Oh, he knew just about everything he needed to know- Colden was in the safe hands of Lilith and yet Dante had informed him of some…uncomfortable news that was nerve biting at the most. So the bitch was back…it really didn’t surprise him fully. Cyprus wasn’t going to be an easy kill since she had traded much of herself and her children for all sorts of demonic powers and other little secrets here and there that not many knew about. Even Xunatar had been oblivious to just how deep she went with her obsession over power and how many demons she had made pacts with. She was a horrid woman and for all her brilliance, it was her overeagerness and ignorance that eventually destroyed her. It had been a pity when he learned of her supposed demise but he planned accordingly with their son.

His role in the Black Rose Court was very important and would essentially become a puppet ruler while his father pulled the strings accordingly. However, his loin thinking son had relayed the news to him and from there, he had sent the rest of his good children to search and hunt the former Queen down. He himself also searched about for her; he wasn’t going to let her ruin all his planning for one more failure that was destined to happen in her hands.

From everything they learned, the deduction was made that she was somewhere in Parvpora and if he knew her like he had, she would be searching for another outlet, another way of obtaining power. Cyprus was an easy read and he decided to go to Wyllmochvar. The place was crawling with potential that could be plucked with ease, and it would be a breeze for one under the right conditions. When he set forth into the city, Xunatar got a sensation that hit him to his very core. A feeling, small and fragile but was able to recognize, came onto him and he headed away from the hustle and bustle of the city and headed towards the countryside. The closer he came towards the very source, the more vivid the feeling became and out here. A crafty smile formed on his face before both melted away into a new form. Cyprus couldn’t be trusted and so he decided to test just how much he was right. Hair the color of pure snow darkened to raven black, his cerulean eyes brightened into a green and his appearance became more youthful. Making his way to the desolate remains of a once beautiful manor, he followed the stench of darkness down into a dungeon-esque chambers and with it, stood a figure. Coming closer, he could see that it was that of a woman and he smiled before coming towards her, ending the silent room with that of his footsteps.

To her, it was her wayward son that had came upon her, though he was secretly taking pleasure in this encounter. “M…M…Mother?”, he called out towards her with a cocked head. Coming nearer, he could see that there was writing down on the floor around her- she was ensnared in some sort of boundary spell. Whoever did it had put some good effort to it and he dared not risk crossing into it. “Mother, I thought…I thought you were gone…”, he said in a sad tone, the laughter in his mind wouldn’t reach her ears just yet. Circling around her, the false Colden deepened his frown. “How did this happen, Mother?”

The time she had spent punching and kicking at the barrier was exhausting. If anything Adraejen was wise and that put problem after problem of how to deal with it before her. He wasn’t the type to make mistakes, she knew that and yet she thought she could control him. Damn that Angela, if she hadn’t been involved with him then he would have listened to her. She was slouched down in her little circle when he showed up. Her red eyes didn’t show any happiness that a mother’s should. He was just the means to an end.

“Angela. It’s always Angela. Putting her nose in other people’s business. Everything was going so well my dear Colden. That was until my warlock ended up with her. Of all the slimy people he could have met it had to be her.” She hissed as her demonic power flared up and crawled up the barrier not finding an outlet. When she realized that’s not what her boy was talking about she stood up and pressed herself to the barrier.

“Angela did this to me.” She kicked it enough that sent a force of energy past the barrier but it had no effect on the barrier itself. “Tied my soul to my body and then she set me on fire. She broke the code and she got away with it. Then she pulled me back out by the nakedness of my soul and told me to come get her. She threw me in with a pile of demons and left me to fight my way back up. Rotten woman. It was a child. Nothing great or exceptional. Just like you Colden but you have a purpose. A great purpose. You deserve to live, unlike your bratty siblings.” There was another hiss. She had been stewing in her own pathetic anger for weeks now.

“You should try and remove this barrier. I’m sure it would be easy for you. You can let me out and we can take revenge on all of them. You and me.” She was giving him promises she had no intention on keeping. “We can kill them all.”

Ah, despite the ugliness in her soul, she was still fetching to the eyes. It was no wonder that she was able to make several deals with his kind, him included. Of course, he promised her much and gave so little, like a smart demon. Anything else she required of him, she would have to work for it. It was like guiding a fish with a dangling worm, the former unaware of what its life would become from thinking so narrow minded. That was Cyprus’ damning fault he believed. Still, Xunatar watched her from beneath his facade as he came up to her magical set prison.

