ANGEL'S FORBIDDEN LUST: An Alpha Alien Sci-fi Romance & Fey Paranormal Series (THE EMPRESS OF MYSTH Book 1)

by Meg Xuemei X

  The “gift” was an envoy of my elite courtiers. They were the weapons to distract the king and his nobles from me. They also served as my network of spies.

  In war, all means were necessary, especially when my race was facing either extinction or slavery.

  When I’d summoned my courtiers, they’d answered, knowing how I’d use them and knowing many of them would not return home.

  Before I’d sent them to the king and his angels, I’d greeted my courtiers in my private chamber.

  I hadn’t encouraged them. I hadn’t put on smooth words and given them false hope. I’d only been ashamed of whoring them to the angels and feared for their fate in the hands of the angel king, one of the most sadistic monsters.

  “Thank you,” I’d said in a small voice, hating myself for doing this to them.

  My courtiers had dropped to one knee with their fists on their foreheads, like a Mysthian warrior would do. I’d scanned each face and remembered their names.

  They were prepared to sacrifice themselves to preserve me, so I would have a chance to save Mysth. It should be me, not them, who needed to kneel in gratitude. So I’d knelt before them as I’d fought back my tears.

  “Your Majesty,” I managed to not sound like I was swallowing a mouthful of nails, “I’m glad you like the gifts.”

  “They’re marvelous,” he said, leering at me. “I believe they’re only a portion of what you can offer on our wedding night. I can barely wait for the day to come.”

  My breakfast was working its way up my throat.

  The high prince made a beeline toward the king and me in long strides, with the chilliest look. I let the king puff his breath, reeking of alcohol, down my neck and met the prince’s icy glare.

  “Your Majesty!” the prince demanded in a hard voice. For a second, he looked like he wanted to tear me from his brother’s arms.

  “What?” The king raised his face from between my neck and shoulder blade.

  I’d take a long bath to scrub his scent off me as soon as I returned to the Spring Hall.

  “I have word from Father,” the prince said, his jaw clenched.

  “Must you pass on his words now?” The king glared at his brother. “Haven’t you seen that the princess and I are busy?”

  “Father doesn’t like his orders to be ignored or delayed, and you know that,” snarled the prince.

  “Spit it out then!” the king snapped.

  “Please excuse the princess first,” the prince said. “She isn’t an intended audience.”

  The king reluctantly let go of me, folding his arms across his chest, his black and white wings ruffling behind him in annoyance. “Then why didn’t you come to me earlier? You just had to show off in the arena first, half-naked in front of the females.”

  “I wasn’t showing off,” the prince said. “I don’t care about those females.”

  I cocked an eyebrow, only to meet the prince’s dark look as it gathered all the hostility in the world. “Plus, brother,” he continued, “you’ve been quite busy with the princess’s generous gifts.”

  I’d sent several of my best courtiers to the high prince, but he’d sent them back untouched. He wouldn’t allow himself to be distracted or tempted. He was a like a wolf waiting outside my door, only interested in my bones and my downfall.

  “Are you criticizing the princess’s generosity?” the king asked.

  “Not at all,” the prince said. “I applaud her that she’s the sharing type. All females should learn from the virtuous princess from Mysth of Earth.”

  Bastard! Cold fury rose in me. How dare he judge me! He was but an angel! But his tone of irony also chilled me. I prayed he wouldn’t see though my act of deploying my courtiers. But if he did and moved against me, I could checkmate him as well. I also held his secret in my palms.

  “I appreciate your compliments, Prince Seth,” I said. “You seem to understand female virtues a great deal, even though you haven’t been with one for ages. But I might be wrong. Maybe it’s all rumors in the court. Anyway, I applaud your insights of all things female after millennia of celibacy, either by choice or by something else altogether.”

  The prince’s apathy toward sexual intercourse was whispered behind him. No one had dared flaunt the subject in front of him.

  The prince’s ice grey eyes widened in shock, then they turned stormy. For a second, I thought he’d strike me down.

