FALLEN ANGEL: MARRIED TO THE DEMON KING
Chapter 108: THE ANSWERS (1)

Haniel pressed his lips together, then lifted his cup to take a very obviously angry sip of his cooling tea. After a few moments of silence, he spoke up once more, "You do not have to take the throne Kratel. We can run from here."

His voice was filled with frustration, worn and old. Arella could recognize the exhaustion in his voice, and for the first time, she understood something: Haniel cared about Kratel. More than just as a fellow angel, more than how a subordinate would like their superior. There was a history between them, one that she did not have the access to.

The tall male did not take Arella’s hand, but Arella could see how his hand twitched, as if he was trying to not reach out.

Arella did not reach out either. She leaned back slightly, "When did you figure out that I am not him." She asked.

Haniel did not act surprised that she had figured it out. The corner of his lips twitched, though there was no humor in it. The halo covering his eyes slipped down ever so slightly, revealing the pair of baby blue orbs that sat behind them. Haniel raised his head, and the halo repositioned itself correctly over his eyes.

"I knew it the moment you spoke," Haniel admitted, though quietly, "Kratel does not speak as you do. Also he would have smitten me the moment I walked into the room without waiting for him to allow me in."

Arella sighed, "So it was from the moment you saw me on the floor." she murmured, and lay her back onto the chair she sat on, "you have known this whole time?"

Haniel gave a slow nod, "I did. But I needed to understand who you are, and why you are taking the place of my sire." His wings shifted slightly as he turned to face her, the faint rustling of feathers filling the heavy silence. "You may wear his face, and his body, but he and I have been close for centuries. It would have been an insult to not know that you are not him."

Arella groaned, "Here I thought my acting skills were actually top notch. Cassie that liar, he said I was the best actor he had ever seen. I hope he falls down a ditch."

Haniel did not reply to her ramblings, but instead looked at her with a raised brow, "if this is actually how you really are, then you are quite similar to my sire."

Arella groaned, "So if I had just acted as my normal self, you would not have figured me out? Is that what you are saying."

Haniel shrugged, then placed his cup back on the table. He rested his forearms on his knees, and studied her with an unnerving calm, "Tell me, imposter," he said softly. Holy power crackled in the air as he spoke, "Who are you?"

Arella could lie. She could cling to the fragile illusion that she had been maintaining since she woke up in Kratel’s’ body. But something in Haniel’s demeanor told her that it would be pointless.

So, in normal Arella fashion, she raised a brow and the cup to her lips. "I thought you had everything figured out. Do you mean to say you are not as all powerful as I had garnered."

Haniel’s jaw visibly ticked at Arella’s words.

Arella smirked behind her cup. Even in Kratel’s body, she could not help but poke at authority. Old habits never truly died after all.

Haniel’s feathers ruffled slightly, his holy energy prickling against her skin. Arella hid her smirk behind her cup. She was pushing her, perhaps a bit too much.

Haniel exhaled slowly, "You are either foolish," Haniel reigned in his power, "or too bold for your own good."

Arella’s smirk did not drop, "I have been told it’s my best feature."

Haniel’s halo dropped down the bridge of his nose for a few seconds, and he peered at Arella through narrowed eyes. Arella thought he might actually strike her down, but he leaned back against the chair, wings folding neatly behind him. His expression did not soften, but the tension slightly lowered.

"Are you really not going to tell me who you are? Or why you inhabit the body of my sire."

Her grip on the cup tightened. Even she had no answer to that question. In fact, she had thought that he would have answers for her. Now, it seemed that they were both as out of the loop as the other was.

"I do not know why I am here either," Arella finally lowered her cup, "I can tell you with certainty that I am not your enemy either." She met his gaze, their eyes meeting through the halos that were similar.

He studied her for a long moment, and Arella felt as though he was peering straight into her soul. Perhaps he was and Arella would not know.

"Then will he return? Have you taken his body forever? You expect me to trust you?"

Arella shrugged, "You seem to have already known I am no threat, or at the very least trusted me enough to not strike me down the moment you knew that I was not him."

Haniel’s expression darkened, "The only reason you still breathe is because I refuse to harm the body of my sire, regardless of whatever soul inhabits it."

"What if I planned to kill you?"

"Oh, do not think for a second that you can win against me." Haniel took a bite of one of the flakey pastries that were on the table and there was a short moment of silence as he chewed. "You also bear his soul’s signature. That in itself is impossible. In this universe, however, there is so much that we are yet to understand, despite our painfully long lives."

Arella blinked.

Kratel’s soul signature?

What did that even mean? Was it the reason why his memories lingered in her mind? Or was it something more? But why had she woken up in this body? And more importantly, where was the real Kratel?

Cold dread settled in her chest.

Haniel gave no indication of noticing that she was going through some emotional turmoil. He finished his pastry, took another, finished it and went for the third before downing it all with the remaining tea that was in his cup.

He turned to her finally, "You do not know what happened to him, do you?"

Arella shook her head slowly, "No."

For the first time since their conversation began, something in Haniel’s rigid posture relaxed. His hands curled into fists as he lowered his head, and shadows fell over his face. "If Kratel is truly gone... then I have lost everything."

Arella felt a pang of unexpected empathy. There was a deep bond between Haniel and Kratel... one forged over centuries, perhaps even millennia. She fervently hoped that he would return, and she would also go back to the world where she belonged.

"If you are not Kratel, then who are you really?"

Arella hesitated. Revealing her identity could be dangerous.

However, Haniel already knew that she was an imposter.

With a sigh, she finally answered, "My name is Arella, daughter of Camael."

The moment the name left her lips, the air in the room seemed to shift. Haniel froze, his lips pressing together as if he had suddenly remembered something.

"Daughter of Camael?" Haniel’s voice dropped to a whisper, as though he was trying to figure out where he had heard that name before. "You wear the body of my sire, and wear the soul of a person he once mentioned. How.."

Arella shook her head, "I do not know. I woke up in this body. I was fighting something, protecting my home, and then there was darkness, a being, and I was here, in his body. His memories, pieces of his past, they are tangled with my own. But I do not know where he is or why I am here."

Haniel’s wings flexed slightly, the only visible indicator of the tension that he had, "If Kratel’s soul has been displaced, or worse, destroyed, the consequences my be catastrophic. Already the whole spire was in a frenzy because he refused to awaken. No one must figure this out. Everything will fall into place in due time."

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