FALLEN ANGEL: MARRIED TO THE DEMON KING
Chapter 50: THE TALK BETWEEN SIBLINGS (2)

Chapter 50: THE TALK BETWEEN SIBLINGS (2)

"Unheard of does not mean impossible," Arella argued, sitting up straighter in the bath. The water rippled with her movement, and her wings shifted slightly in the water. She tried to keep her holy power steady to prevent the call from dropping.

"It means impossible, Arella. Our kind and their kind simply do not function the same way." Castiel’s voice was low. Arella knew that tone he was using. It was the tone he used whenever she was being difficult. Although he could not see her, she pouted, "Stop pouting, Ella. Think about it logically. The bonds formed by demons help to strengthen and balance out their magic, to draw power from the bond and protect what they hold dear. Angels do not function the same. Our essence is holy, already balanced. Bonds simply aren’t in our nature."

Arella dropped her pout and snapped, "Then explain what I am feeling." Her frustration felt as if it were boiling over, "because I know what I feel, and it is not natural. Something is pulling me towards him—almost as if my body and soul are no longer mine to command. I hate that feeling."

There was a long pause on the other end of the connection; no doubt Castiel was deep in thought, trying to find something that would calm his sister even in the slightest bit. Arella could almost hear her brother thinking, flipping through the mental archives of everything he had ever learned about demons.

"I do not know," he admitted at last, just as Arella was thinking that the call had perhaps dropped. "However, if it truly is a bond, as I suspect, it is one-sided. It has to be. That would mean that the feelings you are having are coming from the demon king, not from you."

Arella was becoming increasingly frustrated, but she had to think this logically. There was no other way she could explain how the demon king made her feel. There was also no other way she could explain why he seemed so infatuated with her, even though they had only met for the first time at their wedding. If she thought about it from that perspective, then everything her brother said made a lot of sense.

"So you mean to say he is bonded to me? Just like that? Is there..." Her knuckles whitened with the way she was holding herself back from just burning everything in her wake. "Is there no way to confirm if there is a bond between him and me?" It might be something else entirely. Lust perhaps. One of the demons who helps me said that demon males are known for their virility, and they very much love to prove it."

"Was the demon that told you this a succubus?"

Arella bobbed her head, realized that Castiel could not see her, then muttered a hurried ’yes.’

"Figures. I am not sure if it is the case for all demons, but for demons that are driven by pleasure and lust, that is very plausible. Although now that I say it, I realize that I am explaining all demons." He sighed, "Ella, this is all very confusing for me as well. The information that angels have is prone to error, seeing as we have focused on learning how to defeat demons, not getting them into our chambers and fucking them. That is an entirely different research area."

Arella sighed, "I know, I know. But if we truly are bonded, why would his DNA... or essence, or whatever..." she pressed, her tone sharper, "demons use for this, even choose me? I am an angel. I cannot offer him what he needs from a bond. The whole point of a bond is to strengthen and balance them, to give them power, is it not? I cannot possibly give him that. Our entire DNA repels each other."

"What I can tell you from what little I know is that bonds are instinctual, primal. The demons do not choose their bonds consciously. His essence must have recognized something in you that he needs that no demon will provide. That is all I can tell you with certainty. Demons are possessive by nature, Arella. A demon’s bond will amplify their emotions. I have seen demons who went absolutely feral when their bond was killed out in war. The bond amplifies their emotions—anger, desire, jealousy. It is not something that they easily control. If you reject it..."

"He wouldn’t hurt me," Arella quickly said, then began to wonder why she was even sure of that in the first place.

"Ugh. This is all so exhausting. I have only been here four days, and there is so much that makes my head ache. Can I not simply go back to the human realm, brother?"

Castiel chuckled, "Unless you would like a lecture from mother on how awful it is to neglect your duties. Now that you are married to the demon king, I am sure she expects you to be the perfect demon queen."

Arella let out an unfeminine groan, "We can keep it a secret from her, and she would not be the wiser."

