The gentle crash of waves upon the sand brought a peace to Malkira’s heart he’d not felt in a long time.

The sun hid half its face behind the distant horizon, illuminating the water in orange, red, and gold. Colors which also stretched out across the hearth-like sky, making the clouds into warm embers.

Simone sat beside Malkira on the sand, her fingers lovingly entwined with his, as Nadia and Markho splashed and played in the tranquil waves.

“You are my sanctuary,” Malkira whispered to his mistress. His glowing red eyes turned to stare into Simone’s with deep affection. “You and Nadia both… my safe havens from a world that wants all of my kind dead.”

“Your kind?” Simone asked with a raised eyebrow. “But, my love, there are no other men like you.”

Malkira chuckled. “How I wish that were true.” Lines creased on his forehead, and his eyes looked sad. “Yet… I fear there is at least one with a heart as full of hate as mine…”

“Your son?” Simone asked.

The Demon King sighed, looked out at Nadia and Markho in the ocean, and nodded his head. “Yes.”

Simone bit her lip and glanced back and forth without moving her head. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you… he came to visit us yesterday…”

Malkira’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Oh?”

“He played with Nadia a bit… but something was off… I… I was terrified the whole time.”

The Demon King groaned. “He’s getting bolder than he used to be. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with him.”

Simone’s fingers closed tighter on Malkira’s and she gave him a pleading look. “Please… don’t! Don’t hurt him!”

“He needs to learn,” Malkira growled. “And if the only language that boy speaks is violence, then I need to speak his language, don’t I?”

“Well…”

“Did he threaten you?” Malkira asked. “Tell me truly.”

“He… not explicitly…”

Nadia slipped and fell into the water. Markho fished her out with one of his paws and dropped her on her feet on the dry sand.

Malkira returned his gaze to Simone. “But it was implied, yes?”

“Y… Yes…”

“It was clear he wanted to hurt you?”

“Yes,” Simone said, more firmly this time.

“And Nadia?”

“I’m not sure…” Simone’s eyes were distant as she thought back. “Though… he certainly wanted me to think he was going to hurt Nadia.”

Malkira’s other hand clenched into a fist, but he was mindful of his fingers around Simone’s. “Then give me one good reason I shouldn’t break both his arms and legs. There’s no excuse for that kind of behavior!”

Simone squeezed the Demon King’s hand again. “Because he’ll want vengeance! I fear that every time you hurt him, he… well, he wants to hurt you back, but he’s afraid to fight you directly. If you hurt him, he’ll get his revenge through Nadia. Or me.”

Malkira grunted. “That boy’s a true coward… going after the people I love… Maybe I shouldn’t hurt him, maybe I should kill him.”

Simone’s eyes grew wide. “My love, I know you better than that. We both know you’d never forgive yourself. Ra-Gadol your son, and you love him.”

A disgusted sigh escaped the Demon King’s throat. “Yes, that’s true…”

“You told me about the day he took his first step,” said Simone. “The first time he called you ‘Papa.’ How much fun you had making fun of the way his voice changed when he reached adolescence.”

An invisible, intangible needle pierced Malkira’s black heart. “Sometimes I wish I’d have held him more often back then… Now it’s far too late for that…”

Simone lifted Malkira’s hand and kissed him on the knuckles. “Don’t kill him, and don’t hurt him. He only resents Nadia and I because he doesn’t realize how much you care about him too.”

“And because he knows I hate his mother.”

Simone shook her head and opened her mouth to speak.

“No, don’t correct me,” said Malkira. “I hate that woman. As I’ve told you time and again, we only married to consolidate our power, and during our wedding reception the refreshments at the table weren’t enough. She had horizontal refreshments with one of my soldiers.” The Demon King snorted. “And that stupid boy wants to lecture me about insulting her by being with you? Bah!”

Simone held a finger to her lips and made a shushing noise. She glanced over to Nadia, then back to Malkira.

