Chapter 36 Tear Me Apart
Tear Me Apart
Raven
Present Day – Grypheem
Terror clawed at me as I was dragged into the throne room by Julian and Griffin.
The center of the space was now filled with a familiar metal chamber that looked similarly to a life-size ginkgo seed.
While it wasn't the same one Harold was killed in, they appeared nearly identical, except this one was much larger, taking up most of the space.
This tube we could easily walk inside and all three of us would fit.
“They put it together in this room, it will have a bed inside,” Griffin advised under his breath. “They believe life should end and begin with the mother. The shape is supposed to be similar to a womb.”
Disgust wrapped up my throat, but I didn't react.
Near the entrance to the metal womb, the High Priestess stood, her arms opened wide.
“Today we honor our most blessed tradition. A pre-marital ceremony. A physical viewing of the connection between a Sacred Cherished and her…men.” The last word was flat.
The disgust clear across the Priestess’s face.
“We will watch to ensure she is a fit. That you both have satisfied your claim, and then tomorrow we will celebrate your matrimony in an unprecedented event.”
Drago stood on the stage that held his throne, staring down at us but making no move to join.
He had maintained his distance since Levi was taken, and I was grateful, because my anger towards the King was palpable.
I was beginning to suspect he was the problem.
He wasn’t to be trusted. Why else was Levi being kept below his castle?
While I had confided in Oleks, I didn’t want to tell Griffin. I needed to get through this first and then determine if Griffin was aware of it as well. If he knew the extent of his brother’s involvement with the High Priestess.
But first.
“The Iron Mother will serve as the intermediary for this momentous occasion.”
My eyes flicked to the metal seed, so similar to the one I had watched Harold stuffed in and then tortured to death.
Except this one was triple the size.
I didn’t want to fuck two men in the death chamber, but it was clear that was where we were meant to go.
The High Priestess snapped her fingers and her priests moved across the floor towards us. Faceless, nondescript men who ripped Julian and Griffin from my side, leaving me alone in a sheer robe and nothing more.
But I didn’t let the surprise of the iron mother break my resolve.
Jutting my chin upwards, I met the High Priestess’s gaze, her eyes were impossibly eerie as they swirled in her contempt.
It was clear she hated this, that Griffin was skirting the laws in a way she hadn’t found a route to fix…
yet. That having a Sacred Cherished claimed by two men was not at all what she wanted.
“Free yourself from the earthly confines.” The High Priestess rushed forward away from the Iron Mother, towards me as I stood lamely near the door, her priests holding Griffin and Julian on each side of me.
The High Priestess ripped the robe from my body, throwing it across the room in the direction of Drago who watched it all play out from his throne.
If I were the Raven from the Facility days, I would have cowered, I would have fallen to my knees and attempted to cover my body.
But I had changed, and I didn’t flinch even as I heard Julian’s grunt of pain, even as Griffin attempted to break from his constraints, even as every eye in the room moved to my form; my men, the priests, Troy, Drago, the High Priestess, and Drago’s masked guards who stood at attention along the wall.
All of their eyes were pinpricks across my skin, causing goosebumps to form in their wake.
The Priestess lifted her pinkie, trailing it across the tops of my breasts, gliding it just above my skin, all the way to my navel. She flattened her hand over the skin there, simply hovering.
I didn’t move. Didn’t react. Allowing her to do whatever the fuck it was she was doing. Her familiar sickly-sweet scent clinging to her, burning my nostrils on each inhale.
“A Cherished woman. A soul sent from above. A child in her womb. Sacred. Two men to take claim of her.” She bent forward inhaling loudly before whispering into my ear.
“It’s not too late to escape this. To free yourself of a life with the lesser.
” And then she was rising, straightening her spine, and staring down her nose at me.
The lesser?
Does she mean the men?
Surprise worked its way through my system, but I dispelled it, offering her a shake of my head and narrowing my eyes.
The expression she relayed to me was clear.
Disappointment.
Her hand planted on my stomach. The shock of her freezing skin against my belly was immediate, but it was nothing compared to the sudden sensation of bees buzzing inside of it uncomfortably.
Stepping back, I opened my mouth to speak but Griffin beat me to it. “It is time, let us complete the ceremony.”
