Monsters in the Dark

Silence returned to the Soul-Severing Cliff.

Yara crawled over to Xeron. He was unmoving. His beautiful white hair was singed gray. His chest—the chest that had absorbed a bomb—was a ruin of burns and scars.

"Xeron?" she whispered. She checked his pulse.

It was faint. Weak. But there.

He groaned. His eyes cracked open. The red was dim, but the boredom was gone.

"Did I... get them?" he wheezed.

Yara looked at the crater where the Elders had been. "You erased them."

Xeron tried to laugh, but it turned into a cough. "Good. I hate... uninvited guests."

He looked at her. He reached up with a trembling, scarred hand to touch her face.

"You stayed," Yara said, tears finally falling. "You lost your cultivation. You're... you're broken."

"I'm alive," Xeron corrected. "And so are you."

He pulled her down so her forehead rested against his.

"My cultivation is shattered," he admitted softly. "I can't rule the Spire with fear anymore. They will come for us."

"Let them come," Yara whispered fiercely. She kissed his ruined chest. "I have enough poison for all of them. You saved me. Now I'll protect you."

Xeron smiled. It was the same smile he had given her on their wedding night—sharp, dangerous, and utterly possessive.

"A fallen Prince and a fake Saintess," he murmured. "We're going to be a nightmare."

\---

**Epilogue**

The rumors spread quickly through the cultivation world. The Righteous Elders had vanished in a mysterious cataclysm. The Demon Prince had gone into seclusion.

But travelers who ventured near the Obsidian Spire whispered of a new rule.

The Spire was no longer ruled by a tyrant on a throne. It was ruled by a shadow and a beast.

On the balcony of the fortress, Xeron sat in a chair, his scars exposed, reading a scroll. Yara stood behind him, her hand resting on his shoulder, her eyes scanning the horizon for threats.

They weren't "good." They were still vicious. They still played games with their enemies. But when they looked at each other, the darkness in their eyes settled.

"The tea is poisoned," Xeron noted, sniffing his cup.

"I know," Yara said, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "I added extra nightshade. Just how you like it."

Xeron drank it in one gulp.

"Perfect."