Curiosity of the Demon Ing

Peris stood, unblinking, in the doorway with papers scattered at his feet, staring as Fosi clutched her "father's" oversized clothing to her body. She didn't think there was any way she could have felt covered enough for comfort; her skin burned under his determined gaze, yet she froze in terror.

How much has he seen? How should I appear? Need to think of a lie, quickly! Why is he just standing there!? Please... just turn away...

Her fingers trembled and she could feel tears starting to burn in the corners of her eyes.

Not like this... Please, anything but this... Not him, not now. I had an excuse prepared, but what was it?...

Fosi's mind was numb, it was all she could do to stay on her feet while shock rippled up and down her body.

"I-I... I just- I'm..." Fosi had to outright close her eyes to focus on her words, and even then she could barely think of anything but Peris' gaze and where it fell. "T-that's a spell... My father and I have been switching place with a spell, that's why you haven't seen us together, right!" Her fingers blindly went to the very choker that had turned her into what she was now. "This is a magical artifact that lets us do that... We were keeping it a secret for... tactical reasons, that's it. I suppose you should have been one of the first ones to know about it..."

Peris pushed aside the air between them with the suddenness of his approach and Fosi prepared her heart for whatever he was about to try. She felt the heavy material of his cape wrap around her shoulders, his fingers at her neck to cinch it shut. And she opened her eyes.

There he was, looming over her, so close that she could feel his breath tickle her hair. The sensations of this body were really something different to Avlakoi's, he might not have noticed the subtlety of it. Without thought, Fosi had brought up her hands and placed them on Peris' chest, she hoped to keep a little distance from the man; there was no telling what he'd do alone with her in the early hours of the morning when everyone else was lazing in bed still. Through a thin linen shirt, she could trace the firm lines of his muscles underneath; this, too, was something only Fosi's sensitive fingertips could appreciate...

Appreciate? Sure, he's got a great physique... Even as a man, I could say that much without my cheeks burning this much... Why is he still so close!? And he still hasn't said anything!

"Y-you're... Thank you, for the cover. I'm, um, fine now. You can..."

"No."

"Wha-" Fosi began to ask, and choked on the word as Peris' strong arms closed around her.

A hug?... It does feel ni-... No, no, I can admit it feels n-nice...

She felt like her chest would burst, her arms strained to keep Peris from fully pulling her in. "What is it, that you want?" she managed to squeak.

"This."

Fosi took a moment to compose herself, drew upon her memory of that first night, when she'd seen what kind of man Peris could be to a subordinate, when she'd seen that he, too, was still a demon. "If you want to force me... then do it..." As much as she could, she loosened herself and Avlakoi's discarded clothing fell to the ground in a heap at her feet.

"That isn't what this is."

"Then what is it!?" Fosi shouted. She put all of her strength into pushing him away, and though she succeeded, it was impossible to think he hadn't simply let her. "I'm naked under this, don't you want to ram it into my mouth again!? Or what, you want a taste of the rest? Take it! Take it and then make sure you're never asleep in my presence again!"

What the hell was that in his posture? Sheepishness? It felt so foreign to Fosi that Peris for a moment looked like a woman...

He said, "I love you."

"Again with this!?"

Peris didn't speak again for a minute that stretched on and on. "I'd like a sparring session, just you and me, down in the private training room."

She blinked. "How did we get to that from where we were?"

"I felt that you would like it."

"So we'll spar for a while, then I'll be overcome with emotion for you?" Fosi glared across the space, but why was she so angry? "Is that it? We've sparred before, you always win. I'm not going to put marriage up for a prize, you'll never have that from me. It would be too weird..."

"No stakes, just as friends and allies. I'd like to unwind, wouldn't you?"

This has to be a trick, but for now it looks like he bought my explanation.

"No..."

Peris lunged forward and with one movement had draped her over his shoulder. He began jogging for the training room while she uselessly beat on his back with balled fists.

"I'll scream!" she shouted, but quietly enough that they wouldn't be heard. It wouldn't do to have him say what he'd seen, have people start connecting dots.

"Then scream,

princess,

and explain this situation to whoever hears you."

