Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
NOVA
Ilook over my shoulder and the blood rushes to my head.
Brellan, Lorcan, and Izoran stand shoulder to shoulder, watching the scene. Me, completely naked and covered in cum, mud, and butter. Knotted by their king, who’s still wearing most of the clothing he’d used to disguise himself as a scarecrow.
If it were only those three, it wouldn’t matter. They’ve seen me messy like this before—they all had a hand in turning me into this needy creature.
But they’re not the only ones present.
A group of ten or more men stand behind them, gazes narrowed in on me. They look hungry. Eager. Like I’m a dessert they’ve been waiting hours for.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demand.
Damek chuckles. “They’ve come to meet their queen.”
“It couldn’t wait?”
“Tradition, Fire,” Izoran explains. “We’re the Underworld dukes, all of us your willing consorts if you choose to have us. We need to witness the ceremony, so we know you’ve been claimed according to custom.”
Great. They all just watched me come while stuffed full of demon king knot.
“What if I don’t want you?” I ask.
Brellan jumps in with more details on their customs. “Any one of us that you’ve engaged in intimacy with must stay chaste even if you cast us aside, in case you want us again.
For the others, you’re free to decline them as your consorts.
They’ll stay your advisors and be able to take their own wives and break their vows of chastity. ”
Vows of… chastity? “Are you telling me you’re all virgins?”
A smattering of nods from the demon dukes.
“Except us, of course,” Iz says, gesturing between the three men I’ve already been with. “We’ve touched you, so we’re yours forever.”
All of them are clearly pleased by that fact. Lorcan has a smirk curving his lips, and Brellan’s gaze darts down to my ass while a glint lights his eyes. My hole pulses in remembrance.
“But I can decline the others,” I confirm.
“Yes.” Damek grabs my chin and turns me back to face him. “You control the court now, love. There’s just one more part of the ritual we have to observe.”
I get the sense it’s going to be as strange as the rest of the ritual has been, but I’m in too deep to refuse now. I sigh. “And what’s that?”
“Your chosen consorts and I are to clean you up and put you to bed.”
My shoulders slump in relief. “Oh, thank fuck.”
His knot is still locking us together, and I have no idea how long that’s going to last. I’m just glad that I don’t have to do anything else after his cock slips out. Every part of me aches with exhaustion. I’m going to be fighting back yawns as soon as the adrenaline high fades.
“Would you like to choose any new consorts?” Damek asks.
“Absolutely not.” I glance back at the dukes, noting a look of disappointment on some of their faces.
There’s no way I need more than three consorts and the king, but if this is their custom…
“I’ll meet them another time, if that’s alright,” I concede.
“Don’t consider that to be me declining all of them. ”
I sense the relief from some as they all nod, filing out the door.
I couldn’t pay much attention to my surroundings while dealing with my large audience, but now it’s obvious that this suite is massive.
The bed we’re perched on is fit for ten people or more, crisply made with a pile of pillows.
It sits in the middle of a large room that has black walls adorned with crown moulding and patterns made with decorative trim.
Off to one side is a large vanity table with a mirror, positioned so that you could see yourself reflected in the glass from the very centre of the bed. On the other side are a few doors, one opening into a candlelit, tiled bathroom, and another closed up tight.
The air smells of fall spices and is as warm as a mid-summer day, even though I don’t see a fireplace anywhere near.
Maybe they’ve got electricity in the Underworld, who knows. This certainly seems like too high of a temperature to intentionally heat the air to, though.
“This is your suite,” Damek says when the door shuts behind the final duke, leaving only the four men I spent the night with. “It’s set up to be somewhere you entertain your consorts, but you’re welcome to keep it to yourself and use our suites. Except tonight, of course.”
“Is it tradition for you to sleep in here with me, too?”
“Not strictly.” He doesn’t elaborate.
I don’t press. I’d rather not be alone. I might wake up thinking the whole thing never happened.
That would make me panic, because there’s only one reason I could have woken up in a bed this grand at the baron’s castle. Those are demons I would not have enjoyed entertaining.
“I hear you took Brellan’s entire cock in your ass.” Lorcan approaches from behind, sliding one finger into my ass—still slick from the butter we’d used as lube.
The sensation is strange with my pussy still stuffed full, and he chuckles at my whine. “He didn’t go easy on you at all, did he?”
“It’s not like you went easy either,” Iz points out. “You throat fucked our little virgin queen.”
