by C. Swallow
“I never even touched him,” I snarl it, “I was sick for 3 months while he ran off and abandoned me. I had minimal human contact for 12 weeks you piece of horse shit! I don’t know who is worse, you with your strict manner or Lixar with his loose hands! He set me up to look that way when you came up the stairs!” I yell the entire explanation into Zarcar’s stunned face.
“…so you didn’t sleep together?” is all he can manage.
“Relax,” it’s not me who speaks. Zarcar spins to face Lixar, who has silently approached as if he has stepped out of thin air between dimensions. I stand closer to Zarcar’s shoulder to glare at Lixar, who watches his cousin with a very loose shrug, “Nothing happened. What she says is true. I wanted to have some fun. You’re the one who put me in chains and I’m just handing you back some dark energy. A promise of mischief, a splash of dishonour… did your heart ache when you saw her naked, held against me?” Lixar backs off, rightly so as Zarcar heads towards him then bypasses him for the set dining table.
I see Lixar dressed in the same uniform, no effort from either man to be formal with me.
Zarcar is silent as he takes a seat, while I watch Lixar barely pass me a second glance as he turns for the table next and takes the seat opposite to his cousin.
I take the final seat, violently scraping it out, I sit my butt down and shuffle forward with a set grimace.
“I think Rey wanted you both to form some sort of bond,” I start off, “Why don’t you both talk and I listen?”
“Nice try,” Zarcar quickly cuts in as he reaches for some lamb leg and starts hacking into it, “But you’ll not receive knowledge you have no use in having without my direct thought or permission beforehand -”
“A dumb Draconess… why?” Lixar asks, not rude – but truly curious. As am I.
I purse my lips and try not to say anything as I watch Zarcar pause and take in Lixar sipping a goblet of wine.
“Why?” Zarcar repeats, “Like this, I can control how Chyronex will progress. It will save her life. Our lives. Many more lives than just ours.”
“Safe travels?” Lixar changes the subject.
“It’s coming. The Surge of Hemon. When the earthquake hits, we know time is running out to contain it.”
What in the Moon was that?
“Perhaps that is why Rey desperately wants his own Venatores – instead of desperately trying to k-” Lix can’t get his response in as Zar cuts him off.
“Unnecessary,” Zarcar stabs his fork into the table to shut Lix up, “Be careful with your words around her.”
“I am not the enemy,” I want to kill both of them now. Why had I missed Zarcar again? I didn’t even know.
“You’re a little sweetheart, that’s what you are,” Lixar puts on a tone, a fake one as he sips more wine and doesn’t eat. No wonder, he ate people, I almost forgot.
“What is your diet like nowadays? Hungry?” I ask Lix, only to have Zar fill my plate and try to distract me.
“Eat and keep your mouth shut,” Zarcar snaps at me and I glare at him.
“You let this man fuck you?” Lixar asks me, “Do you like being controlled, Chyronex?”
“He tricked me the first time,” I explain, “The second time was more… whatever… I enjoyed the attention and the distraction after he burnt my fellow Sun Priestesses at the stake.”
“Oh, no… not this again…” Lixar closes his eyes and lets out a dramatic sigh, “Who is Rey cursing this time, Zar?”
“Not a curse, or a spell… something else,” Zar trails off, glancing at me while I glare at him, “You’ll eat the Horse Root every day until Lixar teaches you how to make your first kill.”
“Kill what?” I snap.
“Tell her, oh wise one,” Lixar laughs into his alcohol while Zarcar eats and considers his words.
I wait patiently for his response.
“Demons,” Zarcar responds, lightly.
“But don’t we have a demon Dragon inside us?” I ask.
“Well… you have one specific tie to the Draconess… we have sub-powers,” Lixar juts in before Zarcar can stop him, “but we’re basically demons who kill rogue demons. Bad demons.”
“Oh?” like that made it any clearer.
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to feel and harness your instincts,” Lixar explains.
“By day,” Zarcar snaps, “That is your job. By night, I’ll take over.”
“You can consider our strange night lessons over, Warlord,” I reply, slyly, “I am done sleeping with you as a distraction. Now I will be a Draconess of independence and knowledge at the rate you both choose to teach me,” I add the last part in so he can’t disagree easily.
“You want to end my three month journey by refusing to bed me?” Zarcar asks, raising a brow, “…we’ll see about that later.”
“Cousin. Please. Desperation,” Lixar slouches in his chair, unimpressed by the Warlord’s lack of patience, “…Zar… perhaps she wishes for another.”
“I wish you would both stop talking about me as if I weren’t right here,” I explain, “Now tell me, Zarcar, you promised I could roam the city supervised if I stayed in this tower while you were gone. I followed through on my end… so?”
I wait while Lixar chuckles and watches Zarcar struggle to answer.
“…I will speak to Rey…” Zarcar barely manages the growl.