Fosi pouted and let him off with one kick.

"That's what I thought," he said.

What is this? He seems like he's actually mad. Don't tell me, he's that offended at being left out of a secret?

Fosi worried that they'd be seen by someone who would make things awkward, but Peris was taking a route down that was barely used in the first place, much less in the morning, and he paused at each corner to ensure they wouldn't be stopped.

It could be... he's finally snapped with arousal, can't stop himself any longer. However noble he likes to think himself, he's still one of our kind, and he's already forced himself on me once... I think... once more might be worth preserving our friendship...

When they did arrive, Peris set Fosi down gently and barred the door behind them. Runes flared on it which would cut them off from the outside world with a barrier against force and sound alike; one of the castle's previous occupants had

enjoyed

his prisoners, the flooring here was fine sand for a reason, easier to clean. And Peris followed Fosi to the wall of weapons within, taking the glaive she'd gone and chosen out of her hands.

"Did you want to spar or not?" Fosi crossed her arms and tried to ignore the way he stared down at her. "If you're just trying to be cute about it, tear my clothes off here and l-let's get it over with..."

Fuck, it feels like the first time again. I shouldn't be trembling, I've done it so much already.

Peris said, slowly and firmly, "I don't want to rape you." He turned and took a broadsword from the rack, tested its edge briefly against his thumb and licked the welling spot of blood as he presented it to her.

It was heavier in her hands than she'd remembered. Avlakoi would have thought the object a long knife anyway. "I'd prefer the polearm."

"I'm sure you would." Peris drew the sword hanging on his belt. "There's something I'd like to see, and I'll have you bear it for now. I know I said there would be no strings, but a duel is better with stakes, isn't it?"

"I didn't agree to a duel." Fosi stepped back, holding her blade between them. "I didn't even agree to spar; you kidnapped me."

"You'll like this. If you lose, I'll have you become my servant for a day."

"And?"

"If I lose, I'll give up on any attempt to make you my wife."

Fosi scoffed. "What kind of prize is that, when you've already been rejected by everyone who could give me over?"

"One which would save you countless days of annoyance as I pursue your hand. I'll add my personal subservience for the rest of your life to sweeten the pot, even under that wolfman if it is your will." Peris stepped across the floor as though her agreement had already been acquired.

The terms really aren't that bad, after all... I was already preparing to give myself to him, and being a servant is only one level of added shame. After all I've been through already, that should feel like nothing. Should...

With a sigh, Fosi took the opposite position and raised her blade. Even as Avlakoi, she/he hadn't loved swordsmanship, preferring polearms for their use in aerial combat and ground combat alike. it just happened that most of the previous demon lords had been nobility as well, and their most powerful artifacts were swords so he'd had to learn. It still didn't feel right in her hand, no matter how much training had gone into her skill.

Whatever, I'll just give him the fight he wants and lose.

"To the blood, then?" she asked.

Peris grit his teeth. "To forfeit."

"Shouldn't tha-" Fosi started, but had to fall back as Peris lashed across the space and nearly tore her weapon from her hand with the force of a blow nearly intent on taking her head. "What was that!?"

"You'll be sorry if you don't start taking me seriously,

my lady.

Hit me, do your best for once. Show me everything you know." Another strike glanced off her blade, only enough force behind it to make a point: he could overpower a half-assed defense in an instant. "Or, else."

He came at her again with barely enough time to take a hurried breath, pressed the attack with ringing steel that forced her across the space. Fosi had to focus so much on avoiding tripping over her own tail that she could hardly think of stepping to the side until her foot met the edge of the ring and she had to dive to relative safety. In that moment, Peris could have easily taken off her legs at the knee, with neither scale nor armor protecting her fair skin and delicate flesh.

Old lessons came to mind, this very man striking the demon lord in this very room because the draconic giant hadn't needed to care about an extended toe or a misplaced arm. The chosen hero of humanity would be strong enough through his connection to Heaven that even a human's attack would be able to wound an unskilled demon, and Avlakoi could no longer afford to rest on the laurels of his bloodline. Fosi with her second wind was beginning to see the angles of his strikes and the proper defenses that had been beaten into her.

