My Demon, My Love...

It was becoming increasingly easier for Reve and Azlyn to act like a regular couple when they were alone in their bedroom. They had also managed to get better about living life outside of their room as if things were normal between them. She would complete all of her expected duties in public and in turn he would treat her like a normal slave. However, in private, Reve became a loving and adoring boyfriend; Azlyn had become better at allowing this of him.

Azlyn had finally quit fighting her feelings for Reve and just allowed herself to accept the fact that there was something special between them. Nevertheless, this did not stop her from occasionally reminding herself that it could all be ripped away from her at any moment. She knew that Reve could decide that the hassle of protecting her was not worth their relationship. Or someone could find out about them and demand her death for the disgrace of a royal choosing her over a, more fitting, demoness.

For this reason, Azlyn had begun avoiding Nissa, Zareb, and Blaz. She did not want to have to lie to them about what was happening between her and Reve. As well as, she was worried about revealing too much information to them as it could incriminate them in the event that she and Reve were discovered. She did not want to cause problems for them.

On the other hand, Azlyn did not think that they would willingly turn her in or cause problems for her. Azlyn was a realist, she knew that if they were forced into it, they would reveal any information necessary to save themselves the pain. Though, to be honest, Azlyn would not have it any other way; she knew that pain well and would not blame anyone for using anything at their disposal to be relieved of it. What it came down to, was that she did not want to put them in the situation where they would have to choose. She would never want them to suffer to keep her secret.

Reve, on the contrary, was completely oblivious to the reality of the situation. He was so unbelievably happy being with Azlyn that he was blind to everything else. Nothing mattered to him anymore; when he was not with Azlyn, she was all that he could think about and when he was with her, he forgot about everything else.

On this particular afternoon, though, Reve was quite distracted. He ran about his room looking for certain ribbons and medals to attach to his uniform for that night’s dinner. As a matter of fact, Azlyn had noticed that the whole castle seemed to be in a sudden frenzy. Yet no one had seen fit to inform Azlyn as to what was going on. She sat on Reve’s bed and watched him as he rushed back and forth.

“Is there something that I could help you find?” Azlyn ventured.

Reve stopped for a moment and looked at Azlyn in confusion. It seemed, for a moment, as though he had forgotten that she was there. This was very unlike him.

“No, no. I know where everything is. You will probably have quite a bit to do tonight and, darkness only knows, that she is bound to be unkind to you at some point. I want you to rest now, so that you are better relaxed to handle this evening.” Reve babbled.

“What is happening this evening? Who is coming?” Azlyn asked, surprised that someone important was coming and she had not been told.

“My mother.” Reve sighed as he poked his head out of his closet.

“Your mother?”

Azlyn was bewildered; she had not thought much of the queen in her time at the castle and she had almost never heard Reve speak of her. As a matter of fact, whenever Reve talked about a mother-figure, he spoke of Teanna, his former personal slave.

“Yes, my mother. She has been visiting family, on the other side of the realm, for almost a year. She is returning tonight, and we are having a large family dinner to celebrate her return.”

Azlyn was surprised to learn that the queen had been gone this entire time. Every morning, when she went to fetch Reve’s breakfast, the queen’s tray was prepared. She could not begin to fathom why there was a full tray for breakfast and even, usually, one for dinner as well when the queen was not here to eat it.

“I have a question.” Azlyn announced, brow furrowed.

“Yes, my love?” Reve paused for a moment to focus on her.

“Why is the queen’s tray prepared for breakfast every morning, if she has not been here this entire time?”

Reve thought about this for a moment. It was a strange question to him, not because he did not know the answer, but because he had never found it necessary to think about it before.

“Umm…there are a few reasons for that, I suppose. The first being that my father has many mistresses and they often spend the night, so the breakfast is sometimes prepared for them to eat in the morning. The other reason is that my mother does not like the slaves to shirk their responsibilities; she wants them to remain well practiced in all duties, including the proper preparation of her tray. The servants take advantage of this and sneak off to eat the uneaten tray after the meals have been distributed.” Reve explained.

“Interesting.” Azlyn responded.

Reve’s answer had only filled Azlyn with more questions. She did not think that they would be appropriate to ask, no matter how congenial they had become. Although, Azlyn’s face must have given her away because Reve somehow knew that she was full of more unsated curiosity.

“If you have more questions, Az, please feel free to ask them.” Reve assured her.

Azlyn thought for a moment, she really was not sure that this was a subject that Reve would want to discuss. However, she also knew that Reve would continue to question her about her thoughts until she revealed them.

“Does the queen know about the king’s mistresses?” Azlyn asked with some hesitation.

“Yes, she does.”

