Chapter 20
It’d been a long time since Nuri had dreamed of the late emperor, and it took him a moment upon waking for his mind to catch up with his body. That first meeting with Sij still too vivid, too real, a conversation he’d mostly forgotten the details of suddenly clear.
He’d come a long way since then, was no longer that same fifteen-year-old kid, secretly scared, yet holding it together for the sake of his family.
He’d come a long way…hadn’t he?
A chill swept over him, finally pulling Nuri into the present and he blinked against the darkness.
Beneath him, silk sheets rumpled as he lifted himself into a seated position, accompanied by the sound of clinking, and then a gust of wind.
Shivering, he turned his head to the right, seeking out the source.
The curtain was closed, but the window had been left open, an icy breeze blowing inward, sending the bottom half of the black material fluttering and beams of pale moonlight dancing across the floorboards.
Silver’s room. Though it was too dark to make anything else out, those miniscule details were enough for Nuri to place himself, and he was in the process of sighing when there was a flick from across the room, followed closely by the igniting of a small flame.
The lighter was lifted, momentarily illuminating the Emperor’s face as he brought it to the end of a cigarette held between his full lips. His eyes were piercing, stormy gray irises set on Nuri like searchlights cutting through inky darkness.
As soon as the cigarette was lit, he snapped the lighter closed, shadows instantly swallowing him up once more. The only thing left that Nuri could make out were the tips of his fingers as he brought the cigarette to and from his mouth.
“I thought you quit.” It was stupid. Probably the dumbest thing Nuri could say in a situation like this.
“You sound concerned,” Silver said absently, his voice low, matching the stillness of the room in an eerie way that had Nuri’s anxiety growing.
He was naked, he realized with a start as another chill entered through the open window. Naked and…He shifted his right leg and the clinking from earlier came again.
There was something around his ankle.
Tentatively, he reached for it, going pale when he made contact with a thin metal chain. He traced it, unable to see much. The chain was secured around his ankle and then trailed over the edge of the bed.
“Smoking is bad for your health,” Nuri somehow managed to say through the fear coiling around his insides. “Silver. What’s going on?”
“No ‘sir’ or ‘majesty’? Dropping the act already, Narek?”
“Act?” He frowned and then vehemently shook his head. “Wait. No. You can’t honestly believe that I had anything to do with Brix—”
“Brix,” Silver growled the nickname, and Nuri instantly knew his mistake. “How intimate. Although, I suppose that makes sense, considering he’s had his hands all over you.”
“That’s not—”
“Forget the past. Tell me what you were doing there with him today. Make the story good, pet, so that I’ll want to believe you.”
Nuri might not be able to see him very well, but he knew that wasn’t the case for Silver. Swifts could see perfectly in the dark. “You’re scaring me.”
“I know.”
This couldn’t really be considered out of character for the Emperor, but it’d been a long time since he’d lost control and thrown caution aside to this degree.
Once Rein Inc. had been established, Nuri had wrongly believed Silver had outgrown his more vicious nature.
He could be cruel at times, sure, and was always selfish, but this…
He’d shot his cousin three times at point blank range, and now he had Nuri chained in his room and…
Sitting here in silence wasn’t going to solve anything.
Nuri needed to fix this before it was too late and he lost more than just his dignity.
“I understand what it looked like,” he began, mind racing over all of the facts, trying to find the most important ones, “but nothing is going on between me and Romeo Brixton. We had a chance meeting last week when I visited Club Spade to deal with Ackor Hue. That’s how I found out he had a membership, so when I decided to investigate the club, and needed someone with enough authority to ensure their cooperation, I invited him. ”
“Oh?” Silver took a deep drag from his cigarette. “What were you investigating at a sex club, exactly?”
“Can we turn on the lights, majesty?”
“If the lights go on, I’ll gag you, and you’ll lose any chance at explaining. Is that what you want?”
“No.”
“Then continue, pet.” He blew out a puff of smoke. “While I’m still feeling generous enough to listen.”
“I know how you feel about betrayal,” Nuri said. “But I assure you, I had no prior knowledge of what Romeo was up to. If I did, I would never have met with him. The second I realized what he was revealing, I had N.I.M. contact you, didn’t I?”
“Did you?”
“Majesty.”
“What were you investigating, Narek?”
“I—” Oh.
Shit.
He’d betrayed him after all.
“I…may have kept some important details from you about the Ackor Hue case.” In his defense, who could have ever guessed doing so would come back to bite him so royally?
“He made claims during our meeting that a third party had sent the recording to him. I wanted to confirm whether this was a lie before informing you, but…”
“It wasn’t a lie, and yet you still didn’t tell me,” Silver surmised.
“I was able to trace the source to the company, but hit a dead end, so I thought, if Ackor wasn’t the one who left the camera in the room, someone else had to have. I went to Club Spade today to request footage of that night in an attempt to identify the person responsible.”
“And the room itself? Why did you need to go there?”
“I wanted to see it. Make sure there were no clues left behind.”
“Is that all?”
Nuri hesitated then licked his lips. “I…was curious.”
He’d wanted to see for himself. Wanted to see the room where Silver took all of his conquests.
The room he’d fantasized about being taken in.
How embarrassing. It was a truth he hadn’t even wanted to admit to himself, yet now was being forced to. While in the nude.
Freezing his ass off.
But that was all a part of it. Silver was doing this to humiliate him. He also knew how much Nuri hated the cold. This was his twisted way of teaching him a lesson, and damned Nuri for somehow finding relief in the fact that at least the two of them didn’t have an audience.