“It’s customary to make sure all her holes are used on the claiming night.”
“You only had to use her mouth, not her throat.” Brellan steps closer, all three of them crowding Damek and I on the edge of the bed. There’s a hint of worry in his eyes.
“And you only had to fuck her ass with an object, not your giant cock,” Lorcan counters Brellan. “But we all took exactly what we wanted, and she liked it. Didn’t you, little human?”
All eyes land on me, and heat rises to my cheeks. I clear my throat, tempted to lie. They’ll all know it, though, and I’d rather they just clean me up and put me to bed without any arguments.
“I liked it,” I whisper. “By the end, at least.”
“Did we hurt you?” Brellan asks. “Damek, you didn’t have much time to get her adjusted before you knotted her.”
He shoves Lorcan out of the way, his finger slipping from my ass, and crouches down behind me. I look back at him, face flaming, as he runs the pad of his thumb gently around my back hole. “No obvious tearing,” he murmurs.
Leaning in, his tongue strokes after his finger, then plunges inside me.
“Ah!” My nails dig into Damek’s shoulders, my body trying to rally but completely incapable of getting aroused again. “W-what are you…”
“Healing,” he says. “Precautionary.”
The magic healing saliva again. Except this time, instead of Izoran healing cuts on my foot, it’s Brellan licking my asshole.
I shift forward, away from Brellan’s probing tongue, and gasp when Damek’s cock shifts and starts to slip out. He lifts me the rest of the way, letting his cum flow out of me and down my thighs. It’s messy, but I was already a disaster, so it doesn’t make it much worse.
Brellan pulls back, this time touching the throbbing opening of my pussy. He sighs. “She has a small tear here. You didn’t prep her nearly as thoroughly as I did.”
“Time constraint, as you said,” Damek says. “And I don’t think it’s possible to truly prepare a virgin to take a knot their first time. Heal her or you three will have to wait weeks to sink into her pretty pussy.”
Izoran looks horrified at the prospect. “Is that how long humans take to heal independently?”
“For an area as delicate as that, yes,” Damek confirms.
“What the fuck are you waiting for, Brellan? My plan was to fuck her awake in a few hours, and I might die of blue balls if I can’t.”
Brellan sighs. “Spin her the other way so I can see what I’m doing.”
Hands lift me up—I’m not quite sure whose—and turn me so my back is laying against Damek’s chest. They hitch my knees up so I’m spread bare in front of him, which can’t be strictly necessary. I don’t have the energy to fight against it, though.
Brellan’s fingers slide through the mess of cum and slick, inspecting me for anymore tears or injuries. I honestly hadn’t noticed—everything is throbbing. My body aches from overuse, both the sex and the mad dash to flee from them.
When he’s convinced I haven’t been injured further, he leans in to lick around my hole. I have to admit some of the soreness goes away as his saliva works its magic, enough that it almost begins to feel pleasurable again.
He pulls away before I have a chance to get turned on, licking his lips. “All healed.”
“Thank the goddess,” Iz breathes. “I’m saved. I didn’t know humans were quite so fragile.”
“Fragile?” I demand. “Have you seen the size of that knot? I think one tear is less than you would expect.”
Izoran helps me to my feet, holding me steady when I sway. “The hunt also got you into a bit of a state.”
I glare at him. If he says one more word, I might punch him when he tries to fuck me awake later. He should try spending so long in captivity and then getting chased through a forest. I doubt he’d be doing much better.
“Don’t taunt her, Iz.” Lorcan wraps his arm around my waist and hoists me up into his hold. “It’s time to get her cleaned up.”
He carries me into the bathroom, a huge tub full of steaming hot water waiting for us. A calming lavender scent emanates from it. He lowers me down, and I hiss when the heat touches my cold toes, but once I’ve been submerged up to my shoulders my body relaxes.
The clear water has already turned murky, but Lorcan reaches his hands into the tub to rub a rough cloth down my legs. Dirt swirls in the water until I can’t see his hands or my legs, only feel where he’s touching. When he rubs the cloth along my inner thighs, I shiver.
The water feels oily from the butter, but Lorcan doesn’t drain it right away. He works the cloth over my arms and hands first, making sure all of the mud has been washed from my skin.
Then he picks me up and takes a few large steps back from the tub with me. Brellan and Izoran step in to change the water out for fresh, and Damek lifts a couple of different glass bottles to my nose.
“Tell me which one you prefer.”