Beneath the Devil’s Crown

The hall stretched endlessly, the ceiling lost in smoke and crimson light. Kai followed Luca down the dark corridor, their footsteps echoing like heartbeats. Every inch of this place seemed alive—walls breathing, torches flickering with black fire that whispered his name.

Kai hated it.

He hated how beautiful it was.

“Why show me this?” Kai asked, voice breaking the silence.

Luca glanced back, that faint, knowing smile curling his lips. “Because you still believe this is a cage. But it’s more than that—it’s a kingdom. And you, my little mortal, have stepped into its heart.”

Kai’s jaw tightened. “I don’t care about your kingdom. I want to go home.”

Luca stopped. The air shifted, heavy and cold. “Home,” he repeated softly, as if the word amused him. “Tell me, Kai—what home? That lonely apartment with cracked walls and empty nights? That world that never noticed you existed?”

Kai froze. His throat went dry. “How do you—”

“I see everything that belongs to me,” Luca interrupted, his voice low. “I know the ache that keeps you awake at night. The hollow place inside you that no human could ever fill.”

Kai flinched. “Stop talking like you know me.”

“But I do.” Luca turned, his golden eyes burning brighter. “Your soul called to me long before your lips ever could. You’ve always been searching for something beyond what the mortal world offered. Now you’ve found it.”

“Found a devil?” Kai scoffed, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him.

“Found meaning,” Luca corrected gently. “Even devils crave it.”

The words struck deeper than Kai wanted them to. Luca walked ahead, and despite himself, Kai followed.

They entered a massive chamber filled with mirrors—hundreds of them, each reflecting a different sky, a different world. Luca stood in the center, his reflection multiplying endlessly, a thousand pairs of golden eyes watching from the glass.

“What is this place?” Kai whispered.

“The Vault of Souls,” Luca said. “Every reflection is a life I’ve touched. Some I destroyed. Some I loved.”

Kai’s heart twisted. “You can love?”

Luca looked at him, and for the first time, the devil king didn’t seem invincible. “Even devils remember what it means to yearn.”

Something flickered behind his eyes—loneliness so vast it almost hurt to see.

Kai swallowed. “And now you want me to fix that? To be your… replacement for whatever you lost?”

Luca smiled faintly. “Not replace. Complete.”

“Then you’re mistaken,” Kai said softly. “I can’t complete someone like you.”

The silence that followed was heavy. Luca stepped close, his breath ghosting over Kai’s cheek. “You already have, little one. You just haven’t realized it yet.”

Kai’s heart pounded. He wanted to push him away, to scream—but instead, he stood frozen beneath that molten gaze.

For a moment, neither spoke. Then Luca’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Stay near me, Kai. Because the deeper you wander into my world, the harder it will be for even me to protect you.”

And as the mirrors trembled, showing flashes of fire and faces lost in time, Kai knew something had changed.

This wasn’t just desire anymore. It was destiny—dangerous, impossible, and already binding them both.

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