The Demon King's Destiny

by C. A. Worley

  “No,” he shook his head, knowing he was close to crossing a line. “Do not answer that. I am centuries older than you. I should never have asked such a thing.”

  He moved away and Evelyn had the urge to follow. “I don’t mind, Marrok. Shouldn’t we be able to speak freely with one another?”

  The dumbfounded look on his face made her want to laugh. Did he think she knew nothing of coupling?

  Marrok cleared his throat. “You hardly know me well enough to have such conversations, little one.”

  Evelyn clasped her hands, trying not to fidget. Theron had whispered a single word to her two years ago. Saatus. Mate. She’d felt the truth of it. Surely, Marrok knew it as well.

  “While it is true I don’t know you very well,” she conceded, “I also think it is true that, at some point, I will know you. Very well. How else can I explain your return to this place?”

  She bit her lip. A lifetime of insecurities bubbled up. She didn’t have feminine wiles to throw at him. All she had was her honesty and faith in their destiny.

  Evelyn dug deep for courage. She worried she may not have many more chances to speak to him, especially if they went years without being in the same dream. “Am I not—do you not know what I am to you?”

  Marrok cocked his head. “Of course, I know what you are to me. I knew it the first time you pulled me here. I’m wondering how it is you came to know.”

  “Theron. The last time you were here, he, well, communicated with me.”

  “Ah, of course. The meddling priest.”

  “Why … why have you not come for me?” Evelyn couldn’t hide the tremor of her voice. Wasn’t finding one’s destined mate something magical? Wonderful? A blessed gift to be cherished? He was acting so cavalier about it.

  She understood she was still a teenager. She didn’t understand why he had not taken steps to ensure he would have her once he considered her an adult.

  Marrok could hear the disappointment in her tone. She wanted him to come to Gwydion and claim her? Goddess help him.

  Marrok could skirt the issue or he could be truthful with his mate. He respected how bold and honest she was with him. He could only do the same in return—to a degree.

  “You’re too young.”

  “I am of age.”

  “Eighteen is still too young, Evelyn.”

  “My sister is to be married at age twenty. It is commonplace for females in Imperium to be married by then.”

  He hid his wince at the mention of marriage while his demon perked up. His palms scrubbed his face.

  “It is not so simple.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “No. Things in Imperium are not as they were. Each faction is facing its own difficulties.” His intricate network of merchants and spies kept him abreast of the happenings in their world, and what was happening wasn’t good.

  “I’m aware of the Northland’s dying forest.”

  “Many are. What do you know of the Eastland? Or of the Southland?”

  “The vampires are secretive. They do not readily share information. Everyone knows that. I’ve not heard of anything amiss in Sundari.”

  It was true. The vampires, who lived in the Eastland, in the Kingdom of Prajna, kept to themselves for the most part. Though, just like the other factions in Imperium, they did do business from time to time across their borders.

  Tricky demons in the Southland were awfully nosy and had ways to extricate information. They were, quite literally, mind readers. Beings without strong mental shields were easy prey to the demons.

  Marrok took news of the Burghard’s dying forest in stride. He’d even palleted the reports of Gwydion’s draining magics.

  When the details of the Prajna’s lack of matings and zero birth rate hit his ears, he knew. He knew beyond all doubt the sufferings around Imperium weren’t isolated. He simply didn’t know what to do about it.

  “What’s going on in the Sundari Kingdom?”

  “Nothing for you to worry about.”

  “Let me guess, you have it under control?” she huffed.

  “No, not yet.”

  She was surprised at his admission. Both because she believed he was more than capable of handling his kingdom and also because she hadn’t expected him to admit he didn’t have control over things. Yet he was still holding something back.

  “You’re not going to tell me the details, are you? You can trust me, Marrok.”

  A flaring pain cut across his forearm. He lifted it and saw blood swell to the surface.

  “Not tonight. I must return. Immediately, it seems.”

