Page 97 of Knox
Adrian took a deep breath. "Knox… he went back to Veridia. With Caelen."
The silence that followed was deafening. Adrian could see the confusion on his grandmother’s face. She didn’t know what Veridia was, but she must have seen something in his expression, some hint of the pain he was trying so hard to hide. She understood that Adrian had opened himself to love—and that he’d been hurt once again.
Without a word, Evelyn stepped forward and pulled Adrian into another embrace, this one much tighter than the last.
The warmth of her arms around him, the familiar scent of her perfume—it was all too much. Adrian felt his carefully constructed walls begin to crumble. He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting against the tears that threatened to fall.
He swallowed hard, and then with a shaky breath, he pulled away from his grandmother’s embrace. He couldn’t break down, not now. There were still things to be done.
"I’m okay, Gran," he lied, forcing a weak smile. "It’s… it’s for the best. Knox had to go back to stop Caelen for good."
Leon’s eyes narrowed, clearly not buying Adrian’s attempt at nonchalance. "What exactly happened?"
Adrian sank onto the couch and made himself recount the events at Caelen’s mansion—the battle, Knox’s confrontation with the Shadow King, and their disappearance through the portal.
With each word, the reality of Knox’s absence settled deeper into Adrian’s bones. He’d known Knox for such a short time, but the incubus had left an indelible mark on his heart. Now, that mark ached like a fresh wound.
"Don’t you think he’ll come back?" Evelyn asked gently, her hand resting on Adrian’s shoulder.
Adrian wanted to say yes. He wanted to believe that Knox would find a way to return, that their connection meant as much to the demon as it did to him. But the practical part of his brain, the part that had been hurt before, whispered doubts.
"I don’t know," he admitted. "I don’t know if he can. The portals closed."
The weight of those words hung in the air. Adrian could feel the others exchanging glances, probably trying to figure out how to comfort him. But he didn’t want comfort.
"I think I need to lie down for a bit," Adrian said, standing up abruptly. "It’s been a long day."
Without waiting for a response, he retreated to his room, closing the door behind him. Here, surrounded by his books and posters, reminders of the world he’d always dreamed of visiting, Adrian finally allowed himself to feel the full weight of his loss.
He slumped onto his bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. The events of the past few days swirled in his mind like a surreal dream. Monsters from another world, magic, battles—it all seemed impossible. Yet the ache in his chest was real enough.
With a heavy sigh, he reached for his laptop, powering it on almost out of habit. The screen flickered to life, opening to his blog. His gaze fell on the last post he’d written before Knox hadcrashed into his world. It felt like a lifetime ago, yet it had only been a matter of days.
He scrolled through the post, a review of the latestMonsters of Veridiachapter. Back then, he’d been so certain that Knox was nothing more than a figment of someone’s imagination. A character in a story, nothing more.
Now, he wasn’t so sure of anything anymore.
He thought about the mystery surrounding the author ofMonsters of Veridia. Even now, with all that had happened, reporters were still trying to solve that puzzle. Maybe they never would.
Adrian’s fingers absently found the necklace around his neck, tracing the symbol of the Night Court. Knox had been so surprised to see it that first night. The memory made his chest ache.
His hand tightened around the necklace. No matter if Veridia was fictional or real, there was undeniably some connection between their worlds.
And there was a connection between him and Knox.
With his eyes closed, he could feel it.
Knox was real, and if there was any way for him to come back to Adrian, he would.
He would.
And if there wasn’t a way for Knox to come to this world, Adrian would go to him.
Adrian turned to his laptop again, clicked the bookmarked link forMonsters of Veridia. If there was any clue on how to crossover to Knox’s world, it had to be hidden within the web novel’s pages.
But as the browser tried to load the site, a sinking feeling settled in his gut. Instead of the familiar interface, an error message greeted him: "Website Not Found."
"What?" he muttered, refreshing the page. The same message blinked back at him, mocking him. It was as if the website had never existed.
