"I can't find anything." The Wiccan witch says simply after slicing Kilian's hand for the fifth time. He clenches his teeth in anger as she smiles slyly at him.

"You couldn't have told me that after the first time?" He growls out as King Atticus shuts his eyes in frustration.

"I could've." She nods in agreement as Kilian snatches his hand back. I bite my lip, glancing at the blood filled map. The map displayed the four continents of Holdrex— Atticus was king off all of them. Honake, Marlowe, Sardoni, and Sufri. Right now, we were standing in Sufri, where the king and his camps reside in. This was where the army was kept, in case of any other dimensions opening up or demanding war.

I glance at Kilians black blood, and how it hadn't responded to Varla's spell at all. She commanded it to go to wherever my father was— it dropped and seeped into the paper. She had done this with five maps of the five dimensions— not just Holdrex.

"He's not in any of the dimensions." I mumble, crossing my hands over my chest. Where else could he be?

"Are there anymore dimensions? Places you can search?" I ask, searching Varla's empty eyes for answers. She gives me a sorrowful smile and nods slowly.

"Settrinos," She glances at Kilian nervously, as if saying the word would conjure up more demons. She jabs a crooked finger in his direction. "His realm. The underworld." She finishes, eyeing me with pity as Claire touches my shoulder. I shake my head, trying to make sense of it all.

"But— that would mean that he has to be—" I'm interrupted as Claire squeezes my shoulder and gives me a sad glance.

"Dead." Claire whispers to me as I shake my head and push her hand off of me.

"It's not adding up." I say, eyes raking over everyone in the tent.

"Vi-" Claire starts as I gulp.

"Don't." I say in a deathly cold tone. "Don't try to tell me he's dead. He was alive a couple days ago and there's no way he could've just vanished off of the face of the realms. Body and all." I finish. Realization strikes me at the same time as Varla's face lights up.

"Body and all!" We both repeat in excitement, me immediately perking up. Kilian stares at me intensely through his dark eyelashes, trying to read what we had just realized.

Claire stares at Atticus in bewilderment, trying to catch on to the point we were making.

"Think about it," I say moving towards the maps. "His blood just sank through the maps into nothing. A bloody mess." I clarify.

"If he was dead," Kilian catches on swiftly. "His body would've at least shown up somewhere." He finishes, looking at me in admiration for a split second. I clear my throat and look towards Claire and Atticus.

"Questions?" I ask, glancing between them briefly. Claire looks a bit ashamed, biting on her fingernails as I stare.

"I've got one." Atticus says, not breaking eye contact with Kilian. "How do we infiltrate your realm?" He asks, narrowing his eyes at the beautiful demon. Kilian smirks, enjoying the thought of having the answer to what Atticus doesn't.

"Now you know that I'd be a traitor to my crown if I told you that." He says smugly as I take a step toward him. I give him a pleading look as his smirk falters.

"Please Kilian— I need to know why he's down there. And how to get him back. You don't have to tell Atticus," I say as Atticus lets out a sigh. "But at least tell me." I say,in the most gut wrenching voice I've ever mustered up in my entire life. I sounded worse than how I used to beg my father to buy me candy. That's what I was doing— begging. It was disgusting.

I see Kilian's eyes soften as he quickly glances away, trying to hide the leak of emotion, but I had seen it.

"He won't tell. Demons are liars and thieves, and at most, he'll tell you the wrong location." Atticus snorts as Claire gives him a withering glare.

"Please." I whisper.

"They're right." Kilian says, finally after a moment of silence. "It isn't in my nature to help. My nature is to deceive." He spits out as he elegantly stands, putting distance away from me. As he walks to the entrance of the tent, he glances back at me with a spark in his eye.

I slump in disappointment, realizing that he wouldn't help us enter the underworld.

"Stop fooling yourself." He says with a wicked yet handsome smile, and walks out of the tent.

I can practically feel the steam coming out of my ears in anger and embarrassment.

"Viola— can we talk?" Claire asks hesitantly as I grind my teeth together.

"Sure." I bite out, fists balling up. I want to punch him in the dick. I need to punch him somewhere. I can't keep this feeling inside. He has to help me. It's our deal. Our worthless deal that he's getting nothing out of so far. What is he waiting for?

"Alone." Claire states, giving me a serious look as I charge out of the tent.

"What is this about?" I grumble out like a complete brat. She chuckles under her breath as I glance back gloomily. She links arms with me and steers me in the direction to the training areas. In this section of the camp, young warriors were getting their asses handed to them one by one. After watching for ten minutes, I start to get bored.

"What do you want to talk about?" I whisper, nervously. We never talk alone. Not in the day that I've known her— yet, it feels like much longer. She gives me a small smile and opens her mouth to tell me— but gets interrupted by a mans outcry.

There in the midst of all the fighting— Kilian stands shirtless, sweat beads glistening off of his neck and chest. I feel myself grow rapidly interested as I realize what's happening. Kilian had snatched a weapon from the weapon armory, and was training on a training dummy. The silicone human figures placed there for warriors to get a quick workout; instead of the grueling hour workouts they get from actually sparring with others.

"Hey! Only warriors—" the man tries to grab the weapon from Kilian, only to be interrupted mid sentence. Kilian grips the mans neck and thrusts him into the air, muscles flexing as the mans feet dangle off of the ground.

"I am a warrior." Kilian hisses, red eyes glowing up at the man trying to breath. "If you'd rather me spar with those children— ill gladly do it." He growls as the man's face turns red with the lack of oxygen. By now, all of the sparring men had turned to watch the exchange, cringing when Kilian calls them children.

"But—" He says, black claws protruding from his fingers and digging into the man's neck. "I understand that little Atticus wouldn't appreciate me slaughtering his camp during training hours; so mind. Your. Business." He finishes, throwing the man to the grassy floor around them. A couple of the warriors flinch as he turns his angered face on them. I bite my lip, and immediately feel Claire's eyes on my face.

As the men and kids training go back to their sparring, my eyes never leave Kilian training, grunting whenever he ruins a silicone training doll. He discards the ones he breaks and continues to strike at them— throwing his weapon aside and hitting with his fists instead. My heartbeat is rapid as Claire opens her mouth and closes it.

I glance at her with a raised eyebrow as she studies my face.

"What?" I ask, almost out of breath for whatever reason.

"You're red." She says in observation as I shrug.

"So?" I ask as she smiles slyly.

"I can only imagine how difficult it is for someone with ice powers to get overheated. I mean—" She raises a palm to her chest as if to display sarcasm. "The only time I can get cooled down is when I have Atticus wrapped around me. I wonder—" she stops herself as I narrow my eyes.

"What's your point?" I whisper. She just smiles at me and pats my shoulder.

"Let me know if you want me to get you some snacks for the show." She winks at me as she turns and walks in the direction we came from.

I furrow my eyebrows, trying to pretend as if I didn't know what she was talking about. But I knew. I knew that she knew— I had the hots for a demonic asshole.

"But— What did you want to talk to me about? Was that it?" I call out as she ignores me. I let out a frustrated breath and turn back to Kilian, only to find him looking at me.

A smirk splayed out on his lips, his muscles still on display.

His red eyes dance with mischief, and I shudder. Not knowing where else to go, I stay planted in the same spot all afternoon. Even after Kilian stops staring at me, he still glances from time to time during his training to make sure that I'm still there.

Watching. Waiting.

Thinking.

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