Demons Heart

Chapter 9

"Today's game will be one we've played before only this time it's personal to you." "The game will be a date, not to cater to me but to your own interests." "I want to get to know each of you more and this it the best way to do so."

"You all have your scheduled time to take me on a date as a carriage will bring me to each place of your choosing." "The first to start will be Aiden." He seems a bit surprised by this as he nods his head and takes one of the people provided to plan the date as does everyone else as I give them their time slot. All the dates will last a few hours.

I wait patiently for them all to finish as I've gotten dressed in my plush pink and white gown, with natural make-up and a shimmer to bring out my glow. I know I'm looking quite good for these dates as I finally have Dina call for me.

"The carriage is ready as is the places the men have selected for each date." "Good." I get inside the carriage, with a few guards as it goes into town. We pass by many stores and places until we stop at what appears to be a bar.

I had expected a date like this with Aiden, hence why I wanted to get it done and over with. I walk inside and expect to see many people, for it to be rowdy and to smell distinctly of alcohol, yet it doesn't as the bar in empty and in it's place are many wine glasses on tables, they each have a small amount of wine in them.

"Wine tasting?" I ask Aiden as he holds out a glass to me as he sips on his own. "You know of my nation but you may not know of our collection of wine from all parts of the world." "We take pride in it as each visitor gets a taste of a rare wine that hasn't been found anywhere else."

"I want to show you this part of me." "The part of me that isn't always hungry for power and attention but the man who loves his family." I nod my head as we enjoy a few hours of sipping on wine. I'm soon leaving as the next date is ready.

Renade is next as I think about where his date may take place before we stop in front of a large fountain in Wendire, one that is known to carry luck as people throw coins into it every year.

I step out of the carriage as Renade greets me and takes my arm as he leads me to the well. "You may or may not know this about my nation but we have a tradition much like this back home where we throw coins into a well." "We make a wish and hope with everything we have that it cones true but even if it doesn't, we have a memory of the well to carry with us on our hard times."

Renade then gives me a coin as I make a wish to find a man with in my suitors that will love me, who will help me run a nation and to be loyal to the crown and the people it protects. My wish is rather long, yet I still hope for it to come true.

Trinit is now next as the carriage pulls up to a horse race. "This may not be a regular date but my nation is known for it's horse races and when I found out Wendire has one as well, though on a small scale, I did want to bring you here."

He then takes me to bet on a horse as he does warn me not to get sucked into the world of gambling since it can latch onto you, not letting you go until you're penniless. I promise him I won't as I make my bet and we take our seats.

The horses take off as I tell eight to go faster. Trinit laughs as I cheer for my horse and frown as two makes it past him. "We all lose at this eventually but watching a race like this and cheering the way you did is what makes it fun and memorable."

I bid him farewell as Darmen is now waiting for me. His date is the most peculiar as we arrive at a lake at the edge of Wendire. I step out, trying not to step into any mud as the dress I'm wearing is one of my favorites.

It's then that I see Darmen as he races towards me, swinging me into his arms as he walks me over to a bench, where I see fishing rods already prepared. "I assume your nation is know for fishing?" "We are but we're also known for doing normal things such as fishing."

He hands me a rod as he helps me put bait and a lure on the hook before putting it in the water. He seems happy as he does his own and I realize this it the first time I've seen him relaxed and un-bothered by the competition.

I suppose competing in the way we are must be stressful for them and never thought about why that must be why they all rarely smile at me or each other. "It's moving." I say as I feel a hard tug on my rod. "You got a fish!" He says excitedly as he tells me to reel it in.

He even takes my hand, showing me how to do it as we see the fish come out of the water. He then calls for a guard to bring the net, bonker and bag to put it in. I look away at this part, yet look back as I see the fish in the bag and a smiling Darmen telling me it was a great catch. We then pack up everything as the next date is already on it's way.

The next date that happens to be with Wren is one I'm hoping to be surprised by. I know Wren is old fashioned in many ways but I do hope there's another side to him I've yet to see.

The carriage stops at what appears to be an ice rink. I get out and am handed clothing and skates before I can even see Wren. I go to the bathroom they have there and change as a guard stands outside the door. I'm soon dressed and even have my skates on as the guard helps me towards the skating rink that is enclosed.

I step onto the ice and am about to fall when wren catches me. "I've got you." He assures me as he leads me onto the ice and lets me follow his lead. He skates effortlessly as I try to keep my balance.

"I know this may be out of the box for me but there was a skating rink back home that I used to go to." "It was honestly the only time I had fun and relaxed." "My family was always strict with my studies or with my training and though I'd never tell them, skating helped me immensely with training, especially my foot work."

