by Tiya Rayne
“I could really go for a double cheese burger from McDonald’s right now.” I announce, thinking about the greasy, cheesy perfection.
“What is a double cheese burger?” Himrol, the Immortal that Rykan sent, asks.
“Who is this McDonald’s?” Augustus questions.
I laugh, I forget that my world is a mystery to them.
“A cheese burger is a type of food. It’s a circular meat patty between two circular slices of bread with melted cheese. McDonald’s, is the restaurant you get it from.”
“Restaurant?” Augustus queries.
“A place that sells food. You have different types of restaurants, there are the fancy restaurants where you have to dress up to go to and everything is really delicious but small and expensive. Then there are the diners, where I used to work. There, the food isn’t healthy but it’s cheap. You have your fast food where you get really good food for really cheap and really fast. I mean you can get whatever you want from a restaurant. They even have restaurants for special dietary needs. And, sometimes some restaurants have better food than others. My favorites are the small town restaurants. They have the best food. For instance; if you want great fried chicken you go to Miss. Annie’s. If it’s pizza you want, Tonio’s is your place. And for all my vegetarians.” I say eyeing the elves. “House of Salads on Russell St.”
“Where would I get the best fish?” Lydell, the blue haired water nymph asks.
“Easy, Harbor Town. They catch their fish fresh each day and you can only order what they’ve caught that morning. You pay a little extra but I think it’s worth it.”
“MMMmmm! Sounds delicious.” Cleo says to Lydell.
Cleo has silver hair that blends in with her silver tinted skin, which makes her look white washed. She is still quite beautiful, which I think all water nymphs are. And, after a while you forget they are completely naked.
“What about me, Lilly?” Kema, the fairy asks. Her voice comes out as if she’s singing every word.
“What do fairies eat?”
“Fruits.” Miriam answers.
“Farmers Market. You can go to one place and buy any fruit you want.”
Kema swirls around my head laughing, “I want to go to the Farmers Market restaurant.”
Her giddiness makes me laugh.
“What about the Locke,” I ask. “Do you have favorite places to eat here?”
The group grows quiet again. Clearly I had said something wrong.
“Half of the people here don’t have enough food to eat, let alone a restaurant to buy it from. The war against the Dark King has ravaged our crops, which in turn has caused the animals to be sparse as well.”
“Even the fish are becoming less and less plentiful.” Lydell adds.
“The higher caste still eats well, but the lower caste sometimes go without.” Miriam mutters as if she is ashamed to admit this.
I look around at my rag-tag bunch and notice I am surrounded by the so-called lower caste. Could these people be starving? I have been fed well since I’ve arrived here, has my meals been taking away from some poor under privilege child? I remember the party the first night, all the food that was served and all that was left over. I didn’t eat half the food in my plate. Where did that food go?
“I’m sorry about that, I didn’t know.”
It was a lame response and I felt horrible about it.
“It is not your fault, Lilly. It is the Dark King’s fault.” Miriam explains.
“And, the higher caste.” Himrol adds.
Himrol is a tall dark haired immortal with a cleft chin and a crooked nose. He has rugged good looks, but compared to Assassin he would be considered average.
The others in the group look to Himrol as if he has said something that could get him killed.
“It is true.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Careful, Himrol.” Bilal warns in that deep baritone voice of his.
Bilal has deep dark chocolate skin that reminds me of Hershey bars and a bald head. He is built like an action hero. Sculpted muscles and wide shoulders, he looks very intimidating. Yet still, if I had to choose between a fight with him or Assassin, I would take Bilal in a heartbeat.
“Those are not things we speak about to the mother of Prince Rykan’s heirs.”
Apparently Bilal thought I would betray Himrol by telling Rykan what he said. I grew up in a place where loyalty was sometimes all the currency we had. One of my first lessons from Uncle Buddy was how important respect, honesty, trust, and loyalty was. He told me Respect is earned. Honesty is appreciated. Trust is gained. Loyalty is returned. I have forever lived my life by these principles. I share something special with Rykan, but I don’t yet owe him my loyalty. I am first loyal to myself.
“You are free to speak your opinions, Himrol. You have my word that nothing will be repeated.”
Himrol looks at Bilal, who’s eyeing me suspiciously.
“It is true, hunger is not known amongst the royalty and higher caste.” Bilal admits. “However, it is their right. They are the leaders of our world.” He amends.
“I think it is everybody’s right to eat and not be hungry. There would be no one for the leaders of the world to lead if not for the regular people.” I say, and for the first time Assassin looks back at me and the proud look on his face was unmistakable.
Miriam leans over and whispers in my ear, “Well said, Lilly.”
We fall back into comfortable conversation again when Augustus asks me about what I did for fun in the human realm.
By the time the sun starts to go down my feet are yelling at me to stop and I collapse to the ground. Miriam has the daunting task of keeping my pace. I, being the only human here, walk slower than the rest of the group and have been walking in the back of the crowd. At once during our seven hour journey, I tried to mount the horse. It ended badly with me flat on my back as the horse looked down at me with a sneering look. I quickly decided against trying it again.
“Lilly, are you ok?” Miriam asks.
