Chapter 8

A-ran stood in front of his office window. Motionless, his cold gaze plunged into the greenery that flourished under the glass roof of the inner garden, he looked like a leopard ready to pounce on its prey at any moment. A quick knock at his door told him that his secretary had returned.

"Come in," he said without even batting an eyelash.

The twenty-something demon complied and slowly approached the prince from a safe distance, terrified as he was by the dark aura emanating from him.

"Lord Jangta has regained consciousness," he began his list of information he needed to convey. "His health is not in danger, he just needs a good night's rest. The castle doctor gave him some painkillers to help him sleep as he was complaining of muscle pain."

He paused for a moment to watch the blonde-haired demon's reaction, then resumed when he saw that he remained unmoved.

"Emperor Aroslan has reacted as you predicted. He has warned against any attack on Lord Jangta's physical integrity that might lead to retaliation on his part," the secretary finished, pushing his glasses up his nose in a gesture repeated so many times that it had become unconscious.

He waited for a moment without saying anything, waiting for an answer of some kind. But the latter didn't move a muscle. The aura surrounding him had grown denser, signifying the deep anger that the demon ruminated within him, but which he kept from coming out for obvious reasons. His rank did not allow him to show any emotion in such a diplomatically sensitive situation.

The secretary cleared his throat before resuming, understanding that he would not get an answer from the demon.

"I have conveyed your message to Princess Yousmail Namar of Amadea. She has been informed that you are expecting her in your office as soon as possible."

This time the demon turned his head.

"Thank you Maek. You may withdraw, that will be all for now.

Hesitating for a moment, the man named Maek finally bowed before heading for the exit. It was none of his business, after all, if Amadea and Ornikarn fell out over a bedtime story! The intergalaxy had seen it all before and it would get over it! It would have to get over it anyway because he had no intention of interfering between these two heirs of immeasurable power. He cared too much about his own life for that!

Once the door closed on the servant who had just left the office, A-ran sighed and moved to one of the leather armchairs that occupied an alcove in his office reserved for high-level discussions. He poured himself a glass of Chawskey, the traditional alcohol produced for millennia on Ornikarn. Slowly he took a sip.

He was mentally preparing himself for a very difficult exercise. He had to remain calm and courteous as much as possible in front of a person he wanted to see cold at his feet. He had to control his every move and thought so as not to succumb to the urge to kill this person here and now. This was extremely difficult for someone as passionate as he was. And today he was extremely passionate. The news of the vampire's deadly attack on the little angel had made his blood run through his veins. He was dying to do exactly the same to the vampire princess.

But he absolutely had to take it upon himself. To protect him. He had to do it to protect him. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, his glass on the armrest. He watched the wisps of wood that adorned his ceiling as he took a deep breath. The silence of the room helped him to calm down and regain control of his emotions. He took another sip of Chawskey when someone knocked on the door. Without waiting for an answer, the newcomer entered and the sound of her high heels on the floor told the demon that she was approaching him.

"Why are you drinking alone? You should have waited for me," the vampire put her arm on the back of the chair the demon was sitting in.

She leaned forward to catch the demon's eye, but he remained fixed in front of her as if observing an imaginary scene. The intoxicating scent of the Amadean princess made A-ran nauseous and he fought back a grimace.

Seeing that he didn't react, the vampire sat down on the arm of the chair and slid her hand from the back to the prince's shoulder with a suave gesture. Leaning forward a little more, she whispered in his ear.

"This is the first time you have invited me to your suite since the ceremony began. Have you finally decided to stop resisting my charms?"

The caress of the princess' breath made the demon shudder with disgust. Everything about her revolted him. Ever since she'd arrived in Yerpena, she'd acted as if she were already the designated candidate for the wedding, spreading her possessive aura around Seiran, who had done his best to ignore her advances but it hadn't really worked. Asserting her dominance over all the other guests, she had created a poisonous climate in the castle where everyone was either submissive to her or an enemy. But diplomatic relations were much more subtle than that, and her attitude had created a lot of tension between the guests.

But that was not surprising from Amadea's representative. Vampires only knew how to use direct force, whatever the situation. Very similar to the behaviour of demons, which explained why Amadea and Ornikarn had such a good relationship. And certainly, his uncle and his mother had given her to understand that she was already unofficially chosen to be the future wife of the crown prince.

