Chapter 24 #2
The stream of people was endless, King Helvig moving me around like a roaming peacock, taking praise on my beauty like he was the one who issued it, receiving boasts of his power as if he went to war for it. I was no longer needed, a puppet to be moved by his hand.
The thrall, Solvi, was there, topping his glass, as the king proceeded to get drunker, his words slurring.
“My liege, you must get something to eat,” one of his female flock members purred, licking at his ear. “Keep up your strength for later.”
“Yes, my beauty. You are right.” He grasped her face, kissing her deeply right in front of me, the entire room a witness.
In my culture, you could freely flirt and fuck, but once you were married, you were faithful to your partner.
King Vorian claimed to have been utterly devoted to Queen Elsara until her death.
Here the king had no such rules. “You always take care of me so well.”
She hummed, her lids fluttering with desire, leading him back toward the throne chairs.
“Your majesty?” another male flock member called, turning the king to us. The male gestured subtly to me.
“Ah, yes. Come,” Gavric commanded, barely acknowledging me as I stumbled forward.
“I need to refresh myself, my liege.” I curtsied, trying not to succumb to the lightness in my head. Craving one moment alone.
Gavric frowned but waved me off. “Make sure someone goes with her. Where are her handmaidens?”
“You told them they weren’t needed tonight, sire,” the girl responded. “That she would be indisposed and would not be returning to her room this evening.”
He grinned, his hand cupping the woman’s cheek. “I can always count on my Aina, to remember for me.”
Her face glowed with his praise.
Note to self: Never trust Aina.
“Guards!” he barked. Sven, Renyx, and Brynn stepped into the fold from the shadows. “One of you follow her. Make sure my wife doesn’t wander off . . .”
“I will, my lord.” Sven dipped his head.
“Don’t disappoint me, nephew,” the king said, taking a sip of his wine.
“No, sir.” Sven bowed deeper, the king already stumbling away.
“Don’t let her out of your sight,” Brynn ordered, before following behind the king.
“If you fuck this up, kid . . .” Renyx lifted his brow.
Sven bristled. “I won’t.”
Renyx peered at me as if he was challenging me, the resentment and dislike for me clinging to him. He sighed, exiting the space, catching up with Brynn.
Sven’s mouth pinched, whipping to me. “You make one wrong move—”
“And you’ll what? Kill me?” I countered. “Spill the White Raven’s blood right here?”
He shifted, violence not fitting him the way it did the others. I could see the pressure to prove to everyone he deserved his spot, be as ruthless and cruel as his uncle, like his fellow Night Hunters.
“I won’t run.” The semi-lie sat heavy on my tongue. Though I wouldn’t until everyone was too drunk or high to notice my departure. I had to get my wits about me. “I mean, where could I go?”
Sven’s expression softened, gesturing for me to head toward the back. “The privy is this way.”
“I got it from here.” A resounding voice snapped my head up, Bj?rn’s huge frame standing before us, his cheeks pink with drink. “I will escort the queen.”
“What?” Sven’s mouth parted, his head wagging. “But the king said—”
“Don’t worry about the king,” Bj?rn replied.
“Brynn said not to let her out of my sight.”
“Well, I outrank you by far, kid, and I said, I will take her from here.” He puffed out his chest, making Sven, who was fit and tall, appear small. “Someone will have eyes on her all the time. I promise.”
Sven peered nervously back at the king.
“Return to your watch,” Bj?rn said. “She will be in great hands.”
Sven bowed his head, retreating back toward the dais.
“This way, my queen,” he mocked, bowing to me with a smile.
“Stop calling me that.” I rubbed at my arms like I could scrub off the title, erase everything that had happened in the last hour.
“Oh, do I sense trouble in paradise already?” His eyes widened with fake horror.
“Shut up.” Even in my dazed state, a chuckle escaped my lips.
He grinned, swiping a goblet off a passing tray and guzzling it down in one gulp.
Wiping the foam clinging to his beard, he headed us toward the back.
No one took notice of me, the room in a daze, the scent of the flowers even stronger, while alcohol was served in excess, adding to the feel that everyone was riding the cusp of what was proper and what wasn’t.
Bj?rn stopped when we reached an area decorated with draping black curtains. The moonlight did not reach this section under the arches, lit by only a few candelabras, the flickering candles producing just enough glow to make out shapes.
“This is where I leave you, my queen.” Bj?rn bowed, a playful smirk on his mouth.