She glances up at the group that is quickly disappearing through the thick trees. Assassin is at the very front of the pack and occasionally traces away to scout out the upcoming area for any surprise attacks. Augustus does the same behind us, constantly disappearing and reappearing beside me just to check in. Miriam bends down beside me.
“Can you stand?”
I try to push to my feet again and soon collapse back down. My legs are weak and feel like I’ve been doing squats all day.
“I just need a minute.”
Miriam looks back up and now the group is completely out of sight. “Augustus should be checking in on us shortly.” Miriam explains looking behind us. “Catch your breath and rest your legs for a moment.” She sits down in front of me and starts to massage my legs. “You really should try the horse again.” I do not miss the laughter in her voice as she says this.
“No thank you! I believe I’ve given everyone enough laughs for the day.”
She laughs out. “I have never met anyone as ungraceful as you when trying to mount a horse.”
“Hey, I’d like to see you drive a car.” I say with mock anger. Miriam laughs harder and continues to massage my legs.
I’m lost in the comfort of her massage when we hear a twig snap. Both our heads shoot up to look towards the sound.
“Maybe it was Augustus.” I say hopeful, but we both know it wasn’t.
“Can you stand now?”
I turn to answer her, when a small dart lands in her neck. I gasp as she pulls it out and looks at it. Her eyes widen right before she crumbles to the ground. I quickly get to my knees and reach her. Thankfully she isn’t dead, only sleep. Suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my neck, I pull out the little dart that looks like a toothpick and stare down at it. Then everything goes black.
Chapter Nine
Once again I readjust my dick in my pants. I’ve had a hard on from the moment I traced into her room to find her naked body beneath Rykan. I cannot, for the life
of me, get that delicious image out of my head. Lilly’s naked body and sweet arousal perfuming the room almost brought me to my knees. I’ve envisioned myself in Rykan’s place constantly. It has plagued my mind so much I’m too afraid to be near her for fear of tracing her to my room and fulfilling my fantasies. She leaned into me today to say something and as soon as her skin brushed my shoulder an electric jolt shot through my shoulder to my heavy balls giving me an instant and painful erection. For the first time since I was a lad I almost came in my pants. I have never been this turned on by a woman.
I shake my head to clear the vision of her naked body writhing beneath me out of my mind. I’m in the middle of the Outer forest which is notorious for disappearances and I do not need any distractions.
“She is quite the remarkable human.” I overhear Himrol saying to Bilal.
I look back to see Lilly and Miriam slowly bringing up the rear, Augustus suddenly appears behind them, he notices me and nods then disappears again. He has been diligently making sure we are not being followed. He is as dedicated to Lilly’s safety as I am. For that, he has become my right hand man.
“Yes, I did not think she would be so. Rumors told of a loose woman without common knowledge.” Bilal replies bringing me back to their conversation. “I now see how she tempts even the Dark King.”
Will I have to kill Bilal too?
“Did you hear her passionate words about our suffering?”Himrol asks.
I couldn’t have been more proud of Lilly. I knew that hunger was a touchy subject for her. Lilly’s family was poor and though she never went without a meal, I would never permit that, more times than often it was not enough. However, she never complained and if her mother would ask if she had had enough to eat, Lilly would always say yes even when I could hear the way her stomach rumbled for more food that just wasn’t there.
“She does not look as if she knows about hunger, she speaks of places that you walk into and demand whatever food you desire. Surely she does not know of being hungry?”
“Humans know hunger just as well as we do. And Lilly is no stranger to it” I state as I continue to walk ahead of them.
“How do you know this, Assassin?” Himrol asks suspiciously.
I growl inwardly. I’m so distracted by my fucking erection I almost gave myself away. It is true, blood cannot flow in two directions at once. Right now all mine is heading south. It is dire that no one knows my connection to Lilly. Not our past and definitely not our future. The enemies I have obtained over my centuries will stop at nothing to destroy her just to get to me. No, I have to keep my relationship with Lilly a secret. She has enough fucking people out to get her. I turn to face them and they stop abruptly.
“Do not question me, I am the Assassin, I know everything.” I answer with a snarl that has both Bilal and Himrol slinking back. “Just know, she does not speak so passionately about something that she does not believe in.”
I turn back around and start walking ahead of them. I could have told them how she would sing herself to sleep to drawn out the rumbling of her empty stomach at night. Or, how she often created meals out of things she found left over in the cabinet. However, those are not stories I care to share about her. Those were my stories.
“I have only one other question?” Himrol says and I roll my eyes. “How did Rykan get a female like her?”
“Now, that is a good question.”
We continue to walk in silence, me still nursing a painful erection. Every time I seem to get peace I hear her laugh or catch a whiff of her vanilla scent rolling on a breeze and my cock surges back to life. It would be easy to go back there and seduce her into my bed and closer to my future. However, I want to take things slow with Lilly, despite Avalia’s urgency I don’t want to rush things. I get one shot to win her and I am determined to make it special. Unlike Rykan and the Dark King, I want Lilly’s heart. I want to wipe away her history with men, the disappointment, the betrayal, even the lack of respect. I want to earn her love and not just demand she give me children and the future I saw. I want her to want that future as much as I do. No matter how much I want inside her, and I fucking crave to be inside her, I want her love more.
