Mariane awoke in Paimon’s arms, who was walking quickly through the castle’s corridor. The first thing she did was explore her consciousness, searching for Thomas, but the man was nowhere in sight. A smirk escaped her lips.

  ‘I can’t find him anywhere, and I’m with one of the princes even though they were forbidden from entering the castle. It means they succeeded, right ? Good riddance !’

  She turned to Paimon with a big smile.

  “Thank you so much, you really helped me this time ! I don’t know how to thank you… By the way, is it a new tattoo on your forehead ? I don’t like it that much…”

  Her face suddenly froze when her gaze nded above the demon’s head.

  ‘What the fuck ? Why has his intimacy gauge gone down to 60% ? What did Thomas say ?’

  The prince answered without looking at her.

  “It would have been so much easier if my reasoning was stronger than my heart. In that case, I would have never promised my future to you and concluded a pact. But here I am, thinking that having a seal pced on me is nothing compared to your smile. You are a bad influence, Mariane. But I can’t help being happy to be of service.”

  He finally turned to her, and his gaze was full of both pain and affection. The girl was stunned.

  “What do you mean, a seal ? Were you punished for destroying Thomas ? And where are the others ? That asshole of a king…”

  As soon as the words escaped her lips, Paimon dropped her to the ground, and Mariane whined in pain.

  “What are you doing ? It hurts !”

  The prince was staring daggers at her, the tattoo on his forehead glowing slightly.

  “You want to know what happened ? Okay, I will tell you.”

  And he started narrating the events, starting with Mariane’s phone call. The brothers had assembled to discuss the best way to infiltrate the castle, and Paimon was helping the king with his research at that time, so he was chosen to bring the princes in. However, even if he couldn’t disobey Mariane, he couldn’t go against his principles either, so he let the other guys take care of the rest. They freed part of the prisoners in the dungeon to occupy Bael and Baam, and rushed to prepare the ritual and catch Thomas. When they were about to succeed, the king caught them and brought them to prison. Only Paimon, who didn’t participate, was left free, but with a seal of obedience pced onto him. He also mentioned the subject of Bael’s research, and the fact that Thomas could very well have his own body at this moment.

  Mariane’s jaw was on the floor, looking at Paimon with widened eyes.

  “You are joking, right ?”

  The prince raised a brow, his face as stoic as ever.

  “Do I look like I’m joking ?”

  The girl started shaking, sweat rolling down her back.

  “If you were caught… Wait, where are you taking me ? We are not going towards the entrance !”

  Before she could protest any further and try to walk away, Paimon picked her up again.

  “To the dungeon, Baam is waiting for you to pass judgement by authority of the king. I’m sorry Mariane. You can hate me if you want, but I have no choice.”

  The girl was screaming and trying to fight back.

  “Let me go ! I’m not a bad person ! It’s that bitch Thomas who is messing with everyone’s brain by spouting lies ! I’m a victim ! You hear me ? A victim !”

  Her cries were swallowed by the darkness of the empty hallways, while Paimon was holding onto her with a saddened face.

  ***

  In the king’s bedroom, the air was so saturated with magic that it was getting hard to breathe. A light floating above the mattress was slowly expanding, gaining a silhouette almost human-like.

  Bael was panting heavily, pouring even more red smoke into the air, to the risk of exhausting himself.

  “Come on, Thomas. You can do it.”

  After a while, suddenly the wind stopped and the papers and scrolls fell to the floor. The white light stopped floating, settling down on the mattress, and dimmed as a body was revealed. It was an androgynous person, but definitely a man judging by his sex, with a skin so pale that it looked almost translucent. His hair was very long, as dark as a raven, resting below him like a bed of bck feathers, and he had delicate features, a slim jawline, a small nose, long eyeshes and thin eyebrows. What was more impressive, though, were the long antlers on each side of his head, and two pairs of webbed wings folded below him, almost hidden by the luxurious hair.

  Bael reddened vividly and pulled on the bed sheets to cover Thomas’ naked body. He cleared his throat a few times and leaned towards the man, gently putting aside his hair to better see his face.

  “Thomas ? Are you okay ?”

  The answer didn’t come.

  “Can you hear me ? Are you alright ?”

  The king was starting to panic, when his eyes suddenly gleamed. He could hear the man think.

