Chapter 2 Carrion
Carrion
“If you are here to kill me, I would turn back now,” I said as I sensed the figure attempting to open the door of my bedroom.
My sword was propped on my thighs as I cleaned her; long, calm strokes over the blade as I washed away the blood of those who had sacrificed something for their cause. Be it ally or enemy, we all believed in something as we raged into battle.
It was my ritual after every war. I secluded myself in a dark space, such as a weapons store, or under the lonely night sky, where I could have peace to contemplate the lives I had taken.
I was unfamiliar with such lavish rooms. I was not worthy of the wealth that dripped from every corner in bright colors and metals, but there was an ungarnished reed chair forgotten in a closet.
That, along with a single musk-scented candle burning before the mirror behind me, was perfect for my ritual.
“And what if I said I was here to fuck you?” Prince Azul hummed, leaning against the doorframe in nothing but sheer blue fabric, his arms folded, meeting me with a look that promised danger.
I did not like to be disturbed, especially by assassins, and definitely not by rogue royals.
I had barely controlled myself around him weeks ago when he welcomed our army before we left for the Demon King's land. And his closeness on the beach earlier today pushed the limits of my restraint. Even in the banquet hall, sitting at the same table as him had sent me into a craze.
My grip tightened on my sword as I tried to temper the force of the desire raging through me at the sight of his dappled ice blue scales against deep blue skin, his pointed teeth, and his cat-like yellow eyes.
His voice had become my dream and my worst nightmare. I swore to myself I would leave the Sapphire Shores before I made a dreadful mistake, but now my dread had come knocking.
“Your Majesty,” I said, warning heavy in my voice as he confidently stepped inside. “I strongly advise you to return to your rooms. This is no place for you.”
And I didn't trust myself to be alone with the prince when I had already imagined unspeakable things as I lay sleepless and hard at night during the long weeks we fought against the Demon King’s hordes.
Sirens could control any creature with their voices apart from the demons that ravaged their shores. As a human, I had no hope if Prince Azul used his power on me.
I refused to look up. It was against my every instinct as a soldier to keep my head lowered before an attacker. But if I met his eyes again, I would be lost.
He knew I would never raise my blade against him. Threatening a royal would be an instant death sentence, and a reason for the sirens to break ties with the Sun Nation should they choose it.
Despite that, I couldn't resist a glance as the shell-studded door clicked closed behind him. I caught his wide grin, and the scales that lined his jaw glittered in the candlelight as he stepped towards me.
“Your Majesty,” I hissed, my chair rattling as I jumped away. But he was fast, or I let myself be slow because I didn’t want to escape. Either way, he shot out a hand, claws digging into my shoulder as he pushed me back down.
I had served the Sun Nation for thirty years, and made a blood pact with the queen at the age of ten.
I would gladly give my life for her. I had hoped for a glorious death in battle for the past ten years, but death never called me, and I had reached a place in my life where I looked to things other than battle.
Like extending my bloodline. And rumors of the siren prince had been rife since he was crowned.
I had despaired of ever finding a mate. As one of the last humans, it was my duty to pass on the memories of my people to my children. But the more the years wore on, the fewer chances I had to meet a partner.
I dreamed my mate was a simple person, one who wanted a house, a child, and nothing more than to tend a shop or a farm, and who had no interest in the affairs of royals and state.
“Carrion,” the prince singsonged, amusement tinging his voice. The soft rustle of the two sheer strips of fabric he called clothes fluttered as he bent towards me, summoning tremors of lust.
As he stood over me, my breaths deepened, and awareness of his presence washed over me. Sirens were cold-blooded, but I still felt the heat from his body calling me, demanding me to hold him.
“Please, Your Majesty,” I croaked. “You must go.” I could not afford to be seen in bed with a royal from another nation. No matter if he was my mate or not.
My soldiers had joked about the prince searching for a breeding partner.
I couldn't describe the fury that roared through me as they joked they would offer themselves to him to earn a place in the Sapphire Palace as his consort.
I believed I was better than them because I didn't care about jewels and riches. But I wanted something far worse.
“Carrion,” he sighed my name like the sweetest elixir as his claws swept the cotton collar of my shirt to tug it open and expose my shoulder.
My gaze found the ocean-blue scales that covered his feet, running down the curve of his ankles to his toes, clawed and webbed like his hands.
One brush across my graying stubble with his other hand, and I did not have the strength to resist.
“Carrion, look at me,” he said as he pushed my cheek, demanding me in the voice of a true prince.
No trace of his siren power whispered there, but he had to know how he held sway over me.
Because even a day in each other’s presence and the mating bond had begun to form.
The prince's claws dipped from my cheek to my collarbone, stroking over the shirt that molded the lines of my chest. Even that millimeter of cotton was too vast a wall between us. I needed his skin on mine, to taste his flesh, to become one with him.
The hand on my collar rose. As soon as his palm pressed against my bare neck, my whole body relaxed.
Finally, finally he was touching me, and everything settled into place.
I twisted my neck, keeping my head bowed, allowing him more space to play with me - if he wished.
And I desperately hoped he wished.
I expected him to tease me like he had with his hidden smiles and knowing looks throughout the banquet, but it was worse than that.
With a simple rustle of his clothes, his cool lips were flush with the curve of my shoulder, and I moaned.
The scales that covered his jaw met my battle-worn skin as he held me. His lips relieved the ache that had clawed at my chest since our first glance all those weeks ago. My grip on my sword was completely lax as he pressed himself closer to me.
“Your Majesty, please…” I groaned as his lips danced up to my ear. “Do not do this.” I couldn't guarantee what would happen if I submitted to the pleasure he stirred within me with one touch.
“Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, Commander Carrion?”
The way my name rolled over his tongue sent pleasure fluttering through my veins. His voice of command was the same as almost every royal I had met. He knew his worth, and he knew the power he held over others.
“There you are,” he sighed as I lifted my head to meet his bright yellow eyes, glowing in the dimness of the room.
He really would be my end.
It wasn’t simply that he was handsome. It was the way the path of scales that ran over his arms and shoulders shimmered in the flirting light.
How the spokes of his ears, the pebbled soft blue skin of his cheeks, and his mouth and gills looked as if they were made to greet my lips.
It was his haughty arrogance, meshed with his startling silver hair that swept behind his ears and skimmed his shoulders.
I knew perfectly well it was long enough for me to grasp because I had imagined it so often that it would be natural for me to do.
“I’ve wanted to meet you properly since I first saw you,” he hummed, the mask of a royal dropping, disarming me completely.
His claws caught against my thick, auburn stubble as his thumb stroked from my jaw to the corner of my mouth.
How could I contend with him when he looked at me with such longing?
“The banquet dragged on, didn’t it?” he chuckled, his thin, forked tongue creasing his sea -blue lips.
“I was going mad just sitting there and not being able to touch you. All I could think about was your cock, and what you could do with it if I got you alone like this,” he purred as he pressed against my thighs, nudging the sword with his knee to push it away.
It was a knight’s shame to let another touch their sword. But that is what his presence did to me.
Against my better judgement, I moved my blade. The sword had protected my queen since she gifted it to me when I became a knight, and I was foolish enough to rest it against the wall of the grand room, all for him.
When I leaned back, Prince Azul made his move.
He dropped himself into my lap, and I instinctively reached out to hold him.
His thighs spread to cage mine, his knees clenching my hips, and, as his bare ass fell to press against my leather-clad thighs, I knew I couldn’t rest until I obeyed my siren prince's every command.