Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Killian
Iclosed my eyes, focusing my senses to a razor’s edge, and pushed beyond the physical to reach for Barbie through the dream walk.
I had to find her.
Reality bent, colors bleeding away until only the space between waking and dreaming remained. I’d walked this path a dozen times. I could navigate the dream realm blindfolded. But where Barbie’s presence should have blazed, there was only darkness.
An emptiness so complete, it felt like a punch to the gut.
“No!” I pushed harder, desperate to reach my mate. She had to be there.
She couldn’t just be gone. Not when I’d finally claimed her, when I’d finally broken Lilith’s chains to choose her.
The Underworld’s ancient wards slammed against my dream-walking power like walls of iron.
I recognized their signature—my grandfather’s work, woven into the very fabric of that realm.
Hades had crafted barriers to repel other gods, paranoid even in his absolute power.
Centuries after he’d abandoned the dark realm, those same defenses now kept me from the one person who mattered more than breath.
I rammed against the wards, lightning crackling through their surface as I threw everything I had into breaking them.
Blinding pain bloomed behind my eyes. Blood trickled from my nose, but I didn’t give up.
Every second Barbie spent in that realm without me was a second she could be hurt, captured, killed—
The dark thought threatened to break me.
Another assault. Another failure bounced back to me. The barriers didn’t buckle.
My mate was trapped in enemy territory, and I couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t even tell her I was coming for her, no matter the cost.
What if she thought I’d abandoned her? Ice burned in my veins. And what if she was calling for me right now, wondering why I wasn’t there?
Angst and longing tightened my heart, the memory of the first time I’d dream walked to her burning behind my eyelids.
She’d snuck into a shifter’s apartment for a private shower, disguised as a boy, and was singing ‘Cry Me a River.’
Letting that magnetic pull guide me, I’d materialized in the tub with her, steam curling around us both. One moment she was alone, soap sliding over her skin. The next, my hand was on her, unable to resist the need to touch her.
“What the fuck?” She’d reacted instantly, grabbing my wrist and twisting with enough force to break a normal man’s bones.
Her strength had caught me off guard, though back then, I had no idea she was a goddess, the daughter of the God of Ruin.
But when she spun around and saw me, lust seared her eyes. The way they traveled down my body, taking in every inch with raw hunger, shattered my control.
She didn’t believe I was real, especially after I’d transported us to my gold-and-marble bathtub.
“This has to be some kind of dream, a super ridiculous one,” she’d announced. “I’m going to pinch my tit and wake the fuck up!”
“Or I could pinch it for you,” I’d smirked. “Actually, I can do much more than that, if you’ll let me.”
Without invitation, I’d slid a hand between her thighs and palmed her bare pussy, slick and hot and needy. I’d rubbed it to ease her ache until she’d boldly demanded, “Will you fuck me and give me the kind of pleasure I need? I’m not like any woman you’ve fucked before.”
She wasn’t like any other woman. Even at the bottom of the academy’s food chain, she’d never been afraid of me or anyone.
The vampire heir once complained to me, “Little Bob is the worst servant ever. He doesn’t have a single service bone in his small body.
” Back then, Louis hadn’t realized “Little Bob” was a girl, and I hadn’t enlightened him.
I’d covered her mouth with mine before she could spit more threats. Even as her body arched into me, surrendering to the heat between us, she bit my lip. As turned on as I was, I decided to punish her defiance.
I thrust two fingers into her tightness, moving ruthlessly in and out. The sounds she made, half gasp, half moan, set my blood on fire.
A greedy little thing. Just my type.
“You knew I wasn’t a boy?” she’d asked, breathless. “How?”
“I’m not a fool like the others,” I’d purred, twisting my fingers in her narrow passage and eliciting moans from her. “I wanted to fuck you the first time I laid eyes on you. Your cunt is made for me, tight, hot, and demanding. Made for me to fuck.”
She became aggressive and slid a hand into my swimming trunks to seize my cock, mercilessly pumping her fist up and down my length. Her thumb fondled the thick ring of my crown, rubbing it and pinching it.
“You’re playing with fire,” I’d groaned at the incredible sensation before bending her over the tub.
