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

by K.M. Moronova

“The gods watch you closer than the others. Be careful,” the Krinsle mutters its warning before letting me go.

“Kalel, I’ve never loathed you. You were never a monster. It was me all along. Not you,” I whisper, and for some reason, my eyes linger on his mouth.

“I looked for you.” His voice is broken and wavers. His amber eyes search mine. “I came back to Florum because I was looking for you,” he chokes out the words, and they hit my heart like an arrow. My lower lip trembles. “You what?” I whisper. He gives me a sad smile, one that could ground me into dust. “I never stopped thinking about you.”

oh my heart

I’m one of the only ones in Thornhall who doesn’t have a father. Mom refuses to say who he is or what happened to him.

could it be a god?

“Whether or not you wake is not decided by either of us. But fear not, a prayer is all it takes.” His voice is cold like water over stone.

I swear to kill them all. Every last one of them, except the silver-haired girl who tried to help me. I stare down at my hand that she held so gently and with care.

It glowed brighter before disappearing, and in its place was a knight. I stared at the armor, confused at first but then I understood. This is the knight who led the attack or will lead it.

So, I put a curse of my own on that knight, with the help of the only god who ever cared to help the demon-folk. Pluto only grinned with my request. He shook his head but granted it.

I swore to destroy Alzhor, but I needed to find the lovely girl first and save her from the fate I would bring to her kingdom.

“Then that helmet came off, and it was you.” He runs his hand through his hair, making it disheveled. “Why did it have to be you?” he murmurs, heartbreak is cumbersome in his tone. Is that why he looked surprised in the last loop he killed me in? I saw his eyes and the emotion that flickered through him when he saw my silver hair.

“All I ever truly wanted was you… And the guilt of that is ruining me, little godling.” Kalel kisses me, curling his fingers into my hair as he does.

Squealing

“I won’t be sharing her.”

thank goodness

“Of course, old friend. Perhaps a few years down the line, after you have a child or two, or if you should die in battle. I’ll take care of her.”

Gross

My eyes widen. Is he… jealous?

Yes girl yes

“Of course I do. They remind me that gentle, delicate things hold so much power over us.” I let my gaze lift to his.

love this

This is the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time,” I admit sheepishly.

Then how bad was being a knight? Geeze

Almost always, I thought of you. For the short time we had together, you marked my heart somehow.”

awe

“I truly am a monster, and I will do unspeakable acts for the things I want. I really am sorry, Alira,” I murmur against her forehead, pressing a kiss there as penance.

“I saw the way you looked at her. I can’t let you breed her, my king.” I try to sound as respectful as I can, but I wanted to tear his throat out tonight. The scent of his lust for her was maddening. He was going to take her to his chambers tonight, even after everything I’ve done for him and the kingdom.

His way of saving her

“Is that why you thought you’d beat me to it? Keep your demigod.

yes because you are a creep

If she knew that each of those peonies were once demigods, would she still covet them so? After finding their gilded blood in the stems? After learning that I buried their bones there in the flowerbeds? How does she think we keep our kingdom warded with such magic? If she knew I prayed to Pluto to put a loop curse on her that day in Thornhall—that I cursed the knight who led the attack on my mother’s home—to relive many lives until I was satisfied with killing them repeatedly for punishment, could she forgive me?

Evil and vengeful as I am, I couldn’t willingly kill the only being that has plagued my mind for the last thirty years.

I will bring Alzhor and every half-god to rubble now that she is out of harm's way.

If Venus hadn't sent him that wisp to try to stop the attack on Thornhall, her only daughter would’ve died the first time he had slain her in Alzhor. Venus’ wisp showed him a specific knight to put his rage toward. I chuckle at her risky move. To show her daughter to a monster like him, a monster I helped create, was a bold move in the least.

So her mom does care

But unlike the gods in the sky, I require a prayer from one with holy blood to keep a soul from entering the Gates of Mortem.