“Of course it's Auntie Angela. She has to ruin everything for you…for us… “ Whether it was the truth or not, her sister was a problem that he had yet to find a remedy. Of course he could use what he knew that his one time lover had done as an example as to what not to do. She made a grandstanding out of the death of one of the goddess’ children and her haughty pride made her stay and see what would come from it. A stupid move. “This warlock…is he the one that did this”, he asked, pointing to the writing on the floor. A great sigh came from the boy as he paced around, attempting to read and decipher the inscription. “I know Mother, your pain doesn’t fall on deaf ears. The deserving in the end will get what they want and the undeserving will fall”, he spoke without lifting his sights away from the spell. There were a few ideas on how to remove it, but for the time being he kept them amongst himself. “How awful! She can’t treat you like that and get away with it! You are the Black Queen!” The fake Colden’s eyes finally lifted towards hers as he too moved towards the barrier with there being an inch of space between him and it. “That’s right, I do have a purpose. You believe that and so those Father.”

“This spell is strong, but I think I have ways of dealing with it.” Xunatar mentally rolled his eyes at her, seeing how she was playing the part of a lukewarm loving mother to her child. Had this been the real Colden, he would have melted in her hands and did what she asked, unaware that he was a pawn to be sacrificed. Fortunately he was not him. “Yes, we kill them all! We will kill them all!” And then the smile widened inhumanly. “We kill them all and then you will kill me and fulfill your vengeance against Auntie, right? Right mother?” Clapping his hands together, he nodded like an obedient child. “And then the Black Queen will take all that she can have. Leave no other standing, correct?”

Cyprus stared at him for a long time so she could hear his words. He wasn’t melting like he used to. He was hardly even budging. That felt weird to her since normally he would do anything to please his mother. “Yes, he is. Adraejen was so smart and yet I could not see it when I chose him. The wrath that he could bring down on those who messed with his kin. Who would have thought he would take her kin as his.” It was curious. “I will never understand the heart. Such a stupid little organ with little to no use. Inefficient in what it is supposed to do.”

There was a short stop in her thoughts. “More than just the Black Queen boy. As long as that sister of yours holds the crown I can never be again.” She stopped dead as soon as he mentioned him dying. “Colden my love.” She pressed herself against the barrier and stared at him. “Who told you that little white lie?” Sure, in the beginning, she thought it best to drain him but now she just needed him. “We’re going to do something much more you see. We’ll figure it all out.”

She was a glutton this much was true but her eyes narrowed down on who Colden was supposed to be and chuckled. “You aren’t Colden. You have more patience than Colden does. He would have immediately broke the barrier or tried to. He is such a Mommy’s Boy. So who are you? You are much smarter than the boy I pushed from me. You even got his eyes right.”

The more she informed him of the situation, the more he soaked up. This was highly interesting to him to learn more about his enemies and at the same time learn what Cyprus had been up to. He considered her a threat because she could unravel things rather easily given a chance to. She had power, but she was a double edged sword. It was a risk he should have been more insightful to, but like her, he bear children for a means. A different one, but a means nonetheless. “It serves as a great weakness. Tamper with it and watch the entire person crumble like a sand castle”, he said, offering his own suggestion towards the concept of a heart. People like them had no need for one, and the rest were at a severe disadvantage.

“Yes, I was told of Kirika and how she stole the throne with the help of the others. Rest assure, the true ruler to the court will be placed onto the throne by the end of all of this.” The false Colden smiled right up until she asked him where he heard that tidbit about him. “I thought it was obvious; everyone dies when you ruled…” He would have finished, but she caught onto the game a little quicker than he had originally believed. Standing there, the demon looked to her with sincere eyes before closing them off. “That would… have been pointless, dear Cyprus…” His voice more deeper rang out in the room, and as he opened his eyes to gaze at her, the eyes ran with a piercing blue hue now. “Dante told me all about the planning with you and the two children you reared.” The disguise started to fade away and what was left standing there was the pale demon she had once known. “Of course I’d rather not behavior as our dear boy, too whiny for my taste. Nor would I grovel before anyone, you included.”  

Xunatar stepped back from the barrier and leaned back and forth on his heels. Pity that the game was over, but now he was sure that they were ready to speak without anymore tricks or turns. “You really think I’d trust you with Colden’s life? He would have never seen you coming in the end. I was just fine with you slaughtering the rest of your brats, but not that one. He is an important player in my game.” Lifting a finger to his lips, he rolled it down teasingly at her. “He wants the court for himself. I’d think that he gets his train of thought from you- brash and overconfident. Isn’t that what got you here here in the first place? Though being truthful, your sister was equally naive and self centered to believe that what she did to you would suffice. Revenge will see the both of you in your graves, unless you think much more of the big picture.”

