The Devil's Cursed Witch

“The Divine Eagle Clan, greets the King, the sole Golden Eagle Aureus,” the chief of the clan, chief Agraleus greeted.

The voices of so many clan members echoed everywhere as they repeated after the clan chief. Aureus looked around and as far as his sharp gaze could reach, he found numerous shapeshifter eagles in their human forms bowing to him from every corner of that place from the ground to the top of the trees. He had never seen a single person of his kind for decades after his mother had passed away and now there was a sea of his kind.

Just as his mother said, they were divided into four different colours based on the purity of their blood and now other than his own golden self he could see them all in the remaining three colours.

Aureus was awkward by getting so much attention at the same time and how so many powerful shapeshifters were bowing to him.

“Please, you all can rise,” Aureus said but everyone kept kneeling.

“Your Majesty, we do not dare stand at your level,” the chief replied.

Aureus sighed. “I am asking you all to please rise. We can talk without you all kneeling in front of me. I believe all of you have work to do. I am here only for a short while.”

‘Short while?’

Everyone was surprised to hear it and finally, the chief raised his head up to look at Aureus, “What do you mean, Your Majesty?”

Suddenly getting addressed as ‘Your Majesty’ made Aureus feel burdened. He was aware of how things worked in the divine eagle clan but now was not the time for him to be a king or rather he never wished to be one. But he simply didn’t want to disappoint them by being too blunt.

“I am here as an envoy of the kingdom of Megaris. So I will prefer you all to relax yourselves and treat me like that,” Aureus replied.

“This can not be…”

“Please rise and we can talk,” Aureus insisted.

Everyone followed his orders. Though he could deny being the king, his authority over the clan was created the moment he was born as a Golden Eagle and even if anyone wanted, they could not dare disobey him.

“I know I am supposed to be your king but for now it’s not the time. All these years when I was not here, I believe everything in the clan was working fine. I am here for important work and until I complete it, I can not accept to be your king. I do believe you all would understand me.”

“Apologies, Your Majesty if we have offended you,” the chief said.

“You didn’t. I just wish to clear things. I can not deny the fact that I am glad to see you all, the people of my kind and make me feel that I am not alone. But I have to return from where I have come. There are people who have raised me and have taken care of me when I had no one with me. I can not disappoint them when they need me.”

“We understand you, Your Majesty. We, the Divine Eagle clan, can never be ungrateful to those who have helped us. We won’t stop you but we do hope one day you will return to your people.”

“I will. When I finish what I have to, I will return here,” Aureus assured. He was aware of his situation that one day he had to leave Drayce and Seren’s side when they both would be aware of his true identity.

“As long as Your Majesty decides to return to us,” the Chief looked relieved.

Morpheus was aware of the situation Aureus was in so he was prepared to see his nephew return. Given how he was trying to protect the one he liked, nothing in the world could make him stop here.

Once a supernatural with a divine bloodline fell for someone, it was next to impossible for them to move on. This was what made the mate bonds between them so strong and different from other ordinary supernaturals.

As per the chief’s order, the other clan members returned to their work while he led Aureus’ way inside his home in the tree. The home of the chief of the Divine Eagle clan where he welcomed the king and introduced him to the family members. Chief Agraleus was Myra’s uncle so Aureus was aware that they were his family as well and they shared the same blood.

‘I wonder how my real grandparents were?’

Morpheus was by his side all the time and made him feel comfortable by his presence among the strangers, Aureus was meeting. Family but still strangers to him.

Once he met his distant relatives, Morpheus and Aureus left the Chief’s home.

“The chief’s home once belonged to my father. We all used to live there including your mother,” Morpheus informed as they flew towards his current home in one of the tallest trees. Just as they landed in that home, which had an open front side with the proper base and the roof, Morpheus informed, “And this is my current home. Feel free to treat it as your own till you are here in this kingdom.”

Aureus nodded as he looked around. It was a huge empty but clean place with only an arrangement to sleep and nothing else. One could clearly see the owner of this home only returned here to sleep and had this as home just for the namesake.

Observing Aureus’ gaze, Morpheus spoke, “Don’t worry about the sleeping arrangement. I can arrange one more bed for you.”

Aures didn’t reply but he felt comforted just by being in this empty home. He had never lived in a home like this and had only caves which he and his mother used to live in. He had heard her talking about such homes and now he could see them for real. He felt like this was where he should be, a natural habitat for his kind.

“If I return here, will I get one home like this as well?” Aureus asked.

“One home? You will get a bunch of trees which would be converted into the kind of residence that suits the king. Did you already forget who you are? If you want, you can even get the entire city just for yourself.”

Aureus felt this was too overboard and simply smiled, “I would prefer just a single home like this so I can live alone peacefully.”

“Alone? You won’t be. You with divine blood, will have to get a mate so you can continue this bloodline,” Morpheus waited to see his reaction and as expected there was a sudden silence surrounding Aureus.

‘Mate? I can never have her.’ His eyes filled with sadness as he remembered Seren. ‘If not her, I don’t want anyone else.’

“Thinking about someone?” Morpheus asked.

“You sure like to be a nosy one, don’t you?” Aureus replied, not willing to answer.

“Nothing harmful in trying my luck,” Morpheus smiled playfully and then said, “If you are done dreaming about your home, we can leave to visit the graves of your grandparents. They would be happy to see you.”

Aureus agreed and the two left. They landed at the place where the two graves were present side by side, covered with a stack of stones with the tombstones carved with their names and titles.

Aureus paid respect to the graves by kneeling and lowering his head in front of them. Once he was done, he looked at Morpheus who was standing on the side.

“My mother, shouldn’t we have her grave here as well? I never got the chance to make one for her. All I did was to keep her alive in my memories and cherish her.”

‘Myra’s grave?’ Morpheus could not agree to it. ‘She is alive if what Yorian said is right. We can not make her grave.’

“Morph!” Aures called him. “What do you think?”

“We will think about it,” was what Morpheus could say as he could not tell Aureus that his mother could be alive.

“When I visit here again, please allow me to do so,” Aureus insisted.

“Sure,” Morpheus agreed as till his next visit they might have already found Myra if she was truly alive.

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A/N- The new readers who are wondering about new names- Drayce, Seren, Aureus, Kingdom of Megaris, are from the first novel of the series- “Witch’s daughter and the devil’s son.”

The plots of both novels are running together and characters from both novels will crossover into both novels.