Chapter IV
She was running through a dark, smoky labyrinth. Everything was much larger than in reality. The ceiling was so high it got lost in the darkness, and the walls so far apart she felt like a mouse must feel in a human dwelling. Exposed. Vulnerable. Hunted.
A roar of rage cut through the hot air. Lily screamed her own weak scream and ran faster, hoping to reach the next turn. Maybe there would she find a place to hide. But the faster she ran, the farther away she was from her destination. Was she even moving forward at all?
Another roar, so much closer than the last one. Tears of frustration wet her face but she couldn’t stop running. Couldn’t give up hope.
The floor shook as thudding steps ran towards her. She glanced over her shoulder and wished she hadn’t.
He was huge, red, and completely naked. She barely reached up to his hips, and his massive member swung right in front of her eyes.
The horns on his head were as thick as human torsos, and deadly white in contrast with his fiery skin.
He reached her in three strides and scooped her up in his huge, clawed hands.
She was too terrified to scream.
He carried her into a cavernous room she vaguely remembered. Her bedroom. But now, she didn’t have to climb in the bed. He laid her carefully, almost reverently on the covers. His huge fingers caressed her still clothed body with exaggerated care. And suddenly, Lily stopped being afraid.
Curiosity and a strange new longing filled her, making her skin tingle. Goula’s words about children-eating monsters echoed in her mind. Our master dealt with them. She looked up into the horned face and saw wicked intelligence in his feral eyes. Magnificent and terrifying, he was the king.
Seeing her study his face, he smiled, baring his white teeth. His canines jutted out, much sharper and longer than human ones. He hooked one talon under her dress and ripped it open with one violent movement.
Lily shivered as his hot breath pressed against her breasts and belly. She knew her nipples were hard, and the sensations she had had in the tub that day came back with doubled force. Her whole body was throbbing with wild need.
She brought her hands up to his massive arms, corded with thick, wiry muscles.
She stuck her short nails in his skin and scratched down his arms. He threw his head and snorted like a predator, enraged and amused.
He caught her hands and put them over her head.
A snap of his finger, and her wrists were tied with a silky fabric, like monster magic.
He lowered his horned face to her chest and suckled on a breast. Lily cried out when his hot, coarse tongue swept over her tender flesh. Her core swelled with fresh need. She ached to be filled.
But the king wasn’t in a hurry. He scraped his teeth against her nipple, enlarged and red from his ministrations.
He suckled on it again and bit gently. He palmed her other breast and rolled the nipple between his fingers, over and over until it was as swollen as the other one.
Lily panted and squirmed under his weight.
She was caught in a cage, her hands tied up, her body trapped by his horns.
When she couldn’t take it anymore, he retreated and stood over her. His shaft was rigid hard, thick veins on its sides pulsing and red. It had grown even larger than before. A drop of fluid glistened on the red, smooth head, and Lily felt an urge to taste it.
He spread her legs wide and laid the massive rod against her belly. Lily’s eyes bulged. It reached up to her collarbone and was almost as thick as her waist. There was no way it could fit inside her. Tears of disappointment trickled down her cheeks.
The king rumbled with laughter.
“Don’t worry, little human,” he said in a deep, commanding voice. “You were made for this. It will fit.”
She leaned her head forward and stuck out her tongue until its tip touched the clear liquid on his member’s head. The king roared and Lily smacked her lips, tasting salt.
He stepped back and positioned himself at her entrance.
Lily closed her eyes, waiting with bated breath.
A pressure pushed at her opening, growing with every second.
Lily cried out, certain that she would split open if he pushed any further.
She willed her body to open for him so he could slide right in and fill her up completely. Any second now, he would be inside…
The pressure disappeared. Gold, morning sun lay across her bed, tickling her face. A light breeze entered through the open window and played with her hair, cool against Lily’s sweaty brow.
Goula was bustling around the room, laying out a tray of food, preparing Lily’s clothes for the day. Not that there was much to prepare. Just a loose, see-through dress and nothing in terms of underwear.
“Get up and eat. Then you’ll prepare to meet the master,” she said.
Lily squirmed out of bed, hoping Goula wouldn’t be able to smell her dream-induced arousal. Her dream had been much too real, both frightening and much too exciting. She had never expected her reactions to be so sensual.
She was halfway through the meal of meat, fruit, and hot bread with butter when she remembered Goula’s words.
“What do you mean by preparing to meet the master? More bathing?”
