“I know. But you must not let on.”
I frowned but still answered, “I promise.”
“I’ve marked where Yzin’s soldiers will enter –“ he said, and held his hand out to me. I took it, and felt the passing of a piece of knowledge – the sensation of being called from deep in the Feather Palace’s halls. “When they breech the wall, you’ll have to protect them until they get up here to help fight.”
“I will.”
A moment of silence passed between us as we both contemplated our difficult paths, and then Zaan reached down to stroke himself with a sigh. “I can’t believe I was displayed like this.”
“I’m the one who has to fuck you in front of all of them,” I said, stepping close. He grimaced and shook his head.
“It’d better be you when I wake again, Ilylle.”
“It will be.” I pushed his hand out of the way and replaced it with my own. He was soft – because unlike Joshan he was mortal and knew fear. I leaned in, as his hands took the position they’d held for centuries when he was a statue. “The next time you see me…” My voice drifted, search for words. “I’ll be right in front of you – when you wake up, I’ll be the first thing you see. You’ll feel me wrapped around you, and you’ll know that I am yours and you are mine.”
My Zaibann’s chest heaved and emotions raced across his face – sympathy, longing, need – and his cock firmed in my hand. “Ilylle,” he whispered, as I wished that stiffness through his entire body, for him to be bereft of life as I knew it, to change back into a statue. I closed my eyes and willed it as I kept stroking -- and when I realized I was rubbing stone I opened my eyes again.
It had worked. I was alone inside the Feather Palace once more.
“This is not a good-bye, but a parting,” I whispered, and stepped back.
Chapter Sixteen
“Am I doing something wrong, my Queen?”
I shook my head. “No, Beza. Just keep going.”
There’d been a time in my life when I’d looked forward to ceremonial baths – the endless quantities of oils that Beza poured on my skin and then scraped off, the way her fingers massaged between my muscles, slipping over every inch of my skin.
If I were still the naive girl I’d been mere days ago, I’d be twisting and turning inside Beza’s embrace, whispering my foolish hopes into her unreal ears. But now, knowing all? Each bath was intolerable, and each touch burned like flame.
I pulled on the simple white silk dress I was supposed to sleep in somehow, and entered my bed. Either the zoomers or Joshan had straightened the sheets after my last encounter with Zaan – there was nothing that proved he’d ever been here at all, except for my memories.
I tugged the sheets up as the lights in the chamber dimmed – and a man appeared in the hallway.
I leaped up, Zaan’s name on my lips – just as he strode in, and I realized it was Railan.
“My Queen,” he said, by way of announcement.
“High Councilman,” I responded, clutching my sheets up to my neck. When was the last time Railan had come by personally? Was he going to wrestle me into the cradle again?
“I’m sorry to startle you,” he said with a bow, before walking in to sit at the edge of my bed. “I just wanted to see with my own eyes that you were ready.” I felt his power snaking around the room, pressing in. It was hard not to let my magic flare in indignant response – but I remembered my promise in time.
“I can’t wait,” I said, feigning breathlessness. “I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for this day.”
Railan chuckled, his power receding. “Indeed you have. You have no idea, my Queen, just how magical tomorrow will be.”
When a group of men would be standing nearby waiting to watch me die. I kept my smile plastered on and was grateful for the lowered lights. “Tell me about it?” I begged him.
He shook his head. “There’s no way to explain it, Ilylle. It’s an experience you just have to go through.” He stood and looked at me and I wondered how many Queens he had looked at in the past, just like this, hungering for their lives. “Good-night, my Queen. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
“And I, you,” I said, still smiling. But not the way you think.
I managed to sleep at the end of the night, but Beza woke me early to work on pinning up my hair. The celestitians had sent a dress for me – it was gold and absolutely lovely, the kind of dress I would adore if I hadn’t known I was meant to die with it on. Soon singing started in the Zaibann Chamber, and other servants came into my dressing room.
“Happy Tide’s Day, my Queen,” said a blonde as she entered, and it was echoed by a brunette by her side.
