Once Upon a Demon's Heart (Cruel Fates #1)

by K.M. Moronova

“Why am I marrying you out of all the high lords? You loathe demigods more than any of your kind. I’ll happily switch to someone else.” Someone who won’t fan...

“It wasn’t up to me if that’s what you’re assuming, but it serves a purpose.” He leans forward and lets his mouth touch the skin behind my ear as if he actually enjoys the way I smell. He fists a handful of hair as he tilts my head back gently. “Do you know why they call me the Blood Knight?” His lips coast down my t...

“They call me the Blood Knight because I do not have my own to live off of. As you can see—” he steps back and motions to his stomach where bruises are all but black underneath his skin “—I bleed darkness, cold and unsustaining, unlike yours.” My lips tremble despite my best efforts to keep them still. Demons are truly terrifying. It’s one thing to read about a Devourer in an old tome compared to seeing it in person. “And what exactly are you, Kalel?” I already know. But I want to hear him say it anyway. His cruel grin is as frigid as his hands. “Partaker of demigods—a Devourer.”

My heart beats with terror. Is that why he keeps so many half-god prisoners? I thought he was using them as hostages in Devicit, but now I’m unsure. Are we only food to them? Our blood is sacred; it is a mortal sin to drink it. Only a demon could survive such a violation of the holy laws set by Jupiter.

“Monster,” I mutter with a heavy glare, tears welling in my eyes. “You aren’t wrong. Devourer’s appetites are insatiable, and it’s the reason why the demigods rose together to slaughter all demons in the first place,” he murmurs as he draws his tongue over his lip—a deep hunger moving through his expression. Perhaps...

“Are you ready to do what it takes to be the bride of the Bl...

“If it’s what will stop the war… then yes.” His frown seems genuine. “If it will stop the war, or if it will keep you alive? Don’t think that I’ve forgotten your reason for being in Florum forest that day. You were going to abandon your kingdom. Why did you go back?”

“I went back because of what you said after you walked away.” He raises a brow as if he can’t remember. “That I didn’t try everything to change my fate.”

I’m not going to flat out say it worked because I’m still here. He could never fully understand. “Did my advice help?” he asks with a low, condescending voice as he closes the space ...

He dips his head until his lips are brushing against my ear. Stroking his tongue up the side of my neck, breath hot against my skin. I shudder and am horrified at the heat that warms my lower abdomen from his touch. “Good,” he...

My entire body slackens at the intrusion and a small whimper escapes my lips. He catches me around the waist, holding me close to his ch...

My eyes trace the roof of the tent, wide and unfamiliar with the sensation of anything feeding from my veins. It burns like hellfire ravaging through my bloodstream and spreading like venom. The pain is unbearable. I can’t hold back the small sounds of misery that slip each time he takes a deep pull. He’s consuming me. He seems to relish in those small sounds of suf...

“It shouldn’t hurt as bad next time. The venom from my bite should help you build immunity to the pain.” He almost sounds apologetic. I could be imagining things though, considering I can’t even lift my head.

“It w-wasn’t so bad.” My voice wavers as the hand I had pressed against my neck goes limp and falls to the ground. He looks at me with a calloused expression, settling on firming his jaw. He stands and returns to his desk. “Get some rest. We have a long way to go to get back to Devicit and it’s the dead of winter through the wastelands, so you’ll need your strength.”

A weak smile returns to my lips with one hopeful thought. I outlived the cursed day.

“What’s wrong with her? She’s awfully calm don’t you think?” one of them asks another. “Demigods don’t have emotions, dumbass,” the other replies, and they chuckle amongst themselves. Funny. They say the same things we do about them. A frown tugs on my lips and I stare into the campfire flames.

My entire body aches from the essence required to place the sacred oath still, but my neck throbs worse of all. I rub the bite mark and hope that he’s right and it doesn’t cause as much pain next time.

“Are you really the knight that led the attack on Thornhall?” A curious, soft voice asks me, not of violation, but pure curiosity.

I turn and find a lovely young woman sitting beside me. She’s dressed in light gray Devicitian armor, her helmet is tucked beneath her arm. Her eyes are red like rubies, and she has golden scales where her hairline fades into waves of rich brown locks, falling past her shoulders. A demon of the sea. When I don’t respond, she smiles bleakly with pity. Her eyes linger around my neck where Kalel bit me. “So, you are… War is an awful thing, isn’t it?” She speaks sincerely.

