Any Story LGBTQ+ Paranormal/Supernatural Romance

Chapter 18

Charles

I’m sure Daro thought my shakes came from my doubt of his plan. They did not. They came from my fear of Lord Zarus and his unexpected temper. I’d seen it more than once. He’d had a member of the Fay Realm here one time, and all was going smoothly along, and then out of nowhere he exploded into a fit, all but killing a member of the Fay Court. It almost triggered a war between the two realms. I was loyal to the kingdom, but I would not put it above a husband again. I had to do so once because of Lord Zarus, I would not do so again.

“You, you really think that you can get the bastard Thadus to come around to reopening the gates? What game are you playing at?”

Lord Zarus seemed calm during Daro’s explanation of his plan to take over the kingdom and then approach Lord Thadus by his own accord to speak with him and his new husband, the once Sire Charles Darwin. That alone might bring Lord Thadus around to speaking to Daro. Thadus never met me, but heard a great deal about me from my husbands, and my reputation among the dark realm spoke volumes for itself. When I came there to capture those who fled the Light Realm, I did so with respect and never caused any trouble.

“It might work, but I do not trust that bastard.” Lord Zarus sighed, throwing his legs up and over the arms of the throne. The most casual seating I’d ever seen him take. “What, Charles, you are family now. No use in being all formal around you. You and my son have gone and taken my choice from sugarcoating you into my life away. Not that I would have done that to you. You are too hardcore of a demon for that. Why you remain loyal to the light side has always been beyond me.”

“Father,” Daro chastised him in one word, earning him a raised shoulder. “Sorry. I’ve always wondered that. So did Thaddus, my sweet Thaddus, use to say I got the luck of the straw when Charles Darwin was born in the Light Realm.”

“Sir,” I slipped my hand underneath the back of Daro’s shirt, letting the softness of his skin ease me, “I think it was the bad luck that my mother was raped by a dark realm demon here in the light realm. I’m unsure if any of that is luck of any kind, but who reaped from it sure was not my family.”

“No it was not.” Lord Zarus swung his legs back and forth. “Alright. Here is what I am up for, Daro. And I have to admit, your grandfather and mother have done an excellent job at preparing you for taking over for me. You came right in here, ready to boot me from my seat of leadership.”

“Is that not what you asked them to do?” Daro spoke so gently when he spoke about his mother and father that it warmed my heart. I wish I’d had the chance to have that much love for my mother and had been able to have a father whom I knew. One decent.

“And did you not want him here to take over for you, Lord Zarus?” I asked, unsure what the last part of the comment had meant. It seemed a bit wavering and unenamored.

“I did not think him wise enough already to bring a way to reunite the entire Kingdom by one executive order.”

Good. He had not known about Daro lurking in the walls for the last six months. Something inside me, upon hearing that statement, made me think someone within Daro’s newly built team had ratted him out. Or that one of the guards I put on Darren had ratted me out.

“I do believe you will get my once sweet Thaddus here with the prize of meeting Sire Charles Darwin.” Lord Zarus moved so he faced us, letting his elbows rest on his knees as his hands held his head. “I do believe if you both make the request to reopen the gates, it will be granted.”

“May I ask why, Lord Zarus?”

“Please, when we are alone it is simply Nathenlla. You truly do not know anything about your demonic family side. Do you?”

“No. My mother was so young, and she died shortly after my birth. Her mother raised me and never spoke of the incident.”

I was unsure what my heritage had to do with anything, but my insides, the part that I kept buried deep in the pit of my stomach, reared up and rose to the surface.

Fire erupted from the top of my skull, forcing me to shove Daro far from my side. I only drew upon this side when I was in a dire situation, and it had only appeared two times in the past. Once when I was surrounded by three high-level demons, and they were about to eliminate me, and when my two husbands succumbed to our separation. Both of those times, it took me three days to settle the demonic beast that lived deep in me.

“Wow, there,” Lord Zarus stood, slowly and held his hands out to me. “Daro, it might. be wise to leave the room and let him and me speak. I may have brought up a subject that —”

“What did you fucking do to my man?” Daro’s raised voice had me shifting toward him, but I knew exactly where Lord Zarus stood, and he was smart enough to remain motionless when I moved. “Baby, you are perfectly fine. No one here will harm you. I promise.”

“I know that.” The words came through a microphone of some sort, or sounded like it. “He knows something that he should have told me a long time ago.”

“Father?”

“I could not do so.” Lord Zarus groaned, cursing under his breath. “I wished I could have, but it was put into an agreement that destroyed —”

“Hush, sweet Zarus.” The unexpected voice forced me to spin around and spew a flame of fire around the back of the room.