In War, There Is Love

Vows

Demetrius let out a sigh.

It was time.

“Are you nervous, brother?” Anthony asked with a chuckle, obviously enjoying all of this way more than Demetriues. Of course he wasn’t the one getting married.

“Now which groom wouldn’t be?” He flashed his brother one of his twisted grins he was so famous for.

“It’s time.” Lilith entered without knocking, again. “They’re coming.”

Demetrius fixed the collar of his black shirt. “I’m surprised the coward Silas has decided to accompany her. I was convinced he’d never dare to step foot in this palace, not even for his precious faerie daughter.”

“I’m sure he wants to prove a point to you,” Anthony agreed.

This time Demetrius flashed the grin at the mirror in front of him as he fixed his black hair backwards with his fingers. “I’m tempted to prove a point to him too. Or the Council of Peace. Wouldn’t they appreciate me finally getting rid of him in my own home?”

“Demetri,” Lilith scolded, panic in her voice. “Silas dying here tonight would do nothing but make him a martyr.”

Of course Demetrius knew that. If Silas was alive until now, this was the reason. Being the villain himself was one thing, but making Silas the hero was completely another.

“Well certainly my wife will appreciate my wedding gift of not murdering any of them tonight,” he said, almost bored. This was all so ridiculous. “Let’s go. We can’t let our future Queen wait for too long, now, can we?”

He walked through the hallway without a word more, followed by his siblings, Anthony on his right and Lilith on his left. And as he set foot outside, already surrounded by members of his clan that lived in his Court, he caught figures of bloody faeries in the dark sky, flying towards them.

Demetrius was certain his dead heart had never ever beat a single time in his life, but for some reason it did now.

Strongly.

Furiously, he was afraid it was going to escape out of his chest and fly straight to the palms of her hands.

It was like she stepped foot on the ground and everything and everyone else around him disappeared but her.

One glance at her took his breath away. Surely she wasn’t real, right? With her long, long pale hair, big wings just the same color, and a face so perfectly shaped it was scary how beautiful it was, she could have only gotten out of a fairytale.

Midnight blue eyes widened when Silas had attempted to greet him, and that was when everything settled in all at once, hitting him like a strike of lightning in a perfectly silent storm. Storm so dangerous Demetrius was almost convinced it was going to change his life forever.

His wife.

Mine.

Demetius tried with all his power to stop the voice in his head that was claiming her over and over again, but it was simply impossible. Every dead atom of his being recognized her—longed for her. Craved her like he had never craved anything in his life before and it hadn’t been longer than one or two minutes that he had laid eyes on her.

A possessive hand gripped him from inside. And for a second too long he was tempted to tell everyone to screw themselves and drag her inside and do filthy things to her she had never once imagined.

People had called him names all his life, one of them being the Mad King. Perhaps they had predicted this, because he was going mad now. There was no other explanation to why he couldn’t stop drinking her in, feeling her gaze everywhere on his body.

“King Demetrius,” Silas repeated, clearing his throat, and now Demetrius had no other choice but to tear his gaze away from her so he could take everything else in. It was not easy considering she was so bright, she almost blinded him.

He hated it.

“King Silas.” He nodded once, but his eyes found her again. Was she going to say something? Do something?

Did she feel this maddening attraction between them or was he simply losing his mind? Because there was no way a female, thinking she had her mate right in front of her, would keep silent like this. Or even look as cold and unaffected as she did.

Was this one of her games? Or was it Silas’? That would be the explanation for everything, actually.

Demetrius hated all this with a burning passion. No one had tried playing him and lived to tell the tale, but if his darling wife wanted to have some fun, two could play at that game. Only that he would be the one to make the rules. He always did. Everyone else only followed.

“I’d like to introduce you to my daughter and your soon-to-be-Queen, Lady Maya.”

She didn’t bow down, nor did she speak or show any sign of respect to him. All she did was keep eye contact like she wasn’t about to marry a few-centuries-older-vampire, and the most merciless King the history of their world had ever seen.

Prideful for a bastard child, Demetrius had to give her that.

Or perhaps she thought playing the brave one, the Vampire King’s mate, would make her less of a prey in his eyes. Good attempt.

How bad it wouldn’t serve her for anything.

Demetrius studied Silas’ ugly face instead, trying to decipher if this was the Pixie’s plan after all. He couldn’t just get in his head and compel the Faerie without him understanding.

So, the Faerie King either didn’t know his little girl’s trick, or he was a good actor. Which he wasn’t from what Demetrius had concluded in the past century they had been enemies.

“Are we going to spend the rest of the night here, Demetrius?” The irony in Silas’ voice caused for most of the vampires to take a step closer and make him show respect to their King.

Demetrius grinned. “Had I known you were this eager to set foot in my palace, Silas, I would have invited you much earlier. Along with your precious daughter, of course.”