  My guards rushed forward, and I raised a hand to stop them.

  The king also waved my guards back and burst into laughter, as if he’d never laughed before in his life. His eyes dared the prince to assault me.

  Yes, wouldn’t the king want that? He could use that as an excuse to get rid of his brother at my expense, and then he would explain his action to his lord father nicely.

  “You have no idea what kind of insights I have, Princess Rose Jekaterina Faylinn,” the prince bit out.

  Was it another threat by using my full name? Didn’t he know threats mattered nothing to me, as I lived and slept with them every second?

  “Well, well,” the king said, in a wonderful mood, “wouldn’t we want to know my brother’s insights of last night?”

  The prince narrowed his eyes to slits, but he didn’t rise to the king’s bait.

  I did. I wanted to know. “Enlighten me, Your Majesty. What about last night?”

  “My brother was trying really hard to change his celibate lifestyle,” the king said. “He got the hottest females in his bed.”

  My heart stuttered, then my stomach did a sick flip, as I pictured him mounting another female and thrusting in her with pleasure. I should have embraced the prince being with other females after I’d aroused him. But when it became reality, it still brought a sour aftertaste in my mouth. Furthermore, my stomach now churned with waves of acid. I wanted to strike the prince. I wanted to hurt him for his torrid affair last night.

  Then I realized how ridiculous it was that I’d expected fidelity and loyalty from the prince. My awakening his sexual desire didn’t mean I owned that part of him. He was an angel, after all.

  Still, fury welled in my blood. Unreasonable and unexplainable. The high prince was supposed to be an effective tool I was going to use against his kind. Just as I’d found the angel’s weakness, it was no longer a weakness.

  Now I had to change my plans again.

  I’d pushed him too far in the Spring Hall when I’d pleasured myself in front of him. I’d sent him to another female’s arms and thus lost the only weapon I might have had.

  The prince’s eyes locked on me, not caring about his last night’s copulation being discovered, but more curious to assess my reactions to the news.

  “Good for you, High Prince,” I said in a bored tone. “Now I know where your insights of female virtues came from. Sharing, I see. And congratulations on breaking your fast.”

  “Don’t congratulate him yet,” the king said merrily. “I heard it didn’t go well. Or was I misinformed, Brother?”

  “I had the females in my bed last night,” the prince said without any emotion, “and then I sent them back.”

  “Before the deeds,” the king said.

  “I was merely bored,” the prince said.

  The king chuckled. “Sentenced back to you celibacy then. But don’t be so grim, Seth. Consider yourself lucky.” The king’s tone turned sour. “You’ve become the most sought-after bachelor again. The news has spread that you’re in the market for a mate. All the females will flock to you like flies to spoiled honey.”

  “True. I am hunting for my mate,” the prince said. “There’s only one who can turn me on.” He sent me a challenging smirk that promised all the wickedness.

  My pulse spiked. The prince held my gaze and there was a rush of unseen electricity between us. From the prince’s look, I knew he’d felt the ecstatic charge as well. I had no idea what the king would do to me if he sensed what was transpiring between his brother and me right at that moment.

  “I wish you all th
e luck then, Prince Seth,” I said.

  “I don’t need luck,” the prince said. “I just need the juice.”

  He was referring to my pulling out my fingers from my sheath and tasting the sweet juice on my fingers. I felt a shot of hotness and begged my face not to go all pink.

  The asshole was showing me that he could be reckless and ruthless while I had more at stake if I wanted to play games.

  “That doesn’t make sense, Seth.” The king frowned. “But hunt whoever you want. Just don’t let your eyes wander to my queen. I’ll behead you for that offense.”

  My mouth felt dry.

  The prince threw his head back and laughed toward the sky.

  “That was funny, Your Majesty,” I said. “Because that won’t happen in a million years. I guess that’s why Prince Seth is almost choked by his own laughter.”