  Evelyn gasped. “What’s happening?”

  “Someone’s trying to wake me.”

  “By cutting you?!” she screeched.

  “Drawing blood is sometimes the only way to be released from dreamwalking.”

  “That’s so barbaric.”

  “Says the female holding me hostage.”

  The corners of her mouth turned down. “If I’m holding you here, I’m not doing it purposefully.”

  Marrok reached out and stroked her cheek. “I believe you.”

  The contact, as fleeting as it was, reinforced his control. The transitory snippets of madness had been gone since he’d cusped her chin.

  See? She is the answer. Marrok ignored his demon spirit. It wasn’t the time to claim his mate, but maybe she could keep him centered, help staunch the spreading sickness inside him long enough for him to find the solution for his people.

  If he could dreamwalk to her at will, touch her skin when he did, it might work. His saatus might be able to buy him enough time. It would be easiest to gandeste if she willed him to her while he did the same.

  Another cut appeared next to the first. He could feel himself slipping away.

  “Marrok?” she whispered.

  He opened his mouth to tell her to try calling for him in a few nights, but no sound came out. He blinked and the ceiling of his chambers came into view.

  The outlines of four large heads focused above him. Favin and Petr on his left, Danil and Lazlo on his right. These were the only males he’d ever thought of as brothers.

  His face stung, and not from absorbing Evelyn’s negative energies. He worked his jaw, making sure they hadn’t broken it.

  “Who cut me?” he demanded of his men, pushing himself into a sitting position.

  Favin lifted the blade in his hand. “I did, Sire.”

  “I assume this was because the blow to the side of my face failed to rouse me?”

  “Yes, Sire.”

  The soldiers all shared a look.

  “And?” Marrok’s head swung to each of them, landing on Danil, the most verbose of the four, and the only one of them with a white head of hair.

  “You were talking in your sleep. Talking nonsense. Nothing was working and we feared …” Danil gulped, diverting his eyes.

  “You thought I might have succumb?”

  Favin sheathed his blade, answering when Danil couldn’t. “Yes, Sire.”

  “I was dreamwalking. Nothing more, nothing less. Understood?”

  All the men gave curt nods and he commanded, “Now tell me, Favin, what has the four of you in my chambers at this hour.”

  “Rogues. A group of them breached the perimeter walls.”

  “Did they reach the fortress?”

  “No, Sire. They didn’t even try to.”

  “Then where did they go?”

  Again, they exchanged a look.

  “Where?” Marrok barked.

  “They went straight to the tombs.”

  The tombs? There was nothing there but earth and stone and the bodies of the dead. Only a handful of guards would have been anywhere near there.

  “Were there any casualties?”

  “No, but they desecrated one of the crypts. Broke it wide open. They—they removed the body and left it in the courtyard. It’s why we woke you.”

  Marrok froze. “Whose tomb?”

  Favin faltered.

 
Marrok’s rage came fast this time, faster than Favin could say, “Your wife’s.”

  * * *

  Evelyn awoke, filled with a fury that was not her own. Clutching the chain around her neck. She dropped to her knees beside the bed and prayed for Marrok’s safety.

  Chapter 5

  Evelyn, Age 20

  “No? What do you mean he said no?” There was no hiding the disbelief in Evelyn’s voice.

  “Hush! Nora will hear you,” Eden chastised. “Do not make me regret telling you.”

  “Nora is out in the woods replenishing her energies. Unless she’s recently developed a wolf’s acute hearing, she’ll know nothing of this.”

  Eden went to the window. Nora always returned on the same path and would be easily visible if she emerged. She had just informed Evelyn that, a week ago, their father invited King Kellan for a visit in order to get to know Nora a little better. She was now eighteen and the wedding was less than two years away.

  It was the same offer he’d made when Eden turned eighteen. The Wolf King had accepted the invite to meet Eden. In contrast, this time around, he rejected the offer to spend some time with Nora, his true mate.

