The front door closed softly behind Azaelia as she stepped through the doorway of her abode with the familiar scent of brewed ashleaf tea lingering faintly in the air.
Usually, the scent helped her relax.
It let her know Mika'Ella had returned home from the academy safely.
Tonight it did nothing.
"You've been gone longer than expected."
Azaelia's gaze shifted toward the living room.
Mika'Ella sat near the center table with one leg crossed over the other, a half-finished cup resting between her hands while concern lingered visibly across her expression.
She had clearly been waiting.
"When I returned home, you were gone," Mika'Ella continued carefully. "And Alex was unconscious under some disgusting dome that made my skin itch."
Azaelia removed her coat slowly before finally responding.
"I went to visit the Nocthyrion clan to inform them about Alex."
Mika'Ella's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Do you have a death wish?" she asked flatly. "Something clearly happened there. What's bothering you?"
Unfortunately, her daughter inherited her observation skills from Azaelia.
This made hiding things from her troublesome.
Azaelia said nothing.
And that, in turn, became an answer itself.
Mika'Ella slowly lowered the cup afterward.
"Even though it was a male voice, I heard the speech," she murmured quietly. "You know people are talking about her everywhere now, right?"
Azaelia remained silent.
Mika'Ella exhaled softly afterward before leaning back slightly into the couch.
"At first I didn't even realize it was Alex," she admitted. "But the longer she spoke…the more obvious it became."
A faint crease formed between her brows afterward.
"She challenged the Monarchs directly."
"She challenged the Nether Realm," Azaelia corrected calmly.
"That doesn't make it sound any better, mother."
This time Azaelia didn't disagree.
Silence settled briefly throughout the house afterward while faint music from the outer Lust districts drifted softly through the walls.
Azaelia finally moved further into the room before lowering herself into one of the nearby chairs.
Only then did Mika'Ella's expression sharpen more seriously.
"How bad was it?"
The question lingered heavier than the others.
Because unlike most demons, Mika'Ella understood enough about the situation to recognize when silence itself became worrying.
Azaelia remained quiet for several moments before finally responding.
"Lucifer appeared before the elders personally."
Mika'Ella froze.
"What?"
Azaelia leaned back slowly into the chair.
"The Lucifer?"
"There's only one."
"That isn't funny."
"I wasn't joking."
For the first time since Azaelia entered the house, genuine unease crossed Mika'Ella's face.
Because Monarchs did not appear personally without reason.
Especially not Lucifer.
Disbelief lingered visibly across her expression before she slowly exhaled beneath her breath.
"That bad, huh."
"Worse."
The room fell quiet again.
"Why would Lucifer appear before you and the elders?" Mika'Ella finally asked.
"He came to nominate the Nocthyrion clan," Azaelia replied quietly. "But he overheard what I was telling the elders."
Mika'Ella looked toward her mother immediately afterward.
"That can't be good."
"It isn't." Azaelia's expression hardened faintly. "He now sees Alex as entertainment."
That single word darkened the atmosphere within the room instantly.
Entertainment.
Everybody in the Nether Realm understood what happened when beings like Lucifer became entertained.
People died.
Kingdoms collapsed.
Entire bloodlines disappeared.
Not out of hatred, but out of boredom.
"Since he knows Alex is under my care, he decided to place the Nocthyrions as collateral of sorts."
Mika'Ella blinked slowly.
"Collateral?"
"He told the clan to protect Alex." Azaelia's eyes narrowed faintly afterward. "Because if the game ends too early, Lucifer loses interest."
Silence settled once more between them afterward.
Mika'Ella stared quietly down into the cup in her hands while thoughts visibly moved behind her eyes.
"That's insane."
"Yes."
"And the elders agreed to this?"
"They didn't exactly have the luxury of refusing."
That answer alone carried enough weight.
Azaelia sighed quietly afterward before her gaze drifted toward the staircase leading deeper into the house.
Alex still remained unconscious upstairs.
Completely unaware that the entire Nether Realm now knew his existence.
That the Monarchs themselves had begun paying attention to him openly.
For a while, Azaelia allowed herself to believe there was still time.
Time to prepare him properly.
Time to explain the Nether Realm.
Time to help him understand what he truly carried before powerful beings noticed him.
After the speech, that illusion shattered completely.
Mika'Ella noticed the shift in her mother's expression almost immediately.
"You're worried, mother?"
Azaelia scoffed softly.
"Who wouldn't be?"
"No," Mika'Ella replied quietly while studying her carefully. "Nothing worries you. This is different."
Azaelia fell silent again.
Because it was different.
Baelgor changed things.
Alex's speech changed things even more.
But Lucifer appearing personally?
That shattered whatever feeling of safety still remained around Alex's existence.
Now the Monarchs were watching openly.
The academy would become the most dangerous it had been in years.
Every powerful bloodline would arrive at the next cycle, curious.
Mika'Ella leaned back slightly afterward while running one thumb slowly along the edge of the cup within her hands.
"The academy was already brutal before this," she murmured quietly. "Now every bloodline is going to enter that place looking for her."
Azaelia said nothing.
Because denying it would be pointless.
Mika'Ella lowered her eyes briefly afterward.
"Alex isn't ready for that."
The words lingered heavily within the room.
Because they were true.
The academy was not simply a place for learning.
It was where bloodlines measured one another.
Where future clan leaders established dominance.
Where monsters hid behind noble titles and smiling faces.
And now Alex would walk directly into the center of it all, carrying attention from the Monarchs themselves.
Azaelia slowly closed her eyes for a brief moment.
Protecting Alex once meant keeping him beneath the notice of the Nether Realm.
That was no longer possible.
Now he would have to survive being seen instead.
And somehow that terrified her far more.
Mika'Ella stared quietly toward the staircase leading upstairs afterward.
"When do you think he'll wake up?"
Azaelia opened her eyes again.
"I don't know. Only time will tell."