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

by K.M. Moronova

Because, you see, the demons and demigods have never gotten along. Not before the war, and certainly not now.

The demigods are on the brink of extinction. We’ve pushed the demons too far this time, and now, only a marriage in peace between the two species will bring an end to this senseless war—A

The Blood Knight has killed me in twenty-time loops—a cruel curse that I’ve found myself trapped in. For some reason, my life keeps resetting to exactly one week before his raid on my kingdom.

I can’t despise her less just because she’s the most enchanting creature I’ve ever laid my eyes on, but the curve of her pouting lips begs to differ.

You don’t scare me. “If hurting me will soothe the pain that wreaks havoc in you, then hurt me, Kalel. You’ll find there’s not much left inside me that can be broken.”

“I would take your suffering if I could.” I hug him tightly. He allows it for a moment, then seems to remember himself and pulls away.

It’s not even a question for me. I can’t let her die. Not just that I can’t, I won’t. It’s like a calling through my very soul. A plea. Then I hear her voice. Clear as morning dew. Please don’t let me die, Kalel.

If you marry this demon, there will be no happily ever after for you. Not for anyone.”

I long to hold her. To tell her of her beauty and how it haunts my every thought.

It’s odd how you don’t realize the loneliness in your soul until you meet someone who stubbornly plants it there.

“Perhaps in another life I could have forgiven you. Perhaps even cared for you. But my heart is dead, little godling, it died the night you found me in that forest.”

I know we aren’t two souls who are meant to be tethered to one another, but an ache settles in my heart at his reluctance to even look at me. Something from deep within my soul yearns to be with him, even if the gods revolt at our coming together.

“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.”

When I turned twenty-four, an insatiable urge to return to Florum sparked inside me. It wasn’t just an urge. It was a calling, as if the fabric of my soul was woven with her thread. I had to be close to her. I needed to meet her again.

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. If she felt the same beckoning call within her to find me, I knew I would find her.

“All I ever truly wanted was you… And the guilt of that is ruining me, little godling.”

“You know how, when you are in constant, deep pain, you get used to it? You don’t realize how much misery you were in until the pain is gone. I didn’t realize how miserable I was until I left.”

I would come here to clear my head. Almost always, I thought of you. For the short time we had together, you marked my heart somehow.”

“I wished it wasn’t you, Alira. But I was lying. To myself. To you. I’ve longed for this. To make you mine forever.”

My eyes shift down to her face. I could stare upon her for the rest of time. My little godling. Mine.

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?

“You should know that I die slowly with each tear you shed. I love you, Alira. I’m sorry for what I am.”

Can she hear my heart? Can she hear how it agonizes for her? No, she will never love a man like me. Not after what comes next. Not after vengeance is served. I will bring Alzhor and every half-god to rubble now that she is out of harm's way. “I’m sorry for tricking you.”