Hardly anything happened in Paradise that Eira didn’t know about.

Who was fucking whom, who was plotting what, and what filthy little secrets people whispered in the dark when they thought the walls couldn’t hear.

She saw it all. Heard it all.

The tiny fairy bound to the most dangerous boy in the city had access to information that would make entire intelligence agencies weep with envy and offer their firstborns for a single scrap.

But knowing and telling were two very different games.

She had explained the rules to Maya once; the invisible chains carved into her very existence.

She couldn’t act freely. Couldn’t volunteer information Phei hadn’t asked for. Especially not the world-shattering kind. Breaking those ancient laws would bring consequences neither she nor her Master could afford to pay.

And Phei, being Phei, simply didn’t ask.

Not because he didn’t want the truth. Eira understood him too well for that.

He was desperately trying to cling to whatever scraps of normal life he could still grasp before the entire supernatural shitshow exploded in his face.

So he kept his questions light. Safe. He let her hold her tongue because forcing her to speak would mean admitting the reality he wasn’t ready to face yet.

The most important order he had ever given her was brutally simple: Make sure all my women are safe.

All of them.

And so... that also included even the one the entire world believed was dead.

Eira had known the truth from the moment she arrived in this world and devoured every page of her Master’s bloody, tear-soaked history.

She had watched Selene’s body being quietly removed from the morgue that night, replaced by something that wore her face but was not at all human.

She had monitored the Seed of Ending ever since she knew what had happened and where Selene was — watched it fuse with Selene’s soul, watched the darkness twist and remake her into something ancient, terrible, and heartbreakingly beautiful.

She had protected her from the shadows when needed, though she knew such protection was mostly ceremonial.

Whatever entity had chosen Selene was more than capable of guarding its new disciple.

But orders were orders. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

All his women.

So Eira had also witnessed everything since Selene’s awakening. The two silent kills. The shadow daggers flashing in the night. The thick, inky tears sliding down violet eyes as Selene stood hidden behind in the mansion forest, watching the boy she loved care for a mother she still couldn’t bring herself to embrace.

She had approached Selene a day ago. Introduced herself. Shared just enough to build fragile trust without drowning the broken girl in cosmic horror.

That was why, when Eira’s cheerful voice sliced through the stolen moment on the mansion grounds, Selene didn’t flinch in fear.

She simply froze like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Which, considering she had been secretly stealing warmth from her boyfriend’s shadow, was exactly what she was doing: cookie jar.

They now sat atop a high-rise overlooking Downtown Paradise — somewhere much higher, legs dangling casually over the edge as the morning light slowly melted into rich afternoon gold.

The city stretched endlessly below them, glittering like a toy set built for gods and monsters.

Eira had a bright cherry lollipop stuck in her mouth, clicking it cheerfully against her teeth. She had developed a serious addiction to human sweets since bonding with Phei, and this particular brand was currently her latest obsession.

Selene sat beside her, wrapped in living shadows that clung to her body like a possessive second skin. She still wasn’t comfortable revealing herself fully to the naked world.

The darkness hugged every curve, veiled her face, and hid the violet fire burning in her eyes.

If anyone had stumbled onto that rooftop, they would have seen nothing but empty concrete and the distant hum of the city.

Eira turned, lollipop clicking once more.

"So? Have you thought about it?"

Selene shook her head. The shadows around her rippled like disturbed water.

"I can’t do it."

Eira sighed, pulling the lollipop out with a soft pop and pointing it at Selene like a disappointed teacher scolding a stubborn student.

"Do you realize what revenge is doing to you?" Her voice was gentle but edged with warning. "With the Seed inside you, every kill darkens something deeper. Every drop of vengeance feeds it. Keep walking this path and you’ll lose every last spark of warmth you have left."

She let the words hang for a moment. "And then there won’t be any Selene anymore. Just an empty vessel of the Seed. A pretty puppet dancing for the darkness."

Selene’s shadows writhed violently around her.

"I can’t stop," she whispered, voice cracking. "Do you know what they did to me? They—" She turned sharply toward Eira, violet eyes blazing through the veil of darkness. "How could you possibly understand what I want? You’re just a fairy. You’re—"

"Girl."

Eira’s voice cut through the air like ice.

"You have no idea what I’ve been through."

The lollipop vanished. Eira’s crystalline form flickered, and for a single heartbeat, something ancient and terrifying looked out through those playful eyes. Something that had witnessed horrors far older and crueler than anything Selene could yet imagine.

"I was imprisoned in the Eternal Prison for hundreds of thousands of years."

Eira’s voice remained eerily steady, it was the calm that only came when trauma had been beaten, broken, and finally reduced to background static.

"Tortured in ways your mind couldn’t survive hearing about. Methods that would shatter mortals before the first cut even landed." She paused, letting the weight settle. "I’ve endured more than three hundred betrayals. Actual death — not close calls, not ’nearly killed,’ but killed — only to be dragged back and murdered again. Over and over. For centuries."

Selene went deathly still. The shadows around her stopped moving entirely.

"So yes, Selene," Eira continued, her tone softening by the smallest fractionm, "I understand exactly where your anger is coming from. I’ve lived it. Breathed it. Done exactly what you’re doing right now — except thousands of times worse. And every single one of those sweet little revenge decisions exploded in my face."

Selene shook her head violently. The shadows churned like storm clouds ready to unleash hell.

"I can’t forgive them. That’s not—"

"Forgive?"

Eira let out a short, bitter laugh. It wasn’t kind. It was the sound of someone who found the very idea adorably, pathetically naïve.

"Who the hell told you to forgive them?" She leaned in closer, her translucent wings catching light that had no right to exist on this shadowed rooftop.

"Selene, if burning the entire world was what it took to punish them, I would strike the match myself. Salt the earth. Make sure nothing ever grew again in their names. I’d then watch the ashes dance and I’d smile while doing it."