Narnia's Castel was in the distance, teasing me by making the distance feel longer. My body and mind was tired, after I had finished up on the small battlefield, I was drained. Using the last little bit to keep a shield below us in case of another arrow or projectile were to come.

I was not in the mode for anymore bumps in the road. I thought this could be easy as cutting cake, if only that cake wasn't made of rocks covering in pretty frosting. When this adventure is done and I learn the things I need, I'm skipping out on this party.

He will not get that satisfaction, in fact, I wish I could see the face he makes when he realizes he doesn't have a partner no more. That could ultimately come back to bite me in the ass, he was providing a good cover for me. I must still be upset over the conversion with Kalego.

I wanted to stay distant, not just because I was mad. That dream was still in my mind, it felt so real. Distancing the two is hard, especially when my brain was able to make him so him like. The personality was too close for comfort, the looks on point. The distastes, and the likes.

I had kissed him numerous times in my dream, we went on dates, and other human things. I was about to do scandalous things on that couch. I shook my head, that Kalego was not him. That was what I wanted from him; the loss was too much for me in my dream state.

Descending, we all landed in front of the gates. Kalego waved a hand, the gates swinging open. I walked slowly, my legs threatening to drop me to the ground. Would he mind if I took a short nap? He would understand, right?

The front doors opened, Narnia greeting us. "I'm impressed you made it."

"Yes, it was a rather long trip with many bumps in the road." My heart thudded in my chest; my legs grew weaker.

"You alright, you're not looking so good."

"I need…" My mind could not think of the words. "Ah sleep." Why was I suddenly this tired, I leaned forward. Balance lost. "You make dinner?" The laugh was distant, I could not tell who it came from or if it were from many.

"My dearest sister, I promise I will find a way to be with you again."

I opened my eyes, a blurred vision of another person laying head down on the edge of the bed. He had plum purple hair, and white horns protruding out from the sides and curved and a sharp angle up. Red tassels hung around the base of his horns.

"This was not fair, if only it could have been different, I promise I will become the greatest and find a way to bring you back."

He felt close to me, but I was too weak to say anything. I was stuck and unable to ask him why or what he meant. Was he, my brother? I had no siblings I could remember. I woke, jolting awake. It was just a weird dream.

"The sleepy princess is awake. I thought you might be out through dinner." Narnia leaned up from the wall, walking up to the bed.

"My sleeping has not been so fruitful." I rubbed my temples, my head ached.

"The maids have spun quite the tail of you and I."

"About what?"

"Nothing too grand. Just that you flew night and day to get here just to be with me. You have loved me since the moment our eyes met. The invitation to be my partner was the turning point. You could not stand to be away from me."

I could not believe that. "Pfft. What nonsense is that?" I smirked.

"I told them it was half true, that I courted you first and swooned you."

My eyes widened as the smirk was wiped from my face. "You did not."

"Oh, I did. Besides it was the biggest awe of the century when you collapsed in my arms, how could I deny them that? I personally thought it was cute you were still asking for dinner."

"Naberius Narnia, you set this straight right now."

"You need me, so when we leave this room you and I are courting. You will only call me Narnia, or some nickname you choose. I will call you Vi for short."

I narrowed my eyes. "You're an awful person."

He shrugged. "I've heard worse. Make sure you keep the act up; you need me to cover for you during the party." He winked. "Oh, Kalego has been pacing the hallway. You might want to talk to him before a brotherly quarrel brakes out."

I covered my face. "Why is this happening to me? I don't do relationships, and now you are hinting at a lovers quarrel?" Fingers combed through my hair, I clutched my head. What the actual fuck is this shit?

"Ours must look real or you will not get what you are after. At least not peacefully as you insinuated."

"At this rate, storming his castle is less complicated."

He clicked his tongue. "And risky. Getting your son back is only a piece you will play in the game. I need you to do something else for me."

Eyes darted at him with daggers. "Marriage is out of the question."

He smirk-laughed. "Nothing like that, I will let you know when the time is right. Now that your awake, do you still want that dinner?"

My stomach growled at the mention of food. "Possibly."

"I hope the power nap was enough." He checked his watch. "Dinner was ready about twenty minutes ago. Get changed."

I looked down. "You didn't, did you?"

He chuckled again. "Honestly, you think so low of me. For someone who showed up so barbaric like in our first encounter, you clean up nice." I gritted my teeth, growling. "Ah, ah. You must be in love with me."

I smiled sweetly, getting out of bed. "Oh, Narnia. You are so silly. I can do both, that is what you misunderstand."

I snapped my fingers, the gown changing to my dress. I hummed a short, sweet tune, fixing my hair like I had not been flying and had bedhead combined. Narnia stood behind me in the mirror, watching the hair flow like water as it moved into place.

