49. Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Forty-Nine
Zalen
M aera was headed off to the seamstress with Riva, something to keep her content and occupied. I, on the other hand, had to deal with the complexities of absorbing two additional kingdoms while also working out what was going on in Shara—the latter being the more pressing but with the least bit of information.
Upon entering my study, there was a tala thread waiting for me, hovering over the desk. I walked to the other side of the desk and sat down before running my finger down the thread.
“I’m headed to the Shara border,” Thane’s voice sounded. “Several of the scouts were compromised and killed on sight, but a few should be making it back soon. They’re going to meet me to debrief, then keep their cover and return to Shara…”
“They should remain until told otherwise or killed,” I mumbled to myself as I flipped through the pages of the latest transportation reports in Aedum.
“…and I will inform them to hold their position until further notice with daily debriefing, or until they are compromised and killed.”
This was why I appointed him as the King’s advisor. Our similar thought processes are what made us work together so well. The light-blue thread disappeared, ending his message.
I didn’t like this. I hated not knowing what was going on and who the fuck was killing the Kings. Three Kings killed by someone in the same way, by the same person. The pressing question was, did the new Sharan King hide behind his borders in fear, or was he waiting for something?
The simplest way to find out was for me to barge through the Shara border and cut out any possible threat by just killing him myself. But if he was capable of murdering the most powerful sorcerers in the Kingdoms without having absorbed magic like I had, he would have been a force to reckon with.
Since I had now absorbed the magic of two Kings, I was powerful for someone who hadn’t gone through the Drehiri ritual and come into my royal magic, but I wasn’t ignorant enough to think this man would be as easy as Erix.
In order for me to officially become King, I had to go through the Drehiri. The old laws of the Elders required for me to be married before I did so. Then I could take the ritual. It was one of the reasons I pushed for Maera and me to wed so quickly.
Women didn’t have as many conditions. Only that they had to be married before they could become Queen. It was the best way to ensure whoever held the throne would have an heir, which was needed to keep the royal bloodline intact. The Drehiri was still a ways away so, for now, I needed Maera to work on improving her alchemy skills.
In the meantime, I still had other matters to take care of. After sorting through reports on the progress of integrating Aedum and Innon as part of the Damanthus Kingdom and eradicating any lines or borders between them, and sorting out the logistics of Thane becoming the magic holder for Innon, it was time to meet with Ander.
I got up from the desk, scooting the chair across the stone floor, and made my way from the castle to the Vord headquarters.
The Vord’s numbers were significantly reduced after Makkor’s funeral. Once the execution of Osar had been carried out, any of the remaining Vord who were loyal to him followed him to the grave. I wanted a clean slate of humans and magic users, and I wouldn’t allow any Vord to be a disruption under Ander’s new leadership.
Ander was in his study, writing at his desk, when I entered. He immediately stood and bowed low at the waist. “King Zalen,” he greeted.
“Ander.” I walked over to one of the chairs by a shelf of maps and sat down. “I just read a report stating the resistance in Aedum has calmed, but I haven’t heard much from Innon. Tell me about the defiance there.”
“There’s nothing to tell. There’s no hostility in Innon.” He shrugged. “You ordered any opposition to your rule was to be snuffed out.”
My brows raised with intrigue.
“I know you went a little easier on Aedum—I’m assuming because of the future Queen—but you gave explicit orders not to tolerate any rebellion. So I haven’t. Anyone who has shown any refusal to comply has been made an example of. After the first few, everyone else fell in line, and it’s been a relatively smooth process since,” he said firmly. “I believe it’s also partially due to their weakened magic.”
I had to hand it to him, he wasn’t disappointing me.
“Are there any other matters I need to be aware of?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Not particularly. However…” he was hesitant to continue. “We did find something that may be of interest to you. ”
Ander walked over to the door leading into a storage room and ducked his head inside. He returned holding a notebook and a stack of old-looking pages.
“Is that Maera’s notebook?” I asked, recognizing her handwriting as he flipped through the pages after taking the seat next to me.
“It is. We found it amongst her things and discovered something as we were analyzing the contents of the Aedum castle.”
“And what is it that you found so significant in a witch’s notes?” I questioned, taking the notebook from him.
“Well, I think she found something that has been lost for a long time. Something ancient.” He pulled out one of the sheets of paper and leaned over to show me some of the text. “This is from the vaults of the Aedum castle. It used to be bound, but the binding practically disintegrated when it was touched. Do you remember the old stories about Odes walking the land and being among the people?”
I cocked a brow. “The one where he threw an entire village of people in a lake of his piss, and they crawled out as magic users?”
Ander’s eyes widened with an appalled look. “I’m pretty certain it was a lake of his blood .”
I shrugged. “It’s weird either way.”
He shook his head. “That’s not important. Anyway, the lore says that where he stepped created stones with special properties. Specifically, allowing sorcerers to travel between them.”
“Oh?”
“Well…I think the Samanya heir found one,” he said, staring pointedly at the notebook.
Maera had drawn some kind of design, but it honestly looked more like doodling than anything. I took the pages from Ander. There was a passage about these stones—Horgor—with a faded illustration next to it.
I sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Am I missing something? Why do you feel a few random mythical rocks are important right now? And what does Maera’s sketch have to do with it?”
Sure, it was a fun bit of information, but it was the least of my concerns.
“Because according to legend, there are at least two of those stones in each of the Kingdoms,” he said with a ghost of a smile.
