Page 6 of Once Upon a Demon's Heart
“No one can outrun their fate.”
My brows knit at his grim tone. If only he knew how horrifying those words are for my situation. “So, you would believe that I’m just doomed?”
He turns to leave, walking steadily away and into the dark. “Maybe you’re looking at it the wrong way. Try something new. I doubt you’ve triedeverything,” he says.
I stand, willing my legs not to follow after him.
“You couldn’t possibly know what I’ve tried.”
Kalel laughs and replies, “No, I couldn’t, but you don’t seem all that daring. What does your heart yearn for most? I’m sure you’ll find that the gods will hear your wishes. You are a demigod, afterall. They’ll likely be listening.”
He doesn’t know they abandoned us long ago?
My hands are clasped tightly around the cloak he dropped over my shoulders. I watch him walk away and only after his form has vanished into the gloomy forest do I force myself to sit back down.
Venrey stomps on the ground and whinnies her disapproval of the uninvited visitor. I glance over at my horse and let out a tired sigh.
“Where didhecome from?”
I sleep terribly and with one eye open practically the entire night. Half wishing he will come back and speak with me more and half wishing I never see him again.
His words revisit me more than once in my fitful rest, and by the time I’m awake, I decide to head back to Alzhor.
There’s one more thing I can try besides abandoning my kingdom. If it fails, the worst that could happen is the time loop resetting.
If it succeeds, my life will be miserable, but I’ll get to live past this horrible week.
“You don’t seem all that daring,”I mock him with a low voice. Then blow out a breath. If only he could see what I’m going to do because of his unwarranted advice.
I pray that the gods will hear me and alter my fate.
Even if I’m about to do something I really don’t want to do.
Chapter Two
ALIRA
“King Borlin,it’s an honor. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me today on such short notice.” I hold my right hand over my heart as I bow to the king. The cold metal burns against my palm.
The king looks ten years older than he should. His dark hair has streaks of gray and the bags beneath his eyes are heavy. A direct result from the demise he’s caused his kingdom and the overwhelming stress that must come with it, one would think.
It was his malicious plan to trick the demons into that treaty, followed by the worst slaughter Faultore has ever known, and it brought upon a wrath greater than any of us could fathom. Thornhall was his attempt at getting the demons to lower their defenses around Devicit, the Kingdom of Chaos. It’s all but a memory now to the remaining demigods who’ve once visited. Not a soul outside of Devicit knows where the kingdom is located or where it could’ve gone. It has all but disappeared. Anentirekingdom.
It's unknown how they managed to veil it. Only arcane power can be behind it—a lot of it.
No one craves that knowledge more than King Borlin, but his sad attempt to get them to let their guard down and expose the location of their kingdom has proven disastrous.
Perhaps the gods truly have forsaken us… and for good reason.
My hope falters at the thought. But if the gods have turned their heads away from us completely, then why am I stuck in a loop? There must be a reason for it. One god must be observing and tugging on the strings of fate to prevent this blood-ridden path we’ve found ourselves on.
“What is it, Alira?” he asks sullenly as he looks over the papers on his large oak desk.
King Borlin hasn’t bothered to glance up at me once, he’s fretting over the army formations reported from the western front. The demons’ numbers continue to swell as they merge their forces and armies from every one of their fellow kingdoms across the country.
I’ve relived it twenty times. No matter how many times he reviews the map, we don’t stand a chance against them.
“The demons only ask for a demigod bride for peace to be brought between our kingdoms. I know it has been insinuated that the bride must be of royal blood, but I would like to offer myself as the bride to be sent to them,” I say confidently, even though my stomach is curling into itself and sweat begins to collect along my spine.
