Demon Bound: A Fantasy Monster Romance, page 1
Also by Nina K. Westra
Demons of Ardani
Demon Bound
Hell Sent
Elves of Ardani
Night Elves of Ardani
Rogue Elves of Ardani
Sun Elves of Ardani
Dark Elves of Ardani
Copyright © 2024 Nina K. Westra.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the author or publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Editing by Noah Sky.
Cover by Nina K. Westra.
ninakwestra.com
nina@ninakwestra.com
Demon Bound
Demons of Ardani: Book One
Nina K. Westra
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Demons of Ardani Book 2: Hell Sent
Thank You
Free Bonus Epilogue
Elves of Ardani
About the Author
Chapter 1
“Ihave something to show you.”
Raiya looked up at her husband, her knife and fork frozen in her hands. He was smiling. It was a smile that said he knew something she didn’t.
When Lord Nirlan Han-gal smiled, it was usually because someone else was suffering. In her year of marriage to him, that smile had never preceded anything pleasant.
“What is it?” Raiya asked, carefully keeping her tone neutral. As they finished dinner, she looked down at her plate and realized she hadn’t eaten much. She’d been eating less and less, lately.
His smile broadened. “It’s a surprise.” He went to her, holding out his hand. He would have been angry if she didn’t take it, so she stood, letting him lead her by the arm from the dining room into the cold halls of their dark, empty castle.
Long ago, when Uulantaava had been ruled by innumerable warlords scattered across the plains, dozens of men and women had been housed within these halls alongside the nobles they served. These days, it was just Raiya and Nirlan and a few servants. Despite the cold and the emptiness, it probably would have been a nice place to live if she’d been sharing it with someone she loved.
The longer they walked, the more apprehensive she became. When he brought her to the cobweb-laden door that led to the dungeon, she stopped. It had been decades since any prisoners had been kept there, but she very much doubted there was anything there she’d want to see.
“I think I’m feeling a bit sick, actually,” she said, a last half-hearted attempt to escape. “I think I should go to bed early.”
Nirlan acted as if she hadn’t said anything. He opened the door, and she stared into the blackness beyond. He pushed her forward.
She had only ventured into the dungeon beneath the crumbling castle once before. The darkness of the place would have been absolute had it not been for the candle in Nirlan’s other hand, and the smell of the ancient stone corridors was one of dank dirt and old mold. She wasn’t dressed for the cold, and her thin robe did nothing to insulate her. It was like being inside a grave.
He brought her to a stop in front of another door. Glowing runes were carved in overlapping circles all over it. For a moment, her interest overshadowed her fear, and she began picking out runes she recognized. Hold. Strength. Imprison. A locking enchantment. She doubted Nirlan could read a word of it. Eunaios must have crafted it for him. Nevertheless, when Nirlan produced a key and slid it into the lock, it opened smoothly.
Raiya was hit with a dark, powerful wave of something unseen—something that made her shudder. It was not her imagination. Something was there. Nirlan had always had a less-than-savory interest in dark magics, but she’d never felt anything like this strange force that permeated the dungeon.
She didn’t have the energy that evening to fake enthusiasm, and there was no point in trying to dissuade him from whatever he was planning. “What is this, Nirlan?”
He looked down at her, and he smiled again. Gods, she hated that smile. She hated how much she’d once found it beautiful.
“Wouldn’t you like to find out?” he said.
She didn’t reply. He would take her through that doorway, to whatever awful thing lay beyond it, no matter what she said.
“Are you too good to speak to me now?” he asked, his hand squeezing her wrist a little.
He enjoyed causing her discomfort, and he enjoyed trapping her in that discomfort. He loved the sense of control.
She had little pride left, and rarely bothered to defy him. But she was in a defiant mood today. So she said nothing, enjoying and fearing the look of growing displeasure on his face.
He shoved her into the next passage, which was somehow even darker than the previous one. The door banged shut behind them.
“I sometimes wonder if you realize how easy you have it,” Nirlan said. His voice was soft, but it seemed loud in the claustrophobic silence of the tunnel. “You’ve never faced real adversity. You haven’t had to work for anything. You don’t have any education, talent, or skills, and you don’t need any. All you have to do is sit there and be quiet and pretty, and open your legs once in a while. And yet you struggle to do even those simple tasks.”
The comment about the lack of skills stung more than the one about opening her legs—because it was true. She kept her expression blank, because she refused to let him see how much the words hurt her.
But adversity? She and her mother had struggled to make ends meet for years. Her father had left her mother when she was young, and her mother had died years ago. She had no other family. She had no trade and no skills other than her knowledge of runes and enchanting.
Her mother had nurtured her love of magic from a young age, using what little money they had to buy her books and finance apprenticeships with mages and magoarchaeologists who were exploring the local Auren-Li ruins. But since Raiya hadn’t had the fortune of being born a mage, she would never be able to forge functional enchantments. Runes needed magic to become something more than just markings, and she had none.
