Chapter Four (Sin)

I returned to my throne room where Hellebore was already waiting, a smile on her face.

"So, you possess humans now?" I asked nonchalantly, remembering how she had possessed Amaya’s friend's body. Bitch had been spying on me.

She shrugged. “Just wondering what you’ve been up to the last few days.” She smiled.

I could trust her about as much as I could trust a feral animal. What was she up to?

“A little obsessed with the human, aren’t you? Where did you leave her, exactly?”

"Are you really questioning your King?" I accused, not liking how invested she seemed to be, like I’d tell her where I hid my little human.

Before she could reply. My little brother, Rook, walked into the room. Wearing his normal attire of black dress pants and white dress shirt, he was tall and built like most in our army, his hair cut short and his face clean shaven, he had sharp features like his mother and green eyes that shimmered and changed constantly. Rook was a few years younger than me, and I knew that Hellebore was trying to get him to help steal my throne for his older brother. She was in for a surprise.

One of the reasons I didn’t want a Demoness as my Queen was because I suspected she would use whomever I picked to kill or manipulate me. I was curious as to what she was planning and who was helping her, so for now I let her plot against me under the supervision of two of my guards, loyal to only me. I also didn’t move to execute her because of my half brothers, both younger than me. Rook was the youngest of the two and Lazarus was the oldest. I didn't want to hurt them unnecessarily.

“What I do is not of your concern. You are no longer Queen if you remember my father is dead, and you have lost that title.”

She scowled at the reminder, rose, and left the room, leaving my brother behind.

As I sat on my throne, Rook bowed to me before he spoke. “We need to speak, brother; you must take a Queen and a human would not survive down here.” He informed, probably concerned about the human he knew I was following.

Rook and I were close. Lazarus had wanted nothing to do with us, so growing up, we played together, since demon children were scarce in the royal court.

Rook was determined to be a general in my army holding a sword from a young age like Lazarus and me, but he was also a strategist and smart. When I was crowned, it made sense to make him my General as he had surpassed the other candidates.

When I told him of his mother's and brother's treachery, he had requested time to speak with them and convince them to give up on their aims. He didn’t want to see them executed for treason. The first time he had spoken to them, they had tried to recruit him; he refused and requested more time from me, which I granted. I didn’t want to hurt my little brother; the whole situation was an inconvenience.

I sighed, “I haven’t said I was making her my Queen, but something about her draws me to her and I want to explore that, besides there are ways around the human problem, if she summons me and makes a bond with me, she will be immune to this place, and I also have this.” I shared as I held up my hand, pointing to a ring that had been gifted to me by my father after my first battle. 

“What good is a simple ring going to do?” Rook asked, confused.

“You’ll have to wait and see.” I smirked as I twisted it on my finger. Only my father and I knew what this ring could do.

“You still need to find a Queen as soon as possible; my mother is trying to find Lazarus a wife so she can sway the council against you.”

“Like just any wife could do that, I am King by birth right. The only way he would succeed was if he found his fated mate. Then and only then would he gain his demon from wings, just like with any other demon. It's not like she is just going to appear like magic. It can take years or decades to find your fated mate, and if this gets out of control, I will deal with the problem. My father may have chosen his Queen at random because that is what the Kingdom wanted, but I will not.” I threatened. I had already let him know that if Hellebore and Lazarus got out of control, I would execute them for treason.

“Understood, brother. I will continue my efforts.” Rook declared as he turned to leave, pausing he turned back and asked, “Could the human be your fated mate?”

“It’s unheard of to have a human mate.” I laughed. "There is only one that I know of in history and she ended up not being human."

“You have the same draw as a fated mate would have, your compelled to follow her and keep her safe, are you not?”

I shrugged, irritated by the truth of his words. Without another word, Rook turned and left.

Annoyed, I headed to my office; I finished some paperwork, more scrolls assigning demons to different torture zones, as well as updating the army register. Every day, younger demons and demonesses joined our army, wanting to travel to other planes to battle and fight for more territory.

"Now, what is my little flame up too?" I thought to myself as I clapped my hands, smiling as I stood up and headed to my quarters. I had placed a spell on her so I could track her movements and could hear her. Witches were so handy. I smiled. After spending the few hours I had spent dealing with my regular duties, I wanted to check on my human.

I headed back out to the throne room and took the staircase to the top floor, heading to my tower. I glanced out one of many windows that lined the staircase. Yellow and orange fluffy clouds floated against a lime green sky, rivers of red lava could be seen flowing into the distance around grass and trees of vibrant purple. Dragons flew through the sky, swooping down to catch their next meal, before heading back to their nests. So different from the human plane.

Opening my door, I headed up the last flight of stairs to my bedroom and laid down on my bed and concentrated on her, how she looked, with her beautiful red hair and blue eyes. As soon as I pictured her in my mind, I could hear voices. She was speaking with an old woman. 

The woman had welcomed her into her home and helped disguise where she was from. How had she figured it out? I dropped her in a human village in the past. They shouldn’t be so welcoming. They are chaotic, cruel creatures, ruled by lust and greed. So why is this woman Abigail helping her? I hadn't even spoken with Abigail yet about my plan to fix everything, could she just know? She was powerful, so I wouldn't put it past her. I sighed, and it saved me the trouble of having to introduce them.

No matter, a few days in the past without modern conveniences, she’ll summon me, just from how miserable she will become. When I transported her to the past and slipped a summoning stone beneath the skin of her shoulder, her misery or any threat to her will promptly summon me unbeknownst to her, and I will come to her rescue bonding her to me forever. Although there was a chance the stone would only work if she called out for me, asking for my help, which may or may not mess up my plans.