Chapter 4

Lillian Pov

The party is finally in full swing. Zira is wearing a purple gown like her cousins, her black hair is set free with beautiful flowers on it. She is now looking so beautiful, happy, carefree and just being a child. She and the boys are dancing together, rolling around like they normally do during parties. The songs are now more kids friendly and you know what Octavia did? She forced Alma to serve us food and Octavia changed her mind so many times just to make Amla walk all around and still yet she didn’t eat the food and settled for water. Alma looks frustrated, and Asher is not even looking at her. His attention is solely on her and Octavia’s conversation. I wanted to laugh so bad, Octavia is such a savage and I am genuinely happy she is here because she made my princess happy. 

“She looks happy,” Octavia said, looking at Zira. Zira was laughing terribly because Hayden was tickling her. Hayden loves Zira, and I wondered maybe it’s because his siblings are boys.

“She does,” Asher agreed, smiling. Alma looked down, looking so angry. 

“Do you know Zira loves bright colors?” Octavia asked, looking at him. I also look at him, sipping my drink.

“I didn’t, but Lillian told me,” he said. She frowned. 

“And you allowed her to wear that gown?” she asked. 

“I thought it’s because she is a demon princess,” he said and honestly, he sounds so stupid. Ever since he came back, he just changed. 

“You thought, or she thought?” she asked. And Asher went silent, confirming her thoughts. Octavia shook her head, speechless.

“Did you love her?” she asked, and I also waited for his response.

“What? No, of course not,” he said, disgust slipping through his tone, and that made me happy because I still loved him. He is my first love anyway, because I never loved Killian, my mate.

“Then why will you listen to her over Lillian?” she asked. 

“Because she helped me conquer my father and I believe she is more experienced than me,” he said. Octavia nods her head.

“I understand that, but you should be able to tell your wrong from right. In kingdom matters, you can listen to her, but anything concerning your child she has no say, and she is not your bodyguard. She can’t be following you everywhere. She seems to me like a creep. The attention you are giving her is obviously getting into her brain, so cut it off a little,” she said, talking to him like a mother.

“I understand,” he replied. Octavia smiled.

“Go play some romantic jams,” she instructed Alma, and she left like an obedient servant. Feels terrible to be treated like a slave.

“Why romantic music?” he asked. 

“It’s for you and Lillian to dance,” she said. He turned to me.

“Do you want to dance?” he asked. I look at Alma, and I know I will regret this later, but fuck it.

“Sure,” I said, turning to him. He took my hand and walked to the dance floor. The children have all taken their seats, and it’s just us on the dance floor. I can see Alma's eyes digging through my skull, but I will ignore her for now and just do what I want. He wraps his arms around my waist, dragging me closer to him while I wrap my arms around his neck. The dance started off slowly, with us just staring into each other’s eyes. I miss being with him. We were such goofy couples, and we made fun of almost everything, but now reality has hit us both hard, showing us not everything is going to remain peaceful and fun and now we are barely strangers, the only thing connecting us is our child.

“How are you?” he asked. I breathe out through my nose.

“I’m good. What about you?” I asked. 

“I’m good,” he replied, twirling me around. I nod my head at the awkward conversation. We didn’t really talk after I left that conference room. He tried to talk to me, but I ignored him simply because I was still trying to wrap my head over the fact he lied to me about who he was and about his death. Then he took Zira and me to the demon kingdom and showed us all around. Meeting Alma for the first time, I thought, oh he has so much respect for her and sees her like a mother figure and I thought it was great because she seems to genuinely care about Asher. 

   The demon kingdom didn’t accept me, but I come and go as I like because Zira had to stay with them because, Like Asher, her demon side is more dominant. Asher and I had little conversations, and he always looked at me lonely, so I thought there was really no need for ignoring. I wanted to hear him out and know why he did what he did and I headed to his chamber, but before I got there, Alma blocked me and she told me she wanted to speak to me privately. We went to a dark room, and that was when I knew about her obsession with Asher. She worshiped him and she saw him as her potential lover.

   I was disgusted beyond words and I couldn’t believe what she was saying. She threatened me to stay away from Asher, but when I tried to tell Asher what she thought about him, she threatened me with Zira, and that is how everything started. She will drain me of my energy and slam me into the wall, then gradually it increases. She would stab me, force silver or wolfsbane down my throat, whip me on my back and do many nasty things, and I kept quiet because of Zira. She has access to Zira and can harm her and nobody will know she did it and I can’t allow someone to harm my child, so I will take all the pains and suffering if I have too.

“I’m sorry,” Asher’s voice rang out. I look at him.

“Why?” I asked. 

“I shouldn’t have allowed Alma to come into matters that involve our child because you know her better and you were right about her not liking dark colors,” he said. 

“It’s not only about the colors, the hair and the gown were too heavy and too much, she didn’t need make-up, there were too many maids in her room and they all didn’t give her any break. She is a princess and she must fulfill her princess duties but she is still a child, allow her to be a child and when she is of age things can change but when things change, she will have a mind of her own to choose what she wants and what she doesn’t. You taught her to keep her emotions in and I think that is very wrong. A child may express their emotions. You see how Octavia and Silver train their pups?” I asked. Referring to when Hayden was crying loudly after being denied access to Zira. Octavia and Silver didn’t shush him, instead they allowed him cry his heart out till he slept off, but the demons frowned upon that action. They are too uptight.

“I do, and I think you are right. There is too much pressure on her,” he said. I smiled, nodding my head. At least I can do something for her.

“So, what do you want to do?” he asked. 

“With your permission, I want to redesign her room, change her closet and reduce the amount of maids she has,” I said. 

“Okay, I will get some…” I cut him off.

“No, I want to do it myself,” I said.

“Okay, I will help, ‘’ he said. I smiled, nodding my head. This is the best news I have heard in years. At least someone will be happy and her happiness is my happiness. My eyes connected with Alma and I froze in Asher’s arms. Her eyes are dark and filled with so much anger and I know this night is going to be a long one, filled with my cries of pains and agony and just the thought of what she is planning for me in her head made my knees weak.