  Evelyn found it unsettling and she wanted to know why he declined. It went against what she knew of wolves, of how connected they needed to be to their lifemates.

  She stood and walked over to Eden, keeping her voice low. It was more for Eden’s benefit. Evelyn herself had seen Nora run off less than ten minutes ago. She’d be gone for at least another hour

  “Did Father demand Kellan come for a visit or was it a request?” Evelyn inquired.

  “I did not read the missive. We only spoke of it in passing. He wanted to make sure I was okay with my betrothed returning to our home to get know my youngest sister.”

  “Ex-betrothed,” Evelyn stressed.

  Eden sighed. “Yes, ex-betrothed. I assured Father I had no personal feelings towards the male. I mean, I only met him once. It was hardly enough time to become attached.”

  “True, though, you were engaged to him for your entire life. Right up until Nora walked in the door that day. Father was right to ask you.”

  Eden looked at her sister and grinned. “That was sweet of you to say, Evie.”

  “That’s me, Sweetie Evie.”

  Eden laughed. “Right.”

  “So back to the Wolf-Man’s refusal.”

  “You really should stop calling him that.”

  “Fine. Kellan refused to visit his mate. His true mate, the one the Goddess created just for him. The other half of his whole. The one single creature alive who would complete him. I didn’t know it was possible to stay away like that.”

  Only, Evelyn did know, she just didn’t understand it. Marrok hadn’t been in one of her dreams since the night he’d touched her bruised skin. Nor had he come to Gwydion to speak to her father.

  When he’d vanished with those cuts, she feared something terrible was happening to him. She tried to awaken, but the dreamworld wouldn’t relinquish its hold until it was good and ready.

  Sitting in the clearing that night, hoping he’d come back into the dream, she considered broaching the subject with her father when she woke. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he would understand the ramifications of dodging Fate.

  Just as she’d come to the decision to confess her entire dreamlife to her father, Theron appeared in the forest and whispered in her mind. Patience.

  The next thing she knew, she was out of bed and filled with rage—Marrok’s rage. Evelyn knew it down into her very bones. She’d prayed every night since for his well-being.

  Every once in a while, she would feel random bouts of anger or mania. Not enough to affect her, thankfully, just enough to make her aware.

  Since the moment he touched her, they’d established some sort of feeble mental connection. She wondered if he could feel her emotions. If he could, he would know how she longed for him to come for her. She was his mate. What would keep him away?

  This was the question that had bothered her for years now. She could admit to herself it was why she was upset on Nora’s behalf. Hence her current interrogation of Eden.

  “He is King, Evelyn. I’m sure he is tasked with many things and his time is sparse.”

  “He was King when he came to visit you and you weren’t even his mate.”

  “I know,” Eden’s soft voice acknowledged on an exhale. “I’m sure he has good reason. Besides, it’s not like Nora has any expectation to see him.”

  “How do you know? Did you ask her?”

  Eden looked nonplussed. “Well, no.”

  “Then how do you know she has no expectation to see him? Perhaps she would like to meet him again, this time as an adult. To know him or, at least, have some sense of him prior to matrimony. It’s not unreasonable.”

  “No, it’s not unreasonable. However, she’s never voiced it so I propose we say nothing of his refusal. There’s no sense in chancing any amount of anxiety or disappointment. She’ll have a hard enough time of it as it is.”

  Evelyn chewed the inside of her cheek. Eden was right. Nora might not know Kellan, but there would only be negative emotional consequences if she knew he would not come to her when invited.

  This much Evelyn knew for certain. She felt it every night when she laid her head upon her pillow and sought out the male who had taken over her thoughts. Searching, always searching the only space her dreams allowed her to visit.

  Marrok hadn’t returned to her dreamworld. Try as she might to summon him, he never came. Her faith in Fate was being tested. Evelyn would not lay such disappointment at Nora’s feet.

  She squeezed Eden’s shoulder and nodded silently.

