King Of Shadows: The Shadowcrown Duet

by Kay Elle Parker

  Her stomach contracted and she barely stopped the retch. They knew something. These three fucking whores knew something, and by the look in the middle one’s eyes, she was going to be just thrilled to tell Allianna what it was.

  “Do you think he loves you?” The middle one sneered, and Alli discovered that as much as venom in words hurt, it was worse when it scoured you from the eyes. “That he’ll comfort and cuddle you once he’s fucked you bloody? You have no idea what the monster inside him craves, but it’s too late now.”

  Allianna felt her breathing come faster, harder, as a panic attack welled deep inside. She screwed her eyes shut and tried to block words and images from her mind, but the harpies were already taking up residence. “I don’t want this.”

  “You’d be the first not to,” Tralee chirruped on a mad giggle. “Every woman in the realm craves a taste of the Lord’s cock. He can make an orgasm last an hour, make you lose track of time until the days blur together into one long release.” She threw her arms out to the side and spun in circles. “But then, we weren’t virgins when we came begging for his pleasures.”

  Okay, so evidently Kian had driven that one mad with orgasms. Either that or the mother had dropped her daughter on her head at birth. Something was seriously wrong with the fruitcake spinning around shouting, “Fuck me, Lord, fuck me!”

  “Never seen a Shadow Lord’s cock, have you, girl?” Delleso asked with malicious glee. She stepped up to the obsidian altar reverently, her gaze roaming over Alli’s naked form with interest. “You see, they’re not ordinary appendages. He’ll ram inside you here,” she shoved a finger inside Alli to the first knuckle, making her cry out in shock and pain. “Oh dear, you might want to rectify the lubrication situation before he arrives. He’s not a patient lover.” Her other hand probed into the flesh above Alli’s pubic mound. “He’ll bottom out here somewhere, just for a moment. When you think you can handle him, the length, the girth, he’ll up his game.”

  Eyes wide and panicked, Allianna strained against the chains. But without being able to lift her head or shoulders, she was rendered essentially useless. The strap across her hips began to rub as she thrashed.

  “You’ll feel the oddest sensation when he pushes the shadow extension of his cock through into your womb. Pressure, enough to make you cry or orgasm depending on your tolerance. Your eyes will cross, your hips will arch, and you’ll scream for him to fuck you harder as the shadow becomes corporeal. Then there’s pain, so much fucking pain you can’t think, can’t move, and when you’re pinned on the precipice of that glorious agony, he’ll come inside you and destroy whatever’s left.”

  Whimpering, Alli’s panic attack switched from deep-down-inside into full-frontal-meltdown. Yanking on the chains so hard the cuffs bit into her flesh and shed blood. The straps on her hips and shoulders chaffed, and the one on her head soaked up the sweat pouring from her overstressed body.

  “And if you think that’s bad,” Delleso murmured seductively into Alli’s ear with a teasing chuckle, “you better pass out before he starts on your adorable asshole. Kian takes no prisoners during sex, and virgins are no exception. I think the blood from the last one is still on the floor beneath you.”

  Helpless, her body rebelled against the images pounding into her brain. Unable to move her head, she managed to purge her system without choking herself, much to the delight—or disappointment—of Delleso. But the saner of the three was trying to herd her friends, her sisters, out of the chambers with worried glances at Alli.

  “I’ll go get help.”

  “Leave the little bitch,” Delleso snarled and snagged Tralee by a skinny arm. She dragged her toward the doorway. “We’ll come back when the Lord is ready to fuck his prize. Let her stew in her own shit.”

  A vicious growl rumbled into the room a second before candles began to light at warp speed. They offered comfort in a world where people wanted others to suffer, and people could torture people for sport. “I had a feeling you’d come upset the calm, Delleso.”

  “Islador. Your...pet has soiled itself.”

  There was a short, sharp scream, and then Islador growled again. “She soiled herself because you’ve terrified the fucking daylights out of her, you idiot. Kian will not be impressed; don’t be surprised if you lose your heads for this.”

  “For telling her what she needs to hear? She would have found out for herself when his cock destroys her—at least she knows what’s coming now.” Unrepentant, Delleso changed her tone. “You’re not going to grass me up to the Lord now, are you, Islador? You know I’m his favorite.”

