I blinked numbly, unable to process the words that had just filtered through my ears. “I beg your pardon, your grace?”

The implications raced through my head, possibilities flashing before my eyes. The messenger long ago in the throne room spelled disaster and insinuated that I was a hostage, important to the Demon King somehow. Even before I’d accepted the possibility that could be true, I never would have dreamed it meant that I was potentially related to the Demon King himself. I barely accepted the fact that I could be a demon at all, let alone related to a royal one.

I peeked over at Tom, who looked just as gob-stopped as I did. His mouth hung open and his eyes were blank, though he stared forward. The healer demon still flitted about him, finishing her business, her shiny pink skin reflecting occasional torch light as she fussed with his wound. The Ahool’s claw, now draped around his chest and suspended from the leather string, stood in contrast with her sweet and delicate complexion. I flicked my eyes back to Hazuzu, the Demon King.

He didn’t answer my question, instead grinned wider, revealing teeth sharp and sparkling, doing nothing to relieve the tension in the room. I furrowed my brows. I couldn’t stand behind the denial any longer. I needed straight answers, and I needed them now.

“Be straightforward with me, your grace. Who am I, and why am I in this mess?” I said through gritted teeth. It pained me to let go of the part of me that clung to the hope that everyone here was wrong, Selissa and Lidas were my parents, and I was simply a troubled princess in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would be stupid to think that was the case even still.

“Fair enough,” the King agreed, nodding at me, his toothy smile easing into a relaxed line. “I’ll be brief. You are my daughter, born Callisto of the house Runia, Princess of the Demonic Realms and heir to my throne.”

Hearing the words with no buffer, no fancy workarounds, no fluff and trimming hit me hard, like a punch in the stomach. I could barely process them, but there was no mistaking what he had said.

“So… I am a demon?”

“Correct,” said Hazuzu.

I blinked rapidly, desperately trying to come to terms with the information I was just given. The more questions I had answered, the more questions I had. Would it ever be possible to know enough?

“I see that you have more questions. I’ll answer them in time – but what is the most pressing one that brought you to me?”

I shook my head, trying to remember why I was here at all. It had all become so convoluted, I barely knew what I was doing, where I was. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and let it out.

“I came about the treaty between Queen Selissa and your grace,” I said slowly, carefully weighing each word. “It seems the treaty had been broken. I wish to mend it.”

“I see,” he said, leaning back in his throne. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

I licked my lips, preparing to tell the story of why we came. I recounted the tale of my capture, the return to the throne room, and of course, the appearance of his fiery messenger, relaying the ill-fated news. He took it all in in stride, nodding as I spoke, his eyes never blinking. I told him as best I remembered what exactly was said, how the Queen had reacted, and how she had thrown Tom and I in our respective prisons. His eyebrows raised at my description of my escape, and before I knew it, I was telling him every detail of our journey as if he were an old friend. By the time I’d finished, I’d told him everything I knew about our recent hardships and how we had made it here, ending the story feeling somewhat relieved. It was as if I had unloaded a weight from my chest that I didn’t even know was there, making it easier to breathe.

“You’ve been through much, princess,” he said. “And I see your concern. Queen Selissa feared for her hostage, as the terms of our treaty had been violated. But in a show of good faith, you’ve journeyed here to me to rectify the mistake. I respect that.”

“I have other questions that I was hoping you might clear up for me…” I asked after a moment of hesitation. “But most importantly, what will you do about the treaty? Might we have a second chance?”

Hazuzu looked down at me with his frightening eyes, calculating and thinking. He tapped a long clawed finger against his cheek. “Pray tell, what would a second chance look like to you?”

I swallowed hard. “An opportunity to rewrite the terms of the treaty for continued peace in the future. A meeting between the two of you to see what could be done.”

He stared at me further, still tapping that clawed finger in thought. A full minute passed, the tension climbing. Then he spoke. “Agreed.”

I sighed in relief. War was not imminent, nor would it have been at my hands. Then, another thought occurred to me. I was Hazuzu’s hostage to ensure he would follow the treaty, but what had happened to Selissa’s?

