10. Chapter Ten #2
She opens her eyes, and her voice has turned raspy. “Why did you stop?” Her eyes move to my cock, and she gasps.
“I can change it if it’s not what you want.”
“There are no complaints from me. Only that you have stopped.”
I return to making her thrash, and the sounds escaping her turn me harder, almost like I can no longer control my body in her midst. I rest my cock at her entrance and still. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I might die if you don’t.”
It’s all I need to hear to push inside her, and she whimpers, gripping the bedsheets.
I make myself smaller, waiting for her to accommodate before growing bigger.
A tendril circles her clit as I thrust in and out.
I tighten my grip on her throat just enough to heighten her pleasure.
Every move her body makes is studied by me until I’m sure only pleasure and joy surges through her.
Her eyes roll back while her lashes flutter.
Her entire body clenches as she climaxes.
It’s only when she is clearly spent that I allow myself to let go with her, and all I’d learned and fantasized about did not touch the reality of falling over the edge inside her.
I claim her, and I’ll slaughter anyone who tries to take her from me.
Only it doesn’t take long for that to happen. Her father finds us the next day entangled in each other, and it’s the fact that I had the sense to turn human again when she fell asleep against me that saves us. He thinks I am merely a king who has defiled his daughter.
“Evelia!” He stands at the end of the bed, looking redder than the scarlet curtains in the window.
Evelia scrambles for her clothes, and I cover her with a blanket to keep all the guards in the room from watching her. “Father! I... We.” She throws her dress over her head and kisses me with the blanket in the way of her father seeing.
“Did he force you?”
“Father! Of course not! I’m here by choice.”
“You don’t even know anything about him, you foolish girl.”
With Evelia fully clothed, I drop the blanket. “You will not call her that!”
“You have no room to say anything. This is a declaration of war!”
Evelia glares at her father. “It was only a declaration of love, and if you fight him, I will never forgive you.” She grabs her bag from a trunk and storms out of the room.
“My daughter will never be yours. That is a vow I make after you have taken things into your hands. I should kill you for the dishonor, but my people do not deserve enslavement at the hands of the queen who is worse than you, but if you do much more, that will change.”
“If you are going to keep Evelia from me, what reason do I have to keep our alliance?”
“If you do not, I will make sure you never see Evelia again.”
“That would be a mistake on your part.”
King Sarek touches the hilt of his blue sword. “I should behead you for taking something from my daughter.”
“You could try.”
“But I am told you have special weapons that disintegrate stone. Stone that makes up castle walls.”
“Yes, as well as many others,” I say.
“I will forgive you for what has happened here if you share how to make the weapons with my designers. We will see it as restitution.”
I put on my clothes and crown, adjusting it in the mirror. “You can have any of my weapons you want if you give me your daughter in blood bond and marriage.”
“No, it is the least you can do for what has taken place here.”
“We have nothing more to discuss then.” I leave him in the room.
He follows me. “The weapons will keep her safe, too. Maybe if you prove that is valuable to you, I will eventually allow you to have her hand in marriage. It would be a step toward that possibility.”
I stop walking, thinking it over. “Let me talk to Evelia, and I will give you an answer.”
“I will send her to your throne room. You will not be allowed alone in a room with her again.”
“Things can be done just as easily on a throne as on a bed.”
“That is not helping me agree.”
I turn around to face him and take steps toward him until he flinches. “I said that not for you to agree, but to show you how stupid you are. If you want the weapons, you will let me speak with your daughter without you there.”
“Fine. She will be in your throne room within the hour.”
He continues on his way, and I snap open the large doors into the largest space in my castle.
My guards have several men tied up, waiting for me in front of my throne, and I sit down and wave them to the side. “We will deal with this after I see to another matter.”
Evelia runs into the room, and I lead her to a small room off to the side of the main one.
“I need to know if you want to marry me? Your father has forbidden it, but if you want to marry me, not even he will stand in our way.”
“Yes, I want to marry you, but I fear for my people if my father breaks the alliance. Give me time to convince him. I’m sure I can. Let me do this in a way that preserves the alliance.”
“I do not fear the queen.”
“You are not the one I worry about. Give me some time.”
We kiss until I forget I have other matters that need dealing with. I want to take her across the oval table to our right. She pulls away and hurries out of the room. The emptiness of her leaving hits me stronger than the collective’s abandonment, but she will have the time she needs.
My head guard steps forward after I exit into the main room, shoving both bound men toward me. “We caught them planning to assassinate you, and they killed two servants to steal their clothes.”
“Based on what evidence?”
“They were overheard and found with poison daggers in your bedchambers. They are also wearing the clothes of the servants found dead last night. Another servant who witnessed the murders described them as the offenders.”
The only one allowed to murder in my kingdom is me, and it angers me they have damaged my servants beyond repair. I will also not tolerate any threats to my throne. The cost of the crime must be execution.
I hold out my hand. “Let me see the weapons.”
The guard opens a cloth and places the weapons in my hands.
I set the bundle on the arm of my chair and bring one to my nose.
The sickly sweet smell wouldn’t have harmed me.
I stab the blade into the first man’s heart, and the other man slams his head backward, knocking my guard back in an attempt to escape.
Tentacles burst from my back, and I pick him up with one and impale him through his gut with another.
His body bounces on the stone floor and finally comes to a stop.
It’s then I realize Evelia has stepped back into the room, and as soon as she recovers from her shock, she runs from the room. The horror on her face latches onto my brain like a sadistic tormentor. I fly after her, turning myself into smoke to catch up, and land in front of her.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
She steps around me but spins back around.
“I’m not sure what those men did, and I really don’t care.
But could you make me a promise, Lazzus?
Could you promise me you will hear your people out before dealing swift punishment?
Do not carry out judgment in the same room you hear of a matter. Give yourself time to think.”
“Why?”
Her shoulders fall. “Because I know how easy it is for you to kill. It’s the way you were created, but I have seen many other sides of you. Can you promise to at least consider my request?”
“For you, I promise to no longer kill in my throne room. I will think it through and deliver judgment elsewhere.”
She continues on her way and doesn’t stop when I call her name again.
As weeks go by, messages to her do not receive a response, and I fly to find her.
She comes to the window when I knock, but instead of opening it, she shuts her curtains.
I want to break the glass and steal her into the night, but maybe all she needs is time.
I call our bluebird, Raffe, and remind him to alert me of any threat against her.
I make four more and tell them the same.
I tie them in loyalty to her and ask them to protect her in any way they can if Raffe ever has to fetch me.
It will be my way of watching over her while I wait.