Just the thought of it sent a wave of anger through A-ran, who clutched his hand over his glass to keep from exploding. He breathed in again, forcing himself to keep his tone of voice calm enough not to create a diplomatic incident.

"Why did you invite Prince Jangta to your living room for tea this morning?" he finally asked her, still impassive.

The princess didn't answer immediately. She watched the prince for a moment, then stood up and walked over to the demon's lap, where she sat facing him, her knees on either side of his hips. Her long, red, low-cut dress stretched to expose her upper thigh. Her cold skin glistened in the dim light of the alcove lamps.

With a victorious smile on her lips, she put her arms around Seiran's neck and linked them behind him. Seiran gritted his teeth but allowed himself to be held. He knew he would win in the end. There was no need to rush the fall.

"To humiliate him, of course! What could be more pleasurable than to see these beings so proud and sure of their power being crushed without them being able to lift a finger to defend themselves!" she replied, seeming to gloat at the memory of this morning.

Her smile had become carnivorous.

"But you ruined it by sending your chief guard to arrest me in the middle of the action," she complained with an exaggeratedly sad face. "Why did you do that?"

"I never sent my guard to intervene. He was simply passing by and intervened in a situation that he felt was dangerous to the life of one of the guests," he replied placidly.

"Don't be childish Seiran, I know very well that you sent him to stop me," the vampire whispered into the prince's ear again, subtly pressing her chest against the demon's muscular torso. "You can't play innocent with me, I know perfectly well how the arcana of intergalactic nobility work."

"You have no proof of what you're saying," the demon retorted in a tone as cold as ever. "The only order I gave my guard was to ensure the safety of my guests, nothing more.

The princess lost her smile. The crown prince was quite resistant to her bold attempt at seduction and she couldn't understand why. First of all, she was convinced of the superiority of her beauty to all the other guests. Secondly, she did not see why the prince didn't do everything to satisfy her. He risked damaging relations between their two countries. But he had no interest in doing so. His uncle and mother had made it clear that they wanted her and Prince Seiran to be united. So why was he so close to the idea of associating with her?

"I'm angry, you know," she began with the victim-like air she used to trap her prey. "You interrupted me in the middle of my game, I was in a very bad mood when your guard came to pick up the punk with his girl. I was having a good time even though he was a bit annoying. It was funny to see him all polished up in front of me, unable to defend himself properly!"

She had said this as she slid her index finger down the demon's torso to his waist. For the first time, Seiran turned his eyes to meet hers. She took the intensity of his gaze as a success of her seduction game. At last, it was working!

"He said something very, very funny to me. You know what he said to me?" she said without waiting for an answer, a smile as victorious as it was hungry on her lips.

At last, the most sought-after man in the intergalaxy, the most beautiful and intelligent demon, the most powerful, was hers. At last, she would be able to assert her maximum dominance over the other guests and raise the vampire banner to the top of the intergalaxy, reviving her people's dream of empire. In the end, she would be able to achieve her greatest goal, the one that would crown the culmination of her life!

"He told me you two were dating! Can you imagine the audacity? He, a little angel of nothing! To be in a relationship with you! Being the object of your love! It's so ridiculous it's laughable!"

The vampire couldn't hold back her laughter as she said this, so jubilant was she over her victory that she thought she had won. Not for a second did she suspect that the depth of the prince's gaze was caused by anger, not desire.

"Yousmail," he began in an icy voice. "There is another person who is angry."

The vampire suddenly stopped in her fit of laughter and looked at the demon with incomprehension.

"Who?" she asked out of politeness as she didn't care about that information.

"The Emperor of Egea, Aroslan Naeg A'Sahel. He made a statement a few minutes ago, and he is furious."

The princess tilted her head to the side, a look of incomprehension on her face.

"And what's that supposed to mean to me?" she asked, genuinely confused.

Seiran straightened up and pushed her by the shoulders, forcing her off her seat and awkwardly upright under the demon's pressure.

"Don't underestimate the angels, Yousmail. They are extremely powerful," he replied as he rose to his feet, his glass of Chawskey in his hand.

