Reborn As The Daemon’s Wife - Chapter 159

He was still staring at her when she opened her eyes. Disbelief was still written all over her face as she asked, “Is Ulke your father?”

“Does it matter?” He didn’t seem to want to talk about it.

“Of course it matters! Because if you are the offspring of Ulke then…” Her eyes stung. She couldn’t bring herself to state that her mission was to kill her mate. Was King Rian out of his mind?

She ran a hand down her hair and looked at him. “Does he know that you are Ulke’s son?”

“No one knows aside from Ulke.” He responded, crumbling the letter in his hand like it was a piece of trash.

The mention of the demon infuriated her. If he knew that Dairon was his son, why did he not take care of him?

She read through the letter again and again, distress filling her heart.. “I’m not going to kill my mate no matter what. Does Ulke have any other kids?”

He chuckled at the first possible solution that formed in her mind.

“While I think it’s a good idea to make him feel the agony of having his child die, he doesn’t have any other child yet. At least none that I know of.”

That gave her even more distress. “If he doesn’t have any other kids, then how did King Rian come up with the thought of killing his child? Does he know who you really are?” She asked.

He shook his head. “Ulke hasn’t told him yet.”

Yet.

She frowned at the last word. Why was he so certain that Ulke would eventually tell King Rian his true identity? Weren’t the two supposed to be enemies?

Reading her mind, he cleared her doubt. “They are using each other to get the benefits they want. Ulke wants me dead while Rian wants to get rid of anyone he thinks may threaten his position.”

“But you don’t want anything to do with King Rian’s position.” It took a while for her to realize that the second part was not about him, but Catalyah.

“So they are two assholes with the same goal—to get rid of their own kin.” She mocked, wanting to slap King Rian for pretending to have valued Catalyah. “But why does Ulke want you dead? You are his son.”

“He thinks I’ll be the death of him.” He gritted his teeth in ridicule.

“Do you think Catalyah really found out my identity as a demon coincidentally?” He asked, almost self mockingly.

“Did Ulke tell her?” She guessed. She had not found out how Catalyah uncovered his identity from her memory.

“He made her believe that I would cause the death of all immortals. His aim was to make King Rian order her to kill me but he failed.”

“I have no idea why he thinks I would cause his death but now that he thinks so, I do want to kill him.” He was not joking.

She didn’t blame him for thinking that way.

“Then we have to do something about him before he can harm you.”

He stood up and grabbed the letter from her, tearing it into pieces. “We don’t need this.”

“What do we have to do?” She asked, determined to end the charade once and for all.

He looked out the window. “We have twenty-nine days to kill King Rian.”

Her lips moved but she was too shocked to say a word.

“What did you expect, flower? That I would kill you to get out of his clutches?” He reacted to her shocked expression.

She shook her head. “That would only get you deeper into his trap. He doesn’t seem like the kind to let anyone off after using them.”

She placed her hand on his that was currently cupping her face. “Ulke has to go down in the same number of days.”

He hummed in approval, looking more determined. “About that, I have to free Narilia from him. Her freedom is long overdue.”

His statement that had bounced out of nowhere made her raise her eyebrows in suspicion. “Why is it about Narilia?”

Realizing that she had misunderstood, he smiled and teased her face. “You look cute when you are jealous. It’s not exactly about Narilia. It’s just… Bardumond is my friend. I can’t stand seeing how empty he is after his mate was stolen from him. That too, by a jerk who is yet to pay for what he did to an innocent goddess.”

Without a doubt, he was talking about Alaya. Ulke was an asshole, now that she thought about it. After messing around with Alaya, he tried to steal his son’s mate and ended up forcefully getting together with her sister? Immortals didn’t care if they married their twin but it was still repulsive when she thought about Ulke’s overly adventurous love life. Did he even ever fall in love with any of the goddesses?

“We need a plan.” She sat down and grabbed a sheet of paper but before she could write anything on it, she ditched it.

“Who is to say that King Rian will not spy on us?”

He took a seat opposite her. “Why do we need a plan? All we need is the perfect timing and I will get rid of King Rian.”

“Are you even listening to yourself? That’s the king!” She sternly reminded him.

“And?” He asked like it was not a big deal. “I could make everyone forget he existed.”

She would have agreed if it was something else but not this. “Scarlet knows what happened to Pearl. We cannot be certain that the water gods don’t know about it. Besides, what if there is a deity who is immune to your memory inducing power?”

He tapped the table. It was a possibility that could not be ruled out. Before he met her, he would not have cared if anyone found out that he was behind it but now, he knew that she might have to pay the price for his choices so he thought through his decisions again.

“I’ll use his weakness to make him cause his own death.” He suggested.

That was a better idea so she approved of it. “I know just the way to find his weakness.” She grinned.

When he asked for a hint, she winked at him. “It’s a secret.”

____

The following afternoon, she sought Bardumond after leaving the academy. He had just returned from the academy of deities where the gods of war had been sparring and ended up injuring each other.

Seeing her in Blaze’s castle upon his return was a pleasant surprise.

“Brother,” She smiled happily when she saw him.

He placed down everything in his hands and walked over to the couch where she was sitting on her own. “Is everything okay? Why are you alone? Where are father and mother?” Most importantly, since when was she comfortable coming here on her own?

“They went out on some business. I came to find you.” She glanced around at anything to use as an excuse.

“Is everything alright?” He became worried, earning a smack from her.

“Am I limited to only looking for my brother when something is wrong?”

“You win.” He studied her and knew that she was not alright but didn’t push it anymore.

“I was wondering if you could teach me a little about herbs. I’ve been curious about them.” She dragged in a random topic.

She thought he would get lost in chatter about what he liked most but he called her out on lying. “Cut the crap. Since when were you interested in anything aside from designing clothes?”

She burst out laughing and he looked at her seriously.

“You know that you can tell me anything.”

She looked around uncomfortably, subtly letting him know that she did not trust the environment they were in. So, he suggested having the conversation in his chambers instead.

He let her sit on the couch and brought her a drink.

“I don’t want to drink any herbal juice.” She shut her eyes when she saw the red contents of her glass.

“I don’t just give you random herbal juice. This will boost your strength.” He insisted and took a glass of it as well.

“Then I guess I have to thank fate for giving me a god of health as a brother.” She held the glass and tasted the content. It was bitter but had a hint of familiarity to it.

“I want to ask about grandfather.” She started. “Does he have a family aside from Goddess Lolanthe?”

He stared at her for long enough to make goosebumps rise under her skin. What was he looking at?

It was too late when she realized that he was staring at the side of her neck. She tried not to touch it and feigned ignorance. But when their gazes met, he frowned. “Why do you suddenly want to know about the jerk Rian? Are you suspecting that he is a demon in disguise and is the one who bit you?”