"Sometimes I envy the training you got." "I wish..." I trail off as I must lie again. "I just wish I had more time for it instead of studying all the time." "You wish you could train, how about now?" He slowly lets go of my hands as he skates around me.

"Try to catch me." He says as I see him fully smile for the first time since I've met him. I try horribly to catch him as I eventually fall and Wren comes over to help me up, only I pull him down with me, laughing as I wrap my arms around him. "Caught you." I say as he laughs as well.

"That's one way to do it." He says as he sits up, before standing up and grabbing for my hand once again. This time he pulls me up as I thank him as we skate around.

I don't remember the last time I went skating, though I do remember doing it as a child, before my parents locked me away. "There's also a sweet drink and fries prepared for us." "It's one of my favorite combos though I know it's a childish appetite to have."

"It isn't." "We should enjoy simple things such as this, especially with who we are and the many responsibilities we have." "You're right." He says as we eat and drink and I feel relieved to know that there's more to Wren then the man his parents raised him to be. That he is his own man and enjoys such wonderful pass times.

The next one on the lost is Brent as I slightly dread what will come. It isn't that I don't want a date with him, in fact I want nothing more, it's just that I've seen Brent's scores lately and it seems unlikely he'll be here till the end.

Once I arrive at what appears to be some sort of arcade, I feel my hands sweat and my heart thump loudly. I need to get a hold of myself as I soon see Brent as he walks out of the arcade, taking my hand before leading me inside.

The games all look fun as I see the frown Brent has been wearing lately is gone and is replaced by a smile. "I don't want either of us to worry about the competition." "I just want to enjoy a date with you." He tells me, yet his tone makes me realize that he too knows his scores have been rather bad.

It felt as if it's the prelude to a goodbye but I'm not ready for him to leave, not yet anyway and so I put on a smile and play a game of wack a mole as we hit the heads of moles that poke out.

Brent laughs every time I miss and I cheer for him every time he hits one. We then move on to racing as we sit down in some chairs and maneuver through a course. I tell him how he'll never beat me and I'm proven right as I finish across the line in first place.

"You spend your days at the arcade?" He teases as he grabs us some ice cream out of a machine they have as I lick it as the chocolate flavor is very good. Brent smiles as he then takes my ice cream, handing his vanilla over. "Yours looks tasty." He says as he starts to lick it as I frown.

"Hand it over." I tell him as he puts his hands up before giving me it and I watch him finish his own ice cream as we pass by an air hockey table. "Want to play?" He asks as I nod and this time he's the one rubbing it in as he beats me.

It's the first game he's beat me at as I buy him a burger and he buys me a sandwich. We eat and talk about simple likes and dislikes in the world until he opens up about his family.

That he's the youngest sibling and it's why he's treated like a baby and is timid in the way that he is. I tell him it's what I admire and like about him as he blushes once again and I have an urge to kiss him.

I think he can tell this as well as my eyes linger on his reddened cheeks before gazing at his lips. I do eventually turn away though as I know I should't kiss the suitors, not until the end or at least not more then once before the end of the competition.

"You didn't do it." Brent says as I hear his disheartened voice and I want to make it up to him, to kiss him, yet my next date is now waiting as I know Brent will now be frowning for the rest of the night. I can't have that as I turn around and quickly kiss him on the cheek before leaving.

I smile on my way out as I had seen Brent smile as well. The date ends on a good note as I move onto Karden. I know his date may the most surprising as the carriage moves and I'm soon arriving at a spa. It seems rather odd for a date but get out of the carriage none the less.

I walk into the spa as I'm greeted by the staff and see Karden in a robe as he appears to not be wearing clothing. "This way miss." A woman escorts me to a changing room as I'm given swim wear. She then tells me to put on the robe as she takes me to my room.

I'm starting to question Karden's motives for this date as I enter and see him in a robe, standing on a mat. "It isn't what you think." "I've brought you here so that we can get closer and know each other more seriously."

"How so?" "I know you think words can create intimacy between two people but so can touch." He says before untying his robe as I close my eyes. "Open them." I do so and see him wearing underwear, while I gawk at his chest.

His muscles aren't too defined as he's more soft and has the kind of body you'd desire to be held by. "Your turn." He tells me as I look away from his body and take off my robe. His eyes feast upon the parts of my body that are exposed as he snaps out of it only when music starts to play.

The music is soothing and tranquil. "We will massage one another." "Nothing too intimate and we can stop at any time." He tells me as he suggests I massage him first.

I work mostly on his shoulders as I use some of the oil that's provided. I then work on his lower back and hear him groan. "I haven't had a massage in a long time." He tells me as I continue to massage him and don't stop until the end of the song.

