Page 4 of The Slave in A Princess Disguise

Grand King Daemonikai took a deep breath. "I don't know what to do with you."

"Don't worry. There's plenty of time to figure that out."

"What about Tiara?" Daemonikai's voice was barely a whisper, tinged with dread.

Stillness greeted his question.

Vladya remained silent so long Daemonikai began to doubt if he would respond.

"Zaiper lost his brother. Ottai lost his son. I lost my bondmate." Vladya shrugged, his tone neutral. Eyes fixed on the horizon. "We all lost someone."

Daemonikai's heart plummeted further into the abyss of despair, growing heavier. Uriel was dead? Ottai would be shattered. That adorable boy was his only offspring in a union that was over two thousand years old.

And Tiara...

It was simply unfair to Vladya. Cruel. Twisted. She meant the world to him.

Vladya held the record for the highest number of failed bondings in Urai. Each failed bonding ritual was agonizing, and Vladya had experienced it so many times that Daemonikai had lost count. Watching him lose himself with every failed bonding had been utterly heartbreaking.

To finally find his compatible mate, only to losedaysafter a successful bonding... it was a wound that cut deeper than any blade.

"Come here," Daemonikai's voice was a soft command, his arms outstretched in a silent invitation.

Vladya did not budge. "I am not a child. I do not need hugs."

"Well,Ido, V.D," Daemonikai closed the distance between them. He pulled his friend into a tight embrace. "I do. Indulge me."

Vladya stiffened in his arms, his body resisting the contact. But only for a moment. Then, the tension drained from him, and his arms tentatively returned the hug.

"If I stay, if I do not give up, then the same rules apply to you. You do not get to die, V.D. I won't let you." Daemonikai whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

Grand Lord Vladya remained silent, a lump forming in his throat. He could not mention the loss of his soul. Nor did he mention the creeping of feral madness, or the shadows that had begun to dance at the edges of his mind.

What his friend did not know would not hurt him.

And it was so good to have him back.Relief, joy, and a fierce possessiveness surged through Vladya. He tightened his arms around Daemonikai, pulling him impossibly closer.

"I thought I'd lost you forever," Vladya confessed in a whisper. "You have no idea what it was like. I..." He swallowed, unable to finish the sentence.

"I am deeply sorry, V.D.”

Vladya sniffed, a wry grin tugging at his lips. "Only you would call me that ridiculous nickname. Stop it, you sound like a lovesick fool."

A low chuckle rumbled in Daemonikai's chest. "As if I ever would, Grand Lord Vladya."

Emotion swelled in Vladya's chest, threatening to spill over. "Thank you, Grand King Daemonikai, thank you for coming back."

"This has never happened before in our history. This... coming back from a feral state. How did I return?" Daemonikai pulled back, his gaze sharpened, filled with seriousness.

Grand Lord Vladya was beginning to suspect he might have an inkling as to why. But he still needed confirmation. "I'm not entirely certain myself. How much do you remember?"

"Very little." The grand king pressed a hand to his forehead, a frown creasing his brow. "It's all... hazy. Like an empty space in my mind, filled with a dense fog. All I was aware of was the passage of time."

"Nothing else?" Vladya pressed, his lips thinning. "You have no memory of my visits? Not even a flicker of recognition?"

"Nothing," Daemon admitted. "Perhaps it will all return with time. I still can't fathom it... to think five hundred years have passed since..." His voice trailed off, the pain of his loss evident in his eyes.

A tense silence stretched between them.

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