My Demon, My Love...: Changes of Heart
Removing the Burden pt. 2

“Az…what have you done?” Reve asked, barely above a whisper.

“What are you doing here?” Azlyn snarled.

“I came because I could feel that you were in pain.”

“What do you care? You don’t care about our daughter and you don’t care about me!”

Reve sighed; he knew that he deserved this, but it did not mean that he had to like it. He needed to maintain his cool; he had made the error in this situation and she was right in acting out.

“Az…you know that…I always care.”

“No!” Azlyn corrected, pointing her bloodied spoon at Reve. “Maybe you used to care! Maybe. Now, you obviously don’t, so I am removing your burden.”

“What?! What are you talking about? What burden?”

“That which connects us.” Azlyn answered, pointing the spoon back towards her left shoulder.

Suddenly, Reve connected the dots and realized what had been happening. It hit him like a train, everything made so much sense now. The burning in his shoulder that led him here and even the pains that had been coursing through his heart for several days; they were all connected. Azlyn had been destroying their mark and his body was alerting him to it.

“Az…were you…” Reve could barely form the words as the thought hurt him so badly. “Were you trying to remove our mark?”

“Of course. I do not need it anymore. You do not want it anymore. Why shouldn’t it be destroyed?”

“Azlyn, that is ridiculous! I would never want you to remove our mark! Never!” Reve yelled, startling Azlyn.

“Reve…” Kane scolded from the cell doorway. “There is no need to raise your voice. You are frightening her. She is obviously ill.”

“What if she had been successful in removing our mark?!” Reve demanded turning to face Kane and Dalair.

“She can’t do that Reve.” Dalair responded, shaking his head. “The mark goes straight through all the layers of her flesh and is branded into muscle and bone, alike. There is no removing it, ever.”

“What?!” Azlyn cried out from the floor, devastated. “I want to be rid of it! I need to be rid of it!”

“Azlyn…” Reve sighed.

Reve walked, slowly, over to Azlyn and crouched down on the floor next to her. He reached out for her and pulled her close, causing her to shake violently. It felt like someone ripped his heart in half as he felt her recoiling from his touch.

“I am so sorry…” Tears began to well up in Reve’s eyes. “I shouldn’t have behaved like this. I thought that I was protecting myself, but all I did was make things worse for both of us…especially you. I am sorry that I have been so selfish, I won’t be anymore, I promise.”

“I don’t believe you.” Azlyn whispered. “Let me go. Let me go to Dalair; he is the only demon that I can trust.”

Reve squeezed Azlyn even more tightly into him. It hurt to hear her saying this, but he forced himself to attempt to understand where she was coming from. Dalair had been there for her for the last two years; he had never let her down and now here he was, putting himself in danger for Hunter.

“I will do whatever it takes to make you believe.” Reve promised.

Just then, the physician’s head poked into the doorway, interrupting their conversation.

“I was told that my presence was, immediately, requested.” Dr. Jayr announced.

“Yes, Doctor. She has done quite a bit of damage to her left shoulder. We need you to take a look at it. She is also acting strangely; she may need fluids and medication.”

Dr. Jayr looked from Reve to Azlyn and then back to Reve, with a furrowed brow.

“Do I look like a slave doctor to you?” Dr. Jayr inquired with a sneer, greatly offended at Reve’s suggestion that he treat a human.

Reve looked up at Jayr and growled.

“Hold your tongue!” Reve snapped. “This is no slave! This is my wife! She is royalty and you will treat her as such!”

Dr. Jayr jumped back at Reve’s forcefulness. He had heard rumors years ago that the Prince had taken a slave for his lover, but he was surprised to hear him refer to her as his wife, even more so as royalty. Well, he was the royal doctor and if she truly was royalty then she was his responsibility. Not to mention, he knew better than to get on Prince Reve’s bad side; he could be as brutal as he could be kind.

“What happened to her?” Dr. Jayr asked as he came forward to inspect Azlyn, reluctant to make contact with her skin.

“Well, uh, we had a bad fight and she, apparently, took it upon herself to attempt to remove her mark.” Reve explained, feeling ashamed, he was certain that no demon in the history of their kind had ever had to utter such a sentence.

“That seems like a rash decision to make over one little fight.” Dr. Jayr observed, snickering at the delicate and temperamental nature of humans.

“Well, it was more than a…little…fight.” Reve responded, sheepishly. “As I am sure that you have noticed…she is locked in the dungeon.”

“Ah, well, uh…all marriages have their problems, I suppose.” Dr. Jayr shrugged, feeling more uncomfortable, if that were possible.

