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Archdemon Empress Luna

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"I had suffered from torment every day, and Satan had claimed that it would make me stronger." Luna's heart hammered strongly as she narrated, "It would help me wield Archdemon Magic faster because I was conditioned to have stronger survival instincts."

It wasn't Luna's scheme to make her husband blame himself for her affliction as she told him these things.

She just wanted to describe what had happened to her in Hell, filling in the details where she was gone so that he wouldn't feel left out anymore.

Apollyon said that he had suffered isolation from her because she was keeping her secrets.

Now, Luna will have to reveal them all, not caring about her husband's reaction.

"I was under constant threat." As a cold sweat trickled down her back, Luna closed her eyes as she lowered her head in the humiliation of her suffering.

She swallowed hard. "They had taught me how to destroy Archangels who might get in our way so that Archdemons can freely travel all over the Realm and rule the Universe."

"Well, I don't care about the Universe, Luna." An animalistic growl rose in his throat, but Apollyon quelled them down, replaced by a carefully controlled voice, "The entire world can burn, but I only care about you so that nothing evil can reach you and hurt you."

Luna's eyes widened.

"You don't have to." A slow disbelieving shake in the head. "As the Vampire King, you might have this preconceived notion that females were a weaker species in an archaic vampire civilization for thousands of yours."

Luna's fist tightened. "You should be aware that I am perfectly capable of being your shield, Apollyon."

Apollyon was surprised at her sudden declaration.

It was clear that he didn't expect this from her.

"As your mate, it is also my duty to protect you." Well, Luna wasn't like her husband's past concubines, so he might as well get used to her. "Husband, I would go to war for you and bring an army with me if I could."

Apollyon caressed the shape of her face, tracing Luna's jawline with his fingers.

"I don't want you to, and neither do I need you to," Apollyon said soothingly in a husky tone.

Luna's gaze lifted to his arms, and she watched his muscles flex.

"You don't need to prove yourself to me that you are a strong independent woman because I already know." Apollyon scrutinized her, and it felt like they were drowning in each other's eyes, searching for each other's soul.

They were now seeing eye-to-eye, as Luna and Apollyon, as husband and wife and as blood mates, for the first time she arrived this Realm. "You didn't become my mate so that you could fill a role in the mating bond."

Apollyon shifted to Luna's side, unlocking her handcuffs one after the other.

"I know." Luna had successfully convinced her husband of the validity of her claims. "We have talked about this before."

Luna knew that King Zephyr, Cederic, and Prince Aspen had listened to the entire conversation.

With joyful tears in the corner of her eyes, Luna was glad that all of them agreed that she was the real Luna and not Lilith.

She had exhaled a relieved sigh when nobody foiled Apollyon's attempts to bestow her well-earned freedom.

"You keep saying you know, but you don't understand. You don't always have to be strong, Luna." Apollyon murmured in a husky tone as he crouched on her feet, quickly getting rid of the cuffs on her ankles. "Not being strong all the time doesn't make you weak."

"Asking for help and relying on your husband doesn't make you weak." Luna's limbs were finally free from the chains. "It would help if you changed that belief because I am also perfectly capable of dying for you. But you don't want me to prove that, don't you?

"I am your shield when you are tired of fighting." Apollyon straightened and stood in front of her, "--when you are weak with defeat."

He held both of her wrists, gently rubbing the sensitive skin, "I will avenge you."

Luna's emotions came into brutal waves that she couldn't help but cry.

She cried with her head lowered, not making a sound so that Apollyon wouldn't worry about her.

Her fingers curled into fists.

It was impossible to do that.

"You should have told me about this before it escalated into this, Luna. You became one of the creatures who tried to ruin our life. For me, it's tough to accept this just because I wasn't a good husband to you." Apollyon reached out, gripping her hunched shoulders, and she kept her gaze down. "I wasn't a good protector because you have hidden a lot of important things from me. Why is this happening to us? I don't understand. Why are we suffering like this?"

A whimper escaped in her closed mouth as big, fat tears gathered around her chin, dropping on her blood-stained feet.

When Luna lifted her head, she witnessed Apollyon's tears streaming down his face. "I thought my heart had died in my chest a long time ago, replaced by a bottomless pit. Losing you was like a night to my soul."

It was like a wooden stake stabbed into her heart to see her husband like this.

Oh, how much Apollyon had changed from the cold, heartless man to someone who had the ability to love as deep as the ocean!

"Underworld tar had filled my lungs as I drowned in this void I was in." Apollyon murmured as he circled his arms around her back, "I would have preferred to lose myself than losing you, Luna."

He yanked her hard, and Luna was wrapped into her husband's warm embrace.

As if on cue, Luna froze up, petrified for a second that this wouldn't last and she would be summoned back to Hell by the Archdemons any minute by now.

Luna's mouth opened to a silent scream, so afraid that this was just an illusion created by the Grand Torturer only to morph into an insidious nightmare.