Page 21 of Once Upon a Demon’s Heart
His icy stare settles into a hostile grin. My stomach sinks as he pushes me into the grass bed and lowers to his knees over me. His hands are heavy against my wrists as he sets his thigh between mine, forcing my legs to part.
“I am a high duke, and you will not strike me again. I don’t think you understand how much I loathe you. If you keep this up—” he pauses at the hopelessness in my expression, I think.
My lips kick up in a combative, self-sabotaging grin. “What? You’ll do what ? Kill me? I’ve dealt with worse things, high duke. ” My tone is scathing.
“It seems my saving you wasn’t enough to earn your respect. As I thought, demigods are heartless things. You only learn through pain and misery.”
He brings his face to mine. His straight nose presses into my cheek, and a dark strand of his hair falls over my forehead. Kalel releases one of my wrists and runs the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. A starved look flickers through his eyes.
“I find it amusing that you think you’re able to disrespect me. But I’ve grown tired of it.” His thumb lifts from my lip, but his gaze lingers there. “Will you continue to disobey me?”
My heart thrums in my chest with emotions ranging from despair to fury. “I will, you devil.”
His brows pull lower, and a cruel smile reveals his sharp teeth. “Call me devil again, and you will discover how evil I can truly be.” His composure is slipping. The usual calm and smooth voice he has is growing ragged and sharp.
Drawing in a shaky breath, I smile nervously. “All of you are devils.”
His grip on my wrist tightens, making me wince at the pressure. Kalel grins maniacally, and his eyes widen with anger. Pushing a man to his wits' end is the best way to see his hidden cards.
I wish I hadn’t pushed so hard.
“You’re a stubborn, masochist of a godling.
” He cackles wildly and pulls my wrist up to his lips.
“I think you enjoy suffering at my hand, and who am I to deny your wishes, wife? I promised you pain, didn’t I?
I’m a demon. A monster. A devil. I’m tired of pretending I’m not,” he says bitterly, but there’s an edge of hurt in his tone.
I don’t look too much into it because his fangs sink deep into my wrist. I clench my teeth hard to stop the pained cry from bubbling up my throat.
He hasn’t bitten my wrist before, and it hurts worse than any other place on my body where he’s sunk those demonic teeth into. There isn’t enough flesh there, so his fangs graze against my tendons and bones. I shake my head, and a whimper slips out as I struggle beneath him.
He holds me down firmly, watching me intently as I wriggle in pain. Gilded blood spills from the corner of his lips and down my forearm. He sucks my blood savagely, letting me know just how “gentle” his prior bites have been. He allows it to be messy and is careless with his teeth.
Another cry wrenches out from my throat as I thrash to shake him off me, but he holds me securely. His body weight presses me down and his eyes are filled with anguish and loathing. He’s waiting for me to beg him to stop.
I won’t. I refuse.
I’ve been trained to resist worse torture.
His teeth burrow deeper, much further than I thought they could.
He doesn’t want to just make me suffer; he wants to break me, mentally, spiritually. The screams and tears that follow his vicious bite distill my very soul. He drinks until I’m sobbing and limp beneath him—hardly holding on to my senses. Only one thought reverberates through my mind.
He is as cruel as they say—as soulless as demons come.
Kalel slowly removes his fangs from my wrist and drops my arm.
My entire body trembles with the aftershocks of the pain.
Sobs stunt my breath and sound more like whimpers from a fatally wounded animal than those of a person.
My head feels heavier than it’s ever been.
It’s tilted to the side, and I can’t find the will to move.
Everything is so limp. Everything is burning.
Kalel sits back on his haunches. The callousness in his eyes has faded, and the expression on his face looks more like self-loathing than anything else. The red hue that lingers around his eyes makes him appear weary. A broken man.
His lips are smeared in gold. “Why don’t you ever try to turn me into one of your flowers like you did to the men who attacked you? Why do you let me…” He grits his teeth and shakes his head, staring at the ground with a torn frown.
Because I deserve the things you’re doing to me. I deserve to be punished… because I don’t want to get rid of you. Words I can’t find the will to give voice to.
He hesitates before looking at me, swallowing his emotions and hardening his glower. “What is my name, godling?” he demands.
My chest seizes, warranting me to answer before he can inflict a bite like that again.
“K-Kalel.”
“Repeat it louder . Kalel, what?”
