Virtue - a Fairy Tale (14 page)

“I know you’d like to believe that,” Wick said quietly, and he turned back to her. What he saw in her eyes surprised him, because she looked genuinely sad. “But you sold your soul to a demon. You have no heart. You can’t love.”

Lux didn’t want to think about that or what it meant, so he did the only thing he could think to do. He headed into the Weeping Waters, prepared to kill any creature that crossed him.

14

Valefor didn’t look Lily would’ve pictured a demon, but then again, she didn’t realize that’s what Valefor was yet. He was tall and muscular, making Ira look puny in comparison. Beyond that, Valefor was gorgeous. Breathtakingly so. It was as if he was chiseled out of marble, completely flawless and perfect.

He came into the room shirtless, which seemed fitting because of the heat. His hair was a golden brown that shimmered like satin and grew just past his ears.

For a moment, Lily just gaped at him, completely forgetting all her senses. In her whole life, she’d never really lusted after anything, not the way she did when she saw him.

But it was his eyes that threw her off, his eyes that revealed to her that he was evil. They were an amber red, and in them, she could see how vile he was. It sent a shiver down her spine, and she had to look away.

“Do I frighten you?” Valefor asked in a voice that sounded like a lullaby.

“No,” Lily lied and forced herself to look back up at him.

“Good.” He walked toward her, and she fought the urge to cringe or scoot away. “I’ll untie you so we can talk like civil people.”

His hands brushed up against her as he untied her, and his skin felt like flames. She pulled away from his touch instinctively, and he chuckled under his breath.

“I thought you said you weren’t afraid of me,” he said, his voice low and right in her ear. It rumbled through her, reminding her of thunder.

“Just because I’m not afraid of you doesn’t mean I want you to touch me,” Lily said, and she looked back over her shoulder at him. He lifted his head, so his burning eyes met hers, and she gulped back the scream inside her. “Fear and being repulsed are two separate things.”

“I repulse you?” Valefor raised an eyebrow as he undid the ropes. Her hands were free, and she pulled them away quickly, rubbing the scrapes on her wrists.

“You killed the man I love,” Lily told him.

Her heart broke as she remembered the last time she’d seen Lux, lying on the ground. His shirt was torn open, his chest scorched. His body was bloodied and mangled, and Lily didn’t think anyone could survive that, though she hoped against hope that he was alive.

“Have I?” Valefor smirked and stepped away from Lily, leaving her to untie the ropes around her ankles. “This must have been a very long time ago, since it’s been quite a while since I’ve killed a man.”

“You ordered his death, then.” Lily pulled frantically at the knots, trying to keep Valefor in her sights as he walked away from her. He had his back to her, but she refused to take her eyes off him.

“Perhaps,” Valefor admitted. He pulled out a chair and sat down in it, resting his arm on the table. “Who is this man I allegedly harmed?”

“Lux.” She swallowed hard when she said his name, and Valefor burst out laughing. “Why is that so funny?”

“Well, to begin with, Lux works for me,” he grinned.

Lily said nothing to that. Her stomach dropped, but she merely continued working on undoing the knot in the rope that bound her ankles. In her heart, she’d always known that Lux had been hiding something. But everything he’d done since he met her had been to protect her, and she couldn’t forget that.

“You don’t believe me?” Valefor asked when Lily didn’t respond.

“I believe you,” she sighed. “It just doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter?”

“No. I love him, and he loves me.” She finally freed her ankles, and she quickly got to her feet. “And you took him from me.”

“You are so naïve.” Valefor tried for an expression that looked sympathetic, but that was an emotion he’d never been able to master. “He doesn’t love you. It was his job to fool you, to trick you into coming back with him. And he does it so well. I know. That’s why I chose him.”

“That’s not true,” Lily shook her head. “Maybe you did choose him. Maybe he was supposed to bring me to you. But he didn’t. He decided he cared for me more than he cared for serving you. That’s why you sent Ira to stop him and take me away.”

His face hardened, appearing even more like marble, but he remained seated. Lily stood her ground. She’d do whatever it took to escape his grasp, and she was preparing herself for a battle.

