Page 75 of Bargain with the Demon King
"Your Majesty?"
"You've been contemplating treason for forty-three minutes." I lean forward, counting his nervous horn-twitches. "Seven different plans, if your mark-shifts are accurate. Care to share?"
"I—no, I would never—"
"Lying makes it worse." Azzaron's voice drops to that dangerous register that makes even demons pray. "We can taste your intentions."
"Here's what's going to happen," I interrupt. "You're going to go home, think very hard about your life choices, and tomorrow you're going to bring me a written apology. In verse. Minimum three stanzas. If it makes me laugh, you live. If it's boring, we get creative. Clear?"
"Crystal, Your Majesty."
"Good. Run along."
He literally runs.
The throne room empties except for shadows and the weight of change. I slump back in my crystal throne, finally letting exhaustion show.
"Poetry?" Azzaron asks, pulling me from my throne into his lap. "That's your punishment?"
"Humiliation lasts longer than death. Plus, demon poetry is hilarious. All that angst and grandeur." I settle against his chest, feeling our marks align through fabric. "Ready for the best part?"
"There's more?"
"Chad." I feel him tense through our bond. "I want to see him. Not his soul-stone—him. Want to watch his face when he sees what his spectacular failure created."
"That can be arranged." He produces the soul-stone from shadow—dim, cracked, barely glowing. "But first, this."
I take the stone, feeling its insignificant weight. All that pain, all that sacrifice, for this. A soul barely worth the crystal containing it. Through the fragment, I sense him—still alive, still fucking his way through the village, still telling anyone who'll listen about the naive girl who died for him.
"What will you do?" Azzaron asks, watching me with those impossible black-gold eyes.
"After we visit? Fertilizer." I pocket the stone. "But first, I want my comedy show."
The journey to the mortal realm takes seconds. We materialize in Chad's cottage just as he's sitting down to dinner with his latest conquest—a brunette this time, pretty in that fragile way that would break under the slightest pressure.
"What the—" Chad jumps up, knocking over his wine. It spreads across the table like blood. His face cycles through emotions—confusion, recognition, terror. "Adraya? But you're dead. You're supposed to be dead."
"Disappointing you even from beyond the grave." I examine my nails, noting how the light catches on their sharp edges. "Though technically I did die. Twice. Very educational experience. The second time really stuck."
"How are you—what are you—" His eyes find my soul-mark glowing through the dress, then Azzaron standing behind me like divine judgment. "That's a demon."
"That's my husband, technically. Mate? Bound eternal companion? We haven't settled on terminology." I move closer, and Chad stumbles backward, knocking into his chair. "You remember demons, right? From when you shoved me toward a sword and I sold my soul to save your worthless life?"
"I didn't—that's not—"
"Oh, but it is." I count his nervous ticks—eye twitch, jaw clench, hand tremor. Seven tells before the first lie even forms. "Want to know the funny part? You created this. Your cowardice, your betrayal, your mediocrity—it all led to me becoming Queen of the demon realm."
"Queen?" His voice cracks.
"Queen." I let my soul-mark glow brighter, the light of it casting shadows that move wrong in the corners of the room. The brunette whimpers. "Your betrayal was the best thing that ever happened to me. It taught me what nothing looked like, so I could recognize everything when I found it."
"Adraya, please, I can explain—"
"No need. I've seen enough." I pull out his soul-stone, watch his eyes track it. "This is you, by the way. Your entire essence. Barely glowing. Weak. Worthless. The physical manifestation of your mediocrity."
"Is that—are you going to—"
"Kill you? Torture you? Make you suffer for eternity?" I toss the stone up, catch it. "No. You're going to live a long, ordinary life. You'll grow old knowing you had someone who would have given you everything, and you threw her away for—what's your name?"
