The Devil's Cursed Witch

Ember regained her consciousness late in the afternoon. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a familiar place, her own bed-chamber. She stared in a daze for who knows how long at the white ceiling before snapping back to her senses.

‘Huh? Wasn’t I in the garden…?’

From the bright sunlight coming through her windows, she realized it was quite late in the day.

‘Why am I sleeping at this hour?’ She tried to move but then felt a slight tingling pain in the crook of her neck. Her hand touched the smooth skin out of reflex. ‘Why is it hurting?’

Memories of what happened before she went unconscious came flooding her mind and she gasped in shock.

‘What was that? Did I really? Did he…we…his chamber…on bed….what were we…’ Ember felt lost at first, even denying reality, but a sense of growing shame made her groan the more she felt convinced the memories she had were real. ‘Why did I act like that again? Why do I keep losing my mind like this?’

She sat in bed while burying her flushed face in her hands, her embarrassment making her cheeks grow hotter after recalling everything that happened in the garden when she met the King. From the normal conversation they initially had to her showing her clumsy side once again. The King saved her, even teased her, and then what happened after that…

She remembered him asking her about his scent and for her to remain sane. He also questioned her about them being mates and then…and then…

While recalling that vivid experience of intimacy, her hand involuntarily moved towards her neck once more. ‘Why did he bite me again?’

Just then, a polite knock caused Ember to let out a startled gasp. Her heart was beating so fast, that one of her hands flew over her pounding chest to try to calm herself._.

The door of her chamber opened and three female elves with blue hair entered. The shortest yet most senior of them, Yula, entered first followed by the two younger Moon Elves who had strangely pleased expressions on their pretty faces. Ember stared at them with a puzzled look, but the three merely smiled at her as they approached.

“Miss Ember, did you have a good nap?” Yula asked after clearing her throat.

Ember nodded while still being confused about why her servants were sharing secretive smiles between themselves.

“How did I come back here?” She remembered the last moments before she went unconscious and she was sure she was inside King’s chamber, on his bed, and they were very close–

“His Majesty brought you here,” Yula answered.

‘So he brought me here,’ she repeated in her mind and then looked at her servants once again. Reya and Clio were smiling at her, but there was something else to those smiles, one she could not figure out. Their faces looked a little pink, as if they were holding back laughter–no, they were watching something exciting yet embarrassing. Their gazes lingered on her body.

‘They are staring at my neck,’ she realized.

Feeling self-conscious, Ember touched her neck again, where the tingling pain continued to remind her of the King. ‘Do they know he bit me again? No, even if they do, it’s not like His Majesty had bitten me for the first time. I don’t think this is funny, so why are they smiling?’

Yula noticed her discomfort and looked at the two young elves. “Reya, Clio, why don’t you two prepare an afternoon snack for the Miss? Oh, forget that, she must be hungry after missing a meal. Have the kitchen prepare a few hot dishes.”

“Yes, Dame Yula.”

The two servants left to follow her instruction. As soon as they closed the door behind them, Yula poured water into a glass and carried it to Ember who was still in bed. “Have some water. You must be thirsty.”

Ember accepted it as she felt her throat was dry. “Thank you.”

Once Ember finished drinking water and returned the empty glass to Yula, the elf put it on the bedside table and turned to look at Ember. The human girl had a troubled expression, her forehead creased and her hands gripping the sheets as if she had a lot of things going on in her mind.

“Miss Ember, are you alright?” Yula asked with concern.

Ember simply looked at Yula but shook her head. She was having complicated thoughts and didn’t know how to voice them out right now.

As if Yula could see through her, she smiled gently. “Do you want me to listen to you and help you straighten your thoughts, or do you wish to ask me about something? In my experience, Miss, I’ve learned that people tend to feel better after sharing their troubles with another.”

“Am I not being a bother?” the human girl asked while looking at the mature elf. “I’m sure you’re busy.”

“Feel free to talk to me, Miss. I happen to have spare time today so I can answer your questions.”

Ember slowly nodded with a timid smile. She felt somewhat at ease, as this was what she was waiting to hear from someone. She had many questions piled up in the corners of her mind and she needed someone to answer them.

