Page 20 of Under My Bed

"Aesophedus, please, I am begging you." And I never beg.

I didn't think the damn communication mirror worked after all the time it spent collecting dust. Actually, I was surprised I still had it tucked away somewhere—I thought I broke it in a fit of rage. Thankfully, I hadn't and found it stashed away in my magical storage under Stella's bed. Surely, I thought the king of shadows would take some pity on me.

Guess not.

"And my answer remains the same. No." The king's unamused voice meant he was done with me.

"What have I done to deserve this?" I asked with a frustrated groan, my fist pounding against the floorboards under the bed.

The stern glare from the king of shadows through the communication mirror was enough to send chills down my spine. "You better change your fucking tone before I send one of the others over there to set your horns straight," he said pointedly. "You should be kissing the feet of Lucifer and God for blessing you with a mate. Instead, you're over here whining to me like a little bitch because you're afraid of commitment. Fucking man up."

"She's a human! Hu-man! She has no business being a demon's mate!" I whispered loudly through gritted teeth. "This is a fucked-up joke, not some blessing from below and above."

Scoffing, Aesophedus crossed his arms and shook his head in disbelief. "So, would you rather become a mindless imp than accept your soulmate? Do you have any idea how absurd you sound right now? Do you have any idea how many would burn the world and planets to get the chance you have?"

Was I being a little ridiculous? High possibility, yes. But only because it was an absurd situation, in my opinion.

Running my hands down my frowning face, I exhaled another exasperated groan. "I can't. We can't. It just won't work out. We can't be mates. It's just too fucking cruel." I stammered out, my head hanging in defeat.

Chuckling in disbelief, Aesophedus rolled his eyes. "How do you know it won't work out? Have you tried? And no rule in the universe says you can't be mates with a human. Fiery pits of home, you could be mated to a damn hound according to the universe, so be lucky your mate is actually somewhat humanoid."

"Listen, I tried a relationship with a human already, and look where that got me." I bit out bitterly with a deep scowl.

Sighing softly, he gave me a pitiful look. "That was thousands of years ago. Times have changed and are different. Besides, that woman was not your mate back then, so things will be different with this human."

Frustration blew off with my huff. "How? She's still a human at the end of the fucking day. She might not be a witch, but she is still human and fragile." I didn't understand why no one could give me a straight answer.

"And what do we do with fragile things?" Aesophedus pressed with a hopeful quirk of his eyebrow.

"Don't touch them? Break them? I don't know." I flustered out my frustration and threw my hands up in defeat—well, more like waved because there wasn't much room under the bed.

A sigh of disappointment pulled out from Aesophedus's shaking head. "And that is why you are in the situation you are."

"I am still trapped in this damn place." I reminded the king curtly with a displeased scoff.

Rubbing his temples, he quickly snapped at me. "For a good goddamn reason. There's a reason why I constantly deny your request to free you, so maybe you should start dusting the cobwebs out of your head and use your brain for once." Great, now I felt like a petulant child.

"So basically, I'm going to remain trapped here until I fade to nothing," I grumbled with a roll of my eyes, not one bit happy about rounding back to square one.

"No… Well, yes, if you don't get your head out of your clenched ass." Aesophedus sighed with a scoff. "Listen, how do you even know things won't work? Have you ever tried? Fiery pits, have you even asked her what her thoughts are about the relationship or situation?"

Of course, he had to point out my mistakes and poke holes into everything. As if I already didn't feel idiotic and emotionally constipated enough about the whole damn thing. "Oh, yeah, just let me sit her down and cuddle her in my arms and go, 'Hey, so sorry for being a fucking ass to you, but you're my soulmate, so let's bind our souls and live happily ever after,' and blah blah blah. Like, yeah, that's going to go over well." I vented, letting my words trail out into a disgruntled grumble.

Yeah, like any normal human would take that well, especially from a demon who's been tormenting them since day one. At least attempt to torment. I had to admit—begrudgingly—Stella adapted and took my antics well. Actually, she has been the only one to do so.

Okay, so maybe the universe had something right, but I still hated it and refused it.

"I just… I don't want to damn her to a life with me." I admitted with a heavy sigh.

"Why would it be damnation to be soul-bound to you? Yeah, you're a little immature brat sometimes, but you're a good demon with a good heart underneath. You just have to pull your head out of the tar and grow up." Aesophedus said with a huff and roll of his eyes. "You need to stop letting the past affect your future."

Sighing heavily, I ran a hand through my hair and gripped my horn to pull at it. "Are you sure—"

A pointed glare was all Aesophedus needed to silence me. "I am not going to splice your soul and magically lobotomize and castrate you so that you don't have to deal with your own emotions." Scoffing, he let out a ridiculous chuckle, "And do you have any idea how much shit I would get from everyone by giving you a cop-out like that because you wanted to deny your soulmate?"

"Well, it was worth a shot…" I grumbled with a scowl. "I'll just avoid her for the next few decades then."

"Yeah, good fucking luck with that." Aesophedus laughed before cutting our connection.

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