Married to the Beast

THE DEVIL HIMSELF

The night was progressing smoothly so far and I couldn’t believe King Kadmus was so charming. It was so fascinating watching him interact with the guests, especially since I’d never really seen him interact with other people and he was always extremely cold towards me. Every now and then he’d look down at me through his dark lashes and my heart would skip a beat. Having his large presence nearby made me feel dwarfed but I pushed through nonetheless. It felt good having him at least guide me through the throngs of people. 

“Are you enjoying yourself Angel?”

It took me a while to realize he was actually talking to me. It’s the first time he has directly spoken to me since the night on the balcony. He was looking down at me with his mysterious dark eyes, the gold around the edges glimmering with his brows furrowed waiting for me to respond. A lock of hair had fallen over his temple and my gaze continued to his soft looking lips. I then realized I was staring and directed my gaze to my feet. 

“ I- yes”

 We were slowly dancing in the middle of the dance floor and even though I wasn’t much of a dancer he was effortlessly guiding me along. 

He rubbed small circles in the small of my back against my bare flesh and I could feel my core heat up and my stomach tighten. I noticed he’d been doing this all night whenever I got nervous with the guests. 

It was oddly reassuring and helped me not stumble over my words making me aware that he was with me through and through. This also made my body aware as well and every time he stroked my bare flesh I could feel my body responding. Whenever he’d briefly remove his hand I was suddenly missing the warmth of his hand.  

 I’d be lying if I didn't say him doing this wasn’t a surprise but he probably didn’t want me to make a fool of myself and inadvertently a fool of him as well. It wasn’t like I was used to going to parties or interacting with so many people, especially of wealth and status. The most i’d interact with were horses and goats apart from my father and sister. 

Oh God he did the circle thing again with his thumb and my breath hitched. I quickly looked up and he was looking down at me pensively. He must have said something. s**t. 

“ I’m sorry your grace?” I whispered my cheeks flushed.

“ You had wanted to see me?” his face was blank, devoid of emotion.

My eyes darted around the hall nervously.

“ I don’t think this would be the place to discuss it, maybe somewhere more private your grace?

There was a twinkle in his eye. 

“ Kadmus” his deep voice sending small tremors through me. 

“ I’m sorry?” I asked, confusion etched on my face. 

I could probably think straight if he didn’t keep tracing circles with his fingers on my lower back while being in his arms. We were so close and he kept staring down at me intensely. He leaned forward a bit so that only the two of us could hear and I breathed in his delicious scent. His mouth was close to my ear and I could feel his warm breath tickle the side of my neck. If I just looked up our lips would meet. 

“ We are going to be married soon. I think it’s time you stopped calling me your grace.”  He then paused as if thinking “ Except maybe in the bedroom”

My eyes almost bulged out of my head. 

 I instantly started picturing us together and my cheeks were on fire. The corners of his mouth turned up a bit. If I hadn’t met the cruel man nights ago I’d say he was enjoying this.

I cleared my throat and croaked out.

“ Kadmus it is”

The music then ended and I followed his gaze to the balcony. He signaled with his hand for us to go so we could discuss my matter and I was relieved to finally have his ear. As we were about to move off the room suddenly went deathly quiet. I followed the crowd’s gaze and in came a royal procession. For a second I was confused. Was I seeing right?  A man walked in looking almost identical to the King! 

He was tanned as well and dressed in a dark grey suit embroidered with a deep red that struggled against his muscular frame. He had the same dark hair that was cropped short. He was a bit shorter than the king and his eyes were dead, emotionless and this made me feel uneasy. He was a handsome man though nowhere near Kadmus’ looks. He was heavily decorated in gold jewelry and flashed a smile that had no warmth in it. 

“ Brother! You forgot to invite me?” he said with a sinister laugh and I felt incredibly uncomfortable. Kadmus on the other hand was unfazed. 

“That’s because I didn’t ” he said calmly but coldly. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. 

I tried to think but I couldn’t remember hearing of the king having a brother. Apparently everyone else knew because the hall was quiet or maybe they felt the same unease as I did. I scooted closer to Kadmus and his brother glanced between us. I shook off the questions raging in my mind because it’s not like I had heard of most of these people or the royal family anyway seeing I was perpetually in my own little world for years. However it was still strange. I should’ve at least heard of him. Very strange.

He clasped his large hands and forced another smile. 

“ It’s not everyday I get to see my only beloved brother getting married” His gaze landed on me and my heart started beating faster. He gave me a look of pure hatred. The air was tense and painfully quiet for a while as everyone waited for Kadmus to respond. 