There were no academic institutions in remote northern Uulantaava. There was no use for a woman with a passionate love for dead languages and magic she couldn’t use. Nirlan had saved her from a life of poverty.
He took his hand off her to quickly brush a stray lock of black hair behind his ear, as if he was annoyed it had strayed. His hair was long, straight, and rarely less than flawless. His skin was light and evenly toned, and his face was perfectly symmetrical. He was a handsome man, in a slender, dandyish way, which was exactly the type she liked. It was one of the many reasons she’d married him. If only looks correlated with quality of character.
“You’re spoiled,” he said. “I imagine you think you’re better than other people because men look at you when you walk down the street.”
“I don’t.”
“You shouldn’t. Every time I go into town, I see dozens of younger, prettier girls. They probably have better temperaments than you, as well. Do you realize how lucky you are to be with me?”
“I do.”
“Then why do you insist on testing me?” he hissed, his temper snapping.
Was it her imagination, or was the corridor getting narrower?
A passing thought came to her, and she swallowed tightly. “I hope you don’t mean to bury me down here, Nirlan,” she joked, her lips twitching into a nervous, half-hysterical smile. If he did, no one would ever find out. Perhaps her mind truly was broken after so many months of misery with him, because she nearly laughed at the irony of walking into her own grave.
Nirlan ignored her. His lips were pressed in a tight line, and his dark eyes were focused on the tunnel ahead. As Raiya followed his gaze, she could see why. There was a soft glow coming from around the corner at the end of the tunnel. It was a color that seemed almost outside the spectrum visible to mortal eyes, like something that shouldn’t exist on this plane. A sense of foreboding squirmed through her belly.
The closer they got to the unnatural light, the worse she felt. She could hardly describe the waves of unpleasant sensation that made her want to run, made her stomach turn. It was as if the light itself emitted fear and hatred. It was physically oppressive, like being in a hot room filled with smoke.
“Nirlan?”
“Be quiet. We’ve arrived.”
They passed beneath a stone arch, beyond which was a vast, high-ceilinged room. A swell of something heavy and intangible washed over her, taking her breath away.
The room was mostly empty, except for the hundreds of glowing runes circling the floor around a large, translucent box, roughly six feet on each side, which was the source of the otherworldly light. The box was a magical barrier of some kind,
Vague outlines of long limbs. A head that slowly tilted up to look at her. Eyes that were vibrant, glowing blue, somehow lit from within. The creature was mostly man-shaped, except for the goat-like horns curving from its forehead along the top of its head. It was not human, nor elven, nor anything else she’d ever seen in Heilune, and it was massive.
She took a step backward, running into Nirlan. “What is that?” she breathed.
“Don’t you know a demon when you see one, Raiya?”
The demon’s eyes met hers. They were flat blue, without iris or pupil, making it hard to judge the direction of its gaze, but somehow she knew it was looking directly at her.
She had found the source of the terrible sensation she’d been feeling. The demon’s anger filled the room. But, curiously, the expression on its face was blank.
Was it furious because it had been imprisoned in this dungeon, or was this just its baseline emotional state? It made sense that demons would be perpetually filled with rage. It positively radiated hellish power, even from behind the barrier.
“Why is there a demon beneath the castle?” Raiya asked.
“Because I summoned it. Don’t worry. It can’t escape its cage.”
“Does it… obey you?”
“Not yet. But it will.”
Raiya turned to look at Nirlan with disbelief. The only people who summoned demons were fools desperate for power and not too concerned with how they obtained it. In a way, she wasn’t surprised. Nirlan had always had an interest in occult lore and magic, though he seemed more interested in the idea of it than in actually learning. She thought it was one of the reasons he’d been attracted to her in the beginning. She had no doubt that Eunaios was the brains behind this, though. Nirlan must have tasked him with obtaining a demon, and Eunaios had figured out how to do it.
Demons inevitably turned on their summoners. They were immensely powerful beings, halfway between mortals and gods. It was said that they were relentlessly evil, violent and lustful, motivated only by a desire for chaos. They came to Heilune to toy with mortals, to kill and rape and feed. They could cast spells to rival any mage. They were stronger than giants, and even harder to kill. Raiya doubted it could be held captive for long. Nirlan and everyone around him could end up dead by this monster’s hands.
“Well?” Nirlan asked. “What do you think of it?”
She tentatively looked up at Nirlan, not knowing what kind of response he wanted. He smiled at her, then pushed her forward. Raiya instinctively dug her heels into the floor, which made her trip and fall to her hands and knees in front of the demon. Suddenly, she was far too close to it. Only the magical barrier kept it from reaching out and touching her.
