I ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED A DUNGEON

Dune remained calm, with his arms folded, observing Felix over the table. He had been keeping his hands pressed against his face for a whole minute now, with his head resting against the back of the chair. Joshua had stopped crying and had turned to sniffling, rubbing his nose once every few seconds with his sleeve. Helen was sitting with her face sideways, clearly annoyed.

"I told you to stop crying, Joshua. Can’t you hear me?" Helen said.

"But... but..."

"All of that was a trick. That woman uses black magic. She tries to manipulate us." Helen looked at Dune. "So do not feel bad about Sabrina."

"It was real," Dune said.

"I’m done." Felix said loudly, leaning backward. His chair knocked backward from his movement, throwing him to the floor.

"Damn it." He pulled himself up, set the chair upright again, and sat back down. "I’m done," he said again in low voice.

"I’m done with your games as well," Helen replied.

"That wasn’t a game, girl. Everything was legit, real. Facts." He cleared his throat. "Can I have some water?"

"No, we don’t have water." Helen rolled her eyes.

"I can give my bodily fluids," Dune suggested.

"What— no. What the hell? Keep your body fluid inside your body." Felix ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled heavily. "Why isn’t anyone taking this seriously? The entire Aldric family, godmother." He got up suddenly. "Okay. Decision made. Get up."

"You’re not ordering me around." Helen retorted.

"Do stop being such a—" He struggled to find the right term. "Pain in the ass. I’ve wasted all my silver on equipment for this Job that hardly even worked, and I’m not going to waste what’s left of my patience as well. So get up, and let’s settle things with Sabrina. Clear the air. Both sides will be happy. You can go where you belong as a ghost. I will be sleeping my head off at home."

"I don’t want to."

"Why not? It’s the least you could do for her."

"I just don’t want to."

"Am I going to be enough?" Joshua jumped out of his seat.

"Hold it right there, Joshua," Helen said sharply.

"Sorry, but we will need both of you," Felix said and moved closer to Helen. "I don’t what your problem is. But I do know that you don’t want stuck inside this house for an another decade.

This is the clear win win for everyone. Or, is it the case where you feel ashamed to face her?"

"I am not." Helen rose on her feet. "You want me to talk to her? Fine. But nothing is going to change."

"We’ll see." Felix smiled at her slightly.

Felix turned and left the room, with Dune following his lead and the two children bringing up the rear.

Though I said it’s decided, I don’t actually know how I’m going to fix any of this. "Sorry, Mommy" isn’t going to cut it. I need something better than that, some kind of setup that actually lands. I’ve got the beginnings of an idea. More importantly, whatever’s kept them stuck here for decades, it isn’t just leftover guilt or regret. Something else is missing, and the only way to find out is to hear it straight from her.

Felix halted in front of Sabrina’s door and turned back to look at the children. "Wait here."

He stepped forward, opening the door slowly and finding Sabrina wandering about restlessly. As soon as she saw him, she stopped and exclaimed,"Felix!"

She rushed to his side, then stopped when she saw a head peeping through the opened door behind him.

"Joshua... " She drifted forward more gently. "Helen." She came to Felix and tried to walk past him toward the door, but he shut it in front of her face.

Sabrina pulled away with blazing fury in her eyes. "I’m going to kill you for this."

"I know." Felix said it softly and pulled her into his embrace.

She didn’t protest, shocked as she was by the unexpected comfort.

"You know, Sabrina, after everything I’ve heard, I’d genuinely be honored to have you as my wife." His tone was soft as he spoke. "I mean that. If I’d been born thirty years earlier, maybe things would’ve gone differently. But I think you already know that’s not how this works. We can’t be together, not by any means. But there are still a couple of people waiting on you right now."

"I understand," she said, faintly.

"Then please help us out. I want to know what happened to you after Edwardo’s death. How did you get those circles?"

"I don’t... I don’t remember it very well. I’m sorry. I did it for the family."

Felix loosened his grip on her and looked at her face, inches from his own. "You don’t owe anyone an apology. You certainly don’t owe it to me now. I’m going to fix this for you. So just tell me what really happened."

Sabrina paused for a few moments before she answered. "After Edwardo died, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I locked myself in that room for days. Then one day I came across the same kind of words, the ritual language those men in black had used. I found a book in the market, all about circles. I tried what it showed me, but it was beginner’s work, nothing came of it. Then that same man showed up at the house again, gave me a paper with a circle drawn on it, and the chant to go with it. He told me exactly what I’d need. He also warned me, ’not everyone can afford the cost of a miracle.’ I did it anyway. Sent every servant out of the house and drew the circle myself. Tenticals came out of it, and after that, I don’t remember anything. I woke up like this."

Felix was silent for a second, then nodded slightly. "I understand enough. Come on." He started walking toward the room where the circle was.

"You managed to figure that out that quickly?" Sabrina followed him in flight, now actually curious. "Are you planning on fixing that?"

"I would be lying if I told you that I can fix it. However, I have a pretty good understanding of what this circle produced." Felix knelt in front of the circle when they entered the room; the circle was half-destroyed but was still legible enough to mean something. He put his hands flat on it and channeled a thread of Numen into it.

A jolt shot up his arms right away.

"Fucking hell." He looked down at his fingers, which were burned slightly red at the tips.

"Is everything okay?"

"Everything is just great." He stretched out and took a card out of his pocket, grasped it between his fingers and fed it the leftover Numen that was lingering from the circle. The card flickered and suddenly broke away from his grasp completely and flew through the door.

"So fast." He said quietly, shutting his eyes and then opening them again. The room shifted into a wash of blue, and he could trace the card’s path cutting across the upper floor at speed, faster than anything natural should move. It dashed inside some room, and then tentacles sprang out of nowhere the moment the card entered.

Felix stumbled back a step, pain flaring hot behind his eyes. "You actually summoned a devil."