Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

A great silence reigned over the operation table where Adrian lay. By his side stood Kuro, formulating large crystallized tears racing down her cheeks as she stared with her all at Adrian.

"This might be the first time I've ever seen you reveal so much emotion," I admitted to her, noticing sweat ebbing down Sharla's brow as she operated on my disciple. It had been ten hours since she had started. Ten hours since I saw her reconstruct his brain, alongside various major organs Kuro had destroyed.

If this were still earth, he'd surely be brain dead, crippled from the neck down, with an intense flaring from his nerves. It was odd how nerve endings work. Despite losing sensation in their legs or arms, some patients could still experience pain.

"We were raised together. I love him. He's my big brother." Said Kuro lifting her blood-red eyes consumed by grief. "I never hated him. Only what you made him."

I chuckled and rustled the hair of little Kuro. Who resembled more a Beastkin than Shade or Shadowfell. " I don't make people change. They do that themselves. You'll do well to understand that. And you'll do well to respect that boy there. In the end… Pride is all we men have at times."

"I…" Kuro began.

"Listen well, little one, when he wakes. You can't be here. You've humiliated him enough."

"That's not fair."

Patting the little fox's head, I sighed, "Life isn't fair. This was a lesson for you two. One me and my Wife ought to have learned. But one I'll not pass down: Respect can only be earned but also taken away."

Kuro, despite her remarkable mentality, stared at me with defiance. Her fingers curled, and her eyes narrowed with malice. "You did this."

"Me?" I teased. "Oh, my sweet little black cat. Whose fist was it shattering my young disciple's bones? Who was it that curved stomped the little brat? Don't blame me for your weakness. Don't blame me for that sharp tongue you got. Life is a bitch. Own up to your mistake. Now get out of here. Or would you rather Adrian hate you?"

Another great silence engulfed the room, penetrating Kuro's bones as she trembled beneath my palm. She turned with a lonely back, glanced towards Adrian, and left without another word.

God, I love that girl. If only she were my disciple.

"Wake him up," I commanded Sharla, who turned with a surprising gleam.

"My Lord?"

Crackles of arcs of black lightning flared off the surface of my palm as my hand whipped over Adrian's bandaged cheeks.

Blood stained the walls as his eyes snapped open, following the lightning transfer into his body. Noticing the pain spiraling over his nerves, alongside the hyperventilating, I stood in a brooding silence.

"Get up," I said darkly.

"My Lord… he can't," Sharla whispered pleadingly.

"He will. Because I commanded it."

Sweat dotted the young man, alongside a great tremor as he moved his legs through shared willpower. He rose. Shuttering uncontrollably as blood ebbed from his pores and open lacerations, painting the ground into a slip and slide.

"How do you feel," I asked him, unamused by the lack of eye contact. At the shame in which his shoulders slumped.

"I…" Adrian began.

"I don't give a fuck. It was rhetorical. I know how you felt. I can peer right into your weak heart." I snorted, "Losing to a girl younger than you. Losing control in a battle, you should have at least had a draw. Never would I have thought your mind was so pathetically weak.

"You are quick to anger, appearing to be governed by the very sin you hold. You've humiliated me, Adrian. Humiliated me before Tene, the Pale Lord, Melinoe, and Cleo. The very few people who I respect on a personal level."

I shook my head, disgusted before the blank stare in Adrian. "Kuro cried over your bed for ten hours, consumed in regret. Torn by what she had to do. She showed you true respect in that battle by going all out. But you. That wasn't pride you showed. It was rage and contempt. It was foolishness."

"Master," Adrian said in a raspy voice, spitting blood from his lips. "I…"

"I don't want to hear it, boy! No one does." I coldly spat, cutting him short. "Meet me in the Throne room. We're leaving today."

"My Lord, he's not ready to leave." Sharla hastily Soul Whispered.

Teleporting to my Throne, ignoring the doctor's advice, I sighed as Tene appeared with a warm smile. " She such a softy, isn't she?"

"Who, Kuro? Yeah. She is. Who knew? Guess this just prove Tene's love will cure just about anything." Enjoying the reddening of her flushed cheeks, I pressed. " Taken in a savage, you molded her not into a devil, like I initially thought, but rather a regal woman, with a tongue sharper than a sword. If you're not wifey material, then who is?"

"Stop it." Pleaded Tene, hiding her expression through her hair.

"You know, If we were lucky. My two kids will surely have a brother or sister. And you will have a child with your bloodline."

Steam practical erupted from Tene's flushed expression as she peeped up with a curious eye. "I've always wanted a child… but I would never do that to Lilith."

"Let me handle Lilith," I told her softly, sensing that pang in her heart.

"It's a betrayal."

"Irrelevant."

"Maybe to—"

"It's irrelevant." I insisted, rising to my feet. I flashed to her and gripped her chin. "Once a bed is shared. You will bear one of my children. Even if I have to strap my crazy Wife up, I will not let her harm you."

"Why?" she asked, leaning closer to me. Her cool flesh warmed as she stared into my eyes. Lust, passion, and pain all filled her cold dark eyes as she leaned closer.

"Because I am King. And you are my Wife."

"Am… Am I interrupting?" A graceful voice followed, "Wait? Are you cheating on Lilith? My word Arsene. How can you be so insensitive?"

"What the hell did you think was happening?" I remarked with clear frustration towards Seraphina, storming into my castle doors. "And it's not called cheating. Tene and I are married."

"Bullshit." f

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