“And happy Tide’s Day to you,” I responded to both of them.
“You look lovely, my Queen,” said the brunette.
“Thank you,” I said. Neither of them were real either, but they set to helping Beza straighten out the hem of my gown, after lacing me into exquisitely gilded shoes, and then they all fussed over setting gemstones into my hair, and brought out jeweled bracelets for my wrists and arms.
I caught sight of myself in the mirror when they were through. I looked like a creature made of gold and glass – I closed my eyes as they powdered my cheeks and reddened my lips.
“We’re finished, my Queen,” the blonde announced. “Are you ready?”
I inhaled and exhaled deeply. I was so close to seeing Zaan again – everything would be all right if I just focused on that. “Yes.”
“I’m so glad, my Queen,” the brunette enthused. She offered me her hand and I took it, walking with her in the unfamiliar heeled shoes they’d put me in, into my own chamber, where a crew of male servants – Joshan included – stood on either side of some sort of strange chair.
“What is that?” I asked before I could help myself – but surely asking some questions was normal.
“It’s your wedding throne, my Queen,” the blonde said, smiling eagerly.
I had a throne. This did not look like one. It looked molded for my body, with holes at intervals on its edges. “And I’m supposed to sit in it?”
“Yes, my Queen. It’s part of the ceremony,” said the brunette. I looked to Beza and saw neither confirmation nor denial.
Did Railan know? Was that chair some way to trap me and put me into the cradle again? There was no way of knowing – there was only going through.
“If you will, my Queen,” the brunette said, pulling me gently. I went with her and pretended not to care.
Once I’d sat on the ‘throne’, the remaining servants looped gold chains through the holes to lash me down at my chest and waist, while the ones at my ankles were hidden by my dress.
“Are you ready, my Queen?” the blonde asked, as the singing down the hall took on a fevered pitch.
“Yes,” I answered calmly, fighting to keep my magic down.
The servants started singing and wheeled my throne out of my chambers, down the hall to where I’d left Zaan.
I knew the words to the song as they pushed me, and knew too that I ought to be singing along at this point, at my pleasure at meeting my true King at last, and how lovely it was going to be to be paired with him, ruling Aranda side-by-side.
I moved my mouth but no words came out. What if I couldn’t turn Zaan back? What if I did, and the room was full of more cradles, and both of us died? I felt my power begin to swell in me in my panic, then remembered to press it back down, forcing myself to sing a few notes. Beza was walking beside me, and Joshan somewhere behind – I wanted them to stay close, but didn’t think it was safe.
“Joshan, Beza, wait for me in my room, will you? I’ll be back soon.”
“Of course, my Queen,” they both answered at once, and bowed away from my ‘throne’.
The other servants kept singing as we walked through the doorway. My council was arrayed three rows deep in an even arc away from Zaan, and they turned to watch me enter as my new throne was pushed down the aisle. Some of them had tears str
eaming down their cheeks – for me? For my fate? No, I realized as I looked around, my elaborate hair crunching on the throne’s back behind me – they were crying with relief for themselves, that my death would invigorate them again. I sought out Yzin instinctively. He wasn’t crying and I kept his gaze for as long as I could, until the servants pushed me past.
Railan stood in front of Zaan, in his red robes with their gold flying lilans, holding a book. The song was almost done now and somehow I’d managed to keep singing, out of years of habit and foolish hope. When it finished Railan made a gesture and the servants brought me near. It was impossible to look at him and not think of all we’d done, the time we’d spent – my magic wanted to flare, but I pushed it down.
“Ilylle, Queen of Dreams, you have served Aranda long and well,” Railan said, smiling graciously. “It is time that you take your reward in the arms of your Zaibann King, who you will rule with side by side forevermore.”
Railan leaned forward and picked up my skirts, pulling them high, as the throne tilted precipitously back. I gasped, both at being jolted and exposed.
