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“Harbinger!” Cory said and saluted with her wing. Palan was still stunned by her actions. “You’re back!” Her head tilted to the side. “That’s odd. The old man said the centaur would take another few days before waking up. Who revived you?”

“Spit it out!” Palan said, climbing out of the chair. Raea’s brow furrowed as she was pushed away by the action.

Cory blinked. Spit it out? “You knew?” she asked. “How’d you find out?”

“The eyeballs! Spit them out,” Palan said as he appeared in front of Cory and lifted the skull necklace off the ground. The red metal was different from before, less lustrous and heavier too.

“The eyeballs…. Raisins?” Cory asked. “But I already swallowed them.” Palan’s glare caused her body to stiffen. “I’m sorry! I’ll get the chefs to prepare a whole batch of dried eyeballs right away.” She turned to leave, but Palan seized her butt feathers and pulled her back. He could’ve grabbed any other part of her body, but maybe Cleo’s actions against Sally had left an impression on him. “Gah! I already said I’m sorry!”

“Palan?” Raea asked and walked to his side. Death hadn’t left any movement impairing side effects, either that, or the revive she received canceled them out. “What’s going on?”

“It was the necklace that revived you,” Palan said. “And Cory just ate part of it.”

The harpy’s face blanched as she stopped struggling. She cursed her upbringing in her mind: Never waste food because you’ll never know when your next meal will come. If food falls on the floor, that’s just adding flavor. If food’s lying around, then it’s free to take because no one else wanted to eat it. Her mother’s words had never gotten her into trouble—until now. “I-I didn’t know,” Cory said and lowered her head.

“Vomit them out,” Palan said.

“It won’t help,” Cory said and pursed her lips. “I chew my food very thoroughly. And harpies digest food very fast, so we can eat more in a shorter timeframe.”

Raea gasped as Palan jammed his fingers down Cory’s mouth, touching the back of her throat. The harpy’s eyes widened as her body lurched. A slurry of brown goop shot out of Cory’s mouth once Palan retracted his fingers. She hadn’t been lying. The two raisin-like eyes were nowhere to be seen. Cory whimpered. “My hard work,” she said and hung her head. “Do you know how hard it was to find a meal before talking to the insane old man?”

Palan’s expression darkened at the pile of vomit on the floor. An artifact that could bring the dead back to life—ruined because a harpy was hungry. “Maybe it was only usable one time,” Raea said and hugged Palan from behind. Her nose crinkled at the acidic smell, so she buried her face into his back. “You don’t need to punish Cory. I’m alive. Isn’t that enough for you? You’ve shown more concern for a stupid necklace than you’ve shown for me. You really think I’m that worthless?”

Palan’s body shuddered. He released Cory. “Clean this up,” he said and pointed at the puddle on the floor. His tails wrapped around Raea, picking her up, as he left the room. He entered the room next door without knocking. There was a lizardman, Ivan, who was sharpening the brand-new axe Pyre had given him since his old one was ruined by a certain couple.

“Who dares enter Ivan Blackfl—”

Palan lifted Ivan, tossed him out of the room, shut the door, and threw Raea onto the bed. He placed his hands on his hips and glared at her. Raea raised an eyebrow, waiting, but Palan didn’t say anything. She fidgeted, wrinkling the sheets and using her fingers to play with her feathers. “Aren’t you going to say something?” she asked and raised her head. There was a strange expression on Palan’s face that Raea had never seen before. Like he was constipated.

“You asked me how I would feel if you died,” Palan said. He pulled a yellow crystal out of his bag and crushed it, forming the contract. “You can read it yourself.”

Raea leaned forward and took the paper out of his hand. “It didn’t dissolve after I died?” Raea asked and raised her head after reading the first sentence.

“Keep reading,” Palan said and sat on a nearby couch. It had gashes in it where Ivan’s elbow and knee spikes cut into it. Palan rolled the skull necklace around in his hands one more time before storing it away. Andrea would still like it even if it didn’t have any powers. Besides, it might not have been the eyes that revived Raea. And if it was, maybe he could pluck some other poor fellow’s and place them inside to see what happened.

Raea coughed as if she were trying to suppress a laugh. “So,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “You were devastated by my death? No wonder why you were crying earlier. And it looks like we won’t be able to dissolve the contract anytime soon.” She smiled as the contract crumbled into dust.

Palan didn’t respond.

“I suppose we still have to go to the capital to kill Sariel though,” Raea said. “Is your sister okay? If you died because I died, what would Abaddon think? You had that contract with him, right?”

“I checked while you were busy being dead,” Palan said. “My contract with Abaddon is still intact. Maybe he didn’t notice?”

Raea grunted. “That’s good,” she said and lowered her head.

Palan’s eyes narrowed. “Are you still thinking about killing her?” he asked.

Raea climbed out of bed and smiled at him. “Can’t you trust me a bit more? Why do you think so badly of me? I was willing to die instead of acting on my envy. It was you who brought me back.” She climbed on top of him, straddling his lap. “You could’ve lived a life without me, but you chose to bring me back. Grieving is normal. Eventually you would’ve moved on even with the Creator’s punishment. Doesn’t that mean there’s some tiny part of you that cares about me?” She giggled as her hand traversed down his body. Her lips lined up with Palan’s ear. “Like this one. He seems to have missed me very much.”

***

In the capital, Raphael was hunched over on his bed, screaming in pain. Streams of blood flowed out of his empty eye sockets. “My eyes!” he shouted. “Someone destroyed my eyes!”

Asura furrowed her three brows. It didn’t seem like he was mistaken this time. The amount of blood looked pretty serious.

“Are you okay?” Levy asked and tilted her head. The sight of blood was making her own eyes red. “Levy can fix your pain. Just one slash and no more pain forever.” Her head bobbed up and down.

“Shut up!” Raphael shouted. “I saw her! A red demon stole my eyes’ powers to revive herself. I’ll kill her!”

Black flames billowed out of his body, setting Levy’s sleeve on fire. She squealed and slapped the flames away, using a barrier made of narcissism. She pouted and glared at Raphael while placing her hands on her hips. “Levy just wanted to help.”

“You can help me by killing that bi—“

Asura slapped the back of Raphael’s head with three of her hands, dazing him. “I think all of us knows the consequences for leaving this room,” she said. “And they’re just a pair of eyes. I wouldn’t be sniveling if I lost a pair.”

“That’s because you have three,” Camael said and snorted. “But still. There’s someone strong enough to activate Ol’ Raffi’s eyes? Here’s hoping she’s … uh, Levy, what were the two we needed?”

“Pride and envy,” Levy said as she inspected her burnt sleeve. Tears were pooling in her eyes. “My favorite shirt…”

“Here’s hoping she’s pride or envy,” Camael said. He squeezed his scorpion tail, shooting venom into a cup. He raised the glass and drank it in one gulp. The next second, he and Levy fell down dead.

“Idiots,” Uriel said and rolled her eyes.

The unassuming demon in the corner shrugged. “You can’t blame them. I’m a sloth, and even I am tired of sleeping for the past few centuries.”

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