"Yes," Zeth said, rubbing the back of his neck as if he could physically push the awkwardness out of his skin. "There are circumstances. A set of them, placed long ago by Grimm. I can't quote them verbatim, and I don't even know if there's a strict order. Honestly, I'm not sure I know all of them either."
He paused and cut a quick look at Levi. It was a simple glance, but it carried a warning: Don't say more than we should.
"All I can tell you for certain," Zeth continued, "is that long ago, Aamon was given a restriction when he enters the Mortal Realm. He cannot touch a mortal without burning them."
Jade's eyes narrowed. She sat straighter, arms crossed, holding herself in place like she might shake apart if she didn't. Even exhausted, even half-recovered from Interstice, her patience had limits.
Zeth lifted a hand. "It was put in place to prevent the birth of an unclean."
Levi leaned back in his chair, expression bored. "The Magnate was given the same restriction."
Jade blinked. "The Magnate?"
"That's what they call the king in the Light Realm," Levi said, as if explaining to a child was physically painful.
Zeth nodded. "Aamon the Sovereign, and Sandalphon the Magnate, are the most powerful beings in the Realms. If either of them were ever tempted to produce a child, it could throw the entire universe out of balance. Grimm and Gaia put the restriction in place to prevent that."
Jade tapped her fingers against her arm, annoyance building. "Okay. I understand the why. Now answer the part that matters."
Zeth sighed. "Jade—"
"Why am I not burned?" she snapped, voice sharper than she meant it to be. "What are the circumstances?"
"I'm getting to that." Zeth held up his palm again, a calm-down gesture that didn't work on her but did slow her down by a fraction. "From what I know, the exception only applies to a mortal who has dealt with difficult times, sees the face of true evil, can still keep their sanity, and remain pure-hearted."
The table went quiet.
Jade stared at him, trying to fit her life into that list like it was a puzzle with missing pieces. Difficult times, sure. Too many. Seeing the face of true evil? Aamon's demon form, maybe. But "pure-hearted" made her want to laugh. She didn't feel pure. She felt tired. Angry. Confused. Hungry. Human. Her mouth opened to argue.
"No. Fucking. Way." Oz's voice cut through the silence from the doorway.
He'd been sprawled on the sofa in the adjoining room, listening with the lazy confidence of someone who never worried about being invited. Now he strolled in like the kitchen belonged to him, hair a silver mess, leather jacket hanging open. He dropped into an empty chair and propped his boots on a rung.
His eyes slid to Jade with a grin that made her skin crawl. "Sleeping Beauty, seriously? That's all it takes?"
Jade's stomach tightened. She didn't even have the energy to be properly disgusted.
Levi's expression darkened. "If you're going to sit there, fine. But keep your filthy mouth shut."
Oz smiled wider. "You wound me."
Zeth ignored Oz and kept his focus on Jade.
"You told us how it was for you growing up," Zeth said carefully. "I'd imagine there's more you didn't say."
Jade's gaze dropped for a moment. She nodded once.
"I can accept that my past counts as difficult times," she muttered. "But after everything I've learned, it's hard to believe it could be something so ordinary. Just a mortal problem."
Levi gave a short, humorless scoff. "Your 'ordinary mortal problems' would break most mortals."
Oz leaned forward, still interested despite himself. "And the face of true evil is Aamon's demon form?"
Zeth nodded. "Although Aamon isn't evil by our standards, he is the most powerful entity in the Dark Realm. In that sense, his demon form is what one would call true evil."
Something heavy sank in Jade's chest at the phrasing. She'd never thought of Aamon as evil. Dangerous, yes. Terrifying, yes. But evil? She hated the way the word tasted in her mind.
Levi watched her expression. "You went to Interstice and didn't lose your mind. That alone is—"
"She saw his true form?" Oz interrupted, eyes lighting with gleeful disbelief.
Levi shot him a look that could have cut steel. "Keep up if you want to participate, idiot."
"So, the difficult times really are just my life growing up?" Jade asked, not wanting to get into the story again for Oz.
Zeth hesitated, then nodded slowly. "It might be specific to the human. You were alone. No family. No friends. You went to work, went home. Your home, no offense, didn't exactly look like a place that made you feel safe."
Jade's cheeks warmed with embarrassment. "It was enough for me. Why would I want a big house when I had nothing to put in it and no one to share it with?"
Levi's expression didn't soften, but his voice lowered a fraction. "So we agree your life fits difficult times."
The others nodded.
"Well, we know you have remained sane," Oz said, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "You said Aamon could touch you without burning you the night you met?"
Jade shook her head. "No. He burned me at first. Then he didn't, then he did. Now it's like it doesn't matter at all. It's confusing. It's like there's a switch in him, to burn or not to burn. I had thought maybe he could control it but it seems like none of us have a real explanation and all Grimm did was give me a bigger puzzle to solve."
Jade sighed, elbows on the table, head falling into her hands.
Oz tilted his head. "So you had a hard life, then you saw his true form. Did he burn you after that?"
"A few times," Jade admitted. "But then…"
Her voice trailed off as the memory rose sharp and humiliating. The night she'd spoken her trauma aloud. The night she'd woken devastated. The night warmth had returned and she'd grabbed onto it like a drowning person.
"No," Jade said quietly. "Now that I think about it, the first time he didn't burn me was after the first two circumstances were met." She swallowed. "But literally the next day he burned me again."