“You don’t know who he is,” Valefor said simply. “If you did, you wouldn’t speak with such conviction.”

“I love him, and nothing you can say will change that.”

“Have you heard of the peccati?” Valefor asked carefully.

“Yes,” Lily swallowed. “They’re minions in the service of daemons.”

“Quite right.” He slowly stood up, trailing his fingers along the table as he walked towards her. “There are seven peccati on Earth, each one meant to spread the good of a particular sin.”

“The good of a sin?” Lily asked. “Don’t you mean evil?”

“In my line of work, sin is good.” He smiled at his own joke. “Lux happens to be short for Luxuria. Do you know what that means?”

“No.” She stared up at him, watching as he stepped closer, but she refused to move back.

“Lust.” His smile widened. “Your love, your one and only, is the minion for lust. He was created to make women fall in love with him, to corrupt the pure.” He stopped right in front of her, so close that the heat from his body felt like flames on her skin.

“He didn’t corrupt me,” Lily said, but the conviction in her voice was waning. “He protected me.”

“That was his job. He left you for me to corrupt.”

“He didn’t leave me for anything!” Lily spat, remembering the last time she had seen Lux. “You killed him! He would never have left me! I don’t care what you say he was, Lux loved me!”

“He’s dead now, isn’t he!” Valefor roared, and Lily shied away from his rage. His eyes blazed, and the fire around the room grew brighter and stronger, as if his hatred ignited it. “He doesn’t matter anymore! It’s just you and me, Lily!”

“What do you want with me?” Lily asked, trying to hide the quaver in her voice. “Why did you bring me here?”

Valefor softened instantly. The flames around the room died down, and the anger in his eyes was replaced by some kind of twisted pleasure. He smiled widely and leaned back on the table behind him.

“This isn’t how I wanted to tell you,” he admitted. “But to be honest, this meeting isn’t going exactly as I’d planned. I expected us to talk a little, flirt some, so you could warm up to the idea. But there’s no sense in beating around the bush. I want to marry you.”

“Marry you?” Lily asked. “I would rather die than marry you!”

“Ordinarily, I would offer to arrange that for you, but not this time.” He waved his hand, completely unfazed by her reaction. “You will marry me. Maybe not today, and I understand that. You just lost someone you cared about.”

“Because you killed him!” Lily shot back.

“No, I didn’t kill him. I merely sent Ira to retrieve you, by any means necessary,” Valefor explained as calmly as he could. “I needed to get you here with me. I had to know you were safe. I only did that to protect you.”

“To protect me?” Lily shook her head. “From what?”

“From Lux!” He gestured to her. “He had you under a spell, and he was going to corrupt you. I couldn’t allow that.”

“I’m supposed to believe you were only looking out for me?” She laughed darkly. “You’re the devil!”

“No, I’m not, but thank you,” Valefor smiled. “I am only his servant, but I do appreciate the comparison.”

“You disgust me.”

“There’s no need for that.” He frowned. “I know this is a bad time. I’ll let you get settled in, and we can talk more later, when you’ve had time to clear your head.”

“There will never be a better time! I will
never
marry you!”

“Lily, my darling, I understand your anger here,” Valefor said. “Really, I do. But you haven’t heard what I have to offer you.”

“There’s nothing you can offer me that I would want.”

“Not even immortality?” Valefor asked, raising an eyebrow. “That usually gets people. Not to mention powers beyond your imagination, an army of servants at your disposal, and of course, everything I have to give, which is nearly unlimited. And once you’re my bride, we will rule the world. We can do as whatever we wish.”

He walked toward her as he spoke, his words getting more emphatic.

“Really, think of that, Lily. You could have anything you wanted. You could
be
anything you wanted. I would give you
everything
your heart desires.”

She stared up at him, her chin high, and she told him, “The only thing my heart desires is Lux.”

Valefor sighed resignedly, but he didn’t seem upset. She’d thought his rage might flare up again, but he only nodded.

“That’s what you say now, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned living on this Earth for the past millennia, it’s that young hearts are fickle,” Valefor said. “You’ll forget him. And then you’ll see what I really have to offer.”