I am so caught up in my mind that I almost miss the sound. I hold up my hand and immediately everyone comes to a stop.
I trace away a little further up from the sound I heard, remaining invisible. Waiting for us were a horde of centaurs. Their bare human chest strapped with daggers and swords and their powerful horse bottoms tight with tension ready to attack. I smile as I watch them readying for our arrival. They think to sneak us and take what is mine? The thought of any of these vile beasts touching Lilly turns my sight to pure red and my anger dangerously high. I roll my neck stretching the tension out of it. My sword appears in my hands. I could remain invisible as I slaughter this meager handful of centaurs. But the thought of these assholes delivering Lilly to the feet of that fucking King makes me want them to see the face of their destroyer. So I slip into view leaning casually up against a tree right in front of them.
“Assassin!” I hear the hisses of various voices.
“Come to die?” a familiar voice ask.
Dropping down from a tree is my old friend Phillisius. Phillisius, an elf, was once a contract killer like me. He was not of assassin bloodline like me, but he is definitely a talented fighter. We met when we were hired by two different people for the same job involving a rising heir to a sought after title. At first we bumped heads a lot and then finally decided to end our differences like men, meaning we bare-knuckle fought. He fought so well that I decided not to kill the little twat and ended up becoming good friends with him. That all ended when I bedded his girl about 200 years ago. At the time I had no idea he was in love with her, however I refuse to apologize for something I had no fault in. It wasn’t like I forced her, she came willingly, and if she had told me he had proposed to her I would not have screwed her. Well, maybe not.
“Phillisius, still bending over for the Dark King I see. How does immortal cock feel up the ass?” I ask with a smirk.
Phillisius laughs dryly. “Assassin, still Avalia’s bitch boy? Still blindly following her like a pussy whipped puppy?” Though his words irked me, I did not show him any signs.
“Dark King must think very little of me to send you to fight me. Maybe I should remind him of my abilities by giving him a matching scar across his face.”
Phillisius’ jaw tightens at my words. His knuckles whitens around his sword’s hilt. I notice the centaurs with him seem to shuffle their feet, ready for an attack. This is what I want. I want him to get angry and attack me first, he will be more susceptible to make an error. Phillisius turns up one side of his lips into a cruel smirk. Trying to mirror my talent for not showing any signs of his feelings, however I’ve had many years to master my blank face.
“Actually I’m here to bring home my future queen.”
Once again my talent to remain neutral pays off. The real emotions I felt from his words were like a tidal wave of anger roaring up inside me.
I shrug my shoulders, “You mean the human Rykan impregnated?” the words sting my tongue like acid as they roll off my lips. I hate to refer to Lilly as nothing more than Rykan’s conquest, but this is one of the people that definitely could not discover my feelings for her. Not even the Dark King could keep Phillisius from getting his revenge on me.
“Is that all she is to you?” he looks over his shoulder to the centaurs with a smug smile. Fuck! He knows something, though obviously not as much as he would like.
“She is a human.” I try to say this as if the thought of it disgust me.
“I hear she’s a fine specimen of a human. You know how easily bored the Dark King gets with his women. I wonder if he will let me play with her when he’s done.”
No matter how hard I tried to control my reaction, it slipped. It was only a slight tremor of anger that flashes through my eyes, but I know Phillisius caught it. If it were anyone else standing in front o
f me they would not have noticed, but not Phillisius. I taught him too well.
A cunning smile curves his lips. “Let’s be honest though, by the time he’s done with her she won’t be worth anything anymore.” I attack.
Even though I attacked first I am still able to keep a straight head. The centaurs were obviously told to keep Phillisius well protected at all cost. They guard him from me, so I will have to slice through a few centaurs in order to get to him. I am cutting down centaurs like corn stalks moving swiftly towards Phillisius who is leaning against a tree watching me with amusement in his eyes. I am down to the last centaur and even though I was slightly out of breath it wouldn’t take much to take him down. I slice at the front of the centaur’s front legs causing him to crash to the forest floor where I quickly put my sword through his heart. I remove my sword out of the centaur’s chest and wipe it between my hands.
“Tell me, Assassin, how much does the human mean to you?” Phillisius continues to question as we slowly approach each other. He seems highly interested in how Lilly and I connect.
He swings his sword out towards me and I place mine up blocking his swing. The metal to metal makes a clanking sound that echoes through the forest. We are face to face now, only thing between us are our crossed swords.
“How much will it hurt when I deliver her to the Dark King?”
I push him away from me and he stumbles back almost tripping over his feet.
“She means nothing to me, this is just a job for my Queen.” I say. “Are you that desperate to find my weakness that you make one up?” I smile to show my nonchalance. Inside I’m a raging inferno of anger. Phillisius and I have crossed paths before now and usually I toy with his death. He is no real threat to me and I once considered him a friend, so I have allowed him to walk away from our battles, but not when he thinks to take Lilly from me. The young elf prodigy will have to die.
