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Archdemon Empress Luna

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"I'm afraid that every time you fall asleep, you go with one of these Archdemons, and then when you wake up, you will act like I was the only one, pretending that everything was alright." Apollyon's lips pressed firmly together in a frown, but there was sensual anger in his blue eyes, "--and then, if you were with me, you will act as you love me."

The air around the room stopped moving.

The dead bodies of demonic faeries with their feet and wrists chained into black iron balls and chains seemed to fade away in her eyes, including King Zephyr, Prince Aspen, and Cederic.

She didn't care what their reactions might be because right now, only the two of them existed.

Apollyon watched her without blinking, and Luna watched his Prussian blue eyes turning into dark obsidian, "I am afraid and angry that you weren't taking our blood bond seriously the whole time, and you were just lying to me."

"Apollyon, that's not what I—"

I thought there was no escape Luna. The emptiness I felt--- " Apollyon trailed off, hesitating, but he revealed his emotions, anyway.

"Your presence is my only cure to this madness." Apollyon watched her beneath his eyelashes, "This is why I want to possess your heart, body, and soul so that something such as this wouldn't happen again."

Luna raised a questioning eyebrow.

Why did her husband so intent on possessing her like he was his property?

He might as well be an Archdemon when he perished in this Realm if he kept this up.

"You don't need to be greedy because you already have me." Luna sniffed, and more tears fell, but this time it was of pure joy.

And, here, she thought she didn't have it in her to cry more.

"I am already a part of you. My love for you will have no conditions." Luna smiled a grateful smile, playfully punching him in the chest. "My love for you knows no bounds because I would always come back to you even if fate were determined to keep us apart."

"I love you, Apollyon." Luna raised her arms and settled them around her husband's neck. "I am yours forever."

"Nothing will ever be the same after this," Apollyon murmured as he lowered his head, making their foreheads touch.

Chuckling, Apollyon closed his eyes, lowered his head to claim her lips as he swiftly.

How sly!

Did her husband think that Luna would make it so easy for him to steal a kiss?

Lips curving in amusement, Luna quickly covered her mouth with her palm, making Apollyon kiss the back of her hand.

Startled, Apollyon abruptly opened his half-lidded eyes and rapidly blinked as if he had woken up from a peaceful slumber.

He pulled back and glanced down at her with a frown.

He pouted with a glower, "Why didn't you let me kiss you, wife?"

"Why is it hard for me to feel your mind when I am your real mate?" Luna shot back and mirrored his glare. "We are blood bonded, so it would be easy for me to read your emotions and thoughts, but now, I can't do it." She asked, worried. "Why can't I sense your presence in my mind?"

There was a pause filled with death.

"Oh."

Luna wrinkled her forehead, unsatisfied at his response.

That 'oh' didn't tell her anything of importance.

Apollyon didn't care to elaborate, either.

"Make the silent scream inside you, Apollyon." Luna urged him as she clutched at his shirt. "Make those unnecessary thoughts crumble. Can you feel me in your mind?"

"I can't," Apollyon replied. "Not right now."

"Don't let your mind think too much and listen to your heart instead." Luna pressed on as she closed her eyes, reaching into her husband's mind once again, "What do you feel around me?"

"I feel---"Luna could sense the change in his mood, and it made her feel relaxed, not grasping desperately into his privacy anymore when he began to let her in, "My mind felt serenity for the first time in years that you weren't with me, Luna."

Luna was aware of an invisible hand uncovering her husband's mind.

She was careful not to do something that would sabotage her efforts to reconnect their mental links.

Sensing that Apollyon had lowered down his guard when she probed into the edges of his consciousness, Luna sighed with relief when the barriers cropping up around her husband's thoughts crumbled bit by bit,

Luna opened her eyes and gazed into his gorgeous irises with a smile, "Serenity will quell a passion that was, borderline, obsession."

Apollyon cupped her chin with his large hand and tilting her head upwards, "There was never a day where I never obsessed about your return, wife."

"I am back, Apollyon. Thank you for listening to me." Luna whispered, and she couldn't look away from him even if she wanted to. "Thank you for allowing me back into your life, into your mind."

"You were the rush that I crave, and it felt like I was going insane. You were gone for a long time." A shadow passed across his face. "I thought that you were never going to return."

His tone was full of sorrow. "I was a mess."

Luna pressed a palm unto his chest, and she could feel her husband's heart beating faster under her touch. "Our blood bond is still there, right?"

"It is here." Holding her hand on his chest, Apollyon reassured her, and his obsidian eyes had turned back to normal. "I'm just cautious around Lilith before I summoned you back so that she wouldn't figure out our plans to get rid of her."

"King Zephyr had made the shadow barriers of our minds, including Cederic and Prince Aspen. Nothing can see through our thoughts if someone pried for information without our knowledge." He explained further, "I am capable of keeping my thoughts private from mind readers, but we need another blockade reserved for Archdemons, just in case."