Chapter Twenty Six – You are not a Vessel!

Chapter Twenty Six – You are not a Vessel!
Kaidon flung the door open with a force that made it groan on its hinges.

He didn’t speak, didn’t look at her—he dragged Taliya inside and tossed her onto the bed—not violently, but with enough power to make her breath catch.

The moment she hit the mattress, she scrambled backward on her elbows, her heart thundering in her chest.

“Kaidon—” she started, but froze when she saw him slowly pulling off his shirt.

Her breath hitched. “W-what are you doing?”

He didn’t answer right away. He just peeled off layer after layer, his body on full display—his sculpted chest, marked with ancient ink, the lava-like lines, the demon tattoos and faint scars, the rigid muscles along his abdomen, the way his body seemed carved from obsidian and flame.

He was only in his pants now, his skin glowing under the soft torchlight, and damn it—this was the second time she’d seen him like this.

And it didn’t make it any easier.

“You reek of him.” he muttered, his voice low and rough. “Rylan. His scent is on you. And I can’t stand it.” He took a step closer, and Taliya instinctively pushed herself back.

“I want my scent on you. Only mine.”

Taliya’s throat tightened as she quickly turned her face away, ashamed of the heat that bloomed low in her stomach.

What the hell is wrong with me? she screamed at herself in silence.

But honestly looking at him...

It was like the gods created him during their best mood and then got mad and cursed him just for being too perfect.

He wasn’t just handsome—he was dangerously breathtaking. And also, a demon.

She mentally slapped herself. What is wrong with you?

Kaidon stepped closer, hovering over her now, his hands on either side of her as he leaned in. She could feel the heat coming off his body, and it made her brain stop working.

“I fight it every time.” he murmured, voice like gravel and temptation. “Every second you’re near me, I fight the urge to mark you. I want you, Taliya. I want you so bad, it drives me insane.”

Her breath faltered. She could feel his stare on her lips, her throat, every inch of her skin.

“No.” she breathed.

Kaidon growled low in his chest, but she quickly spoke again.

“I-I mean… Kaidon, I barely know you. I can’t just… give myself to you like that.”

He paused, staring at her with something unreadable in his eyes.

“So… if you knew me better, would you let me?” he asked, a raw note in his tone. “Would you let me claim what’s already mine?”

Taliya nodded, slowly. Honestly, anything to keep him from doing something crazy.

Something to cool the fire burning in his eyes. Anything to create distance.

“Okay.” he said simply, sitting back. The heat in his gaze didn’t fade, but he was holding himself back. Barely.

“Fine.” he said, a half-smile ghosting across his lips. “Then get to know me.”

Taliya sat up too, heart still hammering.

“My name is Kaidon,” he said, watching her every reaction. “I’m twenty-nine years old. The last of a bloodline cursed by the gods themselves. I was born into power that doomed me before I could crawl. My ancestors were punished, and I inherited their sins. I am the final bearer of the demon curse.”

She swallowed thickly, not sure what to say.

“And you…” he said, his gaze locking onto hers, “You’re the only one in this world who can carry my heir. The only soul strong enough to survive the child of a cursed bloodline. You are my mate. My fated one. The Carrier.”

That word—Carrier—landed like ice water in her stomach.

“Carrier?” she repeated slowly, her voice almost a whisper. “What does that even mean?”

Kaidon’s expression darkened slightly, not out of cruelty, but out of the weight of the truth he carried.

“A Carrier is the only one who can bear the offspring of a cursed bloodline like mine.” he explained quietly.

“Demons like me can’t reproduce with just anyone. Only a rare kind of soul—yours—can survive carrying a child born from a blood that was never meant to continue.”

“It means you’re the only woman alive who can survive bearing my child. Someone strong enough. Fated.” His voice was serious, no games now.

“You were chosen to be mine.”

“You were chosen to be mine.”

Taliya’s stomach dropped.

What the hell had she fallen into?

Her entire world flipped upside down the moment she stepped into this cursed place, and now she was supposed to be… what? From a Soulmate to A Carrier for a demon king?

Can this world just kill me instead

Kaidon’s crimson eyes lingered on her face as he sat there, half-naked and pulsing with restrained heat.

Taliya swallowed hard, gripping the sheets beneath her.

“So that’s all I am to you? A… a vessel?” Her voice cracked, half with fear, half with rage.