The box was too small for the demon to stand in, so it was kneeling. It looked down at her, its expression still impassive and somehow judging.
Had Nirlan brought her down here to kill her after all? Did he mean to sacrifice her to the demon? What would a demon do with a sacrifice? Torture her? Eat her? Fuck her and then eat her?
She felt cold, chilled to the bone. She had always feared he might kill her someday, but not like this. “Why did you bring me here?”
Nirlan’s hand clasped the back of her neck. She winced as he angled her head up to make her look at the demon. The creature leaned closer to the barrier, cocking its head a little as it stared at her. Its eyes flared brighter in its cold, stony face. Raiya felt faint.
“Do you see the glow in its eyes?” Nirlan said in her ear. “It senses your panic. It’s drinking your fear. You’re feeding it power.”
“Nirlan, please don’t do this.”
“Don’t do what?” he asked innocently.
“Feed me to it.”
He played dumb. “What makes you think I’d feed my own wife to a demon? What a horrible death that would be. I wouldn’t do something like that unless I had a particularly inadequate wife.” He paused. “But perhaps you would prefer him to me, Raiya? I know you’re displeased with your life here, despite how hard I’ve worked to keep you happy. Despite all the wealth I’ve shared with you, all the gifts I’ve given you, and the leisurely lifestyle you now enjoy—you still resent me.”
“I don’t resent you,” she said unconvincingly.
“Do you know what he’d do to you?” Nirlan said, still touching her neck in a caress that was verging on an attack. His lips brushed her ear as he murmured to her. “He’d tear you limb from limb. He’d peel your skin away in strips and set fire to your pretty hair. He’d cut off pieces of you until there was nothing left, and he’d lick up all of your blood and pain and terror like honey.”
Nirlan had spent a lot of time imagining ways to torture her, it seemed.
“I bet he’d like a taste of this, as well.” His hand moved down, cupping between her legs, pressing her skirt down to outline the shape of her body.
The demon’s gaze seemed to follow the movement of Nirlan’s hand. Raiya held still as his fingers moved slow and hard against her. Twinges of uncomfortable pleasure mixed with humiliation radiated from the places his fingers touched, and she bit her tongue to keep herself from visibly reacting. The demon watched her, its eyes glowing brighter.
Nirlan abruptly let her go, scoffing disapprovingly. Raiya felt heat flooding her face: both shame and hatred. She saw now that he hadn’t brought her down here to kill her. He’d just wanted to gloat. He wanted to watch her cower in fear from what he’d done. He was smirking, even now.
Many of Nirlan’s motivations in life came down to gloating.
The demon’s eyes narrowed slightly—the only sign of intelligence or emotion she’d yet seen from him. Until then, he had looked more like a beast than a man. For some reason, this hint of an intelligent mind behind the horrific visage only made the demon more terrifying.
“What are you going to do with it?” she asked.
Nirlan sighed, as if it was a stupid question. “Make it work for me, obviously. What else are demons good for?”
“You mean you’ll make it kill for you.”
“Strength is not evil, Raiya. A strong leader benefits everyone. I’ll have it patrol the roads. It could protect Frosthaven.”
Raiya imagined the demon prowling around the city, unsupervised. She imagined it mercilessly tearing apart anyone who resembled a criminal, anyone who got in its way, or simply anyone Nirlan disliked. Few mortals were equipped to fight a demon.
It could spy for him, fight for him, cast all kinds of spells for who-knew-what kinds of purposes. Nirlan could use it to intimidate or outright remove political rivals. He could loan it out to his friends for their purposes, whatever they may be.
In the Uulantaava of days past, power and wealth had been won in battles fought over months or years in some of the harshest climates in Heilune. Nirlan was not a fighter, and had no army—so he was making one.
A monster. An immortal. A slave.
A demon.
“Once it’s bound to me, it will be completely obedient. It will be nice to have some obedience, for a change.”
Chapter 2
Raiya now knew that “You’re not like other girls, are you?” was not really a compliment, but when Nirlan had said it to her when they’d first met, she’d been flattered.
It was almost two years ago, now. She had looked up at him, her attention drawn away from the book in her lap. The man before her was tall and striking, his dark eyes alight with interest. He leaned forward, resting his hands on the table of her booth. His eyes roved over her, taking in her long, dark hair, dark eyes, and tawny skin.
The market buzzed around them, loud and bright while night fell. The Lightbringer festival was well underway. People had strung up lanterns and lit candles, and sparklers and smoke bombs were going off nearby. The air was tinged with the scent of burning wood and grilled food, which somehow made the cold weather feel less harsh.
The man wore fine clothes of silk, white leather, and arctic fox fur—the sort of clothes that few in Frosthaven could afford. Perhaps he was a tourist. Frosthaven was the northernmost city in Uulantaava, the northernmost country in Heilune. Travelers were uncommon enough to be of interest.
