Chapter 14
Kye
Imight’ve underestimated the brack. I had not expected him to accomplish this task in under a week.
Of course, bracks had one simple but incredibly effective motivation. Their only purpose in life was to serve their goddess. They would do everything to complete her orders, foregoing sleep and food, and literally die trying.
One clever thing I had done in this matter was diverting the brack’s tireless efforts to benefit my purpose.
Instead of simply trading Maren for womora as the brack had offered, I made him procure the silk for me.
And it worked. By tomorrow night, I’d be the owner of the magical silk.
It’d have to be tested, of course, but Odine wouldn’t have sent me the message if she didn’t believe that her spell had worked.
And if it did...
I remembered what she had said when she told me about the silk.
“A pair of pajamas would make it possible for you to sleep in a real bed again. A pair of socks made from magic silk would let you walk anywhere you want.”
Those were all wonderful things that I couldn’t wait to experience again. But none of them I yearned for as much as being able to finally touch my sweet, darling Maren.
I could hold her hand, run my gloved fingers through her hair.
I could take off her dress myself, then I could make her moan and writhe on her lonely little bed, driven mad with lust and pleasure from my touch, not just her own.
Exhausted and spent by all the orgasms that I would give her, she’d fall asleep on my lap while I’d comb through her hair with my fingers and sing her the best lullabies this world had ever heard.
Anticipation sparkled and sizzled through my body. I haven’t felt this excited for decades. But then again, I hadn’t felt another being’s arms around me for just as long too.
Burning with impatience, I could hardly wait for the day to end. But as the sun dipped behind the horizon, it also meant it was time to say goodbye to my precious butterfly. I hated parting from her, even for just one night.
I savored every minute we still had left, drinking in every detail of her appearance in hopes that the images I memorized would help me wait until morning.
Her wavy tresses of sunshine yellow were tied with silk ribbons and dressed in pearl pins. The soft material of her blush-pink dress hugged her curves gently. The color matched the delicate rosy glow on her cheeks perfectly.
She wouldn’t keep my gaze for long whenever I caught hers. It unsettled me, but I figured she must be nervous about spending the night with strangers. Arnon hadn’t been particularly friendly on his last visit to my palace. Busy as he was, he hardly ever had time for pleasantries.
His wife, Dorelea, however, more than made up for my uncle’s austere nature.
“You’ll like Princess Dorelea, Arnon’s wife,” I said to Maren in an attempt to alleviate her unease as we walked toward the exit from the palace.
“As severe and straight-laced as Arnon is, his wife is the complete opposite. Her bubbly friendliness makes up for her husband’s shortcomings tenfold. People adore her.”
“And you think I enjoy the company of bubbly people?” Maren gave me a skeptical glance.
“Well, maybe not. But those kinds of personalities help break the ice and put strangers at ease, do they not?”
“Probably,” she muttered, stopping at the entrance abruptly.
In my efforts to cheer Maren up, I had also managed to distract myself from the fact that it would be my first time leaving the palace in almost a century. Apprehension seized my limbs, rooting me in place.
“Are you nervous too?” she asked.
I scoffed, rolling back my shoulders and hiking up my chin. A king was never nervous, least of all when facing his subjects.
But then I met her questioning blue eyes, and I couldn’t lie to her.
“Yes,” I bit out a single word in admission.
It didn’t feel like defeat. Defeat would mean a loss, but all I really lost was my useless bravado. What I gained was far more valuable and precious—a flicker of understanding, a sense of camaraderie, and an encouraging smile from her.
“I wish I could hold your hand right now,” she said.
At the moment, that was my most fervent wish too.
“What wouldn’t I give for that to happen.” I shifted my weight to my other foot to loosen my nerves and muscles.
She ran a gaze down my body.
“Are you worried about being seen naked?” she asked, looking exceptionally adorable in her concern.
A genuine laughter bubbled in my throat, somewhat melting my apprehension.
“My sweet little minnow, at least half of this kingdom have seen me naked already, and that was even before the curse, back when I could wear clothes but often misplaced them after some wild party. Besides, is there anything untoward or unappealing about my appearance that I should want to hide?” I gestured down my body and over my cock that truly was a masterpiece if I had to describe it with just one word.
