Chapter 186: Oath, Engagement, and Blessings

"When the sun rises, day after tomorrow, The Demon Realm and Water Realm will March together to the battle ground in the borders of Celestial grounds. We will use our tactics and defeat the heavens from doing wrong, will make things right, and we the humans and demons, the heaven and hell will have a long standing truce. It will be amiable and do trade that will benefit each other under the good reign of King Huo. Heavenly Empress Lihua will descend from throne, and rejoin her son, the heaven will have restructuring and will need a new Emperor and Empress which will be discussed with other Realms and chosen later. But the Demon Realm will not have a say in it. Water Princess, Aqua will be taken ba k home and everything will be back to normal," Aenon gave his speech to everyone during the dinner. "But for these to take place, there is one thing we must make sure," everyone remained silent. King Aenon's voice echoed in the room. Aqua and Huo held their hands together and looked at each other. He nodded. Queen Rivera smiled, feeling so proud looking at her husband while Milan and Aiden sat strongly, encouraging each other. "We must win, at any cost without harming other realms, we must kill Tai," King Aenon declared. 

The ministers, soldiers and guards shouted. "Win, win, win, win," everyone screamed. Huo, Aqua, Milan, Rivera, and Aiden raised their grail. "To better day," Huo proposed a toasted and everyone sipped their wines. Water King stood their with his head held high in pride. "And if not, Water Realm will withdraw from heaven and I will take the punishments," Queen Rivera looked at him and nodded. Rivera, Milan and Aiden stood up. "We will accept the punishment," they said together. 

"What?" Aqua asked. "What punishment?" Aqua did not understand. But Huo stopped her and forced her to sit there. 

"You trust me, please put your faith in me," he said to her looking in her confused eyes. "I will protect everyone, I will protect them from everything, there will be no punishments from the greater gods," he said to her. "We will win the war, the gods are with us, the demons are with us, we will not lose," he assured her. Aqua's eyes filled with tears and she nodded her head. Huo gave a quick peck on her lips and wiped her tears. "Cheer up, smile," he said. Then he got up. He walked over to Water King to give him support. 

"Today, we will take an oath," King Huo declared. He then looked at King Aenon. "Today onwards we will support each other, we will defeat Tai and I will appoint the Demon Queen," King Aenon looked at him, and he could not deny it. He looked at his daughter, and she looked uneffected hearing the news, sitting there willingly. He looked at his Queen again. Rivera shook her head asking King Aenon to agree to it. The demons began to praise Aqua for going to be the Queen. Aqua sat there smiling. 

The meeting was adjourned and dinner was served after the tea party. The family sat together and had their fill, mostly in silence. "Have you decided?" Suddenly father asked his daughter. King Aenon wanted to know about Aqua's decision from her mouth. 

"What is there to think about father?" She said and kept her knife and fork down. She smiled. "I am never going to walk away from Huo'er," she said looking at Huo. He winked at her. "A separation is impossible. I have always been faithful to heavens and will remain the same way. I will never tell anything about it to the Demon King and his Realm, but i need since he us from heaven itself. And I will not disclose any matters of Demon to heaven either. I just choose the him, I want us to be together, and if it means I will become the Demon, I will, I died once, I can do it again, but only for him," 

Milan sat smiling at her sister's words and looked at Aiden who was looking at Aqua. He nodded his head. "You heard that?" Aiden asked Milan. 

"Yes," Milan said.

"That's love," he said and looked at Milan. Milan smiled and held his hands. Queen Rivera cleared her throat. 

"Aenon, you should be at ease, Aqua will be safer with him than with us," Queen Rivera assured her husband. 

"I saw that," King Aenon replied. He managed to smile while his heart ached to think that Aqau will no longer be part of heaven. It was hard for him to accept. 

"Alright it is decided then," he said keeping his hand on the table. "I will give my blessing to both of you, we will look for an auspicious date soon after the war, and we will hold the wedding, it will be the greatest one in the history," King Aenon said. Everyone clapped and news spread in the Demon Realm and wished Aqua and Huo for the engagement getting the blessing from the parents. A great unison between heaven and hell. 

It was late in the night when everyone returned back to their rooms. Aqua sat on her bed, looking outside the window. The moon looked bright and breeze slow. Her heart was finally at ease. She no longer felt a tension, her heart rate was back to normal, her anxiety coming down. She no longer felt caged. She felt her wings growing back, freely. She took a deep breath and smiled. She felt someone in the room and did not move. She felt the shawl around her shoulder and someone sitting next to her. She got his scent.

"Happy?" Huo asked her.

"Very," she said and looked at him. His glowing eyes, alluring smile and the lip, she hugged him for a minute while he stroked her hair. He looked at her.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too, Aqua, more than you can imagine," he said and took her lips in his. The night was tender and cool while Huo and Aqua lay in their world in each other's arms. They had a lot to prepare from the next day. But even before the sunrise, there was a knock on the door waking the King who was not found in his room. Aqua looked at him. "What is it?"