Dr. Jayr began to inspect Azlyn closely; shining a light in her eyes, glancing in her mouth, testing reflexivity, and finally looking over her wound.

“She is definitely dehydrated and malnourished. She suffers from severe exhaustion. The blood loss is, also, substantial. Though, I am guessing she probably would not have harmed herself so badly if she had access to clean water and adequate nutrition.”

“So, what do we need to do? I will do anything it takes.”

“We need to get her to the infirmary. I can take better care of her there. Pump her full of fluids and tend to the wounds.” Dr. Jayr suggested. “I’ll call for a guard to carry her.”

“No.” Reve commanded. “I will carry her.”

“Sire, she is filthy and covered in human blood.” Dr. Jayr argued with an air of disgust.

“I do not care. She is my wife and mate; she is frightened and in pain. I will not let another demon touch her.”

Reve stood up and then reached down and carefully lifted Azlyn. She had always clutched him when he would carry her, as though she was afraid that he was still not close enough. However, this time she made no attempt to hold him; she did not grab his shirt in her fist or wrap her arms around his neck. She just sat, stiffly, in his arms, unyielding to his touch. Reve sighed, reminding himself that her behavior towards him was all his own doing.

Reve began carrying Azlyn to the infirmary with Dr. Jayr leading the way; Dalair and Kane following closely behind. Reve knew that this would not look good to his older brothers, marching down the hall with Azlyn back in his arms. He was aware that this may cause him problems, but at the moment, he did not care. He would figure out how to handle Gedeon and Hadeon later on, Azlyn’s safety was far more important. Reve was stronger and smarter than both of them, just because Gedeon was king now, did not mean that he was invincible.

Emilie had been wandering through the halls looking for something to waste her time on; it seemed that all her usual demons were busy. She heard a procession of beings coming her way, so she ducked into the shadows. This way she could observe without being seen; this was something that she often enjoyed doing when she was not attending to someone.

Emilie enjoyed collecting secrets and gossip, it was like an addiction to her. Being in the beds of many powerful demons had afforded her a lot of valuable information. She had made a minor business, of sorts, out of trading secrets between demons; she was never paid for her services, but she found reward in the conclusions, which often worked out to her advantage.

Emilie sat quietly as she watched the group pass her by. The physician led the pack; he was a mousy little demon with a balding head, hardly worthy of the strong and brutal species that he represented. Then her eyes fell on Prince Reve; now, there was a demon, fully deserving of the title. His broad shoulders, well-defined muscles, and stern chin; he was the perfect physical demonic specimen. Then she noticed the beautiful white-haired woman that he held in his arms; she did not recognize her, though, she was obviously a human.

Emilie watched, curiously, as the Prince cradled the woman, delicately in his arms. She noticed that the woman’s blood was getting all over the Prince’s clothes, but he did not seem to mind. This was highly irregular behavior. He held her close to him and even lifted her so that he could, momentarily, rest his cheek on the top of her head. Who was this slave and why was she so special to Prince Reve?

Emilie watched on as Prince Kane and a demon that she did not recognize brought up the rear. This woman must be important if she had two royals escorting her to the royal infirmary. Since when did slaves receive medical treatment, especially, by a royal physician? Something was definitely not right here. She needed to do some serious snooping. Emilie rushed off, disappearing further into the castle.

Azlyn awoke a week later, laying in a comfortable bed. She was rather disoriented as the fog she had been under had kept her from being able to clearly understand anything that had been happening around her. Her brain had been a hazy mess and she feared that she may have even been hallucinating at one point. She began to look around the room she was in, everything was very clean and white. She felt a weight on the side of her bed and looked down to replace Reve sitting in a chair positioned next to her, fast asleep, his head and arms resting on the mattress.

“What in the hell is he doing here?!” Azlyn wondered.

Azlyn began to shift in the bed, trying to move her body further away from Reve. She did not want him touching her and she was certain that he would not want to be touching her either. He was probably just here out of some sense of duty or guilt.

“Ah, you are awake.” A gruff voice spoke from the other side of the room.

Azlyn looked over and saw a rather small demon standing before her, wearing thick glasses. He walked towards her with a scowl on his face, looking over paperwork on his clipboard.

“You gave everyone quite a scare. Your wounds were infected, you suffered dehydration, and extremely severe case of food poisoning. We’ve cleaned you up though and you seem to be recovering nicely…Princess.” The last word spewing from his mouth like acid, as if saying it out loud might kill them both.