Yula pulled a chair near the bed and sat down as if to show she was ready to have a long meaningful conversation with her. “Please feel free to talk.”

Ember stared at her for a while as she wondered where she should start. The thing she wanted to talk about was the word ‘mate’ which she heard often from everyone. Though Morpheus had already explained it to her, her intuition was telling her there was more to it. She was sure there was something that she still was not aware of.

‘Morpheus didn’t lie but…’

Her odd behaviour whenever she’s with the King, she was sure it was related to them being ‘mates’. She wanted to know why she acted strangely whenever she was with him. She wanted to know why she was attracted to his scent all the time.

‘It’s like…I’m being controlled by something I do not understand.’

Morpheus told her that Ember was now part of Draven’s family but…was that all there was to it? She felt something was missing.

‘What is family in the first place?’

Gaia was family. The story books Gaia had read to her talked about family. Sometimes, her nanny would share some gossip or interesting experiences about families in the villages around the mountain whenever she would buy supplies. She remembered those times with perfect clarity, since those days would normally be when Gaia was the most talkative and those days would be full of laughter for the two of them.

Fathers, mothers, siblings, grandparents, relatives… but Gaia never mentioned such a thing or word like ‘mates’.

“Mate!” Ember said, “Please explain that word to me for your kind. I want to know everything about being a person’s mate.”

“A mate, hmm? Can you tell me what you know about mates so far, Miss?”

“A family and a friend.” Ember was filled with anxiety. “I know only a bit but I still cannot understand.”

Yula had a pondering expression as she stared at the anxious human girl.

“A mate is a person’s closest family and most intimate friend, that is true,” Yula started, “but it will be more precise to say mates are partners and each other’s lovers, the same as a human’s husband and wife relationship.”

“Husband and wife?!” Ember repeated in shock. “I’m His Majesty’s–no, How can that be?”

As far as she remembered, from all the talks she had with Gaia, one needed to get married to become husband and wife. She had a clear idea of a wedding in her mind according to the customs of the Kingdom of Valor.

The endings of the romance books she read also talked about the main characters ending up as couples who married each other. It would always be grand where they would have a festival-like ceremony for their wedding. Sometimes, the celebration could go on for days. The groom and the bride would wear wedding clothes and take vows in front of a priest with their families, friends and loved ones, and so many other things. She had done none of these with the King so how could she be his mate–his wife?!

“B-But we didn’t, we…didn’t…”

Ember had to calm herself for some time before she could straighten her thoughts and speak without stuttering.

“Excuse me, but we never had a wedding,” Ember voiced out her thoughts. “Is it different in this kingdom? Different with your people? That…do you not need to have a wedding ceremony?”

The entire time, Yula patiently let the human girl process her thoughts. She could see how Ember was rejecting such a notion, yet the elf remained calm despite the girl’s denial, aware that ‘mates’ was indeed a strange concept for a human.

“Hmm,  to say it’s different would be a lie. It depends on the clan and the race. For the beastmen and those with divine bloodlines in general, we don’t call the couple husband and wife. We call them mates. For that, you don’t need a wedding ceremony. It is a sacred bond initiated when a male marks a female as his. His Majesty has marked you as his.”

Ember knew that biting is called marking, and the proof of that was that crimson tattoo on her neck. “Yes, I am aware of it,” she said with a voice still in disbelief.

Yula continued, “Mates are only similar in nature to a human’s concept of ‘marriage’, but there’s a reason why we call it a sacred bond. For humans, you can break the wedding vow and can have another partner, but for divine beasts, that is not the case. They can have a single mate in their entire life and the bond they share will only break when one of them dies.”

Ember could not help but feel a flutter in her chest as she started understanding the weight of being a ‘mate’. “…for his entire life…”

Yula nodded. “Yes, Miss. His Majesty has marked you as his mate, and that means for the rest of his life, you are his only wife and he cannot have another one.”

“Wife…? Mate…?” Ember mumbled these two words as if she was still having a hard time accepting the truth.

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