6. Harth
CHAPTER 6
HARTH
GLAINE
M y mate is asleep, and as I vowed to her, I am watching over her as she slumbers.
She makes a soft humming sort of noise as she curls up on her side, giving her back to me. The golden ringlets— curls , I amend as a sense of pride… Billie’s pride… filters into my consciousness—are pillowed beneath her cheek. So is the hand not attached to a manacle. Duke Haures is merciful enough to have a small cot in his dungeon cells, but humans are a lot less sturdy than we demons. She needs comfort, but she doesn't trust me enough to provide it.
The most she allows is for me to gather up the length of chain, sitting on the floor beside the cot. The chain is long enough that, if she ordered me to the other side of the cell, it would stretch, but she didn’t. Instead, murmuring something about a creature she calls ‘Three’, she shrugged when I suggested boldly that I watch over her from a closer distance.
Delving into her essence, I see that this ‘Three’ is not unlike one of the ungez, the prey beasts that live in the shadows. Though it is an Earth beast, it appears to be made up of shadows like so many Sombran creatures, with eyes that shine the same color as mine even if they don’t glow. She tends to it like it is her spawn, feeding and brushing and protecting the not-ungez, and I find myself jealous of a creature that has both my mate’s affection and attention while I have none.
As she snuffles, I wonder if, perhaps, this creature is a guide to earning both for myself. She thinks that I am like her ‘void’ when I drop my big body into a crouch beside her, watching her studiously. Using her memories, I see if there are other ways I can mimic the wee beast. It does not speak in anything other than soft yowls, and it seems as though its hours are spent sleeping and licking its genitals.
Sombra demons rarely require much sleep; a testament to how I can guard for cycles at a time without tiring, and will do so gladly now that I have a mate to watch over. As for feeling a tongue on my cock… Billie’s essence says that is also done to males in her world, but usually by their female mates.
Even in my shadows, I am not flexible enough to taste my own cock. I never would’ve thought such a thing possible, but the idea of my mortal mate opening her pretty mouth and feeling her cold breath on my hard flesh… it’s all I can do not to spill seed on the floor of our shared cell.
Until Billie has accepted me as her mate—until she has accepted my essence—I cannot hope for her to pleasure me in such a way. And though I can sense that she’s done it to other males, I firmly stop those memories of hers from surfacing in my mind. I already despise this Trevor, both for causing Billie pain and for not recognizing that she was the best female he could ever have. His loss, and I would’ve claimed Billie as my one true mate even if she still felt fondness for that male.
But she does not. That means her heart is free to be earned, and now that I understand that humans don’t feel the mate bond instinctively… that they only do once they’ve developed fondness for their fated demon… I must change the way I approach wooing her.
First? I can’t do so in the dungeons.
Second? My Billie is a proud, fierce female. She will only dislike me further if she continues to feel like she has no say in things. I thought that, by bringing her to Sombra, I could show her that she was meant to be with her male in his realm. That was a mistake. She needed to choose to follow me here, but in my own stubborn need, I took that choice from her.
Just like Duke Haures took her freedom to completely deny me again…
I won’t say that I regret what I’ve done. I only rue the fact that I’ve hurt her, and make the same vow to myself that I did to Billie before: that I will do anything to prove to her that I am worthy to be her male.
And that begins with breaking her out of the dungeon.
The one plus to having served Duke Haures for centuries? I know how the male thinks. I can gauge his moods, and tell when he will show mercy to a prisoner. He would’ve kept me out of the dungeon if I hadn’t requested to be placed with Billie; of course, separating me from my mate would’ve been a harsher punishment, a fact he knows very well. That he allowed me to join her, even going so far as to command that we wear the chains together… Duke Haures is doing what is expected of him as ruler, while also giving me the chance to woo my mate.
Will he be furious that I plan to leave the dungeon with Billie? I think he will, but I also doubt that he’d consider it a shadow offense. He won’t end my existence, not when I only did what I did because I was shocked to find my fated mate.
If any demon in Sombra knows what it’s like to make mistakes because he learned his mate was a human of legend, it’s Duke Haures. That is the only reason why I concoct my plan. Not because I would betray his grace, but because I know that he would almost expect it of me .
As the head of the guard, I’ve handpicked and trained nearly every single soldier who serves Duke Haures. Of course, he has their complete loyalty, but so do I. He is their monarch; I am their captain. Duke Haures must be obeyed, but after decades of training before they’re given their own posts or commands, it is ingrained into every green-eyed soldier to do as they’re told by their superior soldier.
In Mavro, there is no guard that has a higher rank than I do. For centuries, I’ve led Duke Haures’s personal guard, and there isn’t a demon who serves in the palace who doesn’t owe that fact to my training them.
Still, I must choose carefully. I know that, whatever guard is given the task to check on their former commander in the cells, it will be one who shares some loyalty to me. Again, I know my reputation. I am a hard taskmaster. I’ve been called cocky. Arrogant. Heartless. After Lilith, that was true.
But I have Billie now. And, for her sake, I hope that the next guard that comes to stroll by the cell is one that I can put the trust of her mortal existence into.
The dungeons are impenetrable. Even if they weren’t, the enchanted chains steal much of my power. I cannot shift to my shadows or slip through the bars while wearing them. With Billie chained to me, I’m even more hampered. The guards have no reason to patrol down here unless they’re curious, or they’re bringing our next meal. There is nothing for me to do except wait.
Hours pass. I don’t mind them so much because keeping watch over Billie… I’m more at peace than I have been in the last few centuries. I am eager to prove myself, yes, but also determined to let her rest.
And then, just when I begin to wonder if Duke Haures will skip our next meal, I hear heavy steps on the stairs leading down into the dungeon. I hold my breath, rising up from my crouch so that I can greet the other guard as a proud male would, while still protecting my mate.
The younger male has corkscrew horns, dark green eyes, and is carrying a tray between his claws. I recognize his flatter nose, his shorter hair, and his hesitancy to approach a superior guard—and I grin.
As though I needed the push to put my plan into motion. Seeing Harth be the guard that Duke Haures sent down to the dungeon… my most recent recruit, and the demon who looks up to me as a father figure… knowing that he is too inexperienced to be a match to a wily, older demon… I thank you, your grace. Duke Haures has sent me my freedom without giving me the key.
But that is alright.
Harth has one on his belt.
Moving toward the bars, I give the younger demon a welcoming grin. “Ah. Harth. Just the demon I was hoping to see…”