Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction biased in the world created by Anne Bishop in her Black Jewels Trilogy. The characters are however are original and copyright of their maker. Keep in mind that not all of these characters are mine. I use them with permission of the maker. This is a thread from Ebony, a forum I role-play on. The link is my homepage if you wish to check it out. As such not all of this is written by me and again is used with permission.

Shemjaeza Malakhim and Raith Malakhim are characters made by J and I use them with his permission. Demonica Lunaris is mine.

Place: Hayll
Characters: Green Jeweled Prince Shemjaeza Malakhim
Black Jeweled Black Widow Warlord Prince Raith Malakhim
Grey Jeweled Black Widow Queen Demonica Lunaris

Writer of this chapter: Me

I know what it is. Demonica thought softly, a slight aw touching her own voice as it echoed inside her head. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you hide it from me?... You never trusted me to begin with. Her lips parted in a soft sigh. Hayll and its people had come before her... but what about among his friends? How many of them knew his secret? How many of them knew things about him she didn't because he'd never told her? Oh well, she supposed they were even seeing as she'd never told him her past really either. She skirted around it, even lied to him. Maybe he'd known that, maybe that's why he hadn't trusted her with that secret.

He knew who she was, that could be good, could be bad at this point. However the comment after, referring to the other changes was boyish and actually made the woman blush as if she were centuries younger. She hated it. Mother Night Raith.... "No Raith hun." She said gently, still being forced to play her cards carefully until she could figure out at least a bit what was going on in his Twisted mind. "I'm not going to inspect the rest of the changes your body took on during puberty."

It felt very strange speaking something like that to a man who was about 150 years old. His expressionless tone caught her and she met his eyes again after having looked away for a moment towards Shem. Her worry about her boyo was well hidden but she still couldn't help but to double check. "If you'd rather not I understand..." She started before he took the ring and slipped it on. She smiled and nodded. "Good Night Prince."

Demonica watched Raith walk out and actually jumped when Shem slipped up next to her. She let her masks fall and leaned into him, taking comfort in his presence. Usually a Queen needed a Warlord Prince to calm them and vice versa, but not always. Shem was her love so it was only natural for his closeness to calm her. She let him turn her face but her eyes stayed on the door until they couldn't any longer. Her eyes locked with Shem and she smiled softly before returning the kiss and nuzzling him.

"I love you to Shem." She whispered softly then paused. Her arms slipped around him. He was the only one who ever saw her as she was now. Real. Fragile. Desperate for comfort. A person more than a Queen. "I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with him. But his secret will not be leaked. What he is stays between us. His mind is shattered and should he be able to rebuild it and, Darkness forbid, something go wrong, any and all kindness we show him now will hopefully stand in our favor."

She looked up at him and ran her hand over his throat gently before moving to her toes to kiss the already forming bruise. "C'mon, let's get you to a healer."