Chapter 1

• Prologue:
• Miaka’s
• P.O.V
• Gods grant favours to only those who work
• for it.
• But sometimes miracles happen. Someone
• somewhere gets a surprise that changes their lives forever. Sometimes it’s a
• pleasant surprise, sometimes unpleasant. And sometimes that miracle might as
• well be a curse. And sometimes, we spend our entire life debating if that
• miracle was actually a curse in disguise or a blessing.
• I’m one such miracle.
• Eighteen years ago, a war was started
• between Hades and Suzaku, the Beast God of Fire and of the South, about who
• would rule over the Fires of Hell in the Southern Hemisphere. The war claimed
• many lives and went on for years until two of the fiercest warrior women; the
• Demon Zara, Hades’s most trusted Lieutenant and the Angel Alysa, Suzaku’s most
• trusted commander, died fighting each other.
• The Gods were grief stricken and ended the
• war immediately before it claimed any more of those they loved. A truce was
• made between the Gods as they retrieved Zara and Alysa’s souls and combined
• them to form a being which was neither Demon, nor Angel but both. And thus, I
• was born.
• A celestial hybrid, but a hybrid none the
• less.
• It is the biggest secret of my life…or it
• was, until a few moments ago.
• “The choice is yours, Miaka.” Rihero Von
• Palestine, the dragon King’s face was an unreadable mask, his aura dead calm.
• “Either I let the Dark Council know about your actual identity and they strip
• you of all your power and hunt you down until you’re dead. Or, you can marry me
• and together we rule everything.”
• “You think I’m scared of death?” I asked
• him, masking my emotions behind iron control.
• “No.” Rihero lifted his shoulders lightly
• in a shrug. “But you’re scared of what will happen after you die. The only
• reason the Dark Council is stable as of now is because of you.”
• “And marrying you is going to solve
• everything?” I arched an eyebrow. “What guarantee do I have that you wouldn’t
• turn on me after I’ve agreed to this ridiculous proposal?”
• “You don’t.” Another shrug. “But like I
• said, you don’t have a choice.”
• “Fine.” I shrugged. Rihero’s lips tilted up
• on one side, thinking that he had won this battle. That was until he heard what
• I had to say next. “Tell them. I’m tired of keeping secrets anyway.”
• If he was shocked, he didn’t show it. His
• expression remained the same.
• Honestly, I couldn’t figure out if I should
• be shocked or disgusted or angry or repulsed or everything at once. What
• exactly had gotten into Rihero? I know that he’s nearly two thousand years old
• and people of that age often get too bored with life and want some kind of
• excitement in it. But I had never expected that the man I had thought of as a
• father figure would want to marry me and would resort to blackmailing to get
• what he wants.
• What the hell was wrong with him?
• I had known Rihero from a very early age,
• but not as early as I had known the other members of the Dark Council.
• I wasn’t born, but brought into the world
• through a ray of light falling down from the heavens. And I was specifically
• sent to this dimension to rule as King because on my back, I had the birthmark
• that determines the Kings of this dimension, the mark of the Phoenix.
• As the Kings and Queens of other dimensions
• had arrived to greet me, Rihero had been absent, subtly telling everyone that
• he was least interested in matters regarding the other dimension members.
• But when I was four, I remember falling
• into a pit of vipers as I explored the outskirts of my territory. I had escaped
• my charge and was running wildly through a field when I had accidentally fallen
• into a large cave like hole in the ground that had been filled with vipers. The
• snakes had immediately begun to wrap around me, hissing and spitting poison.
• And that was when I had seen him…Rihero.
• His expressions had been impassive even
• then as he had reached in and hauled me out, even as many a viper had stung his
• arm. He hadn’t bothered with the snakes; he had simply dusted me off and
• reminded me to always follow the rules.
• And then he had walked of like nothing had
• happened as I had stared after him for as long as I could. He’d become my Hero,
• the father figure I didn’t have. But now, looking at the man sitting opposite
• to me, I was having a hard time understanding what could possibly have gone
• wrong. Was it really him? Or was this an imposter wearing his skin?
• “If we are done here, I’d like to excuse
• myself,” I told him with the politest smile I could manage. “I have some
• errands to run.”
• “You have no idea what you’re getting
• yourself into.”
• That was all the explanation I got before
• Rihero’s image disappeared from the mental vault I had created especially for
• this conversation.
• A second later, I opened my eyes to the
• sight of millions of books around me in the palace library. And the only
• question on my mind was:
• “What the hell just happened?”