The High Priestess’s cheeks tinged red, her lips flattening into a line, her ghostly eyes alight in her rage. “I see. Yes, let us.” She waved her hands. “I will leave this in the King’s dutiful hands.” And then she was rushing from the room, her cloak billowing out around her.
Her sudden absence left me reeling, but the loud crack! of grating metal drew my attention.
Drago was off of his throne now. He was at the end of the metal chamber, opening the hatch.
“It is time to begin. The cameras are in place. As is typical, there will not be audio but the entire ceremony will be witnessed as your claim comes to fruition.” His gaze was firmly planted on my breasts, his eyes slowly drawing upwards.
And I could see in their depths he was considering going off script.
It was what I needed to push past my fear of the contraption. I jerked forward, one shaky leg after the other, until I stood inside the chamber.
The metal seed was larger than I expected, spacious enough to stand fully upright and reach my arms toward its curved ceiling.
The air was warmer within. Nearly the entire space was taken up by a tall oversized bed draped in gold-trimmed pillows.
Hibiscuses were embroidered across the pillows and sheets, even woven into the tapestries that hung along the sides.
Griffin was thrust in next, Julian stumbling after him. We both shifted to steady him before he fell. There was just enough room for the three of us to stand shoulder to shoulder, but nowhere to move…unless we climbed onto the bed.
Drago gave me one last longing stare before the creak echoed again as he pulled the hatch down, effectively sealing us inside.
“Will you lay on the bed for us please Raven?” Griffin asked gently. “We need to strip, and this space is cramped.”
His voice was soft, kind. It was clear he wanted me to be comfortable…as much as was possible given our circumstances.
Instead of answering, I stepped to adhere to his request, but a challenge presented itself. The bed came up to my hips.
Rough hot fingers landed on my skin, helped to lift me onto it before I even had to ask.
Flipping over, I met Julian’s gaze as he remained frozen at the foot of the bed, his eyes unfocused.
“Knock out of it,” Griffin griped, unbuttoning his shirt. He allowed it to fall to the ground, showcasing his tattoos, sturdy shoulders, and rippling muscles. The scars and healed wounds. The tapestry of his life. He found me staring and offered a quirk of his lips but didn’t comment.
Julian was next, dropping his shirt, the glint of his nipple piercings on full display.
“You have your other piercings in now.” I had seen them appear a few days back but my mind was pre-occupied with Levi.
With Ivan.
“Thanks to Griffin,” Julian offered.
That surprised me; for some reason, I had figured Griffin didn’t actually like Julian at all, he was just a necessity to ensure my safety. And maybe this action was an extension of that, but Griffin’s ears were tinged pink. As if this kindness were a weakness.
“Raven. Do you remember what I told you about this?” Griffin asked carefully as he unbuttoned his pants, as he shoved them down, as his cock curved upwards towards his belly button.
“That I will need to take you both at once. That you must both stake your claim together, otherwise it will not complete the ceremony.”
Julian growled. “Griffin.”
Griffin snapped his head to him. “What? That is the truth of it.”
Julian turned to me, making his way towards the bed, his intense gaze hypnotizing me as he rid himself of his pants.
As his hardened cock reminded me exactly why we were here.
He easily lifted onto the bed, shifting into the free space on my side, his fingers trailing to my hardened nipples.
He offered a flick, and then another, humming his appreciation.
“We will both need to come inside of your cunt. At the same time.”
The words cycled. Short-circuited. Spiraled.
Landed.
“Oh.” My breath turned ragged as my eyes flicked between their cocks. Griffin’s was too long, Julian’s too wide. Together they would rip me open.
Tear me apart.
Understanding lit a blaze in my belly. “That’s why she doubted this. Why there is only one claim.”
“You can handle us.” Griffin growled. “Julian, you work her over up there and I will start down here.” Griffin stepped to the edge of the bed, he grabbed hold of my ankles, dragging me down and placing them on his shoulders.
A soft squeak escaped my lips at the sudden movement, but then he was bending forward, his mouth landing on my inner thigh, his tongue lapping across the sensitive skin, and then he was suctioning to it.
The desire was instant. A loud moan bursting out of me as I arched off of the bed.
Julian readjusted, shifting to capture my lips, his hand playing with my pebbled nipple, offering it pinches and taps as he moved against my mouth.
The piercing on his lip scratching against my skin in an addictive fashion.