I cleared my throat. “Your grace? Might I ask something else?”

“It seems that you will anyway. What is it?”

“Might we send proof to the Queen that her son is well?”

Hazuzu leaned over to the transparent bureaucrat and whispered something in his ear. The advisor ran off in haste, tripping over a rug as he did so. Despite his lack of coordination, his determination made up for his slip, and he continued off, having lost little time. Soon he was gone.

“The prince is fine, don’t worry,” said Hazuzu calmly. “But it stands to reason to inform her of our tentative truce, as well as reassure her fears about her son.”

I nodded slowly. However, he would send Selissa the message, I trusted him that it would be done. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I knew deep down that he would honor his word. Maybe it was his calm nature about the whole business.

“I have another question,” I stated carefully, speaking deliberately. I didn’t want to offend the Demon King and upset our delicate peace, but there were so many things I did not know.

He dipped his head in acknowledgement, silently encouraging me to proceed.

I took a deep breath. “Why all the secrecy? Why could I not have known my… heritage… from the beginning?”

“It seems that I should enlighten you on the finer details of our alliance. It was kept secret for good reason, but it looks like we’re past that point, now.”

I straightened up, eager to hear what he would say.

“To put it simply, Queen Selissa and I exchanged children. For assurance of the alliance, and for both of your safeties. You would be raised with her, and I would raise Matthias. This would be so until you each became of age.”

I narrowed my eyes in doubt. “That doesn’t exactly answer my question. Why couldn’t I know?”

Hazuzu paused before speaking. “We placed you in the care of humans, the one place that Zaavi the Cursed would never think to look. The true cause for the secret was to keep you safe from him. It was best that nobody knew, including yourself.”

I paled at the sound of that name. We had heard it several times on our journey, and each time had been when our lives were in danger. The shadow demon, the mob… this was the enemy that was trying to kill me.

“Did you say… Zaavi the Cursed?” Tom interjected. “You were hiding her from Zaavi the Cursed?”

Hazuzu’s head swiveled to turn his attention to Tom. “Yes. My sworn enemy from centuries ago. What do you know of him?”

Tom shriveled back, shrinking away from the sudden hostility from the Demon King. “I mean… not much… but I’ve heard something to do with him. Something about waking up. Or a-whatever. I don’t know!”

I turned to face him sharply. He had heard something more about Zaavi the Cursed and hadn’t thought to mention it to me? The thought that I wasn’t worthy enough to hear this information stung more than I thought it would have.

“Where did you hear this?” Hazuzu questioned sharply, his teeth shining and glinting in the light.

Tom put his hands up in defense. “Right before they kicked me out of the Guild, I overheard my mother talking about some spell they needed ingredients for… something they were trying to wake up… and I heard Zaavi’s name. I didn’t think it strange at the time, since the Guild imprisoned him so long ago…?”

Hazuzu didn’t have time to answer. Amid all of the confusion, a new player had entered the game. Standing next to the throne, looking disheveled and as if he had just woken up, was a tall, well-built man, with sandy blond hair, and a tan complexion. He wore elegant clothing, although it looked like he had just thrown it on moments before, as the buttons were mismatched, and the trousers looked suspiciously as if they were on inside out. The transparent bureaucrat showed up seconds later, breathing heavily as if he had run the entire way back to the throne room.

“You sent for me?” asked the newcomer. He sniffed, then looked about at the situation, eyes blurry as if he’d just awoken, and blinked slowly, taking in the sights. “Who’s this?”

“As you can see, Princess, Selissa’s son is alive and well,” Hazuzu said, gesturing to who could only be the Prince. “Say hello, Matthias.”

Matthias waved from his spot in the corner of the room, looking a little confused. Clearly, he had no immediate idea who we were. That was fine with me, all of this was far too strange.

“Is there any way we can send word back to my mo – I mean, the Queen, now?” I asked, still worried. “We didn’t exactly leave with her blessing.”

“Yes, I’ll take care of that.” Hazuzu chuckled, probably picturing a pissed off Selissa. The image wouldn’t have made me laugh, but I wasn’t a Demon King. “Of course, I can ease your worries presently. I’ll send a messenger directly to tell her the news and offer her the chance to discuss new terms.”

