Hestaesia: Lost in Love

by K. L. Thorne

  He would never understand the thinking of men like Lazuli. The king’s hatred for demons was unfathomable – what had his kind done to deserve such treatment?

  Lazuli, on the other hand, had done plenty to inspire hatred from the demon people. Families that had once been farmers, until King Lazuli had taken their crops and their land. Men and women that’d had jobs – blacksmiths, tailors, medicine men – until King Lazuli had burnt their villages down.

  Demons had more than enough cause to hate faeries and want their revenge, and yet whenever Lephas spent time with innocent civilians, they rarely spoke of it. All they cared about was returning to their land, watching their children grow up and being able to provide for their families.

  He himself led a relatively comfortable life in Banesteppe – though not comfortable by Lori's standards, he was certain – Lephas knew many that were very under-privileged.

  Lephas could not abide by such mindless greed... He simply did not understand it. It was the main reason he had enlisted under King Zelrus when the young man had first made his presence known ten years ago.

  When he was a boy, Lephas's father had often told him tales around the hearth of King Tennul's kindness and how highly respected he was. He had been in awe.

  Then, of course, Oriel had come into his life. Though three years Lephas’s junior, he had been grateful and honoured to be befriended by him. The demon people did not recognise Oriel as a royal, but Lephas had – despite the man's faerie traits.

  When Zelrus had first taken back leadership of Banesteppe, Oriel had been called to support him, and he had invited Lephas to join him. The moment a chance to serve and protect Tennul's sons had arisen, he had taken it. Thus far, he had not been disappointed.

  Zelrus embodied all the same honourable traits his father before him had. Lephas was proud to serve him, even if it was indirectly through Oriel.

  Lephas shook himself. That was why he needed to remain focussed. Zelrus and Oriel were relying on him; he couldn't get distracted now.

  Who knew – maybe when they got Lori back to Banesteppe and Zelrus had finished interrogating her, Lephas would have a chance to get to know her better.

  Though no doubt the princess would probably choose Oriel or Haros over him. Lephas supposed he shouldn't be surprised that Haros's silver tongue was already working its magic on Lori.

  Lephas was significantly less charming than his friends. He had only managed to bed four women in his adult life, and three of those had been thanks to Oriel in their younger years, when he had been a little keener and less ashamed to let his best friend help him. Now he was well into his thirties, he was embarrassed to let Oriel charm women on his behalf.

  He was much more the 'strong and silent' type, which tended to translate to 'boring' with most women he met. They wanted wild, spontaneous and fun-loving – Oriel and Haros's main method of operation.

  He didn't think he was bad in bed (at least he hoped he wasn't) and had never received any complaints from the women he had spent the night with, but he was under no illusion that he was any kind of expert.

  It had been a long while since the last time and having Lori around just served to remind him of that.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Though being draped over a shoulder wasn't the most comfortable position, Lori couldn't bring herself to be too annoyed. She was warmer tucked against Lephas and, if she was honest with herself, was rather enjoying having his muscular arm wrapped around her thighs. Even if he was a bit handsy.

  Lori took in details of the other demons from her new vantage point. She marvelled at how different the group of soldiers also looked from how she had always envisioned demons.

  One of them was older than the others, one was bearded, another was shorter and more muscular... Yet none of them were as handsome as Lephas. Apparently, his good looks were a trait specific to him, not to demons in general.

  She began wondering what demon women looked like. She couldn't recall ever seeing any mention of them in any of her father's books.

  Why was that? Because they had no cause to mention them, or because a female monster would be less terrifying and less of a deterrent for three young faerie girls?

  As the terrain flattened out, Lephas began to move more easily beneath her. It wasn't long until he came to a halt and Lori felt him carefully lower the shoulder he had her perched over. She made sure she had a solid foothold in the snow before finally letting go of the demon.

  “Alright now?” he shouted to her over the wind.

  “We'll see,” she replied honestly, taking a few tentative steps through the snow. The spikes on her boots instantly gripped now they weren't contending with an icy slope.