  The prince stopped laughing and snapped his gaze toward me, his eyes no longer grey but a shining silver before going a few shades darker.

  “I guess you hurt my brother’s pride again, Rose,” the king said. “But have no fear. He won’t dare touch a single hair on your head while I’m here.”

  “It offers such a comfort to know, Your Majesty,” I said.

  “The princess has no need to fear me if she has discipline,” the prince said and smirked at my seething anger. He fanned out his wings, ready to leave the scene.

  “Don’t you have word from Father?” the king asked.

  “That can wait, Your Majesty,” the prince said the words through his clenched teeth, then unfurled his vast wings, and took flight.

  “He hasn’t been riled up like this for ages,” the king said in satisfaction. “That prick is always jealous of me. My forthcoming wedding must have made him feel lacking, so he wants to find a female as well. But he still can’t get it up.” The king laughed. “Oh, skies! I never thought there’d be this day!”

  Chapter 26

  PRINCE SETH

  A ridge of white-capped mountains receded beneath me. The air had changed its temper and I rode the tumultuous current. My body’s temperature rose to match the frosty air.

  The image of my brother’s lips nuzzling the girl’s neck was stuck in my mind like a dirty picture. Why didn’t she shove him off? When she’d refused to take action, I’d had to hurry to her side to break her entanglement with my brother.

  I’d warned myself she wasn’t mine, but I hadn’t been able to obey my own logic. I simply couldn’t stand him laying his fingers on her.

  She’d started to affect me like a virus.

  I’d never been scarred, broken, or tormented by an inferiority complex like my despicable brother. But for the first time, I was inflicted by the disease of jealousy. As Agro forever envied my power, I now resented his possession of the princess. I should have killed him two centuries ago when I’d had the chance.

  My brother had believed that my murderous look had been aimed at the princess when I’d fought in the arena. Every bit of it had been meant for him. I’d pushed back the urge to cut down my king brother when he’d grazed his lips over the princess’s delicate skin.

  While I’d fought Ephraim, my cock had been hot for the princess.

  Her scent had been in my lungs, making a nest. I breathed in, and it was her perfume. I exhaled, and it was full of her aroma.

  I’d pictured the plump folds of her silky sex while in the middle of dueling a warrior. A lesser angel would have gotten himself killed, being distracted like that.

  This had to stop.

  Even when I’d been in my teens, I hadn’t thought of intercourse this often.

  Ephraim had noticed both my inefficiency in parrying and my sudden shift of mood. He’d traced my line of sight to the princess.

  Ephraim was an old friend. For an eon, we’d fought shoulder-to-shoulder in battles and bedded females together.

  As soon as he’d looked back at me, puzzled after sizing up the Mysthian princess, I’d shocked him with lightning. I could be cold-hearted like that. I hadn’t intended for him to find out that the fey female had broken the seal of my lust. By striking my friend, I’d also shown the princess how ruthless I was. If she wanted to play games or make me her prey, she should think twice before making the next move.

  I lowered my wings and descended toward a cliff that faced the endless rainforest. The mountain was at such a high altitude that it seemed to reach into the sky, cut off only by clouds. My villa was inside a vast, natural cave. It had advanced facilities to make its host comfortable.

  I always had a hideaway.

  In another universe, light years from Earth, I’d kept a whole planet for myself. When my lord father had appointed me to take down one of the worlds, I’d used the Forbidden Glory to cloak the planet and make my father believe it was barren.

  I pushed a button on my wrist device, remotely uncloaked the entrance of the cave, and dove into my lodge.

  I unfurled my wings and stopped before a full window, looking at the endless treetops. Sunshine spilled on them. Thin clouds drifted by, blocking and reflecting the sun.

  I wondered if the fey princess would appreciate the view, even though it was different from the kingdom of Mysth.

  Mysth was the purest, wildest beauty on Earth. I’d once flown over it with my warriors. My brother and his royal guards had joined me on the expedition, and he had coveted the realm ever since.

