Heart of Darkness

Skender was getting his hair combed when Roxana came into his chambers. He turned to her with a smile but the look on her face made his smile fade away.

'Do you know what I am thinking right now, Your Majesty?' He heard her thoughts while her mouth remained curved into a twisted smile.

Oh, she found out. Bloody Blayze. Skender dismissed the maid. Once the door closed behind her, Skender thought of explaining himself but Roxana held her hand up to stop him.

"Don't say anything." She warned. "Do you have your sword nearby?"

"I know you prefer a fight but remember, I am a demon."

"Then I won't go easy on you. Pick up your sword or die."

He stood up from his seat with a sigh. "I don't have my sword."

"You have claws." She said and then drew her sword.

Sprinting forward she stepped onto the table and aimed at him with precisions. Skender was quick to step away but he could hear the force with which the sword cut through the air.

She was furious.

"I did not plan to keep it a secret." He told her.

"But you enjoy it."

"You are funny. It is a compliment."

"It is not!" She swung at him again and again, causing a vase to fall and break. His guards were quick to step inside.

"Get out!" He said hastily just as he avoided another strike. They looked frightened and hesitant. "I said get out!" They hurried and closed the door behind him.

Roxana didn't seem to care at all. She was going after him and he would let her strike him once if he knew she wouldn't feel bad about it later when she calmed down. Or maybe he should let her.

With a swift movement he dodged her strike, knocking her hand, he then slipped the sword out of her grasp. He then whistled to get her attention and she turned around confused.

"You lost your sword." He told her holding it up. "Did I not tell you that your anger arouses me?"

She frowned.

"No? Now you know my thoughts as well." He grinned.

She grabbed a vase from the table and threw it at him. He moved away but while he closed his eyes from the splatter of glass, she kicked the table into his knees. When he fell forward, she kneed him in the face, threw herself down on the table, wrapped her legs around his neck, and threw him over. Then she was on top of him with one knee pressed down on his chest.

Skender felt the cold tip of a sharp metal pointed at his neck. He could not help but chuckle despite the blood seeping from his nose.

He picked up his hand, "Don't move!" She told him pressing the top against his neck.

He ignored her and adjusted his almost broken nose before wiping the blood away "Ah, that hurt." He said.

"Now you know how it feels. I trusted you."

He looked up at her, her expression taut with fury.

"And you can still trust me."

"I can't. You were able to read my mind all this time. I don't know what is real about you anymore. How can I trust you?" Tears filled her eyes but she fought them back. "You knew all along how I felt."

He grabbed her wrist and removed her from himself so he could sit down and talk to her straight. "Yes, I did, and thank God I did. I don't regret reading your mind."

Her face twisted with even more anger and she was about to lash out at him when he cut her off.

"Your thoughts were a miracle sent to me. I don't know where I would have been without them. I fought hard to ignore them but they pulled me back from the deepest pit of darkness. Your thoughts healed me Roxana, gave me courage to open my heart again, and slowly warmed my frozen soul."

A tear fell down her cheek. "How do I know you are not lying now?"

"You already know I am not. I couldn't tell you everything from the beginning because I wasn't willing to open my heart but you know as soon as I did I promised to tell you everything. But then your father passed away and telling you about myself didn't go as planned. You were already terrified and confused."

He could feel her arm relax in his hand.

"It was not a secret Roxana. It was an ongoing conversation and there is still so much you don't know and that I need to tell you but you have to give me the time to do so. Don't listen to anyone else before that. You can blame me when I say that I have told you everything."

She wiped the tear away. "I understand. But why isn't this calming me down? I am still angry. Am I supposed to be with you with my thoughts exposed all day? Tell me how? This makes me feel imprisoned."

"It won't always be like this." He began, ready to tell her about the next thing. "Not once we mate."

The word made her recall the moment he was the destroyer and spitting words that scared her.

"Remember you asked me if I prey on humans?"

