Kris_Bi_2666

Emberlynn has always felt like an outsider. But when a mysterious mark scorches her left shoulder on the night of her twenth birthday, everything spirals into chaos. Her dreams twist into vivid nightmares—visions of fire, shadows, and a voice that whispers her name like a curse.

Then he appears—Malphas. Sinfully beautiful, impossibly dangerous, and claiming she holds the key to unleashing a power long sealed by the gods. He says he’s here to protect her. But his eyes burn with secrets, and every touch feels like a promise laced with lies.

Thrown into a hidden world of demons, ancient magic, and forbidden desire, Emberlynn must decide: trust the demon who may be her destined protector… or run from the darkness calling her name.

One thing is certain—hell isn’t just a place. It’s a choice.

TAKE ME TO HELL

The wind howled through the mountains as if it carried the secrets of ten thousand broken promises. Emberlynn stood at the edge of the world, her soul still echoing with the truths revealed in the Mirror.

She had been the Queen of Ash once. The one who forged pacts with stars, chained kings, and rewrote fate with fire. But all of that—everything—was undone by a single truth:

Malphas stood silently beside her, his hand barely brushing hers, as if unsure whether he was allowed to touch her now that she knew what he really was. What they had been.

"I wasn't just a weapon," she said softly. "I was your ruin."

"And you were my crown," he replied, voice raw. "But that life ended the day you sealed me away."

She turned to him, heart pounding.

"Then why save me? Why break your silence and follow me into this life if all I ever did was betray you?"

"Because I remember everything," he said. "Even the moments you've forgotten. The nights you wept because you knew loving me would end the world. The way you smiled when you thought no one saw. The day you tore out your own heart just to keep me from turning into him."

A tremor rolled beneath their feet—faint, like a heartbeat beneath the earth.

He closed his eyes. "The seal is weakening. It won't hold much longer."

"You are it," he whispered. "But not just you. It's buried inside your soul—locked behind seven fragments of yourself scattered across this plane. The Mirror gave you one. The others are hidden in places only your past self would know."

Emberlynn swore under her breath. "Of course it can't be easy."

He smiled faintly. "It never was."

They turned away from the cliff, beginning their descent into the Shadowreach—a cursed valley where the next fragment was rumored to lie, inside the Cradle of Thorns.

As they walked, Emberlynn felt the mark on her shoulder throb again, glowing faintly beneath her cloak.

Each step forward felt heavier than the last.

Because now... the voices were back.

In the Hollow Realm, beneath layers of cursed stone and shattered oaths, something ancient stirred. Its breath was thunder. Its eyes—two pits of red fire.

And a voice—deeper than death—whispered through the void.

She froze on the trail, stumbling.

Malphas grabbed her. "What is it?"

She shook her head, heart racing. "I heard him. Him."

The seal was breaking faster than either of them had hoped. The King wasn't just awakening—he was calling to her.

Because once, she had loved him too.

But the King he would one day become.

They reached the edge of the Shadowreach by nightfall. The sky was a thick canvas of black ink, the moon hidden, the stars trembling as though afraid.

Below them stretched a valley of thorns—raven-black, bone-sharp, and pulsing like veins. In the center stood a single tower wrapped in red vines.

Malphas unsheathed a blade of obsidian, forged from his own magic.

"If we go in," he warned, "we don't come back the same."

"I haven't been the same since I looked in that Mirror."

CHAPTER TWENTY: THE DEMON KING'S WHISPER