The Demon King bit his lower lip hard, then said, “If I cannot hurt Ra-Gadol, I still need to come up with some way to keep you and Nadia safe. Markho’s a great protector, but my son knows enough magic to still be a threat even with a fenris guarding both of you.” Malkira scratched his chin. “Then there’s only one solution left.”

The Demon King snapped his fingers, and in an instant the illusions of sand and ocean faded away. The four of them found themselves back in the garden behind Simone’s home. Malkira gave Simone a stern look. “Tonight, I’m sending the three of you to a safehouse I’ve prepared in southern Tir Shazelle.”

He stood from his chair and limped inside. Simone got up to help him on his way, but he gestured for her to stay behind. Once he was out of sight of both of them, he clutched his chest tightly with one hand and coughed. Blood sputtered over his lower lip and poured from his eyes, ears, and nose. From his pocket he produced a small vial and drank the contents, then wiped the blood from his face with the back of his forearm.

“Aha!” Malkira shouted, giving his attendants a startled jump. “There’s the pattern!”

As Malkira skipped and danced in place, the imps there with him in his personal library stared up with confusion in their eyes. Some exchanged glances with one another, as well as shrugs and shakings of their heads.

“Don’t you see it?” Malkira asked them, his face still pulled back in a triumphant grin. He pointed to the long piece of parchment on the table. “Here’s the list of every town in Ymir where the Shrieking Shrine has been heard for the past 300 years!” Malkira picked up a large tome from one of the other tables and slapped it down next to the list. The long parchment fluttered, and Malkira caught it before it could drift away. “And this book contains botanical surveys from every region in Ymir. From Shohan, to Tir Shazelle, to Malkuth… everywhere! I’ve bookmarked and underlined the passages for the regions on this list. Nostro!” he pointed to one of the smaller imps, “tell me what each of these regions has in common!”

The long-nosed demon adjusted his glasses and moved his stool to the table where Malkira had slammed down the botanical tome. He craned his neck to see over the pages as he turned through the book. After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, he finally said, “Well… jidra once grew in abundance in all of these places…”

“Exactly!” Malkira gave the imp a playful pat on the back.

“You think there’s a connection, sire?” asked Nostro.

“I’m certain of it!” The Demon King pirouetted in place, scooped one of the female imps off the ground, and danced with her as her little feet kicked in the air. “Oh, it’s so simple! Remember the story of how the Shrine of Ages was lost?” He tossed the imp woman into the air, eliciting a terrified yelp from her lips, then caught her again. “The creatures inside were like insects or arthropods… and they made honey! The shrine’s floor was covered in honey! What do bees need to make honey?”

“…Nectar?”

Malkira tossed the imp-maid into the arms of one of the males. “Yes! That’s right! The Shrine appears wherever there’s an abundance of jidra flowers, so the creatures inside can take the nectar and make honey!” The Demon King wrung his hands together in cruel satisfaction. “That means we don’t need to guess where the shrine will appear next. We can make it come to us.”

“Forgive me, your majesty,” said one of the imps, “but… how?”

White fangs flashed from under Malkira’s ashen lips. “We’ll plant as many jidra as we can, and keep them well-fed.”

The imps exchanged looks with one another. “Well, we do have some jidra seeds…”

Malkira’s brow furrowed and he waved a dismissing hand. “There’s nowhere near enough time for that. We’ll uproot jidra from wherever we can find them and bring them all to one place. Keep them well-fed. The bigger they grow the better.”

Nostro shuddered, “Sire… the jidra eat meat… usually preferring human or demon flesh…”

Malkira nodded. “Good point. In which adonium mine was there an uprising recently?”

“The Shaketz Mine?”

The Demon King stroked his own chin. “That’s the one where a golem’s leading the rebels against me, right?”

“Yes…”

“Send a legion of soldiers to crush the rebellion.” Malkira snapped his fingers and smirked. “The rebel slaves will be meat for my new garden.”