15
“Good morning, my little champion,” Darya greets me. I blink awake and wriggle from his arms.
“I didn’t expect you to be such an early riser,” Darya grumbles with feigned annoyance as he stretches, his wings extending with such speed that I jump back.
He flips off the bed, and I can admire his finely sculpted, beautiful back.
I’ve never seen how the wings connect before.
It’s terrifying yet mesmerizing. It’s evident his entire body is built for this.
His shoulder blades have thickened, and tight muscles starting from his slim waist and gripping into the broad expanse of his back merge with his wings as though they have become one. The sight dazzles me.
“What’s it like when you fly?”
Darya flaps his wings. The motion sends ripples through his well-defined back muscles, and I take a deep breath. He walks over to me.
“You move with them. When you transform, your body molds around them. For a demon, wings are crucial. They make us both earthly and celestial beings simultaneously. If a demon loses his wings, he not only loses his connection to earth and sky, but it also disrupts his relationship with himself.”
“And if the herebias lose them?”
Darya’s face creases, but it’s more of a smirk. Perhaps because I’ve referred to them as herebias for the first time.
“You mean like fallen angels…? I don’t think it’d be worse or better for them. They’d face the same rupture in their bond as we would. They wouldn’t be free anymore.”
Darya delivers this last sentence with such emotion that I’m taken aback.
I know what it’s like not to be free. To lose your wings; to be tethered, controlled by drugs, suppressed by the world around you.
To be declared insane. I feel a faint electric buzz under my skin as I imagine what it would be like if I transformed. I’d have wings. I’d never be insane.
I glance back at Darya, who steps even closer to me. I have to tilt my head up to look at him. His bare chest, unlike mine, rises and falls evenly.
“Interested in fallen angels?” he mocks.
“I’m interested in your world.”
He ponders this for a moment, and eventually, I have to break our gaze – we’ve been staring at each other for too long.
“Then come,” he beckons. “I’ll show it to you from above.”
I resist, but he grabs me, and we leap out of the tower’s massive window together.
The landscape is breathtaking; mountains embrace each other, and I hear birdsongs. In the distance, the castle’s towers resemble elongated dragon tails.
No matter how many times Lizander has taken me, I’ll never get used to flying this high, so completely at the mercy of another’s whim. I cling as tightly to Darya as I can.
“I saw you reading Pandora’s book,” the demon says after a while. I look at him, but as our gazes intertwine, I break eye contact. He’s too close.
“Twin books,” he continues. “There are only two in the world.”
“Why did you put the other one in my room?”
“I thought… it would be useful reading for you. Perhaps not today, but someday.”
I fall into silence. I look over Darya’s dark attire, while his strong arms ending in black claws support me under my knees and back. I’m nothing compared to these monsters, yet I’ll have to fight one soon.
“Why am I the only one who has to wear white?”
Darya’s gaze softly paints my face, and my skin flushes.
“To set you apart.”
“So, you don’t want to sacrifice me?”
Darya scoffs. “Why would I bother with you so much if I wanted you to die?”
“Perhaps because you’re too old and have realized you’ve never truly had fun?”
“Ouch. That hurt more than if you’d cut my throat while I was asleep,” he says, looking at me knowingly.
“You’re dressed in white so everyone can see you.
To be a warning in the crowd, to signal that this is not a place to come.
Demons aren’t accustomed to the color white, unless it’s angelic wings.
They’re more cautious around white and won’t come near you.
This prevents someone from harming you when neither I nor Lizander are watching over you. ”
“But then they’ll always know where I am!”
“Putting aside the recent atrocity when one of my subjects attacked you a couple of moonturns ago, didn’t you find my demonstration effective?
Demons are bloodthirsty, but even they don’t desire their own death.
Generally. There are few of us left, dwindling in number as we fight against the herebias.
Yet I’ve killed dozens of our comrades for you. ”
I open my mouth to retaliate, but then shut it and gulp. Darya doesn’t want to sacrifice me. So why is he doing this? What will happen in a year?
“Let’s play a game,” he suggests after a while, as if he’s reading my thoughts.
“No,” I declare firmly.
He just grins.
“If you do, I’ll grant you one wish. How does that sound?”
“What kind of wish?” I ask uncertainly, because I don’t want to make a bad deal with a demon.
“Don’t expect anything that would return you to your world. Don’t ask for the impossible. But there’s surely something I can grant you.”
There is. Oh, how much there is!
“What are the conditions?” I inquire.
“You have to release my neck and trust that I won’t drop you.”
My mouth rounds, and I chuckle, but so genuinely that it surprises even me.
“No deal,” I say.
“If I wanted to kill you, you know I would’ve done it by now.”
“Even so, definitely not.”
“Then does that mean,” he asks curiously, “you don’t want an opportunity?”
I bite my lip.
“Okay. What I’d like is…”
“No-no. You have to agree first.”
“And what if you can’t deliver?”
“Choose something I’m capable of.”
I look into the calm face of the Demon King. I know he won’t back down, but what’s his goal? Finally, I sigh.
“Fine. Agreed. But I go first.”
The Kraldem nods.
