The Devil's Bride

4. The Palace

No amount of delusional talk would have prepared Amelia for her next adventure. Just when she thought she had seen it all. Just when she thought the night could not get any worse, it did.

She had not just found a creature that went by the name of Arthur and that was a familiar –whatever that was – sniffing around her food in her own kitchen. She just had to meet the master as well, the demon king… or so both creature and master claimed.  

Was it true? Was it but a lie? She couldn’t say.

And then, it got even worse, when this demon king decided it was his right to take her lips in a kiss never so soft, branding her as his… his bride to be, to be more exact.

How was Amelia to react?

She didn’t know what she ought to do, and thus did the only thing she thought was fitting, she started screaming at the top of her lungs, “Liars! Get out of my house! Get out of my head!”

“Bloody hell, woman!” The demon king, whose name she had yet to learn, cursed softly at her, rolling his eyes at her antics.

“What do you think you’re doing, human?” Arthur came closer to her and her screams got louder. “I do believe I told you I set up a barrier.”

Amelia sobered up, just enough to ask the question that was burning her lips. “And what’s this barrier supposed to do?”

“It shall keep what’s happening in this house a secret. To put it differently, to the human eye and ear, there’s nothing going on inside this place.”

Amelia let out an astonished “Oh!”

And before long, her vision blurred with uncontrollable tears. She asked, addressing the demon king, “Wh– What are you going to do to me?”

“Nothing you won’t enjoy, little one,” he chuckled. “Now, sleep!”

As the command fell off his lips, her body betrayed her like never before and shut down completely, almost as if the roller coaster of emotions she had been on had been too much for her frayed nerves… and in a way, maybe it had been just that.  

When she came to, later on, she found herself in an unfamiliar bed. The sheets both smelled and felt different. And when she opened her eyes, the surroundings were not any better.

She was in a big all in marble room that had seemingly priceless paintings hanging off its walls. It was decorated with taste, she could say so already.

“Where the hell am I?” She wondered out loud.  

“The palace, my dear. Where else would you be?” Came the voice she could never forget.