The smile on Silas’ face was a grimace Demetrius would have enjoyed too much had he been able to keep his eyes away from said daughter more than one second at a time. “I’m sure the visits will grow more often now that my precious daughter is going to be your wife.”

Demetrius’ heart skipped a bit once more when she opened her mouth to speak for the first time. “The precious daughter you’re speaking about is right here in front of you, Father.”

She kept her tone pleasant, almost too pleasant actually, but the meaning behind her words was clear; she didn’t appreciate them talking about her as if she wasn’t there.

And her voice... Oh, her voice.

“I suppose we can have this conversation inside as well,” Lilith cut it, her smile as fake as his one. If it had been another time, he would have laughed. “We’ve kept King Silas and Princess Maya outside far too long. Please come inside, Your Highness.”

Demetrius didn’t move from his spot, however, and consequently no one else did. “I suppose you’re informed there isn’t going to be a traditional ceremony, right?” he spoke to her this time, holding her gaze without blinking once.

Of course she was informed. She had worn a dark red dress on purpose, Demetrius could bet everything he had on it.

A bold choice, considering she was in front of a monster that was studying her pulsing point like it was his gate to heaven.

Goddammit. Even her neck was pale and long and elegant. Demetrius felt the urge to sink his teeth in it and not come back for air until he had had the feast of his life.

“I am aware.”

Why wasn’t she looking down? How could she keep looking at him when not even her father dared keep eye contact for more than two seconds at a time?

“Good.”

“Good,” she repeated.

Demetrius almost, almost grabbed her and threw her on his shoulder, just so he could show her her place. Instead he kept the same grin on his face that she studied with curious eyes more than scared eyes.

If she kept this charade up, Demetrius would have no choice but to show her the true him. Perhaps she thought he was really smiling. Smiling as if in happy she was here.

“Brother,” Anthony brought him back to reality. All eyes were on them, questioning, especially Anthony’s.

“Make yourself home.” He signed for her to enter the gates first, like the true gentleman everyone knew he wasn’t.

When finally he thought she would comply without saying a thing more, she threw her head back. “I will, my Lord.”

His brows rose in surprise. Oh, she wanted to play, alright.

They walked towards the Throne Room, where one of his lords was waiting with the papers in his hands. There was no use wasting time. This was giving him a headache, besides, the skin of his palms itched with the crave to touch her, hold her.

It was infuriating.

What the bloody hell had she done and how could he reverse it?

Only a few of his most important people gathered around them as witnesses to their marriage, along with King Silas, who had his teeth gritted the entire time, as if he hadn’t been the one gifting his daughter to Demetrius.

Demetrius tuned in only when the question was asked, “Do you, my Lord, King Demetrius of the Kingdom of the Dead, accept to take Lady Maya as your wife and your Queen, in sick and health, in peace and war—”

“I do,” Demetrius cut him in, actually bored with all the goddamn vows. As if they mattered a single bit when everyone knew what precious Lady Maya had done to herself by stepping foot inside this place.

He took the ring from his brother before taking her hand in his. The connection was there, so strong he almost let it go. And for just one second, her eyes were huge and shocked. She had felt it too, no doubt.

Placing the diamond ring on her finger, he let her hand go like it had burned him.

Bloody faerie.

The Lord repeated his question, and this time, she didn’t interrupt him. Her low, shaky exhale was the only indication of her fear, and Demetrius couldn’t keep himself from smirking.

She frowned, annoyed.

“I do.” Her voice didn’t tremble, for his biggest disappointment.

She was like an enigma. What did her gorgeous eyes say? Why couldn’t he read them, why couldn’t he get in her head?

She slipped the black ring on his finger as fast as she could as well, and without much ceremony, Demetrius signed the papers first before he handed it to her.

The moment of the crown, however, was the hardest one. It was like he was betraying his own people by making a faerie his Queen when he had refused to make a female vampire one for so damn long. But yet he told himself it didn’t matter. That she was going to get the title and the title only.

Even while he placed the golden crown on her head, that matched her hair color a little too well, she didn’t let go of his gaze, gracefully kneeling just a little. Like she was born for this. Like she was born to be his Queen.

She screamed grace. Charm, elegance, beauty. And contrary to most of the faeries, she was tall too. Still shorter than him, but still tall in a beautiful, strong way.

If it had been another man, he would have been annoyed. Instead, Demetrius was almost happy in a twisted way.

Wouldn’t cracking her be way more satisfying than playing with a shy, poor thing?

Demetrius would have expected any move from her right now. Bowing down to him, smiling, taking his hand, or even trying to form a connection—considering she had gone out of her lengths to make this feel like a fated bond—but the last unimaginable thing was her literally turning her back to him and walking through the red rug that sent her to the thrones all by herself.

Her eyes never once left his as she slowly, almost dramatically slow, sat down on the Queen’s throne, resting her arms on the sides of it and her big, beautiful wings spread on her back.

A small, almost unnoticeable smile spread on her face. “Aren’t you going to join me, my Lord?”