by C. Swallow
“And how does hellfire come into existence?” I ask.
“The darkest realms on Earth or the darkest souls… since demons left in a mass exodus… Rey… for whatever reason, is the last and sole Vampyre on earth and he… well… he’s unstoppable for a very unique reason. He controls hellfire. He… our Immortal King… had to murder a hundred thousand innocent mortals to acquire that power,” Lixar’s smile now turns downward.
That also sounded like a legendary story only.
“Can hellfire kill a Venatores?” I ask.
“Hopefully you never find out,” Lixar gulps and barely gets this past his lips, “…if Torrent has arrived, there will be tensions that may even allow you some freedom from Rey’s consistent spying.”
“Really?” I lick my lips with hope, “I still don’t understand most of what you’ve said, but I think I like Torrent now.”
“While he is here, we’ll train, you and I. Zarcar can bother to interfere if he wants, I’ll ignore the bastard. Torrent may wish to meet you soon. You’re a very special Queen, Chyronex.”
“What other powers does a Draconess have?” I ask.
“Full of questions…” Lixar states the obvious and he taps his nose and winks, as if that gives me the answer.
I raise a brow and walk towards the pool in the corner. I drop the sheets around me, pry off my chains and then hop into the water to clean off Lixar’s demon filth.
He lies back against the pillows, enjoying the fantasy about being a King, clearly.
I glare at him as I squat in the water and land on my knees, cleaning thoroughly.
“Can you tell me a secret?” I ask.
“We’ll have to trade… you first,” Lixar murmurs, happily and with a fair bit of annoying amusement.
“I love Zarcar,” I say, my voice drips with venom but I’m being brutally honest.
Lixar winces, a little.
I wait for a secret from him.
He had to think on it for a while.
He glances to the sleeping humans in the feeding chamber, locked behind the bars I cursed to break. They are too weak to stay conscious. But Lixar doesn’t seem like he wants to say anything too… orientated towards treason.
“Under Rey’s hand, as I grew up, I was taught by a Philosopher called Siy who believed one day…” he pauses and I watch him consider his next words carefully, “Magic would be unsustainable and it’d be wiped out from the mortal race. Demons would be locked into the earth. Our kind, in fact, any kind of magical soul, sorcerer and sorceress, would be murdered into non-existence. Mortals would rule and magic would become a myth. My secret? I believe him. Some weapons are unsustainable. Messiah’s from heaven and hell died a thousand years before our kind came. Magic is fickle and everyone is scared of it. Even those who use it.”
Lixar is definitely going to turn into an old man who just rambles about conspiracies all day every day. Definitely.
“Sure,” I murmur, rolling my eyes.
Lixar reads my thoughts and doesn’t look impressed.
I continue to wash and turn my back on him.
“…you laugh at me now…” Lixar growls under his breath, “…training for war will be so much fun, Chyronex… your muscles from holding books are pretty pathetic, wouldn’t you say? Why don’t we work on fitness, my sweet, darling, Draconess.”
Stupid demon.
I gulp and ignore him.
Idiot.
Lixar laughs and I just glare back at him.
“I’m at least, very flexible,” I growl over my shoulder and he just winks.
Argh.
By the moon, I hated his demon eyes and demon smile.
Demon filth.
My thoughts just cause his smirk to grow even wider.
Blergh. Training.
I already knew, from Lix’s arrogance, it was going to be some kind of painful torture.
He gasps at that, “Chyronex! Stop reading my thoughts, how dare you!”
I don’t turn to him, I just glare at the black carved walls.
“I’m going to spell you asleep you when you least suspect it and set a horde of filthy bar wenches who have every disease under the sun to ride your cock and suck out you filthy demon seed and you can wake up soiled and dirty - disgusting, you disgust me.”
“I’m used to having this effect on women, darling.”
He isn’t fazed.
And indeed, Lixar is simply telling the truth.
Chapter 31
Lixar’s arrogance was unfathomable since he fucked my throat last night and had sex with me this morn, while I was spelled into sleep; the bastard had since combed his hair back, washed thoroughly, put on a clean black and purple uniform and couldn’t keep that damn smirk off his face all day.
“Don’t stop, honey!” Lix taps his boot on the path in front of me as I run towards him holding a log behind my shoulders, while I’m snarling so damn hard I’m salivating my fury down my damn chin. Every time he calls me honey today, I want to punch his perfect teeth out of his skull! “It’s only over until you finally throw it all up and then I’ll call it in…” he watches me get closer, sweating entirely through one of my brown shift dresses.
I can’t keep running up and down this damn street.
Five hours in; I’m so done.
I throw the log down at Lix and he steps to the side.
