The Mayaware's reign must end.
In a world of demonic beings with a hunger for human flesh and thirst for blood, Hesi Renen knows it well. When her siblings are taken to the harvesting farms, she must do everything she can to get them out, even if it...
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The basket straps dug against her shoulders, flooding her with memories of the day everything started. Hesi clenched her jaw and glanced at the dark lump curled inside. Her gut swirled then stiffened, as though it couldn't decide whether to be disgusted. Inside the grounds of the Royal Palace, it was the least she felt.
They departed Festophis' fortress two days ago and arrived at the gates of Berheqt after a day stuffed inside a cart. She had the taste of what Pai, Unsu, and the other women from the breeding farm must have gone through. What happened to the batch she lost in the desert? Were some of them included in the final slate of bride candidates under Festophis' name?
She spent most of the trip and the entry to Berheqt coming to terms with the mess she entered. From what Festophis told them, the Mayaware royals came up with a new way to entertain themselves and get the prince a wife along the way. The generals—and she would bet an arm that any high-ranking and wealthy official participated as well—found their selection of potential human brides upon the order of the king. The brides were to compete and win the royals' approval. The official who pushed for the winning bride would be awarded handsomely.
The king's right hand—a perfect place to stab sideways and attain the crown for oneself. She didn't have many encounters with demons, but the greed glinting in their eyes betrayed that they were no better than humans. They would claw each other down, tear flesh, and gouge the eyes out of their kin if it meant having better access to wealth and power. Because like humans, the only thing the Mayaware were concerned with was survival.
She understood that. Respected it, even. But so long as her siblings hung in the balance, she would never forgive them.
So, when they stepped out of the cart and into the Royal Capital, she was the first to note the exit routes, the number of guards per outpost, and the volume of crowds striding in and out of the gates. Everything. And after spending the rest of the night in the bridal palace—a lowly building in the outskirts of Berheqt the demons stashed them into—she concluded the Royal Capital was enormous. It would take at least a day to get to the other side and another to go back. With how detached the bridal palace was from the rest of the consequential palaces, facilities, and gardens with ridiculous names, she understood that the Mayaware were determined to remind humans where they stand. And how close they could be before they get killed.
It was alright. She was a patient hunter despite the ticking dial over her head. She only had until Pai's moon-cycle to frolic around—she reminded herself. No time to waste. The quicker, the better.
Come morning, she was awoken, rather rudely, by Mayaware attendants—female demons who were the least likely to eat them—, shoving her in the courtyard of the bridal palace, right into Festophis' face. The general gave them a rundown of what would happen. It was their first trial about what the only quality the demon prince's wife must have: loyalty.
Was fate giving her stellar crap? It was easy to think so as the potential brides received baskets with live demon saplings inside after arriving at a separate quadrant in Berheqt. There were a handful of women on the starting point aside from Festophis' slate, and over three-quarters paled upon the notion of sharing air with a docile demonic offspring.
