Demons Heart

Chapter 11

"The next game is archaic and barbaric with in it's time, yet it's still necessary to complete the games." "Six of you remain and these bedrooms have been designed to tempt you in ways you cannot imagine." "You may be fooled and want to take the offer but you'll lose the title and claim to all of this." I say with my hands in the air, gesturing to the kingdom.

"The only twist once inside is knowing all offers are real and you can walk out with it in your hands." "Do enjoy it for my husband won't get to experience this again." "He'll have to give up all temptations." "The first up will be Brent."

Brent smiles at me with reassurance before he enters his room. The first thing he sees is a woman laying on the bed, with only a night gown on and to the left and right he sees maps of places he's always wanted to go. If it wasn't bad enough, he sees a document on a table and walks towards it, looking through it to find that it's a contract for a lot of money.

The woman is the first to call to him as she rubs a spot on the bed, beckoning for him to come over, yet he looks at the door, knowing the woman he wants is behind it.

"The money is yours for the taking, think of all the place you can see." "You'd travel all around the world." The woman gestures to the maps and to the contract that's still in his hands.

He doesn't want to consider it, yet the chances of becoming king may not work in his favor. "I could also show you a night you won't forget, that will improve your skills for any woman you fall in love with." He knows going through with this wouldn't get him Emory though.

He steps away from her, yet he's still holding the papers as the woman walks out a different door. He sits down and looks over the places he could travel.

His own family would never fund his adventures, not with his placement in the monarchy. He looks over the maps, the postcards covering them as he imagines seeing these places with his own eyes. It's then that an image of Emory comes to mind.

He looks away, placing the contract down on the table before he goes towards the door, taking one look back at the places he'd love to go. He looks at me with a sad smile. He walks away as I thought he would, since this game is always one of the toughest to walk away from, to still choose the crown.

I await as I know Wren is next. His temptation is exclusive to himself as well. I watch him walk inside as Wren takes in the room. He first looks to the woman wearing old fashioned clothes, the kind that covers women's bodies from being exposed. She lays on the bed, beckoning him to come closer, yet he's more fascinated by the weapons and armor on the walls.

You can't find these kinds of weapons anywhere, especially since the master who made such articulate blades has passed away. He goes around the room, touching the blades and the shields that were made by specialists in their fields.

He particularly looks at the rose shield. It's said to be made by a woman who lived deep in the mountains. She comes down to sell her armor that can protect you even from the most powerful guns.

No one knows how she has such exquisite metal, yet warriors have killed each other over getting a shield made by her. He rubs his finger over the rose and can't believe it's real. He picks it up, feeling the weight of it, yet it's very light.

"Is that all you want baby?" The woman asks him, yet he ignores her as he then goes to the swords presented to him. A few are daggers, while the others are shaped similarly to a katana. They're all elegant and well made as he touches them, not quite the blades as he can see his reflection in them as they've been recently sharpened.

The weapons tempt him more than anything else could, yet he thinks of his position. He thinks about how shameful it would be to walk out of here with the weapon, while bringing shame to his family.

He knew then that it wouldn't be worth it as he places the shield down and steps away from the swords. He tries walking out with his eyes closed, pretending that he doesn't know what was behind that door, of all that he walked away from.

I greet him in the hall as Wren shakes his head, walking away with the saddest look on his face. It seems he too almost took the offer. I know what these rooms must mean to the suitors but they must realize that the crown comes with sacrifice and they need to be willing to make that sacrifice to be king.

I then await for Renade. I have a good idea for what his room will look like, at least I think I do. Renade walks in and hears Celtic music as he sees a woman with red hair, wearing a green dress, that's laying on the bed.

What's displayed around the room is just as interesting as he sees painting from his favorite painter. Ironin is his name and has the most expensive paintings. His family has a few but this room has his entire collection.

He wonders how Emory or her family could acquire such masterpieces. He's never heard of some of the paintings on the wall as he wonders if it's apart of a private collection.

He reaches to touch them, yet pulls away as his fingers are an inch away from the oil. "I can't." He says to himself and then to the woman as he back away from.the painting and her, before he's out of the room.

I greet him and like the others, he walks away, having turned away from his temptations. Aiden is next as I expect his will be most tempting of all. He'll really have to muster up courage to walk away, to choose me above all else.

Aiden never wants to leave the room he's just entered. He sees the most beautiful woman lying on the bed. He sees certificates and awards written to him hanging on the wall and on the table is a contract.

A contract that will give him a kingdom, freedom from Benjamin and his own family, yet he wouldn't be king. He'd be a lord and he doesn't know if that is all he's capable of and if it's enough. Will that appease Merina?

He looks at it all and lingers on the woman as she stands up, bringing her hands around his neck. She's leaning in as does he until he remembers Merina's words. "She'll die if you aren't standing next to her." "I could put my son in her place but then I'd have no use for you and you'd soon be discarded, plus my son isn't fit to be a king, you are."

