The night in the demon realm did not simply fall.
It bloomed.
Sarisa had thought the capital was beautiful in daylight, with its black-glass towers and golden roads and airships drifting like thoughtful beasts above the terraces. But at night, the city became something else entirely.
The roads glowed brighter beneath their feet, veins of amber and violet magic running through the stone.
Lanterns floated from balconies in clusters, their flames shifting from blue to red to gold with the wind. High above, the tram lines curved through the darkness like threads of light sewn between towers.
The air smelled of smoke, rain-wet stone, spice, and night-blooming flowers.
Sarisa walked beside Lara with her hand tucked into the crook of Lara's arm, the restaurant's warmth still lingering in her body.
She was full, comfortable, and more content than she remembered feeling in years.
Lara had insisted on carrying the little box of sweets Talia had given them, pretending it was a noble burden, though Sarisa was fairly certain half the pastries would not survive until morning.
They should have gone home.
Or rather, to the hidden house.
Home.
The word had begun appearing in Sarisa's mind without permission. First as a whisper. Then as a possibility. Now as something dangerously close to truth.
Lara led her through a quieter lane, away from the restaurant district and down a narrow street lined with black stone walls and silver-leaved trees.
Sarisa glanced around, realizing only after several steps that this was not the route they had taken earlier.
"Lara."
"Mm?"
"Are not teleporting us back home."
Lara's mouth curved, and the look immediately made Sarisa suspicious.
"No."
Sarisa stopped walking. "Why?"
Lara turned to face her, dark eyes bright with secrets and nightlight. "Wait. I have to show you somewhere."
Sarisa narrowed her eyes. "That sounds exactly like something you say before doing something reckless."
"I have never been reckless in my life."
Sarisa simply looked at her.
Lara sighed. "Fine. Rarely."
"Lara."
"Occasionally."
"Lara."
"Constantly, but with charm."
Sarisa tried to remain stern. She failed when Lara grinned at her like that, wild and warm and far too pleased with herself.
Before Sarisa could ask another question, Lara bent, slid one arm beneath her knees and the other around her back, and lifted her.
Sarisa gasped, grabbing at Lara's shoulders as the world tilted. "What the heck, Lara?"
Lara laughed, low and bright, the sound carrying through the quiet lane.
"Don't worry."
"That is exactly what worrying people say!"
"Then worry prettily."
"You are impossible."
"And you are very light."
"That is not the point!"
Lara's only answer was to start running.
Sarisa's stomach dropped.
The lane blurred around them at once. Lara moved with impossible speed, boots striking stone in powerful, effortless rhythm, body sure beneath Sarisa's weight.
The city became streaks of gold and shadow. Lanterns whipped past overhead. The wind caught Sarisa's hair and tore it loose from the edges of her cloak, sending silver strands flying behind them like a banner.
"Lara!"
"What?"
"Slow down!"
"You're safe."
"That is not the same as comfortable!"
Lara laughed again and ran faster.
Sarisa cursed into Lara's shoulder, which only made the awful woman laugh harder. She should have been frightened.
A part of her was, perhaps, but not truly. Not deep down. The mating bond thrummed between them, warm and steady, and beneath the speed, beneath the wind and the reckless rush of motion, Sarisa felt Lara's absolute certainty wrapped around her like a second pair of arms.
She would not drop her.
She would not let her fall.
So Sarisa stopped fighting after a few seconds and held on properly instead, one arm around Lara's neck, the other clutching the front of her jacket.
The city flashed by in fragments: a bridge of dark metal, a staircase lit by blue fire, a rooftop garden, a marketplace closing for the night, startled faces turning too late to see them clearly.
Then Lara jumped.
Sarisa's scream was immediate, sharp, and deeply undignified.
They soared across a gap between two elevated walkways, the whole glittering city yawning beneath them for one terrifying breath. Lara landed smoothly on the other side and kept running as if this was entirely normal.
