Chapter 271: Three Days, No Children, and a Very Suspicious Demon King
Chapter 271: Three Days, No Children, and a Very Suspicious Demon King
Elyn’s POV
Something suspicious was going on.
Three whole days.
Not one child had shown up at the palace in three whole days.
I liked peace. I genuinely did. But I could not bring myself to believe that the same children who had been showing up at the palace with the frequency and enthusiasm of people who lived here had simply stopped.
At first I thought it had something to do with Zorathys locking them in the cell.
Then I remembered that on the day they left, Aziren had spent a considerable amount of time talking about how cool Zorathys was and how interesting his shadows were. The others had gone on and on about how scary he was and how they thought they were going to die.
They said it with smiles on their faces.
Delighted smiles.
Only in the demon realm would I meet children who discussed their near-death experiences like highlights of a very fun day out. At some point I had genuinely doubted they had been scared at all — and then I remembered what happened two weeks ago and revised that opinion.
Either way. The point stood. Children who found Zorathys cool and scary and fascinating were not going to stop visiting because he locked them up once. If anything, that would make them more interested.
So it wasn’t the cell.
Which brought me back to the other conclusion.
My senses were tingling.
They always tingled like this when Zorathys had done something.
The evidence was straightforward. The day after the children left — the picnic had been lovely, for the record, Aziren had eaten so much he had fallen asleep in the grass and Azerion had eaten more than Aziren which should not have been physically possible — Zorathys had shown up in my office.
Smiling.
Not the lazy half-smile he produced when something mildly amused him. A full smile. His eyes weren’t even drooping. He didn’t yawn once.
I hadn’t said anything to him. I was still not saying anything to him beyond what was necessary, because he had spent two weeks avoiding me and had not apologized or explained and had then shown up to lock the children in an underground cell, and I was obviously not annoyed about any of that.
Obviously.
But the smiling had been suspicious.
And then Azerion had gone missing.
I had asked everyone. I had looked everywhere. No Azerion. No explanation. Just absence, which was deeply out of character for a demon child who had made it his personal mission to be present in my space at all times and eat everything in it.
The list of people Azerion had issues with was not long.
Rin was on it.
Zorathys was on it.
Zorathys was also smiling freely and not yawning and had been showing up to my office every day for three days attempting to convince me to spend time with him.
So.
I had prepared accordingly.
Maps hidden. Rin, Vaelory, and Morthen sent elsewhere. Office cleared. Me, sitting at my desk, waiting.
He showed up at noon exactly.
The shadows pooled first — that familiar dark spreading across the floor — and then he was simply there.
"Firefly," he said. "Quite a lovely morning, isn’t it?"
"It’s noon, Zorathys."
He paused. Looked at me. Then shrugged.
"There’s hardly a difference between morning and noon," he said. "Both are bright."
I released a deep sigh.
"What do you want?"
"It’s lovely weather for a stroll," he said pleasantly. "Or perhaps a picnic. Maybe I could show you around the demon realm. Or we could play a game — like you play with those—" a pause, "—pests."
Same thing he’d been doing for three days.
He had not apologized. He had not explained the two weeks. He had not addressed Azerion’s absence or the children’s sudden collective disappearance from the palace.
But he wanted to go on a picnic.
"Where is Azerion?" I asked.
He stared at me.
"Why do you always ask for him?"
"Because I haven’t seen him in three days and I’m worried," I said.
"He is a snake," Zorathys said. "He can take care of himself."
"He is a child."
Zorathys muttered something.
I couldn’t make it out. I didn’t try.
"How about that picnic?" he asked. "I can have Kethra prepare something you’d love."
"I’m not going on a picnic with you, Zorathys."
"But why?"
"What did you do to the children?" I asked. "Why are they no longer coming to the palace?"
He tilted his head. "You think it’s my fault they’re no longer coming?"
"If the shoe fits," I said.
Zorathys looked at me for a long moment.
"Firefly," he said. "What exactly do you like about the pests? You should be glad they no longer disturb you. Instead you ask about them every chance you get."
"Do I need a reason to like them?" I asked.
He nodded. "I think so. They are not particularly helpful. They only make noise and wreck havoc everywhere they go. So why do you like them?"
I looked at him.
"Why do you like your novels?" I asked.
He blinked.
"Because they are enjoyable," he said.
"Exactly," I said.
He stared at me.
"The children are enjoyable," I said. "They are funny and they are sweet and yes, they wreck havoc, but that is also part of it. It is never boring when they are here."
Zorathys was quiet for a moment.
"I am also enjoyable," he said.
I stared at him.
"And funny," he added.
"Zorathys."
"And never boring," he continued. "I am also never boring."
"You spent two weeks hiding from me in the same palace," I said.
He opened his mouth.
"Without explanation," I added.
He closed it.
"And you locked five children in an underground cell," I continued, "for disturbing your peace."
"They destroyed the office," he said.
"And you’re still not apologizing," I said.
He looked at me.
I looked back at him.
"I want them back," I said simply. "Whatever you did — undo it. I want the children back at the palace."
Zorathys said nothing.
His shadows moved.
"Firefly," he said finally.
"Zorathys," I replied.
"I only want to spend time with you," he said. It came out slightly less lazily than his usual delivery, which was the closest thing to earnest that Zorathys produced.
I stared at him.
"Then apologize," I said. "Explain the two weeks. And bring Azerion back."
He looked at me for a very long moment.
Then he yawned.
I was going to kill him.