"Seth!" The Verdant Princess came across them as Seth was carrying his tired and sleepy wife in his arms back from the training grounds that evening. She yelled, cursed, pulled his hair and collar, called the twins brats, then yelled at him some more before falling asleep in his arms. She had a busy evening commanding soldiers and waging wars against Seth. He chuckled at the fresh memory as the weight on his heart from these past few days lifted. This was all it took for him to be free of his burden. It was like everything was back in its place.
But as soon as he heard that familiar voice call his name, his smile disappeared and his expression turned colder than it was before the person in his arms intruded his world. He hated his name coming from any one other than the girl he was hugging closely to his chest at the moment.
"I ask you to address me by my title, Princess of Verdant. If you wish to speak to me, then consult my Adjutant. As you can see, I'm occupied at the moment. Then, I bid you goodbye and have a good evening." He didn't give her a chance to utter another word before walking past and leaving towards his palace.
Once he closed the door to his bedroom, he placed his princess on the bed gently. She squirmed in discomfort and her hand clutched on to his collar pulling him in along with the ridiculous rope keeping them from separating more than an arm length distance.
He shook his head at this absurd sight and untied the rope throwing it away and sat beside her on the bed. He liked it. The sight of her on his bed. It satisfied his possessive heart. He wanted to keep her here forever, locked up in his room.
Before he realised, he leaned in closing the distance between them and his lips hovered above hers. One wrong move, they would touch. It took him great restraint to pull away from her but a hand suddenly grabbed his collar again. He just freed it a moment ago, he thought helplessly.
"You are running away again!" She clenched her teeth and flipped him on the bed, switching their positions to her on top of him. In fact her force was so puny that he almost laughed but he let himself flipped over, he flipped himself to be precise. Now that they were alone, he could admire her on top of him all he wanted.
"I'm not running away." He said soothingly as he brushed his finger over the small red bump on her forehead. This time she didn't swat his hand away to his delight and he brushed her hair behind her ears as much as he wanted.
"That day, I was actually looking forward to it." She admitted and his hand stilled immediately.
"I was hoping that I would die and wake up back in my world." As soon as she said that, He sat up. His arms locked around her waist and hugged her tight, flushing her body to his.
"I wasn't thinking about how you would feel after I let you kill me when you are obviously not in your right mind. When it would absolutely break you. I wasn't thinking about how the twins would feel after I left without a word. When they would obviously feel lost." He stared at her as tears fell and stained her cheek.
"I'm sorry." She apologised again and again in between her sobs.
"I…I'm…" He didn't know what was right to say now. Should he apologise for what ugly thoughts he was having after he hurt her to near death? Or Should he begin with begging her to stay?
As he stumbled with his words, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck.
"I hated it." He flinched at her words, scared for a second that she might have read his mind.
"I hated thinking like that. I hated not thinking about you three. I felt guilty since then so I couldn't seek you sooner but I hate not talking even more Seth. So please don't ever put me through that. If you are angry or upset with me, I would rather you say it to me. Otherwise I would probably die of anxiety before you could even close your fist around my neck." She chuckled jokingly but Seth's arms tightened around her, "Mn!" She whimpered.
"I can't breathe, Seth." She muttered with a little difficulty but he wasn't listening. He buried his head in her neck and when he lifted his eyes a little, they were already turned to slits like that night when a scarlet flower bloomed over his heart.
"I won't do that again, I promise." He spoke after a while. Each word was like a shackle around her, grounding her to him.
"Also, I must explain this to the twins."
"No." He immediately stopped her before she could let that thought settle. If she did that, it felt like she was preparing for her return, like saying goodbyes and one day she would really leave. He loved it when she said she was guilty and shed tears for him and the twins. He wanted her to keep feeling like that. He might be foul for thinking like that but Seth wanted something to keep her tethered to them.
"I apologise..." For having such unpleasant thoughts, He wanted to say. For not being able to wish for the same as you.
"They… might not be able to accept it yet." He lied. The twins were more understanding and clever than their age. It was even more the reason he didn't want them to know. Unlike him, they might just let her go if that's what makes her happy. They were the purest souls that were there unlike him.
"Alright." She replied and a laugh escaped him, a sigh, relieved of his constricting heart.
"You are only stubborn at the oddest of times, Wife." He said as he breathed her scent.
"Whatever do you mean." She scoffed.
"You know, you don't have to apologise for what transpired a few days ago. I understand that you are not yourself and your eyes…" She trailed off. She let him go and pushed him away only to hold his face in her hands, looking closely. As she observed his eyes, He wondered if she forgot that she was sitting in his lap with her legs straddling him. He didn't want to remind her and held on to her waist in content.
"At that time, they turned into slits, like that of a cat." She said and he gulped nervously. Does she find them repulsive? He couldn't help but get anxious.
"They were beautiful!" She bumped her forehead to his, dispelling all the disquiet in his head. "It was breathtaking." She sighed in admiration.
