Page 20 of Once Upon a Demon’s Heart
Chapter Twelve
ALIRA
A rich scent of alder wood stirs me awake.
My lashes flutter against the warm light cast from the lanterns—too bright and arresting to fully open my eyes.
My body feels frozen and aches terribly.
A cold I’ve never known wraps me in its embrace, as if the hounds of the underworld are lingering nearby to collect my soul.
“Kalel, she’s awake.” It’s Tessa’s soft voice. She moves to my side and leans over me until her head is in my line of vision. I gaze at her for a few moments before shutting my heavy eyes.
“I’ll send for you if I need you, thanks Tess.”
She hesitates but leaves shortly after. I wince at the light again, it’s still too bright to look at Kalel. I drape my forearm over my eyes; the relief is instant.
His thumb brushes over my cheek, surprisingly warm, that gets my eyes to open. I squint to see him.
He’s sitting beside me and by the grim expression on his face, I’m assuming something awful has happened. His ebony hair is messy and covers his forehead. He’s dressed in his evening attire, so it must still be early morning.
What happened? How did I get here when the last thing I remember is… My hand flies to my chest—where I vividly remember a piercing pain and teeth burrowing into my flesh.
How am I alive right now?
I sit up slowly, expecting pain but I feel better than I have in days.
“You look like you are feeling well,” Kalel says indifferently, but something about his tone is off from his usual broodiness.
“What did you do?” My hand rises to my chest once more—fingers meeting a shirt, not bandages. I feel everywhere I know I was injured and find nothing, not even a scar. I’m completely healed, but I should be dead from those wounds. That dire wolf had me in its mouth for gods-sake.
Kalel looks exhausted. Has he been by my side the entire time I was resting? He mulls over his thoughts before lifting his eyes to mine. “I gave you my blood. It healed you but you cannot be so reckless, little godling. Unless you truly wish to die.”
My stomach curls. “Your blood healed me?” I search his eyes and find only truth. But that doesn’t explain why he’s warm to me now. My brows knit at the thought.
“It only works once,” he says darkly as he drags his hand down his face like he’s done something terrible. Something he’s unsure about. “Alira—” he clears his throat. “—we need to discuss what happened to the captive demigods tonight.”
I stare at him, unsure what he means until the memory of demigods running for their lives resurfaces in my mind. “Were you able to save them?” I ask quietly, dreading how few may have survived. Surely at least a few though, right?
He leans back and runs his fingers through his hair with a distressed pinch to his brow.
The longer he remains silent, staring at me with cold eyes, the more confident I am that no one survived the attack.
“A handful succeeded in escaping. I bargained with the dire wolf to let them have claim to any demigod left in their forest in order to save you.” His tone is thick with dread. He thinks I won’t take this well, and he’s right.
An ache rises in my chest again. Why must so many of my kingdom’s people die? King Borlin will be furious and unlikely to believe that we were attacked by dire wolves. He’ll think Kalel killed them.
“You’re lying,” I seethe, pushing his shoulder back and glaring at him.
“I have no reason to lie to you.” His eyes are even and the bleak expression on his face is convincing. Why would he let them all perish like this? Even I know that this could be enough to reignite the war.
Fuming, I stand and walk straight to the tent’s entrance. Kalel’s up and blocking my way in the blink of an eye. “I need to search for survivors.” I fist my hands at my sides. They can’t all be dead—without them this might as well have been all for nothing. I need to at least find Hans.
“You will be torn to shreds, Alira.” His impassive face drives the rage deeper into my heart.
“You idiot.” I shove his shoulders. He takes a single step back and raises his brows with annoyance. “If we lose them all to the wolves, King Borlin will ride to war. He won’t believe any reason you give him if there’s no one to send back home as agreed upon.”
I try turning to leave again but he grabs my wrist tightly and growls.
“Let the foolish king sentence the last of his demigods to death then. We outnumber them hundreds of times over.” His words are sharp and cut into me. He must see the pain in my eyes, because he grits his teeth and furrows his brows.
My arm falls to my side as he releases my wrist.
Kalel takes a long breath. “I’m sorry, little godling, I shouldn’t have?—”
I don’t wait for him to finish whatever it is he has to say. I dart through the tent flaps. Kalel curses under his breath, but I’m already sprinting through the field toward the forest line where I saw many of the demigods escape to.
