11. Chapter 10

That had been the beginning of my unraveling. Four little words poked a hole into my heart and made it bleed. I remember staring at her. My first impulse had been fury— how dare she ? But she looked so innocent, sincere, and honest that I couldn't bring myself to strike her. It felt like if I did, it would have been a sacrilege. Imagine the son of the Devil behaving sacrilegious… there were many debaucheries I had given myself over to, but for some reason, I knew, deep in my core, that if I hit her, I would be lost.

I had been attracted to her from the moment I saw her proudly riding her horse. The escort of six guards was no match for me, but when I finished with them, I found her gone. It took me all day to finally catch up with her. Incorrectly, I had assumed she would have fled back to the safety of her castle. I lost several hours searching the path to her father's stronghold. Angered and trying to figure out another plan, I returned to the place where I had ambushed her.

And that's when I saw her, riding high on the top of the cliff overhanging the forest, searching for me; she was trying to figure out the best route back to her home by avoiding me.

She was a sight to behold; I had never seen a more beautiful figure on a horse. They seemed to be one as she nudged it into another gallop when she realized I had spotted her. The ensuing chase made my blood boil with desire for her. I'll always remember the thunderous sound of hooves pounding the forest floor, the way my steed snorted, just as caught up in the chase as I was. The sense of victory as my horse pulled closer to hers, the scent of fear that came off her only increased my primal drive to make her mine.

The moment I was close enough to wrap my hands around her waist and her tiny shriek, were seared into my memory and how it had felt placing her body in front of mine in the saddle. I closed my eyes, reliving that very moment, feeling myself harden.

I would have taken her right there on my horse had I not known that my father required a virgin. He had made it perfectly clear to Adramalech that he was not to touch her. For a moment, I considered defying him in this, too, but I didn't. Something I was eternally grateful for because she would have fought me tooth and nail. Taking her against her will was something she would have never forgiven me for.

After I chained her to the wall in the cave, her first question rattled me. "Is Austice alright?"

"Austice?" The thought of one of her guards having been precious to her enraged me. "They're all dead."

"My horse," she said through weeping eyes.

"Your horse?" I nearly laughed. She was my prisoner, and I was going to take her to Satan himself. I had killed her guards, and she cared about her horse?

"I know my guards are dead, and I will pray for their souls. But Austice, is he alright?"

"As far as I know," I answered after a brief pause.

Only to find myself spying on Sir Jonathan's castle later to make sure the damn horse was indeed safe.

When I returned, I noticed her chafed wrists from the chains. A low curse escaped me, I had impaled men, had hacked them to pieces and taken their heads off without feeling the slightest remorse, but seeing her scraped wrists did something to me. It stirred something in me that I had never experienced before—guilt.

"He's alright," I said gruffly.

She looked up, startled. She was such a pitiful sight, all huddled up in the corner with her arms stretched high above her, her skirts surrounding her like a flower who had hung its head. I closed my eyes.

"Who?" she asked.

"Your damn horse," I answered, stepping forward. What I was about to do was the stupidest thing I had ever done.

With the flick of my wrist, the locks on the chains opened, and gravity pulled her arms down. Her mouth opened into a wide O as she looked up at me. "Thank you."

I knelt beside her to see the damage the chains had done to her tender skin and winced. There wasn't any blood, but her beautiful skin was red and angry. Carefully, I moved my fingers over them and watched them disappear.

"How did you do that?" she asked in amazement.

"How come you're not afraid of me?" My question popped out before I had a chance to think about it.

She seemed a bit taken aback by my query as if the thought hadn't occurred to her. "Our lives are all in God's hands," she intoned devoutly.

I rose an eyebrow at her mockingly, and she relented. "I don't know." She finally answered honestly. "But from the moment I saw you, I felt… felt…"

I waited patiently. "That you would never hurt me."

"I killed your guards." I pointed out.

Her face flushed. "I know, and I feel terrible about that, I truly do, but…" helplessly, she stared at me. "It feels as if fate brought us together."

Fate , I mused. Fate was something I would rather believe in than her God. It was true that I was the son of Satan, and if Satan existed, one could argue so did God, but I had never seen Him. During my long life, I had witnessed many atrocities and saw the things humans could do to one another, or my father's creatures to them, but no divine power had ever intervened. No divine hand had ever stopped me from tormenting a human or slaughtering them on the battlefield.