“I’m not… carrying that… damn log… until I fall… on my face!” I yell at Lixar; we had grown quite the audience in town.
Many men and women were watching me haul that stupid log around all day while Lix pretended to be my slave owner. Truly, he was an ass.
All the names he had called me today were uncountable.
The main ones that did my head in were; Little runt. Smelly swine. Witch shit. All kinds of derogatory terms to see if I could prove him wrong every time he tasked me with carrying and running with obscenely heavy objects.
My arms were jelly but I had managed to carry some things through the help of cheating. Aka; spelling of my own.
Zarcar wasn’t around to say otherwise and Lixar had taken full control of my training session.
I continue to stand firmly upright in front of Lixar with my determined stare and gritted teeth, refusing to show weakness even though I’m still attempting to get my breath back,“…I’m telling you… I’m done… I’m a lady and I –”
Oh, no.
My stomach rolls and I promptly lean over, throwing up on the spot, right at his feet.
Even the crowd groan in disgust.
“Yeepy yay! Now we’re done, pretty lady,” Lixar leans down and strokes a hand through my sweat soaked hair. I weakly try to punch between his legs but I end up fondling his damn cock through his perfect uniform because my hand is so numb from holding the wood, “Not in public, sweety… that’s a crime punishable by the dungeon…”
Lix waits for me to spit out the rest of my morning tea before he reaches down and picks me up around the waist, throwing me over his shoulder.
“Show’s over, I’m taking the witch home to her tower!” Lixar calls out to the crowd, grabbing my ass and squeezing it.
In my state of feeling kind of dizzy, I see one edge of my finger nail seemingly leaking ash and fire.
Perhaps I was hallucinating.
Well. It’s odd. It’s new.
But, what the hell? I guess my inner Draconess abilities were starting to fire up!
Without much guilt, I press that burning finger to his ass and I watch as fire smoothly puffs out in a perfect circle, licking over his pants material.
For a few seconds, Lixar has no idea.
I watch the fire with satisfaction, smiling widely, especially when my trainer in war, halts his strides very suddenly around the next corner. He shifts his ass, waiting to find out what that tingle was in his backside. But then the fire burns through his undergarments too.
In a simultaneous reaction, Lix instantly starts prying off his pants in a panic while throwing me off his shoulder.<
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I manage to right myself and land on shaky legs, stumbling backwards until I’m completely stable. I turn with a victorious smirk and walk away from him as Lixar struggles to get off his boots and the fire licks faster and brighter around him.
“Damn you to hellfire, Chyronex!” Lixar calls out, trying to sound ferocious but more so worried about saving his precious high collar uniform.
Without turning back to check on him, I walk to the fountain in Swendula’s square. I stumble to the edge of it and I walk over the barrier, falling into the water. I sink in and the civilians yell at me for disrespecting the tree marble centre piece. But I really didn’t care right now.
I wash off my sweat and any remaining flecks of disgusting vomit. I float in the water for a total of two minutes, staring at the sky, which had cloudy areas, formulating storm clouds and dispersing; all throughout the day.
I eventually raise my head and I see Lixar finally striding towards me, wearing undergarments that I could see through half burnt royal purple pants. His got a determined look in his hazel eyes and if I didn’t know any better… I’d say his thoughts were equivalent to my Warlord.
Spanking was necessary for disrespect like that.
“You know it, honey!” Lixar yells out to me and I quickly stand up, poking my tongue out, I turn to the tree fountain sculpture and like that other day when Zarcar was training his army in the square, I head to the safety of its branches.
I climb up to the top, wet and slippery but steady enough at the same time.
I stand and balance precariously on the end of one branch high above Lixar’s position and I flip him the bird.
I grin down at him and then I glance towards my Moon Tower.
And I get the strangest thought, briefly… which was… fly there.
I could just embrace my Dragon and fly home!
The air of the city, smelling like a brewing storm, whiffs up my nostrils.
Fly.
Fly away.
I look past my Moon tower.
As a Draconess, I could fly much, much further than the tower.
“No! Noooo!” Lixar yells up to me, “Get down, Chyronex! Stop acting like a child! Stop thinking what you’re thinking, sweetheart… fuckin’-…!” I glance down to see Lixar murmuring far more truthful insults past his scowling set lips.
“Give me a break! When the sun sets in a few hours, I’ll be back in a bed getting fucked by multiple pigs!” I yell out down to him, uncaring that everyone else hears, “I’ll take my freedom while I have the chance, thank you very much!”
“You’ll be getting fucked with an audience if you don’t obey your superior!” Lixar finally recedes from his casual funny man personality and I see a slither of his cousin underneath.
“Superior in what exactly?” I yell back down.
“Come down here and I’ll show you when you’re begging me to stop turning your ass redder than the King’s blood whores!”
