Seeing Red

by Lyra Evans

  “Not quite enough to get you to come, was it, slave,” Preston said, and when Niko managed to look up at him, he saw Preston licking his lips, the hunger on his face unrestrained. “Shall I rectify that?”

  “So far it causes pain,” Noor interrupted. Perhaps she hadn’t heard Preston’s question to Niko. Perhaps she had and didn’t care. “And as impressive as that aspect is, you mentioned it could do other things. I’m waiting.”

  Preston turned to her. “So impatient,” he said. He held up the Staff. “With a mere tweak of your will, the Staff can cause different kinds of pain, as well as different levels. If I wanted to, I could make it feel as weak as a pinch or a nick, or ramp it up to agony so intense it would liquefy the brain in a matter of moments. I can make it feel more like electricity or fire or venom or physical impact. I can set it to pulse or pause or throb. Or, I can—” And when he touched it to the very centre of Niko’s chest and twisted, Niko opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. Or if it did, he couldn’t hear it, couldn’t feel it.

  All he felt was a heat and tension so intense it was as though his insides were suddenly too large for his skin. His every muscle, vein, organ pushed outward with such force it felt as though his skin was disintegrating. No breath came in or out of his chest for the length of that moment; no thought passed through his mind. Blood surged to his cock, but he couldn’t have said if it was pleasure or agony. Or both. If he came, he didn’t know it, but when Preston pulled back, Niko was still hard. Hard and absolutely soaking wet.

  “What was that?” Noor asked, stepping closer to study Niko. Niko couldn’t manage to be concerned about that at this stage.

  “It apparently sets every one of his nerve endings on at once,” Preston said, nostrils flaring. He sniffed the air and licked his lips again. “It forces him to experience sensation beyond his nerves’ usual limit all at once and denies him the chance to shut those sensations down. It’s pain in the body and in the brain.”

  Juniper’s eyes flashed with delight. Niko’s body clicked into alertness, aware that there was potential danger here. But he was still bound to the frame, still unable to defend himself in the slightest.

  “Could that kill him?” she asked.

  Preston nodded very slowly. “If I held it there long enough,” he said. “It would more realistically destroy his brain, whether that technically kills him or not—”

  “Let me try,” she said, reaching for the Staff. Preston pulled back instinctively, his eyes on her now.

  “Try to kill him?” he asked, eyebrow raise. Noor hesitated, then frowned.

  “Fine, fine, no killing him,” she said. When he still did not relinquish the Staff, she sighed heavily. “No destroying his brain either. He’ll be alive and sane when I’m done. I just want to try it once.” She pursed her lips. “You are no fun at all. Didn’t anyone teach you to share your toys?”

  Preston eyed her a moment, then glanced at Niko. Niko thought maybe there was a kind of apology in his gaze, but it meant little to Niko now, as Preston handed Noor the Staff. She took it excitedly, turning it over before her eyes to study it. Stepping much closer to Niko than he thought either of them enjoyed, she studied his face a moment. Eyes narrowing, she seemed to search him, blinking oddly. Niko stilled, afraid she might see through the glamours keeping his identity secret.

  Then she raised the Staff and pressed the tip of it straight into his armpit. A clawed hand made of fire and molten lead reached into him, through his underarm and to the centre of his chest. It wrapped its talons around Niko’s heart and squeezed, twisting violently as it did. Niko thrashed, unable to breathe, his chest ablaze, his ribcage about to break open. Sound almost loud enough to shatter the mirrored floor and ceiling tore through the room, and Niko realized after a time that it was coming from him.

  The pain stopped suddenly, and he coughed roughly, like a nearly drowned man. A web of burning nerves and fibres spidered out from his armpit through his chest. His head hung low, but as he tried to open his eyes, he saw his own cock still engorged, red, and dripping. He either needed to rest or fucking come, or he thought he might just die.

  “I told you not to kill him,” Preston scolded, taking the Staff from Noor.

  She shrugged with the barest culpability. “I wasn’t trying to kill him. I just wanted to know what it would do,” she said. But the false innocence in her tone didn’t fly with the undercurrent of dark malice that spread across her face. “You need to let me borrow that, Preston. It’s much too exciting to keep it to yourself.”