“How does she feel about them?”

“I have never asked. But, to be honest, I do not think that she cares much. She has never, really, been fond of my father. They married for status, not for love.” Reve shrugged.

Azlyn knew that the royal family often arranged their marriages to the benefit of the family or the realm. Nonetheless, it had not occurred to her that the king and queen would have been amongst them. For some reason, she had envisioned a fairytale love between a prince and his princess. She was unsure as to why she had this romantic vision though; life in the demon realm was anything but a romantic fairytale.

“Does the queen know that the other women are eating off her personal dishes and serving tray?” Azlyn questioned, horrified by the thought.

Azlyn was very aware how important personal dishware was to a noble demon. She had once been enslaved by a family, that she watched destroy an entire household dish and serving set because a new, inexperienced slave had accidentally served the wrong tray to the wrong demon.

“To be honest, I do not believe that she does. I have only heard of it happening when she is out of town. Who knows, though, honestly. You’d probably have more luck, if you ask someone who knows her better.” Reve answered, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Azlyn decided not to push Reve any further for more information about his mother. She was aware that there was a bit of animosity there and did not want to make Reve focus on anything that would make him more upset. He already appeared to be worried about tonight’s dinner and Azlyn did not want to add to his problems in any way.

Azlyn hopped off the bed and helped Reve finish getting ready. Even though he had insisted that he did not need her help, he was relieved when she gave it. He was having a hard time focusing; his mother always made him feel anxious, she was a very judgmental demoness and nothing short of perfection was ever acceptable. Azlyn’s touch calmed him in a way that no one’s touch ever had before. He stared at her, watching her movements, completely captivated.

After Azlyn finished helping Reve to ready for the dinner, she took a quick shower and changed her clothes, choosing her nicest outfit. This was her first time meeting the queen and she wanted to make a good impression; no one else may have been aware of the situation, but she was, in essence, meeting her boyfriend’s mother for the first time. She braided her hair, gave Reve a quick kiss before they would have to resume their master-slave relationship, and headed off towards the kitchen.

The kitchen was a madhouse, upon Azlyn’s arrival. Servants and slaves were running every which way, barely able to keep from knocking each other over. Azlyn spotted Nissa and, carefully, made her way over to where she was prepping food.

“Anything that I can do to help?” Azlyn offered, surprising Nissa.

“Oh, Azlyn, you startled me! Though, I am so glad that you are here!”

Nissa quickly tossed her arms around Azlyn’s neck and pulled her in close to her, hugging her tightly.

“Be careful, Azlyn. The queen has eyes and ears everywhere. I do not know if she knows about you and the prince or not, but tread lightly.” Nissa, hurriedly, whispered into Azlyn’s ear.

Azlyn’s eyes were wide when Nissa released her from her grasp. Was the queen really such a tremendous threat? Everyone here seemed afraid of her, from the lowest slave to the very princes of this castle. Even more concerning, was it really possible that the queen could know about her relationship with Reve? How would she react if she did?

“If you would like to help, I could really use someone to chop those chicken breasts for me?” Nissa suggested, trying to go about as normal.

Azlyn turned and grabbed the chicken breasts. She picked up a knife and slowly began to slice them down into thin pieces. She had not really been very worried about the queen’s return as she did not think that it would have much effect on her. She was aware that Reve did not have much of a relationship with her, so she assumed that she would not deal with her very often.

“What do you know?” Azlyn suddenly asked Nissa in a hushed voice.

“What do you mean? About what?” Nissa responded in kind.

“About the prince and I?”

“Just rumors, mostly. Since my best friend has not been kind enough to keep me informed herself.”

Azlyn knew that Nissa was only teasing her. Nissa was as aware as any other slave the potential consequences of the relationship that she had with Reve. The stories of such relationships may only be regarded as myths, however, the results of many of those myths were clear; demons did not approve of demon-human relationships and they would kill, if necessary, to stop it.

“What are the rumors saying?” Azlyn pried.

“Just that you and your master have a relationship. Some are suggesting the relationship is inappropriate and others are saying its harmless. However, everyone seems to agree that you and the prince are more than just master and slave.”

“Is there cause for concern?”

“Only if the queen finds out. The king would refuse to believe something so vile about the pride of his military.”

“Thank you for the information.” Azlyn stated.

Nissa nodded in response.

“Thank you for your help with those chickens.” Nissa stated, resuming her normal speaking tone.

“Anytime, Nissa.” Azlyn responded with a smile.

After Azlyn had finished chopping up all of the chicken breasts, she handed them to Nissa who gave them to the chef. Azlyn looked around at all the food and drink that was being prepared and she could hardly believe it was just for the royal family and a few guests.

