growls and I lift my hands up, and shrug my shoulder. Such an earthly thing to do.

"A fool. Semantics," I respond.

"How's the Tempter's situation since Kalbreal left?" He queries choosing to ignore my effort to rile him up.

"It's calm enough, but the Lightwatchers Legions spoke about the Chaos causing a bit of a stir in Safereal."

"But the Lightwatchers Realm has been sealed again, how is that possible?" My brother asks the question I was here to find out. He stands away from me and puts his hands behind his back. Out of all his father's children, he looks the closest to his mother with his strong Asian slanted eyes. The tall stature he gets from his father and his eyes, well that is a bit of a mystery.

"Take Ara with you when you go to the heavens? It will be hard for her to see my affections altered."

I frown but say nothing. The sooner we got this shit done, the quicker I can move on with my life.

"Ara, where is our little Hellfire?" He questions her as she enters, all graceful; weak.

"She's with her friends, socializing of course. I hear I'm going home, for how long?" She doesn't seem at all phased at the idea of leaving her beloved.

"The 2nd after the 1st light," Lee says and I want to roll my eyes at his ancient way of talking. Lami-El would have a field day waiting when I see him.

"Let's see how my date goes first, I'm kind of liking this top surface human thing. I forgot how fun it can be," I smile big as I stare at the two of them. My eyes glowing.

I still find it weird when I stare in the mirror. The differences of my reflection since I became Nikolai, King of The treacherous, ruler of Tartar.

"Behave, she's technically human, we don't know if the bond would trigger her memory and she returns to her full ethereal self or if she will remain human. So keep the physical contact to a minimum. We can't sever a bond if she's already dead," Lee says and I know he is right, even as I know I am not like them, I was created to touch humans, feel them, whisper in their ears. But he doesn't need to know that.

I clap my hands together as I hear the sound of her laugh from the distance and a pull like I have experienced since the day she was dropped into my lap closes around me.

"I'm going to sway my human possession into dancing with me. You two love birds go flap your wings somewhere else."

I leave the two of them standing in the empty space.

I step into the room and it feels like I am stepping into another time, another place. A memory with no time, no space, just us.

She was Harlow, a fierce warrior, and I was a newly found King, hoping for the end of days.