“What?” I peered around, an alarm ringing in my head, realizing we were not near the privy. Was he going to kill me? Was this planned the whole time? “What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be in proficient hands.” He winked, sauntering off, disappearing in the stream of figures. My attention was still on him in bewilderment when a gloved hand wrapped around my neck, yanking me back.
Air ripped up my throat, adrenaline spiking in my blood, my fingers prying at the hold as I was hauled back into a solid figure, the velvety drape between us.
This was where I was going to die.
“Hel—”
“Don’t scream, kanin.” A deep growl licked at my ear, my body instantly reacting, going still, my plea for help dissipating. “At least not yet.”
My chest heaved, fear rushing in my veins and between my legs, spiking over my skin.
“What did I tell you?” he rumbled. “You eat, I’m there, you sleep, I’m there, you pee. I am there.”
“Onyx—”
“Don’t fucking open your mouth.” His hand sprawled over my neck, pinning me harder into him, the heat of his breath seeping through the curtain into my ear. “He finds me here; we are both dead. Understand?”
I nodded.
“Good girl.”
My nipples hardened at his praise, my breath catching. Funny how different the same phrase could come off someone else’s lips.
“So, kanin . . . should I bow to you, now that you are my queen?” he snarled, his grip tightening, letting me feel every inch of him through the drape.
My mind hazed the more I breathed in. “Yes.”
“Don’t speak.” His voice was tainted with anger and violence.
“Do not forget . . . even if you are technically married to him. I own you.” Even through the curtain, his fingers scraped over the gems decorated along my neck, the little stones falling to the ground.
His palm trailed the painted-over tattoo, reading his mark like braille. “This is my mark on your skin. Mine.”
“That makes me only another prisoner,” I whispered.
“But I think you like this cage.” His fingers moved down my sternum, sliding over the top of my left breast, where my heart hammered against my ribs. “I’ve seen you fight. Seen when you killed. You love the danger, crave it like I do.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Really?” The tips of his fingers prodded at the top of my dress, slipping an inch under the fabric, his glove grazing over my nipple. “I can feel your heart pounding. Your body is trembling.”
“Because I’m scared,” I defended. “You are holding me against my will.”
“Then scream.” He loosened his hold. “Get away from me. Don’t play the damsel with me, kanin. I fucking know you.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I fucking feel you everywhere.” He yanked off his glove, reaching through a divide in the curtain, his bare hand reclaiming my neck.
His skin burned into my tattoo, scorching through my body, forcing a gasp up my throat.
He jerked with a hiss, and I could feel his arousal against my gown.
“I want to slit your neck and bleed you out of my system. Watch your blood coat my skin, knowing I can be relieved of you,” he snarled. “I despise everything about you.”
“Same.”
He pressed down so hard on my neck, he cut off oxygen, darkening my vision. Instinct surged fear back through me, sparking down my spine. A throb between my legs pulsed like a heartbeat, the thrill spurring a wildness in me. My hand reached back, rubbing him through the drape.
“Fuck.” He hissed, slackening his hold, allowing air to slip back into my lungs. My head spun, making me lose all sense of reality, not caring who was around, or how morally wrong this was.
“Onyx . . .”
“You want me on my knees, my queen?” He spat out the last two words sardonically, his deep voice shivering my bones.
“Yes,” I moaned.
“Order me.”
I swallowed, my voice catching in a whisper. “I order you to get on your knees and worship your queen.”
A guttural noise came up his throat. “Watch him on the dais,” he ordered me.
Obediently my gaze went to the stage, where the king slumped drunkenly in the throne.
He stroked Aina’s breasts as she sat on his lap, while he sucked on the fingers of one of his male flock as he served him food.
Solvi stood to the side, topping up his wine glass.
I was not missed, nor desired to be by his side.
“Watch your husband play with and fondle his flock. Keep your eyes on him as you feel my mouth claiming what is mine.”
The heat of his body disappeared. My mouth opened to protest, when I felt the curtain behind me move. The back of my gown was lifted up along with the drape, his hands sliding up my legs, gripping my hips.
From the outside it appeared I was standing quietly by myself against the velvet curtain in the darkness, his figure behind, hidden from view by the drape and my gown.
Desire clouded any sense of judgment when the feel of his lips brushed the inside of my thigh. My mouth parted, his hot breath tickling my skin. His fingers slid up my legs, gripping my undergarments and slowly dragging them down.
He tipped me slightly forward, his lips grazing me like he was smelling me, taking in my scent. Gripping my hip harder with one hand, he held me in place, while the other parted my legs, slipping two fingers slowly closer to my core.