So he turned his attention to me.
He deliberately led the others to discover my true nature as a demon goddess, then rallied all three realms under the banner of righteousness to bind me with Demonbane Nails.
I was already pregnant by then. My powers had waned, and I had no strength left to fight back.
I begged him to spare me. Begged until my voice broke. But all he left me with was a single, weightless phrase: Good and evil cannot coexist. Then he ripped the demon essence from my body and shattered my soul into nothing.
Even Soulreaper was ground to dust beneath his heel.
It was the child in my womb who saved me.
He sacrificed his own life to lock my three ethereal souls and seven corporeal spirits together before they could scatter.
After a long silence, I reformed into a physical body, but only that of a two-year-old child.
My heart was full of hatred. I knew I was no match for Aldric, yet I still set out on the road to the Nine Heavens to take my revenge.
But my bones had barely knit and my demon essence had yet to coalesce. I couldn't even defeat a minor imp.
Just as a wolf demon was about to swallow me whole, a pair of large hands scooped me into a warm embrace.
The old man whose eyes already creased with wrinkles looked down at me, heartache plain on his face. "How's a little thing like you out here all alone with nobody looking after you?"
"Don't be scared, sweetheart. This old man will keep you safe."
I assumed his kindness was a passing impulse. I never imagined he would go on protecting me for years.
The year I pieced Soulreaper back together, I was nine.
I planned to make one last trip to the Nine Heavens and drag Aldric down with me, even if it killed us both.
But the night before I meant to leave, my master brought me a beggar's chicken. It wasn't particularly good.
He had no idea I was planning to go. He just scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, and said, "Lynara, you haven't been eating well lately. You're getting too thin. I went all the way down the mountain to learn this recipe from a famous cook in town."
"Go on, try it. If it's no good, I'll go back and learn again."
"And if you like it, I'll make it for you every single day."
I blinked, caught off guard. Suspicion crept in before I could stop it. "Why are you so good to me?"
My master stroked his beard and smiled. "Because I think of you as my own daughter."
"If my little girl starved, what kind of father would I be? I'd be heartbroken."
"I'm already old. I don't want to spend whatever years I have left crying my eyes out."
In that moment, looking at the white hairs that had grown in from worrying over me, I felt the walls around my heart crack for the first time in years.
So there was someone in this world who loved me after all.
All at once, I didn't want revenge anymore.
I buried Soulreaper beneath the hibiscus tree and buried all my hatred along with it.
But Aldric shattered my hard-won peace with his own hands, all over again, and dug my hatred back up from the roots.
I lifted my gaze toward the sky where his voice had come from and spoke, each word deliberate and distinct. "Aldric. It's been a long time."
Before the last syllable faded, a flash of white light split the air.
In the space of a blink, Aldric appeared before me with Elara Abbott in his arms.
He looked exactly the same as before. That face, beautiful enough to ruin kingdoms, hadn't aged a single day.
The woman cradled against him glowed with the same vitality.
Aldric looked me up and down, his brow furrowing. "This Sovereign has never laid eyes on you. What do you mean, 'a long time'?"
Oh. I had almost forgotten. After my body reformed, my appearance had changed completely.
No wonder he didn't recognize me.
But my attention wasn't on him. Every ounce of it was fixed on Elara, and I had no patience to spare for Aldric.
I stared at Elara, unblinking. "You're looking well. Rosy cheeks, bright eyes. My master's bones must be serving you nicely."
Back then, my demon essence had only granted Elara passage in and out of the Nine Heavens. Without immortal bones, she still could not ascend to godhood.
Aldric had once considered taking my demon bones instead, but the skeletal frame of an ancient demon goddess was far more than a mortal body like Elara's could withstand. He'd been forced to abandon the idea.
It had taken him all these years of searching to finally find my master's bones, the perfect match for Elara.
My words landed, and understanding dawned across Aldric's face.