  Clearly satisfied she could walk unaided, Lephas turned his back and began striding ahead. Lori waddled along behind, tethered to him like a naughty puppy.

  The demons made it look so easy, trekking through the snow like it was nothing. Lori huffed breathlessly as she fought to keep up, sweating underneath her thick fur jacket despite the icy conditions.

  There was little opportunity for talking as the wind howled around them. The demons kept their heads tucked down against the onslaught.

  Left, right, left, right... Lori instructed herself as she placed one foot in front of the other. With her hood obstructing her peripheral vision, she didn’t notice Karn appear beside her.

  The wolf nudged her with his snout, and Lori leapt forwards with a squeak. Lephas glanced over his shoulder briefly, his pace slowing.

  Lori kept her eye on the large wolf, who stared back in turn. The creature appraised her with his intelligent eyes.

  “What are you looking at?” Lori asked and shuffled away from him warily.

  Karn simply shook the snow out of his thick fur and moved in closer still.

  “Get away!” she hissed and trotted a few steps ahead.

  The wolf followed suit, sniffing inquisitively at her. The commander glanced over his shoulder once more.

  “What does he want?” Lori shouted.

  “He's just curious. He's trying to get to know you.”

  The demon held out a gloved hand to the wolf. Karn turned his snout and his long, pink tongue licked at the leather affectionately; once, twice...

  The wolf turned his attention back to Lori and tentatively lapped at her gloved hand instead. Lori pulled it away.

  Lephas looked her up and down with his dark eyes. “He likes you. You don't need to be frightened of him.”

  “Easy for you to say. He didn't rag you around like you were a chew toy!” Lori scowled.

  “Trust me, I understand all too well. He went through a real nippy phase when he was a pup. I’ve got plenty of scars to prove it.” Lephas laughed.

  Karn nosed Lori's legs again, nudging her behind her knee. She stumbled gracelessly, and Lephas darted forwards to catch her before she fell.

  “Karn! Stop messing about. Go on, get!” The commander whistled sharply, and Karn obediently trotted away.

  The wolf turned to look at Lori over his shoulder with his mouth open, panting. Lori narrowed her eyes. No, not panting... Smiling.

  “Little shit,” she grumbled.

  Haros, who was at the head of the group, turned to face them. He made an ambiguous hand gesture to Lephas, who simply nodded.

  There was a steep ledge that ran alongside the road. Lori watched on, alarmed when Haros turned and crouched, jumping off and disappearing from view.

  “We're leaving the track?” she asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

  Though visibility was poor through the storm, they were travelling along a significantly flatter, more open section of snow, which Lori assumed to be a wide, well-travelled lane.

  “There’s less chance of an ambush if we get off the road,” Lephas replied matter-of-factly

  The group approached the edge and watched as Haros clambered out from the deep snow below and walked a little way ahead into the woods. With a thumbs up to Lephas, he turned to wait for the others to foll
ow. It was a long drop. Lori was sure he wouldn’t have made it down safely if it hadn’t been for the deep drift below.

  The demon soldiers over-took them, taking it in turns to jump down to Haros. Lori shifted nervously at the edge. The dark forest ahead swayed ominously in the blustering winds.

  “Sit yourself down. We need to jump together. The manacle won’t be long enough to reach otherwise.” Lephas instructed.

  “I really don't think we should leave the main road.”

  “Just as well I'm not asking what you think then,” the demon retorted, pushing her down by her shoulders. “Just slide off the edge. The snow is plenty deep enough to soften the landing – okay?” Lephas leant forwards, bringing his head down to her level.

  “Not really, no.” Lori felt her brows knit with concern.

  “Great. Let's go.” Though she could only see his dark eyes over his scarf, Lori knew Lephas was smiling. He lowered himself into a crouch and, like Haros and the others, carefully dropped down over the ledge.