“I will never love you.” She shook her head adamantly. “I will never obey you, and I will certainly never marry you.”

“You’ll change your mind.”

“I won’t,” she insisted, but he’d already turned his back to her and was walking away. “I will do to you what you have done to me. You took away the one thing I cared about most in this world, and so I will do the same. And if what you want is me, then you will never have me.”

“Yes, I’ve heard you, but I’m tired of this conversation now.” He smiled thinly at her. “I think it’s time you see your quarters.”

Valefor went over to the door, and Lily charged at him. She didn’t really have a plan of attack. She just felt that she had to do something. Throwing the rope from her ankles around his neck, she jumped on his back, trying to choke him. His skin burned her, but she continued to pull tightly on the rope.

He didn’t even struggle, though. He grabbed the rope, tearing it in half with hardly an effort, and he elbowed her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. Pain shot through her, and she barely stopped herself from vomiting. She cradled her belly and gasped for breath.

“Lily, I’m sorry for that, but you made me do it.” Valefor looked down at her. “You do understand that, don’t you?”

She coughed because she couldn’t speak, and Valefor sighed. He opened the door and summoned the guards to take her to her room. Two large ogres came in to get her. They towered over Valefor, their dark skin mottled brown and covered in warts. They tried to pull Lily to her feet, but she couldn’t stand, so they dragged her out of the room.

Ira had been standing outside the door, and he watched her pass out from pain as the ogres took her away. Once she had disappeared around the corner, Ira stepped into Valefor’s chamber.

“So it didn’t go as well as you planned?” Ira asked.

“Not exactly.” Valefor picked up the rope she’d tried to strangle him with, pulling it between his hands. “But I didn’t think she’d accept right away. She needs to see reason, and a few days in the dungeon without food or water ought to do that.”

“You’re going to torture her into loving you?” Ira asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Valefor scoffed and tossed the rope into the fire, making it blaze for a moment. “She’ll never love me. But she doesn’t need to. She just has to serve me, to accept me as her one true leader.”

“Why can’t you just make her marry you?” Ira asked.

“That’s not how it works,” Valefor shook his head. “She has to
choose
me. But she will. Give her a few days of suffering, and she’ll beg for me to marry her and set her free from that pit.”

15

The swamp gurgled around them. Bubbles rose to the surface, and when they popped, they made the noise of a crying child. This had given it the Weeping Waters, and that sound of a child in danger had led many unsuspecting travelers to their death.

 Wick and Lux made their way carefully across the swamp, using stones, trees, and the occasional patch of land to avoid stepping in the sludge. Touching the water wouldn’t mean certain death in itself, but both Wick and Lux knew the source of the weeping bubbles.

Hidden beneath the murky film were fish the size of grown men with teeth like blades, waiting to snap at anything that entered the water. They made the crying sound, sending it out in hopes of luring someone to rescue a child that did not exist. Like a siren song, they called to their prey, tricking them into becoming a meal.

Wick knew her way through the swamp better than Lux, having traversed more times than she would’ve liked. Once across the wretched water was more than enough. It smelled putrid, of decay and death, and the crying call of the fish was maddening.

A massive tree had tipped over in the center of the swamp, and its large roots were splayed out above the surface, thick as tree trunks themselves. When they reached it, Wick stopped, standing on a large rock that jutted out of the swamp. She’d been leading the way, and Lux stood on the rock behind her.

“What’s wrong?” Lux asked, keeping his voice low. The creatures in the water listened for any sound, any reason to leap from the water.

“It didn’t used to be like this.” She motioned to the overturned tree in front of them. “Below the tree used to be a small island. It was a respite in the middle of swamp, where you could catch your breath without fear of being eaten alive.”

“Where’s the island now?” Lux asked.

“I don’t know.” Wick shook her head. “When the tree went over, the island must’ve gone with it. I suppose the roots were holding the dirt in place, and without it, it just sunk.”

“We still have to go across. Island or not.”

Instead of replying to that, Wick bent down and slid off her shoes. They were little more than worn cloth, more like socks or slippers than true shoes, and they had nothing to grip with on their bottoms. She put the shoes in her satchel, then reached out carefully and stepped onto the root in front of her.