“W-who are y-you? W-where a-am I? H-how d-did I g-get here?” Azlyn stammered, terrified.

The demon stared at her with a confused look on his face.

“Hmmm…your condition must have been worse than we realized.” The demon stated, making a few notes on his clipboard. “In answer to your questions, you are in the castle infirmary. I am the royal physician Dr. Jayr and you are here because your husband…” There was that acid again. “…Prince Reve has demanded that you receive only the best care for your condition. You have remained here, undisturbed, for two reasons; the first is that the Prince has refused to leave your side since you were admitted. The second being that the Prince has, both, rewarded me handsomely for my silence, as well as, threatened my life.”

“Why would the Prince care? He is the reason that I am in this mess.”

“How much do you remember about what you did to yourself?” Dr. Jayr queried.

“I don’t remember doing anything to myself. What happened?”

“I will let you and the Prince discuss the details, however, you used a rusted spoon in an attempt to…remove your mark.”

“I, what?! Is that even possible?! Did I succeed?”

Azlyn was astonished at herself. Of course, she was angry with Reve for his treatment of her and, most importantly, his rejection of Hunter. But she had no intentions of mutilating herself over it or breaking the bond between her and Reve. As angry as she was with him, she did not want to cut all the ties between them; they still had a daughter after all.

“No. It isn’t possible. Your entire shoulder would have to be removed for that to happen. All you succeeded in doing was just badly damaging yourself. You may notice scarring. But in my experience, the mark should heal without any issue.”

Azlyn could not believe how far her delirium had taken her. She was astonished that she had allowed it to get to that point. She was lucky that Reve still wanted to help her, despite his new found hate for her.

“Azlyn…” Reve said, slowly, lifting his head and rubbing his eyes as he woke.

“I will leave you two to talk.” Dr. Jayr offered before backing out of the room, sensing the awkwardness.

“Azlyn! I am so glad that you are awake! I have been so worried!” Reve exclaimed, jumping out of his chair and rushing to give Azlyn a kiss.

Azlyn backed away as far as she could when Reve reached out for her, unsure of his intentions. Reve immediately retreated from his approach.

“I am sorry…I guess that is too soon…” Reve whimpered, clear hurt in his voice.

“Too soon? You are the one who called it off. You said that you wanted nothing to do with me or MY daughter.” Azlyn reminded him, harshly.

“I know, but I apologized for that and I meant what I said. I am going to do whatever it takes to make this up to you and prove to you that I still love you.”

“You never said any of that.” Azlyn was confused again.

“Yes, I did. Right before I brought you to the infirmary.”

“I don’t remember coming to the infirmary. I don’t remember anything for…I’m really not sure how long. Though, I do know that the last time I saw you; you were cruelly accusing me of sleeping with another because you could not possibly be Hunter’s father.” Azlyn responded, coldly.

“I didn’t realize that you were that delirious. I should have known when I saw how badly you had hurt yourself.” Reve shook his head at his own lack of observation. “I know that I said some awful things to you, Az. I did not mean them, and I am so sorry that I hurt you. You are the most important thing in my life, you always have been. I was in shock when I first found out that you were alive, and I did not react well. I behaved even worse when I became confused by the gender of our child. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Did you…did you just say OUR child?” Azlyn asked with surprise. She was certain that she must have misheard Reve.

“Yes, Az. I know that I was being stupid about this. I know that I am Hunter’s father and I am sorry that I had ever convinced myself otherwise. I have trusted demons out in the realm searching for any information that may lead us to Hunter.”

Reve was looking for Hunter; this was the best news that Azlyn had ever heard. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as she rested her head back into her pillow.

“What changed your mind?”

“To be honest, when you showed me the photos, I knew that she was my daughter. However, I was still in self-destruct mode and could not handle the thought of adding a half-breed…”

Azlyn suddenly sat up and leaned back on her elbows while directing a look at Reve that would have killed him if it could have; her nostrils flared, her jaw tensed, and her eyes widened revealing a fire burning inside of them. Reve was seeing a different side of Azlyn, a vicious and biting side that he had not seen before.

“Do NOT use that term ever again!” Azlyn snarled, like a mama bear whose cub is under threat.

“Woah…woah…okay…sorry…I won’t…” Reve apologized, attempting to calm Azlyn.

“I am sorry, I know that it is second-nature to use that term, but it is derogatory, and I will not have it used in reference to our child.” Azlyn explained a hint of defensiveness lingering in her voice.

