by Loki Renard
“On your world, people live in small collectives. Here, there are as many people in one building as lived in your entire village,” Archon informed her.
“Amazing they managed to find all these rocks to live in.”
“They actually built the buildings themselves.”
“They can build rock?” That astounded Iris thoroughly.
“They can do a great many things,” Archon smiled. “Here we are.”
He lead her into a shiny fronted box with the word DRY CLEANING on it.
“Hello, can I help you?”
Her father, the man she had last seen waving his fists in rebellion, was wearing some kind of apron and standing behind a counter. It was all Iris could do not to burst into tears and hurl herself into his arms. Archon hadn’t lied. This was real. Her family was alive, and safe, just transplanted.
“Uh. It’s me.”
“Is it? Good. Would you like to get something cleaned, have something picked up?”
Iris glanced at Archon, who was blending in by wearing something called a baseball cap and a long coat. He should really have been drawing more attention, but apparently the humans of Earth were too busy building rocks to notice an alien king wearing a cap which said KINGS across the front of it.
She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t stand here and pretend she didn’t know her own father. She couldn’t play along with the charade. She burst into tears, hurdled the counter, and threw herself into her father’s surprised arms, sobbing intensely.
“You don’t remember me, but it’s me. I’m your daughter,” she told him.
To her surprise, he hugged her back. Tightly, like he used to do when they both wore furs and not this weird thin fabric with no protection from elements or beasts.
“Iris,” he murmured in her ear. “We thought you were lost to us forever. We have mourned you every day.”
“As I have mourned you all. This bastard king told me…”
“I can hear you,” Archon drawled from the proper side of the counter, before stalking toward the door to firmly push it closed in the face of a man.
“You have my wedding tux!” He complained weakly from outside, but Archon was merciless and did not let him in.
Meanwhile, Iris and her father were continuing their hushed reunion.
“We know what’s going on,” he hissed. “We know we don’t belong here. But nobody believes us, and cousin Jestabel was put in a dungeon with padded walls for saying so out loud.”
“They love to pad everything,” Iris hissed back. “I’m going to save you.”
She had no idea how she would make good on that promise, but knowing that she had to, somehow.
“Archon, I’ll do anything to have them back with me. To be with them. I have to have my family.”
“You’ll do anything? Those are not wise words for a female of your stature to be saying to a male of mine,” Archon smiled indulgently and carnally. She felt herself blush. He never seemed to tire of her sexually.
“Probably not," she said. “But I cannot be without my family.”
“I understand,” Archon replied. “But there is a trade off to be made here.”
“Name it.”
“I can leave you here, with them. You can have a full life, among your own kind, with your own people. Or…”
“Or?”
“Or you can come with me. Visit them from time to time, but be my bride. Bear my infant, the heir to the throne of Archaeus.”
“You want that with me?”
“I think there is nobody better suited to me in all existence. I think fate brought us together, and fate will see us through.”
“That’s almost poetic.”
“It is poetic,” he agreed. “I love you, Iris.”
He loved her? The truth was that she loved him too. Far more than good sense allowed, far more than morality, or propriety. She had every reason to hate him, and yet love had always been so close to hate…”
“Marry him,” her father said. “Marry him so I can take this blasted smock off…”
“Marry the king who burned our village and destroyed our lives?”
“That’s just the sort of thing kings do,” her father said. “They can’t help themselves.”
Iris sensed an opportunity to get everybody what they wanted. She turned to Archon with a glint in her eye.
“I will be your bride, on one condition.”
“Anything.”
“That is not a wise word for a male of your stature to say to a female of mine,” Iris smiled.
Chapter 24
The royal hall was in an uproar.
Archon’s return had not been anticipated. The king had simply swept in, tossed the courtiers who had been taking turns sitting on his throne aside, and settled in with a strange female on his knee.
Caught between bowing, scraping, and apologizing, none of the nobles present seemed to know what to do with themselves. This was very unorthodox. Usually a king would provide a great deal more notice to his poor timid subjects when it came to his presence.
Kings were not expected to show up in the royal court, except on special occasions. As far as anybody knew, nobody had been notified of such a special occasion. It was all very irregular.
And yet, they could hardly say anything, could they? The king had every right to be precisely where he was. The female seemed to have garnered his favor, which sent a second ripple of confusion about the place. The king had refused to take a mate from one of the twenty-four highly mutated and prized tribes, and yet he was making his presence known with a common human?
The palace gossips were at risk of spraining their tongues. They could hardly wait to get out into the halls and tell everybody passing by what was going on, but they couldn’t, because it was forbidden to leave the presence of a king without the king’s express permission.
Archon stood up, lifting Iris to her feet, and addressed the gathered souls without bothering with a greeting.
“I have chosen my mate. I have blessed her with my seed. She will bear my fruit, and our lineage will rule over Archaeus for a very long time to come.”
