The Destroyer Book 2

by Michael-Scott Earle

  "Answer my question." I forced my shoulders to relax. Her eyes focused again on my face, but she continued to lick my blood off of her nails.

  "I was strolling to our suite like I normally do after my training. Your pet human was walking by with her escort. They were heading to her room, or so her chaperone said." She smirked and put her hands on my hips.

  They were probably moving Nadea around to different rooms in the castle. That way it would reduce the chances of me escaping and finding her. Nadea was tough, but I didn't think there would be a way for her to overpower a single Elven guard that would be taking her to a new location. She could be in a room right next to me and I wouldn't even know.

  Unless I could hear her.

  I filed that thought away for use later tonight. I had been told originally that Nadea was in the dungeon, and there would have been no way I could hear her from that far underground. But if we were in the same wing, I might be able to sense her voice if I channeled Earth and concentrated. It was worth a try.

  Isslata seemed to know that I needed to change positions, she pushed her toes into the smooth stone of the bathroom floor and raised herself off of my legs. My penis slipped out of her and I gasped in surprise when the colder air contacted my slick skin. She spun around quickly and sat on my lap with her back pushed against my chest. Her hands grasped my length and then I felt myself slide into her warmth with an accompanying wet sound. We both sighed in pleasure once I was again inside of her.

  "What do you think?” She leaned into my chest and positioned her right cheek against my left. Her hair fell over my scalp and back.

  "Think of what?"

  "My offer. I can help you." She nuzzled me with her nose and her voice dropped to a whisper. Her body rocked again, forcing me to scrape against the side of her velvety walls.

  "I'm not sure what you are offering, or what it will cost me." My hands wrapped around her waist and my fingers dug into the sharp bones of her hips.

  "The empress will interrogate you. She'll want to understand why you came to this world and what clans you are aligned with. Tell her you won't discuss it without me there. Then I can advise you." She gasped in pain or pleasure at my grip.

  "I don't see how Nadea is freed in this agreement. Nor do I know how useful your advice will be, or what you are getting out of this arrangement. Try again." I eased my grip and ran my fingers up and down her bare back. She made a growling noise again. Then she leaned forward and put her palms on the tops of my thighs by my knees, using her arms and legs as leverage, she moved her entrance on my shaft. Our bodies were now soaking wet from our sweat and her wetness.

  "What if I could free your human?" she said after half a minute of impaling herself on me. Her breath came out in gasps.

  "How would I know she is free? Why would you let her go? Won't your general and empress be angry with you?" I wrapped my hand across the front of her body and cupped her breasts. Her nipples where hard and she unleashed a cry of pleasure when I pinched the firm mounds.

  "The empress just wants you. Nadea is here for leverage. If you'll agree to stay, then the human may go free. The empress will probably let her go after she speaks to you anyway. The king's niece will be useful if kept alive." Isslata leaned back into me as I fondled her breasts. Her hips moved in a circular pattern.

  "How would I know she was free?" I asked again.

  "You can see her leave the castle."

  "How do I know you won't pursue her and capture her again?" I released her breasts and pushed her down on my shaft again. She shuddered and exhaled a deep moan. We'd been fucking each other for almost an hour now, but we were just getting started. We could continue for most of the night without tiring. Dinner would arrive soon though, and Isslata had said Vernine would join us.

  "We don't care about your damn human, O'Baarni!" She looked over her left shoulder at me. The glare was angry for a second before she closed her eyes in pleasure. I could feel her walls relax and then clamp around my shaft like she was flexing a muscle. She bit her lip again. Blood speckled on her teeth, lips, and a small amount dribbled down her chin. This was normal during our bouts of passion. One or both of us would finish with light wounds by the end of the night. It was fortunate that we healed so quickly.

  "Okay. I agree to stay. You free Nadea. I see her leave the castle. What is to prevent me from leaving?"