  He just lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t have to. He’s been standing behind you since you barged your way in here, was here long before anyone else.”

  Alli caught herself searching for Kian as best she could, eyes darting all over trying to pinpoint him. She didn’t want him near her, not after this. A hand covered hers, gripped it tightly in reassurance. She clutched it in return.

  “Delleso and Tralee can go to the pits. The lost and the damned can have one last reward before they go to hell.” Kian’s voice rang with command. “Selena...back to work. You’re on probation. Cause any more shit and you’ll be joining your sisters. Am I understood?”

  “Yes, my Lord.” Selena sounded contrite, while Tralee was still singing, “Fuck me!” and the foul-mouthed, foul-tempered Delleso was strangely quiet. There seemed to be a herd of heavy-footed individuals tromping through the chamber, and Allianna flushed with embarrassment as she realized what she must look like. But Islador gave his orders quickly and concisely, and within a few moments, it seemed like there was only Kian and Islador left with her.

  Fuck.

  The forehead strap loosened, disappeared and she sucked in a quick breath. More relief came when quick fingers removed the shoulder strap, then the one over her hips. No one would ever know the fear of being pinned in place until someone strapped their head down to a stone slab.

  “Did she hurt you, little rose?”

  Alli clenched her jaw against a reply. The lulling warmth was flushing through her body again, burying her beneath the numbing drug. The hand on hers slipped away, leaving her bereft and alone. She wanted the comfort without the pain she knew was coming.

  “Sink into it, baby,” Islador murmured and cupped her cheek briefly. “That’s what it’s there for. It will be over soon.”

  She swallowed hard and stared up at the dark chamber roof. “Was what the whore said true?”

  “About what?”

  “Everything.”

  “Yes,” Kian spoke quietly from between her legs, his hands running up her calves. “Unfortunately, every word she spoke was true, little rose.”

  Chapter Four

  Islador was quick to clean up the mess Allianna had made on herself, Kian thought as he watched his best friend painstakingly wash the female’s face, neck and chest with utmost care. He murmured to her, offered little reassuring touches that caused her to close her eyes and whine under her breath.

  Kian was aware of Islador’s devotion to Allianna, had known for quite some time just how deep his love ran for the angelic one. It was rather obvious that Kian’s little rose wasn’t unaffected by the attention from the steel-eyed commander, and Kian had plans to use their emotions to his best advantage if it became necessary.

  Love was leverage.

  Skimming his hands up the inside of her oiled thighs, he pushed them gently apart to study what was his by rights. He scowled darkly when she hurriedly snapped her legs shut. Shaking his head, he gripped her hips and hauled her down the obsidian slab until his prize perched on the edge. With a few flicks of his hands, he made sure her legs were confined appropriately, just how he liked them. Leaving her spread wide open to his hungry gaze and greedy hands.

  Twenty-five years. Such a brief drop of time in the ocean of existence for one like him, but still, the wait felt interminable. Watching her grow from a squalling infant, red-faced and screeching, into a tiny toddler with a wickedly
white halo of hair. From toddler to teen, so fucking sweet and polite despite her upbringing in the realm and among its residents. A shadow that didn’t really belong here but fit in just fine. Teen to adult, to the creature before him radiating terror from every pore yet scorching his soul with blue hellfire from her eyes.

  What he felt for her ran deep, ran dark. Kian knew it was love—never in all his existence had he experienced what he felt for Allianna. Whatever else came between them and tried to keep them apart, that rich vein of shadowed love would anchor them as one.

  “Look at these pretty thighs trembling for me,” he cooed, feathering his fingers over the velvet flesh and following the subtle tremors up the length of her body. His brow creased in concern when she turned her face away from him. “Are you afraid of me, little rose?”

  “The lass is chained to an altar, Kian.” Islador rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall with thick arms crossed over his broad chest. “One of your vicious whores let it slip you’re a sadistic monster who gets his kicks from fucking virgins. You’re not her family anymore, my Lord. You’re her enemy.”

