Page 12 of The Princess and the Demon

“Forget something missy?” Granuail rounds the corner at that moment, a tray in her hands. I smile widely. Next to a bowl of porridge and a plate of fruit is the skeleton key to the door.

“Oh, G! Thank you!”

I say, descending to help her. I take the tray from her, freeing up her hands for the banister as she climbs.

Although the stairs weren’t steep, Granuail wasn’t as sure footed as she had been at one time.

I hand her the tray once we reach the landing and reach out to grab a candelabra from a table next to me. I fumble with my books as I unlock the door, pushing it wide to allow Granuail to enter before me.

She walks through, and I pull the door closed behind us.

Amon

I sulk in my high-backed chair, head propped in one hand, a scroll sitting on the stone table in front of me.

I scan the document again, the words shimmering with the power they beheld.

The bargain between myself and the kingdom of Delyra was concluding. In exchange for one-thousand years of peace, the kingdom would hand over their first sun-touched male child.

The thousandth year was upon me, and the words had begun glistening ten months prior to this day.

I knew the bargain would be upheld. The humans had too much fear for it not to be.

If they had someone knowledgeable in sorcery or witchcraft they might have been able to change the fate of the child.

Not now.

Not while the words glistened.

I watch the words move like water on the parchment.

I had no idea what to do with a child in my lair.

The child was merely a bargaining tool to provide the Delyrians with protection from the lesser that roamed the Earth, as promised, after the fall of man.

Lesser demons who had been born into torment knew nothing other than torment, and therefore knew how to do nothing but rape, pillage and murder.

My brothers and I refused to let that become the fate of humanity, so we struck bargains with the three kingdoms.

The bargain one made with a demon used to be something used for personal gain. Usually, a selfish or self-righteous person would bargain for material things.

Wealth.

Fame.

Beauty.

Those were bargains easily collected on, as the human soul was extremely weak and vulnerable back then.

I myself had collected many souls for reckoning.

They always regretted the bargain when it came time to pay.

I adjust in my chair, sighing heavily. I lean forward, placing my elbows on the table, threading my fingers to place my hands beneath my chin.

My skin tingles when the air moves and pulls.

I don’t turn to see who it is; I already know.

---