Dahlia (your favourite sister) xxx
P.S. I’m about to walk out of this changing room in the most revealing gown imaginable just to torment my future demon husband. Wish me luck!
39
TAUREN
My gaze falls over the letter again and again.He’s been kind to me.She must’ve written this last week in Girabalt’s while we were wedding dress shopping.I think I might not hate it here. There’s a sweetness to him.I had no idea she liked me back then, let alone thought there was a sweetness to me.
My fingers tense around the page. My wife wrote this. I clench my jaw. My. Wife. Who is now most likely trapped in the palace of my greatest enemy.
“You’re the demon who kidnapped her, right?” The red-haired woman scowls. She’s still pointing her dagger at my throat, but I’m now pressed against the wall after she marched me back here and thrust this letter into my hands. “Speak, demon!” she shouts.
Before I can reply, a much deeper voice echoes through my bedchamber. “You’re doing so well, my love, but keep your dagger against his throat. Up high, like we practised.” A man steps out from behind my wardrobe dressed head-to-toe in black, while his companion wears a dainty corset beneath her black cloak.
She smiles giddily. “Is this right?” She digs the dagger into my neck, hard enough to make me wince.
“Watch it,” I warn. The only reason I’ve not killed her yet is because I’m fairly certain she wasn’t lying about being one of Dahlia’s sisters. Which one, though, I’m not sure yet. It’s hard to think when my head is such an angry mess.
“Are you the demon who kidnapped Dahlia?” she tries again. “Please. I have to know she’s safe.”
I glance between them, the morning sun from my opened curtains lighting up the daggers at their hips, the roughness of the man’s features. Then it hits me. The answer is obvious.
“You’re the princess who ran off with the assassin, aren’t you? Amaryllis? The oldest of the twelve.” I sigh. “Dahlia spoke about you.” I push her hand away from my throat.
“Don’t you dare fucking touch her,” the man growls.
“And you must be Kasimir.” I narrow my eyes at him before glancing back at Amaryllis. “I’m afraid if you’ve come for your sister, you’re too late. She’s been taken from me.” It’s hard to speak through the tightness in my jaw.
“What do you mean ‘taken’?” Amaryllis pales.
“That lord she spoke about in her letter. He has her.” I suspect he gave up his soul to a rogue demon to get her back. That’s if the bastard even has enough of a soul left to give.
“Lord Elheart?” she stammers. “Blossom wrote to me about his letters. She said he spoke with Father about Dahlia as if she were cattle.” Her lip curls.
“She won’t be in there for long.” I shove past the pair. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I was about to rescue my wife.”
“Your wife?” she yelps. “You actually married her?”
“You’ll have to forgive me for not sending you or any of her sisters an invitation.” I reach for my cloak. “But I’m sure Dahlia will happily tell you the story of how she dressed herself as ariver monster to walk down the aisle and spat pond water into my mouth instead of kissing me.”
“What?” she gasps, while Kasimir cackles.
I don’t get a chance to leave, though. Before I can walk through the open door, it slams shut in front of me.
Amaryllis blocks my path, her tiny fists clenched. “Did you force my sister into marrying you?” She’s almost scary when she’s furious, like an angry little dog. “Speak, demon! Did you force her?” she yells.
I hold up my palms. “It’s a long story. One I absolutely do not have the time nor mental capacity to share with a stranger right now. Now, please?—”
“I’m her sister,” she snarls. “Now you need to tell me, did you force her or not?”
My lips part, but before I can answer, Kasimir steps beside her. His tone is as dark as Amaryllis’s. “I made a promise to those girls when I had Ami move in with me that I would protect them if their shitty father tried to marry them off to any more shitty princes. Now, answer her question, demon. I know you can’t compel us both at the same time.”
I glare at him, my jaw tight. He’s right. Even demon lords can’t compel two souls at once. But there’s nothing stopping me compelling him to slit the throat of his red-haired companion.
I won’t, though. And I think he knows that. I see it in his eyes. He just wants me to calm Amaryllis down. But I doubt what’s about to come out of me will.
“I did force her,” I breathe. “But, like I said, she made sure I suffered for it.” I can still taste the pond water in my mouth. “And earlier tonight, I gave her the choice to leave me or stay, and she chose to stay. Ask her yourself when I bring her back home. She said she needed me.” My voice strains.