“I am sorry the manner of your wedding has been withheld from you till now, but you will come to understand things quickly enough,” he said. Servants spun wheels on either side of me, and the throne I was lashed to split apart at the thighs, pulling one leg to either side, as other wheels propped the whole thing up, so that Zaan and I were almost level.
Railan reached into a pocket of his robe and pulled out a jar, unscrewing its lid, to dip in his fingers. He slicked something on Zaan’s cock, and then pressed his hand to my dark place, greasing me there. I gasped as he leaned forward. “My final kindness to you, my unwedded Queen.” He waved his other hand and the song started up again, as he walked back out of sight.
Servants on either side started rowing the throne forward, as others spun more wheels, all the better to align my pussy with Zaan’s cock. As much as I wanted him to be alive again, I didn’t want it like this – with singing servants on either side, and all of the council waiting at my back. I closed my eyes and bit my lip and tried not to gasp as his coldness pressed in.
His name was on my lips but I managed not to say it. I tilted myself as the servants rowed me fractionally back and forth, my dark place taking more of his cock in each time. He was so hard now it hurt, but that didn’t matter – what mattered was getting him inside me, so that together our magic would flow out.
“My King,” I said, as the servants pushed me forward again, and I winced. “My love –“ I whispered, only for him, on their next thrust.
With a final push, we sealed, his chill cock settled inside and I squeezed it tight with my dark place, just as I’d told him I would.
“Live, my King,” I commanded, and let my magic burst out.
Color returned to Zaan in an instant, and he sagged forward against my throne. They’d aligned that part perfectly, his mouth fell against my neck, and I felt the heat of his warm breath. “Is it you?” I felt more than heard him say.
“It is,” I answered just as low.
He bit down then, and I gasped, pulling at him inside of me. He leaned on the throne and took two more thrusts, while filling himself with my blood. I could almost hear the councilmen waiting for the moment of my death, imagining them leaning forward in their seats – as Zaan raked his hands through the chains at my side, freeing me.
“Let’s show them how we will rule, my Queen,” he said, pulling back and out of me, lips stained with my blood in a cruel smile, before turning into smoke.
Chapter Seventeen
I heard the sounds of the battle begin behind me before I could turn. I leaned forward to undo the chains at my ankles, as the heads of servants rolled on the ground – I could see the metal inside, just like Zaan said there’d be – and he’d already winnowed half the first row of councilmen -- soon the heads of Jallisan, Oinan, and Bronan rolled on the ground beside their slaves.
I leapt down from the throne, turned towards the room, and Railan’s power buffeted me like a wall. “You were supposed to die, girl!”
The force of it stunned me and I staggered back until I hit the pedestal where Zaan had been. Feeling its cold stone behind me reminded me of all he’d done to others of my kind – I unleashed a torrent of rage at him. It twinkled in the air between us like fire.
“I hate you!” I screamed.
His surprise was evident on his face as he tried to stand against my onslaught. Zaan’s mercilessness continued, disappearing and reappearing to crush skulls and break necks.
“My people are through, Ilylle! Shield them!” Yzin shouted. Others of his kind realized his deception and fell on him as he stepped back.
I sought out Zaan’s marker with my mind, until I saw a group of men and women surrounded by waist-high zoomers, the size that’d moved Zaan’s statue. Their paws opened up and instead of dusters and sewing implements, weaponry came out, and they began lashing bullets at them.
I screamed in horror – and flung a hand out. In an instant, they were covered in a bubble of safety, though I could feel every time the bullets hit my wall.
“Ilylle!” Zaan said, reforming near me.
“Keep fighting!” I commanded, and he disappeared again.
Railan lifted his hands to the ceiling. “I’m not losing twenty-thousand years of life to you –“ he shouted, and it started raining fire.
I threw a shield out to protect myself, feeling divided – it was like one of my eyes watched the growing chaos around me as the councilmen fought against Zaan, while the other watched Yzin’s people struggle against the zoomers. Their progress was slow – the zoomers were relentless, as was Railan’s onslaught – without thinking about it, I pulled them here.
