Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Belial
My dark queen was radiance incarnate.
It didn't matter what color she wore, or if she wore anything at all. This mortal woman had a way of rendering me speechless with her otherworldly beauty. How fitting that I'd need to dive deep inside her tonight for the third and final ingredient needed to complete the ritual.
In a swift motion, I tugged my frock coat off, followed by my shirt, tossing it onto the arm of my throne.
“On your feet,” I urged.
Rayven obeyed without question, rising from her throne and staring down at me in anticipation. Her eyes widened as they dropped to my honed abdominal muscles, realization setting in. "W-wait. What are you doing?"
"I already told you, retrieving the third item needed for your tree." My hands reached for the edge of her skirt. I slowly crawled to her on my hands and knees, the muscles shifting in my shoulders as I prowled toward her like a predator closing in on its prey.
She blanched, her gaze dropping to my hands with a look I couldn’t read. She regarded me as if I were a predator, prowling toward her. "B–But servants are swarming all over the castle, preparing for the festivities. What if a demon walks in on us? Or—"
"I instructed them to stay out for the next hour,” I assured her. My fingers stopped a hair from her hem. “If they do disturb us, we can fuck in the puddle of blood they'll leave when I punish them for disobeying my orders."
The potent scent of her arousal bled from between her thighs, making my mouth water and my mind bloom with all sorts of deviant thoughts.
Rayven’s head canted to the side, a strand of dark hair falling loose from her elaborate updo. "The ritual is sex?"
"Most dark rituals pertaining to this kind of magic involve some kind of twisted depravity. This is the price for your tree, little human.” A grin tugged at my lips. “Now are you going to be a good girl and lift your dress for me?”
The naughty smile lurking at the edge of her mouth was all the answer I needed. Though, I knew she was being coy from the start. She knew exactly what was in store for her from the first moment I told her an unliving Yule tree would require a ritual of flesh and blood.
What else could that mean other than a filthy fuck?
She lifted her dress, exposing her legs from the knee down. I almost laughed at the absurdity of her sudden modesty; she’d never cared this much before. “Are you trying to drive me crazy by simply showing me your ankles? I feel like I’m shopping for a harlot in Victorian London.”
Rather than laughing, a blush burned her cheeks. Why was she so abashed all of a sudden? This wasn’t like her at all.
My eyes slitted with suspicion. “What are you hiding from me?”
“Nothing—”
She wouldn’t look me in the eye, so I took her by the jaw and forced her gaze to mine. “You’re lying to me. Why?”
It was at that moment, the smirk she’d been holding back broke free. Ah. It was that kind of secret.
“Lift your dress up higher,” I said again, this time using a more dominant cadence that had her flushing. “Show me what you’re hiding.”
For a moment, she stood there, unresponsive.
I knew what the brat was doing: reveling in my anticipation, just like I’d done with her during her spanking in the cemetery.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, my pet,” I warned, poking my tongue out to wet my lips. “I had every intention of making slow sweet love to you tonight. It is Christmas, after all. But if you insist on being naughty…”
She made an adorable pouty face that made me want to stuff my cock in her mouth until my cum dribbled from her painted black lips.
“If I wanted slow sweet love I wouldn’t be with a demon lord.”
By the spark of mischief lighting her eyes, it was almost like she was challenging me—goading me, even.
The unrelenting nerve of this woman never ceased to bewitch me.
“Fine. We can play rough, treasure.” I chuckled softly. “Far be it from me to complain. Tell me the safe word.”
She bit her lower lip. “I won’t use it.”
My jaw flexed. “Did I ask if you were going to use it?”
“No.” She was silent for a beat. “It’s Black Widow.”
“That’s right. Now, are you going to be a good girl for me and show me why you seem so resistant to lift your dress up higher?”
She shook her head.
Heaving a sigh, I rubbed my temple with my index finger. “I thought not. If you’re not going to respect me and do as I say…”
I didn’t finish my sentence. She could simmer in the suspense.
It had been some time since I’d fucked her in my more monstrous form. Once upon a time, I’d completely terrorized her as the monster my subjects referred to as the Lord of Bones.
Lately, she was on much friendlier terms with that side of me—but mating her as the Lord of Bones was a rare occurrence. These days, I typically used the form for official business and formal engagements.
As she watched me shift, the Queen of the Underworld’s eyes rounded. My black pants stretched with my body, a couple of threads popping as the material reached its limit.
My lesser form was already imposing in height, but the Lord of Bones towered well over seven feet, more considering my massive horns. Even on my knees, we were nearly at eye level.
Her throat bobbed with a hard swallow as her eyes roved over my shirtless torso, my pale blue flesh smattered with ancient battle wounds and black necrosis-like blotches.
With a dark laugh, I reached beneath the skirt of her dress and trailed my hand up her leg. My curiosity piqued when I brushed over a strip of fabric around her thigh, and I shoved the material higher to reveal a garter belt I’d never seen before.
She must have commissioned the garter from my tailor.
A red strip of satin fabric hugged her curvaceous thigh, decorated with a brocaded skull.
The craftsmanship was beautifully elaborate, the skull clearly made after my likeness, complete with antlers that dripped delicate silver chains and garnet charms.
As impressive as the garter belt was, that wasn’t what captured my interest. Tucked into the belt was a dagger, sheathed in a gem-crusted scabbard.
Her hand shot out to grab the weapon.
I beat her to it.
Plucking the knife from its sheath, I held the blade up and turned it so the light gleamed off it menacingly.
The fact that she’d smuggled the knife on her person had my balls aching and my dick granite hard.
“Well, what do we have here?” I slid the dagger back into its sheath and held it upside down, wagging the hilt at her. “What exactly were you planning on doing with this?"