  “Is that right, Allianna? Did Delleso frighten you into turning away from me?” His nails scraped down her arms lightly, wanting to evoke some kind of emotion from his beloved, but all he got was a tight-jawed view of her profile. He didn’t want to fuck a lifeless doll; he wanted adoration, interaction, bonding. When he finally got his rose in their marriage bed, he wanted her nails in his back, her heels digging in his ass, and her cunt tight, wet and welcoming.

  “I’m warning you for the last time, my friend. My brother.” Islador pushed away from the wall, stepped to the slab and turned Allianna’s face toward Kian’s so the Lord of Shadows could see her eyes. Eyes brimming with tears while the depths churned with unspoken terror, confusion and the beginnings of loathing. “Allianna is not ready for this step. The mating ceremony, the marital ritual, they are both brutal for one so young. Even with the tonic, she will not be able to give you what you wish.”

  Temper warred with compassion. Part of him wanted to pick her up and haul her off the slab into his arms while his Second unfastened the chains. To enfold her tightly and welcome her back into his graces, into the life she had before she abandoned him and ran to the mortal plane to hide.

  But the demon...yeah, the demon was not happy with her avoidance tactics. Already salivating at the sight before it, it was ready to fulfil the prophecy and show Allianna her exact purpose in life.

  Kian leaned over, tapped a fingertip on her chin thoughtfully. It annoyed him that her body stiffened as his weight pressed against her, that she did not soften and beckon him closer. He liked his women to submit almost as much as he enjoyed the instinctive struggle of a virgin beneath him, but he was unaccustomed to being denied either.

  He dragged the fingertip down between her breasts, circled her navel, then pressed his palm to the womb beneath. He grunted quietly, eyes closed for a moment as his cock jerked and leaked precum. Imagining breaching that perfect sanctuary and planting his seed into Allianna’s fertile body was akin to a hit of hellfire.

  Continuing on his journey, he combed his fingers through the damp curls at the apex of her thighs before he set his thumbs against her lips and opened her sweet pink hole to his inspection. Ignoring her distressed whimper, he studied the gleam of oil slicking her inner flesh, then pushed a finger inside.

  Kian snarled, finding her dry and unresponsive. Even the sheen of oil wasn’t enough to aid the tip of his digit into heaven. Moving lower, grumbling under his breath as Allianna held hers, he pressed against the tiny rosette he coveted so much. Again, resistance. Not allowed, not between a man and his wife.

  For a few moments he waited, eyes flashing with displeasure as he met Islador’s bitter cold-steel gaze first. His Second was not impressed, and Kian could say he wasn’t thrilled with himself or the decisions he was making. But the demon was a force at his back, growing and pushing, threatening to take over and take all.

  “Get the oil, Isla.” The quiet command held a touch of regret.

  Allianna’s breath exploded on a sob, one Kian ignored. Just as he chose not to rise to the arctic frost in his best friend’s eyes. They would understand, he told himself. Once the preliminary ceremony was completed and Allianna was bathed, fed and put to rest, they would see the reasoning for what he did now.

  “You’re a fool, my Lord.” Islador hissed at Kian like a pissed-off viper, his muscles flexing and braced for a fight. “A fucking fool.”

  Kian felt his hold on the demon slip a fraction, bared his teeth as he tried to gather it back. “Get the oil and some more tonic, or get on your knees, Islador. They are your options. One of you will be fucked tonight—make a choice.”

  His Second’s hands clenched into fists as Islador peered at Kian’s face with suspicious eyes. “How close are you to losing control, Kian? How much fucking danger are you prepared to subject her to?”

  He questions too much. Silence him.

  “I’m in control, Islador.” His fingers stroked over Allianna’s pussy, her labia, her clit, attempting to trigger the tonic’s magic and summon some semblance of arousal. He groaned, pushing two fingers deep into her exceptionally snug channel, almost coming in his pants when she keened. “Get the goddamn oil, Isla, before I fuck her dry.”

  Disgust burning like acid, Islador scoured Kian with a look. “Yeah, you’re in control, all right, my Lord. Be calm, treasure,” he murmured to Allianna as she whimpered. Chains clinked as she stretched her hand out for his. “I won’t be two minutes, I promise, and then I’ll be here.”

