Hell's Consort

Newest Chapter of Highest Tier (January 2022)

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Archdemon Empress Luna

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From afar, a mysterious woman with black and red feathers attached to her paper-thin sleeveless gown clinging to her like a second skin watched them with a straight face.

But, if one look closely, subtle disdain had marked the corner of her lips as if she thought that neither did they deserve their newfound status nor the adoration of their society.

Their Kind weren't supposed to mix with the Autumn Faeries and everyone in the Wine Tasting Ceremony knew it.

Tonight was a good chance to show their true power if someone from the gentlemen challenged them with veiled insults.

Perhaps, they were one of the subjects who thought Queen Morgan had gone insane.

They could forgive their Queen for her eccentricities but not the outsiders.

Them.

The lady-in-red straightened her spine when her dark eyes moved from her husband to hers.

Luna froze as the the twin orbs almost threatened to pull her into a bottomless pit of nothingness that terrified her.

She was the first to look away, not before she had scanned the woman from head to toe so that she would have something to contemplate about later.

In her whole life as Apollyon's mate, Luna might have felt threatened by this particular lady's exotic feline beauty.

She would have stood out from the rest if not for the dark patches underneath her sunken eyes as if she had a rough sleep.

Aside from that one flaw, Luna could see that she carried herself like royalty.

She also had the air of a performer, her artful fingers fluttering about like a fairy in the middle of a magic spell.

A black rose pendant rested on her clavicle, tempting a man's gaze to stray on her decolletage and remain there until the wine tasting ended.

Luna scowled at her chest in disapproval.

She wasn't informed that women in this society could wear something this indecent.

They weren't setting a good example for the babe in her womb even if the heiress hadn't come out yet.

Luna couldn't help but think about whom they had worn it for.

Certainly, the effort was not for her or for the rest of the lords' benefit.

These women were informed that she, the lady of the Manor, was expecting a child.

They had dressed whatever they liked without the dress code.

No one would doubt that she had donned something far more respectable than half of the noblewomen here.

She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was strange about her aura.

Could she be a singer or actress that Queen Morgan had sent from the City of Gentian, the closest city in the Autumn Palace?

Luna remembered that her husband had mentioned it briefly during the preparation for tonight.

She felt Apollyon's thumb stroking her inner wrist as he urged her to walk and move forward but he couldn't budge her.

When she kept her flat shoes planted to the ground, Apollyon had given her a questioning glance.

Her cool gaze landed on the dark-haired woman, who stood in the comforting circle of her group, as a silent response.

Her husband understood and followed her stare.

As if on cue, the woman puckered her lips and sent Apollyon a flying kiss in her scarlet-gloved hand before she gestured to the faeries behind her.

They were circus performers, Luna realized, as both of them scrutinized her companions.

Well, Luna had assume they were at the sight of a man, wearing a pink jacket over a vested white shirt with pink breeches to match.

As he lifted his pink hat and put it on his chest to greet them with a respectful bow, everyone had gasped, awestruck, when he turned the said hat over and a hundreds of feathered wings flapped.

White doves rushed out of the hat as if they were driven by a strong force.

Neat magic trick, she thought drily, until these blasted birds shit over the guests' heads and their open mouths or worse, on the scrumptious food the Hazelnut Manor had prepared and ruining the prized wine each of the Manor had brought for the celebration.

Ladies would shriek and scream while the gentlemen would blame her husband for letting these barbarians in when it was Queen Morgan who approved these performers' entry.

Glancing up at the ceiling like the others, she waited patiently for the birds to do their worst.

'Only use the Autumn Queen's name as shield after careful consideration and the problem will solve itself.' Sloth had told them in jest.

It turned out that her concerns were unfounded when a glimpse of steel shone at the delicate edges of the pigeon's wings the instant light had hit it.

These birds wouldn't be be shitting anywhere without their permission because they weren't animals but automatons!

She exhaled a soft breath, relieved.

They appeared so life-like that it would take a moment for a person to realize that these creatures were made of metal with a clockwork heart inside each of them.

She only knew one individual who can create something like this, assembling pieces of metal to life. Was there a possibility that the god, Hephaestus, was here?

Ravin broke the news with Princess Sapphire at the parlor room that they wanted her back in the Summer Courts to keep her safe in their company.

How did the god, Hephaestus and Princess Ourania come about? Luna assumed they hated each other's guts after Princess Ourania's betrayal.

Was it because Sloth had killed Sir Tristan so she reignited her love life with the past beau?

How disgusting!

Yet, Luna wasn't the one to insult when she had Ravin in this Realm, her Archdemon mate and familiar, eating at the palm of her hand.

And if this nightmare had come true, where was the god of fire and Princess Ourania?

Her Archdemon Familiars, together with capable butlers and muscled footmen, were in charge of all the guests who entered the premises.