“Tonight’s dinner is a five-course meal, in honor of the queen. You will be expected to serve each course to Prince Reve on a different tray with different dishes and a different goblet filled with a drink befitting that course.” Nissa explained.

Azlyn was amazed at all of the effort that was being put into this. She could hardly believe that the only difference between tonight’s dinner and any other was that the queen would be dining at home with her family as company. She wondered why no one ever made such a fuss over the king having his dinner here. After all, was he not the one with the actual royal blood? Why did the queen expect treatment that the other royals did not?

“I have to put fruit arrangements along the table for everyone to pick from between courses. If you’d like, you can start arranging Prince Reve’s first tray. The soups are being laid out over on that corner. They sit in the same order as the trays.” Nissa suggested.

“I can definitely help with that.” Azlyn responded, confidently.

“Just be careful, make sure the dishware is in the right location on the tray. They all have to match exactly or else the queen will be furious, and someone will be punished for it.” Nissa cautioned before grabbing a large, towering tray of fruit and exiting the kitchen.

Azlyn walked over to the soup and picked up the second bowl from the right and walked over to the tray. She set it in the center for the time being and began looking around for the other items to place on the tray.

Once Azlyn had successfully gathered all of the items for the first course on Reve’s tray, she checked the other trays to make sure that it matched exactly. She moved the dishes around until she was certain they were absolutely perfect then she stood in front of the tray and waited, not wanting to end up in someone’s way. Slowly, the other personal slaves began to join her. They did not speak to her, they just stood in front of their own trays and waited. However, Azlyn noted that the queen’s personal slave did not join them, her tray stood alone.

Once the royal family had all taken their seats, the slaves were given the cue to gather their trays and serve their respective masters. The queen’s tray was left behind on the counter, as her favorite soup began to grow cold.

Azlyn walked into the dining room and found the table was immaculately done. A table runner, the color of human blood, ran down the center as flowers and fruits were dispersed throughout. The electric lighting had been dimmed, in favor, of more traditional candlelit chandeliers. The scene took Azlyn’s breath away.

As if that view were not enough, there sat Reve in his military dress uniform, looking more captivating than anything else that Azlyn could see. He made her heart skip a beat when he saw her coming and smiled. Azlyn kept her composure, even though she wanted to smile back at him, knowing that a slave was not expected to show any hint of emotion during such an affair.

Azlyn carefully placed Reve’s tray down in front of him. As she leaned in Reve whispered in her ear…

“I can’t wait to hold you in my arms later.”

Azlyn immediately felt herself beginning to blush. Her face burned hot and she desperately hoped that that candlelight helped to mask her reaction.

“This demon will be the death of me.”

Azlyn stepped back and waited for the course to finish. After they were done, she retrieved the tray from in front of Reve and returned it to the kitchen. Nissa took it from her for cleaning. Then Azlyn walked over to the island and found another tray waiting for her. She and the other personal slaves lined up and carried the trays out to the dining room in perfect order. All except for the queen’s tray, which remained untouched again.

This time, as Azlyn leaned in to place Reve’s tray in front of him. He discreetly began running his fingers up and down her thigh, sending a shiver up her spine. It took everything inside of Azlyn to maintain her composure as she placed the tray and backed away from the table.

This time when they returned to the kitchen, trays containing appetizers were set out for them. They gathered them up and walked single file back into the dining room. Azlyn noticed the queen’s seat still remained empty. She desperately hoped that the queen was merely making her entrance fashionably late. She did not want the queen to let Reve down again. She knew that he said he did not care, but she sensed that his real feelings were something different.

The dinner went on much the same way. Azlyn delivered the courses and Reve teased her. Queen Mara never showed for the dinner that she had demanded leaving all of her family to wonder at her absence. After Azlyn had returned the final tray to the kitchen, she made her way back to Reve’s room to wait for him. She had a feeling that he would need her when he left that disaster of a dinner.

Reve wandered in some time later with an open bottle of wine and the smell of alcohol heavy on his breath. Azlyn had never seen him drunk before and was surprised by his overly laid-back demeanor.

“Hey Azzzzy…baby!” Reve slurred as he slammed the door of his bedroom shut.

Azlyn jumped off of the bed, prepared to help steady him as he stumbled towards her.

“I see that you had a few drinks after dinner.” Azlyn observed.

“Yep. Me and, my main demon, Kane had a few after mom blew us off for the millionth time.” Reve chuckled.

Azlyn helped Reve make his way over to the bed, where he promptly plopped down. He took a large chug of the wine before Azlyn took it away from him and placed it on the nightstand next to the bed.

“I told him, Az. I told him it all.”