Bonus Material - A Tour of the Third Realm with Thorne

My head is still spinning from the trip from my home in the human world to the Third Realm in Hell. Teleporting is as daunting and sickening as it sounds. It’s a weird, cold sensation that passes through you and leaves you disorientated for a short time once you land at your destination.

My host on this tour, King Thorne of the Third Realm, has already gone on ahead of me, giving me a moment to get my bearings. I’m sure he did it out of chivalry. He knows how much I hate making a fool of myself, and being wobbly on my feet and close to vomiting is certainly embarrassing.

The castle around me is grim and dark, the stone almost black and each block huge. I suppose when you have demons building your castle, you can move large blocks without much of a problem. I’m standing in the middle of the courtyard. It’s a rough circle surrounded by tall manned walls. Several buildings intersect the wall. Behind me is what I know is the arsenal and a garrison. Before me is a long three storey building that follows the curve of the wall. That’s where I’m heading now to meet with my host again.

I want to get this tour started, and not just because I’ve just realised I’m standing alone in the middle of an open courtyard where huge bare-chested demons are going about their business, and eyeing me. The last thing I want is them to come to the conclusion that I shouldn’t be here. I’m sure Thorne has told them about my visit, but it’s not often they play host to unmated humans.

I hastily make my way across the flagstones to the large arched entrance of the main building. Before I can reach the great hall, Thorne appears before me, rising out of a black hole in the ground.

“I was beginning to worry,” he says with a grin that flashes short fangs and brightens his crimson eyes. He runs a hand over his left dusky ridged horn, fingers caressing the curve from the root behind the top of his ear down to the point close to the lobe.

Their small size is an indication that my gracious host is relaxed. If he became agitated, angry, or dare I say, aroused, his horns would grow and curl around each other to flare forwards into twin dangerous daggers.

“It took a little longer to get my bearings than I thought it would,” I reply and try to stand a little taller. I’m a modest five-seven and that means the towering broad-built man before me has a whole foot on me and he’s making me feel small. I can just imagine how Sable feels when she’s around him. I could easily step up to him and just rest my head on his chest without having to stoop or stretch.

“We shall begin down here then.” He sweeps his hand towards the end of the long wide corridor and leads the way.

The building inside is as dark and grim as it is outside, but torches on the wall give a little warmth to the near-black stone.

The corridor opens out dramatically into the great hall and I find myself stopping and staring. It’s huge, with massive columns lining the aisle to the black throne ahead of me.

“Nice throne.” I nod towards it.

Thorne grins again, his easy-going mood infectious and bringing out my smile, relaxing me by around a thousand degrees.

“Sable says it is her throne now and I need a new one. A smaller one.” He seems amused by his mate’s suggestion, although I can’t see this burly king of demons giving his queen that much power and free rein. “I have offered her a smaller throne beside my throne.”

“How did that go down?”

His smile broadens. “We are in negotiations.”

“I can quite imagine.” I take another look around the impressive hall and then settle my gaze back on Thorne. “Is Sable in?”

He nods. “Come, she would like to see you. Besides Olivia, she has not seen any humans in many weeks.”

We head right, towards a smaller arched doorway. Thorne leads me up a set of stone steps on the other side and I catch a peek of the long corridor where many of the top warriors, and Thorne’s, quarters are located. I’m sure there are many of my readers who would love a personal tour of Thorne’s apartments.

They’re all very rustic, with zero modern conveniences, and no glass in the windows either. No bathrooms. I believe there is a communal bathroom, although I can’t imagine how pleasant that is when you’re sharing it with a horde of demon warriors.

Thorne pauses on the first floor to show me the room that often acts as sort of grand ballroom or feast room, and leads me through the enormous space towards a set of arched doorways at the opposite end. He pushes aside the curtains and I step through onto the balcony.

Below me, the inner courtyard fills most of my view, but the outer courtyard is visible too. There are smaller freestanding buildings inside the wide outer courtyard, and many demons coming and going between them. The sound of a blacksmith rings out through the thick warm air, the rhythmic pounding of metal a steady and solid beat that seems to fit this working castle.

And seems at odds with the bleat of a sheep.

My eyes are drawn to Thorne, one eyebrow rising at the unusual sound. Sheep in Hell.

Thorne clears his throat and points beyond the castle walls to his right, towards the dark lands.

With bright fluffy white blobs roaming them.

“We have taken our first steps towards farming.” He seems genuinely proud of that and I can’t help smiling as he beams at me, his shoulders squared and tipped back, his chest puffed out.

