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Archdemon Empress Luna

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Ravin said drily, "One of the three soul ties you have with your mates had been cut."

Luna was taken aback.

There was a moment of silence.

"How would you know that, Ravin?" Her brows wrinkled in suspicion. "Do you know how to cut a soul cord?"

"I don't. Nothing happened to me." He shook his head slowly."The two individuals involved in the connection would feel unbearable loss once it was severed."

Luna paled at the idea of losing her soul tie with Apollyon.

"Apollyon had told me that it would be pure, unadulterated agony, a sickness without a cure."

She repeated what the Vampire King had told her before. "It would feel like someone had ripped your heart from your chest, and you find it hard to breathe. You will be sick for years and decades. If the blood bond were stronger, you would wish you were dead."

"When you cut the cords that tied two mates together, it will perforate the very core of your heart, creating deep wounds that would eternally bleed." Ravin nodded his head in agreement. "Heartbreak can poison you little by little, crushing and tearing your insides. Both souls would shatter into fragments."

He continued in mock sorrow, "It is a lifetime of self-inflicted pain, torture, and destruction."

Ravin smirked.

Raising an eyebrow, Ravin said, "What Apollyon told you could only apply if the other one on a mating pair is dead."

Lips parting in surprise, Luna clutched at her chest. "I don't feel anything."

Ravin tilted his head as he played with her silver hair. "Mayhap, there was a way to cut cords that wouldn't lead to living like a suicidal zombie."

As her ears perked up in interest, Luna blinked, "Cutting cords..."Luna trailed off. "If I know how to do that, I will cut all these three cords attached to my heart with that magic knife so that I could set myself free. Her eyebrows knitted in determination. "I would choose the one who is right for me without fate interfering with my destiny."

"Anyhow, it definitely wasn't me, so our strings of fate will be entwined for a very long time." Ravin lifted his shoulders in a 'who cares?' gesture.

Luna scowled at Ravin's suggestion. "I want to be free from you, Archdemon."

She clutched his wrist to stop him from acting so familiar with her. "How could I love you when you don't give me a choice?"

"That's not love, Ravin." Luna punched him in the chest, and Ravin let her. "That is obsession."

"You don't love me." She straightened her spine as her eyes burned with resentment. "You are obsessed with me because I'm not giving you what you want. If I give you what you want, you wouldn't be so adamant about keeping me here with you in Hell."

The Archdemon didn't know how to compromise.

"Do I obsess over blood here in Hell when it was easy for me to get my blood supply from you and Luxen?" She cried, "No!"

"Exactly." He snapped a finger. "You don't give me what I want."

"You don't understand, Ravin." Luna clenched her fists and punched the mattress in frustration.

"We are two different people with different wants and needs." Luna was tempted to throw temper tantrums, "Neither am I your puppet, nor am I an extension of you. I have my own mind and soul, and I can think for myself, thank you very much."

"You can't control me or whom I love." She enunciated every word. "I love the Vampire King, and you have to deal with that."

"What if you realize that you don't love the Vampire King, and you mistook that love because of the blood bond?" Ravin blew out a frustrated breath, "He was the first man you were involved in. It would be safer for you to explore your options."

Out of the blue, Luna thought about devising a fool-proof plan.

One of these days, she would trick Ravin to swear an oath in the form of a binding contract.

It was time for her to be as devious as Lilith.

"Ah~" Luna crossed her arms and carefully watched his following reactions. "You fear that I would go to the Vampire Realm and wouldn't come back."

He exclaimed, "Which is the truth!"

Luna had to know how to attack his weakness.

"Of course, it is the truth!"

She will try until she would successfully hook the Archdemon into her bait. "You don't believe in your skills to win me over, then? How insecure!"

He quickly assumed a stony expression, feigning indifference, but his golden eyes had trembled a little, giving his secrets away.

"You are a walking paradox, Ravin," Luna's whispers rose as she slowly gained the confidence to pin down Ravin's weaknesses, laying it out in the open. "You demand my love and my loyalty, but you fear being vulnerable."

"Take me back to the Vampire Realm and see if I come back to you." Luna's eyes wandered around her, and she could see Ravin and her half-naked form in the mirror.

"Consider it a test." She gave him an evil grin. "It would be fun."

He growled softly. " I don't want you to go."

"Deep inside your heart, you already know the answer that if you let me go, I wouldn't come back anymore. Attachment can be strong because of the blood bond, but it isn't love, Ravin." She lifted a hand, rubbing the fine hairs on Ravin's chest soothingly. "The so-called love you carry behind your back will not be enough for the both of us, to keep your dark tower of obsession from crumbling."

"An Archdemon Prince shouldn't look that pathetic," Pouting, Luna spoke quietly without breaking eye contact. "It wouldn't sustain us for long. You might as well end it while it was still early. Hm?"

"Don't mock me, Amare," He insisted, and Luna's soul chilled at his words, "I will be enough for you, and you will realize that."

Her heart was a hummingbird in her mouth.

"You are stubborn as a bull." Luna's heart was now consumed by hatred, but she toned her rage down. "It would have been kinder if you killed me, Ravin. You have turned my haven into hell."