“What was the point of us yakking away all those hours, if you were just going to lose it like that as soon as they mentioned your precious soul?!” Leviathan snapped while he scanned the crowd, wasting no time with unnecessary greetings to the startled ox guards who corrected their impulse to attack when he and Lucious suddenly appeared in front of them outside the palace gates. The king stomped ahead, across the small bridge that led to the market, ignoring surprised and awed glances from his subjects.

“She’s not my precious soul, she’s my precious fiancée,” Lucious replied, walking a few steps behind.  Leviathan kissed his teeth. Lucious had a way of dialling up on that special frequency only he could tune into when he wanted to dig deep under his skin. “Why are we here?” Lucious asked.

“I’m getting supplies; What d’you get at markets? And don’t change the subject! You were out of line back there!”

“I was out of line. How do you figure?”

Leviathan’s stop was abrupt, when he turned to face Lucious. “You cut me off!”

 Lucious cocked his head. “I cut you…”

“You overstepped! We specifically agreed we wouldn’t bring up Nephalems and Cambions and whatever the hell, but you just couldn’t leave that shit alone. You’re my fucking adviser! How do you think it makes us look?!”

Lucious’ scanned the surrounding crowd, and Leviathan spotted a shred of tension. Now he was trying to be cautious?! With a fobbing wave, Leviathan moved ahead.

“And as your adviser, I also advised you not to bring Aarin up. Look, if we can't resolve these issues at the Conclave, are we just supposed to handle them alone? And I didn’t see you get too heartbroken about it. I thought you were backing me on this.”

“That's ‘cause you were too busy looking at the flying chickens in the room! The fuck was I supposed to do? We’re all we have left of this family; you think I’d just turn against you, in front of them? Beel already left us. I’m not about to become the next traitor in this family.”

There, again, with that nervous look at whoever was passing by. Hell forbid people start hating Beelzebub too!

Lucious almost whispered. “You can’t just leave him unprotected. He’s your nephew.”

“The fuck he is! The son of an angel?!”

“The son of our brother. Levi, this isn’t the place to—”

Leviathan shook his head and paced ahead. “Don’t go thinking we’re done talking!”

“I’ll not avoid the issue,” Lucious said from behind. “Something is off with the Conclave. That angel. The way he talked... it was unnatural. How he mentioned our parents… He was taunting you on purpose.”

Leviathan slowed down, allowing a family of fidgety imps to open up a path for him. They seemed to struggle in their clumsiness, but eager to please, so he indulged them. Leviathan was already tall next to Lucious. Before imps, he felt like a giant. He rarely had the chance to appear in public, but when he could, he preferred to fetch peaches for Kiruna himself, and see his people outside of the confines of the palace.

His appearance had much changed since the common demons had last seen him; or so he’d like to think. His hair had grown longer, reaching just below his neck, and his tireless training sessions with the wolves was showing off in his toned arms and broad chest. Growing out his hair had been one thing. And while a certain someone leered more at him, she had yet to offer any specific comments on it. Aloud, anyway.

His training, however, wasn't just his attempt at impressing his stroppy captain. The incessant head-butting with Lucious and Mammon had been a constant source of frustration. Those two ambushed his decisions at every turn. When he spoke about Hell being ridiculed in the Conclave, Leviathan had not been saying we and us in vain. Really, there were three kings ruling Hell, not just one.

“That arsehole wasn’t just taunting me. He was gunning for us at every turn. He’s been keeping tabs on us for some time.”

“He was… strange.” Lucious pondered aloud.

Leviathan picked up on his brother’s fascination and how he was already comparing the Conclave angel to Aarin. This bastard. If Mara didn't exist, Lucious would’ve moved to *Ligentia, offer them his pecker, shave his hair and horns to become an elder himself. “Oi. He’s an angel. They’re all weird. Let's not make this a thing.”

They approached the fruit stand and Leviathan started inspecting the peaches on display, to the vendor’s amazement. Kiruna too, eagerly hovered closer to the fruit and began sniffing, though Leviathan cautioned her to behave herself.

Leviathan then glanced at his brother. Lucious’ mind was already elsewhere. So he was going to make it a thing. He was going to look into this Samael. Leviathan’s stare must have given him away because Lucious added, “think about it; to not have heard anything about him until now is just as strange. He used to accompany Nathaniel to the meetings.”

“Who’s Nathaniel?” Leviathan asked, smelling one peach.

“The archangel who presided the Conclave meetings. The predecessor. You met him the first time we went there.”

Leviathan shrugged and looked at the boar demon merchant with mandibles the length of his hand. “One basket. Fill it up.”

The vendor started picking his best fruit without hesitation.

“It’s suspicious,” Lucious insisted. “Samael came out of nowhere and suddenly climbs up the ranks to become a Conclave representative? Those seats aren’t just for anyone. I don’t know what his agenda is, but he’s clearly not impartial. Before we went in, I heard whispers that old Nathaniel died too suddenly.”

 Leviathan sneered. “It’s what old people do. I don’t get the suddenly bit.”

 “Levi, this is serious. If he’s against us, it will make everything all that much harder. We need to determine if he is an active enemy. We have to study him. I’ll consult the archives from Ligentia.”

