Chapter 58: Chapter 58

IRIS

Avery looked at me with those beautiful violet eyes, which gleamed differently from usual. Soft golden seams ran through his irises like fine rays of sunlight lost in their deep purple color.

Something I’d never seen on him before. Something indescribable that left me breathless.

He blinked a few times as I stared at him with wide eyes, unable to take my gaze off him.

Then, like a gentle breeze brushing against my soul, I heard his voice in my head.

“My love…” Avery whispered.

A choked sound escaped me as I heard him. It had been too long since I’d heard that tender, familiar voice.

Too long since I had felt this closeness to him. The mate bond between us pulsated so strongly that no words seemed necessary.

I could feel him inside me, his heartbeat merging with mine, every breath he took, every fleeting thought that flitted through his mind.

“Avery…” I whispered, my voice barely more than a breath.

But before I could say anything more, he pulled me close.

A sob burst out of me, followed by tears I couldn’t hold back. My hands reached for him, clutching his back, as if I feared he might fall into that darkness again.

I pressed against him so tightly that I could feel his heartbeat against my chest, the steady rhythm telling me that this was real. That he really was here.

His arms wrapped around me tighter, a protective shell of warmth and trust. One of his hands slid into my hair while the other nestled deep into my back, as if he wanted to touch every inch of me, as if he needed to make sure I was here as much as I did.

His breath brushed warmly across my temple and I smelled the familiar scent that surrounded him, a scent that tasted of home.

Slowly, I detached myself from him with just a breath, enough to see his face.

His eyes searched mine, questioningly, longingly.

Then, as if he could no longer resist, he leaned down.

The first touch of our lips was gentle, almost hesitant, as if we both feared breaking the magic of the moment. But then the kiss deepened, becoming more demanding, hungrier.

His lips moved against mine, full of unsaid words and longing. I felt everything dissolve inside me… the fear, the loneliness, and nothing remained but him.

Just him. Only ~us~.

When we finally parted, we were both breathing heavily, our foreheads still resting against each other.

His hands cupped my face, thumbs caressing my cheeks as if he wanted to memorize every detail.

“I thought I’d lost you,” I whispered, my voice fragile.

He smiled, that familiar, soft smile that belonged only to me.

“I’m here…” he replied softly.

My eyes were glued to him as he gently looked over my face. But then he glanced around him.

It was so quiet, even though there were so many people around us. Avery’s eyes glided over the crowd as they looked at him hopefully.

Until his gaze stopped on Ava.

She looked at him with tears in her eyes, while Bael embraced her tenderly.

“You took your damn time,” she said, her voice fragile.

Avery’s mouth twitched in a soft smile, as if to say, “I know, little sister.”

Ava rushed towards him, her legs giving way as she fell to her knees before him. With trembling hands, she reached for him, pulling him towards her with a strength that only sibling love could give.

Rough, impetuous, and full of unspoken words.

Avery let it happen, his own arms wrapped around her first hesitantly, then desperately, as if only now realizing that she was really there.

Her breath hit his neck in hot, uneven bursts. She sobbed, a broken sound that seemed to come straight from her soul, and her fingers clawed into his back.

“You took your fucking time,” she repeated between tears, her voice so quiet that only we could hear her.

The crowd went wild around us, and Avery looked over their faces again.

They celebrated him… they celebrated their King.

And I could feel the pain inside him. The stinging in his chest for what he had done to them.

The terrible sadness that spread through him.

“It’s okay, Avery… we know about the demon,” I reassured him.

His eyes shot to me, filled with panic.

“I should never have allowed this,” he replied.

Abaddon had already destroyed too much. He’d taken far too much from us.

And he had nearly succeeded in destroying us completely. The death of my parents and Avery’s mother was only the first attempt to wipe out all the good in this world.

But now, after the loss of King Elior, Abaddon had smuggled his servant into my Mate.

And he had almost managed to break him.

While we were all still mourning, Abaddon had already been celebrating.

All those banished demons, those creatures who had fallen in battle… they were nothing but collateral damage in his war.

Families shattered, friendships torn apart, souls destroyed—all just a means to an end.

I could feel it in Avery, this gnawing sense of failure that was eating him from the inside. The shame that seethed inside him was like red-hot lava, slowly burning him.

His heart was so heavy with guilt that it dragged me down with it, as if I were plunging into the abyss of his despair.

But then Devas stepped forward, and Avery looked up at him.

His breath hitched, his muscles tensed as if he couldn’t withstand the gaze of his closest friend.

His disappointment in himself was so deep that it pierced me like a knife.

Devas sank to one knee without breaking eye contact, and I felt Avery tremble inside with anxiety, with disgrace, with the anticipation of reproach he felt he deserved.

But then… Devas smiled.

Gently. With pride. With a gleam in his eyes, as if he were standing not before a broken king, but before the man he had always known, the man he had never given up on.

Slowly, Devas turned to face the other demons, who were waiting in silence.

Then he raised his voice, clear and confident. “The king is back!”

A murmur ran through the crowd.

“He has defeated Timorax!” Devas shouted.

And suddenly the cheers erupted, a deafening roar of joy so loud that I winced.

Young and old jumped to their feet, laughing faces, exuberant shouts, hands clasped together.

They danced as though the battle had already been won, as though the darkness had never existed.

Avery just stared at them as if he no longer understood the world.

Ava rose, pulled Bael close, and the two disappeared into the tumult of dancing bodies as the crowd merged into a single, living circle, a symbol of unity that left me breathless.

Slowly, Avery turned towards me, his brows still drawn together, his thoughts muddled and uncertain.

~They… aren’t mad at me,~ he said to me in my thoughts.

I shook my head.

~They are good creatures, Avery. They could never hate you,~ I explained to him.

But we both knew what happened should never have been. We lost the battle with Abaddon the moment we set off for Portus Mali.

When he tried to break Ava, Timorax nestled himself inside her. Once we returned to Antaris, the demon nestled in Avery.

And this almost killed us all. Abaddon weakened all of us.

Avery looked into the crowd again, and then, his eyes widened.

Devas walked towards us, Evangeline at his side. She was calm, her presence radiating an almost otherworldly serenity.

When she stood before Avery, she bowed deeply.

“You saved me,” he said to her, his voice raspy.

But Evie just shook her head. “No, my king... I just helped you a little,” she replied with a smile.

Suddenly I was flooded with images of Avery, his parents, trapped in that darkness, and then... this warmth from the being who was protecting them.

An angel... Evangeline was an angel. My breath caught in my throat.

But Devas’s voice snapped me back to the present. His tone was grave and urgent.

“Tell him,” he told Evangeline.

She looked from me to Avery. Her smiling face turned serious.

“We need to talk, my king. Your kingdom will fall... if we don’t act,” she announced.