In War, There Is Love

Strategist

For the life of him, Demetrius couldn’t focus on the papers in front of him. Gritting his teeth together, he threw them away from the table angrily, seeing as they fled and fell to the floor.

She had been in his life for less than two days and she was already messing it up. The urge to just lock her in her room and never let her get out of it was growing stronger.

But then the rumors of her being only a prisoner would spread to her father’s Court faster than he could kill the source of them, and while Demetrius wasn’t scared of the old Faerie King in the slightest, this wasn’t in his plans for now.

The faeries had to start feeling safer. Like they finally had peace. Only then could Demetrius catch them by surprise.

The door was pushed open and Demetrius was now one second away from murdering someone just for fun. Only that that someone was his little sister and he couldn’t actually kill her.

Maybe.

He was considering it.

“Knock, Lilith,” he gritted out, not hiding the irritation from his voice.

Lilith took in the condition of the room, looking surprised. “Not a happy groom, big brother?”

“Shut it,” he ordered as he prepared a few papers to take to the Council Room. Lilith wasn’t usually the type to tease him, considering that was a full-time job for Anthony, but maybe she was finding this situation funny as well.

Of course, because she wasn’t the one getting married to someone that got on her nerves, and that she considered killing every minute of the night.

What she said next finally had his full attention, “I was thinking of organizing a welcome ball for Maya.”

“Funny.”

“I was not joking, Demetri.”

He furrowed his brows at her. “That won’t be necessary, Lilith. No one is welcoming her.”

She sighed. “Don’t act like you haven’t been King for like the past five centuries, Demetri. It’s a formal ceremony. You just got married. You have to invite your allies and celebrate with them.”

“The allies who stood by when I needed their help? I don’t think so.” He was growing more irritated with this conversation. While everything his sister said made sense, the last thing he wanted right now was to organize a ball for his wife and make her think she was that important.

“Demetri,” she insisted, hands on her hips. “You didn’t have a wedding ceremony. This is the least you could do, even if it is to start convincing the faeries this marriage means something to you.”

“They’ll be convinced, don’t worry. The territories in the south will be ours when they expect it the least. And my darling wife will help me with that.” Demetrius kept fixing his collar as he spoke, surer in his words than he had ever been.

But the look Lilith gave him was almost worried. “And what if she is indeed your mate?” she asked, voice almost vulnerable and timid.

Which was odd. Lilith was anything but timid. She was confident and proud.

He chuckled. It sounded so ridiculous it was funny. “She isn’t.”

“What if she is?” she insisted.

“She is a faerie, Lilith. And besides, we’re cursed, you know that. There are no mates for us, and even if there are, we’ll never be able to find them.” And that was what Demetrius wanted in the first place. There was no power in this world, not even a fated mate, that would ever bring him to his knees.

“Can’t you talk to a witch? Jeremiah, perhaps?”

Demetrius looked at her like she had lost her mind. “The ambassador of the witches? So he can send the word back to Agnes? I thought you were brighter than that, little sister.”

“Alright, fine,” she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Another witch then?”

“I will, but just so they can get rid of whatever this spell that is playing with my mind is,” Demetrius concluded, in that voice that told even his siblings that they couldn’t discuss his decisions anymore. They loved him, but they respected him more.

Just as he started to walk to the door, Lilith stopped him by grabbing his arm lightly. “And what if there isn’t a spell? You’ll keep hating her and making her life miserable for the rest of your life?”

“Yes.” He shrugged, no hesitation in his voice whatsoever. Because it was the truth. “It doesn’t change anything.”

“You’re married,” she argued.

“She’s our enemy.”

“Maybe she isn’t that bad?”

“She isn’t?” Demetrius laughed humorlessly. “Why do you think she’s here, Lilith? Do you think she won’t send any information to her father? You think she wouldn’t betray us on her first chance she got? She’s a faerie. She hates me as much as I hate her.”

Lilith gulped, looking away, and it was one of those rarest times she had no sassy response to give.

“Stop trying to search for what there isn’t inside of me, Lilith. I am not Anthony. And if you’re craving a lover that much, go take one. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your mate.” He knew he was being harsh by the way her dark eyes were’t meeting his anymore, but he didn’t care. “It’s been centuries, Lilith. You and Anthony have to get a grip. There are no mates for us.”

“Okay,” to his surprise, she agreed. “I got it. No mates. No happy marriages. Let’s go now, our lords and ladies are waiting for us.”

Demetrius didn’t feel guilty. Hell, he wasn’t sure if she actually recognized the feeling, actually.

But what he felt inside his chest now, it did seem a lot like that.

***

For the first time after God knew how many decades or centuries, there was doubt in the faces of the most important members of his clan. Doubt about his marriage, his recent decisions.

He hated it.

How dared they, after everything he had done to remain the most powerful clan, the most powerful kingdom there was?

