20

Lilian POV

I grip my shaking hands as I stand in front of the table waiting for Demonia to walk into the room, in the room stands both my children with both of their mates, we are all having dinner together and must wait for the King to come before we sit.

We have been standing for five minutes now and we are all on edge and trying to keep it together so we can leave after dinner and make our way out of The Vale, to a place Locus, my son had found.

All of our belongings, of what we can carry, have been packed and stored and hidden deep in the woods, halfway to the portal.

I'm scared.

I will take the vial to break the bond between us once we reach our luggage, it should be far enough for Demonia to not track me down, my children have already placed my scent throughout the forest with clothes that have my scent on them.

It will be fine, it has to be, the confident eyes of my children make me so proud, they are already so big and bright, they are more than what I could ask for, I'm so thankful for them for being here with me, to care about me but most of all, to give me the strength to leave.

The double doors to the dining hall open and I smell Demonia walking into the room.

'Act normal, we leave as soon as it's over.' Locus says through mindlink and I silently pray everything goes well.

Demonia comes into view as he eyes the spread on the table, he has yet to look at any of us as he sits down and snaps his hands. We all sit down and a servant comes towards Demonia to pour him a glass of red wine.

Once Demonia is served food, we start to add small bits of food to our plate once he starts eating, it's quiet and no one is making any sound, nothing is out of the ordinary, this is normal, everything is normal as we keep our heads down and eat our food.

Demonia sniffs the air and we all freeze as we eat, his eyes zero in on me and there's a scowl on his face. I straighten my back smile lovingly at my husband then focus back on my food as if nothing is going on, everything is normal, steady heartbeats and normal eating pace, everything is normal.

The dinner goes by as it normally would, deafening silence, a single sound could upset the King and her mate, nobody had wanted that, not tonight, not when we are so close to escaping this hell, as Demonia stands to leave he stops in his step and I feel his steps getting closer to me.

"You smell different." Demonia's dark low voice rumbles and I feel the sweat move on my forehead.

I clear my throat once. "Rosewater." I smile up at him and he scowls.

The room tenses and the only sound in the hall is Axel, as he puts his knife and forks down, Demonia has leaned down towards me until his nose is in my hair and inhaling my scent, not lovingly but with suspicion, like a bloodhound.

He moves my long hair out of the way of my ear then leans in to whisper. "My room, now." He says before biting down on my earlobe roughly in front of everyone as they keep their heads down.

I swallow hard and nod my head. "Y-Yes my love." I say sweetly.

Demonia pulls my chair back and grabs my arm and pulls me away from the table, my sons look at me, ready to fight and I shake my head, I see both of them frown as I am being pulled out of the room by Demonia.

"Your smell makes me sick." He says lowly. "Mate." He spits, dragging me up the stairs in the direction of the master suite.

My skin crawls and my wolf whimpers back at his tone, my wolf had been so against leaving Demonia until he started to hurt me, it was unforgivable to hurt your mate, to do so meant they no longer felt the bond, meaning it broke, Demonia no longer saw me as his soulmate and had stopped caring.

I follow him into his bedroom willingly with my head held high as he shuts the door loudly behind me, making me flinch slightly, the glint in Demonia's eyes shows slight amusement seeing me stand tall.

It's getting dark and we must be leaving soon, we had agreed to meet outside the back entrance of the kitchen to make a run for it, I still have the vial on me and I'm terrified just encase something happens, what if he finds it?

What will he do if he finds it? I fear nothing good may come.

Demonia has stripped naked and begins to lay on his master bed, the door opens and whoever enters next did not knock, a young servant girl dressed in rags enters the room and avoids my eye contact as I watch her step inside.

"Ah ah, on time, good girl." Demonia says pleased, making my chest clench at how my heart is breaking.

"Strip, slave." Demonia commands and the girl does so without a second to spare.

I turn my gaze from the girl and focus on the view outside of the window, the forest, I must get out of here and leave this... this beast of a man, I have to get out of here to keep my sanity.

Demonia begins to touch himself as he watches me with a look in his eye, the young servant girl slowly walks towards the bed and stands at the end, next to where Demonia lays touching himself as he looks at me.

He pulls the girl on top of him and takes her mouth in his as his eyes focus solely on me with amusement, as his mouth is on hers, he moves the young servant girl's hand towards his crotch area to stroke him as he forced the young girl to pleasure him.

I feel sick.

Why would he do this to me? To this young girl? To betray our bond in front of me... what did I do to deserve this? He keeps his gaze on me as he growls into the girl's mouth, his large length standing tall with the young girl's small hand wrapped around his length.

I tear my eyes away from him again as I go to turn towards the door, almost instantly without hearing a single sound, Demonia is grabbing onto me with such force as he stops me from moving any further.

"Where do you think you are going?" He leans in sniffing me. "Sit or I will make you." He threatens and I swallow hard.

"No."

The words come out my mouth before I could think and I pale.

"No?" He laughs, gripping me harder to the point I smell blood.

Demonia slaps me hard across the face, I felt my jaw crack with how hard he hit me. "You do not say no, how dare you, you filthy whore!" He booms out, making me shake.

"Leave us." He says lowly to the servant girl as she quickly scurries to pick up her robe and rush towards the door.

Once the girl is gone, Demonia is pulling me towards the bed and throws me on roughly with one hand. He is still hard and naked as he eyes me hungrily, crawling on top of me as I stare in horror at the man I had once loved and admired.

"I think you need another lesson in manners." He traps my arms above my head. "Perhaps cut your tongue out as punishment?" He hums lowly as I struggle against his hold.

I laugh coldly as my body shakes in fear. "D-Do your worst, all words and no action." I tauntingly say, smirking up at him the best I could with my throbbing jaw.

He looks taken back but smiles down at me. "We shall see, won't we? I like it when they scream." He huskily moans back.

"You are a sad excuse for a man." I chuckle, glaring at him. "You hurt women because you're pathetic, I know dogs that have more honor than you." I spit in his face and his face is stoic, cold, and changing.