“I am sorry. You are right. I will not do that again. Our daughter should never be referred to in a disparaging way.” Reve paused for a moment, considering. “Would you prefer that I refer to her as a demoness or a little girl?”

“I have been calling her a demoness; she is much more demon than human.” Azlyn chuckled, thinking about her sweet child.

“That’s my demoness.” Reve joked with a proud smile.

Azlyn’s face darkened and grew serious again, their moment of light, casual discussion over.

“It has not been easy to raise a child like her in the human realm. She is worth every hassle, but it really has been a struggle.” Azlyn stated. “Dalair and Penelope are having a hard-enough time with Barin and Asha. Hunter is twice the demon that they are; your genes are very strong.”

“We will figure something out, Az. We will make it work.”

“Have you heard any news? Has there been any information? Has anyone seen her?” Azlyn asked, slightly, changing the subject desperate to hear that someone knew where Hunter was.

“Nothing concrete, I’m afraid. Though Dalair and Kane are supposed to be meeting with a possible lead today. They will let me know if it is anything worth pursuing.”

“Kane and Dalair? Dalair is here? What is Dalair doing here? I left him in the human realm for a reason. He needed to stay where it was safer and protect his family.” Azlyn huffed, disappointed that her plan to keep Dalair out of the demon realm had not worked.

“Do not worry. Dalair wanted to come and he has been traveling with Kane. Umay stayed in the human realm to ensure that Penelope and the children are protected.”

“That is good.” Azlyn sighed, happy knowing that Umay was there to help Penelope. She felt guilty about how much the Viveks have had to do for them. They had relied so much on them over the last several years and she hated having to ask them to sacrifice more. “We owe them so much more than we could ever repay.”

Reve merely nodded his head in response. He knew that Azlyn was right; his oldest friends had been there for his family even when he was not. For that, he would be eternally grateful.

“So…” Azlyn paused, interrupting Reve’s thoughts and bringing the subject back around to where it had started initially. “You said that it was the pictures of Hunter that convinced you, yet, you threw those photos back in my face saying that they proved nothing. When did you have a change of heart?”

“I took one of the pictures.” Reve admitted.

“What?!”

“I have had one of those photos since that night. I took the one of Hunter hugging you while you were giving her a kiss on the cheek.”

“I forgot that I had that photo.” Azlyn gasped.

“I’ve looked at it every night and every day since I took it.”

“Why didn’t you come back to me sooner, then? If you believed Hunter to be your child; why did you wait until I mutilated myself to come to me?” Azlyn accused.

“I’ll admit that I have been a selfish idiot, Az.” Reve sighed. “I wanted to protect myself from further heartache and I was still all wrapped up in my head. I kept attempting to convince myself that Hunter could not be mine because she is a demoness.”

“So, what finally stopped you?”

“Dalair and Kane.” Reve admitted.

“What did they do?” Azlyn asked with surprise.

“While they were in the human realm, they got some of Hunter’s DNA. They brought it back and performed a DNA test using Kane, which proved that Kane is Hunter’s uncle. It was hard to hide inside my denial when confronted with such concrete evidence.”

“You could have just believed me in the first place, rather than doubting me.”

“I know, and I should have.” Reve sighed in desperation. “I was just confused and facing hundreds of years of genetics. I was still angry; I have spent the last two years acting out and did not know how to stop once the time finally came to do so. I am not trying to make an excuse for what I did, I am merely just attempting to explain myself.”

Azlyn pouted, angrily, as she stared into space. She wanted to forgive Reve, but she also did not want him thinking that he could get away with this kind of behavior and be so easily forgiven. She understood that the circumstances surrounding this situation had been strange, but she still could not believe how he had behaved and treated her.

Reve sensed Azlyn’s apprehension, so he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling it closer to him as he leaned in, planting a kiss on the top of her knuckles. He then crawled up alongside her on the bed, forcing her to scoot over and offer him some room. He grabbed hold of both of her hands and brought them to his chest, holding them tightly.

“I swear to you that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make everything up to you; the last two years that we’ve been apart, having you arrested, ignoring your pleas for Hunter, leaving you in the cell, letting you get so ill, all of it.” Reve expressed sincerely, looking Azlyn directly in her eyes. “I will spend every hour of every day striving to be the best husband…and father…that I can possibly be, if you will let me.”

They stared, silently, into each other’s eyes for a few moments. Then Azlyn broke the tension with a deep sigh.

“I am not going to make this easy for you.” Azlyn teased, quietly.

“I would expect nothing less.” Reve replied with a smile before kissing Azlyn in the center of her forehead.