Merina has always known how to manipulate people, yet she does it by giving them what they want and what Aiden has always wanted to be king but as he pushes off the woman, he realizes he also wants to be Emory's husband. To stand by her side and to protect her from her own family.

He takes a few steps back from the woman and leaves the room, not even looking back as he walks straight to Emory. He kisses me as soon as he leaves the room. It's rough and passionate and a kiss that leaves a promise that I'm now his.

I'm about to ask him what happened, yet his eyes linger on my lips as I suck them in. He looks back into my eyes. "I'll make you mine and this time it will be for me, not them." "Trust me on that." He says to me and I see the honesty in his eyes. This is the kind of breakthrough I had wanted with Vornan but strangely enough I'm still relieved that it was Aiden.

That perhaps the dog my aunt and cousin put in my palace has been tamed. He won't nip at their heels anymore and will finally fight for what he wants, which I hope is me. I hope he desires so much more then they imagined he could have.

The next one to face their temptations is Vornan. He'll be the most interesting as the women who put together the rooms had to find out each of my suitors darkest secrets. I had gotten a hint about what each room held, yet they wouldn't elaborate on him. I might even say they looked afraid to say more then that the room will tempt his darkest desires.

Vornan walks into the room and is both curious yet furious at what he sees. His men are here, the demons are inside his room, yet none of them speak as they hand him a knife. They look down at the bed as he sees Emory there. She's lying on the bed, looking at his knife with fear.

"Don't do this." She pleads and yet his men look at him, begging him to finish the job. "You must do it, you must kill her to gain the power we need to take over." "Why?" He asks them as an image of her smiling face as he gave her the color changing flower appears in his mind.

He looks back down at her as tears streak her cheeks. "I love you." She says to him as the knife in his hand slips from his hand. "You must be king, kill her." He looks at the wedding gown she's wearing and feels his heart constrict.

Do they really wish for him to ruin their wedding night? "I love you." She beckons to him as his desire to rule slips from his mind as do they. The men disappear from the room as candles are lit everywhere. He goes on the bed, on top of her, about to kiss her when the candles are blown out and she disappears from beneath him as the lights turn on.

"I had to make sure." A woman says from the doorway. She's wearing a a dress of many colors and a headband that shows she's spiritual. "The other men were easy and I got some women to help me out but you..." "I knew at first glance what you are, who you are and had to know if the future queen of Cleyan was in danger."

"I used a charm for you, one that would show your true desires and would help me to see what you'd choose in the end." "You made the right choice, yet will you stick with it?"

"Who are you?" "Pinon" "Some have called people like me witches, an enchantress, yet we've only ever used the herbs that grow naturally, while connecting to a spiritual realm." "I'd say I'm more of a healer." "You on the other hand have been known to be a king among your own king, yet you are here?"

"Why is that?" "You saw it, didn't you?" "I did." "I say a demon trying to fend of other demons so that he could be with his woman." "I saw a man light up at the word I love you as if hes never heard them before." "I saw a demon who looked much more like a man than he did a demon."

"I'll ask you again, why are you here?" Vornan could lie and say he chose her because of the game, because he knew it was a trick but the truth wasn't as simple as that. "For more." "More?" "I desire more then being a demon." "I desire power, recognition among the humans, not with in the darkness and vastness of those caves, of a realm that never felt like home."

"I desire..." Vornan won't say it, yet Pinon could see it in his eyes. A demon who desires love is a rare sight indeed, yet the future is still unwritten. She wasn't sure whether to alert Emory Cornan of this or to let it play out as it has been.

Will the queen be okay with marrying a demon? Pinon knew it wasn't her place to mess with fate and she could see there's a connection between the two, whether it be hate or love has yet to be decided and so she does the next best thing. "I can't trust you, neither can the queen."

Pinon is honest as she grabs his wrist, tying a rope from one of the oldest trees. It's meant to tighten, to give him unbearable pain if his heart is dark. "It will kill you if you let your heart darken." "I entrust this to you, to protect the future queen of Cleyan."

"You witch." He hisses at her as he tries to pull it off, yet she runs out the other door as it locks behind her. He has no choice but to walk back out as I see him. Vornan is different to the others in the fact that he appears angry, not saddened in the fact that he can't have his temptations.

She tries not to talk to him as she sees he's in no mood to converse with her and so she focuses on the last door that has yet to open, Trinit's. Trinit is amazed at the horse in his room. It's been known to be the best and can win any and all races given to him.

He pets the horse, yet it's taken away as a contract is given to him, before he sees a woman walk in. She's gorgeous, with long brown hair and blue eyes that seem to look deep into his soul.

"Trinit?" The woman asks as he recognizes her. She's Joan, a girl from his childhood. Her father used to work on the grounds of their kingdom, yet was let go once Trinit developed an attachment for his daughter.

They had been best friends and now that he sees her dressed in a low cut dress, his eyes can't help but stare at her. She's very different and has truly grown up, just like him. "Trinit." She says softly this time as she walks to him and leans in, pressing her lips to his.

