Lilian POV

The palace was cold, so cold I have to walk around in fur coats just to keep myself warm during these cold winter nights within The Vale.

It's been a week since we arrived here and left my father's home abruptly, Demonia was serious when he said I would never see or hear from my father again and that he would ruin his life. The last I had heard is that my father's business partners all dropped as soon as they all heard how he had spoken to the new King of The Vale, I don't know what happened with him or where he is and what he is currently doing, and I fear I may never know.

Although my mate is not King, not until... three hours time from now and in two hours time, we will be a married mated couple, we are going to be official for all of The Vale to see.

I have no say in any of this as Demonia had planned it all the moment we left my father's estate. I did not mind, I want to marry my mate, it has been my dream ever since I was a young girl to marry a prince and live a long happy life, with pups running around as we grow old together, forever in love.

So what if we skip the wedding I had always wanted? I have everything I need when it comes to Demonia. Although, I had not seen him all day, and when I do see him, we rarely speak to one another, but I do not blame or pressure him, I know becoming King is hard and stressful.

I only wish my mother could be alive today to see me now, in her wedding dress and getting ready to marry my true love and soulmate, Demonia Black.

I am beyond happy, I haven't been this happy since my mother was alive, and it's all thanks to Demonia for giving me everything I could ever dream of or want in life.

The Palace is still under construction in the west wing, the place is so huge I do not understand why Demonia wishes to make it bigger, I have not seen the design but I had overheard workers speak of hidden passages and dungeons, requested to be built by Demonia personally.

He had not spoken a word about any passages, but it makes sense, he is Royalty and a Black, surely people have their say in matters of new rulers from another realm, but he is an heir to the throne here as he is in the Shadow Lands too.

Since his father, King Criso Black passed the throne, he had moved far away from the Shadow Lands and The Vale, many whispers he vanished overnight, the same day he passed the crown down to his son, my mate Demonia.

It worries me, the whispers say Demonia had a rocky relationship with his father, some go as deep as saying once the crown is passed, his father would be executed because of how much he did not like his father.

I had no spoken to Demonia about these rumors. I fear he might think I am weak to listen to such gossip, I don't want to be one of those mates that listen to terrible things about their partner, I should trust him and I will.

So I choose to ignore the chatter of those jealous individuals.

"All set my Lady." Anna, my personal maid says.

I lift my head up and look at myself in the mirror, and I am taken away by how beautiful the gold crown looks on me, with the veil my mother wore on her wedding day, everything is the exact same, my hair is tied up in a beautiful low platted chignon and the style makes my mark more visible to everyone who sees.

I move from the vanity chair and walk towards the large mirror on the opposite side of this spare bedroom I am getting ready for my wedding day and I stand in front of the mirror, trying not to stand on the beautiful gown that once belonged to my mother.

Tears threaten to leave my eyes as I stare at myself, I no longer look like a girl, who I see now in the mirror is a woman looking back at me and I only hope that my mother is proud of me and that she and the moon goddess watch over me on my special day.

The door opens and I see one of Demonia's closest hired Advisors from the Shadow Lands, his name is Rubius Grinmorte, I have met his wonderful wife Beth, they have just had a son, Aldus.

In the short time that I had known them, Beth has become a very good friend to me and Rubius has been a very pleasant face around the Palace, especially to Demonia, he has been a great help so far for us, everything is running smoothly thanks to his help.

"My oh my, you are a vision of perfection my Lady, Demonia will not be able to keep his hands off you." Rubius says entering as he admires me and my dress as I twirl around for him chuckling.

"It's magnificent is it not? I am seconds away from ruining my face that Anna helped make so perfect." I say as I fan my face as I laugh.

He shakes his head. "Oh, you look lovely Lilian, I am beyond words at your beauty." He says and I chuckle shyly as I look at myself one last time in the mirror and release a shaky breath.

"How is he doing? Have you seen him?" I ask, hinting to Demonia.

He clears his throat and nods, avoiding my eye contact. "Yes, he is all well, waits very impatiently to marry you, he would be a fool to not, no?" He says with a chuckle and the tension in the air disappears as I nod.

I get a weird feeling and make my way towards the door with my maid Anna and with the help of Rubius, my heart beats wildly for what is to come.

I can't wait to see Demonia and marry him!

Demonia POV

I roar out like a beast as I pound into the woman roughly as she lays below me one last time before I pull out of the inside of her and empty my cum all over her ass, my breath is coming out harshly as I try to steady my breathing.

I get off on top of the woman and make my way over to the bathroom, not paying any more attention to the woman who lays passed out on my bed with rope on her arms and legs as I begin to shower.

It was risky of me to fuck that whore, but I had to gain some control as my thoughts begun to run wild from me. Today is an important day within my new kingdom and I wanted to keep a level head.