“You’re the only whore here, so shut up, you filthy swine!” I wish I could throw something down to him, but my words don’t even annoy him.
Lixar lets out a betraying smile and I – for a split, humiliating moment – relax a bit too much, which causes me to lose my balance and slip right off the marble branch.
“Eeeeeeee!” I squeal as my whole body swings dramatically to the side and plummets.
Lixar hauls ass over the barrier of the fountain, lunging forward and catching me in his arms, his pants now burnt and soaked!
“…oopf,” I gasp in a breath after turning my head against his chest, my heart beat nearing palpitations from the shock of the fall.
Lixar holds me closely to his chest while looking down at me with both a challenge and a promise.
“…guess who just contacted me, my sweetest and most sour cum dump?” Lixar murmurs down over my flushed face.
“Immortal. King. Rey,” I answer, trying not to roll my eyes.
“Precisely, witch shit,” as Lixar uses his attitude, I try spitting up at his face.
He avoids it, but it’s my damn mistake – he just spits back down on me.
Lix’s saliva hits my cheek and my nose but he talks as if our little dispute just now didn’t occur, “It’s time for you to meet Torrent. Now I have yet more duties to take charge of with your ungrateful ass. You’ll be promptly; Spanked. Bathed. And dressed. Then you shall accompany me to meet Torrent, apparently Zar and he have been talking all day… Rey sounded quite irate about that…”
“The King never speaks to me in my mind,” I whisper, irate for a totally different reason.
“Because you’re a woman… an enslaved woman…” Lixar dramatizes this but he’s telling the truth regardless.
“…is that how you truly see me? How you all see me?” I ask, seriously.
Lixar’s eyes flash from amusement to keen passion in a split second.
He leans down to whisper over my lips, forbidden words, “…you could rip out Rey’s throat with a single swipe of your talon if you got close enough. You’re only enslaved because you’re so utterly harmless and weak…” Lix raises a brow…
Because that last part…
…sarcasm…
“Oh.”
Lixar stands, holding me close all the while.
He holds me like he’s protecting his woman, even though he wasn’t my chosen mate.
I knew who I chose.
I just hadn’t told Zarcar yet.
I know, however, that Lixar has given me vital information.
Thank you.
I think it and Lixar murmurs over me while he steps out of the fountain, carrying me tightly, “I’m sorry for spitting on your pretty face, Chyronex.”
“I’m sorry for calling you swine,” I whisper it back.
Lixar smiles a bit but then he glances down at me and he’s smile falters.
“Hey… don’t ruin it by looking at me like that,” Lixar looks up swiftly and avoids my confused gaze as I recede into my thoughts.
What… and why did he… but what did he… mean by that?
I know Lixar is still reading my thoughts even as I’m totally and openly confused.
But this time? He doesn’t delight me with an answer.
Chapter 32
After all his talk, Lixar doesn’t spank me nor does he bother with me while I bathe. He’s awfully distant since our spat in the fountain. I think he hated himself for genuinely becoming attached to me. I could only assume he was jealous that I had chosen Zarcar.
That was a trivial matter, however. Regardless, Lix uses his brief time – as I prepare – to get his new uniform. I’m alone for an hour in my tower and I’ve used the time to bathe and dress.
I was thankfully left alone by maids, while within my bedchamber, for a brief while. For once, I didn’t want to leave it. It felt like a sanctuary again. I smell the daisies and braid my wet hair while I stand in the wind, hoping it helps dry the strands quicker.
I’m wearing a pure white dress, two slits up the sides of my thighs, no straps and a gold ribbon belt. I tie it at the back and flick my braids over my shoulders. I pick up some daisies and I put them in my hair in a daisy crown. It would work enough as a Queen’s adornment.
I think about my new company; Mystifyers and a crazy Andoll when she chose to appear.
Zarcar was overbearing, Lixar was as serious as he was funny and Torrent was an unknown factor. Rey was a scary opponent yet gentle in lovemaking, so I wasn’t as scared of that part of our relationship as King and Queen.
Thinking about all the men tasked with my upkeep as Slave Queen Draconess, I realise how overwhelming it is to deal with all of them at once. The consequences of that were… well. It’s at that moment, as I watch the storm clouds gather yet again in a mystifying dance… that I comprehend my power. My Venatores had many powers, reading minds and controlling the weather, I’m sure Andoll had a specialty. And I… I could command them. Which meant my powers were greater. The many Mystifyers weren’t just involved to help su
bdue me, or control me. They existed by Rey’s command, to distract me from realising my full potential. Why else would Zarcar ask Lixar to tell me nothing.
Lix often let all the big facts slip out while we were alone. It was both comforting and terrifying.
