by Addison Cain
Instantly softer, the emperor offered reassurance. “I know why you came here. I will not leave you waiting long.”
She wanted it over now. “I have waited five days.”
Sovereign took a small step nearer, running his thumb over her mouth. “Seven days, Sigil. And you are doing well. I am very proud of your progress.”
Unacceptable. He needed to fuck her and get it over with so she could leave Irdesian lunacy and return to her solitude surrounded by water. “I don’t want a pat on the head!”
Cold outrage mutilated the beauty of Sovereign’s expression. “Sigil, you will go into the safety of your rooms at this very moment.”
Her legs dragged over the ground, Karhl ushering her physically out of the mad swarm of Brothers and elite convert soldiers, out of the dark, and into a thicker cloying blackness.
Chapter 5
He had kept her waiting, leaving Sigil frustrated and sequestered in an unfamiliar place. Even so, Sovereign had not expected to find her as she was.
“What is she doing?” His frown sat tight under a scowl.
“Drinking,” Arden answered, looking through the translucent golden partitions that surrounded the great table in the Imperial Consort’s quarters.
Sovereign was not amused. “And Karhl has allowed this?”
“Not at first.” The golden one shrugged, eyeing the female sitting alone at a table cut from a single slab of onyx, her fingertips tracing over etchings filled with bronze. “But she started to cry, and he gave her what she wanted.”
Karhl stood like an over-muscled fixture where the female sat pouring herself another serving of rare Tessan Fire Spirits.
Sigil had tried to wipe off the white paint crusting her forehead, tried to free herself from the bindings in her hair, and had clearly shredded a good deal of her clothes.
As if armed with the secrets of the universe, Arden smirked, peeking towards Sovereign from the corner of his eye. “I don’t think she can move her leg.”
“Is that why she cried?” The emperor spoke lowly, his strategy for her arrival ruined beyond repair.
“No. She wants to go back to Xevdrik Anni—to her Seasons and her Jerla. Karhl told her that would be impossible, explaining how the tale of what took place on the landing would have spread throughout the city. Now that Converts know the Imperial Consort has awoken, and until her position is established, she is unsafe away from the Brotherhood’s seat of power.”
Sovereign’s crossed arms flexed, eyes raging to find Sigil so unhappy. “He was correct.”
Putting a hand on his Brother’s shoulder, Arden explained. “She blames you, of course.” The quicksilver smirk was back, the golden one moving the second Sigil reached for an unopened flask. “Upset or no, she does not need that second bottle of spirits. So, I am going to go take that away from her and hope Karhl keeps her from drinking my blood instead.”
Projecting a voice light and carefree, Arden moved into her line of sight. “Jerla is in transit, Sister. He will be here soon, where you will see that he is safe.”
Sigil snarled. “He will think he is being taken to the sands.”
The fresh bottle was swiped out of her reach, Arden tutting. “No one will let him think such a thing. And when he arrives, your boy will know he can trust you.”
“You give me that bottle, Arden, or I will rip off your arm and take it from your bleeding corpse!”
Moving back so fast her eyes could hardly follow, the Herald chuckled. “Are you going to hop one-legged after me?”
No. She would use her newfound ability to exercise what Sovereign deemed useful psionics. It was not easy, her sad lack for subtlety yanking more objects near her than just one lean Herald. But in the end, she had the bottle, Karhl had been soundly pegged in the head, and Arden was no longer grinning.
Intervening in the mayhem, Sovereign rounded the partition. “Arden, leave.”
Bowing, the Herald bypassed the mess Sigil’s unpracticed mental tug had piled on the floor and exited the chamber.
“Precious Sigil, you have my apologies. This was not how I envisioned introducing you to the palace, the family quarters...” Sovereign’s eyes went to the bottle at her mouth, “or my cellar.”
Swallowing loudly, Sigil rubbed her lips together before phrasing her question. “If I had not attacked your soldier, would I have been allowed to return to the Water Palace?”
The issue might as well be dealt with directly. “No.”
Regret, the sense she did not believe him, sat open on her face. “Why?”