The demons claim that it is the half-gods that have no emotions, but my entire life I’ve learned nothing except how ruthless they are to all but their own.

“Your king is a terribly cruel man,” She mutters, looking across the campsite at Kalel as he orders his men around. They pack tents onto carts behind ebony horses two times the size of the horses we have in Alzhor. Kalel’s cold amber eyes shift toward us. I quickly avert my gaze. He has thoroughly instilled fear inside me. From all the times he’s killed me so effortlessly down to the blood he stole from me last night.

The woman seems to notice my dread. “You would’ve been better off dead,” she sighs and gently moves her hand over mine. I flinch at the warmth of it. I’m already so familiar to the cold, bloodless hands of Kalel that I almost want to clutch onto her.

“You shouldn’t have revealed that you’re the daughter of Venus.” Her voice is tender and sown with sorrow. I raise my eyes to hers, defiance burning inside my chest. She has no idea what I’ve been through. None of them do. I’ve exhausted all options, and yet revealing what I really am is the worst thing to them? Laughable. “My life is a small price to pay in exchange for the war between our kingdoms to end,” I say with a tight frown.

Concern threads through her eyes as she considers me. “You’re telling me that you aren’t worried at all about the horrors King Achill will reign upon the surrounding nations once he has holy blood in his forces? You don’t think he...

“Kalel doesn’t seem too keen on breeding with me, so I’d say we’re spared from that reality,” I say with no confidence at all. He loathes me, I can’t imagine him wanting to… I swallow and shut my eyes at the lewd thoughts of him ravaging my body. It’s disturbing how every muscle in my stomach reacts to those images that flash through my mind. He’s so much bigger than me. His large fingers going inside would—Gods, stop. I shake my head.

“I’m Tessa by the way, one of Kalel’s lieutenants, so don’t be afraid to let me know if you need anything.” I don’t like the way she refused to comment on what I said. Does that mean she knows something and isn’t telling me? Well, of course, I guess that’s a given. Why would she share anything with me? I’m basically his prisoner. Blood bag, more accurately.

“How should I address you?” I ask, lowering my eyes back to the smoldering fire that’s being put out with heavy snowflakes. It’s going to take time to get to know their ways of life and social standings. I should at least try to make a genuine effort.

“Lieutenant or just Tessa is fine.” She doesn’t wait for me to respond before standing and moving to the far end of camp. I observe silently as she helps Kalel order the knights around to prepare their horses for travel and to put out campfires. I remain sitting, cold and shivering under this godsforsaken blanket, until everything is demolished and packed up.

Kalel approaches me with unreadable eyes. He appears irritated to be stuck with me. He’s dressed in his full suit of armor, minus the helmet. My eyes catch on his pointed ears again. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to being this close to a demon. Especially the one...

I stand with the blanket still wrapped around my shoulders since I haven’t been given anything else. I’m too proud to ask for anything warmer, especially since he already had given me that dragon pelt cloak in the woods. I wish I would’ve brought it back to the kingdom, so I had the chance to bring it with me, but I knew if anyone saw the rare cloak, they’d ask questions. Which is why I left it in a hollow tree by my campsite i...

Kalel leads me to his tall black stallion at the head of the group. He mounts it easily, throwing his leg gracefully over the side and sitting stoically aboard the beast. He stares down at me indifferently for a few moments but offers me his hand when he decides there’s no way I can attempt to climb this horse again, especially with a blanket wrapped around me like a shawl. I take his cold, callous hand and he lifts me up as though I weigh nothing. His arms wrap around my waist as he takes the reins and whistles for his army to follow.

My ass hurts before midday. I’ve ridden plenty of horses, but not for extended periods of time without proper gear and having a wall of metal and muscle at my back doesn’t help at all.

I shiver beneath the blanket as the cold northern winds flow through the fabric. Kalel has already sighed heavily several times at my reaction to the frigid temperatures. How could he possibly understand what it’s like to be cold when he’s incapable of feeling it? Demons rarely have vulnerabilities to temperature according to him.

“Tessa,” he calls to his lieutenant. She reins her horse to his side in a matter of moments. “Let’s take a break to feed the horses and the troops.” She nods and whistles in a strange tune that the others seem to understand means to take a break. Kalel doesn’t stop though. His horse keeps heading straight, adjacent with the forest wall to our right until he locates a small red flag hanging from a long outward stretched branch. He pulls on the reins, and the horse turns into the forest, following a frozen path made of stones to a small cottage tucked away in the woods.