  Preston frowned. “I will not,” he said. “This cost more than half the Court makes in a year. You want one, you pay for it.”

  Noor pouted a moment, an expression that did not suit her, then said, “Deal. I’ll get my—”

  She stopped abruptly, interrupted by a strange little jingle. Its tinny sound came from far away to Niko’s ears, but it seemed to be the ringtone for her phone. Pulling the sleek silver device from a pocket Niko hadn’t noticed, she swiped the screen. She said some sort of greeting, then nothing, then nodded rather than answer orally, and swiped the phone again. Preston watched all this silently.

  “Problem?” he asked, noting her change in expression. The glee on her face was replaced with a stony seriousness. She walked to the wall displaying all her equipment and picked up, of all things, a remote control. With the press of a button, a panel in the wall slid away to reveal a flat screen television. Flicking it on, she flipped through channels until she found the one she wanted.

  “—threat can no longer be ignored. Evidence that Selkies have been crossing into the Three Courts and violating the rights of our citizens is undeniable, but still there are those that doubt,” Courtier Phoebe Linden was saying to a cohort of cameras. She stood on the steps of the High Court, speaking, it would seem, for all her colleagues. Niko watched and listened through the shifting haze in his head. “My bill requiring the immediate closure of all our borders has been shot down by these doubters. They would like to believe some kind of peace can be reached with this barbaric species, that we might be able to trust Selkies to self-police and refrain from using their powers to their advantage. It is a ludicrous idea, and thanks to their naivety, four innocent lives have been lost.”

  “Innocent lives?” Preston asked, watching with only mild interest. Panic and loathing warred inside Niko’s stomach, at odds with the weakness in his limbs and the heat in his groin.

  “The attack on Courtier Citali Cedar and her family is unforgivable and unjustifiable,” Linden said. Her voice echoed across the marble steps of the Court. No one spoke at all as she condemned Selkies for something Niko was certain they did not do. “We stand here today, one colleague short of our Council, because of this threat. It is for this reason I plan to invoke the right of Astral Roots when we convene in three days’ time. Enough is enough. We must protect our people.”

  Noor shut off the television. The fog in Niko’s head had cleared only to be replaced with an icy sludge. Everything seemed in slow motion. Linden was not doing that. She wasn’t actually going to invoke Astral Roots. There was no reason. Niko’s head swam.

  “I didn’t expect her to hit Cedar and her family this quickly,” Preston said quietly, still staring at the blank screen. Niko’s eyes flickered to him. The Werewolf refused to look at him, but there was a warning behind his eyes and in the line of his arms.

  “She’s too close to her goal now to stop,” Noor said blandly. “This thing with Spruce has only lit a fire under her ass, I think. She’s moving as quickly as possible, because once it’s done, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop her. No turning back then. Cedar was a problem, and she had to go.”

  Preston shifted, crossing his arms. “I thought there were two other holdouts as well?”

  Noor nodded. “They’ll be receiving visits of their own soon, I imagine.” Her phone beeped again, and she looked down to read the message on the screen. “Very soon.” A shallow laugh escaped her. “Looks like I’ve g
ot to make an appointment with Courtier Elior Birch.” She looked up between Preston and Niko. “I should go begin making arrangements. It’ll take some time for a job like this, and I’ve only got two days. I’ll leave you to finish up your fun. Unless you’re no longer in the mood and would like me to take care of the clean up?” She glanced pointedly at Preston’s groin.

  Preston moved back over to Niko. He ran a hand along the edge of Niko’s jaw in an intimate touch, considering Niko carefully. Thumb and forefinger grasping Niko’s chin, he pulled Niko’s head forward and into a kiss. Niko was so surprised he froze momentarily. But the situation demanded action, reaction, playing a part.

  Slowly, Niko allowed his mouth open to Preston, letting the Werewolf taste him and deepen the kiss. Niko’s body was wound to breaking, his heart vibrating with his desire to pull away, to deny Preston, but he was meant to be a slave. He was meant to be enjoying this. And the erection pressing out of the fabric of the jockstrap certainly seemed to suggest he did.