  A vast forest half enclosed the silver city. The trees stretched high into the sky, and a wicked wind patrolled the ancient forest. Dusk lingered on the realm longer than any other place on Earth, making it the most mesmerizing, dreamy kingdom. That was why Mysth was called the twilight realm.

  Time flowed differently in Mysth. Unmatched magic waves moved through the deep earth, and that was the Earth power my lord father lusted after.

  If he hadn’t been tied up by the final battle to crash the rebel force—the fallen angels —in my home world at the far end of the universe, he’d have been here to reap the magic himself.

  Forbidden Glory—the power source of the angels—had cracked the magic walls of Mysth, but it couldn’t locate the Earth’s magic source. The pulse had been everywhere, but the core of the elemental magic remained hidden.

  My brother hadn’t recognized the earth magic that rippled through the twilight realm, but he craved its beauty and riches. He also wanted to add the fey princess of legendary beauty to his collection.

  He’d planned to invade Mysth, but I knew that the Mysthians wouldn’t surrender like the Dragonian, despite the Emperor of Mysth being weak. The angels would win, but the Mysthians would burn every inch of their land and turn the twilight realm, the wildest beauty, into a wasteland before they let us inhabit it.

  When I’d sensed the pulse of the magic in the twilight realm, I’d been struck by the strangest feeling, as if I was finally home. I’d convinced my lord father not to touch Mysth for the time being and had my brother back off from taking it by force.

  “Earth magic isn’t like any power we’ve encountered in other worlds,” I’d made my argument to my father. “We conquer and colonize worlds for practical reasons. It’s bad business to destroy the rare magic realm on Earth when it won’t benefit our race. We need to wait and observe before we strike.”

  The Lord of All Angels had listened.

  As I’d investigated further into the earth magic and traced its source, the Mysthian prophecy had reached my ears: the great earth magic was hidden in the last descendant of the Mysthian royal blood.

  I wouldn’t have taken the prophecy into consideration if it hadn’t also predicted the arrival of the beings with wings—us— long before we’d discovered this planet.

  The second half of the prophecy foretold that the chosen one would lead the earthlings to fight the mighty winged beings with the earth magic and claim the final victory, which I’d dismissed as the earthborn’s wishful thinking.

  No one could defeat us. No race had beaten the angels, the conquerors of the universe. We were born a warri
or breed. Every one of us was trained in weapons as soon as we could walk and fly. The Mysthians might be the strongest species on Earth, but we’d eliminated far more advanced species than them.

  But if the first part of the prophecy was at all accurate, then the great earth magic must be in Princess Rose—the last of the Mysthian royal bloodline.

  I would have to go through her to extricate the earth power. However, there was this one catch: Forbidden Glory could only harvest the elemental power when it surfaced and manifested.

  After the reaping, the Earth would be a barren planet, harsh to live in.

  My brother and his angels would be trapped here with the earthlings for a long while, until my lord father had another use of him, and I’d leave with the contained earth power. I would regret that the twilight realm would be a fading dream.

  The Princess of Mysth hadn’t known the real danger awaiting her. She was the only reason angels hadn’t invaded her kingdom. It didn’t matter in the end. It was a matter of time before all earthborn would face their destruction.

  Even since the princess had stirred the lust in me, I’d sent spies into Mysth to find out more about her. I’d once thought this nineteen-year-old pampered fey female was but a pawn or a victim in the angels’ grand scale of conquering and uniting the universe.

  My network had reported back that Princess Rose had wanted a revolution in Mysth, but her emperor father had tried to silence her voice. The Mysthians were angry at the crown for selling out their beloved Morning Star of Mysth to the angels.

  Some regions had broken out in riots against the emperor’s rules.

  With the whole realm backing her up, the princess could have overthrown her father and refused to come to Atlantis, yet she’d come.

  But she hadn’t come to seek the angels’ acceptance or alliance.

  She hadn’t come to appease me, the true power of the angels’ royal house. She’d intentionally ruffled my feathers at every turn.