She pursed her lips to contain a smile, but it escaped to her eyes instead.
“Everything is very appealing, Your Majesty,” she assured me in that teasing manner I’d grown to adore. “Well, if nudity isn’t an issue...” She patted her sides, then looked around as if searching for something. “It still feels weird to go anywhere without my purse.”
“Did you always carry it around?”
“Always. Until that asshole Leslo threw it away when kidnapping me.”
Asshole indeed. But if it wasn’t for the brack bringing Maren here, I would have never met her. And for that alone, I would forever be grateful to him.
I opened the doors and stepped over the threshold.
The step wasn’t nearly as nerve-racking as it would’ve been if I’d been on my own.
With Maren’s welcome distraction, it didn’t feel like the world had ended.
The sky didn’t open above me, and the sun didn’t crash into the ocean the moment I left the palace behind me.
I inhaled the silky evening air and cast a glance around the plaza in front of the palace.
“Your Majesty,” the guards at the door greeted me, bowing their heads.
The guards knew about my excursion tonight. The rest of the people on the plaza did not.
It was late into the evening, and the work on the grounds had already stopped. But my palace stood on the main and busiest island of the reef. Life on it never stopped, even as it had been suspended inside my glass prison.
Sirens strolled along the stone paths. Music and laughter drifted in from a distance. Couples cuddled on the bridges and at the water’s edge. A merchant weaved between them, selling exotic flowers from the basket slung over her shoulder.
From what I could remember, this was a typical evening scene in Lyrei where life had been moving all along for the past hundred years, while its king had become nothing but some ominous shadow, a menacing entity safely concealed behind glass walls.
My sudden appearance in their midst brought the peaceful flow of the evening to a screeching halt.
The people stopped on the promenade paths.
The men shielded their women from me, as if I were about to snatch them and turn them into glass trinkets to decorate my desolate home.
The flower merchant dropped the bouquet she was holding.
Even the swishing of the waves around the island seemed to hush at the sight of the monstrous cursed king.
Silence pressed on me, heavier than the weight of the ocean.
I angled my head to Maren, who stood imprudently close to me.
“Please tell me they’re stunned speechless in awe of my magnificent cock,” I murmured, in an attempt to mask the awkwardness with lewd humor.
I knew perfectly well it wasn’t my nudity that shocked them.
My people didn’t habitually cover themselves in layers, anyway.
Olathana’s climate was forgiving of scarce clothing, and so were the customs of my kingdom.
Many men and women around us were clad in hardly more clothing than me.
And I wasn’t too vain to admit that some might be even just as well endowed as myself, as few as they were.
Maren snickered softly, hiding her mouth behind her hand. “As impressive as your penis is, Your Majesty, I regret to inform you, most aren’t even looking at it.”
“Damn it. Well then, I’ll try not to whither in disappointment at their lack of adoration. Shall we proceed on our walk?” I gestured at the path beyond the plaza, strolling down the steps.
The wide stairs of the entrance had long been turned to glass. The plaza beyond them, however, was still untouched by my cursed presence.
I put a foot forward, stepping on a cobblestone.
A joint gasp of the onlookers rustled through the air.
To my relief, only that stone turned to glass, sparing the rest of the plaza.
I walked across, making sure to step on one stone at a time and leaving as narrow a trail of glass behind me as possible.
My people shied away from me as Maren and I passed.
Their fear was not unfounded. I had the cursed ability to murder every single one of them here with just a sweep of a hand.
They were undoubtedly aware of all the deaths I had already caused.
They might’ve known personally some of those I had murdered over the years.
They might have loved ones among those I’d killed. ..
That thought alone would’ve sent me back into the palace, never to emerge from its glass walls again if it wasn’t for Maren.
I’d told her I’d accompany her on her way to Arnon’s.
I might not have given her a formal promise that would kill me if not fulfilled, but I was going to fulfill it anyway, no matter what it cost me.
The crown that I broke, the palace that I ruined, the title that I cursed. I would’ve given it all just to hold her hand right now. But such a bargain could not be made. So I drew in a long breath and kept on walking.