“Chyronex,” Lixar juts in again, “Just so you know, Mystifyers mate to Draconesses. You can choose who you bond to. Zarcar has had his way but that doesn’t mean you have to choose him. You might choose Torrent, his older brother – or me. I am fun too.”
“Please. I choose nobody, you’re all pieces of horse shit, I can do what I want and I may just leave this moon forsaken city and never come back if I get the chance –!”
“You’ll be quiet and eat,” Zarcar snaps over the top of me, “You will be punished after this if you don’t learn to keep those kinds of thoughts inward. And if you keep pushing it too far… hell, Chyronex… I’ll let Lixar watch just to humiliate you further so you never disobey your orders again. So. Sweetheart. Shut your sly lips and trust in my promise. You will be protected and taken care of but only if you do as I say –”
“Stop telling me what to do!” I yell as I pick up my own goblet of wine and throw it at Zarcar. He raises a hand and the wine goes flying back at me.
I put up my hand and use the moonlight to also deflect, so the liquid splashes all across the dinner table.
“What did I say about using magic?” Zarcar asks, his lips twitching downward some more.
I’ve had just about enough.
I look at Lixar, who smiles over the top of his goblet.
“Kiss my ass,” I snarl at Lixar and then glare at Zarcar, “I am going to bed. You can sleep in the garden for all I care!”
I storm from the table.
I slip down from the rooftop to my own level.
I can hear the men bickering from upstairs.
I can hear the laughter.
I can hear the sudden desire to cooperate now that I am gone.
I do not like this.
I do not like this one bit.
I slam open my bedchamber door and take two steps in before my body freezes in the entrance as my eye catches a shadow. In my room, looking through my stuff, is the Immortal King.
Rey turns from the chest of draws to see my sudden entrance. He almost smiles, but keeps it is as the door slams shut behind me on its own accord from the wind.
He doesn’t look frightened or embarrassed that I caught him in my room. Nor did he seem to be snooping – but was rather bored looking around while waiting. Waiting for me.
“…tired already?” the King drawls so simply, while watching me with a far more complex expression.
I gulp.
I can’t time travel, but I suddenly wish I was anywhere but here. Even back on the rooftop was better than here. Anywhere but here.
But now I’m trapped. With Rey. So, I suddenly think ba
ck to Zarcar’s teachings.
Quiet. Obey.
Obey. Quiet.
I chant the words and I hope I have the will to follow Zarcar’s advice after the row up on the rooftop moments ago.
My instincts tell me to listen to Zarcar’s strict teachings, and Lixar mentioned he would teach me to go by my instincts… right? So… I do my best.
Chapter 22
“Are you nervous?” Rey asks, his hands so still by his side, it gives me the impression I’m in even more danger. It would be far more comforting if he fiddled with something, or looked away from me. You know, so I didn’t feel like the absolute centre of the universe when he stared at me like that. It was unnerving. His unexpected presence in my room was also unnerving. I didn’t know what to think, other than I was at my wits end.
“Of course I am,” I respond smoothly while slowly walking to the fire… one step… another… I glance at Rey and then at the fire, then back into his silver, black inked eyes, “...you’re my new King and I wish to please you.”
My whole plan was simple since storming from the dinner with Zarcar and Lixar, just to meet Rey alone in the bed chamber, completely unexpected.
So. I had to bluff. Everything. Even though I knew nothing; thanks to Zarcar’s limited teachings.
“…and why would you be nervous if you never heard of my army or kingdom before Zarcar over ran Swendula?” Rey asks with the slightest jut of his chin. This was a test.
“People fear what they do not know,” I answer quickly.
Rey doesn’t respond right away. He watches me as I keep glancing at the fire, hoping it provides some sort of distraction. I watch the flames lick over the logs and I feel comforted. I was drawn here. It felt safer than the icy cold aura leaking off Rey’s entire physique. His pale skin was deathly white. His black hair was well kept, his suit just as un-offended by the weather or the earth.
It’s like nothing touched him
Or he wasn’t of this land. This earth.
Rey strolls towards the window and my eyes zone in on his steps. Quick and simple, he looks up at the night sky and one of the eeriest smiles I’ve ever seen, tugs at the corners of his mouth until he’s smiling at the Moon.
I wait, licking my suddenly dry lips… as Rey continues to stare at the Moon like I would. My fascination with the Moon was something only I enjoyed. Watching it for hours at a time.
“Rey,” I speak his name, lightly and he turns to me with a sexy smile and a raised brow.
“…yes?” he seems extremely pleased that I’ve asked a question. That I’ve been forward and decided to direct the conversation.
“Are you a demon?” I try to keep it a light question, as I was genuinely curious. I knew he was described as the bastard son of a demon but that is all I knew.
As the words leave my lips… the masculine chatter on the rooftop seems to come to a dreary halt as if magic encases our conversation to hide it from prying ears.