I am to marry my mate, Lilian Du Mont, and be crowned King, officially in front of the right people for proof of my reign.

As I shower I begin to feel sick and can not stop as the contents in my stomach threaten to come up as I rush to the window, I can not hold it in any longer as I vomit out the window, seeing as I cough out blood is very alarming but not enough to cause me to worry.

The mate bond is working as it should, this would be my last time with another woman and I wanted to feel in control of my other side one more time before I marry Lilian.

I want to do this right and be a good husband and King, I have hid this dark side of me for so long and with the upcoming of today, I had to release that stress somewhere and I did not want to take Lilian and scare her, so I broke our bond, only once.

I feel weak and sick that I had fucked another woman other than my mate, my heart feels like it's clenching me so tight that the bond threatens to explode my heart for my betrayal.

I had been warned of this, to betray your mate is painful, it had been too long since I had known what pain felt like, until today.

Knowing this is the last time, I never want to experience such pain again, I will be the mate Lilian wants, I will only be hers.

What happens before the ceremony is the past and not important, what is important is my future after today and I plan to have a good future ahead of me with my mate by my side.

Leaving the shower I see that the woman is gone and the bed is cleaned, my uniform for my wedding and coronation are laid out perfectly on the bed just as I had instructed.

Leave it then get out. I did not want anyone here with me, certainly, not my father, who made the great escape, but he knows me and he knows he can not hide forever, I don't give up on what I truly want and what I truly want is for him to retire, permanently.

He has outlived his usefulness to the Shadow Lands, I do not need any old wiseass men telling me how to rule my people.

I finished putting my royal uniform on as I add the finishing touches to my attire, the Black crest emblem being the last to go on my suit. I do not need to look in the mirror to know I look good, I feel good and nothing is going wrong today, nothing is ruining this for me, this is the day I put my family name back at the top, for centuries to come, the Black family will rule, as it is supposed to.

I walk through the halls with my guards by my side, all dressed in Black armor. I make it to the chapel I had built, finished just on time for this special day, I had workers work day and night without rest for this special day, a day I wanted for as long as I can remember.

I see familiar faces from Shadow Lands and The Vale are already sat and waiting for the ceremony to begin as I walk down the aisle to the front of the podium where I will marry Lilian Du Mont, soon to be Lilian Black.

The music begins to play and everyone sits and I stand tall and impatient to see my beautiful mate enter the room. When she does, the first thing I see is her beautiful smile, which she only shows to me, then I see how breathtaking she looks, she is no longer a girl but a woman, the dress hugs every one of her curves instead of hiding them like the hideous dresses she wore when I met her.

The gold crown on top of her head suits her and I can't stop myself from picturing her with nothing on but the crown she wears when this day is through. I want it so I will make it happen, I want nothing more than to see that image come to reality.

She makes it to my side and I reach my hand out and take hers, I wink at her and she chuckles softly as she blushes, her beautiful forest eyes focusing on me as my cold grey ones light up when I focus on hers.

She is everything to me and I had just realized that I will kill for this woman if she kept smiling at me like this for the rest of my life.

She's beautiful, and all mine.

"Hi." I whisper to her as the priest speaks the words of the ceremony.

Her eyes light up when she sees me smirking at her. "Hi." She whispers back shyly and I squeeze her hand in mine as I stare deeply into her eyes, savoring every single detail in her face so that I can remember this day for the rest of our lives.

I got so lost in her gaze that I did not even hear the priest speak, only when a throat is cleared I truly snap out of her beauty and pull my eyes unwillingly from Lilian's.

The priest hints to the final words and I nod, turning my gaze back to my mate.

"I do, till death do us part." I say, holding both my mate's hands in my own as I stare into her eyes with a grin.

She grins back then smiles widely.

"And do you, Lady Lilian Du Mont, take King Demonia Black as your husba-"

"I do, till death do us part!" She says, laughing happily and wasting no time as she moves forward swiftly and takes my lips on hers before the words of the ceremony finish, causing all in the chapel to laugh and clap and the priest stands shocked.

I wrap my arms around her and lift her up as I kiss her back hungrily and happily, savoring every moment, her smell, her touch, the way her freckles make her green eyes even more bright as if it were possible. All whilst the room erupts in cheers.

I pull my lips from hers and grin up at my mate who looks bashful from the attention of the room. "Let's go claim the throne, Lilian Black, my wife, and queen." I say grinning and she chuckles.

"Let's!" She says and I grab her hand, walking down the aisle as people begin to happily throw petals of black, red, and white in the air at us as we make our way to the chapel doors.

I shall always remember this moment, the smiling of my mate, and the happy cheers of our quests, but I know these happy moments do not last forever, so I will savor it for as long as I possibly can.

Forever, till death do us part.