His words caused an outrage, which in this case meant the sound of a thousand gasps happening all at once. Shock. Horror. Anger. Denial. They all filled the room, bouncing from mouth to mouth and gaze to gaze.
“Sire,” one particular noble who Archon did not like, and whose name he could not remember, decided to say. “She is human. She cannot pass on the scaling of the Energon. She has no link to the past, no place in the present, and certainly she has no future fate besides. Forget this scrap of meat and bones and choose one of the females who deserves your seed.”
“This is the only female who has matched wits with me,” Archon replied. “The only woman in all existence capable of standing up to me.”
“It’s true,” Iris agreed. “I always tell him when he is being a complete knobhead.”
“Indeed.”
“A human female has no right to speak to the king of Archaeus in such a way. She should be thrashed for her insolence.”
“Of course she should be. And she is. Often. I can do it now, if you like.”
He grabbed her by the back of the head, his long fingers curling in her locks, and pulled her down over his thighs. The throne of Archaeus had seen many such scenes in its time. This, so far, was tame.
He tore the dress from the woman who would be his bride, presenting her naked as all royal brides had been since the beginning of time, or at least, official records.
Iris let out an obliging shriek of dismay as she was made bare. Her cheeks were flushed bright red, as was her neck and the upper section of her chest between her breasts. Archon rather enjoyed the results of embarrassment on the human form. Color changing was not entirely uncommon among the many variations of his people, but not like this, this flushing hue of ruddy red blooming across the most sensitive parts of her body.
“Do you have to do this?” She whined the question as she presse
d her body against him in the effort to maintain some modesty.
“Yes,” he growled into her ear. “This is part of the initiation all brides of Archaeus undergo. If the nobles do not see you well and truly mated, they will never accept our offspring as legitimate. Witnessing conception is very important.”
“But…
“Quiet,” he growled. “You can moan, you may yowl, I will even tolerate screaming, but not arguing. You must submit to me completely, so that there is no doubt in the mind of anyone who witnesses this tryst that you are mine, and that the king’s seed has found its womb.
Iris had agreed, so how could she now complain? Better to make a show of it, to destroy any notion the nobles might be holding that she couldn’t handle it. Archon had made it clear that this was a test she would have to pass, and she had agreed to it. It was certainly not the first time he had humiliated her. It was, however, the first time she’d been in on it. The first time she had known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was safe in his arms no matter what he’d done to her, or what he was going to do.
He was letting her relax into the dark twisted mating ceremony taking place before the eyes of the nobility.
They were very strange to behold, these males and older females, all staring at her not with the naked lasciviousness of the last crowd she had been ravaged before, but with a calculated interest.
For a second time in their relationship, she became a sexual spectacle, arched back, spread thighs, pussy on display for the king’s ravaging.
The first time this happened, she had been so deeply ashamed she hadn’t even cared when she was arrested. This time she felt a strange pride. He displayed her not to shame her, but to celebrate her.
“Present yourself for me,” he growled regally. “Bend over and put your hands on your cheeks. Open your holes.”
His command made her flush bright red, but she did as she was told. It was not easy for her to be obedient, but everything was riding on her making this look good. She couldn’t curse or struggle. She had to make it look as though she was naturally submissive.
It was not as hard as it seemed. With his big hands roaming her body, exploring every naked inch of skin, she took her strength from him. Bent forward, she felt her lower lips sliding against one another, already wet.
“Be a good girl,” Archon growled softly. “This may be the closest we ever get to making love.”
She felt him slide behind her and then push deep inside her in a long, slow stroke which felt loving. Iris closed her eyes and let out a long moan. The stretching sensation was familiar, but what was different was the warmth which came with it.
Love transformed sex, even public sex, from fucking into something else. She was soaking wet for Archon’s cock, that thick scaled appendage making her cunt stretch in a lewd wide fashion, her clit standing pink and erect between her inner lips.
Archon sat back on the throne and pulled her down on his lap. She ground atop him, her ass making desperate circles as she took him incredibly deeply, her inner muscles working that cock, desperate for his seed.
“I’m going to make you pregnant,” Archon purred in her ear. “I’m going to fill you with a baby. You will swell for me, and your breasts will fill with milk. Your belly with be big and round, and you will give birth to the next generation of royalty.”
He pinched her clit lightly, stroking the little bud to stimulate her with ever more desperation. Iris reached back and clasped his head to her, kissing him as he fucked her, her hips canting forward and then drawing back toward him so that thick cock was filling her over and over with every impaled stroke.
He had filled her several times already, used her hole for a home for his seed, and now he was making sure that her belly would swell for his come. She was absolutely beautiful, her hot, lithe body grinding that tight pussy over his cock with a humping animal desperation accompanied with moans and biting kisses.