"I hate you," Sarisa gasped.
"No, you don't."
"I might start."
"You won't."
"I am considering it."
"You're holding me tighter."
"That is survival!"
"Mm. Convenient."
Sarisa buried her face against Lara's neck for a moment because if she looked down again she might actually bite her.
Lara smelled like night air, smoke, and the faint trace of the restaurant's wine. Her pulse was steady. Infuriating. Not even slightly strained.
The streets climbed after that.
Higher and higher, away from the districts and the crowds, up old stone paths that seemed to wind along the dark side of the mountain itself.
The air grew cooler. The noise of the city softened beneath them, becoming distant music, laughter, and the hum of magic. The lights spread wider below, no longer surrounding them but falling away.
At last, Lara slowed.
Then stopped.
Sarisa lifted her head.
They stood on a cliff overlook high above the demon capital.
For a moment, she could not speak.
The city stretched beneath them in all directions, vast and radiant against the night. Towers rose like black crystal spears from terraces of gold light.
Bridges glowed between them, curving elegantly over streets and rivers. The black lake lay beyond the lower districts, reflecting everything: towers, lanterns, airships, moons, stars. It looked as if the sky had shattered and fallen into water.
Beyond the city, the demon realm opened in great dark waves of mountain, forest, and valley.
Far in the distance, rivers of lava glowed red beneath cliffs, not violent but slow and ancient, like veins in the earth.
Above them, the sky was impossibly clear, stars scattered in dense silver clusters Sarisa had never seen from the Celestian palace.
It was beautiful.
So beautiful that her chest hurt.
Lara did not put her down at once. She held Sarisa in her arms, breathing quietly, her face turned toward the city as if sharing not just the view but some hidden part of herself.
"This," Lara said, softer than before, "is where I used to come when I wanted to remember why leaving was hard."
Sarisa looked at her.
The night painted Lara in silver and gold, softening the sharpness of her face without stealing it.
Her eyes were fixed on the capital below, but Sarisa could feel the memory in her through the bond.
The younger Lara who had wanted to run. The girl who built a hidden house and escaped to bakeries and rooftops.
Sarisa's heart twisted.
"Lara," she whispered.
Lara looked down at her then, and the smile that touched her mouth was small, tender, devastating.
"Beautiful, right?"
Sarisa nodded, unable to find the right words.
Lara's gaze moved over her face, lingering there with open, shameless affection.
"Not as beautiful as you, though."
Sarisa stared.
Then, despite the height, the cold, the enormous city glowing beneath them, she laughed.
Softly at first, then helplessly, because Lara had carried her at terrifying speed up a mountain just to show her the most breathtaking view she had ever seen and still somehow decided to flirt like a menace.
"You are ridiculous," Sarisa said.
"Yes."
"And romantic."
Lara's expression shifted, almost shy beneath the smirk. "Only for you."
That ruined her more than the compliment had.
Sarisa touched Lara's cheek, thumb brushing the curve of her jaw. "Put me down."
Lara obeyed, setting her carefully on her feet but keeping one arm around her waist until Sarisa found her balance.
Sarisa did not move away.
Instead she leaned into her, looking out over the demon capital, over this realm that had been painted as monstrous in every Celestian lesson and had turned out to be more alive, more warm, more free than anything she had known.
"It's beautiful," Sarisa said.
Lara's arm tightened around her. "I wanted you to see it like this first. Not from the palace. Not from some official balcony. From here."
"Why?"
Lara was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "Because this is where I decided, years ago, that even if I didn't want the crown, I still loved this place."
Sarisa turned into her fully.
"And now?"
Lara looked down at her, the city shining behind them. "Now I wanted you to know what I'm asking you to be part of."
The words slipped into Sarisa gently, then rooted deep.
She rose onto her toes and kissed Lara beneath the stars, with the whole demon capital burning bright below them like a promise neither of them had to say aloud.