Page 7 of Once Upon a Demon's Heart
That gets his attention.
The king snaps his head up and stares at me for a few terrible moments before blinking and composing himself. “Why would they take a knight in place of a princess?” His tone isn’t completely shutting my offer down, so I take courage in that alone.
“Because I believe they want this war to end as much as we do.”
King Borlin’s eyes narrow, the dark brown of them nearing black in his dim-lit study. Walnut brown bookshelves align the back wall, filled with old books and rolled up scrolls. “I need something to entice them. They won’t take a knight… not after what I did.” He reaches for his crystal glass and downs what remains of his bourbon. At least he has shame for it, though it’s a bit late.
I swallow, hoping that it wouldn’t come to me sharing the deity gift that runs through my veins. I’ve kept it secret for several years now. It seems it was all for naught.
“My king, there is one more thing—” I pause and take a deep breath “—I believe I am a daughter to the Goddess of Fertility, Venus.” I say the words so quietly that I worry he didn’t hear me, but when my gaze meets his, there’s no doubt that he did.
The king’s jaw is parted, and shock moves through his eyes.
“Are you certain?” he asks, disbelief cumbersome in his tone.
I slowly nod. “I’ve been having heat-cycles for over a decade now.”
The sign of a daughter to Venus.
The first time the heat came, I had no idea what was even happening. My stomach cramped horribly. I felt sick and feverish the entire week. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even train with the other apprentices. It didn’t take me long to figure out what was happening. The curse of Venus had come, and I knew I couldn’t tell a soul about it.
Venus rarely had offspring, at least not for a few centuries now. The demigods have never had successful reproduction rates, but for the last fifty years it has been declining rapidly. It’s why we’re outnumbered ten-to-one to the demons. They have no complications reproducing.
An heir of Venus is considered of the rarest demigod blood, above royalty even, for the sole fact that she could conceiveoffspring easily. As I can too. Which is precisely why I haven’t spoken of this to anyone, not even to Korin.
The king’s face pales. He looks down at the maps and strategy reports strewn over his desk. The black candles he’d lit are already down to the base and bleed wax over the old oakwood.
“You know what you’re offering them, don’t you? They are demons after all. It’s not a stretch to think that they plan on breeding you,” he says with a wealth of sorrow.If only he was this kind, defeated king when the first treaty was signed.Perhaps it never would’ve come to this. I force the thoughts away.
Anxiety curls in my stomach, making me feel sick.
“Yes, I’m fully aware, King Borlin. If it’s for my kingdom—for peace—I will happily go.” I choke down the knot in my throat and hold my chin high. “It would be my honor.”
He’s quiet for many seconds. So long that I begin to fear he will refuse my offer, but he surprises me with a weary smile and relief settling into his features.
“Thank the gods for you, Alira. I will send the offer by dove in the morning.”
The dove was sent,as promised, at the break of dawn.
Then we waited.
And waited.
I worried that one of the demon’s messenger hawks captured the dove and killed it. I dwelled on the possibility that the message would never get through to their king. I worried that the dove would arrive safely, and the demons would refuse the peace offering.
Most of all, I fretted that they would happily accept the deal and be on their way to our kingdom by nightfall to collect me.
But three days passed, and we heard nothing.
I’ve spent those days wisely, studying the demons and their land as much as I can. There isn’t much in our libraries about them, besides how awful and cruel they are. Some books even go as far as to say they will eat any creature that is not their own. I know that the information in here can’t all be taken accurately because I met Kalel. He was kind and calm. Not at all what I was taught they are. He was like any demigod, had it not been for his fangs, I doubt I would’ve even known what he truly was.
As a knight, we only see the demons on the battlefields. We’ve never bothered trying to speak with them out there. Of course, hindsight is bittersweet. My hands clench as I think of what happened in Thornhall.
I should have done something.
I shake the somber thoughts from my head and continue reading.
One source of material I find that is relatively helpful explains the different types of demons there are and the abilities they hold. They are much like the demigods when it comes to strength and abilities. It’s a result of the lineage from their parents that determine the gifts they possess. Some can shroud themselves in darkness. Others can tear men apart with their hands alone. While the more dangerous ones survive on the holy blood of deities.Devourers. The demigods hardly quench the thirst of theirs, but they require our blood to survive. There were always very few of them, but they were known to all. Any commander of the Devicitian army has always been a Devourer.