He had given them wealth. Titles. Power.

Most of them, the ones that were still smart enough to know they’d always be below him and his reign, drew their gazes back at the floor, submitting to his power. Some were more defiant though.

And that was okay. It proved they weren’t a flock of sheeps after all.

“My Lord,” Gavin, one of the youngest and most influential lords of his clan started, “this marriage...” he hesitated at the last second.

Of course he did. Demetrius smirked. “Finish the sentence, Lord Gavin.”

Gavin gulped. “None of us would ever doubt your decisions, but...” he hesitated again, “are we sure this was beneficial for our clan?”

“You’d never doubt my decisions, but that’s exactly what you’re doing.” It didn’t bother Demetrius one bit though.

“My Lord, that’s not what I meant—”

Demetrius raised his palm to stop him. “The decision to get married belongs to me and only me. It is not up for discussion.”

“She is our Queen,” Enya continued, one of the oldest members of his clan. “A faerie. Bastard child of King Silas. This is unheard of.”

“Oh, is it so?” Demetrius met her gaze, grinning at her, and it took her two full seconds to look away. Weak. “Now, you know what is unheard of? A member of my Council not showing respect when it’s demanded.”

“My Lord, it is not about respect,” Gavin interrupted again, getting on his nerves, “it’s about this throne and its new Queen—”

“Oh, I see I’m already late for my first Council meeting as a Queen. Silly me. I’m not used to nighttime life yet.” She closed the door behind herself, blue eyes never leaving his. “Are you already talking about me?”

Demetrius saw dark. “Maya,” he hissed.

Oh, he would kill her. Right there and then.

“My Lord.” She smiled that fake, satisfied smile of hers. So this was her getting back to him for actually calling her a chesspiece?

He exchanged one look with his siblings. While Lilith looked surprised and a lot curious, Anthony looked amused. “What’s the meaning of this?”

She approached the table with big, confident steps, the front of her long blonde hair secured behind her small, pointy ears. There were no wings, thankfully. Not that it changed much. Demetrius was furious.

“The meaning of what?”

If all eyes weren't on them, wide and shocked, he would strangle her by her throat until she let out her last breath an inch away from his. Yet something told him that even dying, she would never look away from his eyes.

He closed his eyes briefly, getting his control back. “Go back to your chambers, wife. You do not belong here.”

“I don’t?” Maya raised her chin defaintly, and not minding his orders, she sat down on the empty throne besides his. “I think this is exactly where I belong, my Lord.”

“Don’t defy me,” he spoke, his voice sounding calm and collected. “You are not a member of this Council.”

“But I am,” she objected, sounding just as calm as him. “I am the Queen.”

The tension in the air was thick, so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Demetrius could barely keep himself in check right now, but he would be damned if he let her win. “Do I have to tell you that not all queens belong to the Council Room? I can decide if I want you here or not. And I don’t.”

“No, unfortunately, you cannot do that.” Gasps erupted all over the room, and once more Demetrius saw dark.

“What did you say?”

She was supposed to look dead scared, but instead she looked like she fed on provoking him in front of his Council. “It’s been centuries without a Queen in this Court, so surely you must have forgotten, my Lord, but it is in your laws, written there clearly: the Vampire Queen not only is a member of the Council, but she has the right of making decisions that will be accepted and followed by the said Council.”

Anthony covered his laugh with a cough, and Demetrius wasn’t sure if his rage was directed at his wife or at his brother.

Both, he decided. f*****g both.

“I don’t recall your stepmother being part of your Faerie Council,” Lilith interrupted right when Demetrius was in the bricks for throwing his wife outside by her long hair. Now that would be satisfying.

“Laws are different in different kingdoms, of course. And believe me, I have studied law half my life. I’m a strategist. I know what I’m saying.”

She was cunning. And couragous. Demetrius could objectively admire this while wanting to rip her apart at the same time.

Because no one had ever outsmarted him. Or manipulated him by using his own laws on their advantage. Yet here she was, alone among predators, brave and defiant and beautiful, so beautiful it hurt his eyes to look.

“And just because of a stupid law, we’re expected to be led by a goddamn faerie?” Gavin stood up, irritated, sure that he had his King’s support in this.

Fool.

“Sit down, Gavin,” he ordered. “Do not forget you have your Queen in front of you.”

For a second her mask slipped and she looked as surprised as everyone else did.

Demetrius could hate her, torture her, break her all he wanted. She was his to ruin.

But he would be damned if he let another speak to her like that. That would give the idea there were no consequences of disrespecting a monarch.

A Queen.

His Queen.

Because she was his. Whether Demetrius was happy about it or not, that didn’t matter in front of his own members.

“If you insist, my Lady.” With a click of his fingers, he demanded the meeting to start.

For now, he would act like the happy husband. Behind closed door, that was another conversation.