Mass release: 8/25
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He covered her hands with his tenderly, "That will give her the strength to fight anything that comes her way, Eyana," he sucked on a breath, clearly going through some struggle to stay strong for her. "We will raise her differently, we will make sure she has kindness and love in her heart for her people, for both my kind and yours. She is a dragon of time like me, a lust demon like you, and she will be the strongest as she awakens all of her nine tails, everyone will be at her feet, no one will hurt her."
My heart sank when he said that, and my body that was frozen on the ground, moved, I let go of whatever was holding my hand and moved to the cradle, my heart on my throat, and when I saw the innocent baby playing with a star flower plushie the cradle, I felt to my knees, a soundless scream leaving my throat, "No," I shook my head, tears burning my eyes and rolling down, leaving a trail of desperation behind, "no, no, no, no, no," I began to shake, "no, no, no, no!"
Because the baby I saw... was me.
Or someone identical to me, from my skin to my eyes, to my hair, to the one tail moving at her side in white with a dark cherry red tip, a hair that is the perfect mix of the couple in the bed. Not just a random couple, but the Tyrant King Fae'nyx and his mate. His mate that was never written down in the books I studied about in my first two times in the Von Hyden Academy. The books that not only wiped her out of existence, as they also did the fact that they had a daughter, or that he was mated to a demon.
"It can't... it can't be," I yelled.
And when the baby's eyes turned to me, as if it could see me through the magic of fate, she gave me a toothless happy smile, her mismatched eyes turned into reptilian dragon eyes, and she moved her tail like she was overjoyed, and her ears were pointy like the faes.
"No... you can't... you be..." the words died in my throat, I wasn't able to say it.
But the couple didn't see me, they couldn't feel me like the baby could, and they kept talking, melancholy overflowing from them, making me want to cry more. "She is our star, darling, don't fear it, she will be okay," he kissed her tenderly again. "Our Asterin-Maela Deyanira," he chanted, a smile curving his lips, "Asterin-Maela Deyanira Clethinthiallorr Fae'nyx," he whispered.
The second the demon last name fell from his lips, I sat on my heels, tears rolling down my cheeks, "It can't... it can't... it can't be... it can't be... this... no... no... no... no... please... don't let this be it... please... it can't... no... no..."
She giggled shyly, "You can't add my last name on her name like that, Mar!"
"Why not?" He pouted. "I love your surname."
"Demon last names are not meant for fae ears, unless the fae is my mate. It's already enough that I ran away from my duties of Crowned Princess in Hell and left it all for my baby siblings, and my parents probably hate me for this now, and Azar will also freak out because he never wanted to be Emperor. I can't let the people here learn that I'm Hell's actual heiress, or it will all get worse. My baby brother and my baby sister may understand me, but my parents won't, not when you are a fae, and they loathe the fae. The nobles here also dislike me, so it would be bad, they could try something against me again, and I don't to be the reason for you to retaliate on them."
"You are my mate, Eyana," he groaned, "I will even fight the Gods for you. Fighting the Von Hyden, the Wintermere, the Amblecrown, the Hindergrass, the Ravenhorn, the Whitfield, the Natheridge, and the Blackstrand for you is nothing. They hate each other, I doubt they would ever have the guts to get together and attack us. Especially because how would they justify that? Say they think I'm a tyrant and some shit just because I wiped the Von Horen dragons out of existence after they poisoned my pregnant mate?" He hissed. "They had it coming, had you and our Asterin-Maela died, I would have murdered them all, and then I would murder myself because I refuse to live in a world without you. Once the mating bond is snapped into place, nothing can break that connection."
"I know, my love," she sighed. "But it pains me that they now insist on inputting a label on you that doesn't fit, because you protected me. You are the most kind-hearted male I've ever met, you are a dreamer, you have always wanted to be King to be better than your father and your grandpa before him, you've always wanted a daughter, you are romantic, you a sensitive, and it breaks my heart that they see you as a monster, when the monster is me."
"You are not a monster!"
"I am a demon, my love, I,"
"Please," he cried, pressing his forehead on her again, "don't say that. Your parents are psychopaths, they forced a horrible childhood on you, you are four millennials older than your siblings, and a two thirds of that time you were forced to spend on Tartarus. They just threw you in there for two thousand years, when you were a baby, and forced you to become what you had to survive, saying you would only deserve to be their daughter and heir if you survived and brought one of the ancient fragments of the divine nine-tailed fox with you. You are not a monster, you are a survivor, Eyana, and I am proud of you, I am proud of every bit of you, and you are my dream. You and our daughter are my dream."
"I don't deserve you, Mar, I,"
"You are not unlovable!"