  "Your word that you won't." She pushed down harder and quicker. The wet slippery sounds of our bodies filled the tiled walls of the bathroom.

  "Unlikely. I'll leave as soon as I know she is safe."

  "Then," she paused and let out another long moan, "you won't know what the empress wants from you. You won't know what her agenda is."

  I stayed silent for a moment, my brain spun around the idea Isslata had presented me while it tried to ignore the sensations my loins were feeling as she ground her body against me. I could escape this castle at any time. They probably understood that they wouldn't be able to contain me.

  "Let's say I agree to stay after you have freed Nadea. Alatorict won't let her go." I guessed there was a schism between Isslata and Alatorict, but I didn't know how deep the divide went. Was Isslata betraying him to gain favor with the empress? I couldn't imagine she was helping me out just because she enjoyed how I fucked her.

  "I will worry about Alatorict. Nadea will be freed. You'll stay in the castle until the empress speaks with you. When she does, you'll ensure that I am present. Agreed?" The last part came out in a squeal of pleasure. The orgasm was building in my groin. Her pace was so quick and her movement forced me so deep into her that I couldn't hold back much longer. She must have felt my body begin to tense because her nails dug into my thighs painfully and she made the familiar moans that were an indicator of her own climax.

  "I want to see Nadea face-to-face."

  "Impossible!" The word came out in a frenzied gasp. She had to raise her voice to get over the sounds of our bodies coming together.

  "You are going to sneak her out of the castle. Bring her to me before so I can see she is alive and unharmed. Then I will agree to your terms." The buildup overcame me. I tightened my left hand around her hip bone and pushed her down on my erection so that I forced myself as deep as I could into her tunnel. My right hand came up to her shoulder and grabbed her smooth skin there, pushing her body down more and bending her back like a bow being pulled. Her tunnel tightened and my first orgasm punched through us like the strike of a hammer.

  My shaft tugged and I felt the painful but deeply satisfying release of my seed into Isslata. I bit her left shoulder to keep from shouting in ecstasy. She felt my body filling her entrance and her own orgasm crashed into her. She tried to twitch, either to fight against the pleasure or to enjoy the sensation as much as she could. However, I held her down against me so tightly that she couldn't do more than tense her walls around my penis and flex her leg muscles.

  Her voice was not trapped though.

  "Yes. Yesssss! Yessssssssssss!" she screamed like a banshee and another orgasm sent my seed into her womb. I stopped biting her shoulder and pulled her face down sideways to my lips. Our mouths devoured each other's and I couldn't tell if the blood I tasted was mine or hers. Probably hers.

  Our climax passed and she leaned back against my chest with a sigh. I was still hard and inside of her. The combination of my seed and her wetness made her channel seem impossibly warm and moist, but the sensation didn't bother me. My hands and fingertips stroked her arms, belly, and breasts while she purred appreciatively.

  "I can't bring her here," she muttered.

  "You will find a way. Unless you are jealous?" I smiled when I said it. I knew I would have her agreement shortly. This affair with Isslata was turning out to be more beneficial than I had hoped.

  "No," she laughed. "Although, she should be jealous of me. Every woman in the castle should be envious."

  "You flatter me." I smiled. I could only remember having sex with two other women. Iolarathe had enjoyed the pleasure I
had given her, as had Jessmei, but Isslata indicated that I was giving her an above average performance.

  "I will bring her to you. Do you agree to everything else?" She swung her right leg over my hips and sat on me sideways. The movement released my penis from the grasp of her vagina with a slippery sound. She wrapped her arms around my neck and our eyes met.

  "Yes." I smiled up at her. "It is my turn again. Why do you call yourselves Ancients? You are known as Elvens." The O'Baarni was the old human language. It actually meant: “the ancient race.”

  "Oh," she said and opened her eyes. They stared into mine with mirth. "These outlier worlds are hardly ever visited. Sometimes they develop their own myths or petty religions. We were surprised when our initial investigation found that they had history that included our old conflicts. But of course, most of your kin are dumb and forgetful. They got their names mixed up with their events and their sides. We did not name ourselves when we stepped through the Radicle. They gave us the name and we accepted."