Trinit is taken aback at what she just did, yet he leans back in. He kisses her again, yet she takes his hand and gives him a pen and the contract. "Sign it." She says to him as she kisses him again before looking down at the paper again.

"Sign it and I'm yours." The temptation is great as he looks into her brown eyes and can feel himself getting lured in by them. He doesn't care anymore as he quickly signs it, throwing the contract on the floor before he picks her up, laying her on the bed.

He continues to kiss down her neck, while taking off her gown. "Don't stop." She says to him as he doesn't plan to. Their kisses deepen as does their bond, until all that's left is their clothes on the floor and their bodies entwined with one another. It isn't until he hear a sound that's much like a ding that he's signaled that the game is over.

His eyes widen as he's brought back to reality. He quickly picks the clothes up off the floor as he dresses. A woman comes through the door where the horse went and picks up the contract.

"Everything is in order." "The horse will be delivered and so will the woman." She tells him, yet he looks around, realizing what he has done. "Wait!" "I didn't, I shouldn't have." He starts to say, yet he knows in that moment that it's over. That he gave into that game and has now lost both the chance to be king and Emory.

It isn't until he's kneeling on the floor as Joan holds him that he realizes he's crying. He has gone through so much in this competition and to have it end this way felt unfair to him. He had tried his best and still lost. He pushes Joan away from him.

"It could have been anyone else, why you?" "This game is meant to test what you're willing to sacrifice." The woman holding the contract tells them as she takes Trinit's hand and walks him out of the room.

"Trinit?' I ask as I see his clothes are disheveled, so is his hair as his eyes are red. He has been crying, why? "It's done." Pinon hands me the contract as I realize he has failed. I want to ask how and why, yet he seems defeated by what the room had in store for him.

"I'm sorry." He eventually says as Pinon tries to lead him away. I then walk towards them and gather Trinit in my arms. "It's okay." "You knew this would be difficult and yoy lasted till the final six, that counts for something." "I'm proud of you and do hope you find real happiness." "Don't let it go once you have it." "Life shouldn't be lived with regret."

He nods his head as he sniffles and I see a woman waiting st the front door, taking Trinit into her arms as Pinon comes back inside. "It was her, wasn't it?" I ask Pinon as she nods her head.

"I assume she was a childhood sweetheart." "I do hope they'll be happy together." "As do I my queen." She bows slightly and I smile at her. "I'm not queen yet." "You will be though." "Not without a husband." "He's here." "I can feel it." She tells me as I know she's joking. She believes in herbs, not in witchcraft, though you can never tell with her since she knows of witches and has learnt a thing or two from them.

"I should tell you, warn you of something though." "What is it?" "The suitors are well on their way but you may have a traitor in your midst." "It's too soon to tell but be careful with them and nurture their love and care for you and Cleyan, in only this way may you turn a traitor into an ally."

Pinon then leaves as I'm left with my thoughts and doubts about the remaining suitors. I know they all have their faults and their abilities to lead and be king. To choose who not to trust will be hard, especially as I've chosen to believe in my heart. To trust my heart till the end, though still taking the games into consideration.

"Emory.'" I hear as Wren comes up to me, asking me to eat with him. It's quite out of the blue for Wren, yet I agree as we head into the kitchen, where the rest are as I tell them the news. "Trinit has left." "He couldn't cut it." Aiden laughs as he throws down a piece of bread he was eating.

"What got him?" "The woman?" He snickers as I look away and he laughs. "It really was." "He got cut because of a woman, even after all the games we've been through." "I honestly thought we'd all make it in the end."

"Don't forget it will be only one in the end." I warm him as he shrugs. "It will be easy to take all them down." "You think so." Vornan cuts in as the others laugh. "The game is still in session, even when we're not participating in them." Wren comments as he leaves, realizing we won't get a private meal, not with the other suitors around.

"Your games sure have improved." Vornan comments as I quirk an eyebrow at him. This goes to show that one of the games finally had him shaken. "Did you almost lose?" I ask him and am surprised as he too shrugs. "It was a close one, I'll admit." "Though you had a way of coaxing me out of it."

He says while reaching out and touching my cheek, before pinching it. "You're cute when you beg and declare your love for me." "When did I ever do that?" I ask him as he starts to walk away.

"I know you will some day, it's in my desires and I plan to make them a reality." "How can you be this arrogant?" I ask him as he laughs as I chase after him. "You love to chase me, don't you." He taunts as he goes down the hallway, near his room, yet he then passes it as we go towards the garden I haven't seen in many years.

He opens the door, to see a desolate garden, with plants that have long died and boxes of dirt that are barren and in need of flowers. It was the garden my father had once made me. It was when we were a family and we even shared some good memories together, the three of us before my sisters came along.

I now feel that's when it all started to change. It seemed my parents didn't have enough love for all of their children as it had to be passed onto the next. I laugh at how desperate that must make me. "Go to sleep." I tell him as I leave quickly.