  Preston broke the kiss finally, and Niko’s aching chest tightened to coal, apologizing to Cobalt without words. The Werewolf licked at Niko’s bottom lip and said, “I think I’d like to play some more, if you don’t mind.”

  Noor shrugged and made her way to the door. “Suit yourself. But you’ll have to see yourself out afterward. Seems I’ve a lot to do, and I think it’ll be clear enough now for you to slip away unnoticed.”

  Preston cast her an indifferent look. “Of course. I know how you like to plan. The Birches have no idea what they’re in for,” he said, and though Noor laughed and waved him off, disappearing out the door, it was clear to Niko Preston’s tone carried a heavy warning.

  The moment the door closed, Preston touched the X-frame and released the cuffs binding Niko in place. Every muscle in his body wanted to give in and collapse onto Preston, but Niko held himself aloft, the dangers ahead too urgent to be ignored. But as he tried to step aside, he found his body wasn’t quite with him. Knees buckling, Niko fell into Preston’s arms. The shaft of the Staff was still in his hands and pressed along Niko’s exposed skin. But this time, the pain was weak, radiating like muscle soreness more than anything else. It was almost pleasant compared to the previous experiences.

  “I’ve got you,” Preston whispered to him, his lips against Niko’s ear.

  Niko shivered and tried to pull away. “Not if I can help it,” Niko shot quietly, and Preston laughed softly.

  “I’m not going to touch you in any way you don’t want,” he said. “But she expects me to fuck you. You may need to make some noise.”

  Exhausted and spent, Niko was also aware of the stubborn erection he had. He shifted slightly, trying to get himself stable, and his cock brushed against Preston’s pants just slightly. The surge of pleasure felt like a betrayal, and he flinched back. Turning his back to the Werewolf, Niko clenched his jaw and shut his eyes. He couldn’t think of Cobalt and how bad this felt, couldn’t think of getting off in any way. People’s lives were at stake. There was so much more to worry about than his body and his relationship.

  “I’ll moan for the sake of this bullshit,” Niko murmured, “but if you touch me—”

  A soft clicking sound interrupted Niko, and Preston forced Niko’s shoulders down, bending him in half and thrusting his hips against Niko’s bare ass. Niko gasped in surprised, barely managing to refrain from fighting back on instinct when he heard footsteps.

  “Are you ready for my cock, slave? Beg for me,” Preston told him, holding him in position as one of the serving staff appeared. It was a younger woman with pale yellow hair. She glanced at Niko in Preston’s grasp, then quickly looked away.

  “Please, master, please,” Niko said, feigning desperation and loathing himself. A stabbing feeling in his chest reminded him of the last time he’d called anyone ‘Master.’ He’d been sure, once, he would never use that term. But then he met Cobalt and it had flowed freely off his tongue, as though it was the only appropriate thing to call the Selkie. As though it was right.

  This was wrong. But Niko hadn’t the time to think.

  “What is it?” Preston shot at the serving girl. She lowered her head.

  “Forgive the intrusion, Sir,” she said. “Mistress has asked me to check in and see to it you have everything you might need.”

  Preston snapped back, “Privacy is what I need. I will see myself out when I’m done. No one is to enter here until then.”

  The young woman nodded quickly and scurried out of the room as Preston ground into Niko’s ass. He was hard beneath the layers of his pants, but if Niko was worried he wouldn’t be able to stop himself using Niko, he was wrong. The moment the door closed again, he released Niko and pulled back. Chest heaving, Preston ran a hand through his hair. He’d dropped the Staff on the floor in his urgency to look the part.

  Niko eyed it a moment, stumbling backward from Preston to get some distance. Preston shook his head, looking everywhere but Niko.

  “Checking in to see I was really fucking you,” he muttered to himself. “This isn’t good.”

  Niko set about dressing himself, ignoring the throbbing in his cock and the aching in his chest. He moaned and cried out here and there, his mind buzzing. “Fuck, master, fuck, ahh,” he moaned, though the expression on his face was flat and disconnected. He looked at Preston. There was still hunger in his eyes, but it was overlaid with fear. “You didn’t mention she was planning on killing Courtiers,” Niko hissed.

  Preston shook his head. “I had no idea she was that far along. I was certain she would wait until you were caught before pushing ahead.” He rolled his eyes a moment and moaned loudly for show.