  I heard movement coming down the hall from outside my room. It interrupted the question Isslata was about to ask me and the disturbance sounded like three or four boot steps. She must have heard it as well; she raised an eyebrow and gave me a puzzled expression. Within a few moments there was a knock at the door.

  "It is probably the food." She slid off of my lap easily and grabbed a thin silk robe that matched her eyes. I got a last look at her gleaming body before it was hidden behind the fabric. Before she left the bathroom she turned to me.

  "I'll bring your pet tomorrow or the next day. Agreed?" she asked while she bound the sash around her thin waist.

  "Agreed." I stood out of the chair and retied my pants.

  "I ruined another one of your shirts." She gave a mocking frown before she danced playfully into the other room. I looked at the tunic and saw that her claws had ripped the back to shreds. I was running out of the fine garments that the king's tailor had made for me.

  "Ahh food! Excellent!" Isslata giggled from the main area of my suite. I heard footsteps walk into the room and the clink of flatware being arranged. I walked to the sink and turned on the cold water, splashing some on my face to bring me down from the adrenaline rush the lovemaking had just given me.

  "Oh, here comes dessert as well," Isslata purred loud enough for the guards and servants to hear.

  "Good evening Isslata," Vernine's soft, velvety voice drifted through the rooms.

  "Put that on the table," Isslata said in annoyance. I walked into the room and saw her directing the human servants. One of them was Bethany, the girl that I had met when I had first entered the castle and been directed into the servants' quarters. She noticed me and her eyes grew wide with confusion, but she knew better than to greet me.

  I smiled at Vernine and she licked her lips. She was wearing a dark red combination of leather pants and a silk blouse that seemed to match her eyes. Her hair lay braided down her back and tied with a group of half a dozen wild roses. The three of us stood around awkwardly for a few minutes while the servants finished arranging the feast on my small oak dining table. When it looked like they were finished, Isslata shooed them out the open door to my room and into the hallway. Then she closed the door behind them and turned back to us, a look of lust plain on her face as she eyed Vernine.

  "You started without me didn't you?" Vernine smiled slightly at the golden woman. "I can smell him all over you."

  "Couldn't help it." Isslata stalked over to Vernine like a panther. "Besides, there is plenty left for you." She purred as she moved her head toward the other woman's. Vernine moaned and met her lips eagerly. Their kiss quickly turned into a battle of aggressive licking once Vernine's hand ran across Isslata's chest, into her half-open robe, and grasped her firm breast. I felt my erection tense with their demonstration. Flashes of the week the three of us spent in my room suddenly appeared in my memories, but it seemed like déjà vu and not a real memory.

  "Hummm . . . Dinner first, lover." Isslata broke the kiss and glanced over to me. She bit her lip and sighed. "We can't keep the O'Baarni waiting. He needs to satisfy all of his appetites tonight."

  "Agreed. I don't want him going hungry." Vernine's normally impassive face looked wild with desire. Her eyes reflected the setting sun that slid through the doors on my balcony and made them glow with hunger.

  I remembered to exhale and sat down on one of the plush seats. There was more than enough food to feed eight of us, but Isslata was never one to live below her means.

  And I did have an appetite.

  Chapter 24-Nadea

  "The day is beautiful," Runir said as he walked out to the balcony, dodged my massive dress and petticoat mixture, and then flopped into the seat beside me. He was covered in sweat and I figured that he had been exercising in his room. I smiled at him and then turned to look out at the city.

  I didn't go out on the balcony often, and when I did I made sure I was in disguise. The late afternoon sun cast a shadow on the east side of the castle, so I doubted any would recognize me in the countess's dress with my face exposed. Still, I nervously dropped the veil every few minutes just in case one of our enemies happened to glance this way.

