They disappeared in a ball of darkness that dissolved into spiders.

Bella floated above the people who desperately shrieked and ran from the pile of arachnids that were only interested in running for cover.

She'd lost another Astralitar.

To the same damn Demon Lord.

Fury built in her chest, her tiny body vibrating with the mounting rage and helplessness. Not wanting to lose her composure in public, Bella shot straight upward. She pierced the wispy clouds above and continued until the sky turned dark and she could see stars.

Only here, where no one could hear her scream, did Bella let it out.

Kicking and throwing her fists, she shrieked her frustration into the uncaring thin atmosphere.

Reed had only lasted two days!

She'd not expected much from him when they'd selected a homeless double-amputee to be their Astralitar, but in that short time, she'd gotten to like him, and this wasn't fair!

Now those stupid girls were going to summon another! Probably with even worse Sacrifices, and it made her want to tear her hair out.

Emotions finally subsiding to controllable degrees, Bella crossed her arms and scowled at the curvature of the planet. Far to the north was the Demon Lord's castle. Dark clouds perpetually shaded it from sunlight to create a safe harbor for the creatures of night that made their homes there.

This world hadn't originally had such monsters.

Loki had gotten involved. The Trickster God had created the first Demon Lord, and that detestable creature had birthed a whole slew of unwanted children of its own. Bella had been created shortly after Freya and Freyr had decided on a plan for saving their project.

Pressing her palms to her eyes, Bella took several breaths that weren't actually real. Her body was the same as a Core. She’d had no idea they were installing a suppressor until it activated, preventing her from becoming Reed's earring as she usually was.

This was all the fault of those damn brats.

Now, Bella would have to suffer through feeling Reed die horribly.

Her tears froze, turning into tiny diamond drops that floated away. There was nothing she could do but wait. She hoped it wasn’t as painful as Dylan’s death had been.

She closed her eyes and floated weightlessly… But… that feeling of blinding pain didn’t come.

Had she missed it in her fit of rage earlier?

That wasn’t possible.

Something none of the Astralitars ever knew was just how connected Bella was to them. Her abilities ended just shy of being able to read their thoughts as words. What she absolutely had access to was emotions, which she usually used to manage her Astralitars and guide them toward what the gods wanted without outright telling them what to do. Even if she was closed off from her Astralitar, sudden, sharp emotions or sensations like pain and death got through.

Maybe the Demon Lord was toying with him?

If he was conscious, Bella would be able to tell how much pain Reed was in. Maybe she could help him?

Putting aside her fear, Bella opened herself and immediately connected.

Reed…

Was hungry and bored?!

“What?!”

**

Reed fell through the abyss.

He landed on a bouncy mattress, the Demon Lord on top of him. Fluffy pillows scattered from their sudden drop onto the brightly colored bedspread.

Immediately, he flicked his eyes around to assess his surroundings.

To his right, hung on the wall, was a giant painting of himself on something that kind of resembled his motorcycle. It was clearly painted by someone who had no idea what the machine was and had just made rough guesses on the shapes.

His eyes trailed left, landing on a more than life-sized statue of him with a sword and shield in a pose he'd never struck.

The Demon Lord lifted her face from his chest, smiling adoringly at him as if her collection was now complete.

Straddling his lap, the Demon Lord pushed her hair back from her shoulders as she sat up. "I know I'm supposed to kill the Astralitar, but you... You're different." Her unsettling, adoring smile remained in place. "You saved me when we fell in the water. You're different. I'll convince them. I'll make them see."

Reed cleared his throat and tried to scoot back so he could get out from under her. "Ah, who were you going to convince?"

"Daddy." She suddenly hopped off him. Her wings had shrunk to tiny versions on her back. She slid off the bed and bounced to face him with a gesture at her statue. "Do you like it?"

Sitting up, Reed got a better view. The furniture and proportions of the bedroom were typical of the Romance-fantasy genre, but her obsession plastered every surface of the room. There were pictures of him everywhere. These ranged from still shots from when he saved the village and punched Meg'ante to fantasy paintings of him doing things he'd not had the chance to do yet in this world. She even had tiny statues and figurines lined up on her vanity and desk. He looked back at the bed. His face. This world might not have TV or boy bands, but the Demon Lord had gone full Rabid Fangirl in less than a day.

This... needed to be addressed.

Somehow.

"Uhm. So. What's your name?" he asked.

The Demon Lord's eyes widened. Pressing her hands to her face as she blushed to the roots of her dark hair. "Kar'un," she said shyly as she wiggled.

"I'm Reed," he said.

This seemed to be too much for her. She crumpled to the floor, covering her face with both hands, kicking her feet as she squealed.

Standing, Reed took a look at himself. He had scratches all over his chest and back from Amel'issa, and a couple of bruises from Meg'ante, but otherwise, he was in pretty good shape. Bella was missing, but he did have his two cores.

"Kar'un," Reed said.

She squealed again, burying her face in the floor.

