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Page 8 of Once Upon a Demon’s Heart

“Of course, I’ve heard of you. You are the most revered knight in all of Faultore.

” I fist my hands at my side. It feels unfair that I’ve known him far longer.

Perhaps it’s why I’m so pliant to him. I know what the end of his sword would do to me.

“You are the Blood Knight.” All the demigods this man has killed and taken prisoner, likely to feast on, and here I am as his soon to be bride. How could I not know who he is?

“That’s right, and you’re the knight that led the raid on Thornhall.

” He pauses before looking at me like I’ve let him down.

I certainly feel like I have. I’ve regretted that day since the moment I let my troops down into the valley and chased down fleeing families.

His voice shakes me back to the present.

“Why didn’t you tell me who you really were when we met that night?

” Kalel lets his hand brush across the top of my shoulder, making me shudder.

“Why didn’t I tell you? You told me you were an apothecary . And why did I have to tell you if you could just smell it on me anyway?” I scowl at him as he appraises my lips.

He glowers at my tone and shakes his head. “I wasn’t lying to you. I am an apothecary.” He pauses to consider his words before lifting his eyes back to mine. “I knew you were there, but not that you led it. Not until I saw your armor.” His gaze narrows with anger.

My lips press firmly into a line, and I choose to ignore his latter remark. “An apothecary when you aren’t cutting heads off?”

A flicker of emotion passes through his eyes before he hardens them.

“You lied about being in Thornhall. I saw you with my own two eyes in your ebony armor. It was practically red by the time I arrived, and you were already out of reach.” His fists clench and the muscles in his jaw feather.

“I wish I would’ve arrived five minutes sooner.

Then you’d be dead and none of this would be happening. ”

My heart dips at his harsh words. I bite my lower lip to keep the quell of emotions in control.

“I never wanted to be there.” My admittance sounds pathetic. It doesn’t change the fact of what I did. I know that.

“But you were,” Kalel says coldly. I only nod with a trembling lip.

He looks down at me, and I have to force my gaze to meet his. He towers above me, making it uncomfortable to lock eyes with him. He runs his freezing hand down my neck. Goosebumps prickle across my arms and my jaw flexes.

His silence is something I’m going to have to get used to. I clear my throat and ask, “Why am I marrying you out of all the high lords? You loathe demigods more than any of your kind. I’ll happily switch to someone else.”

Someone who won’t fantasize about killing me every other second.

“It wasn’t up to me if that’s what you’re assuming, but it serves a purpose.” He leans forward and lets his mouth touch the skin behind my ear as if he actually enjoys the way I smell. He fists a handful of hair as he tilts my head back gently. “Do you know why they call me the Blood Knight?”

His lips coast down my throat, drawing an unsteady breath from my lungs. “I’ve only heard rumors as to why.”

He dips down and presses his lips on my collarbone. Those sharp teeth of his graze my skin, causing me to inhale sharply. Chills race across my skin and my knees threaten to buckle on me.

“They call me the Blood Knight because I do not have my own to live off of. As you can see—” he steps back and motions to his stomach where bruises are all but black underneath his skin “—I bleed darkness, cold and unsustaining, unlike yours.”

My lips tremble despite my best efforts to keep them still. Demons are truly terrifying. It’s one thing to read about a Devourer in an old tome compared to seeing it in person. “And what exactly are you, Kalel?” I already know. But I want to hear him say it anyway.

His cruel grin is as frigid as his hands.

“Partaker of demigods—a Devourer.”

My heart beats with terror. Is that why he keeps so many half-god prisoners?

I thought he was using them as hostages in Devicit, but now I’m unsure.

Are we only food to them? Our blood is sacred; it is a mortal sin to drink it.

Only a demon could survive such a violation of the holy laws set by Jupiter.

“Monster,” I mutter with a heavy glare, tears welling in my eyes.

“You aren’t wrong. Devourer’s appetites are insatiable, and it’s the reason why the demigods rose together to slaughter all demons in the first place,” he murmurs as he draws his tongue over his lip—a deep hunger moving through his expression.

Perhaps he really is the last one.

His icy gaze trails down my chest and back to my throat.

“Are you ready to do what it takes to be the bride of the Blood Knight, Alira?” I’m not sure why he’s asking, he’s already promised to make me suffer. He knows I will do whatever it takes.

“If it’s what will stop the war… then yes.”

His frown seems genuine. “If it will stop the war, or if it will keep you alive? Don’t think that I’ve forgotten your reason for being in Florum forest that day. You were going to abandon your kingdom. Why did you go back?”

I hate how well he can see through me. “I went back because of what you said after you walked away.” He raises a brow as if he can’t remember. “That I didn’t try everything to change my fate.”

I’m not going to flat out say it worked because I’m still here. He could never fully understand.

“Did my advice help?” he asks with a low, condescending voice as he closes the space between us.

“In a way.”

I’m still alive, aren’t I?

He dips his head until his lips are brushing against my ear. Stroking his tongue up the side of my neck, breath hot against my skin. I shudder and am horrified at the heat that warms my lower abdomen from his touch.

“Good,” he whispers before burying his teeth into the flesh of my neck. My entire body slackens at the intrusion and a small whimper escapes my lips. He catches me around the waist, holding me close to his chest as we sink to the ground together.

My eyes trace the roof of the tent, wide and unfamiliar with the sensation of anything feeding from my veins.

It burns like hellfire ravaging through my bloodstream and spreading like venom.

The pain is unbearable. I can’t hold back the small sounds of misery that slip each time he takes a deep pull.

He’s consuming me.

He seems to relish in those small sounds of suffering, taking deeper, longer gulps of my gilded blood until my eyes are difficult to keep open.

Kalel withdraws his fangs slowly and even that hurts. I hazily place my palm on my neck, and blink slowly at the tenderness of it. I feel drunk—on the cusp of passing out.

“It shouldn’t hurt as bad next time. The venom from my bite should help you build immunity to the pain.” He almost sounds apologetic. I could be imagining things though, considering I can’t even lift my head.

“It w-wasn’t so bad.” My voice wavers as the hand I had pressed against my neck goes limp and falls to the ground. He looks at me with a calloused expression, settling on firming his jaw.

He stands and returns to his desk. “Get some rest. We have a long way to go to get back to Devicit and it’s the dead of winter through the wastelands, so you’ll need your strength.”

I remain where I am in the blankets on the floor, unmoving, staring at the tent's ceiling and thinking of places far away from here. A weak smile returns to my lips with one hopeful thought.

I outlived the cursed day.