The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance)

by Grey, T. A.

  He groaned deep in his chest as if she was killing him.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said in her ear.

  No, you are she wanted to say but didn’t. She didn’t want anything to ruin this.

  One arm slid beneath her hips to pull her up.

  A strangle moan escaped her at this new position. “It’s too much,” she whispered raggedly. Her thighs started to quiver, her core to pulse, and she knew she was so close. But, she didn’t want to go without it.

  “It’s perfect.”

  He drove into her faster, harder. They were one with uneven breaths mingling and lips clinging to each other without really kissing. He was hard and moving inside her, pushing her closer and closer.

  “I love you, Alrik.” Her heart stuttered at saying the words aloud. But his response erased any doubts she had whatsoever.

  The hand at her hip flexed against her. “You’d be scared at how much I love you.”

  His reply shocked her, but then he slid his tongue against hers and focused all his energy on making her scream. Which he did, two more times before finally burying himself deep and jetting into her.

  “You’re crazy,” she said afterward.

  Their sweat-slicked bodies had long dried. He’d wrapped her up in his arms like a precious bundle he didn’t want to let go. She’d never cuddled before, couldn’t stand it in fact. However, with Alrik she could easily get used to this.

  “No, I’m not. I’m just feeling something I haven’t ever felt before,” he said.

  His words shut her up and got her thinking. While this whole situation might be one big mess, she’d at least gotten one good thing out of it.

  Abby pressed a kiss to Alrik’s lips and he returned it.

  Yeah, that was worth it.

  Chapter Twenty

  The soft, feminine voice hissed at him.

  “Alllriiiik. Awaken, Allllrik.”

  He twitched, fighting the lulling sound. There was something about it he recognized but couldn’t quite place. What made his hairs stand on end was the magic encompassing the words. The woman wasn’t asking, she was commanding it with vast power behind her words.

  As if in a daze, Alrik woke and stood. Abby turned on her side but he had no care for her.

  “Come to me. Coooooome.”

  He started walking. The voice seemed to come from nowhere yet must have a distinct location. No matter, the spell slowly wrapped around his mind and body knew where to take him. He walked across the base of the mountain towards the south where the flickering of fire in distance looked so much closer.

  As soon as he saw the fire, he knew that this wasn’t a dream. He was being summoned. And his mother was waiting for him. It was her sick magic being forced into his body to answer to her will. He tried to fight it, but no amount of spells he tried to cast overcame her power.

  Each step he took he tried to still it. Nothing worked. His body just kept moving. He dug his heels into the ground and desperately tried to turn away from the fire in the distance. He had to get back to Abby. She was alone and unprotected. His heart started hammering in his chest. Sweat beaded his temples and slicked down his face.

  The path he walked ended on a ledge just past the mountain. He couldn’t see down it yet but he knew it wasn’t a cliff because he could just make out the other half of the valley sunken into the ground. The area felt warmer here. Sweat pooled and slid down his back and chest. Humid air suffocated him as he neared the ledge like a walking zombie.

  Without even a moment to determine the drop off, he was sent rolling down the hill. He rolled like a log falling down and down. The grass was wet, mossy. The valley had a distinct moist smell. The trees were wide and not as tall as the other rift trees. They were bulkier and shorter. Their long branches hung like old arms out toward the ground with thousands of dark green leaves coloring them.

  A fire roared nearby. He could hear its mighty crackling flame, and smell its woodsy stench. Except it didn’t just smell of woods. Something was burning in that fire. Something that smelled so repulsive his stomach clenched to keep from heaving.

  Wherever that fire was and who tended it was behind him, but he couldn’t even turn his bloody head to look.

  Like a robot, the spell commanded him to stand and come forward. Then he saw her. And her army.

  Fuck!

  Things were so much worse than he expected. She didn’t have a small army of maybe a few dozen idummi under her control. She had more than a few hundred.

  The idummi stood as his body waded through the crowd. They parted for him sneering and chomping their teeth at him. Rage boiled in his blood. He fought even harder against the magic binding him. He’d tear off every single one of the demon’s heads and toss them into the fire pit right after he slaughtered his mother.

  And there she was—his mother—in all her crowning horror.

  She stood on a stone dais. It looked recently built, not aged as some of the temples and old buildings he’d seen along the rift. The corners were sharp and not worn down. The rock still shined as they had just been dug up. A set of six stairs were carved into either side of the dais. The whole thing looked so out of place in this marsh that he would have laughed if he could. Only his mother would require elegance and royalty while banished from home. She hadn’t learned to hunt her own food or to live humbly as he had. No, she just weaved her spells until she had an army do it for her. Smart, really.

  The fire roared off to his left. Massive stones formed a circle around the base and a mighty black cauldron was held above it by tall metal stakes coming from the ground. Idummi worked around it with their bony legs bent out at sharp angles. Their green skin shined sickly in the fire light. They tossed things into the black cauldron. A ladder stood up against one of the stakes and one idummi held a mighty pole that he used to stir the hellish concoction inside.