Straight to the chest, batted away. Down onto her head, drop and angle the sword down to make it slide down to the side, she wasn't strong enough to catch the bind and beat the strike away... Too high, she had horns, but they were nowhere near as cumbersome as Avlakoi's had been; she actively tightened her stance. A sweeping strike to her ankle, do not jump, he'd just follow up with something else while she hung helplessly in the air, instead plant the tip in the dirt, block a strike that did not have the strength of ergonomics driving it.

It felt as though Peris was slowing down, not only that her mind was becoming accustomed to his pace. He wasn't exploiting the openings that she knew she had made an instant after, he was giving her the room that she would need to establish her defense. Really, it felt more like being taught by an impatient partner than a duel.

But... he didn't want to harm his eventual conquest, was that it? Even then, would the progression from one technique to another be so monotonous and staid?

Well, if he was going to patronize her, she'd make her own move when he was least expecting it. Adding Avlakoi's experience to Fosi's in sparring with this single opponent, she'd had decades knowing her friend's weaknesses intimately. In particular, the exact angle at which Peris' own curling horns cut off vision.

Fosi bade her time, the perfect moment to exploit her knowledge and his trust, because she would never again hold the advantage if her attack failed.

There!

Peris raised his arms together to deliver a powerful strike down onto her head. For one fleeting instant, the arch of his own arms would cover his eyes. Rather than bring her sword up to defend, Fosi dropped the point to the ground, turned her hips, and took the full force of his blade on her horns.

"What are you doing!?" Peris cried, too late to stop himself.

A cold trickle of blood ran down Fosi's forehead, across a closed eyelid. Momentum had nearly carried her blade deeply into Peris' neck and a twinned trickle ran down to his shoulder.

The pain was incredible, her eyes rattled like jelly in her head and she felt she'd nearly bitten through her own teeth. But a dragon's horns, even anchored on the physiology of a succubus, should not be underestimated. The vast majority of the strike's force had been diverted and the edge skidded down to her scalp.

She vaguely noticed the sound of Peris' blade being dropped in surprise, and automatically pressed her advantage. With a vicious glare through jarred eyes, she snapped her fangs at him and thrust herself forward, he tripped over his own feet like a new recruit.

On the ground, Fosi knelt on his chest, blade at his tender throat. "I... I win..."

Peris sighed and closed his eyes. "No."

"There's no way out of this, you. What do you mean, no!?"

"I was never going to lose. It was to forfeit, not to the blood. I will not surrender."

She leaned on her sword just enough to push on his skin harmlessly. "You're disarmed. You wouldn't survive this on the battlefield, so surrender already."

"No."

Fosi put enough weight on the tip to draw blood. "Surrender, you damn idiot!" Through the headache, her eyes stung. Wet drops fell on Peris' face from above.

He stared directly up into her blurred vision, dauntless. "No. Kill me."

"Moron!" Fosi threw the blade aside and beat on his chest, thrashing his unmoving body without a goal but frustration's end. "I hate you! I hate you so much! Why!? Why couldn't you just leave it alone!?

Damn it!

" He caught her wrists and all she could do in the end was scream until she was out of breath, until her body went limp and she was drawn into his arms, hugged against his chest.

Tears came freely. Peris was petting her damaged horn, stroking her hair, wiped cloying blood from her eyelid.

"It's you, isn't it?"

Fosi hid her face in his chest and bit her lip. She could feel his heart racing, but this had all amounted to nothing but moderate exercise to him in the end. "... I d-don't know what you're talking about..."

"I did have my suspicions, you know," Peris said. One arm came around the small of Fosi's back as if he expected her to flee, and barred her way. "Some kind of curse, then? It must be pretty strong to get around your resistance to magic, but I'm sure you've been working with Kaffe to break it..." He paused as if remembering every humiliating thing about their time together recently, but he never stopped petting her. "My

brother,

you should have come to me about this. I feel like I've earned that trust."

That word hung in the air while he waited for her to collect her thoughts and her courage to respond. With his heat right there against her skin, it was hard to think about anything else.

But, eventually. "How could I?... You remember what we did that night..."