A smile crossed her face as the facade was finally dropped. She took kind to look him over, not that she was entirely impressed by his looks. It was the man’s power that she loved so dearly. “Yes, well whiny and needy are two things I raised well in him. At least I know he would never betray his mother. Pathetic really, if he had the chance to rise above me I would want him to. Sadly, he doesn’t have the balls to.”

She stared at him for a long while and rolled about in her prison. “I would never expect you to grovel Xunatar. That’s what makes you so beautiful. So perfect.” A laugh left her lips and she looked away. “I don’t expect anything and I certainly did not think you trusted me. Anyone who trusts me are weaklings easily deposed.” 

Cyprus looked on at him and smiled. “Angela knew what she was doing when she threw me in the bottomless pits of hell. This was the situation she wanted. A chance to kill me again and again. Self-centered she is but more so I suppose… a mother. She had the same look in her eyes when she tore Kirika away from me. It was only a matter of time before she snapped and did something about it. She took my physical body away from me to buy time to deal with me. She could have killed me but then… I could just be brought back, couldn’t I? Don't you think people have tried? I felt the pull of resurrection but I’m not dead. She pulled out all the stops so she could control how I would come back. Here we are again in one of her traps. Though I will admit it was funny how we reconnected. The look on poor Adraejen’s face when he released he was contracted to kill his new wife. HA! The irony.”

Cyprus rolled once more in her pin and smiled. “It won’t be long and I’ll be out of here. You should find a better replacement for Colden. I don’t plan on killing him but I don’t think the being I am trying to summon will like him too much. You know Colden would do whatever I wanted him to do. Including rape his own sister. I told you I won’t kill the boy. Just borrow him. Make him the father to something out of this world.”

“Oh I wouldn’t underestimate the boy. He has the potential to do just that one of these days”, he offered, knowing well of the sin that lived inside him. Had she not ever stopped to think as to why he had been protective of his life? Of course he cared very little for whatever else she had done to him, though the effects of it were obvious and made his blood seem weak by it. Xunatar stepped closer to the barrier. “Normally a trap like this can be disarmed with ease. But your warlock seems to have known what he was doing and made this extra difficult. I take it that he’s not approving of your plans for his extended family? Whatever you did, you sure knew how to piss him off. Though that’s always been your style.”

The demon didn’t blame her- he was known to have similar habits. He didn’t trust her, and she’d be equally a fool to trust him completely. The only difference was that he was free and she, a caged bird. Her train of thought was still narrow, but he pushed it aside for now- there were more pressing issues to address between the two of them.

Xunatar tilted his head and placed it against the back of his closed hand. “Her thirst for vengeance will never be quenched. It is but a dream of fools. She may be able to kill you as many times as she pleases, but at the end of the day, she will not only have one less child that will never come back from it, but she will be no better than you, Cyprus. Revenge corrupts and corrupts fully it does. The heart is and will be her weakness. If you are to exploit it, may I suggest you do so more discretely? This game of cat and mouse hasn’t been in your favor quite yet. It was up to her if she wanted to listen or not, either way wasn’t really a concern for him. He wasn’t sure if she was failing at comprehending this situation or if she had truly been moonstruck. “Well, considering this trap, I do not think he was pleased with the outcome. If he’s disposable to you too, then perhaps I should pay him a visit then?” He could still be of some use, and he always kept a few backup plans in his pocket just in case. The smile, for the first time in a while, faded completely away from his face. In fact, it twisted and into a dark expression as he bore his eyes right through her.

“Cyprus, I care not of what your plans are as long as the boy lives. If your plan is to breed your children together, that is your own prerogative. But I have spent millennias in my plans, something that eludes many of your kind as well as the other races here. I will not have my work ruined just because of whatever you are trying to bring into this world. He was far from being the perfect father, but he didn’t need Colden dead, not when he was one of the Seven. “My work with the Seven Sins will not be for naught. Summon whatever you wish upon this world and I will take Colden away afterwards. We both get what we want, and I’m sure you’d prefer me as an ally and not as your enemy. His arms crossed tightly as he turned his back towards her. “I will make what Angela plans to do to you look like a daydream. I know how to handle lesser demons, and make hell come to them in this plane.”

Once his words slipped out, he relaxed and placed his smile back on his face. “Now, I am aware that your daughter plays a special role in this. From my understanding, there’s something about her blood that can mix with Colden’s demonic blood and make something. Just what sort of thing are you trying to play god with?”