A Kiss From a Demon (Kiss From a Monster Series Book 1)

It is desperation that sends me out into The Woods tonight.A desperation laced with fear that has me walking into this cursed land as the sky above fades from warm gold to poisoned black. It is as if the sky is warning me to turn back. To stick with the demon I already know and find a way to defeat it with a more conventional method.I am all ears if the sky could tell me how I get out of marrying Duke Brayborne.However, I suspect it would offer the same advice everyone else in our village has: to grin and bear it. To be happy in the knowledge that, while my husband may be old and cruel, at least I will have a home. I will have food in my belly this winter and I will eventually have his children. That is the only true joy a woman can look forward to in her life. By becoming a vessel to produce heirs and enjoying their love until they are old enough to leave home and start their own families. Continuing this whole hideous cycle again for a new generation.Well, I want no part of it. If making a bargain with the demon they say dwells in this forest is the only way to save myself then I will take that risk. Why must I suffer for my father’s mistakes? All of my older sisters were married off to men at least close to their age. Men that they may not love but at least have respect for. Duke Brayborne has lusted after me for as long as I can remember. It is remarkable I was able to avoid him and reach my twenty-second birthday.Unfortunately, my luck had run out. With the Duke in attendance at my birthday dinner, my stomach sank as my father announced that I was to marry him. My father, Lord Evergrove, has an affinity for drunk card games. An addiction that led him to gamble away all his tenants' money. Duke Brayborne was willing to overlook the debt if my father gave me to him as his wife. Irys Evergrove only wanted one thing: to avoid marriage to the lecherous duke that has desired her long before she came of age. Those in her village speak of a demon that lives in The Woods, a magical land that very few humans dare to enter. Her desperation sends her into the heart of the forest until she comes face to face with a creature pulled straight from her nightmares. So why does he excite her in a way no mortal man ever has? Begging him to save her from her marriage he agrees but refuses the meager amount of coins she offers him. What this demon desires from her is one pleasure-filled night with her in his cottage. This demon unlocks something inside of Irys she has long since buried. When the sun rises in the morning will she truly be able to start her new life with the freedom she bargained for? Or will she realize that the passion she found between her and the demon of The Woods is not something so easily found again? This is a less than 20k words novella about a monster and a human that is all spice and not plot. For a full list of tropes and other information please check the author's website.