She looked around the table, waiting for someone to explain what her own memory wouldn't.
Luke leaned forward, eyes bright with the kind of curiosity that never slept. "I keep tabs on Aamon's DNA sample," he said, as if that was perfectly normal dinner conversation. "The brighter it shines, the angrier he is. It's my little way of monitoring him, in case he's enraged and I need to relocate."
Zeth groaned. "Enough about your possessions, Luke."
Luke's expression pinched. "It's not about that."
"It is," Levi said flatly.
Luke ignored them. "My point, dear, is that there was a day the brightness changed. Briefly. Something I've never seen. And shortly after that, it changed again and never returned to normal."
Jade frowned. "Did it get dull? Like he lost power for a moment?"
Luke shook his head. "Oh no. It became brighter. Not like anger. Something else."
Oz's smile turned predatory in the way only someone like him could manage. "Longing."
All eyes swung to him.
Oz spread his hands as if offering a perfectly reasonable explanation. "The same way a mortal longs for pleasure. That feeling makes you lose control. Rationality drops away. For a moment, all that matters is the need."
Levi looked disgusted. "Must every thought you have be coated in filth?"
Oz shrugged. "I'm Lust. Your suffering is part of the job description."
Jade surprised herself by speaking. "That… actually makes sense."
Everyone looked at her.
She didn't look away. "I felt defeated. I thought you all left me. Then I realized Aamon was still there and… my body just reacted. I didn't want to be alone and then I wasn't."
The table fell quiet again.
"It doesn't explain why he would burn you the following day," Levi said, tone clipped.
Oz leaned back, grinning. "Sure it does. The need was met. And then comes the ugly part. Doubt. Regret. Second-guessing. Like waking up after an ugly one-night stand."
Oz laughs as though remembering the very situation he speaks of. Levi rolls his eyes.
"Must all your references be of a sexual nature?" Levi glares at Oz but only for a moment. "Unfortunately, I do understand your point; even if it's a vile one."
He turned back to Jade. "In the moment you were relieved but by the next day, you were uncertain to trust he would continue to stay."
Zeth cut in, voice quieter. "Maybe it isn't one-sided. Aamon was also very troubled that night. Among other things, he felt an urge to protect Jade."
Oz let out a loud laugh that scraped against the room. "You expect me to believe that? I know we're forced to feel mortal emotion in the Mortal Realm, but I refuse to accept our Sovereign developing attachment to a human."
He looked around the table, daring them to disagree. Luke's expression hovered between curiosity and skepticism. Levi looked annoyed. Zeth looked tense. Jade looked confused and suddenly, uncomfortably aware of herself.
"It is difficult to believe," Luke admitted finally. "However, it might be the missing piece."
Levi leaned forward. "Think about it. Grimm made the law to prevent union between mortal and deity. To prevent a deity from taking advantage of the mortal. But if the feeling was mutual wouldn't that nullify the restriction?"
Zeth nodded slowly. "Mutual desire, maybe. That could be the last requirement."
Jade's irritation eased a little. The theory at least gave her something to hold. "I still don't understand the pure-hearted part." she said, looking at Zeth.
Oz perked up instantly. "That part is easy. It obviously means you have to be a virgin."
Levi's fist came down on Oz's head with a dull thunk. Oz yelped and glared.
"That's not what it means, moron," Levi hissed. "Not everything is tied to one of your stupid sexual fantasies."
Luke sniffed. "If Grimm made the rule, it would be far more dignified than… whatever vile thought in your daft head."
"Well, what else could it mean then?!" Oz hisses as he rubs the spot Levi had hit him.
Jade hesitated, thinking. "Maybe it means I have to be sure of myself."
She glanced around the table, searching for approval. "The circumstances feel specific to the mortal. My difficult times are my own. My reaction to Aamon's form is my own. So pure-hearted must be specific to me as well. So. Being sure of what I know."
For a moment she almost believed she'd solved it.
Then Oz spoke again, quieter this time. "Or it's literal. Pure of heart, means what's in your heart. What emotion sits there."
The room went still. Because that was too close to something they'd all been avoiding naming.
Jade's eyes widened suddenly, like she'd just remembered a piece of herself she'd tried to bury.
"I think you're right," she whispered. "I was burned in the office because I wasn't sure of Aamon's intentions. Then at the bar, when I thought he'd let Levi kill me--"
Oz's head snapped toward Levi cutting Jade off. "Wait. You tried to kill her?"
Levi waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding. It's resolved."
Jade nodded, jaw tight. "Once I understood why Aamon didn't help me, I stopped questioning him. I trusted Aamon. And then I wasn't burned. In fact I have not been burned since."
Her hand went to her chest. Was trust the answer? Or was it the thing beneath trust, the thing she'd been refusing to look at directly? Jade's breath caught. She let out a small, involuntary gasp.
"What is it, love?" Luke asked softly.
Jade stared at them all, suddenly unsure how much she should say. Her mind flashed back to Interstice. To Grimm. To the question that kept returning like an echo.
Did you fall? Will you fall?
And then, like a blade sliding free, another memory followed it. The reaper's words in the fog.
Child of immortal blood. Her stomach dropped. How could she have forgotten that?
"I…" Jade started, voice shaking. "I think maybe…"
She swallowed, trying to force the thoughts into order. "Maybe there is more to why I don't get burned," she said slowly, eyes unfocused as she tried to grasp the shape of it. "Something, Grimm said. Something about my blood."