Chapter 10 #2
I watched, as Lanlin ran his long, elegant fingers down his muscled chest, washing the soap from it.
His hair was wet, floating around him like dark tendrils.
Then my mouth became even drier, when he turned around and stood. Water glistened, streaming between his powerful shoulder blades down to his narrow waist and then to his tight ass…
But that was when I finally caught up on what I was seeing.
Words had been carved on the small of his back.
Ugly, jagged letters that looked like maybe Lanlin had been held down and struggled, while they’d been carved.
For the letters to have scarred, they must have been cut with cursed silver.
My eyes widened. I covered my mouth to hold in my gasp.
LITTLE MONSTER
Who did that to him?
Who scarred him with such cruelty?
When?
I backed away.
I didn’t mean to walk in on him.
I didn’t mean to see those words.
“Has the sight of my body brought you enough pleasure?” Lanlin’s cool voice asked.
Well, that was me caught.
Perhaps, I wasn’t a good spy.
Was that a dry sense of humor? Pitch black like Lanlin was? Or was he genuine?
I flushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you—”
“Towels are on the table to the left. Oils are in the jars. You must be quick in this nest if you want to take the first bath, dearheart,” Lanlin said like he hadn’t just caught me walking in by mistake on him.
Wrong-footed, I blurted, “Fuck the towels and the oils; you’re fucking gorgeous.”
My blush deepened, as Lanlin stepped out of the tub, dripping water across the floor. Then he turned to face me with the same disregard to his nakedness as Daire held.
Except, Daire reveled in his body. This felt more like a challenge.
Lanlin strolled toward me, not bothering to reach for a towel.
His wet hair tangled down him, shielding some of his modesty.
Not much.
I deliberately kept my eyes on his face and not the frankly impressive cock swinging between his legs.
Okay, that was a lie.
An Omega may look at her King’s cock, right?
Wasn’t that a saying?
As Lanlin passed me, careful that his body didn’t brush mine, he leaned in to whisper into my ear, stealing my breath, “Next time we should take our bath together. That way the water will be hot for you, hmm?”
He drew back, holding his hands close to his body, careful for them not to touch me. The light gleamed on his fangs.
I shivered.
Goosebumps rose along my skin.
I had the sudden vision of Lanlin’s fangs sinking into my neck. My core throbbed.
Was he compelling me or was this our bond?
Yet I couldn’t forget those two words carved jaggedly into his skin: LITTLE MONSTER.
I glance now at Lanlin, who is still staring at the entrance.
Who on the moon is he waiting for who is more important — or dangerous — than both the Scarlet Temple and the Void Cult?
I look at the doors.
Then my skin prickles.
I glance quickly back at Lanlin, catching the heat of his gaze on me.
I startle. My cheeks pink.
I hurriedly duck my head.
After a moment, I sneak a look at Lanlin again, and he’s back to staring at the entrance.
“I will not be forced to wait on the Beta Consort and her sons.” Ruin’s mouth twists with disdain. “Chaos is what arises without order. I warned you of this, Void Vampire, when we first met, but you didn’t believe me. After what you witnessed last night, do you believe me now?”
Is this asshole blaming Lanlin for what happened at White Lotus?
Daire sucks in a shocked breath.
Lanlin sprawls further in his seat, as if he is unaffected by the scolding, but I don’t miss the way that his jaw clenches. “Your mind is still as empty as a tomb, Ruin. It wasn’t chaos, but rather, a well-organized military ambush.”
“And you’re still as feisty as ever.” Ruin’s smile doesn’t meet his eyes.
“But can you deny that under your leadership…” He spins into the center of the room like a charismatic showman guiding his audience along a path that he wants them to dance with him, “…the ancestral heart of your kingdom has been destroyed? The innocent Turned have been massacred? The spirits of your Royal House of Sin and ancestors will never rest easy again?”
“What good has denying ever done me?” Lanlin taps his iron-tipped gloves on the armrest. “Can we just hurry it up and get to the punishment? I am rather tired from singlehandedly destroying the army who carried out those actions and avenging our people.”
The court hiss and whisper to each other furiously.
“He’s losing them,” Daire mutters. “He’s worse than I am at pissing people off.”
I glance nervously at the Scarlet Temple and Void Cult members. They’re not looking at Lanlin reverently like the villagers were, I realize.
They appear to be standing in judgment of him.
Aren’t they more concerned that their King could have been assassinated? Don’t they care whether his injuries are healed?
But then, my mind wanders to those carved words…
“Disrespect.” Ruin wags his finger at Lanlin, although it’s clear that he’s putting on a performance for the court. “Unfilial.”