  The banquet was a few days away and my excitement made me restless. I was eager to get my talons on Nanos if I found the opportunity. I would wrap my fingers around his throat and squeeze. The dreams of revenge kept me awake at night. The moment was so close I could almost feel his blood drip down my hands.

  "Still no sign of Losher?" Runir grabbed a pitcher of cold water and poured himself a glass.

  "I've seen a few patrols on the perimeter of the walls, but none inside of the city. It looks like the noble quarter is being rebuilt." I pointed to the northwest area of Nia that was closest to the castle. There had been scaffolding and workers moving on rooftops most of the day.

  "Do you think they returned to their homeland?" Runir asked.

  "Unless they went south to Brilla." I sighed. We were cut off from all communication from my army. They would know exactly where the Losher force had gone.

  "Where are the boys?" He looked over his shoulder into our suite for the other guards.

  "They went to train. At least that is what they said. I bet it is a mixture of training, gambling, and who knows what else." I grabbed a small metal file and worked a sharp angle out of one of my nails. The last few days of waiting had been tough for me. I spent them locked up in the suite with only my journals, Runir, and the guards to keep me company. Runir's constant attention had worn my nerves down to a nub of fiery anger. I would have loved to send him with the other men to explore the castle and gather information, but the risk of him being discovered was too great.

  He seemed thrilled with all the alone time we were getting. At least we had our own rooms so I had a few hours of solitude before the blonde man ostensibly grew concerned for my safety and created reasons to come to see me.

  "Can we talk about the banquet again?" His question was a whine. Fuck he was annoying me. I'd seen him command squadrons of men in life or death situations, I knew he was brave, yet he had the spine of a wet rag when we talked about the banquet.

  "No," I spat. It was the tone of voice I used before I went to my room to be alone. I stared icily at him.

  "I just want to review it with you. Nanos will give his speech, and then what will we do?"

  "We'll work the party and gather information. The purpose is to observe and get a feel for the attitude of the nobles." I sighed. "This will not be dangerous if you don't make a fucking mistake." He winced at my words and I realized I was being a bit hard on him. "Sorry. I know you won't make any mistakes. I am tense and nervous also." He grinned like a dog given a rib bone for a treat.

  "I'm surprised Nanos hasn't tried to set up a private dinner with you. Countess Detoria has a massive amount of political clout. You probably got one of the best rooms in the castle, but I guessed he would have been kissing her--your--ass every day for support." Runir smiled.

 
; "I agree." We had discussed this before and the conversations were spinning in maddening circles. Perhaps my friend thought I would have a new epiphany about the situation. "I can think of a few scenarios, one being that Nanos doesn't really know what he is doing. Jessmei was always in touch with the aristocracy, knew who contributed what to high society, and what their agendas were. Nanos preferred to play fight and bully." Runir nodded solemnly. Although Jessmei was a few years younger than both of us, she had been the darling of our childhood group. A fact that had infuriated her brother.

  "Yes. But if he is being coached by the Ancients, would they let him make those kinds of mistakes?"

  "No. They have set this up for some purpose. They need Nanos for something, otherwise they would just take the castle, kill the royal family, and declare their empress the ruler of Nia. The nobles might have resisted and fled to Brilla, or Brilla could have counterattacked in the spring once our main forces returned from the North." I found myself asking what the empress's plans really were. Again.

  "It seems that they want the castle and the nobility. They banked on Nanos's cooperation over his father's, but they should have used Jessmei instead." Runir nodded his head in agreement with his own theory.

  "Maybe. Jessmei would never have cooperated, perhaps the empress suspected that from the intelligence she gathered. So she kidnapped Jessmei for leverage against the king. Nanos was the eager and willing back-up plan. He had probably been feeding the Ancients information since we were first aware of them. Fucking bastard." I recalled the blonde prince standing over his dead father. His face had been angry. Angry that I discovered his betrayal and angry that I witnessed his cowardice.