The sheep seem happy enough eating the near-black grass inside the paddock. I know this is a huge step for Thorne as a king. He has grand, and wonderful, plans to provide for his people. Not just the demon males, but their mates too. Demons are all born male and can only mate with their fated female, and most of those women are human. I imagine the built-in male need to provide everything his female desires is driving this change in the Third Realm. The men want their women to be happy and have the things they’re used to in their world, and Thorne is finding ways to make that happen.

Beyond the walls of the castle ahead of me, hills rise up, covered in dark towering pines that sway in the ever-present breeze. Everything native to this realm is dark, but there’s a strange sort of beauty to it.

I point towards the trees. “There are other farms over yonder, right?”

Thorne scowls. “You tease me. You are as bad as Sable.”

I grin innocently. I know Thorne feels a little sensitive about his antiquated language because of Sable teasing him about it, but I find it cute that he uses words like ‘yonder’.

He huffs and heads back inside, so I follow him and keep quiet, monitoring his horns to see if I’ve annoyed him. They thankfully remain unchanged as he leads me up another level.

“I wish I could take you to see the realm beyond the castle, but there have been skirmishes at the borders with the other realms. Everything is still settling down. I would prefer not to risk your safety.” Thorne glances back at me and I nod.

I would have liked to have pottered around the villages and maybe visited the garrisons, but safety comes first. I don’t want Thorne ending up in another war because of my sense of adventure. He’s only just won the last one and that went on for long enough. He deserves a nice stretch of peace to enjoy his new mate.

Thorne pushes a wooden door open and I step into the room.

Sable looks up from poring over the three-dimensional map of the realms. Her frown disappears in an instant and her golden eyes light up. She straightens and flicks her long black ponytail over her shoulder, and crosses the room to me.

“Hi,” she says and pulls me into a bear hug before releasing me. “Is he being nice?”

I laugh. “Thorne is always lovely. He’s shown me around most of the castle already. What are you up to?”

I nod towards the map and Sable returns to it and idly traces her fingers over the tiny castle in the middle of the land marked as the Third Realm.

She walks her fingers across half of the map to a dark area of jagged mountains. “There should be a label on this part that says ‘here be dragons’.”

Her mood changes abruptly, growing dark and pensive as her gaze bores a hole in the map where her fingers rest.

Thorne sighs. “You must wait until you are stronger.”

I get the feeling I’ve opened up a can of worms by asking Sable what she was doing. Sable has an issue with some dragon shifters and it seems the daring huntress is planning a foray into their territory to reclaim what they took from her.

She mutters dark things beneath her breath.

Thorne curls his fingers into fists and looks down at me. “I apologise for the somewhat poor reception. My mate is quite obsessed with launching a rescue and quite intent on ignoring my warnings.”

“I’m not. Really I’m not,” Sable says and pushes away from the map. She rolls her shoulders. “I just hate waiting. Thorne has men out scouting the area where the dragons live but we haven’t heard from them in over a week.”

“That deep into dragon territory, they cannot easily teleport. It draws too much attention. Patience, Little Female.” Thorne crosses the room and caresses Sable’s cheek, a tender look in his crimson eyes, one that leaves me feeling I’m intruding.

I walk to the map and take a look at the realms. The Third Realm sits in the middle of several other realms, but does share a border with one of the peaceful demon lands. It also shares borders with realms intent on going to war at the drop of a hat, and even has a border with the most dangerous realm in Hell.

I trace the broad curving expanse of land that encircles all the demon realms and comes close to touching the elf kingdom too.

Thorne steps up beside me. “The Devil retains most of the land in Hell and life along the borderlands with it is perilous. His demons are unstoppable, and intent on destroying anyone who ventures too close to their master’s lands.”

“Sounds delightful. I think I’ll stay away from there.” I move my focus back to the Third Realm.

“A wise decision.”

I can’t help noticing that the dragon realm borders the Devil’s one. I can understand why Thorne is reluctant to allow Sable to launch a rescue mission, but Sable isn’t going to care whether she’s up against dragons, demons or the Devil himself. Thorne is going to learn sooner rather than later that once his mate has made up her mind about something, nothing will stop her from seeing it through.

Sable will head to the dragon realm to free her huntresses.

I sneak a glance at them, smiling to myself as Thorne strokes Sable’s cheek and speaks to her in a soft, low voice.

Sable has the big, brash demon king wrapped around her little finger, and I don’t think it will be very long before Thorne realises that he’s just like every other demon male out there. He will do anything to make his mate happy.

Even go to war with dragons.

Personally, I can’t wait to see how that unfolds.

I hope you enjoyed this short tour of the Third Realm with our gracious host, the delectably sexy and alpha King Thorne.