BETROTHED TO THE DEMON KING
~ Ducan: Demon King ~
My kingdom teeters on the edge of ruin, my race standing at the brink of extinction. The throne of Hell itself trembles beneath me, its power slipping from my grasp.
Only one salvation remains-
A maiden blessed by the gods, born once in a century. Pure. Untouched. Marked by fate to bear the seed of a king.
To reclaim my strength and bind the realms of Hell to my will, I must claim her. She will become mine-whether she surrenders in devotion or resists with every breath.
Her body will cradle my power. Her womb will secure my throne.
And once my eyes have chosen her... there is no escape.
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Chapter 3
Ducan's p.o.v
I stood surrounded by a lot of humans who had come out of their houses to look at me like I was some rare priced jewel.
The so-called chief stood next to the warriors and a lady facing me.
My hand was clenched in fists and I felt disgusted by them. I couldn't help but remember how their kind brutally murdered my parents.
"Judging by the rich fur and expensive kimono you are putting on, you must be a lord, right." The chief asked as I chuckled softly then cleared my throat.
"I won't beat around the bush because I see no reason to entertain you pests." I answered seriously.
"Pests!" He exclaimed.
"Yes, so listen carefully. I am The demon king and I am here to grant you rain and healing. In exchange I want your daughter as my bride." I said simply.
The man gave me a sympathetic look before whispering something to the young lady next to him.
"I'm so sorry to say this my Lord, but my husband is asking you to leave." The young lady said as I raised a brow.
Husband?
She was just a young maiden and yet she was already married! How could she marry such an old man?
Why were humans so foolish? I wondered.
"He looks like a lord but in truth he is insane. I don't have a daughter but a son, insane lord." He mocked, annoying me.
"Old man, I won't repeat myself." I said seriously.
He gritted his teeth then pointed a finger at me.
"Kick him out of my village!" He exclaimed as the warriors ran towards me with arrows and swords.
"Stupid move." I whispered then raised my left hand, freezing their bodies to ice.
"Demon!" One screamed as they all began to run away.
"Call the priest now!" The chief called out then ran into his house as his wife followed behind.
I angrily disappeared and appeared in front of him, before he could hide himself in the wardrobe.
"Come with me." I spat then grabbed him by the collar dragging him outside.
"Please let my husband go!" The lady pleaded behind me.
I ignored her and went to stand at the center of the village. As soon as the humans saw their chief in my grip they began coming back slowly.
"Let me go, you demon. Let go while I'm still asking nicely. If the priest comes here with the holy sword, he will drive it through your heart as they did back then to that demon lord who captured and forced himself on our blessed maiden." He spat and in that moment my fangs and claws came out.
I was furious and I couldn't contain myself. How dare he, a lowly insect, say such horrible words about my father! He did not deserve to live.
I turned in a split second sinking my teeth into his neck and drinking a mouth full of his blood as his body went pale and limp in my hand. The saliva demons spat out whenever they were angry was toxic to humans. One bite at the human's flesh resulted in an instant breakdown of the nervous system. But I was different, one bite in my angry state sucked the living soul out of their flesh, their lifespan adding to my very own.
A loud scream got my attention, I let go of his body then looked up and came face to face with the child I had met.
A clay pot of herbs was shattered on the ground and she was shaking badly in fear with her eyes widened, while her mother held her shoulder with tears rolling down her cheeks.
I looked at my hands and noticed the dark smoke coming from it. I sighed softly knowing my form wasn't human, anymore but demon.
The little girl was nowhere to be seen at first so I thought nothing of her, but now that she was here witnessing me suck her father's life out, I felt uneasy.
I was about to take a step forward when she picked up a sharp piece of clay and pointed it at me.
"Stay where you are, you demon monster!" She screamed in a cracked voice.
The mother quickly went down to her knees and put her hands together in a pleading gesture.
"Please spare my son." She sobbed.
I looked around and noticed how everyone was looking at me in fear.