  “Wait, I’m not—"

  The slack in the manacle's chain disappeared and Lori was tugged forwards. She yelped and twisted onto her stomach, scrabbling for a hand hold as she slid precariously through the snow. She slipped away over the edge.

  As she fell, the manacle caught on a dark root that was protruding from the ground. Lori screamed in pain as she jerked to a stop and the iron cuff sliced into her skin.

  Lephas’s weight pulled the chain tight and she heard the demon grunt as his arm met with resistance.

  “Shit, she’s caught!” Haros yelled from below.

  Lori panicked and squirmed against the manacle’s hold in an attempt to free herself. Her wings fluttered beneath her jacket, instinctively trying to open to save her. Lori winced as they pressed painfully against her restrictive clothing.

  The princess hung over the ledge, suspended only by her wrist. She threw her legs out but failed to find anything to use as a foothold. She was well and truly stuck.

  She could hear the commotion below her, but ignored the demons’ shouting. If she could just get a little momentum…

  Using her teeth, she hastily pulled the glove off her free hand and spat it out. It fluttered down to the snow below. With shaking fingers, Lori hurried to undo the buttons on her fur jacket.

  “What are you doing?!” one of the demon soldiers called out.

  “Hold on, Little Dove. We’ll get you down!” Haros yelled.

  “Just give me a minute!” She cried

  The more she moved, the more the manacle cut into her flesh. Her arm ached and her muscles began to shake with exhaustion as all of her weight pulled against her shoulder. Lori grimaced and clenched her teeth.

  She shrugged her unchained arm out of her jacket and was instantly assaulted by an icy blast. Lori squirmed, shaking free of the heavy fur. She quickly pushed the other shoulder off as far as she could.

  It was enough to free her wings. They burst open and Lori pushed her body forward and up, using their momentum to aid her. She managed to free the chain, unhooking it from the root it was stuck on.

  The tension in the chain released immediately and she felt blood, hot against her chilled skin, pooling beneath the cuff.

  With her large, golden wings spread to their full capacity, she glided gracefully to the floor, landing on one knee.

  On solid ground once more, Lori collapsed forward into the snow and immediately turned her attention to the splintering pain in her wrist.

  The white fur around her sleeve was stained red with blood and she hurriedly pulled her remaining glove off, gritting her teeth as she rolled the material away from the wound.

  The blunt edges of the manacle had cut deeply into her skin. She didn’t appear to have broken anything though blood poured freely from the gashes. She flexed her hand warily.

  “Haros!” Lephas called out.

  Feeling dazed, Lori sat quietly and watched on as the demons hurried to her side.

  “Hold still, Little Dove.” The demon ripped his own gloves off and pulled her injured wrist closer. Lori winced and shut her eyes to the blinding onslaught of healing majick.

  The burning pain vanished almost instantly. A secondary deep aching in her shoulder, that she hadn't even been fully aware of, also dissipated. Lori gasped for breath and shivered violently.

  “Did you hurt yourself anywhere else?” Haros asked her.

  “N-no, I think that's it,” Lori replied through chattering teeth.

  Haros grabbed her fur coat and pulled it around her. “Get that jacket back on before you freeze. Can you put your wings back down for me, Little Dove?”

  “But they hurt so much,” Lori whimpered, her soft golden wings folding back on themselves once more.

  “I'm sure we can fix something up for you. Just get warm again,” Lephas said.

  “A few of our guys have wings too.” Haros nodded. “They have slits in the back of their armour so they can let them stretch free.”

  Lori laughed. “That would have been a better idea.” She let Haros help her back into her jacket and re-fastened the buttons.

  “Hands.” Lephas was knelt in front of her, holding out a glove. She carefully fed her numb digits into each finger-hole. “This one is bloodied but it's better than no glove at all.” He held the other out to her.

  Lori noticed his handsome face was drawn tight with concern. He kept his dark gaze averted whilst he helped her back into her gear.

  “Thank you,” she murmured and got to her feet. Her legs shook beneath her, but held.