  She had her minions create her favorite part of the castle—the throne. She even had a lavish chair on top of it. The frame looked elegant and intricate, worthy of royalty even in his eye. The wooden frame curled into spirals at the bottom of the four posts, and at the top two curled back. A rich green cushion decorated the wooden frame and she sat upon the edge of it, her bony, golden shoulders thrust back, and her body facing him with a mad gleam in her eye.

  She stood as he neared.

  “I see nothing has changed,” said Alrik.

  Even out here in the middle of nowhere in a damn marsh she wore a vibrant splash of color on her face. Her eyes were darkly lined in black to better show her violet eyes. The reminder of what his real eye color looked like didn’t sit well with him. The fact that he had anything in common with her made him want to jump into the fire until he burned to a crisp.

  Her long raven black hair sat in two heavy braids on each of her shoulders. Gold, silver, and red thread was weaved through the braids, and atop her head was a golden crown. It wasn’t her royal crown. No way would they have let her leave with it when he banished her from the kingdom.

  No, she’d forged her own. Two crescents of shimmery gold stood apart from each other. Small jagged points stood facing each other from opposite sides of her head. A middle piece with luminous diamonds and rubies flashed from the fire light, and atop the crescents and middle connector were two sheer points like horns of an animal. They arched up into the air.

  Her red gown had gold flowers etched into the tight bodice and white fur lining the long, elegant sleeves and the bottom of the dress swept the ground as she stood.

  “What do you want from me?”

  He looked upon her cold beauty and golden skin with uncontained disgust.

  A small smile played at the corner of her mouth. “Is that any kind of greeting to give your mother?”

  “No. The better one would be to cut your fucking head off.”

  Her eyebrows rose. Good he surprised her. That made him feel better.

  The smile died from her face. Even the life in her eyes seemed to die. She raised a hand and flexed her fin
gers in the air.

  Alrik choked. An invisible forced grabbed at his throat and squeezed. He struggled, but couldn’t move his legs or even his arms under her magic. His eyes squeezed shut as his muscles flexed hard against the choking, his bones grating, and throat bruising.

  “Look at me!” his mother hissed like a serpent.

  He took his time and slowly opened his eyes while inhaling air through his nostrils. Once they made eye contact, she held the spell for a moment longer then released him. She released all of him because he once again had control over his body. He rubbed at his throat still feeling the lingering invisible hands.

  “You have been busy son. Visiting the last and most powerful seer. Seeking to murder me, your own mother,” she said in a soft, mocking voice. She walked down the dais as if she was in the ballroom back home making a grand entrance. Idummi parted for her as she knelt and picked something up and then she tossed it at him.

  Alrik felt his body jolt.

  The seer’s head landed near his feet—a bloody hunk of meat. His dark face was frozen in a look of terror, his eyes rolled up.

  He couldn’t say anything as rage boiled inside him.

  Then with the seer’s blood on her hands, she held her hand up as if awaiting a man to take and place a kiss upon it. Her other hand grabbed the long length of her gown and lifted it as she came near him.

  “You’ve been very bad…I mean really, son, trying to kill your own mother?”

  With a vicious snarl, he ran for her. The seer’s words didn’t matter. She was so close he could almost feel her blood coating his fingers.

  Her trickling laughter taunted him as if she found him entertaining. He didn’t even come close to reaching her before she tossed up her hand as if waving and he was blocked by an invisible wall. He knew spells and magic. He could fight back but as he thrust his own magic out to dispel the wall, nothing happened. More of her feminine laughter assaulted him.

  Maybe, just maybe if he could get his hands on her then he could end her life the old fashioned way—by cutting her damned head off.

  An idummi crept up between them. He bowed before his mother like a servant and spoke in a garbled, demonic voice. The idummi had their own demonic language and trying to speak in the shahoulin tongue of Alrik’s people was hard for the creature.

  “Master Demuzi, it is done.”

  His mother clapped, her wild eyes gleaming with madness. “Fantastic and here I thought things were starting to get boring. Bring it here.”

  The demon slinked off back toward the fire pit.

  Alrik tensed. He’d thought things were bad enough before, but now a sinking feeling came over him.

  His mother saw his look and smiled.

  “What are you going to do?” Just asking the words was like trying to pull his teeth out one at a time.

  She made a tsking sound and shook her head. “You’ll just have to wait and see now won’t you? Besides, you mustn’t think I brought you all this way for nothing?”

  “Salindra, what have you done?” he shouted. His body lunged toward her but the barrier spell kept him from doing more than leaning towards her. His palms twitched and fingers itched to scrape his fingers over her colored face until he saw blood.

  Suddenly, the demons swarmed around him.

  They bounced on their bony, lithe feet and stared at him with excited eyes. Alrik spun around finding more and more of them around him. The creatures didn’t look as if a spell kept them here which only meant that his mother had actually gained their support without magical means. Just what could she offer these ruthless, cannibalistic demons to keep them loyal? He was afraid to find out.

  Once again, he spun and faced his mother.

  “Why?” he gritted out.

  “Your father was strong. He kept our people in line, and well, he kept me from causing too much trouble. Of course, if I would have dared any of my games while he was king he would have had me imprisoned. But you, my son, were so new to the throne. Telal, my eldest, was supposed to take it, but he betrayed all of us to those vampires. Well, he’ll get his as you will yours. You were so eager to please.” She twirled in a circle with her arms spread out from her like a little girl dancing. “Eager to please me, the court members, and the commoners. It was sickening really watching you bow down to them like that.”