My bare feet traverse the ground quickly, and with a still mind and healed body, I move over the frozen ground with ease. The heavy footsteps behind me let me know that Kalel’s not far behind.
“Stay at camp. I’ll get her!” he snaps at his guards. I’m guessing they tried to join in chasing me.
I leap nimbly over the prickly brush that lines the forest and enter the thick wall of trees soundlessly. It’s dark already, so it’s difficult to see clearly, but the underbrush is pressed down where many feet have trampled over it. I follow the trail.
The ferocious sounds of Kalel trampling through the forest after me sends urgency through my veins. Gods he could learn to be a bit more light-footed.
I dash through the brush, ignoring the thorned branches that whip at my face as I carelessly maneuver in the dark, looking for any sign of surviving demigods.
“Little godling, you’re testing my patience,” he snarls from a few long strides away. I ignore him, pushing through the woods, deeper into the forest until?—
My feet, stinging from the brush and rocks, stop on a dime as I burst into a small opening in the thicket.
Frost covered leaves have been pressed down in the center, as if a struggle took place.
Blades of grass are smothered in gilded blood.
My hands fly to my nose as the scent of slain demigods hits me—the metallic smell curls in the back of my throat.
I sink to my knees and fist my hands in the frozen foliage.
Kalel approaches—his footsteps slowing.
As I stare at the blood-smeared grass, it becomes apparent to me that this is what my kingdom, and many others, will have to face if the war does not end—hunted down by beasts in the forest and demons taking over our territories.
Is this truly the fate of Faultore?
I lower my head and let the tears fall to the frozen earth. They trickle to the ground and an ache in my heart spreads to my throat and lungs, coaxing me to make guttural sounds.
I swallow down the pain.
Kalel stands behind me like a ghost as he watches my misery unfold.
He wanted me to suffer, didn’t he? This is what he was after all this time, he said so himself.
He wants revenge for everything the demigods have done.
What I have done… And I don’t blame him.
Is this enough suffering for him? He probably enjoys the way I’m breaking at this moment.
I raise my head, a blank expression remaining on my features and tears still streaming down my cheeks as I turn to glance at him from over my shoulder.
His amber eyes flicker in the dim light. I expected him to be smiling at my despair or pissed off for making him chase me out here, but his face is as empty as my own.
“You even cry with no emotions, like a stone kissed with rain,” he says flatly as his eyes shift reluctantly over to the gilded grass before snapping back to me.
We stare at one another for a moment that feels stretched into many.
Then he offers me his hand.
I don’t take it, instead I look away, back to the grass where wolves spilled divine blood.
“Alira. Please don’t make me drag you back. We need to leave the forest before we anger the spirits further.” Kalel’s tone is bitter and weary.
What’s the point of staying now? Would he kill me if I ran?
A heavy hand weighs down my shoulder, making the breath in my lungs stall.
I look up at him—Kalel’s gaze is far from warm.
“Whatever you are feeling, if demigods can even feel, is nothing in comparison to what you did in Thornhall.” His grip tightens on my shoulder, and he hoists me up with his other hand hooked around my waist.
Guilt tears into my chest.
I shoulder out of his hold and fall to my hands and knees on the matted-down grass. Kalel pins me with a death glare. “ Don’t ,” he warns.
“Don’t what? You can’t stop me from searching for them.” I hang my head and fist the broken strands of grass.
“Want to bet on that? They are all dead, Alira. All of them!” he growls sharply, raising his voice and making me flinch. My emotions are like a beast losing control inside of me, welling up and about to erupt. Screaming and bleeding. I want it to stop.
He reaches for my arm again, and this time I slap him across the face. His head jerks from the strike. Kalel’s eyes widen and he stares at me hollowly. The shock quickly fades and is replaced with fury.
“Don’t touch me again!” I scream, tears spilling down my cheeks with rage. I turn and make to run farther into the forest. There has to be just one who survived the attack.
Kalel laughs. It’s a blood-curdling laugh that makes chills crawl up my spine.
“Little godling, I’ve been patient with you, but you’re stoking a fire you can’t put out.
” He catches my ankle with his foot and sends me to the ground, not allowing any time for me to stand before he’s on top of me and pinning me to the ground.