Page 28 of Claimed By Her Monsters

“Just for him to get brutally destroyed by the king over there? That’s simply suicide,” Arthur countered with a shrug. “Just admit defeat and make a bunch of prisoned hell bringers experience famine for a few years to let go of your immense rage at losing.”

“No!” Cornelius exclaimed. “I can’t just lose! Defeat would mark me incapable of going to Heaven!”

“For losing against the Devil?” Sawyer tossed back. “Well…hmm…now that I think about it, that kinda sounds sus.”

“Fuck! No. I can win. There has to be one way!” Cornelius huffed, and Arthur sighed.

“If you let me play, I would have won easily,” he voiced while his eyes drifted our way. “All you needed to do is…holy fucking shi—AH!”

He leaned too far back in his chair, which landed him on the ground. The distraction was enough for everyone else in the vast private library to look at him and then over to where Atticus and I stood.

I wasn’t even paying attention — my eyes taking in the mass of books that were stacked precariously in towers of bookshelves.

The floor-to-ceiling bookshelves were filled with various books. Some looked ancient while others were more modern, which had me tugging Atticus’s hand like everything else didn’t exist.

He actually stopped me from going to explore as he added a light squeeze of my hand so I could blink out of my amazement to look at him.

“Sweet Theia, you can read all the books after you ask permission to touch them.”

“Oh.” I blinked out of my daze for knowledge. “My ba…hmm?” I realized Arthur, Sawyer, and Cornelius were staring at me as if I’d grown three heads and a tail.

“What?” I stared at them in confusion as I looked down at my white dress. “Do I look weird in white?”

“No!” the three of them declared, which left me even more confused while Atticus smirked and leaned in to whisper, “Your wings, Theia.”

“Huh?” I looked over my shoulder to confirm my wings had decided to come back for the grand reveal. It had to be due to my sudden fascination with this beautiful space that made me wish to fly to the very top so I wouldn’t be disturbed as I viewed the various literature.

I’d always enjoyed reading since it was another outlet that would give me a glimpse of the world outside of the rituals and dark practices I did as a kid.

My appreciation for it only grew with Aloisium’s obsession with knowledge, but I’d never witnessed such a beautiful space for books in real life before.

“Oops,” I voiced and looked at Atticus. “They’re probably not going to go back, are they?”

“When you’re less excited,” he said with a wink that made me blush.

A low chuckle that practically vibrated through the room drew our attention to the man sitting opposite Cornelius. His eyes of lavender completely surprised me because they looked just like mine.

“You have to give props to my old man for creating your Horseman to be entertaining enough to keep me occupied,” he began as his eyes landed on me. “I can attempt to not be a deadbeat father by meeting my angelic daughter over there.”

“Y-You’re…” I began as I really took in his appearance.

The Devil himself looked stunning, from the fine black suit he wore that probably cost a fortune to the perfection of his looks and flawless skin. His black strands were gelled back in a sophisticated style and he wore a red earring on his left side, which gave a pinch of rebellion to his appearance.

He sat crossed-legged and wore black gloves that seemed to fit the vibe he was going for with the matching suede dress shoes.

His lips were a dark red while his eyes were the same shade of lavender as mine. His skin was a bit more tanned than mine, but seeing as he was the Devil and probably chilled in Hell, which was burning hot with plenty of rays of flames, I could understand why his skin wasn’t my shade.

What captured my attention was the ring he wore on his finger. The band was metallic grey and the striking stone in the middle was black Tourmaline.

“If Athena had told me I had a daughter, I wouldn’t be twiddling my thumbs watching sinners burn in the wrath of my flames for all eternity,” he declared as he uncrossed his legs to rise up. “I’m glad to see you’re awake and healed, Goddess Nerissa Morrigan. I feel like your mother gave you that surname on purpose.”

“On purpose,” I voiced first as I pouted my lips. “Why?”

“Morrigan. Irish for ‘Great Queen’ or the rooted definition of ‘Phantom Queen.’ I guess it’s as close to Morningstar as she could get without giving it away,” he reasoned as if he was figuring this out in his mind while stating it to us.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Ness,” Arthur spoke up as he managed to get off the floor to walk over to us. “Atticus did well at healing your wounds.”

“Oh, right,” I voiced, since I’d forgotten that he had healed my wounds. “Atticus did a wonderful job.”

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