“So,” I mumble, “I don’t want to fight any monsters. Don’t set us up to fight each other!”
Darya shakes his head.
“Sooner or later, you’ll have to fight one.”
“Why is it so important?”
“Because demons need to see you’re capable of bringing them redemption.”
I’ve never received such a straightforward answer from Darya, and I’m afraid if I don’t ask further, I never will.
“This is ridiculous! Redemption? How?”
“Decide if your wish is to learn more, or if you want something else.”
“I’ve already said what I want!”
“And I’ve said that it’s not happening.”
I switch tactics.
“If your goal is truly to show your subjects that I can defeat the monster, you’ll be disappointed.
Even Kripot only gives me about ten seconds – half of which is me entering the arena – before the monster tears my head off.
At least give me more time to prepare, and promise me that I’ll only enter the arena when I feel strong enough for it! ”
Which is never. But he doesn’t need to know that. I just have to seem determined and convincing enough for him to believe it.
“Agreed,” he responds, and no sound comes out of my mouth from the shock. “If it’s up to me, you’ll fight the monster when you feel ready, not until then. Now let go of my neck!”
“Wait,” I start, inhaling through my teeth. “Just like that?”
The Kraldem nods.
I grind my teeth as I stare into the demon’s eyes. My heart quickens its pace, and my muscles tense.
At a snail’s pace, I remove my hand from his neck, but then I grasp onto his black leather coat.
The Demon King slows, hovering in place. His wings’ steady movement ruffles my blondish-purple hair. He draws closer to me and whispers in my ear.
“Let go, Kindra,” he says softly, sending shivers down my spine.
“What… what is Kindra?”
“It means champion in a very, very ancient language.”
“I am not a champion,” I squeeze out in a stifled voice. I don’t want to let go, but thinking about the reward, I know I have to. If I don’t die here, the monster will finish me off.
Slowly, I release Darya. He leans back gently.
“That’s right,” he whispers. “Let your arms drop.”
He says it so softly that I comply, as if stretching. His arm supports me under the waist, my upper body leaning to one side, my legs hanging on the other. My heart pounds in my throat as I entrust my life to the demon.
“Open your eyes!” he commands.
I do, and my gaze meets his. He pulls me closer, one arm running up my thigh, the other placed at the base of my waist so more of my body hangs in the air.
His mouth is so close to mine, just a breath away. Darya closes his eyes and concentrates, then slowly, he gives me an extended kiss on the right side of my chin. I don’t resist.
“Don’t be afraid,” he says, addressing me softly. “Just enjoy!”
He keeps his lips on my chin for a while.
“Just trust me!”
With that, he tucks in his black wings, and we begin to fall. One of his arms releases, and I’m just hanging. My lungs constrict, and my heart leaps like a ball under my ribs, but I feel something else too. Something deep in my gut that prevents me from screaming, after all.
We’re falling. I feel the warmth of the sun, the delicate play of rays touching my skin, and I just let Darya hold me like a rag doll in the deadly fall.
The air stings my skin as it bites into me. I know we’ll hit the ground soon, yet my muscles relax. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it seems like Darya is growling slightly, the sound causing little tingles in the lower part of my belly and thighs.
The demon’s hand holds steady. The more I relax, the tighter he grips. I keep myself like this until I feel Darya reaching under my back.
I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is his entranced gaze and beautiful gray eyes.
Suddenly, we’re no longer dropping, and he extends his wings to have us fly over the lake we were about to crash into.
I’m snapped out of my trance and wrap my arms around his neck while staring at the water, which is so close I could touch it.
I see our blurry reflection. I see the black demon holding me in his arms, as I’m dressed in white.
We rise, and I don’t scream, just sigh. Darya picks me up again, but not like before.
He puts both his hands on my ass and turns me to face him.
He pulls me to his hips. Instinctively, I lock my legs around his waist. I feel him between my legs.
Darya’s erection ignites the space between my thighs.
Lightning flashes under my skin as desire floods over me.
I shiver, pressing my pelvis closer to Darya.
The demon groans, pulsing between my thighs.
We rise as fast as we fell. I keep looking upward until we stop again, but this time, I stare straight into those gray eyes.
My heart beats so fast that anyone else would have already had a heart attack, but for now, I’m still alive, hundreds of meters high, in a demon’s arms. I exhale heavily, and my gaze wanders down to Darya’s beautifully curved, pale lips.
He takes deep breaths too, his gaze focused on my mouth.
He tightens his grip on my ass, and I sigh.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I draw closer to him. My brain sounds the alarm not to, but I still approach. The Kraldem patiently waits, scrutinizing my face. Like a predator.
He leaves the decision to the victim. I’m already close. Dangerously close. Our lips are about to touch.
Finally, it’s the Demon King who decides. He takes one hand from under my thigh, spreads my legs apart, and then returns me to his arms, which instantly brings me back to reality. I’m overwhelmed with shame, confusion, and breathlessness. How could I be so foolish to desire the Demon King?
Darya’s face is inscrutable, but it seems like a smile lurks at the corner of his mouth. However, he speaks more seriously than ever before:
“You’ll always be my champion, Lotte.”