"More powerful than Amadea and Ornikarn combined?" she asked as she poured herself a glass of Chawskey.

Seiran sighed inwardly. Yousmail was smart but too smug. By believing themselves superior to everyone else, vampires would end up paying a high price for their misplaced pride.

"Just because they are peaceful and shun conflict at all costs does not mean they are weak. The angels are and will remain, the most militarily imposing intergalactic power because their army is modern, highly trained, and they have a wisdom of combat thanks to all the knowledge accumulated over the centuries."

He turned to the vampire who was sipping her liquor, looking at him with a bored expression. She had no idea why he was suddenly talking about the greatness of angels. Weren't demons their sworn enemies?

"But they would be totally unable to defend themselves against an armed coalition of several mother planets, everyone knows that!"

The vampire had just put her finger on a subject that had been underlying intergalactic relations for some time. The creation of a coalition of mother planets powerful enough to defeat the angels militarily. A blitzkrieg against a sleeping giant who is disturbing. An idea that Seiran found suicidal, if not completely crazy. He who passionately loved angelic culture couldn't bear the very idea that his people would want to slaughter them with impunity. Especially since they would lose this war.

"Do you really think angels are that weak?" he asked the princess.

"Seiran, who could be powerful enough to stand against a coalition of all the greatest powers in the intergalaxy? Even if they were the most powerful, it wouldn't change the fact that they would be swallowed up by such a colossal strike force!"

The vampire had approached the prince with her domineering gait. This conversation was annoying her. She had not come to discuss war tactics but to seduce the crown prince.

"Your ignorance of angels and their power will be your undoing," the demon replied with the same look of disdain that the vampire wore.

The disdain in her prey's eyes made the vampire hesitate.

"And what do you intend to do? The coalition is already underway, and our marriage will be the official event of it all. There is nothing more you can do, Prince Seiran. »

She had breathed these last words into the face of the demon who towered over her by half a head. He smiled. His plan had worked. Carefully thought out since his father's death when he was fourteen, it had required a great deal of patience and ingenuity.

For years, Seiran had led his uncle, who had succeeded his father on the throne until Seiran's enthronement at the age of twenty-two, and his mother, whom he suspected of having murdered his father, to believe that he was their pawn. Docile, he had spent his entire adolescence flashing them his polite smile and pretending to follow their demands to the letter while he worked to deconstruct all their plans in the shadows. Playing a dangerous game in which he risked no less than his life, he was delighted to see it pay off today.

A tyrant never suspects the most submissive of his elements of one day starting a revolt. By anaesthetising their suspicion, day after day with ever more submission, the very idea that Seiran could disobey them had become unthinkable to them. But he had done everything in anticipation of this very day: his coronation. The day he would officially take over from his father, ending the regency of his idiot uncle who had only women, power, and money on his mind. The day when he would turn the table over, much to the surprise of his relatives, was fast approaching and he had to contain his impatience.

He could only do this because he had convinced his uncle and the close council not to sign any preliminary commitment with the vampires concerning his marriage. Assuring them of his docility, he had skilfully managed to convince them to keep it all off the record until the day of the wedding. This extremely clever maneuver had allowed him the freedom to choose whomever he wanted as a partner since the vampires wouldn't be able to avail themselves of an unofficial commitment.

And since, thanks to the rules of the Ornikarn nobility, Seiran had already been officially crown prince since his birthday two weeks earlier, no one could sign an agreement concerning his engagement without his permission. This subtlety that made the official ceremony a masquerade for intergalactic nobility, Seiran had used with the utmost intelligence.

That is why he had no trouble answering the vampire, to whom he smiled with all his teeth.

"There's nothing binding us to each other, as far as I know. It is up to me to take you as my wife on the day of the ceremony, Yousmaïl. And I may well make another decision on that day, who knows!"

The vampire turned pale. She began to panic inside. Her mother had assured her that the commitment was already in place between the two governments. So why was the prince telling her that he could question it so easily? What exactly was going on?

"And on the second point you made, what Lord Jangta told you about us," the demon continued, savouring his victory. "It's absolutely true. He and I are a couple and I am madly in love with him. So I'm giving you some valuable advice: get your hands off him, or our wedding will never happen. Keep your hands to yourself and don't offend the Emperor of Angels anymore or you may pay for it with your rank."