I turned; eyes squinted as I poked a finger into his chest. "Before we depart, know that every second of acting I will think of ways to torture you."

He leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Be careful, you are threatening me with a good time." He leaned back, extending his arm for me to hold. "Off we go." Hy face felt warm, what a freak.

Pretending to like him was not going to be easy. Why did he have to let the rumors spread like that? On the other side of the door was Kalego with is arms crossed with a solemn expression. Balam was not his usual cheerful self. Three servants stood around; two covered their mouths, grinning like school children.

I leaned my head on Narnia. "Everyone was so worried; I apologize for all the concern. I just had to get here as soon as possible and exhausted myself. I simple could not stand another day without seeing my Narnia." I rubbed my head on him, smiling softly. This was embarrassing, and the hate grew deeper for this man.

"Next time do express more caution, your health is equally as important as you are to me."

Servants gasped; whispered murmurs flooded the hallway.

'See I told you. It's like a fairytale.'

'So, cute. I can't contain myself.'

'She's so sweet, how did he manage this one?'

'Don't say that.'

"Hmm, a fairytale. That is a cute way of putting it. Please, call me Lady Violetta. I am Lord Sullivans granddaughter."

They bowed; one woman dressed a little different steeped forward. "Please excuse them, they are merely excited as a Lady has not graced these halls in an extended amount of time."

"It is alright. Narnia?"

"Yes, Vi?"

"I am simply famished. You were the only thing on my mind, and I hardly ate."

He tapped my nose. "Never do that again, food is this way."

He guided me down the hallway ahead of everyone else. I could still hear the housekeepers talking behind me, wondering how we met and what made us fall in love. Would it be a political marriage or a love marriage?

"Silence, all this annoying yammering is giving me a headache." Kalego shouted, the red vibrations shot past me.

"Brother, if it that bothersome. Then I could deal with them for you." Narnia's lips curled, not in a cute way. This man was already thinking about how he would do it, and it was bringing him joy.

"Narnia, I just got here. That might mean you will leave me all alone." Looking up, I pouted my lip.

"Right, how rude of me."

Dinner was more awkward than enjoyable. He had listened, not an eyeball in sight and there was nothing still moving. It looked relatively close to human dishes; how would he know any of this? The glare from Kalego between the two of us was making me uncomfortable. Could almost see the lighting between Kalego and Narnia.

"I did not know you liked much older men." Kalego poked.

"Now that you mention it, it seems so. Dali is much older than you, too."

Kalego's grip tightened around his fork; Narnia narrowed his eyes on me. "Dali? The head chair demon at Babyls."

"It was a short infatuation; you have nothing to worry about. I have set my eyes one and only one demon. I came all the way here just for you, remember?" I fluttered my eyes.

"I am just curious where this relationship started." Kalego was sending lighting through the air with just a gaze. Balam was watching quietly from a side eye.

Narnia turned to him. "The carnival was when I first saw her. I was infatuated and reached out. It was hard to chip away that icy heart. It is why I dug a little deeper into what she claimed."

"I told him repeatedly, I don't have relationships, but I caved with all his help. I need you to be understanding, somethings were out of my heart's control." I pressed my lips, eyes pointing to the servants around the room.

Kalego looked around the room. "Right, makes since why my brother would have such interest when he never displayed one before. A marriage between the two of you will be politically beneficial."

I choked on my drink. "Marriage seems a bit too soon."

"A young woman such as yourself is in the prime for children. Maybe I could retire in thirty forty years."

"Come now brother, an early retirement already planned? Do you wish to find your uncle or disappear as he had?"

"I might, seems he had the right idea to separate himself from the Netherworld politics."

This was the worst dinner conversation I have had in years. Was Kalego jealous or was it something else? Whatever it was, I was over this. I wanted to eat, not fight. I had enough fighting outside these walls. The thought of setting things straight was there, but I needed Narnia's cover.

"Narnia, could you send your servants out of the room." His eyes went from me to Kalego to Balam still quietly eating.

Narnia propped his head on a fist. "Very well, everyone out." The servants bowed and filed out of the room.

The door closed; I shielded the table from sound. "I need you to stop; whatever it is that is going through your head needs to end. There will be no marriage, there is one goal, the one thing I want. Eli, the little boy you turned your back on because you couldn't listen to me."

"My memory was temporarily erased. I told you I was sorry. But to run off to start a fling with my brother as payback?" He was uncertain, and angry.

"And? It took Narnia to say something before you believed it. Orbus was the first to give me hope that I was not crazy. Soi helped me even when it could tarnish his reputation. Balam never talked me down. Iruma mildly believed in me. Hell, my fucking plant Zve was talking about him, and you would not listen."

Balam raised his hand finger pointing up. "I was on the fence as I also could not remember, but every time you spoke, I could detect no lies."

