Taming the Demon King

Lunch

I checked my appearance for the fourteenth time and couldn’t find anything wrong.  I can’t help but fuss over it.  I am dressed fairly conservatively.  I’m wearing a collared shirt with a nice pale blue patterned sweater over it.  My hair is relatively under control and up in a tidy ponytail.  My jewelry is far less ornate than it was during the banquet.  Just a pair of pearl earrings and a simple gold necklace with a heart pendant.  Two rings adorn my ring fingers, one a simple gold daisy with a pearl in the center and the other a gold band with an emerald on it.  I don’t go in for anything too ornate except when it’s socially expected.

“You’re fine,” Stella says for the fourteenth time.

“I know, I just needed to check.”

“We need to go or you’re going to be late for your lunch date.”

“It’s not a date.  It’s a meet and greet.”

“It’s a lunch date with a pair of chaperones.”

I sigh in exasperation.  “I don’t even know if I like him.”

“Oh you like him,” she says annoyingly.  “You wouldn’t have accepted the lunch date if you didn’t like him.”

I glare at her.  She is dressed just as conservatively as I am in a green high-collared dress.  We are both in long sleeves, skirts, and thick tights because the castle is getting chilly.  The cold weather is coming down off the lake and the walls barely keep the worst of it out.  Castle life is never as glamorous as it’s portrayed to be.

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re not wrong,” I grumble.  There’s no point in lying to her.  “I don’t dislike him.  I just don’t know him yet.”

Stella smirks at me.  “Well you’re going to have to start if you want to be Queen.”

“I don’t know that I want to be Queen.”  I grimace.  “Especially the demon Queen.”

She shakes her head.  “You have to be a demon to be the demon Queen.  You would just be a witch Queen ruling the demon world.”

“Somehow that’s worse.”

“Let’s go before you check your appearance again,” she says, dragging me out of my room.  I shut the door behind us and we headed downstairs.  My mother meets us at the base of the tower stairs and together we leave our family apartment.

The moment I set foot in the corridor I realize just how much has changed.  Everywhere we walked, every corner we turned, witches nodded in respect or moved aside and stared openly.  I’ve always been a source of interest to anyone new to the castle, my red hair sees to that.  But this is nothing like that.  I’m being stared at like I’m a ghost or a celebrity or visiting royalty.  Eventually I guess the latter will be true.

Stella squeezes my hand surreptitiously, lending me support.  I am a strong person, but anyone would balk at this level of attention.  Even me.

We finally arrive at the doors to the small dining room the King has requested for our lunch.  Outside the door stands a demon guard and a small group of higher up witches who will be accompanying me to lunch.  This is not by my design, I’d rather meet the King on our own.  I just had no say in the matter.

I nod cordially to the group of witches I only recognize in passing and barely know the names of any of them.  A witch guard was added to the demon contingent.  I knock on the door as nonchalantly as I can.  I already know he knows I’m here.  Our minds made contact the moment I came down the corridor.

A demon opens the door from within.  I have been in this room for many family celebrations.  It works well for parties that don’t require a lot of people.  The table in the center is set up for half a dozen of us.  Around the room stand several demon escorts and counselors as well as a few witch guards.  I’m unnerved by the amount of people in here, but I play it off and head directly for the King.

Relax.  We can always talk privately this way.

My mouth quirks as I repress a smile.  The benefits of being a telepath and sometimes never ending.  Good because we have plenty to talk about.

A glimmer in his eye says more than his thoughts at the moment.  I understand that he is not used to such a forceful woman and I have provided some surprises for him.

The King pulls a chair out for me and his assistants do the same for my mother and Stella.  He takes the seat next to me, my mother and Stella seated to my right and his assistants to the left of him.  He makes introductions but for the life of me I can’t focus on their names.  Not that it matters much.  I can always silently ask again later.

Don’t worry.  I will make sure you know them when you need to know them.  

I’m sure you will, I grumble silently back.  

The King gestures for the staff to begin serving the first course.  I take a quick and hopefully elegant sip of the water in front of me.  I’m too young to drink the wine and even my mother is not touching it.  Stella glances at me, her face betraying nothing but her thoughts giving me her survey of the situation.

You can talk to him can’t you, she says to me.

Yes, we figured that out yesterday, I answer.

Then use it while you’re in this space to learn about him, she says.  Then she proceeds to start up inane conversation with the rest of the table, allowing me and the King to fully concentrate on each other’s thoughts for a few moments.