“This is your home, Sigil.” He rested his hand on hers. “And it has been waiting for you, just as I have.”
She was beginning to get upset. “You saw what happened. I was not more than three steps off the cruiser!”
“What happened?” Sovereign smiled, projecting pride in what she’d done. “You uncovered a Soshiia rebel agent long before I believe he intended to act. My gratitude is yours.”
After a long drink Sigil demanded an explanation. “What is Soshiia?”
“Had you read the journals Arden wrote for you, you would know, and spare me a lengthy explanation. Fortunately, they are being transferred here, along with your other things.”
Narrowing her eyes, threatening him in every aspect of her demeanor, Sigil hissed, “I don’t want what I came here for anymore... I just want to be left alone!”
Sovereign nodded, going so far as to remove his touch from her hand. “I understand.”
Outright suspicion shown on her face. “You... you do?”
“Drink your fire spirits. Karhl can show you your sleeping chamber when you’re tired. Your desire for solitude will be respected, though I expect Jerla will want to see you when he arrives.”
Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, Sigil took a deep breath. “Jerla is welcome.”
“As you wish, beloved.” Nothing more was offered, Sovereign stood, bowing just as Arden had, and left the room.
***
Sovereign’s implanted communicator relayed there were greater issues than Sigil drinking herself into a stupor. Arden awaited him at the gates to the Family Wing, and required the presence of the emperor at once.
Leaving her was wise. Karhl would tend her, her confidence would return, and the sight of Jerla would add normalcy to an unstable situation. But there was one approaching, one who would go as far as to break down the door if Sovereign did not intervene.
An expression of hate passed over the emperor’s face. He glared as if he could see through the walls, beyond the barred entry of Sigil’s wing, all the way to where Lord Commander Tiburon waited, his faction of the Brotherhood behind him.
Navigating the corridors and antechambers, Sovereign came to the massive double doors and motioned for them to be opened. Once he stepped through they were sealed like a vault, leaving the emperor dwarfed before the great portal.
Lord Commander Tiburon’s eyes threatened violence against the smaller Herald standing in defense of the passage. “If you believe you can command me, Arden, I will gladly remind you that a Herald does not outrank a Lord Commander. I could crush you, as Sigil could crush you. That you were tasked with her keeping is laughable.”
Tiburon had arrived fully armored, armed even, his shaved head cocked so the long scar that ran in a diagonal over his eye caught the light. Finding Sovereign appear only to close the gate, the Lord Commander sneered towards the Emperor next. “Is it as Arden claims? You would deny me the company of our Sigil?”
Sovereign smiled, the curve of his lips anything but welcoming. “Her demeanor is agitated. She requested solitude.”
A nasty grin came to the face of the most aggressive of their kind. “I will fuck her calm.”
Arden interposed, assertive, though lesser in comparison to the Lord Commander Tiburon’s bulk. “Karhl is with her.”
A disgusted throat noise came from Tiburon. “A Brother who can’t bring himself to spread her legs for her own good. Sigil would not have been in h
arm’s way on the ramparts had she been mounted and subdued properly before arrival. Had she arrived of sound mind, she could have told us of the conspiracy without unveiling the agent. An opportunity to track the origins of the Soshiia infection has been wasted.”
“That would have been ideal, yes. But you forget, Lord Commander Tiburon,” the title was spoken in full to emphasize that the aggressor ranked below the calm-faced Emperor, “that she is not our ally as of yet. What makes you think she would have spoken a word to assist our Empire? What makes you think the Soshiia might not have tried to seduce her with promises of our demise? Now they will fear her. It is better this way.”
“You coddle her too much,” Tiburon ran a finger over his metal filled scar—the mark he wore with great pride—licking his lips as he looked to the door separating him from the female. “It is why she does not respect you, and why you cannot bring her into a fertile cycle. Sigil requires a firmer hand.”
A low growl escaped Sovereign’s chest at the insult.
With a vicious smile breaking across his face, Tiburon laughed under his breath. Turning, he motioned for the Brothers at his back to retreat. “When it’s my turn, she won’t be able to walk for a week. I’ll do what you can’t and inspire our little slut into heat. It might be your seed that gets her fat, but all will know the first daughter was really mine.”
