Before Yuki even reached the threshold of the prince’s wing, the sound reached her, a heavy, rhythmic moaning that echoed through the corridor. Then came the scent, the thick, unmistakable musk of smoke and sweat.

Steeling herself for the spectacle, Yuki drew a sharp breath and pushed open the heavy doors to Leiko’s quarters. It was exactly as she had expected, an ongoing orgy. Her son sat at the center of a literal tide of bodies, surrounded by women. Many looked utterly spent, tossed aside once they had served their purpose or was too weak to continue.

"Enough." Yuki’s voice was like a blade of ice cutting through the humid air. The command rippled across the vast room, instantly halting every motion. Even with the "Grace" clouding their minds and blurring their senses, the women froze. They were coherent enough to recognize the Queen and wise enough to know she was not a figure to be trifled with.

Yuki spoke but a single, second word "Out." The command acted like a physical force. The women scrambled, clutching discarded silks and half-fastened dresses as they bolted for the exit. Even in their haste, they moved with a frantic grace to ensure they didn’t so much as brush against Yuki’s royal robes.

Soon, only mother and son remained in the sudden, ringing silence. Leiko, his face flushed with a mixture of interrupted lust and rising fury, spat out, "Woman, what is this nonsense now?"

He didn’t get a chance to finish the thought.

In a blur of motion that defied the eye, Leiko was slammed back. He hit the wall with a dull thud, his vision swimming as his mother’s hand clamped around his throat. His eyes bulged, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks as his airway tightened. But the physical strangulation wasn’t the primary threat, it was the searing, localized heat radiating from her palm, threatening to char the very essence of his manhood if he dared to move.

He stared into Yuki’s eyes and saw it, the cold, flickering embers of a patience that had finally burnt away. Something had changed. The usual maternal indulgence she used to mask her disdain was gone, replaced by a lethal gravity she rarely ever directed at him.

She released her grip, and Leiko crumpled to the floor, gasping for air. With a sharp flick of her wrist, a shimmering distortion of man rippled over him, in an instant, his nakedness was gone, replaced by a formal robe that clung to his shivering frame.

"Sit up, Leiko," she said, her voice was calm. "The time for play is over."

He still held a defiant glint in his eyes when he looked up at her, but the lingering sting on his neck was enough to keep his mouth shut.

Yuki flicked her wrist, and a scroll tumbled through the air toward him. Leiko caught it with practiced ease, but his arrogance faltered the moment he saw the seal. The insignia of the Godlings stared back at him, a symbol that carried enough weight to finally bring a genuine look to his features.

He unrolled the parchment carefully, his eyes darting across the script. As he reached the final line, a derisive sneer curled his lip. "Rubbish," he spat, letting the scroll go. It didn’t hit the floor; instead, it drifted upward, caught in a tether of Yuki’s power as it floated back into her waiting hand.

Yuki glanced down at the seal, then back at her son, her expression unreadable. "And what of the Princess?" she asked, her voice dropping to a low tone. "Has she ever crossed your mind as someone you would truly like to marry?"

At the question, Leiko’s mind flashed back to his first meeting with the Princess. He remembered her ethereal appearance and, more vividly, the specific way she had made him feel in that moment.

It had been a pleasant sensation, but ultimately, it was a feeling Leiko grew to view as a nuisance. The very idea of chasing her, or demeaning himself to seek her fickle attention, struck him as an insult to his own standing. He was a prince after all, blessed with the power and status to claim any woman he desired. Why should Lunara be any different, if not for the weight of her lineage and power’s backing her.

The silence stretched as he reflected, until a cold smirk touched his lips. He had come to realize long ago that he didn’t need Lunara, if anything, she was the one who needed a match of his caliber. He had only entertained the chase to amuse himself specifically to torment Magnus, who was so pathetically smitten with the Princess that it made him an easy target for Leiko’s games.

If it were possible, he would have taken Lunara as his woman, but only for the cold, strategic benefits such a union would bring to his people. For himself, he saw no personal gain. He was acutely aware that no true harmony could come from them being together.

Leiko had appetites, darker inclinations and habits that Lunara would undoubtedly despise. Marriage to her would mean a life of constant compromise; he would be forced to suppress his own nature just to keep her satisfied, a necessity dictated by her untouchable status among the Godlings. To Leiko, that wasn’t a marriage, it was a cage which he brought to himself.

He looked his mother in the eye, his expression flat and certain. "No," he responded.

Yuki stared at her son, a swirl of complex emotions tightening her chest. She couldn’t quite find the words to describe the mixture of disappointment and relief washing over her, but she wasn’t surprised. Deep down, she had always known his answer.

Leiko was closer to a pure-blooded demon than Yuki would ever be. As the son of Björn and herself, a half-demon, the tainted blood ran thick and potent in his veins.

This lineage manifested in more than just power and apperance, it shaped his very psyche. He possessed the quintessential demonic traits, a natural ruthlessness and the chilling ability to feel emotion yet discard it entirely when it served no purpose.

"You know what a proposal would mean to your father," Yuki said, her eyes searching his face for a flicker of duty. "He has shown a clear interest in forging a lasting bond with the Godlings. What better way to cement that alliance than through an intermarriage?"

She spoke the words with a lingering hope that political ambition might sway him where sentiment had failed.

Leiko’s frown deepened "I am well aware of that, Mother. But that is exactly why this would never work. I could play the part of the doting suitor for a time, perhaps. But eventually, the ugly side will show. If Lunara is mistreated and she would be, it wouldn’t just be a failed marriage. It would shatter the relationship between our kingdoms far more than a rejected alliance ever could."

Yuki let out a heavy sigh "Do you truly understand the stakes, Leiko? This means the Silver Kingdom would have the sheer manpower of the Godlings standing behind them in the coming war."

Leiko didn’t flinch. Instead, he slowly licked his lips, a predatory glint returning to his eyes. "If that were truly the case, Mother, it might indeed mean the end for us. But we both know the world doesn’t work that way."

He paced toward her "The Godling army is not a dowry. They would never move their entire host for the Silver Kingdom based on a marriage certificate alone. If the Godlings make an appearance in this war, it will only be the few who are personally loyal to Lunara herself."

Walking to the window with a swaggering confidence, Leiko looked out over the sprawling expanse of their capital city. "We won the last war, and we will win this one again. Besides," he added, a cold, sharp smile tugging at his mouth, "even if the Godlings do decide to make a move, I am confident we will still come out on top."

Yuki’s brow furrowed at the sheer unshakable weight behind his words. "You seem remarkably sure of that," she murmured, her eyes narrowing as she studied him. "Is there something you know that I don’t?"

An edge of unease sharpened her voice, but Leiko’s only response was a slow, cryptic smile. "I simply know that we are never truly alone, Mother. There are powers in this world who are not yet ready to see us lose."

The unease in Yuki’s chest tightened into a knot. She recognized that look in his eyes, the cold stubborn stare of his father. She knew that was all the information he intended to yield. With a heavy frown and the "Grace" still simmering uncomfortably in her veins, she turned and began to walk out of the room.

Just as she reached the threshold, Leiko’s voice stopped her one last time.

"Lunara is an ambitious woman with her own agenda," he said "Goals she needs a human leverage to achieve."