  “I wasn’t bowing to them. I was helping them repair the damage from the war!” Alrik fought against the barrier spell separating them. He dug his body into it just hoping it would break. All he would need was one second and she’d be dead.

  She rolled her eyes and made her face into a mocking sad expression. “Aw, poor Alrik. Where did my tough son go? Where did his kingliness go? Well, you were no fun so I fixed it. I fixed all of that. You were so regal and fun after I fixed you.” She laughed a cruel sound. “And the best part was that you didn’t even see it happening. I took your hair and bound it into a totem where I cursed you once a week for nearly a thousand years. I fooled you for a thousand years! When things started to get boring, I would give you my special “stress-relief concoction”. Sure you would feel dazed and relaxed for a minute, but the rage would grow in your heart.” She sighed in pleasure.

  “I wonder how many innocent prisoners you sentenced to die or to become a slave because of that little potion. Fifty? Maybe more?” She laughed delightedly.

  “It wasn’t me. It was you and your black magic. Let this barrier go and fight me.” Still, he couldn’t believe that. He’d done those things. Every last horrible one of them.

  Her shoulders shook she laughed so hard. “As if I don’t know what you’re thinking. As if I don’t know that you’d sooner kill me than save that precious human of yours.”

  The change in topics sent him spiraling. “What? What are you talking about?” A part of him knew that she knew about Abbigail. Of course she would, but still to know what she was capable of and to know that Abby was alone not far from here sent fear unlike he’d ever known through him. It froze him to the bone.

  “Why don’t you bow for me?” she suggested. Her red colored lips twitched.

  She didn’t control him now so he stood as tall as his great height let him. “Never.”

  The idummi chattered and laughed around him as if he’d said something funny. She would have to make him bow before he did so of his own free will.

  “What if I said I’d spare her life if you bowed?”

  Alrik tensed. Something had changed. She wasn’t taunting him, she was being serious. A cold knot of fear lodged in his gut, spreading out to wrap his heart in an icy fist.

  Alrik bent one knee and placed it on the wet soggy ground, then the other. With fists clenched at his sides, he glared up at his mother.

  “I bow.”

  The look in her eye became almost insane. Her eyes widened pupils dilating. “You care for this human. How odd indeed and what a sneer to poor, poor Arianna.”

  “How do you know about that?” He managed to keep his voice calm even as he wanted to scream and rage against her. She died after he banished Salindra.

  “I know everything, son.”

  “You don’t know everything.” Now he laughed. He knew something great and powerful that she didn’t. He had the most powerful witch at his disposal.

  For a moment, unease flickered in her eye and then it vanished. “Hmm, we’ll get to that later. Bring her forward.”

  The idummi jumped and squawked in their excitement. Alrik looked over his shoulder and felt his heart stop beating. Two idummi had Abbigail by her arms. Her eyes were locked on him. He could see the fear in her eyes. But, she kept her cool and walked rigidly along. One way or another, really bad things were going to happen this night.

  If only he’d had more time. One sweet night with her was not enough. He needed years, maybe longer to learn everything about her, to touch and taste every inch of her body. He just needed time with her.

  “Alrik, I’m sorry. They surprised me. They jumped me while I was sleeping.”

>   “Krishnoe!” commanded his mother.

  Abby’s lips snapped shut but not on their own. His mother wielded magic to do all of her biddings. God, what he would do to see that power stripped from her.

  His mother strode toward him and placed her hand upon his shoulder. He tried to lift a hand to snap her wrist in half but her icy magic once again engulfed him. Even as he tried to turn his head to sink his teeth into her hand, she controlled that too.

  “See the fallen king bowing before me like a coward. Is this the kind of man that makes your human blood hot?”

  Alrik stiffened even as he waited to hear her answer. That’s right, even now he was unsure of what she thought of him. She’d said the words but they were still so fresh and new in his head. She said she loved me. He was acting like a coward. He’d already willingly bowed to Salindra.

  “He is not a coward, but you are,” his Abbigail said.

  Sharp fingernails the color of bright red blood cut into his shoulder. “What say you, human?”

  Alrik might have grinned if he didn’t know better. However, he did know better and his mother could kill Abbigail.

  But Abbigail could kill her?

  Alrik had no idea what chain of events was about to happen next, but nothing prepared him for what his mother had planned.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Abby lifted her chin. “I said you’re a coward. Why else did you need to possess Alrik to get him here, and why else did you send a horde of demons to get me, a mere human, when you could have done it yourself? You’re scared. You’re afraid of us.”

  Abby didn’t know how to get them out of this but she’d do whatever it took. She’d save Alrik if it was the last thing she did.

  Maybe if they’d acted sooner they’d be sleeping comfortably in her bed in her little rented house right now, and not in the grasp of an evil demon with tremendous powers and a horde of idummi following her. But, they couldn’t go back. She couldn’t change what had already happened. All she could do now was try to keep them both safe.