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 5
Ducan's p.o.v
"Ducan." Ose called loudly outside my chambers.
"Enter." I ordered calmly.
He walked in with a labored breath and gave a low bow.
"It's about your bride." He said.
I snapped my finger getting rid of the files in my hand, then sat upright on my bed.
"Are you tired of watching her?" I asked seriously.
He was ordered by me to watch over her whenever he had time, but he got strangely attached to her easily, not that I cared. His loyalty to me was still unquestionable.
"Huh," he muttered under his breath.
"What about her?" I asked not paying attention to his response.
"You need to go and claim her now." He said loudly.
I huffed in a mocking way then stood up and moved to my huge desk ignoring him.
"Ducan don't ignore me! You really should go and claim her. She's at a marriageable age and she grew up well for a bride. Also, her mother hates and hits her." He said.
"We have more pressing matters to attend to, you know? Like killing all heroes that search for our kingdom's entrance." I pointed out.
"Those aren't true heroes, we both know that, they are fools that think they can walk past the gates without the holy sword and defeat you." He answered.
I picked up a glass of holy water and took a sip from it calmly.
"Still they are like insects that need to be stepped on." I said honestly.
"I know Ducan, but I'm talking about your bride!" He exclaimed.
"Humans are bound to hit and hate each other, even our kind grow up in that way." I answered seriously then took another sip.
I took holy water three times a day to train my body from its toxicity. Holy water was like poison to my kind but a small dosage everyday became tolerant, after a few years I got used to it that I drank two to three cups per day.
"You don't understand Great Maou." He whispered.
I turned and faced him with a raised brow.
His snake scales were showing on his skin as he tried to calm himself. Ose was a python demon and unlike his father, he refused to take a bride or concubine for himself. He and I weren't so different when it came to that, we both had our own reasons why we wanted nothing to do with females.
These past few years he was practicing on how to maintain his human form. I found it rather odd but chose not to ask him anything. After all he had his reasons. But whenever he got upset his scales began to show and then his fangs and tongue appeared as that of a snake. It wasn't long until he was back to his original form. That's the human built with all the features of a python.
"Then make me understand." I demanded.
"His young brother wants to take her powers for himself." He answered loudly.
I carefully put the cup on the desk then cleared my throat.
"What did you just say?" I asked with emphasis.
"The mother married the girl's uncle and now they have a son together, but the son is crazy, he wants his own blood sister as a concubine." He answered, annoying me.
"Ose, blood ties have nothing to do with our beliefs. Here we accept such so I'm not interested in that part, what I want to hear is about her powers." I said strongly.
"Yes Great Maou, the brother wants her powers for himself so he could become stronger." He answered.
"Summon the ancient witch." I ordered seriously.
"Right away, Great Maou." He answered with a smile then rushed out of my chambers.
"Demon king." The lost souls called outside my windows. They were souls I didn't suck but forced out of their bodies leaving them to wonder and later be lost in the void of the endless pit.
"Speak." I ordered.
"Your right hand might be lusting for your human bride." One of them whispered as I smirked.
I wasn't dumb not to know that he was attached to her.
"Then I'll let him taste her too after I fully have my way with her. She's of no use to me, remember? What I want is power and my life prolonged." I answered honestly.
"What if he betrays you?" It asked as I chuckled softly.
"Ose can never choose a human over me and our kingdom. He knows and heard first hand what they are capable of doing." I answered as the spirit laughed, its laughter echoing in my chambers.
"You are foolish." It whispered.
I calmly faced it and raised my hand.
"How about I attach you to my lifespan to prolong it?" I asked.
It screamed in a shrill voice then vanished in fear.
"Weak." I whispered then walked to the door and opened it before Ose could knock.
Unlike the humans, us demons had heightened senses and good hearing. So it wasn't hard to predict a few things before they happened, the only thing we did was act too relaxed and pretend not to see shit when in truth we saw most things.
"Great Maou, the ancient witch awaits you in the throne hall." He reported with a bow.
"Lead the way." I answered then followed behind as he walked to the throne hall.
Immediately I walked in, the ancient witch gave a bow to show respect.
"Hail the Great Maou." She whispered.
I went to my throne and sat down comfortably.
"I want to go and claim my bride in human territory." I said.
She laughed then nodded and threw the bones on the ground chanting some words.
There were only three of us in the hall and that came as a relief because the advisers and generals were usually negative about me going to human territory.
When the door appeared, I stood up from my throne.
"Ose gather everyone here. When I come back with her, the wedding should immediately commence." I said seriously as he frowned.
"Great Maou, did you not say she would be your concubine? Don't you think making the human your bride is a little too much?" He asked.
I smirked then nodded.
"I did until you got too attached to her. I have decided to make her the empress and queen of the demon realm and kingdom. She will bear my children and that is my final decision." I answered.
He was about to say something when I waved my hand to warn him off.
"Hail the Great Maou." He whispered then bowed.
I walked to the door and looked at the ancient witch seriously.
"Make sure he goes through with my command." I said then walked past the door's entrance.
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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.