"Shh, you did not look down on me the way Kalego did. I told you once, and I will tell you again. That hurt the worst." Hot, angry tears flowed down my cheek, I hated that it affected me to this extent. "I wish to go back to being a human, where life was simple."

Narnia lowered his hand. "You want to be human again? What about all you have accomplished, we need you here."

Kalego pointed to his eyes. "Your tears."

I wiped my face; black smudges covered my wrist. "Why am I not surprised, let's add it to long list of things I wish to leave behind in the Netherworld."

"You can't leave, and as a part of border patrol, no one crosses over to the human realm."

I wiped my face with a napkin. "I was dumped for death; the least border patrol could do is help me go back to where I came from."

"It is not only that, but the spell is also permanent." He plopped down a spell book. "I hate to break it to you, but you can never switch bodies ever again."

I looked down at the spell; my heart sank. I would die if I tried, my soul was now bound to this body. We would never be able to go home, never have the life we used to. Stuck in this demonic world, when would I catch a break? Narnia said they needed me; was he trying to convince me to be okay with the life here?

He knew for a while that I could never switch back. "How long… have you known?"

"Since our last face to face talk. I thought you knew."

"I did not." I stood, breaking the barrier and leaving the table.

I have not gone through this many emotions since I was little. It was like being trapped in that house again, with no escape. Sullivan also kept the truth from me, he could have told me right then and there. Was he waiting for my 'hysteria' to fade? It was not like I could not handle that piece of information.

A hand rested on my shoulder. "I cannot let you leave by yourself like this; it will look bad." His voice calm, pure green hues.

"If you never gave in to the rumor, it would not be an issue."

"All that bite, does the hound inside ever sleep?" He summoned a cloth, pressing the damp rag to my face, cleaning the black tears.

"That is what happens when you must fight for survival your whole life. One eye is always open. Feet ready to flee at a moment's notice, and teeth quick to snap if trapped."

"What will you do now? Hand?" He held his hand out for my hand, I held it up and he gently whipped it clean.

Why was he being this nice? While he was not corrupt, I was told he was a cutthroat person. Torturing criminals as a pass time, another told me he gained pleasure from this. I knew he lived a double life; Fenrir was more of a field operative, and he an in-house man to move him around. It seemed that the Naberius clan was to be in certain positions which made them lose their freedoms.

"I think I might take a walk, clear my head a little."

"I can show you around. We don't have to speak if you do not wish."

"That sounds nice."

The hallways were lined with artwork, paintings of family members and other realism paintings. I almost expected to see some bowl of fruit on one of them. A demon with long dark purple hair had me pause in my footsteps. This one was in two of my dreams, he looked much older in this. The man next to him looked like Narnia.

"You like this one?"

"Who is that?" I pointed to big guy.

"This is our last Demon king, Derkila. He created the ranking system and gave our world order. The man next to him was Naberius Somya."

"Derkila, the man the six fingers are trying to raise from the dead, Derkila?"

He nodded. "The one and only. He was said to be as tall or taller than Poro. They had gone to school together, the royal one was created for him specifically."

"Did he have any siblings?"

"I do not know. If he did, they were not significant enough for a mention." I frowned, the skinny legs in my mind. "You think he might have?"

"It is possible, I was only curious." I moved past the picture.

"Derkila's castle was preserved by magic like the royal one you study in. Though, no one has dared enter it because of the curse."

"A curse?"

"It is said that any one unwelcome to the castle will shrivel up to skin and bones for entering. Even if all you do is open the door to peek inside."

I put a hand on my hip, tilting my head. "Is that even true?"

"Ask the bodies piled up on the doorstep, when they die the castle pushes them out. No one has gained the courage to retrieve them. No one dares to fly over, but it is said that the garden still blooms in the winter by those who have passed by."

"Is there a golden gazebo and white bench in this garden?"

"There is, have you flown by it at some point?" I was asking too many questions.

"I heard things as well; it was like a capsule frozen in time."

"I suppose it is. If you wish to know more there is a library about as old as that castle. Babyls might also have some record in the restricted area. As a teacher you are allowed to enter."

If my thoughts severed me right, the dreams might be memories. The flower like demon said something, time for something. She mentioned a brother, but I was an only child growing up. What did she mean? I should have written everything down when I woke up, but Kalego was fresh in my mind.

I did not know where this castle was located, and taking a trip there to confirm the things I dreamed of was risky. I mean, bodies at the front door were not a welcoming hello. He must not have wanted anyone inside his home, that was, after all, where I think his sister passed away.

He called my name, and that was the odd part of it all. If this were a memory, shouldn't the name be different? How would he have a sister named the same as me? It seemed impossible. He might have been given me a place to look, but I knew a guy. He was probably wondering where I was.