She nodded. "I understand. You are a different species so you consume something else." She was trying not to judge him.

"Yes. We also mate instead of getting married."

She wanted to ask him what that entailed but she was too nervous to know.

"When two demons mate, they bite each other and drink each other's blood. That unites them and creates a lifelong bond that brings them closer."

"That sounds demonic." She told him.

She was thinking of it as some kind of demon ritual in a religious sense.

"It is nothing that affects your bond with God. It has nothing to do with it." He assured her.

"So you want to bite me to do this…I mean the mating."

"Yes."

"And it is the way demons get married. A type of bond?"

"Yes."

She took a moment to process it. "Where will you bite me?"

"The neck."

"Won't I bleed out?"

"No. Remember the bruises on your face. I healed him. My saliva and my blood have healing properties."

"Oh…" She said thinking back on everything. "That was why…"

She took another moment to think of everything and then she got back to the topic. "But I can't bite you and I don't drink blood." She almost said with panic.

Lucky for her, because he was an arch demon she would only need a little.

"You don't have to take much. A sip or two will do."

She ran her fingers through her hair a bit distressed by all the information. "What happens then?"

"Then we will be bonded. You will be able to sense me and I sense you but I won't be able to read your mind."

"Why?"

"Demons can't read each other's minds unless of higher rank. If you have my blood in your body then you will have archdemon blood so I won't be able to read your mind." He explained.

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Does that mean you don't get married like humans?"

"I am a king. That will need to happen as well." He told her. "And even if I wasn't, I would do it if that is what you wanted."

She sat in silence for a long moment and he waited patiently. "Alright." She said at last. "I understand."

"Do you?"

"No." She admitted. "I am utterly confused but… you said to think with my heart so I will do so. And my heart is not confused at all."

She looked up into his gaze."You already know how I feel."

He drew her closer. "I know but I wonder how you would express it."

"That will be your punishment since I can't hurt you any other way."

"This punishment is very cruel." He pulled her even closer brushing his lips against hers.

He grabbed her hips and helped her straddle him. She put her fingers through his hair and kissed him. It was slow and deliberate. He could tell that she had learned his tactics. She teased him the same way he did, opening his mouth with her tongue and tasting all of him.

Her hands went to his shoulders and she pushed him down to the ground, her body following his, their lips still entangled. She sucked on his lower lip and then kissed down his jaw before reaching his neck.

"You smell so good, Alexander." She told him between the kisses.

Skender sucked in a sharp breath as his body reacted to her husky voice. She pulled his shirt out of his pants and her hands slid beneath them, stroking his bare stomach and chest, grazing her fingers down the middle.

God, this was pure torture and she was doing it deliberately. He stiffened, even more, when her hand continued further down, brushing over his hardened shaft.

"Roxana…" She silenced him with a kiss.

God, she was doing to him exactly what he did to her.

Her fingers gently brushed along the length of him, torturing him slowly. Then she pressed a little more, feeling more of him, wondering at the size of him. Her curiosity then led her to touch him more and take him into her hand through his pants.

Skender groaned at the painful pleasure a simple touch brought him. His hand flew to grasp her wrist yet he didn't stop her from touching him. She went from torturing him to slightly panicking as she continued to touch him, wondering how he would fit her body.

Her fingers encircled him, rubbing his clothes along the way as she tried to get a better feel. Being in too much pain, he guided her to grasp him harder and show her how to move her hand. When she got a sound out of him she smiled satisfied.

"Like this?"

"Yes." He said his voice strained.

And then suddenly she stopped. He almost cursed with frustration.

She touched him again and he thought she would continue but she brought her lips close to his ear. "Now I know where to touch you." She whispered.  "But I won't. I like you frustrated."

She released him and stood up, removing herself away from him.

"Bloody hell Roxana. That is cruel." He said pushing himself up on his elbows but she ran to the door quickly and left with a chuckle while he was in utter pain.

He fell back on the floor. Did she really want to play this game?