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Chapter 40
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The Demon Chapter 41
I met my former wife-to-be the next day, during a reception held by my uncle. Well, actually, at first, I heard her laughter, and then... Carlie, my Carlie, was standing surrounded by a crowd of noble fops, a ponce with a curved moustache holding her hand, a smirk on his face.Look at me, how great I am.Look at the girl I snatched.I wanted to grab him as well, or at least some parts of him. But as soon as I thought about Carlie and that fop on the balcony, I felt a lump of bile in my throat.Don’t vomit, please. I’ll handle this.Breathe in, breathe out, then breathe in again. My fingers were clenched, and I was seeing red.Carlie looked at me, frightened, and I tasted blood in my mouth, as I bit my cheek with my fangs and bowed. The grey veil was all over me again, covering me, hiding me from the world under the heavy blocks of ice, and behind that unbreakable barrier of eternal blizzard, I smiled, casually and effortlessly, as befitted a nobleman.“Lady, congratulations on your h
The Demon Chapter 42
I summoned my father the second time after all that drama with Carlie. Not just for kicks, mind you. Her husband, the idiot, decided to assassinate me, seeing as she hadn’t been a maiden anymore, which clearly rubbed him the wrong way. So, if he killed me, his honor would be clear—apart from stealing some else’s bride, but that, apparently, didn’t matter. He sent an assassin after me, ruining my leisure, and tearing my curtains—the latter an unforgivable offense, really. I mean, wouldn’t you be annoyed? Just imagine lying in your bed, resting, contemplating your private troubles, gazing at the stars...and then someone’s body obscures them and several bolts from a multi-shot crossbow fly toward you.A pretty scary thing; I could have become a hedgehog rather than a half-demon...if they had actually hit me. My reflexes were too quick, however, and I was much faster than humans.As soon as that shadow stood by the window, I fell to the floor, transformed, and charged at him. My tail was
The Demon Chapter 43
The next day, I found Viscount Latour on his own—in his house, before breakfast. I climbed in through the window.So what? If assassins were allowed to do that, why could I?As an honest half-demon, I wouldn’t even take a copper! I wouldn’t even kill the viscount, even if later, he would regret it. I got down to business straight away.“Who gave you the love potions?”A garrote around the neck was an iron-clad guarantee of truth. The viscount grunted, farted, and came clean. Of course, it had been Abigail’s doing. For the sake of variety, the viscount wasn’t her relative, but a shirttail cousin of Ruthina’s husband, and he had readily agreed to a short marriage.His task had been to court Carlie, and after my marriage, arrange an accident for her, with the queen’s help.Love? What are you talking about? How could I love a bastard’s whore? An assassin? Well...the viscount just couldn’t stand that—that vulgar girl wasn’t even a virgin.I still have no idea how I was able to hold back. I
The Demon Chapter 44
Andre took along such a swarm of toadies, that I couldn’t understand why he would need me as well.During the first three days of our journey, we had seen each other only twice, and it never really changed. Nobody was going to try and kill me.A few times, strangers attempted to join me and Tom, but I quickly brushed them off. The baroness, by the way, accompanied us in the prince’s retinue, and loitered around me so much that even my horse started to bite—which was quite understandable, really.I’d bite her myself if I wasn’t squeamish. The lady was constantly dousing herself with some saccharine perfume and staring at me, confused. She probably thought that I should have long since dragged her into bed, but I had not an ounce of desire to do that; I would rather have raised a zombie, really. We were riding across the greatest country in the world. With each day, it became more and more clear to me that Radenor was worth everything—and more. It was worth blood, dirt, and pain, mine
The Demon Chapter 45
I didn’t have to torture myself for too long. This, that, and the other... I still had that nagging feeling inside of me, like a pulsating splinter, but at least it didn’t fester, right?When it starts to, I’ll get rid of it. Were spirit wounds different from physical ones? Not really. And that meant that I would survive it eventually. The neighboring land disappointed me as well. Or maybe it was the closeness to the border? The same wretched villages, destitute peasants, haunted looks...I wondered if there were any kings who understood that power wasn’t given to them to have fun and live in style; that they ruled for their people, and not for themselves. Or was I just a deranged lunatic? But my grandfather had thought the same, even if it was his reign which had given start to the whole mess. I didn’t have any strength left to judge him, though.A family was a team. While the husband provided for the wife, the wife was to raise th
The Demon Chapter 46
Tommy didn’t believe me, of course. Who would? I had to beg him. My friend shrugged and promised to wait in our chambers until I dealt with the problem. The issue was resolved the same night.I simply summoned the hunter. As hellhounds weren’t simple dogs, hunters weren’t simple demons. He appeared almost immediately, looking at me with his blood-red eyes. He was tall, gangly, and reminded me of a cellar spider.In the cloud smoke which hid his features he seemed clumsy and awkward—if you didn’t know how fast and deadly he could be.Hellhounds chased prey.The hunter dealt the final blow.“Did you call for me?”He didn’t add “Master” naturally. I had to channel some more power into the pentagram. It’s not like I cared about titles, but status was something that demons placed great value on. If I let his arrogance go unpunished, I would get a rebellion later.The demon w
The Demon Chapter 47
My Lord, I kindly ask you to meet me in a gazebo an hour after the fireworks. We need to discuss an important issue regarding our relationship.L. Tom brought me that note, which had been handed to him by some servant.I quickly scanned the short text and snorted derisively.“Does she think me an idiot?”Tom shrugged.“I guess so. And then, the girl tried so hard...”I carefully folded the note to return it to its original state—fortunately, the seal wasn’t damaged—and gave it a sniff.True, she had poured her sweet perfume over the note...good. I wasn’t going to meet with her, of course, but it was a good thing that the author of the note could be so easily determined.“I’ll also...try hard. Wait for me.”And I slipped out of the window. The most useful thing about our room were a ledge and ivy on the wall, the latter of which was covering the whole castle from the foundation up to the towers.You could easily walk to the desired spot via the ledge and climb down to the room you want
The Demon Chapter 48
I was reading those thoughts on his face as clearly as if the duke was shouting them at the top of his lungs. When he turned toward me, I helped him.“Your Grace, I must keep vigil at my cousin’s side, but you will conduct an investigation, won’t you?”In a minute he would have rushed to embrace me, I swear.“Of course, Your Highness. I swear on my honor!”If you swore on something that you actually had, I might believe you. But a man whose wife had borne a vampire’s child, a man who, most likely, had forced her to do that himself?Sir, the honor of your family has long since gone running, like a deer in the woods.Why deer?Well, maybe a moose. Wearing the horns of a cuckold.I spent around four hours at Andre’s side, Tommy was nearby, also pretending to be appropriately distressed. But...“Alex, but that was her doing.”“So what?”“Won’t we get revenge?”My ass.Avenge Lavinia’s help? I was in her debt. Maybe I won’t even kill her right away.“Tommy, could we survive the war with Te
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