My lips curled with a snarl. “I’m getting tired of you trying to have me guess what you want me to know. Just fucking say it already.”
“Fine. If these stones aren’t just a myth, then in theory, we could figure out a way to use them to travel directly into Shara. And look, there are landmarks near her sketch. If she knows where it is…”
“We can find it and get into Shara,” I finished for him, realization dawning.
“Exactly. Then we won’t have to worry about breaching the border,” he said while nodding.
My lips pursed as I thought it through, inhaling sharply as I came to an understanding.
“That’s how he was able to travel so quickly,” I whispered under my breath.
“Who?” Ander tilted his head to the side.
I looked up at him. “The killer of the Kings.” I stood abruptly. “Lock down the borders. No one in or out until I say otherwise.”
Without another word, I bolted from my seat and left Ander’s study, making my way back to the castle with Maera’s notebook in hand. Throwing the doors open to the side entrance, I stormed through the empty halls. My boots thudded against the stone floor, echoing off the walls lined with portraits of past Kings until I came to the northern side of the castle where Maera was meeting with the seamstress.
Riva was waiting outside, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her head tipped back to rest against it. She looked bored, like she was about to fall asleep, until she saw me approaching and pushed off, standing with a straight spine. I flicked my hand at her, shooing her away. She didn’t hesitate and darted off down the corridor.
I stopped in front of the room and peered through the crack between the doors.
Maera was standing on a pedestal in the center of the room, with the pinch-faced seamstress circling her and occasionally touching random pins threaded through the fabric draped over Maera. I watched in fascination as Maera took charge of the encounter.
“Arnesia, this side needs to be let out more, and the embroidery needs to be more even down the front. No, not there. Here, yes. See?” Maera said with her hands on her hips. I loved watching her be authoritative.
“Okay. I’ll take it back and make the adjustments.” Arnesia helped Maera out of the fabric that would soon be a dress, leaving her in nothing but a band around her breasts and a lacy undergarment. Arnesia then folded the fabric around her arm and left through the other door.
Maera stepped off the platform and walked over to a table with swatches of different fabrics and colors, picking them up and inspecting them one by one.
My lips lifted into a mischievous smile, and I slipped through the doorway. Slowly and silently, I approached her from behind, unable to take my eyes off her ass. All I could think about was digging my fingers into the soft flesh while she bounced up and down on top of me. Every thought I’d had before walking in here completely left my mind.
Our talk would have to wait.
She still hadn’t noticed my presence, and I made a mental note to have her work on being more aware of her surroundings. Once I was directly behind her, I placed a hand on the middle of her back and pushed her face down on the table. Her body tensed, her arms shooting out to the sides to try to catch herself. She shrieked, whipping her head to the side to look at me with horror filled eyes before relaxing upon seeing me.
“What are you—” she began, but I pressed a finger against her lips.
“Taking you,” I said roughly.
She tried to move, but I wouldn’t let her, pushing down on her harder.
I unbuckled my belt and loosened the fastenings to my pants. Seeing her in this vulnerable position and anticipating having her around my cock in mere moments had me hard. I pulled down my pants, wrapping my hand around my length and stroking it once.
Maera gasped when I pressed against her ass.
My fingers trailed down her spine, causing her skin to pebble, until I reached the top of her undergarments and pushed them down her legs.
I kicked her feet apart, widening her stance, and guided my cock to rub along her slit back and forth, back and forth.
Her breath hitched, and her arousal soaked me. She liked it when I scared her—when I took her when she wasn’t expecting it.
I gave her a short warning, aligning myself with her before I slammed into her hard.
Maera let out a sound—something between a scream and a moan—and gripped the edges of the table.
I groaned at the feeling of her cunt stretching around me as I pushed in deeper and deeper, and I only gave her a moment before I started pounding into her relentlessly. I held her firmly against the table and grabbed her hip in my other hand.
Fuck, I was close already, having had the built up tension from this morning stewing all day.
I leaned forward, letting go of her hip and reaching around her. My fingers brushed against her clit, and I could feel myself fucking her with my fingertips.
Maera let out a breathy moan as I began to swirl my fingers in a circle between her legs. Her breaths became rapid and erratic, matching mine, as I stroked and fucked harder and faster.
My balls tightened, and I couldn’t hold it back any longer, craving to fall over the edge of euphoria.
I slammed into her with a deep moan as I began spilling into her, and the feeling of pure bliss flooded through every vein in my body.
I didn’t stop fucking her, pushing through the oversensitivity to feel her come around my cock which felt nearly just as good as my own release.
Maera started moaning loudly, sounding animalistic as she began to tense. She let out a throaty sound when her head shot up, and she screamed with her climax, squeezing and pulsing around me.
I pumped in and out of her slowly as we both came down from the high.
She relaxed and slumped against the tabletop. I pulled out of her and grabbed one of the ugly swatches to clean her up as best as I could before pulling up her undergarment and refastening my pants.
I pulled Maera up and took her in my arms. “Hi.”
She giggled, “That certainly was a wonderful hello.” She lifted to the tips of her toes and kissed me.
“I came here for a different reason, but when I saw you, I couldn’t stop myself,” I said with a shrug.
She smiled and stepped back, giving my hand a squeeze before going to her clothes. “Don’t ever stop yourself from greeting me that way.”
“Anything for you, love.”
She got herself dressed before walking back over to me. “So, what’s the other reason you came to see me?”
I held up the notebook I’d tucked into my pocket and displayed the sketch of the stone in front of her. “We’re going on a little trip.”