Hazuzu stood, his magnificent frame to his full height, towering over the rest of us. He stepped down to the floor, waving us away, silently requesting that we give him enough space. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but I would certainly oblige the Demon King when I was in his kingdom. He stood in the center of his self-imposed circle of solitude and closed his eyes. For a moment, he stood stock still.

Then, the energy of the room changed. It was as if someone had dropped a pebble into a stagnant pond. There were ripples, indescribable waves, washing over the room, emanating from where the demon King stood. The waves grew in intensity, instead of receding as it would in a normal pond, in a puddle of water, until a pinpoint of light popped into existence, directly in front of the demon King. It was blindingly white and increased in size. What was at first a small orb the diameter of a gold mark, now had become the height of a human being. I had closed my eyes, but the light burned through my eyelids, and it was as if I were seeing through them. I lifted my arm to shield my eyes more effectively when the light suddenly blinked out with a pop.

Dazed and blinded demons blinked their eyes, or whatever held their ocular senses, and the demon King lazily stepped back into his throne. Standing in the middle of us, front and center of the throne itself, stood an old man with fluffy white hair and pale eyes.

Old Sage.

He turned back around to face us, a mischievous look on his face.

“Good seeing you two,” he whispered at us, wiggling two fingers in a friendly wave in front of his face. He turned back to face the demon King, and nodded his head slightly in respect, a gesture that Hazuzu reflected back in kind. “What can I do for you, Zu?”

I bristled at the odd nickname, as did Tomas. Hazuzu merely chuckled.

“It’s been too long, good friend. Can I count on your services to send a message?”

“It’s been like a week since I’ve seen you last, Zu, but I suppose that could qualify as too long without seeing this beautiful face. But that’s enough pleasantries – to whom am I sending a message?”

“Queen Selissa. Tell her that our children are safe, and that if she wishes to continue peace, I’m willing to meet.”

“Right away, Zu,” he said, saluting comically.

Hazuzu flicked his fingers, dismissing Sage. Again, the light pinpricked, grew in intensity, and then snuffed Sage out of existence. This time, however, much quicker than the initial summoning. Perhaps summoning was much more difficult than dismissing. Or, and this option seemed rather likely, Hazuzu simply enjoyed putting on a show.

“What the fuck?” Tom said, rather bluntly.

I startled. Just because Hazuzu had been friendly with us so far, didn’t mean he would continue to be. And, swearing out of turn was supposed to be my thing, not Tom’s.

“… does that mean that Sage could’ve like, teleported us directly here?” Tom gestured wildly with his left hand to his injured right shoulder. “I almost died!”

“I appreciate your struggles to see me,” Hazuzu grumbled, serious for once. “But how would I have been able to summon you if I didn’t know? And for another, I can summon Sage only because we’ve been friends for decades; we have the necessary mental bond.”

Tomas pursed his lips, trying to understand. “Still, though,” he grumbled. “This whole thing sucked.”

“Understandable,” said Hazuzu conversationally. “Stepping outside of your comfort zone is… uncomfortable. But I’m glad you’re here. Please, consider yourselves my honored guests for as long as you wish. You may stay indefinitely.”

“We accept your offer of hospitality, your grace,” I said. “Thank you.”

“I hope that you’ll stay long enough to get to know me better and understand what it means to be a Demon Princess. We can meet for breakfast in the morning to talk more.”

I nodded, but still, that whole concept was so foreign to me, it felt unreal. I hadn’t accepted that as truth yet… to do so would be to ignore everything I’d learned my entire life up until this point. I couldn’t just throw that away based on a single conversation. I lifted my chin, my eyes fierce as I stared the Demon King into his black abyss eyes. Whatever would come my way, would have me to deal with. Demon or not, I would be a formidable opponent. I couldn’t afford the uncertainty, the indecision, the lack of knowledge to sway my confidence, even if it was all just a show. I could figure out the details and semantics later. My heritage was just a small piece in this puzzle, one I’d barely even found the edges of. My future could wait; it would still be there in the morning.