Page 27 of King’s Obsession (Obsessions #5)
Dougal
When Dougal first arrived at the forest, he was a young troll looking for a place that needed him.
Asmodeus had been right in that, he had built a forest. Over time—admittedly centuries, but that’s still time—he’d built a family—a clan of his own as well.
Through his acceptance of demons, first Dakata, then Merihem, Scott, and Christa, he’d opened a pathway for his first and only demon love to accept—finally—the truth Dougal had lived with since his first game of hide and seek with the demon king.
The forest benefitted from the bonds as well.
As the weather got warmer after a short but necessary winter, new shoots were appearing daily, shaking their wee leaves and spreading them out to find the sun.
Baby wildlife scuttled under bushes or peeked out of tree knots and everywhere hummed with life as Dougal took his morning walks.
Court life in the demon realm had settled down as well.
By making himself available on set days and times, Asmodeus had reduced the rumor mill that used to flourish prior to his claiming of Dougal, when he used to spend a lot of time shut away by himself.
Now demons knew that if they wanted to know something, they could come and ask the king or his consort themselves.
Baal was enjoying the fact his position was respected, and now Rote didn’t have to spend all his time perusing the ancient scrolls for information on blissful ones he was apparently writing a book on dating etiquette to help demons find their own blissful ones in other realms.
Dougal chuckled as he let himself into his house three months later.
Because of her unique genetics, Elara had grown at an incredible rate and was already sitting up in her highchair, and keen on trying more solid food.
“I told you she wasn’t keen on pumpkin,” he said as Asmodeus wiped a splat of orange goo off his cheek with his fingers.
“Did you add the apple sauce to it, like I suggested?”
“No one eats apple and pumpkin together,” Asmodeus grumped, although he was quick with another spoon of mush for Elara, as she waved her hands around, trying to grab the spoon.
Asmodeus winced as Elara’s hand hit the spoon and his face got splattered again.
“You shouldn’t be teasing your daddy that way,” Dougal mock-growled at his daughter as he went through to the kitchen, finding a jar of peach sauce Wanda had left them. “Try this combination, she loves her aunties’ foods.”
“I still think you’re pandering to Elara’s sweet tooth, which strikes me as really weird when she’s barely got two of them.” Anyhow, Asmodeus leaned back, letting Dougal spoon some of the peach sauce into the pumpkin mix. “Now, are you going to eat it instead of painting my face with it?”
Elara giggled and cooed, leaning forward, her mouth opening eagerly. “Now you’re just showing off for your troll papa.” Asmodeus quickly popped a mouthful of mush in it—a mouthful Elara ate with apparent enjoyment. Within another five minutes, the bowl was empty.
“You go and wash up,” Dougal suggested. “I’ll get this little one dressed and changed. While the pink pajamas with unicorns are pretty, yes, they are my little cutie. You need to dress in accordance with your position in the realm, just like your daddy does.”
“Daddy wouldn’t mind curling up in pajamas and spending the day at home.” Asmodeus got up, stretching out his arms as he yawned. “Do kings and their consorts get holidays? I feel we should get holidays.”
“Decree one. One of the joys of being king is that you can decree a holiday if you choose to. We could take Friday and Monday off and have a long weekend. As a king who is hands-on in raising our daughter, you can set a good example of a work-life balance and family values that all demons could benefit from.” Dougal hoisted Elara out of her chair, chuckling as she immediately reached for his beard.
“Your hands are full of mush, young lady. Let’s get you cleaned up first.”
“You made up that last bit for Rote, didn’t you?
” Asmodeus was in their bathing area, splashing water on his face.
He wandered out shirtless, giving Dougal a wink before clicking his fingers, causing his robe to cover all that delicious skin.
“I thought the point of decreeing things is that we didn’t need a reason to do it. ”
“By giving reasons, you show you’re a true leader, not just a dictator,” Dougal suggested as he laid Elara on the couch and unclipped her pajama top. “Let me get these clothes off, little lady. I can’t do that if you keep kicking and waving your arms around.”
There was a click, a zap of magic, and Elara was clean, dressed in a cute dress with flouncy petticoats, and a fresh diaper.
“You might be the food guru,” Asmodeus chuckled, “but I’ve got the dressing side of things covered.
Let’s get this session over with. I have a decree to make.
How often can we have these long weekends, as you call them? Once a month?”
“What do you think, Elara?” Dougal swung his daughter into the air, making her giggle and wiggle. “Once a month holidays for overworked kings sound good to you?”
Elara clapped her hands, squealing with excitement. “There you go,” Dougal said with a wide smile. “The princess has spoken. Let’s go and make it a decree.”
“Well, that went better than expected.” Asmodeus stretched and yawned.
It was the end of another session. No major upsets.
Most demons seemed to come just to see how Elara was doing, so it wasn’t as though they took up much of Asmodeus’s time anymore.
“I felt for sure Baal was going to complain about having to reschedule appointments.”
Now she was moving around more, Asmodeus had set her up with a playpen surrounded by the plants who still made monthly treks to the demon realm in Dougal’s deep pockets.
She always seemed happier surrounded by nature, although she became equally fascinated with some of the lady demons that came to visit.
After getting over her snit about the diaper in the handbag incident, Lady Flora was fast becoming a hit with the princess due to the wild and extravagant hats she’d taken to wearing.
“Baal has grown in confidence now he’s not shit-scared every time he comes into work,” Dougal said. “The pay rise and telling him and Rote they could have half days off on the days you aren’t in session helped as well.”
“I’m learning, my blissful one,” Asmodeus beamed, standing and pulling Dougal out of his seat. “Happy staff make for a happy realm and a safer space for Elara and my consort.”
“It’s definitely a more peaceful place,” Dougal agreed, kissing against the base of Asmodeus’s neck. Then a flash of pink caught his eye, and he turned his head, his eyes widening. “I’m guessing Elara’s magic is coming in. How else did she get out of her pen?”
“What?”
They both turned to see a very determined Elara crawling across the floor toward the door Baal had left open. “Where on earth does she think she’s going?” Asmodeus sounded shocked, rooted to the spot.
“I guess we’ll follow her and see,” Dougal said, tugging Asmodeus towards the door as Baal came running in, his mouth flapping, and his arm waving, pointing in the direction of where Elara had clearly gone.
“It’s okay, Baal, we’ve got this.” Dougal patted his arm as they walked past and followed the intrepid princess. She was moving quite fast for someone so small.
She also seemed to have a very definite destination in mind, avoiding other open doors and heading down the long hallway to Asmodeus’s private apartments.
“Mind the way for the princess,” Asmodeus roared as a couple of staff came out of a room just as Elara was crawling past. They stopped with a jolt just before they tripped over her.
“I’m going to need to make another sign,” Asmodeus muttered as they hurried after her, giving Dougal a dose of his panic.
“I think I know where she’s going.” Dougal grinned. “I can’t blame her. Our session went over the allotted time today.”
“Ten minutes. It was ten minutes over. Where…? Oh.” Asmodeus chuckled. “I guess she was in a hurry to get home.”
Elara had stopped outside of the door to the room that hid the portal to the forest.
“Can she get through the portal on her own?” Dougal whispered, mindful of anyone listening in as they let her into the room, and then closed the door behind them.
“See for yourself.” Asmodeus laughed as he pointed. “She knows where she wants to be, just like her daddy did.”
“Home,” Dougal agreed as they followed the fluff of petticoats and bright white diaper through the portal to the forest beyond. Their home.