He then tells me to turn around as he moves my hair to the side and gently rubs my shoulders, making sure to use some oil as he rubs down my back and I stretch as I feel particularly relaxed.

He doesn't stop massaging until the end of the song, where we then turn to face each other. We work on on each other shoulders, until he suggests working on each other legs and feet. I do only his legs as he then moves onto mine.

The sensation is different to anything I've felt before as I lay back and let him massage my legs before he then reaches my feet. I never want it to end until he speaks. "We can go further if you want." "I'm not saying we have to, only that we could and it would be our secret."

I sit up before standing up and look at him. He doesn't understand just how serious this competition is. I walk away from him, changing before I leave to the next date, the last date.

Vornan is the last date as it's now getting late and I wonder what could be open at such an hour, yet we pull up to a bridge, one that's filled with locks where couples have locked their hearts on it, sealing their love so that it never disappears, at least on this bridge.

I step out as I see Vornan holding a potted plant. He knew not to get me cut flowers since I won't be able to plant them and will have to watch them wilt and die. I take them from him as I put it in the carriage as Vornan tells me to close my eyes.

I do as he says as I hear a bit of rustling. "Open them." I see a strange looking kite in his hands. It emits fog as there seems to be a light inside. "My nation may not have many traditions but there is one." "We light a kite, send it off with a letter, to the ones who have passed on."

"It may be morbid but many of my people take comfort in it as they watch it fly before it disappears into the water, diving into the darkness below." "Why does it go down, shouldn't it fly to the heavens?"

Vornan frowns as he mustn't say anything or respond since the heavens do exist, just not for him or his people. The tradition of the kite is that it reaches loved ones below and with it having his fog attached to it, it will reach them. He wants Emory to do this, to write down everything she wants to say to her family since she'll be able to deliver it directly to them.

"It's just the way the tradition goes." He tells me as he hands me a piece of paper and a pen as he tells me to write to the ones who have passed on, more specifically my family that's now gone.

I decide to play into his tradition even if it does sound like a fairy tale his people must have told to children to ease their suffering and grief. It could be very therapeutic as I think about just how much I hate what they've done to me.

My dearest family

You're now gone from this world as I'm stuck cleaning up your mess. I'm next in line to be queen, can you believe that? I couldn't either, especially since I was always the locked away princess that nobody wanted and now I'm expected to run a nation, a nation you didn't believe could accept me, my flaws and all. I guess they don't have a choice now and well all I want to say is you should have appreciated me. You should have declared me the first born as I've always been the first born. I do hope you're now suffering after what you've put me through as no one deserves what I went through, especially an innocent child.

I then give the letter to Vornan as he doesn't even attempt to look at it as he puts it in the kite, giving it to me as I send it off before I watch it come down into the water before it dives into the darkness, disappearing from sight.

"That was magical." I tell him as he nods. "I have many tricks." "I'm sure you do." "Now tell me something I don't know." "I've never been loved." He says as if it's a fact and not something heartbreaking hes just told me. "I can't stand bright things, yet you're as bright as a person can be and I like it." He admits as he takes my hand as we walk through town.

The carriage follows after us as we talk about some of our hopes in the future. I especially talk about children and how I hope my husband and I can have a child soon after we marry. He agrees to this as if it will be him giving me such a gift.

The night grows darker and colder as I start to shiver. "We should get back to the palace. I watch him go to hold me but he pulls back as I too remember how cold his hands and body usually is.

He instead takes off one of his robes as he wraps it around me before we get inside the carriage. We head back to the palace as I'm sure the rest of the suitors are waiting.

I didn't realize we had been out so late as we walk through the door and see the men in the living room sleeping. I get Dina to bring a bell as I ring them awake.

"I'm sorry to wake you all and for staying out so late." "I lost track of time." I say as I look at Vornan and he hides a smile. He doesn't seem sorry at all for keeping me out yet the suitors had to wait as I need to now send somebody home.

"Today was amazing to say the least as I never knew I could go on so many different kinds of dates, yet they all showed me more about who each of you are and for that I'm thankful."

"The person who will be going home today is someone who didn't show me more then what I already saw." "This person had me cut the date early as I was not enjoying myself and what he had to offer on this date." "The one going home is Karden."

He seems to of already realized it was him as he's already standing and I see Brent in the corner with a tear going down his cheek. He thought it would be him. I look away from him as I then go to hug Karden as he whispers in my ear.

"You're missing out." He whispers before laughing as we pull away from one another. He then says his goodbyes and walks out the door like the rest. It's starting to get harder and harder to say goodbye as everyone left takes this competition seriously.