Seraphina's composure shattered. She summoned Celestial Hellfire and sent it crashing down on my son.
White-hot flames engulfed him in an instant.
I was close enough to feel the searing heat scorch my skin.
Fear and anguish devoured me from the inside out.
My child was not just the future sovereign of the Six Realms.
He was the culmination of hundreds of thousands of years of hope between the Demon Sovereign and me.
Three years I had carried him. My own flesh and blood.
All those years, the Demon Sovereign and I had treasured him more than our own lives.
And this tiny, newborn boy had never even been held. Not once.
He was swallowed by merciless flame before he ever knew what an embrace felt like.
Tears streamed down my face, covering every inch of it.
Seraphina looked at the charred, motionless body and let a smile play across her lips.
"The little mongrel is finally dead."
The other maidens beamed.
"A mortal's mongrel, tough as leather. Thank heavens Lady Seraphina is so resourceful!"
"Exactly. One look at the brat and you can tell his lowly demon-guard father was just as worthless and disgraceful."
"Congratulations, Lady Seraphina, for ridding the Demon Realm of this stain!"