Page 49 of Fate & Monsters
“I’ll go first.” That stunned me. Mavros rarely offered anything without being asked.
“My mother,” he began, “wasn’t from this world.”
I stifled a gasp. There had been enough clues, and my recent conversation with Domovoy came to mind.
“She fell through a portal a century ago. Landed in the Inferni King’s court like a star dropping into hell. He kept her. Claimed her. Called her his bride. Said it was love, but it was a cage.” The words were resentful. His lips twisted into something too bitter to be grief.
“She gave birth to me. A half-breed. Half-wrong, as my father said. I wasn’t even supposed to survive. Yet spite is a wonderful motivator, believe me. When she died, I made sure I took everything my father built and made it mine.”
I couldn’t speak right away. The sunlight was fading fast as he talked. Shadows were creeping up the stone walls around us, eager to listen and learn.
“She didn’t just die, she gave up. Do you understand? My mother thought her life was the only thing she had left, and she took it into her own hands to decide her fate. She tried to love me, but it wasn’t enough. I am all that is left of her.The other demons wouldn’t accept me. I was too human to be king. My father owed me his title, but I still had to take his power by force. I earned my place here.”
“I’m sorry,” I said at last. “For her. For you. She must’ve been strong to survive here. Even for a little while.” I laid a hand on his chest, over the healed wound. And I felt for his mother. Sympathetic and connected to how she’d felt; maybe the only being who truly could.
“She was strong,” he agreed, voice rough.
“And so are you.”
He looked at me. The flickering light from the fire made him seem less like a beast, and more like a man caught between worlds. I saw it then. How truly different he was from the other Inferni. Their strange bodies and incorporeal forms. There was something human about Mavros, regardless of the horns, claws, and tail.
“My father would have had me believe I was a mistake.”
“No,” I snapped, reaching for his hand. “You’re a fighter.”
His expression softened, but something coiled and taut lurked under the surface.
The silence returned. I could have left it there. Let his story hang between us. But I’d already taken so much from him. I owed him a response of equal caliber. And I trusted him. Cared for him.
“You deserve to know the truth. I’m tired of holding it in. It’s like a plague eating away at me.” I scoffed to hide the sob crawling up my throat. “It’s plainly obvious that I’m not from here, that I came from Earth.Like your mother, I suppose.”
Mavros nodded, seemingly holding his breath.
“It all began with a witch and an air spirit.” His eyes widened, but he remained silent. “I am—was—a sylph. A witch, Aradia, stumbled upon me. Besides being the last of my kind, she told me there was a mage hunting creatures of magical origin. Hunting them to extinction.” I felt him stiffen beside me but continued. “The Crimson Mage came for me. Aradia changed me, cursed me, into this body. She took my identity from me to save me. It used the last of her power and she died. I’m still not sure if I would thank her.”
His eyes darkened with something I only witnessed in moments of violence. That look always accompanied blood on his claws and teeth. A frisson of fear skated up my spine.
“The… the Crimson Mage followed me. I fell through a portal ripped open between the worlds in the wake of Aradia’s death. But being in a new realm isn’t enough. It hasn’t been enough. I know he’s still hunting me.”
A monstrous snarl ripped from his chest. His claws scratched grooves on the armrest and his tail thrashed. “I didn’t want to believe it, but it’s true.”
All the fears I’d suppressed surged up and plowed into me. A tide of panic and alarm washed over me, pulling me under and eager to drown me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know if I could trust you.” I slid off the chair. “If I’ve upset you—”
“Astoria—”
An iron grip curled aroundmy wrist. Warmth cascaded up my arm, but didn’t reach the chill in my chest propelling words from my lips.
“I didn’t know if you’d hand me over to him if he showed up in this world or if you were in league with him. I’m sorry.”
His eyes flashed with something verging on anger tempered with possession. Another snarl rumbled through his chest, and I trembled from the echo of it in my bones.
“Do you truly think that after everything between us, I’d give you to him—to anyone?” the beast bellowed, claws dangerously close to pricking my skin.
“At the time, I didn’t know who you were or what you were capable of. I was alone and lost in this world, and everything was a threat to me. You must understand that.” My words were a plea, but I didn’t feel the need to run and hide. I stood firm, unflinching in his hold.
“Astoria, I would never.” He urged me closer until my thigh brushed the armrest I’d abandoned. “I didn’t know what you were when you arrived, but I knew it wasn’t fully human. No matter what form you take, you are mine. Always.”
