Chapter 56: Chapter 56

IRIS

“The king needs help!” someone yelled.

A desperate scream cut through the air, ripped from the throat of a demon in the crowd that surrounded us. My breath hitched as they rushed toward me, not with anger, not with violence, but with a painful urgency that made my heart clench.

Swallowing hard, I felt Avery’s unconscious body being gently lifted out of my arms. My fingers trembled as I had to let her go.

Every fiber of my being fought against it. And then I saw their eyes.

No hate. No anger. Not even disdain.

Only pure, unfiltered concern. For Avery. For me.

“Take him to the camp… quickly!” Bael shouted.

His voice was rough with fear as he and Ava ran after them, their steps hurried, almost tripping with panic.

And then… my senses failed me. Everything blurred into a murky haze before my eyes as the tears finally broke.

Hot and unstoppable, they streamed down my cheeks as I knelt helplessly on the moss, my fingers clawing at the soft, damp ground as if it could save me from drowning in my own despair.

“Iris… come on,” I heard Devas say.

Devas’s voice was gentle, but it pierced me like a knife. I raised my head and saw Evie in his arms.

So weak. So fragile. And yet… she was smiling.

This small, tender smile sparked more pain in me than any scream ever could. I wanted to say something.

Wanted to get up. I wanted to breathe.

But then…

Two warm hands were placed over mine. Shaking. Softly.

“My queen…” a woman whispered.

The voice was gentle, full of tears. I looked up—and recognized the demoness before me, her child by her side, both kneeling in the dust for me.

The same demoness who had to leave Antaris in tears, with her child at her breast. Her eyes… God, her eyes… so full of tenderness.

So full of love.

“Devas said… you would come. He said so…” she told me softly.

Her whisper broke into a sob, tears streaming down her face, and I… I lost myself.

A strangled sob escaped my chest as I looked at Devas. He stood there, holding Evie tightly in his arms, his eyes fixed on me.

And there wasn’t any anger in his eyes. Not even a spark.

These demons… the exiles… the outcasts… they loved us. In spite of everything.

And that… that tore me apart.

My body shook as I clutched the demoness’s hands, my heart a single, bleeding tear in my chest.

“Forgive me…” I gasped. “Please… forgive me,” I stuttered through tears.

But she just shook her head, pulling me closer, and in her embrace I felt something I never thought possible.

Forgiveness.

“My queen… please get up,” she said, sobbing as she helped me to my feet.

I stared at her, wincing as two small hands embraced me. The child smiled, wiping my tears.

“It’s going to be alright,” I heard the child say.

My bottom lip trembled as I looked at the little boy.

“Come, sister… let’s go to the camp,” Devas said.

A smile spread across his lips and all I could do was smile back.

When we arrived at the camp, I stood still, frozen. My breath caught in my throat.

So many of them. Hundreds of demons surrounded us, their gazes fixed on me… not hostile, not suspicious.

Their eyes gleamed with something that almost burst my heart. Hope.

And then… they smiled. A warm, heartbreaking chorus of open arms and open souls.

“Long live the King… long live the Queen!” they shouted.

Their cries echoed through the air, striking me like a physical blow.

I turned slowly in circles, my gaze wandering from face to face—young and old, wounded and strong, all united in this one moment. For us.

For Avery and myself.

The tears broke free, warm and uncontrollable. I was weeping.

Not out of grief. Not because of pain.

But because I simply couldn’t believe it. This unconditional love that was thrown at me, even though I didn’t deserve it.

Suddenly, the crowd parted. And there he was lying.

Avery. Pale. Motionless.

Surrounded by demon healers, working with tense expressions.

The world around me blurred as I lunged forward, and then my knees just sagged away.

I fell to the ground beside him, my trembling hands hovering over his body as if I could bring him back to me through sheer force of will.

“The king is not well… he’s struggling, my queen. He needs help,” said one of the men.

The healer’s voice was rough with concern, but I could barely hear it.

He was all that existed. His shallow breath. The pale lips. The blue shadows under his eyes that told me just how much he was suffering.

“Avery…” I said.

My whisper broke as I grasped his hand, icy cold and so weak. I pressed it against my forehead, a strangled sob escaping my chest.

“Please…”

I gasped, “Please don’t fight alone. I’m here… I’m here,” I whispered.

And then I felt them—the hands of the demons on my shoulders. Gentle. Supporting me.

As if they were saying, ~We are with you. We’re fighting with him.~

And in that moment… I finally understood what it meant not to be alone.

I could feel it. Deep inside of me, in the space that only our souls shared, I felt Avery. Not as king, not as warrior, but as the man I loved.

Fragile. Lost. Shrouded in a darkness that was not his own.

Timorax’s venom was eating through him. I saw it, not with my eyes, but with the bond between us, which~ now~ burned brighter than ever before.

Avery crouched in the shadows of his own mind, trembling, teeth clenched as the demon inside him laughed.

“You are nothing. You’ve never been enough,” it echoed inside him.

The words sounded like knife stabs, and I felt Avery believe every one of them.

But then… I reached out. Reached out to him.

Through the mate bond, through the invisible threads that connected us, I flooded to him. Not with magic, not with power, but with the only thing that Timorax would never understand: love.

“I’m with you, Avery,” I said.

My whisper wasn’t a sound, but a feeling that wrapped itself around him like warm arms.

And suddenly—he reached back.

I could feel his hands, invisible and yet so real, groping for our bond, clutching it as if it were the only anchor in a stormy sea.

He tugged himself up by it, inch by inch, while Timorax roared inside him, cursed, and tried to pull him back.

“She’ll hate you when she sees what you really are!” he screamed inside.

But Avery didn’t listen.

Because he could hear me, and I could hear him. His thoughts were a mess of pain and fear, but underneath was something that burned brighter than anything else.

His love. For his people. For the demons that were calling him.

For the family waiting for him. For me.

It was like a light in the darkness, and with each breath I took, it grew stronger. Our bond pulsed, as if countless golden threads were stretching between us, drawing us closer, holding us together.

“Come back to me. Fight, Avery,” I called out.

My words were not an order. They were a request. A pledge.

And slowly, so infinitely slowly, I could feel him tearing himself away from the darkness. He shook Timorax’s claws off him, took a step forward… then another.

His breathing became mine. His heartbeat synchronized itself with mine.

He clung to our memories, to the most beautiful moments that I had in my thoughts. He clung to them, to us.

Our love.

Suddenly… his hand twitched in mine. He was fighting with everything he had. Bravely… unshaken.

Not because he had to. But because he wanted to. Because he wanted ~us.~

And this was stronger than any poison. Stronger than any darkness. Stronger than anything.

“Fight, darling… Fight your way back to me,” I called out loudly, so fiercely that everything around me fell silent.