  With one last fulminating glare, Islador exited through the chamber wall.

  All ours now, the demon chuffed with pleasure. Claim her and be done with this procrastinating. She knows what we are, what will happen. Delaying the process only frightens her more.

  Kian stepped back, began to shed his clothing. The few items he wore were tossed aside as he raked his gaze over the prize shaking on the altar. Allianna jerked when his belt buckle jingled and leather zipped through the loops, cringing away as he tapped the folded leather gently on the curve of her mound. “One sharp strike, little rose,” he purred as he traced her clit with his free hand, “and you’d come hard and fast.”

  “No.”

  His mouth curved dangerously, the demon within preening excitedly at the thought of branding the impudent little blossom. The mark of the Lord of Shadows would look stupendous on that firm ass. “No? Have you not forgiven me for the last whipping I gave this tight cunt, Allianna?”

  Her jaw set like stone, her hands twitching against their restraints. “That word wants washing from your mouth with soap, my Lord. Perhaps your whore would be willing to do so, because you are not my anything. Not my Lord, not my lover, not my husband or my king. You are not forgiven.”

  The chamber wall flashed and Islador strode back into the room looking like a vengeful god. On his heels, the two washerwomen scurried with their heads bowed and hands clasped at their waists. Without pausing, Islador smacked a glass bottle of oil down on the altar before attacking Allianna’s restraints.

  “Get her to her chambers,” Isla ordered the washerwomen as he scooped his treasure from the altar and passed her over as if she was sculpted from the thinnest ice. “Feed her, make sure she is warm and has no ill effects from the tonic. I will come to her soon.”

  Kian snorted. Such a bossy little fucker, his Islador. He waited until the room cleared, the main prize escorted on weak legs out of his reach. The demon was not impressed. The demon fully intended to take its displeasure out on Islador. “I hope to God you know what the fuck you’ve done, Isla. Should’ve let me do what needed to be done, and things could have moved forward.”

  “You’re not touching her when the demon is in control of your every move, Kian. I’ve seen you destroy whores and virgins alike without any assistance from the demon, and I’ve seen what you can do with him driving you into a frenzy. Allianna is too priceless
to risk that way. Surely even you can see that.”

  Kian grinned and circled his friend. They were an even match for a fight, he mused, though Islador had him outgunned in experience. There was a reason Isla had risen so high so fast and become Kian’s Second-in-command. The man was ruthless, his skill legendary, and the combination made a formidable and undefeatable unit.

  It would make victory all the sweeter when Islador was bent over the slab, smothering his own dominant urges in favor of letting Kian’s run wild. That was the price to be paid, Kian thought regretfully even as the demon snickered darkly. The inner beast was primed to fuck, and Islador had taken the most suitable option from Kian’s grasp.

  A whore would be sufficient to take the worst of the edge off, he knew, but he had no wish to deplete the whore ranks any further in one night. They were good enough for quick fucks, to take the sharp edge of desire off, and to explore several varieties of kink with, but there was too much...carnal brutality building inside him for one small female to handle. At this point, perhaps even an angelic half-breed like Allianna would have been hard-pressed to take him.

  Fuck, he hated it when Isla was right.

  “Will you submit, or would you rather take my cock with the illusion you had an opinion in the matter?” Kian kicked his boots off, followed by his pants, and closed a hard palm around the throbbing shaft desperate for relief. Thick, long, slick with his own secretions, he wished for nothing more than a hot, tight orifice to plunder.

  Remarkably calm, Islador took a deep breath and cracked his knuckles. “I wouldn’t be your Second, my Lord, if I surrendered at the first sign of trouble. You want a challenge, you’ll have one. Might be harder to fuck me when I’m not strapped down to a slab of stone,” he taunted, side-stepping fluidly and drawing Kian’s attention fully onto him. “She half-hates you already, Kian. For all she loves you, she hates you the same. That balance will tip, and you will lose her.”

  Kian lunged, going for a chokehold and cursing as Isla slipped easily from his grasp. He grunted, taking an elbow twice in the ribs as Isla used his skill as effectively as Kian could use the shadows. “How long have you been in love with her, brother?”