In War, There Is Love

Jealous

“Jealous, brother?”

Demetrius had never, ever been jealous in his life. Annoyed? Irritated? Mad? Yes, most of the time.

But jealous? No. He did't know how it felt to be jealous. Because he had everything his heart desired. His siblings, his throne, his clan, his people, his powers. People either worshiped him or feared him, there was nothing in between, and he loved both of the feelings equally. Because fear was another form of worship. And hate was another form of love, one that required even more devotion if you asked him.

So what was exactly the feeling inside his ice cold heart when he saw his darling wife waltz around the ballroom in his little brother’s arms?

And it wasn’t even that that had caused that feeling of dread inside his stomach. That was only a dance after all. But it had been the way she had smiled up at him the entire time. It was the first time Demetrius had seen her genuinely smile, and it was blinding. Gut-wrenching. The most beautiful sight he had ever witnessed.

And it was directed to Anthony.

Which, speaking of, he was now throwing his head back and laughing like Demetrius had said the funniest thing he had ever heard. When Demetrius hadn’t spoken at all.

“You are jealous. God, this is hilarious.”

“I am not jealous,” Demetrius hissed between his gritted teeth, eyes never once leaving Maya as she spoke to Queen Estelle and Princess Evelyn.

“I never thought I’d live to see the day,” to Demetrius’ biggest annoyance, Anthony continued.

“Which day?” Lilith joined them from wherever she had been.

“The day Demetrius would be jealous—”

“You won’t live to see another if you keep talking.”

“—and apparently afraid that I’ll steal his beautiful wife. I don’t blame him, I’ve always been the more attractive brother,” Anthony continued as if Demetrius hadn’t literally threatened to end his life. Perhaps because they had called his bluff centuries ago now.

How agitating it was to not be able to kill people when you really wanted to.

“Oh my God, he is jealous!” Lilith’s jaw hung open in surprise and amusement.

“Can you two literally stop talking—” But it was Demetrius who stopped, because Maya had now left Evelyn and Estelle and had joined Jeremiah. The goddamn young wizard Demetrius despised so much.

If there was a mistake Demetrius had made in his life, it had been killing the faerie ambassador instead of the witch one.

Would the Council of Peace make a fuss if he killed another ambassador, in some of the members’ presence, moreover.

Maybe.

Probably.

Most probably.

She laughed at something he said, and Demetrius hated how his intense hearing abilities couldn’t catch the words, but could catch the sound of her laughter.

Then the skinny, blond wizard took her hand in his and left a kiss on her palm. Not the back of her hand. Her palm.

An intimate kiss on her palm. Before his eyes met Demetrius’ from the corner of the room.

It wasn’t the same feeling as when he had watched Maya dance with Anthony. That had been just a nagging, bothering irritation. Now it was full-on blinding rage.

How f*****g dare he disrespect Demetrius like that?

“What is he doing?” Lilith whispered, her voice low but mad.

All humor had left the air now. His wife had accepted to dance with him and Demetrius could barely think straight between the images on his head. Images like disconnecting the wizard’s head from his body. In front of his people. In front of Maya.

He wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t. He couldn’t be.

But he was mad, because this was a ball when they were supposed to celebrate their marriage, and she had been dancing with everyone but him, smiling at everyone but him.

She hated him. Yeah, Demetrius got that. He hated her too. He hated her with every fiber of his being.

That didn’t mean he had to accept being disrespected by a bloody faerie female that thought she was braver than everyone else just because he had tolerated her once or twice.

“Do you want me to go separate them? Do you want me to kill him?”

Demetrius almost smiled at the truth in Anthony’s voice. At the fact that he knew his brother meant it. They could get in each other’s nerves the entire time, but the bond, the loyalty between the three of them was something Demetrius would rely on for the rest of eternity.

“It’s not necessary.”

People moved out of his way as he walked towards them, like they always did.

“It’s not too much asking for a dance with my wife, is it?”

Maya’s head snapped at him instantly, the smile vanishing from her face when he took her left hand in his and separated her from Jeremiah just slightly.

“Of course not, Your Majesty.” The wizard walked away, with a tiny smirk on his face.

“What are you doing?” Maya whispered when she saw how everyone was looking at them, a fake smile now plastered on her face.

“Asking you for a dance.”

“Demanding,” she contradicted.

“The same.” He brought her hand on his lips for a kiss and noticed how her eyes dropped just slightly. And then when she expected them to connect only their palms and have a traditional waltz, he grabbed her other arm and placed it on his neck. “Here.” Demetrius placed his hand on her hip.

“What has gotten into you?”

His eyes couldn’t leave her porcelain face. Her midnight blue eyes curtained by dark blonde lashes. Her plump rosy lips. Her light blond hair falling on her back like a waterfall.

