In the Shadow Realm, beings of the Light and the Darkness alike walk the marble-paved streets of Echelon, a city hidden from human eyes and ears where Mystics of every class are free to unmask and live as they please. 

The city's heart beats like a heavy metal drum line and debauchery flows through its veins like blood. Music, sex, and drugs overflow from the numerous clubs and into the streets at most hours. 

Malfizan, the powerful son of a desire demon and a minor goddess, serves both the court and Echelon's shady underbelly as the not-so-secret head of the city's most famous crime syndicate. Malfizan commands a hoard of demons and demi-gods who assist him in terrorizing human kind in the name of punishing them for evil done unto the Mystics. 

He finds his thrilling life halted, suddenly, when Alchimia Nethi moves into the Palace and begins training to take over the city when her mother's reign ends in a few short decades. As fledgling Mystics centuries before, the pair had been class rivals. 

Now, faced with the burden of befriending his least favorite enchantress in order to gain her trust and earn permission to resume normal activities, Mal struggles to hide the call he feels deep within his soul to reveal to Chimi that the Gods have declared her to be his soul bond and are pressing him to push for a marriage. 

The Demon God's Choice

Thirty-Four: Chimia

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*I should have known she wasn't this slow.*
As soon as my arms started to close in past Alchimia's shoulders, I knew what had happened. I'd known it was a possibility that this would happen; that she would discover the truth before I got the chance to tell it to her, but never in my wildest dreams ...

*I should have known she wasn't this slow.*

As soon as my arms started to close in past Alchimia's shoulders, I knew what had happened. I'd known it was a possibility that this would happen; that she would discover the truth before I got the chance to tell it to her, but never in my wildest dreams ...

Twenty-Seven: Mal