The declaration left the princess speechless. Her brain was in turmoil. Trying to put together the crucial information she had just received in such a short time, she lost her composure and wandered around, trying with difficulty to formulate a grammatically correct question.

"You can't do this, Seiran! My mother won't forgive you!

Seiran smiled and turned to the glass window that overlooked the small indoor garden.

"Why would you choose Egea over Amadea? They are your sworn enemies! It doesn't make sense! Seiran you are completely crazy!"

"It is you who are all completely insane for taking the angels for fools and weaklings!" he retorted, still controlling his anger as much as possible. "Your desire for revenge and power will lead you to your ruin. You will not drag the demons with you into this suicidal madness! I won't let you!"

He had to keep the diplomatic aspect as much as possible and make the vampire believe that what he wanted was to protect the demons from a bitter defeat. If he put his feelings first, he risked damaging Niris's cover, thus putting him in danger. He was playing a dangerous game, but he wanted to put the consequences on him rather than on the angel because he knew he would be able to handle them. It was a balancing act where the slightest breath could drag him into the depths of nothingness. He was willing to accept the risk, but he refused to let Niris be dragged down with him.

"Seiran, you can't do that, you can't disown us like that! You'll turn the whole intergalaxy against you!" the vampire had raised her voice in panic.

It was time to end the meeting. He quickly tapped his chip, and Eviris who was stationed at the entrance to the office entered the room.

"Your Highness, the Prince no longer desires your presence here. He requests that you leave," the guard addressed the princess with the same mechanical attitude with which he had intervened this morning.

The vampire struggled, refusing to accept her defeat. She couldn't be thrown out like that without knowing that the demon would be playing in the palm of her hand for the rest of her life.

"No! let me go!"

She tried to break free of the guard's firm grip on her arm with her single hand. Surprised by the strength of the guard who was able to resist her vampiric strength, the princess had no choice but to let herself be dragged out of the office.

"I will tell your mother everything! I'll tell her that you're in love with an angel and that you're willing to sabotage the coalition and our marriage! I won't let you!"

A furious and panting princess was thrown out of the door. Closing behind him with a polite apology, the guard turned and walked towards the prince.

Seiran placed his empty glass on the small pedestal table beside him.

"Your Highness, would you like to see your mother before she goes to speak to her?"

"It's all right, Eviris, I have the situation under control. She can go and tell my mother whatever she wants, it won't change anything," he replied. "It'll just make things a bit more complicated."

He sighed and ran his hand through his blond hair. He'd had no choice but to confirm the angel's words or the vampire would have lashed out at him with the utmost cruelty. He absolutely had to protect him from her destructive greed. A small smile appeared on his lips when he thought of the angel. He found it adorable that he didn't recognize him when they first met and even afterward.

At first, he had intended to reveal his identity to him, but seeing the sincerity with which the little prince with the appearance of a porcelain doll spoke to him, he hadn't had the heart to break that trust. And then he had quickly fallen in love with this little being who was as delicate as he was refined. Without having the time to realise what was happening to him, his heart had capsized with a power he had no control over. How could he reveal his secret to him when he was so innocently offering himself to him?

But this could not go on. Today, his life had been put in danger because of him. Because he didn't know who he was, he had been confronted by a fierce enemy and had even made the situation worse by trying to defend himself. Seiran could not bear to see him face such danger in ignorance of the reason for it. It would only put him in even greater danger. So he had decided today to reveal his identity to him and to tell him his feelings as well.

The situation was becoming tense, they had to move forward together or they would both be the victims of this bloody chess game. Especially since Niris was in a much more dangerous situation because of his cover. He couldn't risk exposing him to something he couldn't handle afterward.

"Where is Niris?" he asked his guard, who was also his best friend and the one with whom he had worked out his plan from the start.

"He's gone back to his suite," replied the one who had the prince's full confidence.

Seiran took his jacket and headed for the door.

"Watch the entrance to my suite, I'm going to visit him. Don't let anyone in while I'm gone. And place a guard at the entrance to the office as well."

"Yes, your highness!"

With these last orders, Seiran left the room followed by the head of his guard who took the same route for a moment to his chambers.