Goula chuckled and shook her head.
“Your fairy attendants will tell you everything. Now eat. You’ll need your strength.”
Unsettled, Lily forced herself to devour the food. After all, she had regarded it as the only bright side of her coming to the castle. Now, she was hoping that even better things would come… but there was no reason to scoff at the meal.
When she was done, Goula took the tray and left. Lily was to wait until the half-fairies arrived. She wore the flimsy dress and walked around the room, admiring intricately carved furniture made of dark wood that still smelled of faraway lands from whence it had come.
The wardrobe and bed stood on immense monster legs, complete with sharp talons. A tapestry on the wall depicted a hunting scene in the woods. Lily walked closer, looking at the miniscule, exquisitely woven figures hidden among the dark trees. After a moment, she stood back in shock.
The tapestry showed human women being hunted by satyrs with huge, fully erect members. The women were laughing and glancing playfully at their pursuers.
“Evocative, isn’t it?” asked Eula.
Lily turned on her heel. She hadn’t heard when the fairies entered the room. Were they able to move so stealthily? Or had she been too absorbed by the lascivious image to notice?
“I didn’t hear you,” she said. “So, what happens now? Goula said you’d explain.”
Eula walked behind her and started combing Lily’s hair with a soft brush. Fayla stood in front of her and massaged her hands. Zamiza leaned against one massive bedpost and studied Lily’s face.
“Tell me, human. Why are you here?”
Lily blushed and looked at the floor, but Zamiza was patient. The silence finally forced Lily to look up and answer.
“Because the monst… the king wants to sire a child with a human woman. With me.”
Zamiza and Fayla exchanged a fleeting look at Lily’s slip of the tongue but said nothing about it.
“Yes,” said Zamiza after a while. “The king has been trying to achieve this for over a quarter of a century. He has not been successful. With time, we tried different ways of… enhancing the chance for the union to be fruitful. We found out that there is a higher possibility of conceiving if the female… feels the highest pleasure.”
Lily didn’t understand where Zamiza’s explanation was going. She waited for the fairy to continue.
“Please, understand the king’s frustration.
He has been trying for twenty-five years, and so far he’s been unsuccessful.
Although it may seem to you humans that he finds great pleasure in ravishing human women…
Well, at this point it is just a chore. And with every unsuccessful attempt, the king’s passion wanes.
“But he still hopes. While his lifespan is much longer than a human’s, he’s not immortal.
He wants to have an heir, and he intends it to be a child of a human woman.
He has done much to build a bridge between your world and ours, and yet…
He feels that a ruler born of his seed to a human woman would be able to unite us. ”
Lily shook her head in disbelief.
“We’ve been told that it is just a sacrifice the monster king demands of us. To send one woman every year. That if she managed to become pregnant, he would marry her and make her one of his queens…”
Zamiza laughed, and her laughter rang both melodic and scornful.
“He has no other queens. He needs his half-human heir to be legitimate and his claim uncontested.”
All this time, Fayla’s and Eula’s hands had been wandering over Lily’s hair and arms. Now she shook them off and walked to the window.
She felt uncomfortable with her thoughts and the way she had viewed the monster…
the king. Who wasn’t a monster, apparently, but a man making countless sacrifices to make his subjects’ lives better.
“So, let’s get started on making that heir, shall we?” said Zamiza, her voice brightly energetic.
“What’s the point without him here?” asked Lily, turning to the fairies. Again, she was struck by their shimmering beauty as they stood together, sunshine drawn to their skin like bees to honey.
Zamiza laughed.
“Oh, he will arrive. We’re here to make sure that you’re ready for him when he comes. And that you find the encounter pleasurable.”
Understanding shot through Lily and lit her with anger. Was this another round of pampering? Were the fairies supposed to make her pliant and eager for the king’s seed? Was she just a slab of meat to be tenderized and seasoned before cooking?
She had a vision of herself being pleasured by the skilled fingers of the beautiful women.
And when she was just on the cusp of her climax, the king would come inside, completely unaffected, looking at her flushed, exposed body with a bored expression.
He would quickly pump inside her, empty himself and leave.
And she would be alone—dazzled, confused, humiliated…
“No,” she said, surprised that her voice sounded so authoritative. “Even the thought makes me feel sick. If he wants me to bear his child, he should at least come and participate like a man.”
Thunderous laughter boomed outside the bedroom. The door banged open and the monster king stepped inside.