Taming His Demon Lover

He must be the owner of the Tavern. 

Overly round face freckled with liver spots, thinning gray hair and a dull brown wool coat that covered a morbidly obese body. 

Right now Squire James sported a twisted, puritanical expression on his face and his receding hairline only made his features look most austere. 

Here standing before him was definitely the male version of Lady James. 

This was a man who probably hated spending money, a penny pincher that would nickel and dime you just to get their own way or money's worth. 

Today was finally starting to shape up as it did not take Andras too long to locate the village chief. 

Andras asked brusquely, "Squire James?"

How had this customer gotten past the guards?

Now Squire James had a valid reason to reduce the hired guards' already low salary to a mere pittance.

Squire James felt threatened as the man before him stopped the whip and it must have hurt but the stranger's facial expression showed no reaction to the pain. 

Which raised red flags for Squire James and he stiffened as he turned to look at the man who dared to interrupt his punishment of Robin. 

"Yes, I am the owner of this joint. What do you want with me?"

"I am Andras Mulciber, Lord of Hell's Island. I'm here on the orders of Your Royal Highness, Queen Tiandra."

"Seriously. The Queen sent you on such short notice," Squire James inquired.

He glanced down uneasily at Robin with a glare that implored him to keep quiet while he accepted the missive from Andras' other free hand. 

"Let go of the whip and read the blasted letter," ordered Andras. 

When Squire James left the room Andras flung the offensive barbed whip across the room it landed against the wall with a loud thwack!

"What's the latest at the Summer Court since news reaches very late to the borderlands? I was not expecting a message from her Royal Highness."

"Well…I would have preferred not to be the one to deliver it either but I guess none of us have a choice in the matter but to follow Queen Tiandra's orders," Andras replied dryly. 

Just then the bruised and battered Robin groaned out in pain on the floor. 

"Forget the letter," shouted Andras as he knelt down to assist the battered victim to her feet. "You need to have a doctor brought here right away."

"I'll do no such thing. It's not as bad as it looks, the boy will be fine," added Squire James quickly. 

"Boy?" repeated Andras. 

As he knelt down and turned over the now unconscious form of the beloved belly dancer. 

He looked so small and pitiful, no wonder he could easily pass for a girl, he looked malnourished. 

Slight and frail, as if the slightest wisp of the wind could blow him away. 

The young man's hands were tightly bound with coarse rope so could not defend himself. 

The poor thing strained against the rope so much he got rope burn and now his wounded wrists were chafed and bleeding. 

Already the adhesive that the boy put on the wig had already begun melting and Andras could see the real color of his hair, a tawny brown color. 

Andras patiently removed the black wig to not add further to the boy's discomfort.

Wet strands of hair clung to his scalp as the heat from the roof lights made him sweat heavily with the wig on.

His anger slowly started to climb as Andras observed traces of physical abuse on the victim's body.

Meaty fists had dared to pulverize the tiny face, and the lips that looked kissable earlier now looked purple and swollen from being badly bruised. 

The fact that the boy was still breathing was a miracle but it was still too early to tell if he suffered a concussion as he now appeared to have fainted from pain and exhaustion. 

"Had you come but a few minutes earlier you would have seen the boy's misconduct and since he is my ward I have every right to punish him as I see fit," emphasized the village chief calmly. 

He reminded himself that this man was a guest under his roof and a stranger to the village where Squire James word carried weight. 

Squire James just needed to show the upstart noble who truly held the reins of power.

Even though he was just country gentry Squire James still had his pride but still he hesitated before saying, "This is most unfortunate for you to witness, let's just keep this between us as respectable men. You can order any drink on the house while I clean up this mess before joining you at the bar. Surely, as comrades it will be wiser for you not to mention this to the Queen because —"

"Cease your ridiculous prattling before I remove your tongue." 

Of course, Squire James immediately complied even though you could see on his face that he wanted to protest Andras' next action James remained insolently silent.

Andras pulled out a gilded gold dagger from his waist and used it to swiftly cut the ropes that bound the young man's wrists. 

"Am I right to assume that this boy is Robin McDougal who Queen Tiandra left under your guardianship?"

Afraid to talk for fear Andras might carry out his threat, Squire James nodded frantically.

"Answer me," bellowed Andras.

"It is…It is Robin McDougal, My Lord."

Andras frowned even fiercer as he lifted Robin's inert body into his arms then slowly rose to his feet. 

"Take off your cloak and wrap it around his body," demanded Andras. 

Squire James quickly complied, removing the cloak and wrapping it around Robin's partially nude body. 

Andras felt like he was holding a child in his arms, Robin weighed practically nothing and his anger erupted once more. 

As a half demon Andras was no stranger to violence but he hated to see injustice of the cowardly abusing the weak 

The man in front of him was a despicable bastard.

Andras loathed the sight of him and wanted to escape his presence before his stink rubbed off on him. 

The good Squire was at least three times Robin's age.

There was no action Robin could have done to deserve such inhumane treatment.

Especially from someone who was supposed to be his mentor and support. 

"After today, by the Queen's decree, Robin McDougal will no longer be a burden for you to contend with."

Squire James gaped at Andras with disbelief, he grabbed Andras shirt in alarm to ask, "What did you just say!"

Andras glared at him until the senile old coot let go of his shirt sleeve.

"I have been taking care of him for the majority of his life. Robin can't survive without me. Just because of what happened today, this child is wayward and rebellious without me to guide him he will simply be led astray, you must —"

His words fell on deaf ears as Andras calmly walked out of the Tavern carrying Robin in his arms.

"I implore you to read the letter Squire James," responded Andras sternly. "Take some time to ponder the contents.

Squire James continued to plead even though it was useless, he could only watch helplessly. 

With his demon strength it didn't take Andras long to mount the horse, with Robin's limp body in hand as Squire James provided no assistance. "I'll be at your home collecting Robin's belongings."

"Kyah," with a kick to the horse's side, they galloped off into the night.