It’s modest. The walls are made of gray cobblestones. Hibernating vines cling to the sides of the exterior, framing the old scuffed up windows. The roof is made with two-feet-thick hay slabs and a small stone chimney juts out on the left side. Kalel dismounts and plucks me from the saddle without a word. I keep my eyes lowered as he opens the cottage and steps inside.

When I don’t immediately follow him, he lets out a long, exasperated breath and runs his hand down his jaw. The darkness in his gaze doesn’t falter as he watches me shiver beneath the blanket. “Come,” he ...

Kalel lights the fireplace with some matches he pulled from his satchel, then orders me to sit on the floor in front of it. I do as he says and pull my legs close to my body. My muscles are frail from a combination of essence exhaustion, my reluctance to eat, and being drained of blood. To top it off I’m freezing too, but it’s better than starting over another time loop.

What happens if I die now? Do I reset again? Or is this it? I’m no curse expert, but whatever the gods have planned must be going the way they finally want. Otherwise, I don’t think I’d be here. Why me though? I sullen as I open my eyes and watch the flames dance.

Kalel reaches down and steals the blanket away from me. I don’t complain or raise my chin to look at him. I only hold my arms closer and try to absorb as much warmth as I can. A few moments pass before a heavier fur blanket falls over my shoulders. My eyes widen and I glance up at him. He doesn’t meet my gaze, instead he sets a pot he must’ve filled with water over the fire.

I observe as the revered Blood Knight, in his full suit of Devicitian armor, pulls a small bag of dried toadstools from his satchel and drops an assortment of them into the pot. He adds a few drops of oil and half a bottle of some sort of purple glittering liquid. “You really are an apothecary, aren’t you?” I offer him ...

He sits back on his haunches and gives me a side glance once he’s done adding all the ingredients. “I told you I was, didn’t I? This soup will help keep you warm for the remainder of the day. Foxflick and Barbosi are essence-rich and will replenish your energy.” He actually talks to me like he’s not ready to take his sword to my throat. He sounds gloomier and more lost in his thoughts than anything else. My chest warms at the idea of him making me food just as much as it shifts with unease. He co...

Neither of us speak for many moments. The crackling of the fire fills the emptiness of the cottage and our hearts. When he finally talks, my shoulders tighten at the deepness of his voice. “Why don’t you seem more upset about your situation, Alira?” Kalel asks, sounding genuinely curious.

I let my head rest on my shoulder as I look at him, studying the contours of his cheek bones.

“Should I cry instead?” I mutter mundanely. He only stares at me. Something stirs inside my chest at the idea of him watching me this closely. Cataloging my features as I’m doing to him. “It’s better than dying, isn’t it? You led your army to slaughter us all. I’m only a sacrifice. Many have suffered worse fates.” My cryptic words hold more meaning than he could ever know. He’d probably love to know that...

His brow raises slightly, intrigued at my reaction. “You’ve certainly ended enough lives to know,” he says slowly, letting his attention fall back to the soup and stirring it. He pours a cup and hands it to me. I take it without question and sip on the warm liquid. It tastes like herbal tea. It’s delightfully pleasant. I close my eyes and drink the whole cup.

Kalel grunts. “I could’ve poisoned that and it would’ve gone unnoticed. You didn’t even check it. You’re just gulping it down like you're starving. Have you not eaten anything yet today?” The cup makes a sharp sound as I set it down on the stone hearth. I wipe my mouth with my sleeve and side eye him. “If you wanted to kill me, you would’ve made it a public ordeal,” I mutter. I haven’t eaten much for a few days either.

I wonder if Tessa has been keeping him updated. It’s hard to have an appetite when you know you’re only being fed because he needs me to be healthy if he plans on consuming my blood. What I eat, he eats. Ugh. “Mo...

“Oh, little godling, you’re right about that. I am a monster. Your worst nightmare. I’d kill you in your sleep if I wanted. I’d kill you while fucking your brains out if I so pleased.” My cheeks flush and I’m mortified at how his tone makes my thighs warm.

I glare at him and throw the blanket off my shoulders, making to stand and walk back outside. “Fuck you.” He catches my wrist and drags me down into his lap.

“You need to warm up so we can be on our way. We aren’t stopping again,” he growls. “And I need to scent you again before we leave. You reek.” He can say those words with as much volition as he wants, but it doesn’t change the way that he buries his nose into the crook of my neck like he can’t get enough of the way I smell. I wriggle in his arms, but he leaves no sla...