I looked at the lady then raised my hand as a cloth shaped like a page appeared. A binding spell was Written on it, in my language, so no one could read it, in human terms it was a contract.
"Your daughter shall step forward and press her hand on this piece of cloth. Failure to do so, I will wipe out your entire village and leave out your daughter to live a miserable life alone blaming herself for your deaths. But if she does as I have ordered, I will grant this village rain and healing then leave you in peace. I will then return to claim your daughter for myself once she reaches a marriageable age." I said as they began to whisper.
"Daughter, what does he mean?" One human asked.
"I can't sacrifice my only daughter, please have mercy." She sobbed.
"Ah, humans. Always selfish." I whispered then raised my hand to kill only a few as an example, when the girl took a step forward.
"Wait." She said seriously.
I looked at her, surprised at how bold she was acting.
"I'll do it." She said as her mother grabbed her hand, shaking it a few times.
"No, Eleanor you can't." The lady sobbed.
"Eleanor? Is she truly a girl?" The other human asked loudly.
I ignored the ruckus and grabbed the cloth in my hand.
"Step forward." I ordered.
She took in a deep breath and did as I had ordered.
"Extend your arm towards me and show me your palm." I instructed.
She breathed out then did.
I went down to my knee and pressed my claw on her palm.
"Deep breath." I whispered before making a small cut.
The girl stood still without making a sound or flinching.
When her blood dripped on the cloth it vanished.
I stood up with a smirk knowing how the contract was finally sealed.
"Now that it's done, I'll fulfill part of my bargain." I whispered softly then raised both of my hands as rain clouds began to gather.
It wasn't hard healing the sick humans and making it rain. After all, all it required was weak magic.
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7.8
When Sera Thorne discovers she's fated to Lucien Ashcroft-the vampire prince whose ancestor was murdered by her witch bloodline-she knows their bond is a death sentence. Centuries of war have made their clans sworn enemies, kill on sight, no questions asked. But as mysterious deaths mirror the ancient murder that started it all, Sera and Lucien must uncover the truth behind the conspiracy that destroyed their ancestors' love and shattered two worlds. With a traitor hiding in the shadows and their people demanding blood, can they solve a centuries-old murder before history repeats itself, or will their bond be the final spark that burns both clans to ash?
8.9
Three years ago, Corinna had been an orphan, taken in by an influential family to marry their comatose heir.
Then the groom woke up, and the vows curdled; he treated her like worthless, disposable trash.
After her car wreck, she lay bleeding on the asphalt while he cheated with the woman he truly wanted. Something in her snapped, and she asked for a divorce with numb, shattered calm.
After walking away from the marriage, her secrets unraveled-a top-tier heiress, a hacker beyond reach, and a once-in-a-generation healer.
Her ex came crawling back, begging, unraveling, and losing control. But it was all too late.
9.5
As a highborn succubus, I somehow managed to starve myself to death-thanks to my obsessive cleanliness and ridiculously picky appetite.
When I opened my eyes again, I had transmigrated into Vivian Hartwell-the long-lost "real" daughter with a tragically cursed fate.
I had barely been taken back into the Hartwell family before they forced me to attend a so-called "death matchmaking" event in Kingsford-on behalf of Natalie Hartwell, the fake heiress-to meet Damian Blackwood, the infamous "living reaper."
Rumor had it Damian was brutal and bloodthirsty-every woman who'd ever been involved with him either ended up dead or driven insane.
At the event, over a hundred socialites were trembling on their knees, silently praying they wouldn't be the one chosen.
Just as Damian let out a cold smirk and reached to pick his unlucky victim, I took a deep breath from the back of the crowd.
The scent emanating from him was a rare, potent masculine essence-something encountered perhaps once in ten millennia.
For a painfully picky succubus like me, this was nothing short of salvation.
I kicked aside the girl blocking my way, my eyes practically glowing as I threw both hands up. "Pick me! Hurry, pick me!"
8.0
After divorcing my cheating husband, I thought I had found my savior in his powerful business partner, Cole.