Something dark brushed past between the two brothers and hid under the vendor’s stall. Leviathan glimpsed black fur, a long tail. “What the… monkey?”

“Rudi~! Come on, the game is over!”

Leviathan and Lucious turned to find Haru and Mara heading their way. Mara’s smile widened and despite her soul being veiled up to protect her from hungry demons, her soul’s brightness seemed ready to blind them all. Or perhaps it was the engagement ring Lucious had gifted her.

“Mara, what are you doing here?” Lucious rushed over, and Leviathan rolled his eyes. If Lucious had a tail, he wondered how it would be wagging now.

“I wanted to come get biscuits for later. I’ve been craving the ones you got me a few months ago, but I couldn’t remember the name. Rudi was supposed to help us… Anyway, I’m also getting some cherries to share with Miina,” she glanced at Leviathan and nodded, seemingly in a greeting. “Seems she loves them as much as I do.”

On her tiptoes, Mara kissed Lucious on the lips. Look at her, squeezing him tips on the go. Whatever happened to that shy, rare soul, Leviathan smirked.

One peck on the lips wasn’t sufficient for Lucious. Unphased by their surroundings, the adviser pulled his fiancée closer and squeezed a longer kiss, prompting Haru to turn away in a fluster. The man busied his eyes with searching for the wolf-monkey, Leviathan knew had already slipped away from the other side of the stand. Wolf demon children had it good these days. At his age, Leviathan was already…. Well, facing his own curse while confined to this cell or that room, and hoping to survive the elder’s gruesome experiments to treat him.

Leviathan chased away bothersome thoughts. Demons and salvation did not go well. He reigned in Kiruna, his so famed curse. With stealth, his tail had strayed again too close to the vendor’s most plump peaches. The boar, however, seemed keen and focused, nitpicking only his best. Gone were the days when demons flinched at the sight of his tail.

Haru was suddenly next to the king. “Good aftern… oh, I don’t.... Is it afternoon? Haha, it’s still so hard for me to tell. It was afternoon on Earth when I left, just after lunch. A-anyway, I hope you’re having a good day, your majesty.”

“Mm,” Leviathan spared the human the corner of his eye. He had spent little time with Mammon’s mate, but enough to distinguish him from others. The human always seemed nervous, but after throwing back a couple of cups of Khol together at Mara and Lucious' engagement fest, Haru let loose and they had shared a good laugh. His memory, like most humans who couldn’t handle demon’s booze, seemed too short, and so it was back to being uncomfortable. Leviathan wondered: Were it not for the drinking, would they even have anything in common?

Like Mara, would Haru have anything to offer him? Any advice? Leviathan observed Haru head to feet and wondered what Mammon saw in this ungainly looking human. His soul was average, not bright enough to warrant shielding. He was nervous looking, but had kind eyes and smiled a lot. He apologised a lot, too. All the time. Sometimes he would apologise for things that weren’t even his fault. Maybe it was about the several scars his soul bore. Maybe Haru hid his pain well. Who knew. Maybe that was what tickled the grand marshal’s fancy. Some demons liked that, Leviathan supposed. 

“Mammon-san!” Haru’s face brightened at the sight of the grand marshal.

“Is this where you’d been loitering about.” Mammon leaned in and kissed the side of his cheek. Leviathan was grateful, feeling spared from more exaggerated romantic displays. “Where is Rudi? Faolán is waiting for him for his training.”

Haru offered a knowing glance toward the tarp under the stall. “I think Rudi knows…”

Mammon caressed his mate's cheek fondly. "He's no longer there, honey."

Again, a nervous flutter took the human. "Oh, is he not?! But we just saw him..."

Mammon leaned in for a peck on the forehead. "Try not to fret. He'll come back when he's ready. Or when he's hungry. More importantly, have you eaten? I've saved you some cookies to have with tea later."

Unimpressed, Leviathan redirected his gaze to the vendor. This one held a warm smile admiring the couples. Leviathan snapped his fingers. “Oi, eyes over here. Is this how you run your business, by making your customers wait this long?”

“N-no, my king! I… my apologies, my king.”

“Fetch me another basket,” Leviathan said curtly. “Throw in some of those cherries.”

“…Cherries, my lord?”

Kiruna hissed at the boar when Leviathan leaned in. “You wanna ask a little louder, make sure everyone can hear you?”

The vendor shook his head and kept his head low while he obeyed. His eyes continued to steal glances at the couples.

What a happy kingdom Court had become. Everyone was, oh so happy under his rule. All they needed was for cupids to fly down from Heaven and bless everyone’s union.  Leviathan narrowed his eyes at the boar merchant until this one sunk his head further and carried on with his task.

“I was looking for you both,” Mammon said loud enough to Leviathan. Judging by the wolf’s tone, Leviathan knew he would not like what was coming. 

“What? Something happen at the arena?”

“No. The preparations are coming along well, and the workers are excited. Work will be finished by the deadline.”

 Leviathan straightened himself to welcome the blow. “Then what?”

“Reports have come in. There have been more attacks.”

“More souls?” Lucious asked.

“No. They’ve moved on to demon settlements,” Mammon confirmed.

Lucious and Leviathan exchanged grave stares.