Fate though?

Was it fate that made me foil my father's and brother's plans?

I could have never hurt her; just the thought of doing so clenched my heart and stomach, and I knew I would rather cut my hand off than use it to harm her.

But, that was the beginning of us. I don't know how long we sat there talking until darkness crept in from the outside, and I made a fire to warm our food. We ate and talked some more as if we were old friends.

When she got cold, I pulled her into my arms—because it had never crossed my mind to bring a blanket—to warm her. She stiffened for a moment but allowed it to happen, and after a while, she leaned into me, igniting deep-buried emotions I hadn't known I possessed. I didn't think she had any idea what her trust meant to me. To seek my warmth after I had abducted her. With sudden clarity, I realized I would never be able to give her up.

I had never asked anybody for forgiveness, but unexperienced guilt was eating me from the inside out. I would have gladly groveled, for her, but even that she didn't ask of me. Her absolution for my sins was so sweet, so guileless, it freed me from weights I hadn't realized I carried.

We made love for the first time that day. It was both our first time. Of course, before her, I had fucked anybody who offered and had taken my fill whenever the opportunity arose, but I had never made love before. Her pleasure was all that mattered to me then and now. My own release was a mere afterthought, more of a reward than a guaranteed outcome.

Afterward, I asked her to marry me, knowing there would never be another woman for me but her. I promised to protect and take her away from here. I had enough wealth to offer her more than she was already accustomed to. I told her I could use my powers to make her an immortal, but she was too devout to consider being turned into a demon, or creature of the night , as she called it, and there wasn't any urgency to press for it. We had many good years ahead of us before her body would begin to wilt.

She wasn't ready to leave the cave, and I admit, I liked having her all to myself. Fate only allowed us these precious few weeks together before it drove us apart. Weeks of bliss and happiness and whose memories I thought would have to sustain me for eternity.

One day, I returned to the cave after I went into town to purchase things we needed and found the cave empty. It wasn't the first time, but for some reason, my stomach turned, and a foreboding sensation spread through me. I checked every place she liked to go when she left the cave: the little creek where she liked to wash, a cluster of berry bushes where she harvested the sweetest blackberries, and a clearing where she had discovered tasty mushrooms, but she wasn't at any of these places.

I did, however, find her scent, hers and that of other humans. I howled in dismay when I realized that her father's men must have captured her. I raced to Sir Jonathan's castle, straight into the trap he had laid for me, sealing Blanche's and my fate.

I shook my head to break away from the memories. "All this is my fault. I should have taken you away sooner. I should have known Sir Jonathan would have laid a trap. I'm sorry, Blanche, so sorry."

"You did nothing wrong, Devon. You risked everything to to save me." Her features turned angry, "The only one at fault is my father. If he weren't so greedy, this wouldn't have happened."

I squeezed her tightly, held her cold body, and marveled at her strength and grace.

"I don't know how I survived these past four hundred and thirty years without you."

She froze. "Four hundred years?"

I could have kicked myself for my blunder, but now that the cat was out of the bag, I nodded. "Yes, more than four hundred years have passed since… since we got separated."

She visibly swallowed but took the information in stride. "I've noticed the… changes. Are we still in England?"

I shook my head, "No, we are in a country called the United States of America. The continent was just discovered a hundred years before…"

"I remember." She said with a wane smile. "I remember hearing about it. I also remember," now her smile deepened, "how we made plans to go there."

I hadn't forgotten. I had never forgotten a single word we had ever said to one another, not a single minute of the few we had been allowed to spent together.

"We are here now, Blanche." I kissed her hand. "And nothing will ever separate us. Nobody!"

She closed her eyes and sighed wistfully. "Nobody!"

"Nobody," I affirmed.

A moment of silence passed, before she asked, "What did they do to you?"

"Nothing worse than they did to you," I said, pushing her hair back and kissing her forehead, reveling in the knowledge that I would now always be able to do this.

"I need to know, Devon," she insisted.

I sighed. My Blanche was nothing if not stubborn.

"My father's punishments are inventive and cruel. He carved my heart out and saw fit to allow his demons to torture me for a few hundred years until he deemed my punishment sufficient and released me back to Earth." I confided. "The greatest punishment was to be returned to Earth because everything there reminded me of you."