Rey’s lips twitch down, for a second. He watches me as if I’ve probably asked the very question that would get me killed. I stop breathing as I witness him glare at me with such hate. Such loathing, rolled into arrogance and disbelief… until he pauses a moment longer as if realising I was indeed innocent in asking the question.
“…do you feel it…?” the Immortal King whispers the question, but it hits my ears in a direct hiss.
“Feel what?” I ask, too tightly.
“The Awakening?” the King tilts his head further to the side, his locks of hair strangely unmoving in the wind before he starts closing the distance one step at a time.
My eyes zone in on his feet, covered in black shoes that were so shiny I could almost see the moon reflected back at me. I only glance up when he stops just in front of me, enough to give me the slightest feeling that I could jump away if I wished to try.
But I had the inner knowing that it was the very reason to stay still and prove him wrong.
I didn’t know what the Awakening was, other than Rey mentioned it when he half choked me at the throne in front of thousands of Swendula citizens.
I say nothing and Rey’s eyes flick over my face, reading every movement of my eyes, how many times I blink or pause my breath.
“Chyronex,” Rey continues for me, “Do you truly know nothing?”
“I know I am your Slave Queen,” I answer promptly, “…and I must do as you say.”
Disbelief, again, strikes across his features as if Rey is fighting his need to hate every part of me.
“Then why don’t you kneel and prove it to me? You didn’t kneel when you saw me, did you?” Rey’s voice is animalistic. It’s not rough, it’s purely words loaded with promising death.
Quiet. Obey.
I drop to my knees without question and I lower my head.
“…why do you lie… Chyronex?” Rey asks, in a completely different tone, “Why are you lying to your King?”
“Do you wish me to defy you?” I ask while staring at his boots, “I wish to only please my King, my Warlord and my captors in war.”
“Captors in War,” Rey catches onto those words as I stay kneeling at his feet, “…that is indeed appropriate. I need to know you will be willing to do as I ask. For any task. At any time.”
“…yes,” I fight the one word response out past my lips. I wanted to yell and scream that I already knew this. I wanted to ask why the hell he was in my room and why he doubted every word that fell out of my mouth.
“You promised me you’d be a good little Slave Queen… I expect you will be in time. I have a task for you,” Rey changes his tone, to professional, “You’ll learn to shift with Lixar tomorrow and then you’ll show me tomorrow night. I wish to see you form completely for the first time. I need to see your real intent. Your truth is not present in this form. You’re a lie right now. Pathetic.”
My hands clench into the bottom of my red dress over my knees and I grit my teeth together. I don’t say a word. I can’t or I might just break apart.
Rey squats in front of me and I dare look up to see him, levelling his face with mine, smiling warmly.
“…how… badly… do you want to slaughter me?” Rey asks, raising a brow, “Have I angered you, my Queen?” I open my mouth and he holds up a hand and one finger, waving it side to side, “…be honest… or else…”
“I… do not… understand…” I murmur the broken response, a growl permeating through each thing I say, “Anything you say. Everything about you confuses me.”
“That’s because every part of you that wants to kill me is reflected in my own blood, every part of me, Chyronex, wants to kill you,” Rey informs me gently, as if speaking to a child, “Instead, I’ve generously chosen to keep you as a pet.”
I pause as he does, his eyes… for some odd reason… find my mouth and his own lips pulse from light pale pink… to a full red bloom of blood.
Blood.
He drank blood.
This was getting dangerous. He was too close.
“Perhaps we can be friends,” I gulp as I say that and for once Rey seems taken aback, he even jerks his head back with my words, holding in the start of a loud scoff of confusion.
“…excuse me?” Rey asks, quietly, “Are you damaged?”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Your mind, is it damaged…?” Rey is truly curious as he leans in, his nostrils flaring as he sniffs my hair line at my forehead, “…no…”
What in the world?
I wait.
I purse my lips as he eventually stops sniffing me.
“Don’t worry,” Rey laughs over the top of my still and kneeling form, “…I’ll leave you be now…” Rey starts to rise, but then his hand reaches out and a cold palm brushes under my chin, his fingers curling and pulling me up with him, to stand opposite. I huff out a breath and face him bravely as Rey leans in to my trembling lips. He smirks, hovering inches… then eventually a hairs breadth from my face… he just watches how I squirm internally. Say something. He does
, but not before Rey sneaks in first. My whole spine nearly jumps out of my skin when he brushes his lips against mine. I shiver visibly, my whole soul distraught by the action, “That feeling,” Rey doesn’t blink, “Is what I felt when you said we should be friends. One last thing,” Rey pretends to go in for another peck and I jerk back. He holds my chin tighter but he doesn’t fulfil the second kiss. He just wanted to see me jerk away. Rey drawls as a final order, “You’ll fuck my Warlord tonight… keep him happy… and focused… won’t you, Draconess?”