  “Are you able to continue?” Haros asked, tugging his snood back over his face. The other men gathered their packs from where they had discarded them during the panic.

  Lori simply nodded and pulled her own fur snood up.

  “Alright, let's carry on then.” Haros glanced to his commander for confirmation.

  “Move out,” Lephas’s deep voice rumbled behind her.

  Lori began to follow but met with resistance in the manacle once again. The newly healed skin was numb and tingly against the pressure. She turned to look at Lephas curiously.

  “Not you,” he motioned for her to come back towards him.

  Lori obeyed, returning to stand in front of the demon commander.

  Without a word, Lephas rolled the sleeve of her jacket up to reveal the iron cuff.

  “Honestly, it's fine now. You don't need to–” Lori began.

  Lephas took a small silver key from a pouch on his belt and slid it into the lock on her cuff. The metal opened with a click and fell free from her wrist.

  “Oh!”

  “They are clearly more of a hindrance than a help.” Lephas frowned. He removed his own cuff as well, before clipping the manacles to his belt and returning the key to its pouch.

  “Don't... Don't make me regret taking them off, Princess.” The commander fixed her with a steely gaze for a long moment before pulling his woollen scarf back over his face. “Come on, let's catch up.”

  She smiled softly, tucking the sleeve of her jacket back into her glove and filing in behind Lephas dutifully.

  Even the storm’s whipping winds couldn’t penetrate the dark and gloomy pines as the group made their way beneath the cover of the forest. The snow continued to fall but its flakes were small and fine, chopped up by masses of sharp pine needles above them.

  Lori quickly grew hot and sweaty once more trying to keep up with the gruelling pace set by the demons. She pulled her hood down and pulled the soft fur snood off her face, gathering it under her chin.

  One by one, each of the soldiers followed suit, revealing their faces.

  Karn trotted ahead of the group, followed closely by Haros and the four demon soldiers. Lephas and Lori brought up the rear. The demon commander was deliberately hanging back to keep her on pace.

  The ground here was uneven and covered in thick, undisturbed snow. In places, Lori fought through drifts up to her knees. The group walked in silence. Lori wasn't sure how much time had p
assed; she just kept her eyes on the forest floor, scanning for hidden hazards.

  She panted hard, her breath swirling like dragon's smoke in the cold forest air. At least the exertion was keeping her warm. She had never been a fan of outdoor activities; another sign that perhaps she shouldn't have run away from home in the middle of winter.

  Back in Awrelwood, her mother had encouraged her and her sisters to take part in countless hobbies – music, dance, needlepoint... Lori had tried them all at one stage or another. She had never really taken to any, not like Sivelle and Faye.

  Sivelle was a ballet dancer and spent most of her days in their mirrored dance studio with her legs up around her ears. Though Lori liked to mock her, referring to the stick up her rear at every opportunity, she had often spent afternoons watching her sister practise.

  Faye was more adventurous and had taken up horse riding. Though she had never been permitted to ride outside the castle walls, she had enjoyed cantering around the indoor arena their father had erected for her. It had been fascinating to watch her jumping unusual obstacles and exercising her horses. She had five, naturally.

  Lori had a short attention span for trivial pastimes. She had found their majick lessons riveting until her father had caught wind of her asking for more offensive talent training. Their lessons had mysteriously stopped shortly after.

  The only other topic she had ever been remotely interested in was fashion. As such, her father had placated her with new outfits and accessories almost daily, but there were only so many backless diamond gowns a girl could collect. After all, what was the point if she had no one to wear them for? She glanced across at the tall demon walking beside her.

  Every time her eyes fell upon him, he surprised her with his attractiveness. Most faeries were fair in colouring. Lephas's hair was so dark, it was almost completely black in some lights. Though, she noticed, there was a faint sprinkling of silver at his temples, betraying his age.

  His features were so overtly masculine; the square jaw, high cheekbones, matched with those impossibly dark, mysterious eyes... Lori sighed. She supposed it was going to take a while before she stopped associating demons with creatures of nightmare.