For three years, he pampered me like a queen, building a perfect, golden cage of devotion.
But on the day I happily discovered I was pregnant, I overheard him talking to my ex-husband's mistress.
"Elinor is just a convenient tool. If she gets pregnant, I'll fake a paternity test and annul the marriage so she leaves with nothing."
My entire marriage was a meticulously crafted lie to secure his position and protect the woman he truly cared about.
Before I could quietly escape, Cole orchestrated a brutal attack.
I was dragged into a dark alley, beaten until my ribs fractured, and my unborn child was violently ripped away from me.
As I lay bleeding out in the freezing rain, my heart shattered into dust.
I didn't understand how the man who kissed me every morning could coldly order his thugs to beat me to death just to appease his real lover.
They left me there to rot, thinking they had finally erased the naive fool who got in their way.
Three years later, the world still believes Elinor Marsh died in a tragic car accident.
But when Cole and his elite circle attend a high-profile Interpol reception, they don't expect the new Chief Liaison Officer to step onto the stage.
I am Helena Fu now, and I have returned to burn their empire to the ground.
7.1
I lay paralyzed on stiff white sheets, a prisoner in my own skin, listening to the rain lash against the window like nails on a coffin. My father, Elmore Franco, didn't even look at my face as he checked his clipboard. He just listened to the steady, monotonous beep of the heart monitor-the only thing proving I was still alive.
Without a hint of remorse, he pulled a pen from his pocket and signed the Do Not Resuscitate order. My stepmother, Ophelia, stepped out from behind him, wearing my favorite pearl necklace and smelling of cloying perfume. She leaned close to my ear to whisper the truth that turned my blood to ice.
"It was the tea, darling. Just like your mother. A slow, tasteless poison."
She chuckled as she revealed that my fiancé, Bryce, had a two-year-old son with my sister, Daniela. My inheritance had been funding their secret life for years, and now that the money was secure, I was an inconvenience they were finally scrubbing away. As my father yanked the power cord from the wall, the beeping died, and the darkness swallowed me whole.
I was being murdered by my own flesh and blood, used as a bank account until I was no longer needed. I died in that sterile room, drowning in the realization that every person I ever loved was a monster who had been waiting for me to take my last breath.
Then, I gasped. I woke up in a luxury hotel suite surrounded by silk sheets, five years in the past-the very morning of my wedding. Next to me lay Basile Delgado, the "Wolf of Wall Street" and my family's most dangerous enemy. In my first life, I ran from this room in a panic and lost everything. This time, I looked at the man who would eventually destroy my father's empire and decided to join him.
"I'm not leaving, Basile. Marry me. Right now. Today."
7.4
Standing on the edge of a limestone quarry in the pouring rain, I thought we were just having another family argument.
Then my mother, Ardell, screamed that I’d let the life insurance lapse, and my brother, Hakeem, stepped out of the shadows with a cold, calculating look in his eyes.
I told them I knew the truth—that Hakeem had cut the brake lines on my father’s car—but they didn't flinch. Instead, Hakeem shoved me hard, sending me tumbling into the abyss.
I hit a jagged ledge thirty feet down, the sound of my spine snapping like a dry branch echoing through the rain. As I lay paralyzed and broken, my mother watched from above, asking if I was dead yet, before Hakeem whistled for the starving wild dogs that lived in the quarry floor.
"Nature will clean up the mess,"
Hakeem said, walking away while the first set of teeth sank into my throat.
The agony was a tidal wave, but the rage was hotter, a nuclear hatred for the family that stole my future and the daughter I’d never see grow up. I died in that dirt, consumed by fire and teeth, wondering how a mother could choose a car payment over her own child's life.
But then, I gasped for air, sitting bolt upright in my old trailer bedroom. I looked at the calendar: May 12, 2014.
I was seventeen again, but I wasn't the same girl. Inside this malnourished body was the mind of a world-class trauma surgeon and the elite hacker known as 'Phantom.'
This time, I wasn't going to the quarry; I was going for their throats.