"Ella," his tone was chastising.

"What if I cannot give him what he needs? You just said that our kind, we do not bond. We are holy, and thus my essence is the antithesis of his." A realization suddenly hit her, as she remembered something she had read all those years ago, "If I cannot give him what he needs, the bond will fail and break. If he is tied to my essence and it cannot sustain him, he will..." Her voice was barely a whisper, but they both knew what she meant by her words.

The silence that followed was heavy, her unspoken words more than enough to cast fear into her heart. Even though she had not wanted this marriage in the first instance, it did not mean that she disliked the pull that she felt from the demon king.

"He could die." Castiel finished. Her chest tightened at his words, the heaviness of it finally sinking into her heart. "You are right. I see those lessons did amount to something."

Arella leaned back onto the smooth stone edge of the bath, staring up at the ceiling. The setting sun cast golden light through the windows, but it did little to warm the cold knot that had settled in her stomach.

The fact that she was thinking so hard about this was proof enough that she did not truly want his death. She wanted to know more about the king and why he worked the way he did. The secrets that he had hidden for so long would be hers, whether he liked it or not. "I will not let him die. There has to be something we are missing. A reason why his DNA thinks that I am perfect for him."

Castiel knew that tone. He could feel the shift in her voice. Arella, for all her stubbornness, did not change her mind once she had come to a decision. The decision now was to protect the demon who had become her husband from his impeding doom.

Castiel sighed. "Just because you wish to protect him does not mean you should not protect yourself. Do not forget where you are just because the bond has clouded your judgment, Arella."

"It won’t Castiel." Arella’s lips pulled up in a cheeky grin. "I plan to find out all the secrets that my darling husband is hiding."

"Do not hurt someone indiscriminately, Arella." Castiel continued to warn, "You do not have mother and father or I there to protect you from the consequences of your misdeeds."

Arella immediately made up her mind to not tell him that she had already burned the hair off of someone’s head on her first official day as queen. "Of course, Castiel. When would I ever do something awful?"

He, very obviously, did not buy into her lies. "What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything? I have been the perfect epitome of a good wife and an even better queen. If you have any doubts, you can ask the demon the angel realm sold me off to. I am sure his words will echo my own."

Arella remembered the promise he had made to always be on her side no matter the situation, and a smile involuntarily lifted her lips up. "I will keep myself out of trouble, Cassie. I promise." She changed her tune once she realized Castiel would not budge.

"Alright." He muttered. "I will call you once I have more information on what our parents are hiding from us. Since you are in the demon realm, make good use of yourself and research more about the bonds I am telling you about."

"Sir, yes, sir." Arella gave a mock salute, although he could not see her.

"At ease, soldier." Castiel laughed on the other end.

As the connection ended, the glow of her halo dimmed back down to its usual luster. Arella remained in the bath, her mind churning with questions that she had no answers to. A treacherous part of her wondered what it might feel like to truly belong to someone and have someone who always stood by her side no matter the cost. <comment here after reading the author’s note>

That thought did not irk her.

.

S/T:

Arella: (To the camera) I always knew the demon king was a weakling. Poor thing can’t even survive without me.

Varziel: (Appears) What are we talking about?

Arella: (Flustered) The activity the author has for this Chapter, of course.

Varziel the oblivious demon king: Oh yes, we were to talk about that.

(They both turn to the camera and speak in a monotone voice.) Do read the Author’s Note for this Chapter, for it has a fun activity for all you beautiful readers. We have in no way been coerced into making this Small Theater. And no, the Author is definitely not pointing a gun to our heads from the other side of the camera to threaten us.

Author: (shushes them) If you speak like that, they will think I am bullying you! Speak as we agreed. No ad-libs.

Varziel: (whispers to Arella) Wanna ditch this joint?

Arella: (Laughs) I thought you’d never ask!

Varziel opens a portal, and they leave the crew and author on set.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)𝒆bnov(𝒆)l