Chapter Text
They happened upon the scene as sunlight dipped beneath the horizon.
A woman stood toward the west, outlined by the evening sky’s canvas of orange and blue. Her face was lit by bliss, her gaze fixed upon the figure kneeling before her.
Glück did not need to see the ring to know what was happening.
Moments later, the couple embraced. A kiss was shared, one that began tender before turning far less restrained. Such a public display was inappropriate, at least by the standards of respectable company. He was sure they did not care.
Glück turned away with a shake of his head, though a faint smile tugged at his lips. There was no reason to disturb them. He, too, had been young.
As he continued toward the manor, his thoughts drifted to his late wife. There had been a time when politics, titles, and rivalries meant little to him, when his own evenings were spent in his lover’s arms.
The memory lingered for only a moment before he pushed it aside.
What a different man he had been. What a different man he had become.
The past was a pleasant place to visit, but a dangerous place to remain. Love, even secondhand, was a luxury reserved for younger men.
His companion, however, watched with unusual interest.
***
“A moment, Lord Glück.”
“You may speak, Macht.”
As if the demon needed permission. Their arrangement existed for appearances alone. There was no questioning who truly held power.
Still, Macht took care to refill his lord’s teacup. Steam drifted into the night air, carrying an herbal aroma.
They sat upon the manor’s balcony, only the moon as witness. Lanterns glowed along the walls behind them, enveloping the space in muted light. A breeze moved through the city below, still warm from summer.
Comforting, if one could describe such a space shared by a corrupt nobleman and a Sage of Destruction.
“You humans certainly possess strong affections for one another,” Macht spoke, pulling Glück from his thoughts.
To anyone else, the demon’s voice was flat. Emotionless. To Glück…
It carried a note of curiosity.
“Oh?” Glück sipped his tea.
“Perhaps I simply never noticed before,” Macht continued, arranging the tea set, “but your species is remarkably forward with its affections. I cannot say I have witnessed this much desire—is it?—before.”
Macht drifted toward the balcony’s railing, his footsteps silent. Though he faced the plaza below, his blue eyes were fixed on Glück.
An involuntary shiver went down his spine: the instinctive response of prey sensing a predator. What a bother…
“They simply cannot keep their hands to themselves. Strange, is it not?”
Macht was always observing, always evaluating responses. Glück had learned to indulge his curiosity.
“It makes sense,” Glück replied, returning his teacup to its saucer, “that you wouldn’t have encountered love before. If you’re referring to what we witnessed earlier, that is.”
Macht tilted his head at the word. Love. Yet another emotion demons couldn’t feel.
“Love,” Macht repeated. “You believe that is what motivated them?”
A smile flickered across Glück’s face. “I know that’s what motivated them.”
“Ah.” Macht’s gaze lingered on him. “Then you are capable of explaining what love is to me.”
Glück sighed and withdrew a cigarette. It was lit before it reached his lips. The perks of having a mage in one’s service…
“I suppose I can try,” Glück acquiesced, “although my answer depends on what type of love you’d like to know about. What we saw earlier was romantic love, but there are others.”
“Others? How complicated for something so pointless.” Macht commented, almost perplexed. “Carry on with this romantic love discussion, then. We will have ample time to define the others.”
“You’d be surprised at the lengths people go to for something so pointless.” After all, had Glück not acted on his own familial love, he would not be in this position.
Macht tilted his head, waiting.
“Well,” Glück started, “romantic love usually starts from some combination of physical attraction and emotional connection.”
“Usually?”
“People have many different experiences with love,” Glück explained. “Sometimes they are drawn to one another immediately, sometimes it takes years to develop. Sometimes a friendship blossoms into a romantic relationship. Sometimes desire becomes something substantial. You may not have heard it, but that’s why there’s a saying that ‘love happens when you least expect it.’”
“How vague,” Macht responded. “I’d expect such an important component of human emotions to be more predictable.”
“Well, there are signs to it.”
“Signs that someone is experiencing romantic love?”
“Just signs that one’s feelings could head in that direction.”
The demon seemed dissatisfied with that answer.
Glück sighed before taking another drag of his cigarette.
“At first, most people simply enjoy one another’s company. You seek them out. You share your memories, your thoughts, your concerns. Slowly, it becomes a habit.”
“A habit?”
“Yes. You begin expecting to see them, day-to-day.”
The cigarette glowed beneath the moon. “You notice their absence, you look for them in a crowd, you save stories to tell them later.”
“So this develops into romantic love, then?”
“Sometimes.”
“How complicated. Explain the exceptions.”
“Sometimes it’s romantic love. Sometimes it remains platonic, the basis for a friendship. Sometimes the connection fizzles out and goes nowhere.”
“And why might that be?”
“Romantic love can be complex. People often mistake infatuation, obsession, or simple convenience for the real thing.”
His eyes drifted towards the city, tracing a familiar route through its streets to a cemetery he frequented.
“But when it is true, the habit becomes something deeper. Their presence becomes woven into your life so thoroughly that you stop thinking of your future as yours alone. Before you realize it, you’ve begun living for someone other than yourself.”
