I Woke Up Married to the Cursed King

Sable sat with her arms crossed.

"A demon," she said again. "Two of them. And we’re supposed to just—"

"I know," Elian said.

"Carry on. Like that’s normal."

"I know."

She looked at the wall. "Can you ask her? The goddess. What she thinks about all this."

"Veira?"

"Yes. Ask her."

Elian reached out — the connection was easier now, just a thought away since the anchoring.

Why did you want me to tell Sable about Riven, he thought.

The answer came back almost immediately, in the way Veira’s thoughts arrived — warm, certain, slightly amused.

Because the truth doesn’t stay hidden forever, she said. And if you’d agreed to anything with him — any deal, any arrangement — without both of you knowing what he actually is, that agreement would have been built on incomplete information. That’s dangerous. Truths buried come back worse than truths faced.

Elian relayed it.

Sable listened. Her arms stayed crossed but something in her shoulders eased slightly.

"She’s not wrong," Sable said.

"No," Elian said. "She’s usually not."

But, Veira continued, you should use his help. It’s going to be necessary.

Elian blinked. "She says we should ask for his help."

Sable stared at him. "Are you joking."

"I’m relaying."

"We are taking help," Sable said slowly, "from a demon. To deal with a different demon. That is the plan."

"I know," Elian said. "I’m aware of how that sounds."

"It sounds like a headache."

"It is a headache," Elian said. He pressed his fingers to his temple. "I’m having it right now."

Talk to him carefully, Veira added. You know what he is now. Choose your words. Don’t make offers casually — not the way you did before you knew. Everything has consequences with something like him. Now that you know, you’re responsible for knowing.

"Understood," Elian said.

Good. Now — the summer solstice is coming.

"What about it?"

The longest day of the year. Anything performed for the gods on that day carries more weight — blessings land stronger, workings hold longer. A pause. Ask him if there’s something that can trap Malgur. It moves too freely right now. We can’t contain something that free. If it’s trapped — properly trapped — there’s something I’ll need done. For me.

"You’re going to give me a list," Elian said.

Of course I’m going to give you a list, Veira said, sounding genuinely pleased he’d guessed. Those things are for me. I want to be thanked properly.

Elian almost laughed despite everything.

"Alright," he said. "Let’s call him in."

Riven came back in.

He sat down across from them, calm as ever — the same Riven, the same posture, like the conversation an hour ago hadn’t happened.

"We’ve reached a conclusion," Elian said. "We need your help. To trap Malgur."

Riven was quiet for a moment.

"That’s not a simple thing," he said. "Malgur has been bound and active longer than I’ve existed. Trapping something at that level—" He shook his head. "It’s not impossible. But it’s not easy either."

Tell him he can do it, Veira said.

"She says you can do it," Elian relayed.

Riven’s eyes flicked toward the space where Veira presumably was.

"I know I can," he said. "That’s not the issue." He sat back. "If I help trap Malgur, that’s a direct move against another demon. Kin, in the broadest sense — same general category of being. If word of that gets back to where I’m from—" He paused. "It doesn’t end well for me. Demons remember things like that for a very long time."

"So what do you want," Elian said. "Instead."

"Protection," Riven said.

"What kind."

"There’s a working," Riven said. "A specific ritual. It requires someone who can see and communicate with the entities involved — not just perform the motions, but actually engage with what’s on the other side of it." He looked at Elian directly. "You’d be considerably more effective at it than a typical practitioner."

"You want me to do a ritual that protects you," Elian said.

"Yes."

"In exchange for helping us trap Malgur."

"Yes."

Elian looked at Sable. She shrugged slightly — the shrug of someone who had stopped being surprised an hour ago and didn’t expect that to change soon.

"Fine," Elian said. "We can do that."

Riven nodded. Then something occurred to him.

"Wait," he said. "Are you planning to do this during the summer solstice?"

"Yes," Elian said.

Riven looked at him for a moment.

Then, slowly, something that was almost a smile.

"That works," he said. "That works very well, actually."

"Why," Elian said.

"Because the solstice helps me too," Riven said. "Same reason it helps your goddess. Things performed that day carry more weight." He looked between them. "We’re all going to be busy that day."

Elian looked at the calendar on his desk.

The summer solstice was weeks away.

He had a list from a goddess, a deal with a demon, a seven-foot entity to trap, and a husband who didn’t know any of it yet.

One thing at a time, he thought.

He started writing it all down.

Riven left to go think through the ritual logistics.

Sable looked at Elian once the door closed.

"How are you feeling," she said. "Honestly."

Elian leaned back. "Like I went to bed last night managing four problems and woke up with a deal involving two of them."

"That’s better, technically."

"Is it?"

"You have a goddess, a demon willing to help, and a clearer picture than you had yesterday." She counted on her fingers. "Yesterday we just had a seven foot thing that said peekaboo and no idea what to do about it."

"Fair," Elian admitted.

"So. Better."

"Slightly better," Elian said. "With more moving pieces."

He looked at his notes. The summer solstice. The ritual Riven needed. Veira’s list, which she hadn’t given him yet but had promised would arrive "when relevant."

He thought about Caelian. About the conversation he still owed him — the silencing curse, the memory loss, everything Elian now knew that Caelian didn’t.

Soon, he thought. After the solstice. After Malgur is dealt with. Then I tell him everything.

He looked at Sable.

"We have weeks," he said. "Let’s use them well."

"Agreed," she said.

She picked up her notes.

They got to work.

Outside, the palace carried on — staff moving through corridors, Caelian in his study, Rowan somewhere with Isolde, Edmund appearing wherever he was needed with his usual quiet efficiency.

None of them knew what was being planned in the small sitting room that used to be for tea parties.

Elian intended to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Caelian found him still working past midnight.

He didn’t ask what about. He’d stopped asking weeks ago, mostly. He just set a cup of water on the desk and sat in the chair by the window with a report he wasn’t really reading.

"You should sleep," he said eventually.

"Soon," Elian said.

"You always say soon."

"It’s usually true. Eventually."

Caelian almost smiled. He looked tired in the ordinary way now — not the hollow exhaustion from before, just a man who’d had a long day running a kingdom.

"The solstice," Caelian said. "The council mentioned preparations. Some kind of ceremony?"

Elian looked up. "There’s usually a ceremony?"

"Every year. The longest day. The temple does something, the palace does something smaller." Caelian shrugged slightly. "I’ve never paid much attention to it."

The solstice already has ceremonial weight here, Elian thought. That’s useful. We can fold what we need into something that already exists. Nobody will think twice about extra activity that day.

"I might be busy that day," Elian said carefully. "With Sable and Riven."

"More work."

"More work."

Caelian nodded slowly. He didn’t push, the way he hadn’t pushed in weeks — not since the night with the curtain sash, not since some things need to stay in the dark. Something had settled between them since then. Not resolved. But settled. A truce neither of them had named.

"Whatever it is," Caelian said, "be careful."

"I’m always careful."

"You really aren’t," Caelian said. Same as before. Same small thread of dry humor.

Elian looked at him for a moment.

Soon, he thought. After the solstice. I’ll tell you everything. All of it.

He didn’t say it out loud.

"Go to bed," Elian said instead. "I’ll be there soon."

"You always say soon."

"It’s usually true."

Caelian left.

Elian looked at the door for a moment after he’d gone.

Then he went back to his notes.

The solstice was coming. A goddess’s list. A demon’s protection ritual. A seven-foot thing that needed trapping.

And underneath all of it, a promise he intended to keep.

Soon, he thought again.

This time he meant it more than usual.

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