“Kal… Kalel Lornhelm,” I cry, covering my face with both hands and ignoring the blood that spills from my wrist onto my face and hair.
“ Louder !” He yells, slamming his hands on the ground to either side of my head. The sheer venom in his voice triggers me, lighting up the adrenaline through my bloodstream.
I sit up quickly, my silver hair lashing with the momentum. His eyes widen as I scream in his face. “Your fucking name is Kalel Lornhelm!”
My breaths are hard and shaky as we stay nose to nose. Hot tears still stain my cheeks as his shocked expression fades into a flat, angry stare, but my jaw tightens with my outburst.
He leans forward, making my body still. “Don’t call me a devil ever again,” he rasps. His breath is hot against my neck. I don’t respond, I just swallow the fear that’s nestled itself inside my throat.
Kalel pulls back and assesses my features. He doesn’t look satisfied with my silence. “You want to kill me, don’t you?”
My head shoots up, and our eyes meet.
Yes, there is nothing in all of Faultore that I’d like more than that. But as the thought flutters through my mind, I picture Kalel dead, lying in a field of darkness and it sends dread through my bones.
“No… I don’t.”
His hostile eyes temper, searching mine like he genuinely didn’t expect me to say that. He lowers his head after a few moments.
“Fuck,” he says, shaking his head and threading his fingers through his hair roughly. His lips press together, and he gives me a look full of turmoil. A suffering man who only knows how to make others suffer. “I never wanted to be this.” He grinds his jaw and lowers his head between his knees.
I tremble, holding my wrist delicately and wincing with each throb that rolls through me.
There’s a desire deep inside me that yearns to understand Kalel more, but we come from two entirely different worlds. I don’t know how I’m supposed to even comprehend how he came to be the demon he is today.
“I never wanted to hurt anyone,” he says quietly. His eyes lock on his hands, muddled with my blood.
“I didn’t either.” He looks up at me, sadness blooming in his gaze.
“And I hate what I became, Kalel. I can’t take any of the things I did back, and no one gets to return.
” I lean forward and lift my hand to his face.
He pulls his head back a little like he might retreat from my touch.
“If I have to spend every single day of my life repenting for who I used to be, then that’s the price I’ll pay. ”
I close the gap and softly rest my palm against his reddened cheek.
“I’m sorry I hit you.”
He holds firm to his callous expression, but after a few moments, he lets his gaze drop to my wrist. “You don’t remember, do you?” he asks with a broken smile.
My brows pinch together. “Remember what?”
A snap in the woods gets his attention. He stares into the darkness with golden eyes that practically glow. I try to turn around to look too, but a dizzy spell from the blood loss makes me topple against him.
I try to move away, but Kalel wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me close. What was that sound? My breaths grow staggered, and it feels like I’m going to pass out. I blink away the drowsy spell.
Something is coming. Something big.
My heart drops.
The large white dire wolf that bit me earlier steps out from the underbrush.
The forest spirit. Its fur is tipped in metallic gold with deity blood.
Chills erupt across my arms. I mindlessly wrap them around Kalel, his breath stuttering as I do, but his reaction to me curling into him is the last of my concerns right now.
The wolf’s eyes are pinned on me with hunger.
Then a haunting voice fills every crevice of the forest, or perhaps it’s only in my head, but it sounds like it’s coming from the trees themselves. “ Feeding in my forest? Do you wish to invoke the wrath of the wolves?”
I tremble against my best efforts. I’m so drained of energy from Kalel’s punishment that I’m completely defenseless right now.
A low growl rumbles from Kalel’s chest. “We were just leaving.” He doesn’t let his grip on me lessen as he slowly stands, picks me up, and carries me cradled in his arms against his chest. Kalel walks backward, not showing his back to the beast until we are out of its sight.
Kalel’s heart pounds wildly against me. It makes my heart follow suit, wild with the fear that the dire wolf instills in us.
He turns forward and walks steadily once we are in the clear.
We remain dead silent until he breaks through the forest wall—the air instantly feels colder against my skin without the shelter of the trees.
The camp is quiet, and many of Kalel’s knights are standing guard, waiting for our return.
I meet several of their gazes as Kalel struts by them.
I feel so ridiculous being carried by him like this, like some damsel in distress.
They look pissed that I made their commander chase after me through the forest.