Primus stared at me as if his mind had simply... stopped. Not shocked. Not angry. Just frozen, like the gears inside him refused to move.
"I’m saying they planned your death." I repeated calmly.
He swallowed hard. "Because I married Lana?"
Steve looked between us. "That’s... that was your theory, right? That the Del Reys didn’t want your marriage?"
Primus nodded stiffly, jaw locked. He looked at me, searching. "Okay. If that’s the reason, fine. Tell me everything. Why do you think they planned it?"
"That’s why I needed to ask about Lana," I said quietly.
Primus exhaled slowly through his nose. "I already told you everything. I met her. I loved her. I married her. We had Lara. Her clan never liked me much. That’s normal. But—"
He cut himself off.
I leaned forward. "Primus. I’m going to tell you what I found."
"...tell me," he whispered.
"Good," I said. "Because this is not easy to hear."
I continued.
"Primus... you weren’t targeted because you married Lana. You were targeted because of Lana."
His expression twisted. "What does that even mean?"
I inhaled once.
"She’s alive."
Primus froze.
"Alive," he echoed. "Lana is alive? She’s... she’s okay?" A soft breath escaped him, almost a relieved laugh. "I knew it. I knew she must be safe somewhere, I—"
"Primus," I interrupted gently. "She’s alive... but not as a prisoner."
He stopped smiling.
"She wasn’t abducted. She wasn’t harmed. She wasn’t hiding. She wasn’t running."
"What are you trying to say?" he asked quietly.
I held his gaze.
"She was the one who ordered your death."
The room went dead silent.
He didn’t blink. Didn’t move.
He just stared at me.
"...no," he whispered.
"No," Primus repeated. "Stop. That doesn’t make sense. Why would she, why would Lana ever do something like that? She loved me. She loved our daughter. She.....no. No, Billion. Don’t play with this."
"I’m not," I said softly. "I heard her myself."
His face twisted. "You heard someone pretending to be her."
"No." I shook my head. "She called the Del Rey patriarch ’father’. He called her ’Lana’. And I saw her through the projection."
I waved my hand and instantly recreated the image.
"Is this her?" I asked.
He looked at it and nodded.
"And she gave orders." I continued.
Primus’s lips trembled.
"What... what orders?"
"I’ll tell you exactly."
I met his eyes steadily.
"She told her father that you being alive changes everything. That they needed to hurry the attack."
Primus stared.
"She said the problem wasn’t your strength. The problem was your destiny. That even after she used her talent on you, your destiny was still strong enough to rewrite the fate of the entire planet."
Primus whispered, barely audible, "Talent...?"
"Yes," I said. "She has a talent. I am not sure what it is."
He shook his head violently.
"No. She never, she never said anything like that. Never hinted she had such a thing. Billion, are you sure—"
"I’m certain."
He paced two steps, then stopped, clutching his head.
"No. No... she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t..."
He gritted his teeth.
"She cried when Lara was born. She protected us both. We spent nights talking about raising her, about our future. She loved us."
North’s voice was gentle. "People change, Primus."
"You don’t understand," Primus snapped, but it held no anger. Only desperation. "She wasn’t power hungry. She wasn’t cruel. She...."
He choked on the words.
Steve finally spoke softly. "Bro... we’re not saying she never loved you. But maybe something changed in her. Or maybe she hid things you didn’t know."
Primus sank back onto the bed, numb.
I continued quietly.
"She also spoke about making sure the Bloodreaver ancestor dies tomorrow."
He inhaled sharply.
"She said a phantom will attack, and then the Del Rey ancestor will kill yours."
Primus whispered, "She planned my father’s death too...?"
"Yes."
He shook his head again, voice cracking.
"Why... why would she do this? What does she gain? What... what could she have possibly wanted...?"
"Power," I said. "Control. Influence from Dragos. The envoy is working with her. She’s playing a long game."
"Lana...?" he whispered, broken. "My Lana...?"
"She is not the Lana you knew," I said.
Finally, after what felt like minutes, Primus exhaled shakily.
"...tell me everything," he murmured. "Tell me what else she said."
I did.
Piece by piece.
Every detail he needed to know.
Primus’s face didn’t explode with rage. It didn’t collapse with grief. It hardened, slowly, painfully into something colder.
Finally, when I finished, he whispered:
"So she planned my death... to remove me completely from her path."
"Yes."
"And she planned to wipe out my entire family."
"Yes."
"And she hid her face behind love... behind being my wife... while plotting everything from the beginning."
I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure when it all began. Specifically, what this talent was?
He clenched his fists.
North spoke softly, "Primus... we’re here with you. All of us."
Steve nodded. "And we’re gonna tear her whole plan apart. Together."
Primus lifted his head.
His eyes were more red than usual...but steady.
"Billion," he said quietly. "What do we do now?"
I held his gaze.
"We stop tomorrow’s attack," I said. "And then... we show the entire world who Primus Bloodreaver really is."
Primus drew a slow breath, gathering himself. A spark lit behind his eyes.
"Our initial plan doesn’t change. I still want your family ruling this demon world. And I will make it happen. The only thing that changes now is the method."
I pointed at him.
"Tomorrow, when the phantom attacks, you will be the one who make an illusion to ’kill’ it. You will become the hero of the Bloodreavers. The savior of your clan."
Steve blinked. "What do you mean appear to be killed?"
"In reality," I said calmly, "I will capture the phantom. I need to experiment on it. But no one else needs to know that."
North raised an eyebrow. "So you’re giving Primus all the credit?"
"Exactly," I said. "He needs the title, the reputation, the authority. Once the clan sees him defeat a phantom, they’ll line up behind him."
Primus’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.
I went on.
"Then we link the attack back to the Del Reys. Call them traitors. Expose their scheme. Turn the entire demon world against them."
Steve nodded slowly. "Yeah...that actually sounds perfect."
Primus finally spoke, voice low and rough. "What about Lana?"
"Lana is on Dragos," I said softly. "And she seemed... either very strong, or connected to someone very strong. So we deal with her when we reach there."
Primus’s fingers curled into fists at his sides.
"But," I added, "she will definitely enjoy seeing that her husband can shake an entire world now."
He let out a long breath.
Then he stood.
"Tomorrow," he said, "the Del Reys fall."