Then suddenly to break the tension the building shook and I lurched forward. Kadmus cemented his grip on me and dragged me into his side steadying me. People started screaming, confusion etched on their faces and chaos ensued. Before I could try to process what was happening his brother lunged forward so quickly it was almost impossible to see and ran him through with a black and gold dagger!

 The building then stood still and suddenly people were screaming rushing to the exits. There was a satisfied smile playing on his brother’s lips and then he released the handle of the knife and I watched the king fall with a heavy thud.

 Even though I willed my body to move or scream I couldn’t. I could barely hear anything amidst the screaming crowd. I stood there shaking looking on as black blood poured out from the wound seeping through his dark attire and pooling around him and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. Kadmus laid on the floor his veins looking like they would pop out. I tried to will myself to move or to try and do something but my feet remained planted to the floor. 

 Guards made themselves visible wearing black at every opening that could be used as an exit. 

“Quiet!” his voice boomed and everyone stopped to look at the new guest who had just killed the king.

What am I going to do? I would probably be next. 

I felt like all the blood had drained from me. I couldn’t move. 

“Well it seems the mighty has fallen!” he said satisfied. 

He stomped repeatedly on Kadmus’ chest, my body jumping each time his feet collided with his chest. People then started crying and screaming and I heard the sickening sound of bones cracking and crunching.  

Dear God. 

Stopping to catch his breath, the muscle in his jaw was pronounced. His cold angry eyes then looked towards the crowd.

“ Now kneel before your new king or die with your old one!” he sneered. His jaw taunt. 

Everyone fell to their knees immediately. He turned around to look at Kadmus who was watching everything unfold it seemed barely in and out of consciousness while bleeding out. 

 Then the cold dead eyes of his brother cut to me standing in the center of the room and my breathing became ragged. He slowly walked around me, eyes raking up and down my form. 

“Fate has brought you nothing but suffering”

He stopped behind me and I could feel his breath on my neck. His fingers traced my arm and I shuddered.

“ Let’s give my brother and his guests a show!”

What did he mean by a show? I closed my eyes briefly to try and steady my breath. My hands were shaking. I looked down at Kadmus and his eyes held worry. 

His brother leaned into me and his hot breath fanned my neck.

“ So innocent, don’t faint now." he lightly smelled my hair. "You need to be awake for what I’m going to do to you.”

I heard someone gasp as his rough hands ripped my dress in the back apart going all the way down and I was exposed. My time here just keeps getting worse. 

“All eyes up here for the show, nobody looks away”

I could feel the tears starting to run down my face. He gave one last tear and the back of the dress opened leaving me bare. I grabbed the front of the dress to cling to whatever modesty I had left as his eyes roved over my ass. I saw the guards in my line of vision smile and I closed my eyes. 

Using his foot he nudged my knees and legs apart. I could feel the cool air on my exposed body.

Walking around, he stopped in front of me. 

I glanced down quickly not being able to meet his gaze to see Kadmus had pulled out the knife from his chest and the blood was now spurting out. How did he move so quickly? 

His brother touched my lips and my heart plummeted. Touching the material of the dress in my hand, he stood there rubbing it between his two fingers. I suddenly found my voice.

“ Please no, please please please no” his cold eyes rested on my face and what I saw made a chill run through me. 

“ I’m going to f**k you until a voice says stop”

My body was shaking like a leaf and there was nothing I could do to stop it. He ripped the dress I was holding up from my hands leaving me completely naked and I couldn’t help the sobs that escaped. I used my hands to cover my chest but he gently removed them. I could feel all the eyes from the guests looking at me. His face looked like pure evil and his eyes gazed at me over filled with lust. 

“ Kadmus you have to keep your eyes open for this part” he said menacingly, giving him a light kick.

His eyes fluttered open and showed pain and regret. 

His brother took off his jacket and then pants and stood behind me. I waited in horror and felt his hands roughly grip my waist. Leaning in to my neck and kissing down to my collarbone. His lips sending a violent shiver running through me.

“ We are known to be very big and this will hurt, well it will damage you greatly”

The sick bastard sounded happy as if feeding off the fear. I closed my eyes and my heart felt like it would tear out of chest and my lungs burned.

Then he grunted as he pulled my hips backward with one hand, the other lifting his member. My eyes flew open and I stared at the ceiling.

In a flash there was a blinding light and I felt large hands go around my ankle and I felt myself plummeting before landing on damp grass.