Chapter 27: A Throne of Ruin: Chapter 27

The journey was a miserable one. I was carried over the bony shoulder of the demon king himself, moved via teleportation. Jedrek yelled and hollered behind me, carried in a similar way by a powerful demon.

He’d essentially sold himself to the demon king in order to mate me. Our marriage bed would be in the dungeon—not that we’d ever marry if Nyfain had it right. Either way, Dolion had made it very clear I would hate my existence down there, bereft of the finery he’d thought I’d grown accustomed to.

I could survive that, no problem. I didn’t know if I could survive leaving Nyfain, though. It felt like my heart had cracked in half. I only had half a heartbeat.

My animal had lost the feeling of the only other animal she’d ever known.

And me… I hadn’t even gotten to tell Nyfain that I loved him.

Finally, we boarded a large boat, traveling across murky waters in the dead of night. I had no idea where we were. I only knew we were going to the demon kingdom.

Jedrek sat beside me, his face mottled with purple and blues. He hadn’t spoken since we’d been thrown down into the bottom of the boat. He’d gone hoarse from screaming.

I pulled a folded-up piece of parchment out of my pocket. My hands shook as I looked down at it.

In the time I’d been granted before we’d left, I’d given some very teary goodbyes to my family, and hugged Leala within an inch of her life (something she reminded me wasn’t proper as she cried). Hadriel…

Well, he hadn’t taken it so well. He knew I had to go—he’d helped plan it, after all—and he knew he couldn’t go with me, even with his maid costume, but he didn’t want to accept it. I reminded him that he had the most important job of all, which was to watch over Nyfain and make sure he kept up with his duty. Make sure he wasn’t lost to the darkness.

Hadriel was not enthused about the very real possibility of shitting himself sometime in the near future.

Every other remaining second I spent with Nyfain. Demons had needed to pry me out of his hands in the end. I’d had to keep him at bay with my will.

I only had two things to remember him by—besides his old clothes, of course, which I was wearing.

One was the sword he’d given me. His mother’s sword. The demon king must’ve heard from somewhere that I was absolute shit with it. He’d grinned when he told me to bring it. Lesser creatures would strive to steal it from me because of its value, he’d said. Given I didn’t know how to use it, I’d likely get a beating as it was taken. He thought that was hilarious.

I’d thanked him. I’d make sure to shove it deep into his flesh when it was time to kill him.

The second thing I had from Nyfain was this letter he’d given me right before I left.

I broke the seal and opened it.

I smiled through my tears. Yes, I’d pieced most of it together. Though I could scarcely believe it, all the signs of us being true mates were there, like his delicious, comforting smell, the four-way bond, our animals’ desperation for each other, and his dragon’s primal breeding frenzy. I’d also read the signs of what I might be.

But hearing him say it…

Tears dripped down my face. My heart ached.

Part of me wished we could’ve imprinted and ended the curse. We’d been so close! But of course that would’ve been an opening for the demon king to march his troops in and finally take Nyfain out. It was essential that we didn’t.

Still…I couldn’t help feeling the longing.

I folded up the note and held it to my chest as I watched the dark shores of my new home draw nearer.

I would need to survive the next leg of my journey so I could get back to Nyfain and finish what we’d started.