  * * *

  Evelyn felt the change before she opened her eyes. Her stance widened and her hands flexed with her magics.

  No calm breeze brushed across the clearing. Tonight, a blistering wind struck her form, its howling whistle bounced irritatingly off her eardrums.

  Instead of soft blues and purples, the moon was giving off shades of red and orange. Flames crackled and licked the trees of the forest, but nothing was burning. The dreamworld, or something in it, was irritated.

  Slowly, she rotated, seeking information, waiting for the elements to speak. They buzzed, drawing her attention to one of the paths connecting the clearing to the woods.

  The fire split into columns on either side of the trail and a form emerged from within the inferno. Tall, with broad shoulders and a lean trunk, the male stalked forward.

  Blackened eyes locked on hers, so intense she felt them in her core. Long, predatory strides moved him directly in her path. Without thought, Evelyn opened the barrier and he stepped into the clearing.

  The wind screamed and the only other sound she could hear was the boom of her thundering heart. He advanced swiftly, everything about his approach screamed he was a man possessed. His intent couldn’t be clearer.

  In two second she was in his arms, his mouth slamming into hers. This first kiss—the first she’d ever experienced—was hard and unyielding. It was nothing like she had imagined, and almost more than she was prepared to receive. This wasn’t the kiss of a lover. It was a punishment.

  Evelyn gasped and Marrok took advantage of her parted lips, driving his tongue into her mouth. Her fingers clenched the fabric on his shoulders as she trembled in his embrace, struggling to stay on her feet.

  Her veins throbbed, her heated blood reaching a rapid boil. His arms tightened and she knew he’d never let her fall.

  Evelyn felt him everywhere. His powers slid up and down her skin, caressing, inciting. Their shared breaths depleted her of oxygen and tiny pinpoints of light burst from behind her eyelids.

  The high-pitched winds built into a crescendo and the blazes roared. Higher and higher until the dreamworld exploded with a blinding radiance, bathing their bodies in the white of their magics before returning once more to muted colors and a calm breeze. The forest was once again covered in purple and blue moonbeams
.

  The world settled, along with Marrok’s spirit. He’d been on the verge of something terrible. He’d gotten worse every day without his saatus. Another two years without her was out of the question.

  Feeling once more in control of himself, he slowed the kiss, bringing a hand up to palm the back of her head. His lips drifted to the corner of her mouth, then to her temple, before dropping to her ear.

  “Never again, moj draga,” he warned, biting her earlobe.

  She shivered. “P-pardon?”

  “You’ll never again wait so long to summon me.” He failed to mention his own unsuccessful attempts to enter her world.

  Evelyn, still reeling from his arduous assault, took a moment to process. He was upset she hadn’t pulled him into her dreams. She smiled against his chest, then tipped her head back.

  “Missed me, did you?”

  “Don’t tease.”

  “I’m not. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

  “I don’t know you well enough to miss you. But I never imagined, little mate, once I’d confirmed for you that you were my saatus, you’d wait so long.”

  Evelyn attempted to free herself from his arms. He didn’t budge and she glared up at him. “And I didn’t think, once you confirmed for me that I was your saatus, you’d do absolutely nothing to find me.”

  He let go and she felt oddly bereft when he put space between them.

  “So you didn’t call for me out of some sort of revenge?” he snapped, trying to let go of the last of his frustration.

  “What? Of course not. And what makes you think I didn’t call for you?”

  A muscle in his jaw ticked. He glared at his gorgeous mate, who had physically matured greatly these last two years. Evelyn would be twenty-one by the next solstice, which meant she’d reached full physical maturity during their time apart.

  Her cheekbones were more pronounced, giving off a regal countenance. Her small nose pointed to two full, pouty lips, still swollen from their shared passion.

  Her breasts were larger, rounder, making her waist appear tiny. Maybe it was tiny. He was having trouble concentrating, caught between spanking her arse and kissing her senseless again.