***
Hours spent torturing the Soshiia infiltrator did little to calm the rage within the emperor. As usual, the human died giving little information, reminding Sovereign of Tiburon’s taunt.
In many ways, the Lord Commander had been correct. Sigil might not have outright attacked the human had she not been on the cusp of regression. And leaving her in that state was a risk—an even greater risk now that the Brotherhood must concede a spy had climbed through the upper ranks unnoticed.
It should not have been possible.
Traversing her vacant living areas, Sovereign found shreds of clothes made a trail towards her sleeping chamber—breadcrumbs left to follow. Entering the room, he found her tucked in the great bed he’d commissioned be carved by the finest artisans of the human worlds eighty years prior. Gillatern Forest’s largest tree rose to touch cathedral ceilings, the branching sculpture detailed with birds in flight, bedecked with renditions of the empire’s most beautiful flowers, hung with banners of pure white draped against so much black lacquered wood. Seeming innocent in sleep, Sigil lay naked, white paint matting the roots of her hair, embraced in the arms of Karhl, who stroked her, the Lord Commander clearly enjoying the moment of intimacy between them.
“She will be disturbed to be subjected to what must be done,” Sovereign grunted, face devoid of emotion as he began to strip and approach. Once naked, he crawled between the covers, pressing close to the woman who smelled of grass and honey liqueur.
Thick fingers carding through her long, silvery hair, Karhl regarded the sleeping female. “Her transition was complex. Hours ago I stood defensive of imminent attack. Sigil’s eyes had tracked my every movement. She’d begun to cycle her psionics—the buildup obvious with her lack of training. Had her leg been fully functional, I am certain I would have been forced to restrain her. Jerla’s arrival was well-timed. One look at him, at his skittish body language, and she became a lamb.”
Watching his beloved, longing greatly to reach out and run his thumb over the line formed between her brows, Sovereign sighed. “Lamb is not a title she would appreciate.”
“True…” Head bent, Karhl nuzzled the female’s hair, inhaling deeply.
Sovereign, watching the rise and fall of his Consort’s breaths, said, “Tiburon demands access to her. For her own good she must be fully stable.”
Karhl’s counterpart held great power in the Empire and had a very strong right to the woman.
The lightest of touches traced over parted, soft lips, Sovereign calling to her, “My precious Sigil.”
She came awake.
Sigil might have moved, but Karhl lay like a stone wall at her back. The Lord Commander toyed with her hair, the sensation familiar, the warrior projecting contentment which clashed sharply with the darker hunger behind the emperor’s gently smiling mask.
Every emotion inside the male was intent on devouring her, his constrained objective displayed by the way his cock swelled against her belly. Yet all Sovereign did was ask, “How is your leg?”
Testing the limb for weakness, Sigil found all feeling had returned. “Functional.”
Her small movement, the marginal slide of a warm body, brought just enough sensation across his swollen organ that the emperor’s breath caught. Sovereign braced before he foolishly rutted in search of more disgustingly perfect friction.
Before she might balk, Karhl’s nose skimmed her neck, the giant whispering, “He will see to you and I shall leave.”
“No.” Her negation was abrupt, as was the way her hand shot out to claw Karhl’s hip. Sigil had come to Irdesi Prime specifically to take Sovereign into her body. The emperor was strongest, instinctively her chemical reaction to him would always be greatest, but at that moment she didn’t want to be alone with him.
Sigil might have subjected herself to the deserved penalty of the Empire’s control out of contrition for failing Que. She might have fought every impulse to strike out, feigning capitulation. She might have feared what would happen to Jerla should she fail to navigate this new unscrupulous environment. But Sigil was still, at heart, a formidable warrior—one who hated the thought she would be forced into submission should she fail to maintain self-control.
Turning towards the Lord Commander, she met Karhl’s limpid eyes.
He kneaded her spine, Karhl offering his mouth. Sigil could have denied his kiss; she could have cast him off. She could have done many things... had Que survived.