Demetrius hated how he noticed every little detail about his really beautiful, really hateful wife. “You’re flawless.”

Someone could have told her she looked hideous, she would have looked less surprised. Had anyone ever complimented her?

Her? The most beautiful creature on their lands.

“I am not.” Maya looked away as she spoke. And then she furrowed her brows as she regretted admitting this to him. “Not that you’ll ever witness any of my flaws.”

What did that even mean?

His attention was suddenly on the hand resting above his. “Where’s your ring?” Demetrius had left a ring in her room the next day after their wedding night, but now that he thought of it, he had never seen it on her finger.

“Collecting dust, of course.”

“Of course.” His teeth grinded together. And her eyes opened wide when she saw he actually had the black-stoned wedding ring on his finger, different from her.

Slowly, Demetrius slid her other arm on his shoulder too, while placing both his hands on her hips now.

“Is this your next plan? Convincing people we actually don’t want to kill each other every waking moment, which is a lot because you never sleep.”

“How adoring your sarcasm is.”

“It wasn’t sarcasm.”

He sighed. Damn her and her smart mouth.

But the way they were holding each other now, barely even moving, her slender body pressed against his, he forgot they were enemies for a full minute or so, at least until his wife spoke, “I hate you,” in his ear. “No, actually, I loathe you. I despise you. With everything inside of me. Everything you have ever done. Every murder. Every crime. Everything you’ve done against my kind. You’ll once pay for them, you know that, right? Eternity is a long time for you to live it without suffering.”

Unconciously, his fingers pressed on her hips so much that she winced in pain. “You’ll be the one to make me suffer, darling?”

“Maybe. What I know is that I’ll be there to witness it. My face is what you’ll see when you fall apart.”

Demetrius let her go like she had burned him, even though the melody wasn’t over yet. He walked out of the ballroom to the gardens, but not before signing for Alina to follow him. Not even looking back to realize if she had understood his intentions.

It was time to put an end to this torture.

He would know. These doubts in his head were driving him insane.

Because there was no way that, if, hypotheically, she was his mate, she could hate him this much.

Which proved his other theory. The one that, if she was, fate didn’t really exist. Or didn’t really change much. Because fated mates were supposed to feel for each other what they didn’t feel.

“Trouble in paradise, Vampire?”

“I need you to do something for me.”

“Right to the point, I see.” Alina wrapped one of her dark curls around her finger. With her brown skin, her honey eyes and her pretty smile, she was objectively beautiful. More than beautiful, she was lovely. That was probably why only a few believed she had been the one to murder Queen Agnes’ lover and force her to give Alina her throne once she was dead.

And probably why King Julian worshiped her, too.

But she wasn’t... She wasn’t...

Demetrius’ hands turned into fists. “But I want you to promise me no one will ever know.”

Alina shook her head in mock-pity. “What I know, my husband knows.”

“Damn you and your husband.”

“You do realize you need my help, right?”

She was having a great time, that was what Demetrius realized. “Alright, as long as only you and your dear husband know.”

“Deal.” She smiled.

“I want you to do a spell—something, I don’t know.” Demetrius paused, before saying, “I want you to understand if Maya is my real mate or not.”

Alina’s jaw almost reached the ground. Placing his index finger under her chin, he reached forward and closed her mouth.

“You think Maya’s your mate?! That would explain everything! The tension, the chemistry! But—”

“She’s a faerie. Faeries don’t have mates outside their own, and I’m cursed. To never find my mate. Long story. Which will have to be a secret too.”

Alina nodded, thinking this over. “Come here.” She placed both her palms above his heart and starting mumbling a few words in a foreign language. “Yes, I can feel the curse looming in your blood. It’s powerful.”

“Do you sense another spell?”

Alina narrowed her eyes. “You think Maya put a spell on you?”

He shrugged. “It’s not the first time it has happened to a King.”

“Screw you,” she hissed. “Traitor.”

That almost made Demetrius chuckle. He had never had a friend except for his siblings in his life, but Alina felt closer to one.

“No, there’s no spell. She hasn’t done anything.”

He closed his eyes. Oh, damn this.

“I’ll have to go touch her heart now to realize if you’re truly soulmates.” That made him nod. “But if you are, and that made you sense it despite the curse...” Alina trailed off, but he understood it either way.

Then the bond would have to be strong.

Then strange things were happening.

Things that didn’t matter to him either way, because he didn’t believe in fate, or God. He didn’t believe in mates. None of these pathetic things that made you weak for only one person in this world.

Why would he choose to be weak? And for Maya? His enemy? For the one that would give her heart to see him at his lowest?

No, thank you.

“Demetrius...”

“Just find it out, Alina. It won’t change much, but only so I can know for sure,” he told her, closing off. “And ah, Maya shouldn’t know either.”