The Demon Lord Claimed Me After My Fiancé's Betrayal

On her wedding day, Amelia's fiancé Nathan sacrificed her to a demon lord—all to keep his crown. Alaric was arrogant, possessive, suffocating. His tail coiled around her. "You belong to me. Only me." She tried to escape countless times. He always dragged her back. Then one day, she finally slipped free. She ran back to the kingdom, back to Nathan, the man she loved. Nathan greeted her with a smile—and drove a dagger straight into her heart. "Did you really think I'd marry you?" he said. "Use her corpse as bait. We'll lure the demon out." Amelia was bound to a cliff, barely breathing. The moment Alaric saw her, every trace of his cold arrogance shattered. His massive black wings snapped open. He dove. A storm of burning magic tore through the air. His wings were pierced. His tail was severed. Blood soaked him head to toe. He kept flying toward her. "Got you," he whispered, and gently took her hand. But he had nothing left. A volley of spells ripped through his chest. With his last breath, he spread his wings around her. Then he fell.

Amelia jolted awake. Bright sun. Birdsong. The world absurdly peaceful. She stumbled to the mirror. Day seven—seven days since she married Alaric. Every ugly memory came flooding back. Last time, she had spent this entire day screaming at him for blocking her invitation to Nathan's coronation, not knowing Alaric was trying to spare her from watching Nathan announce her own handmaid Rosalie as his new partner. She had called Alaric every name she could think of, told him to go die. When she tried to poison herself that night, he hadn't hesitated—he used his own heart's blood to make the cure. This time, she asked Nanny Margaret where Alaric was. No one would tell her. So she searched the palace herself, room by room, until she pushed open the door to his study. The smell of blood hit her like a wall. Alaric sat on the floor, shirt off, surrounded by a pool of dark red. He had drawn his own blood—she remembered the heart's blood he once used to cure her—and it had left him like this. He heard the door and didn't turn around. "Get out." She didn't move. His aura exploded, savage and suffocating. "Do you have a death wish?" Then he saw it was her. The threat died in his throat. He turned away fast, scrambling to hide his tail, hands clumsy with something that looked almost like embarrassment. Her voice cracked. "Alaric. Does it hurt?" A cold laugh. "Not your concern. What do you want this time?" She crossed the room and walked straight to him. He turned his face away. Then she was against the wall. She reached up and cradled his face in both hands. "Your eyes are beautiful. Like gemstones. Can I kiss you?" Something moved through his expression, complicated, searching. "Amelia. I'm not stopping you from going to Nathan anymore. You don't have to say things you don't mean." "I mean every word." She fell straight into his arms and kissed him directly on the mouth.