The Immortal Prince ✔️

41

Word Count: 1760

~Vaela

Part of me didn't expect Keo to actually keep his word once he grabbed me and assured me he would return me to my mate.

But the moment my feet touch snow, I know everything is going to be okay.

Glancing over my shoulder, I see the looming drop down the familiar mountain that I once climbed to a date I could never have imagined.

Keo looks around distastefully, either not liking the snow or the height.

Even as I sway unnervingly on my feet, still drained of a lot of my blood, I want to hug him. It's not like he isn't getting something from our deal, but the fact that he kept his word despite breaking it in the past gives me the sense that maybe the world isn't trying to punish me.

"I'm all about hiding, but up here? Really?" Keo mutters, kicking a clump of ice off the edge of the ridge, watching it shatter against a rock below.

"What...what are you, exactly?" I ask, taking cautious steps back into the cave, grateful to be out of the environment.

He looks normal...to an extent. His appearance is almost God-like, and it's as if I can feel the magic leeching from his person. Not to mention he has an unwavering confidence that must be backed by something terrifying.

But other than that, well, I could be convinced him and I were not too different.

He falls into step beside me. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're not from this Realm, but you have magic...Are you an Immortal?" I ask. Is he just as terrifying in his home realm? Or are they all just like him?

I don't even want to think about that.

"An Immortal...not quite. My lifespan extends far greater than most, however," he explains, wincing as a drip of water from an icicle falls on his forehead.

"So what are you? You can't step past Hale's magic without touching me."

"Does it matter? We have made a deal," he says irritably. I stare at the side of his face, wondering what is going on inside that head of his. He seems so bothered by my existence, needing only one thing from me.

It feels strange, having only one value to a person. He would happily kill me if he didn't need the residual magic in me.

"I'm curious."

"I'm a Demon. Not in the same sense as you believe in this Realm," he tells me. I frown, trying to process the concept of that

I guess it makes sense. He does seem to embody the term.

"But you don't have powers?" Obviously, but this may be my only chance to learn about a place I will never see.

He looks down at me, amused by the nature of my curiosity. "Not powers you would understand. And this magic from your blood is not for me. I don't have to foundational powers to accomplish what I need. This is for someone else."

My eyes widen. Someone else is involved with his plot? I hope they are doing so willingly, although I doubt that matters to him.

"How many people will die for you to get what you want?"

"However many that need to. Death does not bother me," he says, his expression stony and cold.

"Do you know Larsen?" I ask. I vaguely remember Hale telling me his friend Larsen was from another realm. I'm not exactly sure how many there are, so maybe they have crossed paths.