My Demon, My Love...

“Each of your princes has had ten demonesses hand-picked for them by myself. From these noble demonesses they shall each pick their future bride.” Mara clapped her hands together expecting a cheerful reaction to the news; which never came.

At these words, both, Azlyn and Reve’s mouths dropped open. They could not believe what they were hearing. The queen had found a passive-aggressive way to stop them from being together. Of course, Reve would have to follow the law and, as a royal, he was expected to marry a noble when requested. Reve began scanning the crowd, trying to pinpoint Azlyn’s location.

“We will expect you to treat these nobles as if they are already members of the royal household. You will show them the utmost respect at all times or you will answer to me! Rooms will need to be prepared and the kitchen will need to produce enough food to compensate for the extra individuals. Some of you may even require transferring from your regular duties for a temporary time to help with the extra workloads. For those of you who are directly affected, you will be receiving further instructions. That will be all. You are dismissed.”

Queen Mara, lazily, waved her hand towards the group of slaves, servants, and guards. Then she turned and walked back to her throne, sitting down with a smug expression upon her face.

Reve was furious, it was taking everything inside of him to keep control. He walked over to Mara and leaned his face down towards her. What he was about to say was meant only for her to hear.

“If you think that this changes anything, you are dead wrong.” Reve whispered with a snarl.

With that, Reve swiftly turned on his heel and jumped off of the stage into the crowd. He ran as quickly as he could directly to Azlyn. As soon as he reached her, he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. There was no time to wait, he had to mark her. He wanted his claim made public and he needed to do it now.

Queen Mara noticed Reve’s sudden determination. She watched as he carried Azlyn out of the throne room. Immediately, she turned to King Chesed and alerted him to the situation. The king had felt it unnecessary to intervene until now. He had grown worried that Reve would react irrationally at the news of having to take a wife. He decided that it was best that he head towards Reve’s room to talk to him and ensure that he did not do anything rash.

Prince Kane had also noticed Reve’s reaction to the news. He had seen his mother notify his father that Reve had just run off with Azlyn. He knew that he had to intervene. He had to allow Reve time for whatever it was that he intended to do. So, Kane followed King Chesed as he headed after Reve. Hoping to distract him from his goals.

“Father, may I speak to you about something?” Kane called.

Kane’s words were falling on deaf ears. King Chesed was far too focused on Reve to hear his youngest son calling for him. This is how it had always been for Kane. He was an intellectual and his father had never understood him. Chesed had spent all of his time and energy grooming Gedeon to take the throne. Or training Hadeon to assist Gedeon in ruling the realm. Reve was constantly being trained how to fight, along with military tactics and strategy, all of which Chesed enjoyed.

It was only Kane whom he had nothing in common with. Chesed had never cared for the realm’s finances, so he had no advice to offer Kane. Because of this, Chesed had all but distanced himself from him.

Meanwhile, Reve and Azlyn had made their way back to his bedroom. Reve was wasting no time. There was not a doubt in his mind that his mother was going to attempt to have Azlyn “temporarily” transferred to one of the awful demonesses that she had “hand-picked for him.” As if Queen Mara knew Reve well enough to pick out any sort of suitable mate for him. The thought was absolutely laughable. If Mara had really cared about what was good for him, then she would allow him to be happy now that he had been fortunate enough to find Azlyn.

“I am sorry, Azlyn. There is no time.” Reve said sincerely, as he stared into her eyes, brushing her hair away from her face.

“Reve, what are we going to do?! They are going to take me from you!” Azlyn said feeling frantic.