Archon very much enjoyed fucking his mate before the nobles. It served a double fuck-purpose. Fucking her also served as a rather large fuck you to those who had thought to turn the king’s lack of heir into an opportunity to kill him. There were many in the room, witnessing the creation of life, who would have taken his in a heartbeat if given the chance.
Lineage was important. Without it, a king could be slain and then the throne was anybody’s for the taking. A distant cousin who had never been anywhere near the castle, let alone a bath, could become king.
By pouring his seed inside this female, he became the master of not only her destiny, but the destiny of Archaeus. Their offspring would be strong, because he was strong, and they would be smart, because she was smart. They would have absolutely every advantage.
He held her hips and bounced her on his cock, helping her lift up enough that she could feel the length of him filling her creamy wet sex time and time again.
Finally, he could take it no more. The beauty of his human mate was too much, and the desire to fill her took precedence over everything else. All that mattered to Archon in that moment was filling her hole to the brim with potent seed.
He grasped her hips and pulled her down on his cock, unleashing a torrent of come inside her until that tender chalice of flesh between her thighs was filled with royal seed.
“Good girl,” he praised her, kissing her deeply. “Such a very, very good girl. You have earned yourself a reward.”
That was what she needed to hear. Now for what the rest of them needed to hear.
“It is done!” He declared, lifting her up from the throne by her hips, and showing her seed-soaked hindquarters to all who were present. “You have seen me mate this woman, and you know what that means.”
A faint cheer rose from some of the more loyal nobles, but for the most part the room was full of the near-silent grumblings of the discontent. Good. Archon had no interest in pleasing those who did not support him. He hoped they were angry, indeed, he took great pleasure in their anger. Not as much as he had taken inside Iris’s sex, but still.
Chapter 25
“Now that’s out of the way, I have a surprise for you.”
Iris couldn’t imagine how Archon might surprise her now. Even washed and dressed, she felt somehow naked, as if all could see her shame through the walls themselves.
It was a bit much to expect him to be a gentleman. Kings with dragon blood were not gentle in any sense of the word. But he had been kind enough to carry her from the royal chamber and let her soak in a nice bath, which was almost romantic.
Now Archon led her into a small-ish storage room. There were barrels of some items, and crates of other items. This did not seem like a romantic place to make up for everything he had just put her through.
She opened her mouth, and was about to say as much when all of a sudden…
“SURPRISE!”
All the wrongs Archon had ever done, well, most of them anyway, were suddenly undone as the entire village came leaping out of the woodwork. Not literally, of course, but it appeared that way to Iris, who was utterly shocked to behold those she thought were lost to Earth here on Archon’s ship. Which shouldn't have had woodwork whatsoever come to think of it. It must have been added for their benefit.
She was embraced in a surge of humanity, her family wrapping her in their arms and covering her in kisses and telling her how much they’d missed her. She told them all the same things right back. She felt as though she was encapsulated by the most pure love, that of those bound to her by blood and fate and place.
She looked over at Archon, beaming widely.
“You got my family back! You kept your word! You got all of them!”
“I did," he said. “You seemed unhappy without them, and I prefer it when you are happy. Besides, I am not a liar, and a deal was a deal.”
“Simple as that, is it?”
“We heard you’d become famous and rich,” her grandfather said. “Heard you’re some kind of queen to this king bastard who burned all of Wendy’s cook books.”
&nbs
p; “Yes. Well. That wasn’t my finest moment, but it was amusing for the… anyway,” Archon coughed. “Enjoy. I hope you are all very happy here.”
Chapter 26
“This is not how it was in the age of grand kings.”
Smithers was completely correct. It was not how it had been in the age of grand kings. In those times, the castle had been a dark place, largely empty, cavernous halls full of riches and little else. It had been quiet then. Refined. Occasionally some army or other would attack and then there would be a great deal of screaming and dying and they would have to wash the blood and entrails off over a period of weeks, if not months.
Now the screams were less panicked and pained, but somehow louder and even more wild. Brimsley did not care for it. But it did not matter what he cared for, because Archon was king, and therefore whatever grand mess Archon decided to rule over was his business.
The kitchen was full of Iris’ grandmothers, aunts, and cousins. Each of them was insisting on making their recipe for the first dinner of their occupation, though Smithers and Brimsley had both been instructed not to call it that.
“Old man!”
“I’m Iris’ grandfather. I’m old. Like you. You’re old. Like me. We should have a drink.”
The logic was impeccable. Brimsley shrugged at Smithers, who shrugged right back at him.
And then they all had a drink.
Iris sat, beaming at the upper table where she was perched on a throne which was a slightly smaller version of the one Archon was sitting in, looking thoroughly massive, utterly sexy, and entirely immoral.
It was wrong what he had done to her. In the beginning, and then in the end. At every turn, Archon used his power to subdue and destroy her - right up until the moment where he realized that destroying her meant destroying himself. She could judge his love selfish, and perhaps she would have been right to do so, but she did not know that her love was any more pure.