My granite-hard cock placed at her slick entrance, I savored the moment, as I’d wanted to fuck her for so long. I’d pictured pounding into her cunt every night while I pleasured myself.
“Like it rough?”
“Do you always talk so much?”
“No one has ever complained about my dirty talk.” I’d chuckled.
“I don’t even talk, but I haven’t been rough for a very long time.
Now, little scorpion, I need to be rough with you and fuck you however I want.
You’re made for me, but I wonder if a man like me can still hope, as you’re the only one who can free me from a forced bond.
I’ve longed for you to sit on my cock day and night. ”
I’d thrust into her depths, and she’d cried out, her pussy gloving me tightly and perfectly. I hadn’t felt that good for so fucking long…
My girl was everything to me, and they had torn her away.
I made one final attempt, pouring not just power but raw, devastating need into the assault. The dream realm shuddered around me. My lightning flared white-hot. I screamed her name into the emptiness, praying she might somehow hear me across the impossible divide.
Only silence answered.
Blood ran freely from my nose and ears now. My hands trembled with exhaustion, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest where our bond should have been singing.
One small comfort remained—I knew in my blood that Barbie was alive.
My power could rend reality and topple kingdoms, yet I couldn’t reach the one woman I loved above all else.
I opened my eyes, wrath and frustration pounding in my bloodstream.
If the dream realm was closed to me, then I would tear open the very gate of the Underworld itself as soon as I had confirmation that was where my mate had been taken.
The path to the chaos court stretched before me, storm clouds gathering above my bloodline’s seat of power. Today would bring the confrontation I’d known was inevitable from the moment I’d publicly claimed Barbie as mine.
The throne room doors swung open as I approached.
Violet marble floors led to twin thrones of black diamond, the symbol of our house—seven arrows—etched in gold behind them.
Guards stood posted at every crucial point, while courtiers lined the aisle in their finest silks, whispering among themselves as they waited for the long-overdue clash between my father and me.
King Vasiliy sat rigid on his throne, his bulk making the ornate throne look almost small.
His hazel eyes tracked my every move with the cold calculation of a vulture.
Beside him, Queen Odette perched like an adult doll, her breasts threatening to spill from her crimson gown, those nine-inch heels making her look even more ridiculous.
Snakes writhed in her hair, tasting the air with forked tongues.
This was the room where my mate had been threatened, where my father had tried to serve her head to his queen. Where the other heirs had defended Barbie before I finally intervened.
“Killian!” King Vasiliy’s cold voice rumbled through the hall. “You dare show your face after your betrayal?”
I stopped at the traditional distance from the dais. “What betrayal, Your Majesty?”
“You don’t know?” Queen Odette shrieked. “You broke your engagement to Queen Lilith! You’ve destroyed our alliance with the Underworld!”
“An alliance built on selling me like livestock,” I said icily as I held my father’s glare. “I was never merchandise for you to trade for your ambitions.”
My father rose slowly, trying to loom even larger. “You are my heir. That comes with obligations.”
“Obligations?” I laughed sharply, and the courtiers flinched. Everyone knew my temper. “You went behind my back and gave the demon queen an opening to bind me with blood magic, all for an alliance that benefits only you.”
“For the kingdom—” he began.
“For your own fucking power,” I cut in mercilessly.
The court gasped as one.
“Our son shows us no respect, my king!” my stepmother cried, pressing a hand to her chest, likely to draw attention to her oversized breasts.
I’d allowed my father to dominate me for too long. That ended today. I needed every resource at my disposal to protect my mate, and I couldn’t afford him, or anyone, stabbing me in the back while I went to war for her.
“Careful, Killian,” the king snarled.
I took a step forward. “Where was your concern for the kingdom when the Shrieker army tried to breach Shades Academy, where thousands of defenseless students live? When I led our warriors against Ruin’s forces, you sat here playing politics.
We lost good soldiers because we were outnumbered—and your reinforcements never came! ”
Whispers rippled through the court. Discontent stirred in the crowd.
“Silence!” The king’s magic lashed out, pressing against the room. It was much weaker than mine but enough to quiet the onlookers. “You’ve failed in your duties as heir. You broke sacred marriage vows. You chose a nobody—a whore—over the Queen of the Underworld. You can no longer be trusted.”