  “We need to send someone to the Birches,” Niko said, pulling his shirt back on. “They need—”

  “No,” Preston shot, and he said it slightly too loudly, so he followed up with, “You won’t come until I’ve had my fill, you little slut.” Niko gritted his teeth and let out what he hoped was a strangled moan. Preston shook his head. “There can be no indication anyone knows anything. Sending even one person to the Birches too early could set off any number of contingencies you can’t imagine.” He scanned the room, not seeing anything in front of him. “Noor takes time to plan things. She’ll use the entirety of her available time to get this done. We have at least a day to figure this out. Time enough to get back to Sincloud and regroup.”

  Niko stepped into his shoes and moaned again, increasing the desperation in his voice. He moved over to the leather sofa, his entire body aching with every step, and hit the back of it again and again to mimic the sounds of intense fucking. Preston nodded, then after a moment, he cried out as though reaching his climax, and with a gesture, he indicated Niko should do the same. Niko let out a sound he thought could pass for orgasm, though he didn’t think that was what he sounded like in an actual orgasm, and set his jaw.

  “Who is the other holdout? What is going to happen to them?” Niko asked.

  Preston’s expression settled. He picked up the Sluagh Staff and set it back into its case. “I don’t know the plan, but the only other holdout Phoebe ever mentioned was a friend of yours,” he said. “Courtier Keilani Palm.”

  Chapter 23

  Darkness swelled around the car as they drove back along the road toward Preston’s cabin. Niko stared unseeing out the windshield, tense and almost motionless in his seat. He’d recovered some of his energy, feeling significantly less worn and empty than he had in the immediate aftermath of the Sluagh Staff, but he wasn’t entirely recovered. Though his mind was clearer and his body closer to his usual strength, one thing was not fading, no matter what he did. The erection he sported refused to wane.

  Perhaps it was because residual pain still rolled over his body, barely noticeable compared to the intensity of what he’d just experienced. Perhaps it was some side effect of the magic imbued into the Staff that denied him the chance to relax. And because Niko steadfastly refused to jerk off in Preston’s presence—forget allowing Preston to ‘help him
out’ as he’d unhelpfully suggested—Niko was condemned to wait out the entirety of the trek back into the jungle with his cock hard and alert.

  Preston eyed him time and again as they drove, and Niko would shift just enough when he did to force his eyes back to the road. Meanwhile, Niko’s mind worked at the problem of Phoebe Linden and the Woods and the threats to the Courtiers and proving his own innocence in a matter of two days. But every so often, thanks to his overeager prick, his brain would fill in momentary blanks with images of him splayed out, naked, with Cobalt pushing into him. Or Cobalt forcing him to his knees, sliding his cock into Niko’s mouth. Or else bending him over—but Niko had no time to think on those things.

  Gritting his teeth, he looked out at the inky sky above them. A helicopter’s lights threw dots of brightness against the heavens as it circled further down, and Niko barely had the space in himself to feel worried about it. And he wasn’t really. Worried. If anything, he was more annoyed by the manhunt for him now. The waste of police funds and time, the sheer corruption of the whole situation—he was way beyond disbelief now and fully immersed in disgust.

  Phoebe Linden was the head of the Woods. He hadn’t even considered it. Not really. She was a hateful person, sure, given the views she’d made rather common knowledge about Selkies recently. But there was nothing in her past that indicated this kind of criminality. Niko had looked into each of the judges on the panel that set Sade free. They were all clean. Essentially. Palm and Linden were squeaky, so-to-speak. Cypress had an affinity for extramarital affairs, it seemed, but that was hardly uncommon in Maeve’s Court. Or anywhere. And it was mostly rumours. Nothing to corroborate it anywhere. Niko had decided it irrelevant. But perhaps it wasn’t.

  If Phoebe Linden was dirtier than she seemed, it was likely so were all the other Courtiers involved. If a penchant for affairs was what Niko could find, what was Cypress actually hiding? He thought of Chief Banyan and how she covered up her son’s drunk driving and the accident that killed his friend and other innocents. He thought of how she had always seemed very devoted to the Right Thing, to Justice. Her entire career was in the justice system. But she was tainted too.