The Demon Queen (Otherworld Series #5)

Chapter 35- The Last Ally

We were served iced tea with an awesome lemon cake. My stomach growled at the sight of the cake, I blushed but didn't look up.

The king sat across me on the table, his own tea left untouched, cake gone.

I had relayed my journey till here and had told him about the other alliances I had, though he had a cold stare, one you got to know him, you'd find that the King was a wise and calm man, not really giving much away about himself but at the same time, managing to make a person themselves away.

I told him about Nikolai and about Runeria. He took it all in with a straight face.

"So....a crazy dragon fancies herself in love with the Demon King and intends to take over the world with him by her side?"

I nodded. "She's using the ghouls."

The king crossed his fingers together on the table.

"The Whitefang pack declined to join the alliance, I shouldn't be surprised but I am."

I raised an eyebrow. "We didn't actually speak to the whole pack. Only the Alpha."

"Ah." He got a look in his eye. Like he'd found the flaw in the painting. "Silas is a complicated man. Like the Thunderfist pack, even the Whitefang pack was cursed when they started following Artemis. Silas suffers for the mistakes of his ancestors, he is cursed to turn into a Direwolf at every full moon. The Thunderfist curses have loopholes, the Whitefang curse doesn't." He sighed.

I pictured the Alpha. He hadn't looked like a cursed person, then again neither had Callimera. But they both were....wait, loopholes.

"The Thunderfist curses have loopholes? Like... a way to escape the curse?"

King Pallas nodded. "Callimera must push her fear aside and learn to be strong. Seraphone must forget the wrong done to her in the past and must open her heart again. They are the only two currently cursed ones in the pack."

"Can....you Tell me more about why they were cursed? Is there a trigger?"

The King smiled softly, "After you have told me so much, you deserve to know more. Callimera loved to sing at dawn. Every morning she used to sing at that rock. One day, her song lured some mortals to our island, bewitched by her beauty, they followed us and tried to kidnap her for themselves, Callimera, instead of using her beast form to protect herself, was too afraid to fight, Paris saved her but she couldn't save herself and so she was cursed."

If I had been Callimera, I'd have gone wolf on their asses and eaten them while. Bitches, come to kidnap me, ain't running away so fast. But poor her, but if I look at her now, she'll probably be less pretty to me, woman around the world, even mortals, would die to have the power to protect themselves better, Callimera had it, but didn't use it properly.

A little self defends training will probably get her out of the curse.

"And Seraphone?" I asked.

I examined the Kings face closely. In my vision, he had been determined to marry her no matter how cold hearted she was.
I noticed the soft look in his eyes, when he smiled, this time, his eyes twinkled.

"Seraphone was thrown into a pit of fire by her father. "

I gasped. With the smile he had on, I didn't think he'd give out such a hard truth, right at the start.

"She loved her father dearly." Another bad thing to say for my soft daddy's girl heart. Which father would do that? Some psychopaths were always around, and poor Seraphone got stuck with one.

"He broke her trust when he threw her in that pit. She built up some thick walls after that. Many men in the kingdom tried to court her. She kept rejecting them, afraid to love. By the laws, the Thunderfist and Scornbreed are allowed to have multiple lovers before joining in union. Seraphone rejected 100 men, it was her biggest mistake. Day broke and she was cursed, she felt no love for the people dear to her. Her skin was ice cold, her eyes frozen in an expression of indifference. She feels nothing, no pain, no joy, her life is empty until she falls in love."

"And you intend to woo her." I smiled, knowingly.

The King smiled back. "And I will. I'm the one who will break her curse. The scribes have proclaimed it. 'He whose hair is as red as flames, will steal the heart of the cold one and she shall be warmed once again'. "

I smiled widely. "I always enjoy a good love story."

The King sent me a look. "Do not speak of this to Seraphone. She doesn't favour me."

"Yet." I laughed. He sipped tea to hide his smile.

I put on my serious face again. "So, about that alliance."

He put his glass down. "As King of Agelia, I accept you're alliance."

I almost squealed. But controlled it. My last incompetence had made me doubt the chance to ally myself with Agelia but now if I think on it, the King would be have accepted anyway. He was gratefully for me saving his life after all.

He smirked when I looked at him again. And I felt a sudden sharp sense of dread.

"You still have the Queen to convince....Let me warn you, she's cold."