The familiar touch was soothing, the expertise of the white-haired warrior’s lips a perfect distraction. In the oddest sense, even under the insistent caress of two men, if she let herself forget the why of it, the moment almost belonged only to her and the Lord Commander.
Sovereign encouraged the illusion, maneuvering so Sigil would face his subordinate. Lifting her buttocks high in the air he kneeled, cautious to harmonize with the cadence of another’s touch upon his female. It was only when Sigil hesitated at the feel of his swollen cock at her cleft that Sovereign tangled his hand in her hair, gently urging her head down so Sigil’s lips might part and be filled with the pierced member Karhl held out in offering.
This was an act she enjoyed.
To feel the drag of metal studs over her tongue, to taste the organ she had admired and denied herself... brought Sigil zeal for more. Her tongue swirling around so large a beast, Sovereign parted slippery folds, groaning at the pretty hole that wept in need. One bracing surge impaled her on the emperor’s cock, Sigil rocking forward to swallow the remainder of Karhl’s girth down her throat.
It was... bliss.
Where her skin felt like fire, four hands soothed. Where her body had been empty, she was perfectly full.
In tandem, well-timed penetration kept nerves eager to be satisfied attended, vigorous rocking edging the female into ecstasy.
Had it been Sovereign alone trying to touch her so tenderly, she would have clawed and fought for roughness. Yet working as one, the Brothers disarmed and drew her into lovemaking.
When she seemed on the cusp of aggression, Sovereign lay a pinch on her nape. It was just enough to make her moan, not enough to make her weak. Sigil’s attention remained consumed in the feel of her throat around Karhl’s pulsing organ, the vibration of her grunts and hungry cries making the Lord Commander’s balls draw up tight.
Karhl had his hands in her hair, holding it back so he could see his cock disappear into her warm, wet mouth. The pump of his hips, she chased after his withdrawing dick, eager to swallow him down again, her enthusiasm for him enough to send the white-haired warrior beyond self-control.
Reaching down to knead his sack, hearing the woman’s gr
eedy sucking noises, something centuries in the making broke from the base of Karhl’s spine until his body contorted. He gushed like a geyser, the flat of Sigil’s tongue dancing amidst the studs. Hollowed velvet cheeks stroking, she lapped the very life from the roaring Lord Commander.
Watching her suck him clean, Karhl reeled at the beauty of his cock popping free of Sigil’s puckered lips, glorified at the hooded glacial eyes of his lover. With the shine of saliva and spilled sperm on her mouth, Sigil rocked with no anchor, Sovereign pounding her hard, employing the aggression both warriors knew she preferred.
Eager to please her as she had pleased him, Karhl lifted her back onto the emperor’s waiting arms. Sovereign held her upright, cupping her breasts as if offering their beauty to the Lord Commander. In a swoop, Karhl ducked his head, lapping her nipples, pulling taut, pink flesh forward with his teeth until she squealed and gripped at the ropes of his hair.
Hungry to hear more of that beautiful noise, his mouth went lower, Karhl holding her hips steady so Sovereign might piston his cock into the very place Karhl longed to devour. Watching her sweet pussy, so pink and full, was glorious, catching the metal rod that dragged over her pert, needy clit, sublime.
Beyond Sigil’s excited moans, even Sovereign panted at the feel of Kharl’s frenzied tongue when it brushed his shaft in an effort to get more of her taste.
Gripping her breasts, rolling his body so the head of his cock might plunder deep, Sovereign closed his teeth over her nape the second Sigil’s pleasure peaked. Subjected to a rough bite, Sigil inadvertently choked her cunt down on Sovereign’s pulsing shaft, the man drawing from her lips a scream so pure it would have stiffened the cock of every Brother near enough to hear it.
Even with her thrashing, Kharl did not ease the frantic licking of her pussy. He gave Sigil no respite, no quarter, not even pausing when his Brother began to spurt so greatly her taste grew salty with come.
Sigil had to beg him to stop before Karhl locked his lips to hers, jamming his tongue in her mouth so she might taste the beauty of the three of them at once.