"I only thought it was possible in fiction but here you are! You are like my fictional crush walking into reality!" She laughed and then slowly her laugh turned into that of confusion.
"Wait a second, That's not-" He cut her off.
"Do you like them? My demon eyes." He asked, wanting to hear her little unconscious declarations again and again.
"That's what I'm saying! Also, I like the name! Demon Eyes, It sounds so cool!" She chuckled. He was once again taken in by the sight of her. He was right, she looked the most beautiful when she was smiling happily without a worry. If only he could be the reason for her smile, He wanted to keep her happy like that for an eternity.
"You weren't scared?" He asked.
"Why would I be scared of you, my demon?" She said, wrapping her arms around his neck and looking at him with a lofty smile. It excited him greatly. She called him her demon. Her demon, hers only.
And in a second he flipped them, lying on top of her. His eyes turned into slits and she widened her eyes at that sight.
"You weren't scared?" He asked again, leaning in and his canines slightly protruding. His hair grew longer and two horns grew on his head. They looked like they were carved out of obsidian that only grew in the darkest depths of hell.
"Even when I do this?" He said as his clawed fingers caressed her neck and she shivered. The sight of her trembling was delectable. Soon he caught her stealing glances behind him and he chuckled burrowing in the crook of her neck, making sure his weight wasn't entirely pressing on her.
"Are you searching for this?" He asked and a tail grew from his spine and playfully wrapped around her slender leg that peeked out after her dress was ruffled up her legs in their previous entanglement.
"You do have a tail!" She said in surprise and moved her leg as if to confirm its presence. The tail as if with a mind of its own tightened its grip around her leg reluctant and upset to be shaken off.
"You aren't scared." He said.
"I lied, I am a little scared." She admitted and he laughed even more.
"I've never shown this form to anyone, Though that tail and horns were a new addition." He remembered how she described demons on their first carriage ride alone.
"Now I can seduce you and suck all your blood to quench my thirst." He said and dived to take a bite of her neck. Her squeals turned into laughter as he nibbled on her neck softly tickling her and he could feel the vibrations of her laughing in his chest that was pressed to hers.
"I feel anaemic. Oh my! I had fallen into the hands of an alluring demon! Do not save me!" She exclaimed dramatically and made a show of fainting and only a minute later, he realised that she actually fell asleep. That's it, he couldn't help it as he broke into laughter for the first time in his life.
After laughing to his heart's content, He caught sight of the red marks on her neck where he nibbled at. He never felt like this. Happy to desire something so much. Intense desires born in him were fatal to others because he would lose reason if not kept in check. The twins were fine because they had Seth to make sure they don't lose themselves to their demon blood completely but for Seth, his father encouraged him in various ways to give into that tempting power that forgets all rationale.
Seth was someone who gave into that temptation many many times in his life. In his prison cell room, In high-class dungeons and on the battlefields with both monsters and men. And the times he couldn't count when he was a child.
Now he knew restraint but the sleeping woman under him kept testing and teasing those restraints that he put on himself. She was the first one to treat him like he was just any other person. A friend. Not a monster. Not a God. Not a Master. But just another human, equal to her. That's all it took for a crack to appear on his walls. He never knew how much he needed something as simple as that in his life until now. And now, it has to be her. It was only her and it will be only her from now on. He was scared… but happy.
"You are my temptation, Wife." He said leaning in to kiss the marks on her neck softly and slowly, taking his time with each one and then at last the place right above her knee where his tail wrapped around. He wasn't satisfied with just that so leaned in to let his sharp teeth graze her skin a little before kissing it as well.
Satisfied with his little marks on her, he climbed into the bed behind her and hugged her to sleep. That evening no one came to disturb them. The twins were a little upset to be left alone so they sneaked into their father's palace that night and into the bed with their parents.
Seth was woken up with all the movement and chuckled at the sight of the two little heads peeking above the edge of the bed. Their mother squirmed a little in her sleep and all three of them froze until she went back to sleep.
Seth put a finger on his lips and made space for the twins in between them.
"You both didn't have dinner, Father." Noah whispered, lying beside Seth.
"It's fine. We fell asleep so we weren't hungry." Seth whispered back a reply.
"Did you make up with Mother?" Cleo asked and his question woke up their mother.
"Cleo sweetheart?" She blinked sleepily.
"Did we disturb your sleep, Mother?" Noah asked in a soft whisper.
"Of course not, Dearest." She smiled and caressed him gently. Noah was fine with it. His mother's hand was most caring and warm. It was the hand that protected him and Cleo.
"You call them Sweetheart and Dearest but you do not address me as such." Seth couldn't help blurt out. He was actually wanting to say that for quite a while now.
"Good night, Husband." She said sleepily before falling asleep. Seth, like a satisfied beast, laid back contently and waited for the twins to fall asleep. He turned to look at his otherworlder wife in the moonlight and brushed his hand a few times on her cheeks before finally falling asleep.