The cigarette crackled softly.
“It seems like a waste of energy, being preoccupied with another person so completely.”
“Of course it is.”
“Then why pursue romantic love at all?”
Glück let out a soft laugh. “Because we are selfish.”
Macht blinked. Perhaps it was not the answer he was expecting.
Glück studied the burning tip of his cigarette.
“People fear loneliness. We want companionship. Someone to celebrate our successes and mourn our losses. Someone who understands us well enough that, eventually, we stop imagining a future without them.”
He exhaled smoke into the night, watching the trail fade to nothingness.
“We seek romantic love because it makes life easier to bear. Then, we live for those we cherish. For me, it was my wife. Then my children. Now, I live for my son’s memory and for my daughter, Lektüre.”
Macht was quiet for several moments, considering. He seemed to be weighing Glück’s words against everything he knew.
“So love causes humans to subordinate their own priorities?”
“In a way. Their priorities become your own. Their happiness does too.”
“Fascinating,” Macht replied.
“I suppose demons operate differently?” He pressed the issue.
“Correct,” Macht stated. “We are individualistic. We feel no attachment to our offspring or mates. Our friendships are self-serving. We live for ourselves and ourselves alone.”
“Yet you had a King?”
“He imposed order through strength. The weak followed because they lacked the power to resist. I may have served him, but my loyalty has always belonged to myself.”
Glück hummed and rolled the cigarette between his fingers.
The silence returned. Briefly.
Macht moved from the railing and lowered himself into the chair opposite Glück. He sat with his back slouched and his hands clasped loosely between his knees. He looked almost human, only the horns atop his head breaking the illusion.
His eyes remained fixed on Glück.
Glück held his stare.
“Could you help me understand why humans love one another?”
Glück paused.
If he had been any younger, he might have fallen from his chair. Years among the aristocracy had prepared him for unusual conversations. The question raised by the demon sitting across from him remained beyond comparison.
Macht narrowed his eyes. Of course the demon would catch his bewilderment.
Glück cleared his throat.
“Please, describe what you mean by help.”
Another drag of his cigarette hit his lungs. It wasn’t enough.
“I have no interest in feeling love,” Macht started, his stare unrelenting. “It is not something I can experience, nor is it something I desire. What interests me, however, are the responses love provokes. You claim humans can become so attached they live for someone else.”
Macht leaned forward slightly. “I would like to witness such a response firsthand.”
His stare never wavered.
“Since I cannot conceive of such a response myself, I would like to study it directly.”
Glück blinked, attempting to register the demon's words. Of all the conclusions he expected Macht to draw from their conversation, this had not been one of them.
“And you would conduct this experiment on me?”
“Preferably,” Macht replied. “It would save me quite a bit of trouble.”
“But why me specifically?”
“We are already well acquainted. I know you far better than any other human I’ve encountered.”
Glück raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Yes. I know how your voice changes when addressing nobles compared to children. I know which lies you tell most often, which subjects you avoid in conversation. I know precisely how much wine it takes before you become sentimental.”
“Someone’s been paying attention.” His cigarette had burned to the filter. He crushed it out and reached for his tea instead.
“We have known each other for a while,” Macht said with a shrug. “I watch. I remember.”
“Quite the manipulator you are, Macht.”
“How else am I meant to deceive our enemies?”
Glück glanced over the rim of his cup. How else am I meant to deceive you? The question remained unspoken.
“I suppose that’s true. Tell me, then. Is this simply research? Another tool for your collection? Another way for you to exploit human weakness more efficiently.”
“Yes.”
Although unsettling, Glück could appreciate the honesty.
“How cruel. And you claim you cannot experience malicious thought.”
“Malicious, you say?” A smile tugged at Macht’s lips. “Strange, I do not see it that way. I have a long life ahead of me. Opportunities for novel experiences are rare. I simply want to learn.”
“And I am merely convenient?” Glück questioned.
“No.” The response was immediate. “You’re much more than convenient.”
“Oh?”
“You’re unusually interesting.” The smile lingered, almost fond. “Perhaps that’s why I spared your life: you held my attention.”
To be valued by a demon was not a compliment most people received. How lucky I must be…
“You flatter me.”
Macht simply held his smile. “The choice is yours.”
Glück studied his accomplice for a long moment.
“Hmm, would my answer change the terms of our arrangement?”
“No, my priorities remain the same. I still wish to know grief and malice. Anything else is secondary.”
“Yet this matters enough to warrant the discussion.”
“As I said, novel experiences are rare. Consider it an interesting experiment.”
“An interesting experiment, you say…” Glück leaned back in his chair, considering. “Regardless of my choice, you will still help me keep power in Weise, yes?”
“I will serve you until I achieve my goal.”
A faint smile touched Glück’s face. He watched Macht’s eyes track its movement.
“I did promise to follow you into the depths of Hell, didn’t I?”
“Yes, Lord Glück. You did.”
“Then perhaps we should make our own piece of Heaven on the way down.”
For a moment, Macht’s expression became something difficult to name: a collision of demonic amusement and human curiosity.
“I look forward to it.”