“I don’t expect that we’ll need Iza anytime soon,” Dani said. “It’ll give you and others a chance to train her to becomestronger. She has the power of all the kingdoms, not just Lust. So, she will need extensive training.”

“What if I don’t want this?” Iza asked softly, her voice barely audible. Her eyes kept opening and closing in a haze.

“Then, don’t accept,” Dani said, offering another smile. “But please take your time and think about it.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-ONE

IZA

With my gazeon Acaros’s ceiling, I blew out a low breath in an attempt to relieve the stress from last week. I willingly hadn’t left the Kingdom of Lust—not even for class—because I now had way more important things to worry about than Advanced Statistics and Literature.

I had powers …

Powers that I couldn’t quite understand. Powers that continued to fester inside me, the more and more that I stayed in Lust. And in all my years of living in the real world, nothing felt as good as this.

After turning onto my side, I pushed some hair out of Acaros’s face. He was in his human form—a weird sight down in Lust—and he hadn’t had a haircut probably since the day I’d met him. It was growing out, almost shaggy on his forehead.

My lips curled into a small smile, and I cuddled closer to him. Another reason why I hadn’t left Lust was because of this man, who had tied me to the bed nearly every night and pounded into me, vowing to get me pregnant so Icouldn’thelp Dani.

Turned out that his parents—one fully from the Kingdom of Wrath, which was where he had gotten his red demon skin from, and one half Lust, half Envy—had been killed by Dani during her ascension as queen. Acaros hadn’t had hard feelings against her—at least from what I was aware—until she took me.

Once I placed a kiss on his cheek, I slipped out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I might not have left, but that didn’t mean Jada and Mikayla hadn’t come over and brought some much-needed human food and goods to me.

One of those goods being …this.

I shut the bathroom door behind me, reached to the back of the closet where I had hidden the box, and pulled out a box of pregnancy tests. After deciding that it wouldn’t turn out positive—because, I mean, didn’t demons have dead sperm like vampires? Wasn’t that how it worked?—I peed on one for the joke of it.

While I was mid-pee, Acaros banged on the door. “Are you okay?”

My eyes widened, and I hurried to finish up before he could barge into the room. “Fine!”

“Jada and Mikayla are here,” he called.

“Already?!” I cried. “What time is it?”

“Apparently, ten on Earth.”

Time worked a bit differently here, and I was slowly getting used to the change.

So, once I placed the test down on the counter and washed my hands, I shuffled out of the bathroom and down the steps. Acaros opened the front door, letting in my friends.

Mikayla whizzed by us, running up to the bathroom and holding her legs together. “Sorry! I have to pee so badly! That portal always scares the piss out of me!”

Jada walked into the living room as Acaros stepped outside with Bazzon, Varoth, and Professor Laufer, who had all comealong. We were supposed to have a picnic in the Garden of Passion today to celebrate. I didn’t knowwhatwe were celebrating, but Mikayla had said to wear a party hat.

Not that I had one …

“Biiiiiiitttttcccchh!” Mikayla called from the bathroom. “I know this isn’t what I think it is!”

I furrowed my brows and glanced over at Jada, who shrugged. “You know how crazy s?—”

Before Jada could finish her sentence, Mikayla ran out of the bathroom, holding my pregnancy stick in the air and waving it around like a maniac. Thank God that Acaros and his buddies were outside because I would’ve died on the spot.

“It says positive!” Mikayla screamed.

“Mikayla, can you please shut?—”