His skin was a little hotter. "Right... I suppose that does explain how inexperienced you were."

Fosi beat on him with what little space she had to move her hand.

"And why you chose that atavist instead of me... Tell me, though, why the rest? You should have come to me, you would never have had to... to do all those things. Is Kaffe close at all to breaking the curse?"

"No." Fosi shook her head and finally looked up into Peris' noble face with a weak smile, mocking her own weakness. "It's permanent! Isn't that great for you!?"

He quietly said, "No, of course not," and kept stroking her hair, wiped the blood from the small wound that was already starting to heal.

"You know who I am, why are you still doing this?..."

"Do you want me to stop?"

Fosi said nothing, the words weren't there either way. He felt so warm, his heart thrummed against hers, it felt like a point of certainty being there in his arms. Just barely, she could shunt aside the realization that all she'd been wearing had been his cloak, the extant fact threatened to shatter her already-reeling mind.

"Brother, I-"

She cried, "At least don't call me that!"

"I suppose it does feel odd when you're like this," Peris said.

"This is the way I am now... Kaffe says I can only go back for a short while at a time, that's the actual transformation." The words were numbing in her throat, the revelation of permanence was an entirely new trauma. There was nothing to fight against, it was simply suffocating and the only relief was to look away from it. "I get to be myself less and less each time..."

"I see."

Fosi tried to push herself away, but Peris held her firmly and all she could do to express herself was growl in his face. "You understand nothing! I might as well be dead, death would be a mercy! How in the name of Hell am I supposed to fulfil my responsibilities like this? This body is good for nothing but being degraded over and over, day after day in new ways each time! I can barely keep my allies safe, and soon enough I won't even be able to do that."

"What reason do you have allies if not to lean on them? Avlakoi-"

"Don't call me that!"

"-I know you think everyone is against you. I've seen it, how a man as powerful as you watched your back. Even with Kaffe and I. How long were you going to keep this from me? How little do you really think of my loyalty?"

Fosi buried her face, bit her lip, thought deeply. "I thought I could resolve this myself..." She laughed a little, it came from nowhere, certainly not humor. "Until yesterday, I'd thought Kaffe was holding it over my head. I thought she was doing it to me. I thought she was humiliating me for... I don't know what reason I thought it was. Power? She's already at the peak of her profession; she couldn't be more powerful as a mage without

being

me. Yesterday, she said she'd been preparing me for the rest of my life in this body."

Peris scooted back to the wall and sat himself up, drawing Fosi up into his lap. The male reaction embarrassed them both, but neither said a thing. "Everything else can come later. We can work on any problems you come across, together. Do you trust me to help?"

"I..."

"Do you remember what I told you the other day?"

She did, and she couldn't meet his gaze for the memory.

"I love you."

Fosi twitched. "As a brother, right?..."

"I love you." Peris bent down and laid his lips on her forehead, despite her squirming.

"You don't really mean that. You can't mean that." Fosi felt nauseous, she'd curled up in his lap as much as she could.

Peris raised her chin and forced her at least to face him, but he couldn't keep her from closing her eyes. "I love you, my friend. I've loved you for a long time. I was willing to marry your daughter for love of you. I am still willing to protect

her

as her husband."

Fosi withdrew further into herself, her hair fell over her face and she was grateful for the shade, that she didn't have to confront the image of his steady gaze when burning tears forced her to crack open her eyes. "That's all I am anymore: a trophy... I can't do anything by myself. Even you don't respect me."

"You're making a mistake. Rather, you've labored under a misunderstanding for a long time. Before, you bore the weight of the world on your shoulders, but it was fine because your shoulders were broad enough to bear it, so you thought. Did you never once think about how many hands there were around you, ready to take on some of your burden?" He kissed her forehead again and she thumped his chest to no effect. "When I say I love you, my brother, I don't mean that I love the demon king. That title could have fallen to any one of noble blood; it isn't who you are, only a responsibility dumped into your arms." He kissed her cheek, and caught her hand before she managed to hit him again.

"Stop it..." Fosi whimpered. She didn't bother trying to pull away anymore, his grip was gentle, but unyielding. He wouldn't let her go for anything, she felt.