At least he hadn’t ended up bleeding out from three bullet wounds.
“About Brixton?” Silver asked, and the edge to his tone hinted at the darkening of his mood. “Curious to see if he was still as good in bed as you remember?”
“I never slept with Romeo Brixton,” Nuri insisted. “All I remember is one kiss. If he really did fondle me during, I don’t recall, but I know for certain we didn’t have sex that night.”
“Another night then.”
“No.” Nuri shook his head, then gave in and divulged, “Musa O’Moore, Darren Atkins, Lee Lane, Elin Snow, and Fleur Sampson.”
“What?”
“You wanted names,” he reminded. “That’s it. That’s the list of people I’ve had sexual relations with over the years.”
Silver was quiet for a tense moment, and then, “Three of them are women.”
“Yeah.”
“Who was the last?”
“Is this really necessary?”
“Narek.”
“Darren Atkins,” Nuri replied. “Two years ago.”
“You want me to believe you haven’t slept with anyone else in two years?”
“You said it yourself,” he reminded. “You weren’t even sure I was into sex up until that first night we did it. I keep my private life private, but sex has also never been all that important to me.”
“Say that again the next time you’re impaled on my cock.”
“Does that mean there’s still going to be a next time?” Nuri tentatively asked.
“Did you think I was going to kill you?” Silver grunted. “I can tear you apart and still leave the important bits intact. I only need to keep you breathing to keep your hole warm.”
Nuri flinched and slid back an inch on the bed, coming up against the cool wood of the headboard.
“Scared again?” Silver said.
“I haven’t stopped,” he answered.
“No, you’ve always been too smart for your own good. Tell me, Narek, is that why you thought you could get away with it?”
“Get away with what, majesty?”
“My cousin’s been working on this for a long time now. I was aware of it, to an extent, but wasn’t overly concerned. If I’d known he’d swayed you, I would have been.”
“I told you, there’s nothing between us.”
“Actions speak louder than words,” Silver clicked his tongue. “Brixton happens to return to planet around the time I’m filmed having sex and blackmailed with the footage, then you ‘run into him’ at the very place where this all went down, and I’m supposed to believe it was just a coincidence?”
Had Romeo arrived then? Nuri hadn’t bothered asking for details. It hadn’t really mattered at the time, but now he regretted not paying better attention.
“It’s discovered that his company is little more than a shell, a paper company created so he could launder money.
Money he then used to buy up stock in Rein Inc.
His plan was obvious. Gain the majority share and oust me from my CEO position.
He’s already confessed to everything, Narek.
Including how you helped him by supplying a list of easily persuaded stockholders. ”
“What?” Nuri momentarily stopped breathing, terror from being accused of what amounted to treason overwhelming him before another emotion stabbed its way through.
The anger was more welcome, and he latched onto it.
“After everything we’ve been through, everything I’ve done over the years, you actually believe I would commit corporate espionage? ”
“Are you insulted?”
Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes and he stubbornly rubbed them away.
“How could you believe him?” The pain was unexpected, slicing through him strong enough he was suddenly clutching at his chest. All these years, and what had it earned him?
“I’d convinced myself you thought of me as an object, something to be owned and kept, but I was wrong, wasn’t I?
It’s worse than that.” He sniffled, hating himself for the show of weakness, yet unable to contain his reaction.
He should have negotiated his release with Sij Rein years ago. Should never have allowed himself to sink this deep into the illusion.
“At least you appreciate your things,” Nuri bit out. “But, then again,” he laughed bitterly, “your car, your multi-slate, your tablet…they’re all worth a hell of a lot more than I am. I’m nothing to you.”
Still.
“You can look down on me all you want, but I won’t stand for being accused of something I didn’t do. Where’s the evidence? Brix claims I helped him? Okay. Show me the paper trail. You won’t be able to find one because—”
“Of course not,” Silver cut him off softly. “It’s impossible to find something that doesn’t exist.”
“You…believe me?” Had he been messing with him? To what end? “Punishment?”
Nuri didn’t realize he’d said that last word out loud until Silver chuckled and stood with a flourish.
“I’m not punishing you, Nuri.” In one quick motion, Silver pulled the curtain open, exposing himself to the waxing moon hanging high in the sky. “I’m enlightening you.”
It was no surprise when the Emperor’s body responded to the exposure, his Swift form appearing right before Nuri’s eyes.
It was his own reaction that shocked him.
Almost the second Silver set his purple and gold gaze on Nuri, arousal hit him. His dick pulsated and lengthened between his thighs, aching and already dripping precome faster than he could process what was happening.
And not just that.
His hole fluttered, legs parting on their own as he clenched around air, and he emitted this pathetic, needy sound he wasn’t aware he could make.
Nuri froze, realization slamming over him like a bucket of ice water.
Silver smirked at him wickedly and slowly stalked toward the bed. “It took you long enough, Narek.”
“No,” his denial came out breathy and weak, made worse when it was followed by a moan as his balls tightened at Silver’s proximity. “Tell me you didn’t. That we didn’t…”
“The night of your accident,” Silver came to the end of the bed, “I fucked you in this form. You begged me to do it. You asked for it.”
“No, I—”
“Come, Nuri.”
Tears ran down his face as his dick unloaded on command, the orgasm unsatisfactory and leaving him with a sinking sense of mortification unlike any he’d ever known.