FALLEN ANGEL: MARRIED TO THE DEMON KING
Chapter 80: THE SECRETS OF THE ANGEL OF WATER

Chapter 80: THE SECRETS OF THE ANGEL OF WATER

That night, Castiel sat in his allocated room, holding onto the leather bag that he had carried off from the angel realm. The soft flicker of the candle light cast long shadows across the stone walls of the demon castle.

Of course, being an angel, he had never been so deep in enemy territory before, but the castle was everything that Castiel had thought it would be, perhaps even more. Since it was night, it was eerily silent, save for the distant hum of creatures that lurked in the night. Most of the sounds Castiel did not recognize, and he decided it was better to stay cooped up in his room than go out for a walk.

There was a faint scent of something sweet clinging to the air, mixing with the lingering warmth of the day’s sunlight that had seeped into the dark stone.

Castiel hardly registered any of it, as his focus was on the worn leather bag that rested on his lap. His fingers traced the familiar stitching along the edges of the leather bag. It was heavy, not in weight, but in meaning, as it carried more than the meagre belonging he had packed in a rush before coming to the demon realm. He was not ready to share it, even with his sister.

The situation made him wonder if he had always been such a coward.

His jaw clenched as he hesitated, staring at the brass buckle that kept the bag closed. The room felt colder, as the weight of his decision to run away clung tightly at his chest. He stared at the brass buckle that kept the bag closed. Just staring at it sent a cold shiver down to the tips of his wings.

Finally, with his mind made up, he unfastened the buckle and opened the bag.

Inside were the usual essentials- a spare pair of formal clothing; the only item of clothing he had packed; his dagger and a small metal rod which turned into a staff when he needed to fight. Tucked between those few things was a wooden chest and a bundle of parchment that was sealed with the emblem of the angel council.

He pulled that parchment out of the bag, hovering his fingers pounding above it as his heart pounded like a war drum in his chest.

He was sure that they knew. They knew what he had done, knew that he had run away.

He pulled out the parchment, and his eyes scanned the golden seal that shimmered faintly in the candle light. His hands trembled as he broke it open, revealing the letter that he had read a hundred times when he had gotten it. Each time, it felt like a blade was being twisted deeper into his gut.

The letter read;

*Castiel, son of Camael,

*Your marriage has been set, and anything which does not include going ahead with the union will be considered an act of rebellion and further one of treason against the Council. You are expected to avail yourself on the 3rd day of the second month for the union. This arrangement has been carefully decided for the realm and defiance will not be tolerated.

_Failure to comply will have severe consequences on those you claim dear.

_The Council of Angels_

Castiel was tempted to crumple the parchment in his fist, but he refrained from doing so.

They were not just threatening him. They also threatened his mother, his father, and his darling baby sister.

His father was already outnumbered in the council, and they were very obviously casting him out of important decision making. Or was it a matter of the marriages that concerned his children?

Camael, his very strong father, had not been going to the council since Arella had been married off to the demon king. It was obvious that he was not in agreement with the decision that the council had made to marry of Arella, but he could not do anything about it because there was no one on his side.

He had not told them of the marriage, but had, instead, ran away.

To protect them.

His sister had only just begun to find her footing in her new life, and she had a husband that seemed to adore her. Now his actions might drag her and whatever life she was building into the trenches.

Simply because he had had a hard time keeping his hands to himself and had discovered secrets that were supposed to remain secret.

He let out a shaky breath, and leaned back against the cold stone wall, his eyes fluttering shut. Even in battle, there had not been a sword as heavy as what he seemed to be carrying.

He had left the angel realm not to just avoid an unwanted marriage, but to prevent the council from getting what they wanted. The lies ran much deeper than he had thought when he had begun his research. He doubted that he had even discovered all the secrets that had been hidden from their generation of angels.

The truth was tangled in centuries of deception, and the more he uncovered, the clearer it became that this hurried marriage was a trap meant to bind him far away from their reality to prevent the truth from coming out.

Just as he council had always done.

They were not just forcing him into a marriage, they were trying to control him, to ensure that he never revealed what he had found out. However, what terrified him most was how they had figured out that he was snooping in the first place. Also what sort of danger had he brought to his sister.

He ran a hand through his golden hair, frustrations threatening to spill out from his whole body. His halo, what was once a symbol of his angel heritage, now felt like a chain that tied him to a place he no longer wanted to be a part of.

His mind drifted to his sister, his lovely sister who he had raised from a very young age. She had always been attached to him, and Castiel had always done his best to protect her.

Despite being so deep in the demon realm, she looked happy here. The demon king, despite looking like the biggest brute he had ever seen, was so gentle with her, and seemed to care for her deeply. Even a bloke like himself, who had obviously never been in love, could see it in the way that he looked at her, and kept her close.

His sister had found a place that she could clearly call home, but it was as if he had come here to take it all from her.

He sighed, and pressed his face into his hands. What other choice did he have really. Although he was her stoic older brother, this whole situation made him utterly terrified.

He placed the parchment on the bed next to him, and pulled the wooden chest from his bag, settling it on his lap. The surface of the chest was worn, the grain of wood smooth from years of obvious handling. Castiel hesitated for a few seconds before finally lifting the lid, revealing a collection of old scrolls and books that he had painstakingly gathered over the last few days.

There were ancient pacts, forbidden experiments, and more that Castiel was even afraid to think about.

It was no surprise that they wanted him silenced. The council had buried more than the secrets to the demise of the royal family. He pulled open a scroll, and scanned through the royal family heritage, and the step in step process that had been taken to ensure that the whole line was eradicated.

Had angels always been so cruel? Or was what he knew a lie?

Had him coming to the angel realm put his sister in the aim of the croosfire?

*Perhaps I should leave* he thought bitterly *Run farther than here. Somewhere they cannot reach. Somewhere they cannot harm my family because of my actions.*

As much as he had that thought, he knew it was foolish to even thin it. After all, there was no true hiding from the council’s reach. They had eyes and ears everywhere, even the demon realm.

That was the main reason that they had always won the wars that he was sent to fight. That was why the angels seemed so much more stronger than demons.

A soft knock at the door startled him from his thoughts.

Surprised, Castiel hastily stuffed the papers back into the chest, slamming the lid shut. "Just a moment" He called out, as he stuffed both the box and the letter from the council into his leather bag, before shoving the whole thing underneath the bed.

"You can enter now." He called out to the person on the other side of the door. Inside walked a demon in black clothes that he recognized as maid attire.

"Sir, I come to ask if you need a bath before bed?" The maid asked.

Castiel sighed in relief, glad that it was not Arella who had come to ask him to talk.

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