They reformed in the middle of the chamber, their own weapons out, still under the protection of my shield. In seconds, bullets ricocheted around the room.
Up until that moment, the council hadn’t realized they were fighting for their lives. Surprised by the change of events and weakened from waiting for my power, they’d responded slowly – but now I felt them attacking me. A wall of wind rushed through the room and put Railan’s fires out, but took all the air with it, trying to choke me – I fought back and forced the room to breathe. Intolerable heat welled up from the ground, and set the throne on fire, but I changed my shield to keep Yzin’s fighters cool, as decapitated servant bodies melted on the ground.
Everything slowed. All I could manage was defense as tidal waves of magic buffeted the room. I wasn’t fast enough once and a soldier’s arm vaporized outside my protection – she screamed, as I screamed at seeing it – and all my walls wavered.
“Keep going!” Yzin ordered from his corner of the room, where two councilmen beset him. They were pressing in and –
“No!” I shouted as one of them sheathed a knife in Yzin’s stomach. “No! No! No!”
The room became electrified around me. The bodies that remained all flew up, as did the councilmen and soldiers, everyone that was left inside the chamber. “No!” I shouted, putting an end to anyone’s magic still inside the room. Everyone, everything, dropped. The soldiers recovered before the few remaining councilmen did, and fell on them. The sounds of gunshot echoed in the chamber and rang down all the Feather Palace’s halls, as I ran to Yzin’s side. “Let me heal you –“ I fell to kneeling and reached for his wound.
Zaan reformed beside me in a moment, placing his hand on my shoulder.
Yzin grunted. “Don’t worry. I remember my promise, Zaibann. I wouldn’t have gone through with this if I wasn’t prepared to die.”
“But – it’s not fair –“ I began.
“It is. No one should live as long as I have.” Yzin looked past me. “Elissa!”
The soldier whose arm had been vaporized stepped up – her other arm still held a metal gun. So many things I had only read about, only to now see them all. “The men taking Railan’s compound haven’t checked in yet, Sir.”
Yzin made another groanin
g sound, this time in anger. “Is he dead?” I looked around the carnage of the room, the pools of metal, blood, and ash. I couldn’t tell what was what anymore, but I felt inside my bones that he was not among their number.
“No. I marked him while we were fighting,” Zaan said, before I could voice my concern. “I can feel him moving –“
Yzin’s face went whiter. “Both of you, go after him now – I’m sure he has backup plans – if he wakes and kills another clone, it just might be enough –“
Zaan stepped back, half of him twisting to smoke. “I can’t take you my way.”
I put my hand out for Zaan’s and caught it before he changed. “But I can take you mine. Show me where to go.”
My King looked from my hand to me and then I felt the knowledge of his marker wash in.
Chapter Eighteen
We reappeared together inside a metal hall. Zaan went to smoke in an instant and I whirled to look at our surroundings.
The walls were lined with what looked like human-sized jars. And in each of them was a different version of me. Some of them were half-formed, others floating groups of organs held together by tenuous tissue, and still others looked ready to breathe.
I spun, surrounded by horrors.
“Do you grasp your true nature now, my Queen?” Railan taunted, his voice piped in overhead. I couldn’t feel his marker anymore, I didn’t know where he was. “And you thought you could trace me, Zaibann? Please. I have not forgotten your skills since the time I saw you last.”
Zaan reformed beside me, his expression dark. “You need to get out of here, Ilylle. Go back.”
“Not until everything inside this room is destroyed.” I threw my power against the nearest glass jar. It cracked, and a lifeless girl who looked like me slid out in a rush of foul smelling liquid.
“How will you control Aranda, Ilylle?” Railan taunted. His voice traveled now, as though he were walking the perimeter of the room. “You’re just a concept, a name. No one’s ever seen you – there’s even a religion that posits that you don’t exist. That’s how little you matter to them.”
The Hated (Sleeping With Monsters Book 3) Page 14