  “Wait a minute, this body is so different ! It’s so big in here, where are the eyes ?”

  Bael burst out ughing. He had never confessed his abilities to Thomas, contrary to Baam who had told it so easily to Mariane, because he didn’t want the human to freak out and get scared. However, Thomas must have been aware of something since the beginning, because the first thing he had done in his new body was to send his thoughts directly to the king. Now, that was a developpement he hadn’t anticipated.

  “For how long have you known ?”

  “Well, your eyes shined strangely everytime I was in Mariane’s body, and it seemed like you could hear me. I’m not that dense, you know, it’s a recurring cliché of dating games with magical creatures inside, to see hidden things and hear what you shouldn’t. Now, help me find the face, I’m lost in here !”

  Bael tilted his head to the side, wondering what this ‘cliché’ was about, but didn’t question it further. He leaned a bit more towards Thomas and pursed his lips.

  “I don’t know how I can help you, I don’t have my gloves on. Wait, I think I have an idea.”

  Approaching his head even further, Bael gently blew on the man’s face.

  “Do you feel this ?”

  To answer him, Thomas slightly moved his lips, and flexed his muscles one after the other, as if he was searching for something. Finally, he blinked a few times and opened his eyes wide, nding his gaze on Bael, who was a hair length from him. The king flinched and immediately backed down, putting distance between them.

  “Are you okay, now ?”

  Thomas moved one muscle after the other, from his face down to his torso, arms and legs. When he could somehow figure out how his limbs worked, he tried to sit but slipped, as his head seemed heavier than expected. He fell back on the mattress and grumbled in a low and gravelly voice.

  “It’s harder than expected. I feel like a toddler who can’t move their body right.”

  Bael ughed and helped him by putting pillows behind his back, trying to touch him as little as possible.

  “It’s to be expected, it would have been strange if you could suddenly move as you wanted.”

  Thomas raised a hand, examining it for a long time.

  “I’m pale. I can almost see the veins underneath my skin. It looks disgusting. What do you think ? Am I a mermaid or a disgusting monster with a toad’s head ?”

  He turned to the king, and finally noticed his rosy cheeks. Bael tried to hide it by putting a hand in front of his face, but to no success.

  “No, you are beautiful. I mean handsome ! No, that’s not what… Objectively, you look good !”

  Afraid of embarrassing himself even further, he quickly changed the subject.

  “By the way, you are a demon ! You have horns and wings. Can you feel them ? You probably can’t hide them yet, it’s the case when you are just born, it’s something you learn with time. Some even have a tail, but I didn’t see one… I mean, not that I looked at your back !”

  Bael was getting flustered again, and it amused Thomas greatly, who slightly smiled.

  “Then, do you want to check if I have a tail ?”

  The king became so red that he was almost glowing like a traffic light. Thomas couldn’t hold himself back anymore and burst out ughing.

  “Just kidding !”

  It was the first time he was giggling so much, to the point of holding his sides.

  “What in Hell, I can’t stop !”

  He ughed so much that tears built up behind his eyes, and soon he didn’t know if he was sobbing or still ughing. His body was shaken by strange spasms and Thomas felt confused. Bael gently wrapped him in a bnket and held him in his arms.

  “It must be your nerves. A lot of things happened today. It’s normal to be shaken.”

  Thomas was still trembling and emitting strange sounds, but now he knew that he was crying. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the king’s shoulder, letting go of all his pent up feelings. It was over. The nightmare had come to an end. Nobody else would threaten him now, and he would finally be happy. While sobbing loudly, he buried his face in Bael’s neck, and the man held him tighter, gently stroking his back. He was whispering nice words that made Thomas’ heart feel warm.

  “You are okay. You did a good job surviving. You are really strong. Now, it’s over. I will always be here to help you, so you can rex. This is a new beginning.”

  Eventually, after so much crying, Thomas exhausted himself to sleep. Bael id him back on the bed, and covered him, being careful not to wake him up. After one st gnce towards the sleeping man, the king reluctantly stood up.

  ‘Now, I have a job to do. Let’s take care of the assholes, and make sure that Thomas will never shed tears again.’

  He didn’t know exactly why he was doing so much for this man, but one thing was for sure : Seeing Thomas sobbing was pissing him off.

  AmbreaTaddy