I like her, Constantin says.

She’s my best friend, I explain.  And she’s kinda feisty like me.

I’m beginning to understand your feistiness.

I hope not.

Constantin represses a smile as he takes a sip of the wine in front of him.  Your birthday is when?

Three days.

In his mind I can feel him considering.  The timing lines up to when he is meant to leave.  But he is thinking of changing his plans.  A moment passes and he decides to do so.  His eyes go to a demon at the side of the room and I feel rather than hear the communication between them.  The demon gives a subtle nod and no other sign that the order was given.

That’s Bonilos, he explains.  He deals with the day-to-day workings of the Royal Seat.  After a pause he articulates, Incidentally he is one of the few that is open to your selection.  As I’m sure you’ve guessed, my choice of you has come as a . . . surprise.

I had guessed.

I don’t believe I’ve made an incorrect choice, but they are unsure of me diluting the Royal Line, he says.

It takes a moment for what he is saying to click, but then I sit up a tad straighter, my feathers ruffled.  They don’t want a witch for a Queen but more than that they don’t want a half witch for an heir.  Any children the King and I would have would be half demon and half witch.

I’m nowhere near ready for children, I say immediately.

Neither am I, he says.  That would not be something we move forward on till we are both ready, he adds.  From his thoughts I understand that he would be willing to use any preventions necessary to prevent a child.  Witches had several methods for preventing pregnancy.  We would have to be careful though.  I don’t know how well the methods would work in a union like ours.

Then I stop thinking about that and set it aside.  That is a discussion for later, after I’ve accepted the idea of being his Queen.  But if I am being honest with myself, and I am trying to be, I have already come around to the idea.  The decision now is whether to accept him.

Can you explain now why you want me for your Queen?

I see his jaw clench.  He is not going to refuse me this again.  And he knows I am determined to hear it.  He directs one of the two demons to explain something to the group, something that he knows will take time to explain.  Then he says to me, I don’t have time or concentration to share the memory with you now, but I can give you an overview. 

A long time ago I met a witch as a child.  An old witch, a crone I believe you call them.  She lived in the wilds between our lands and I had a habit of escaping and running into the wildlands for hours at time.  She found me lost and wandering.

She took me in for the afternoon and gave me hot tea and snacks.  I liked her.  I remember liking her a lot.  And she gave me a look into my future.  She said I would meet a witch someday, a witch with a fiery crown and an equally fiery personality.  I didn’t know what that meant at the time.  But I do now.  She said I should make that witch my Queen.  That darkness is coming in our world and that you for a Queen would help our two peoples stave it off.

In the stunned silence, I set down my fork and knife.  The whole time I was eating on autopilot as he and I conversed.  Stella looks at me in concern.  I assure her I am alright, but I am not sure I am.  

A witch told him to find a witch for a Queen.  And she told him that because we would have a fighting chance against a deeper darkness to come.

What darkness? I ask, that being the obvious question in my mind.

He glances at me as he answers, I don’t know.  But she said it would be terrible for all peoples.  In his thoughts he includes humans and the fae folk.  This only tells me whatever darkness is to come will threaten us all.

As long as you are honest with me, I will give you deeper consideration, I say.  The only thing I can think to say.

I am more honest with you than with my own counselors.  That I can believe.

There is a long pause as we each have a small dessert placed in front of us.  The tiny cake with a sugar flower on top of it suddenly feels too pretty and delicate for my dark mood.

Will you be my Queen? he asks tentatively.

For a moment I don’t say anything.

I’ll let you know my decision on my birthday.  Before then it would be too complicated if I accept, I say.  The truth is I need another few days to come to terms with it.  Not only would I be choosing to become the Demon Queen, I would also be choosing to save the world from some unnamed threat.  Do I have the strength to rise to both of those enormous tasks?

Part of me believes I do.

Our lunch wraps up and Constantin helps me up from my chair.  His hand holding mind feels natural after that whole date of holding it and passing thoughts.  I squeeze his fingers so subtly I know only he noticed.  He moves his thumb against my fingers, offering a tiny amount of comfort.

We leave the small dining room and head down the corridor back towards our quarters.  My shoulder relax but my jaw remains clenched.  I have a lot on my mind and a difficult decision to make.  A decision I don’t even believe I am prepared to think about.

Stella takes my hand again, squeezing it to show her support.  I squeeze it back thinking about all the support I would need to do this.  And in that moment I realize I’ve made my choice.

I will be the Demon Queen.