Page 30 of Her Demon Daddy
“Scars? That’s what you told her?” He asks incredulously before turning to me. “And youbelievedhim?”
Shame prickles up my spine at his derision, but my tongue is leaden in my mouth, refusing to move. Shaking his head, Theliel wipes tears of laughter from his eyes before motioning to the males holding Asmodeus.
Asmodeus’ hood is ripped from his face, those strong, chiseled features exposed for all the world to see. His full lips are pressed into a thin line, his jaw twitching and dark eyes gleaming with barely veiled rage.
The throne room falls into a deafening silence, as if everyone within is collectively holding their breath. The silence only serves to make Theliel’s voice deafening as he begins to speak once again.
“You know, Asmodeus, Idoremember you. I remember running you through with my sword after cutting down countless other demons under your command. You led them to slaughter, and any male with honor would’ve died alongside them. I wonder, how many of the scars that litter your body are parting gifts of mine?”
Asmodeus’ lips curl back in a snarl as he lunges toward Theliel again, but Theliel simply laughs, hardly even flinching at the sudden movement.
“I’m sure King Vag’thimon would be very interested to know what his dearly departed cousin has been up to all these years. He searched for your body, did you know that? He thought you dead, and grieved you as if your blood meant something. And all this time, you’ve been parading around under the guise of his title.”
“My cousin’s title and mine are two entirely different things,” Asmodeus snarls in response, but I hardly hear him. My mind is spinning, my knees weak under the weight of everything Theliel is saying. King Vag’thimon? Asmodeus’ cousin?
“And as if impersonating a monarch is not criminal enough,” Theliel continues, oblivious to the way my world is crumbling around me. “You’ve kidnapped hundreds of your King’s people and forced them into false roles of submission. These are all executable offenses, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
Executable?
“Perhaps it would’ve been better,” Theliel muses, a cruel grin twisting his divine features. “If you had died on the battlefield. Maybe then you would have died with at least some shred of honor, among the men whose lives you were responsible for, the men you failed.”
As if they’d been waiting for their cue, the rest of the room explodes, the demons Asmodeus has ruled all these years falling into a frenzy.
“False King!”
“Liar!”
“He’s tricked us! Glamoured us!”
“Kill the false King!”
The screaming and hissing surrounds us, the crowd surging forward as if to take the blood they feel they’re owed. The xaphan holding me chuckles darkly, taking pleasure in the way Asmodeus’ rule is crumbling so publicly. I can’t breathe, can’t think.
All I can think as my gaze slams into Asmodeus’ is that I must never have truly known this demon at all.
16
ASMODEUS
Ilook around frantically, seeing my worst nightmares come to life. My servants have rushed out of the palace and, upon seeing my face, look at me like they’re starting to remember. Some recognize me more quickly than others, and my entire charade has ended. I look at the ground, hearing the screams and hissing from the other demons encircling me, and hear a bone-chilling, low laugh in the back of my mind.
I thought Oltyx had gotten bored of me and had moved on to another plan of destruction and chaos. I know now that this is precisely what he had planned. The years of isolation and regret for taking his deal were nothing more than tension building to this fateful moment. He knew in order for it to hurt me this much, he would have to give me small premonitions in my dreams and also something to lose: Siara.
Fuck the charade. I should have dropped it sooner. I should have told her the morning after we made love, and I had that flashback. I knew then that I was doing her a disservice, but my selfish fear entangled my heart and mouth, keeping me stupidly silent. I would rather have let Theliel kill my men and me on the battlefield that day than experience this.
“Cut off his head!”
“Torture him!”
“Not the real demon King!”
“Fake, miserable bastard!”
The voices aren’t anything new. they’re things I’ve been thinking about myself for years. I’ve even debated suicide as penance for my wrongs, but I was always too afraid to go through with it.
I look up from the ground and catch Siara’s gaze. She’s frowning, and the look of sadness and disappointment on her face pierces my heart more than all the screams combined. She knows everything now. Even if she doesn’t understand it now, the realization will come to her soon.
Her face is pale, and while she should be looking around in fear at all these demons surrounding her, she’s fixated on me. Maybe this is because she knows all the evil surrounding her can’t amount to the evil deeds I’ve done: especially betraying her trust.