As the Demon Demands ✔️

Chapter Four

Evangeline could still hear the chaos from outside the window. She had managed to stop crying, but now she was sitting against the wall, holding her knees to her chest as she rested her chin against them. The bleeding on her chest had stopped, but the left side of her face was swollen and bruised from when Zestrath had hit her. She had also bruises around her wrists from when his tail had restrained them.

Her eyes flickered to his dead body. It just lay there in a pool of blood, the carpet drenched around it. The fire was still raging outside, perfectly lighting up his dead face that just seemed to stare at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.

She looked at the door. An hour had probably passed by this point, and Marak still hadn't returned. The Gods only knew where he was... Probably killing other members of the royal family. He had viciously beaten his brother to a bloody pulp without a hint of mercy. He had even seemed to enjoy it right before he killed him...

Evangeline sniffled, reaching up to wipe her puffy eyes. She couldn't understand. She thought she knew Marak. He could be gruff and crude and even a little hot-tempered, but... This was murder. A coup. The Marak she knew wasn't like this. He was supposed to be a kind man, who looked out for others and treated those around him with a level of respect and dignity. She had always felt comfortable around him, safe even, as he had always looked out of her, ever since she had met him all those years ago.

That Marak was nowhere to be found. And she didn't think she would ever see him again, not after tonight.

Steeling her nerves, she finally managed to force herself to stand. She used the wall for support, whimpering as her heart began to race. Her eyes flickered between the door and the corpse, as if afraid Marak would return or Zestrath would spring back to life and finish what he started.

But she shook her head. Zestrath was dead. And she could still hear the fighting going on outside. She was okay... but if she stayed here, she wouldn't be for long. Marak was unhinged, and there was no telling what he would do to her once he returned... He still had to punish her for disobeying him.

She glanced down at her destroyed uniform. The skirt part was still intact, but the blouse was completely ruined and left her chest exposed. The fabric was torn, half of the buttons were missing, and even the top of her apron had been ruined. She couldn't leave like this. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she tried.

So, with shaking hands, she untied her apron and let it slide off of her waist. Grabbing it, she found a torn corner of it and held it tightly. Taking a deep breath before, she gathered as much strength as she could and managed to rip a small section apart from it. It wasn't much, but it would serve as a decent cover for her chest.

She wrapped around her chest like binding, tying a secure knot in the back. Once she was covered, she forced her legs to move over to the door. She jiggled the handle, not surprised that it didn't budge. So she couldn't leave that way... She turned around, looking around the room for another way out.

There weren't any other doors in the room. She moved along the walls, pressing against any area that even looked slightly different. She even looked near the small fireplace across from the bed, but nothing revealed any secret passages that she could run down towards. This room was just another regular guest room; it wouldn't have anything special hidden away.

Then her eyes flickered towards the window. Hesitating, she walked over to it and held her hands tightly to her chest. It looked out into the garden, where she could see demons fighting and clawing into each other, humans with swords and shields barking orders and charging forward, and even mages casting spells and repelling back forces. The fire still glowed in the distance, and peering out, she realized it was the Geranium Palace: it was where all the concubines resided... and if she remembered correctly, there weren't any at the party.