Lanlin’s unwavering gaze meets his. “Likely.”
Ruin’s face reddens. “You put your own needs for your Omega before those of your people. You have brought down the wrath of the Void on your worshipers.”
Lanlin’s cheek twitches. “Have I?”
Ruin turns to the High Priestess. “What do you say?”
As Nebet takes a step forward, the ribbons on her dress quiver like snakes sensing blood. “This is a sign that the Shadow Devils reject your promised bond.”
“Fuck off,” I growl, before I can stop myself.
When my gaze shoots to Lanlin, his eyes glitter with amusement for a moment, before he turns away.
“Maybe leave the diplomacy to me…?” Daire whispers.
“No chance,” I reply. “You’re even more likely to say something that’ll make them tear out your throat than I am.”
“Fair point.”
“Will you allow a wolf to talk to me like that?” Nebet hisses.
Nebet is an Omega. Lanlin could command or control her with his pheromones…control all the priestesses.
But he isn’t.
He has only shown kindness and adoration toward Omegas.
Wraith told me that Shadow Vampires revere Omegas. They put the creation of the nest with the Omega blood bond, Blood Lover, and sometimes a Beta consort before anything.
I didn’t believe it before. But now I do.
“I will not allow her to do anything,” Lanlin replies, “because my Omega does not need my permission to tell anyone within this kingdom to fuck off.”
With an unnatural speed, Lanlin dives off the throne, dragging me out of Daire’s arms.
Adrenaline surges through me, as the wind is knocked out of me.
I don’t even have time to react, before Lanlin firmly places me into the vast throne.
Shocked, I stare out at the Blood Court from its bone throne.
I used to peer into the Great Hall at Fang Kingdom and wonder what it would feel like to sit where King Ulf did.
I never once guessed that his ass was firmly seated where mine had always meant to be.
He stole my birthright.
I will get my kingdom back.
Yet now I am looking out at Lanlin’s world from his throne, and I can feel the sharpness of the bones underneath me. It makes my stomach churn to think how many dragons and fae died just for anyone to be able to sit like this in a position of power.
My chest is rising and falling fast. My hands curl around the lion armrests.
I tilt up my chin, as a sense of strength surges through me: The magic of generations of Kings and Queens before me.
When I glance up, Lanlin is standing fiercely by the side of the throne like he would take on the entire room, which is now in uproar, his entire kingdom, all the realms, for me.
He pushes Daire behind him as well.
I smile
I love that Lanlin is also protective of his Sweet Dove.
Although maybe that makes him a bad judge of character.
“I said,” Nebet’s ribbons are now weaving around her in fury; the other priestesses are closing ranks, preparing to attack, “that the Shadow Devils reject this Omega.”
“Then I reject them!” Lanlin roars.
The court falls silent in shock.
Why do I think that somehow, Lanlin has walked into a trap?
“Sacrilege,” Ruin splutters. “You are damned.”
“Better damned with my Omega, than blessed without her.” Lanlin’s dominant pheromones become even stronger.
“No one will harm my royal nest mates, or I will devour their souls. Freya is my consort. And she will be my Queen. The next Queen of the House of Sin. She will sit on that throne, and if you refuse, then I will simply fly us away from this realm.”
I twist to Lanlin in shock.
He would give up his kingdom for me…?
Warmth floods through me, especially when I see the glint of pride, with which he’s looking down at me.
But then, I remember why I am here, and I hurriedly glance to the side.
Guilt sits heavy in my stomach. I could hurl.
“Good speech, bat.” Daire pats Lanlin on the shoulder.
Lanlin flinches.
Nebet bares her fangs. “You would give up everything that we have worked toward for decades…?”
“Everything we have all worked for,” Ruin adds, ashen.
“I would give up everything,” Lanlin simply replies.
“For the sake of a fae whore and his cheap wolf?” Nebet sneers. “Have you forgotten that monsters and assassins don’t bond?”
“As my Omega put it so diplomatically,” Daire’s eyes gleam with fury, “fuck off.”
Lanlin turns to Daire in surprise, before he gives him a vicious grin.
Daire returns it.
Suddenly, the doors to the audience chamber crash open.
I lick my dry lips.
Lanlin flinches, before holding himself unnaturally still in a way that I know well — a pretense of casual calm to hide panic and trauma. Now, I’m expecting something truly monstrous to come barreling through the doors.
What is more intimidating than Omegas in veils and magical ribbons or cult leaders?
A pack of feral vampires? The seven feet tall commander of the Eternals with a rabid Shadow Human as his Blood Lover on a leash?
I’ve only heard myths about Shadow Humans who can shift into deer.
They sound freaky.