In War, There Is Love

Ex-Lover

“My Lady! My Lady!”

Maya groaned, feeling the sun on her face as someone struggled to wake her up. At that moment she hated how only a few days had gotten her to start sleeping in the daytime and stay awake at nighttime, just like vampires did.

She was a faerie of light, goddammit. This was unacceptable.

“My Lady!”

“What?” Maya snapped, but then she instantly sobbered up when she noticed the tears on Ivy’s face. Maybe she normally wouldn’t, because Ivy literally teared up on every single occasion, but she wasn’t tearing up now.

She was full-on sobbing. Shaking. On the verge of getting sick and throwing up.

“Ivy, what’s wrong?!” Maya held her shoulders and shook her slowly. “Did they do something to you? Did they hurt you?” But Ivy kept shaking her head no, tears flowing down her face. “Tell me.”

“Lord—Lord Nolan...” Maya’s heart dropped on the floor, “...is dead.”

***

The first thing her gaze fell on as soon as she rushed inside the Throne Room was the pool of blood on the shiny floor, still fresh.

There was no body for her to see, however, the sight was almost just as brutal.

But you know what was more brutal than that? Maya’s husband licking his lips clean off the blood that belonged now to the corpse of her ex-lover, a wicked grin on his face as he watched her take everything in.

His light-colored beautiful eyes were shining even brighter than normal. Satysfied. Enjoying this on a sickly level.

Maya had always known he had psychotic tendencies. Hell, everyone knew that.

But no, they weren’t simply tendencies. He was a psychopath. The most dangerous, brutal, terrifying one. One that had the most perfect face, and the most perfect smile. One that led you into his trap. Slowly, continuously throwing pieces of food at you until you were fully inside his den. In his claws.

He was a monster and now, in this dead silence that hung between them, Maya fully realized who her husband was.

What scared her even more than this, however? It was the fact that inside of her she knew, she just bloody knew she wouldn’t run away either way.

“Had a good sleep, my darling?”

Maya saw stars. Without fully grasping what she was doing, she rushed to him and the next thing she knew, her palm was on his cheek. Forcefully. She hit him so hard, her long, red nails teared up his skin and drew out blood. And even when his head fell on his right, he kept grinning like a wicked person.

“How dare you?” she demanded. “How bloody dare you?”

“How dare I?” Demetrius chuckled, the sound mocking her. “Well, I do. Who would stop me? You?”

For a second, Maya was surprised how she could still easily hold eye contact with him after what he had done. “You repulse me.”

“No, I don’t,” he said, so full of himself. “You want to be repulsed by me. You aren’t.”

Maya’s eyes found the pool of blood again. She swallowed down, sick in her stomach, the thought of seeing Nolan just a few hours ago, alive and trying to save her, suddenly haunting her. “If there was one small part of you that I could still tolerate, Demetrius, you just got rid of it. This is it. It’s you against me now. And I’ll make your life hell.”

Once more, he chuckled. “Such big words from someone all alone in this world. What happened? Are you sad that I murdered your lover in cold blood?”

“Ex-lover,” she corrected automatically, and now Demetrius threw his head back and laughed like she was the most entertaining thing in the world. Maya hated every bit of it with a burning passion.

“Poor guy,” he tsked, shaking his head and letting out a breath like she suddenly felt pity for him now. Like he hadn’t been the one to tear Nolan’s head out of his body with his teeth only. “Unrequited love it seems. How sad. Is this why you refused to run away with him yesterday?”

Maya’s eyes almost fell out of her face.

“Of course I know, darling. Do you think a bird flies in my territory without me knowing?” Slowly, he turned around and sat down on his throne, his legs opened and both his arms resting on the sides. Like he owned the world.

And maybe he did.

With every passing second, Maya loathed him a bit more. “Not only a psychopath, but a stalker too?”

Demetrius shrugged. “Meh, you could say that.”

Anger was eating her up inside, it was hard to breathe. “I cannot believe you’re just sitting there and talking like you didn’t take a person’s life for your sick satisfaction.”

“This is getting repetitive,” he said mostly to himself. “If you’re so eager to know, wife, no, I’m not such a monster. I decided to show mercy at first, to act blind. You had turned him down without a second thought and everyone in their right mind would run away before they were caught, right? But then your stupid, heroic lover decided to walk in, right through that door, and demand to take you from me.”

The shock that invaded her senses was almost blinding.

“‘My land for your wife,’ he said. Like you were a property. That’s how much you were worthy to him. A few pieces of land.” Again, her husband stood up, and he looked even bigger now. Maya’s eyes fell down on his chest, her hands visibly trembling. Slowly, he gripped her chin between his fingers and forced her head high. “Look at me.” She didn’t at first. “Look at me, Maya.” When she did, his eyes had changed to blood red. Angry. Terryifying. “No one walks inside my palace, demands to take what’s mine, and gets the chance to walk away afterwards.”

Even her chin had started trembling in his fingers. From anger, from fear, from guilt, she didn’t know. “I’m not yours.”

“You’re my wife. And that makes you mine. Do not ever forget that.”

One minute. Two. Maya couldn’t count how long they spent like that, before she snapped his arm away. “Go to hell. I’d rather tear out my throat with my own nails before I was ever yours.”

“Such a picture you painted, wife.”

“My father isn’t going to let this slide,” she ignored his words.

“Oh, he will.” Demetrius shrugged his shoulders again. “I will send him your lover’s head, actually, as a little greeting. And he won’t be able to do anything about it. He’ll actually hide this. You know why? Because if they knew, everyone would accuse you of infidelity. Both your people and mine. Who would accuse the husband for finding his wife’s lover in their own house?”

She grabbed her face in her palms. It felt cold just like his fingers did. “It’s insane how sick you are.”

“Just calculative, darling. It’s better for you if you keep your pretty mouth shut. For once, at least.”

Maya refused to believe she had lost. “This isn’t over, Demetrius. I promise, this isn’t over.”