Crouching next to her, Reed said, "You brought me to your kingdom, didn't you?"

"Yeah," she said shyly, pushing her hair back as she peeked up at him. Her face was still red.

"And you said the people here... aren't going to like me?"

Her excitement faded slightly, then returned in full force. "I'll just keep you in my room!"

Reed glanced around. "That's not gonna work," he said.

Eyes widening, Kar'un pushed to her hands and knees. "Of course it will!"

"I have to eat, and bathe," Reed said, listing out just a few things. "People aren't pets. And even a cat can't be kept in a bedroom forever."

Pouting, Kar'un puffed her cheeks as she sat back on her feet to look up at him. Lowering her gaze, then bowing her head, she sniffled.

Reed patted her hair. "Look, I ain't mad at you. You did get me out of a tough situation. So thank you for that."

She looked up at him with shining ruby eyes through her dark bangs.

"Who was it you said you could talk to about keeping me here?" Reed asked. "The king?"

Nodding, Kar'un wiped her eyes. "My father." She smiled again. "He loves me. He'll listen to me!"

Reed gently took her shoulders. "I'd like to talk to him. Can you arrange that?"

Kar'un smiled even more brightly. "Yes! I'll go do it right now!" She grabbed his hand. Before Reed could stop her, cuffs went around his right wrist. The other end snapped closed around the bottom rung on the footboard next to him.

"Don't go anywhere!" she said as she slammed her bedroom door open and shut.

Reed closed his mouth and looked down at the handcuffs. He sighed.

"Well. Shit." Shaking his head, he tried saying, "Plactru."

As he'd suspected would happen, the strange glyphs on the handcuffs flashed. His core did not respond.

She'd cuffed him to the end of her bed, out of reach of the nightstand, where he could see a couple hair pins. He was cuffed too low to comfortably get on the bed. Looking under the bed in the vain hope that she'd dropped a hairpin there, Reed was disappointed to not even see dust.

Dragging a couple pillows off the bed from an awkward crouch, Reed arranged them on the floor and sat to wait for either liberation or execution.

**

"Well, what do we do now?" Amel'issa demanded, finally breaking their mutually agreed silence. The ride back to the palace had been a sulking, tense affair. None of them wanted to discuss what had happened to Reed. They all were thinking about Dylan’s graphic death.

Snow, having not participated in the contest, was dry and warm. The other three were damp. Meg'ante was suffering from broken ribs and a foot, among other new injuries caused by getting caught by Saffron's spell. Snow considered offering to heal her, but her petty side decided to wait until Meg’ante asked.

Amel’issa’s question had interrupted their walk of shame through the halls back toward the wing they’d taken as their quarters.

Meg’ante answered finally. "If we try to summon another Astralitar, the gods will get angrier than they already are."

"They can't blame us for what happened," Saffron insisted. "It's not our fault." She rounded on Meg'ante, fists on her hips as she stared up at the giantess.

"It was our choice to only wait three weeks," Amel'issa’s voice raised, going a bit squeaky in her fury. "It was our choice to offer what we did!" Her damp tail lashed, splattering water to the floor.

“We offered what we had on hand,” Saffron dismissed.

“We offered trash,” Amel’issa shouted. “And what’re we going to offer this time? More trash?”

Snow bit her lips together in shock, realizing that the others hadn’t noticed one, crucial piece of information. She considered speaking up, but… they wouldn’t have listened to her anyway. Even if they offered their greatest treasures, they wouldn’t be able to summon another Astralitar…

Because Reed wasn’t dead.

Reed's spell was still active. She could still feel his general direction, along with his other suitors. He was currently in close proximity of the Demon Lord, but he was still alive.

Saffron rounded on Amel’issa. “Well we can’t very well get rid of the Demon Lord without an Astralitar—"

"Without me?"

The new voice practically stopped Snow's heart.

Gripping her pants, she slowly turned to look back.

"What's with those faces?" Dylan asked as he walked closer. He’d been sitting on one of the couches in their shared sitting area. He wore the same clothes he’d been in the moment he died. His diamond Affinity Mark visible through the window on his shirt, glowing white. His power was to shield others, leaving himself vulnerable. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He tried to laugh it off, but his laughter died when no one else joined. "Meg... What happened to your face?"

Dylan's soft, blue-eyed gaze drifted from one princess to the next, finally landing on Snow. He'd relied on Snow to answer his questions. Saffron didn't have the patience. Meg'ante was always brushing him off unless she was pressuring him to choose her. Amel'issa had been more interested in picking his brain for technology she could recreate and rarely answered his questions.

"Snow?" He asked.

Trembling, Snow slowly started to shake her head. He... he couldn't put this on her. She didn't have the strength to answer.

"Snow?" Dylan asked. He looked just as he had before... His soft brown hair fell across his forehead in a sweep to the left. His thin, handsome face wore an expression of concern now. He stepped closer.

Unconsciously, Snow stepped back.