"I'm not going back," Prince Aidan said without hesitation.
"Are you sure? Aidan, you don't have to worry about human society rejecting you. You can come to my Free City..."
Prince Aidan shook his head. He didn't explain why he refused, saying only, "If I ever change my mind, I'll come find you."
"What about you?" Annan turned to the incubus.
Rus remembered when she first went to Free City. At first, she hadn't been used to its peaceful life. She kept thinking the human things were plotting something. But in barely a dozen days, she had grown used to the ease of being surrounded by lambs.
I could have endured the darkness, had I never seen the light.
But betraying her own kind... she wasn't ready for that yet.
Annan asked her, "Do you like demons?"
Disgust flashed across Rus's face. "Are you joking?"
"So you don't like demons. You just don't want to betray Biross?"
Rus nodded slowly, after a moment's hesitation.
"Then why don't we get Biross to defect too?"
"Oh, right..."
Then Rus caught on. "And you said you weren't here for Lady Biross!"
"Biross, I know you're in there! Let me in!"
Standing before the map, the six-armed snake demon listened to the shouting outside and said helplessly, "Let him in."
Annan hurried into the large room and cried out to her, his face tense with worry. "The McKennan Ratfolk know we were behind what happened on Demon's Claw Peninsula. They've sent a force to arrest you. Biross, come with me."
Just as Lady Lilith had predicted, Annan wanted to take her away.
The six-armed snake demon motioned for the servants to leave. Once she and Annan were alone, she said, "The ratfolk came with Lady Lilith's orders. It was... Lady Lilith who sent