by Zoey Ellis
"Yes."
"So I will become immobile instead?"
"No," Malloron said forcefully. "You are an Omega. It will not affect you the same way. I can already see that it doesn't."
"Was your queen able to walk?”
Malloron’s body tensed. "She was not a true queen to me. She was a means to an end."
"Everyone is a means to an end to you," Amara pointed out. "I want to know if she lost her ability to walk."
Malloron glared at her. "She couldn't hold it for long. She was a Beta. She couldn't sustain it.”
Amara’s eyes widened as the realization hit. "It killed her?”
Malloron’s arms tightened around her. "That will not happen to you.”
Amara turned her face away, her initial anger slowly transmuting into a bitter indifference. "I don't care if it does.”
"I care,” he said roughly. "It will not happen.”
"It seems many things have happened that you did not predict or expect,” she muttered. "So I have no faith in the lies you tell—to me or yourself.”
Malloron said nothing but she could almost feel his anger seeping out of him.
"You take risks that cause people to suffer," she said quietly after some thought, "and you don't even think twice about it."
"I do what I have to do to survive," he responded. "Just like what you and your Omega friends do in order to preserve your dynamic."
"We have never killed anyone or forced them to carry energy that will kill them."
"But if you had to you would," Malloron said tightly. “You killed people in the house you destroyed.”
Shock embraced Amara. “What?”
“The house you destroyed in Norryth. There were people in there when you—”
“When I unraveled it,” she finished. She had forgotten that. A quiet horror dragged down her mood. “The men in there were…”
“Did they hurt you?” Malloron demanded, suddenly tense.
“No,” she said quickly. “They restrained me. But they didn’t have good intentions.”
Malloron nodded. "Exactly. You hurt them to protect yourself. And from what I understand your Omega leaders have made choices in the past that were not so honorable. Everyone would. Sometimes you have to choose between yourself and another person who would gladly kill you and rip apart everything you hold dear. I will always choose myself.”
"Was your Beta queen planning to kill you and rip apart everything you hold dear?”
Malloron released a heavy rumble. "She was not my fucking queen.”
"Yes, she was. You gave her that title,” Amara shot at him. Why did he keep trying to avoid her questions? "Are you saying that you forced the tenebris on her to protect your throne?”
"No,” Malloron said. "She accepted it, knowing the risks.”
"Why?”
"She wanted to escape her life,” Malloron said. "And she wanted to be queen. She was willing to accept the risks for the chance to claim that title.”
Amara was quiet for a moment as she thought. "You made an agreement with her,” she said quietly. "Of course.”
Malloron exhaled heavily. "It is nothing she did not want to do.”
"You really believe that?” Amara snapped. "Do you really believe people truly want to get into these agreements with you? Because I can tell you now that I did not.”
"Any agreement I make has benefits for both parties,” Malloron thundered. "You may not have wanted to get into an agreement with me, but you were caught, not only as a Talent-crafter, but as an Omega. Your choices were limited. You may not like it, but that was your circumstance.”
"You manipulated me so that you could use me,” Amara argued.
"You’re right, I did,” Malloron said, his eyes blazing. "And if you had the option to choose between that agreement, imprisonment, becoming a restrained, or death, you would choose that agreement again. It was not unreasonable, even if you had known what I intended for you.”
Amara said nothing, quietly fuming at the fact that he was right. Because out of all of the options, there was only one that had the possibility of ensuring her team’s safety. She could not deny that.
"This is the way of life in the Western Lands, Amara,” Malloron said, his voice gritty. "We find mutually beneficial arrangements—no one gets anything for nothing, but at least there is a reason for arrangements to be upheld.”
"You didn't completely uphold your arrangement,” Amara pointed out. "Your entire agreement with me was based on a lie. You never intended to protect the Omegas.”
Malloron shook his head slowly, as though he couldn't believe she was even making that point. "Regardless of what you may think, I did intend to protect the Omegas. Just not in the way you expected. Becoming a restrained is not as bad as what some of the other rulers would have done if they had gotten hold of them.”
"You are forgetting that I have been in your training rooms,” Amara retorted. "There can be nothing worse than that.”
"Perhaps,” Malloron responded. "But once they go through that, their time in the chambers is much more manageable for them.”
"So you are doing them a favor?” Amara spat, her anger spiking. "Is that how you see it? Because some of them don't even survive the training.”
Malloron growled. He moved back to lie behind her, pulling her onto her side so he could tuck her into his body, her back against his chest. "This is a pointless conversation. You will never understand. You will simply get upset and that doesn't help.”
"Yes, of course,” Amara muttered. "We wouldn't want that. I suppose I should take a hint from your queen and be grateful and willing about my circumstances.”
Malloron moved quicker than she could ever have anticipated. Suddenly he was above her again. He grabbed her wrists and locked them together with one hand. Yanking her upper body up off the bed, he held her close to his contorted, but beautiful, face.
"I will tell you one last time,” he snarled. "She was not my queen. She may have had the title but she wasn't anything close to a true queen to me.”
"What does it matter what I call her?” Amara bit out. "What the fuck is a true queen to you anyway? Someone you haven't had to bribe?”
"You are my true queen, Amara.” He said it so seriously and so roughly that her breath caught in her throat for a moment. "I know you are unwilling to accept your circumstance, but there is more going on here than you know. The title of queen is yours and yours alone. Do not call her that again.”
A confusion spread over her so strongly that she strengthened her focus on him to examine him properly. His expression was deadly serious and his eyes burned into hers with an expression she hadn't ever seen on him before. His dimple didn't appear; there was no mocking tone in his voice and no sarcastic tilt to his gaze. He stared at her without wavering and their locked gaze became timeless—she had no idea how long she remained watching his face, but his expression didn't change. He meant it. And that completely confused her.
He slowly lowered her back down to the bed still holding her eyes. "We need to attempt to connect with the tenebris on a daily basis,” he said, his tone somber. "It is important to try to engage it regularly.”
Amara nodded, still unable to find her voice. A strange feeling entered her stomach—one she didn't understand.
He turned her onto her side and tucked her back into his body and she allowed his warmth and his scent to comfort her, drawing on the need she always had for him and accepting the response her body always succumbed to. She lay still, willing herself to the brink of a peaceful sleep, but when the tip of his cock dipped into her wet entrance, she arched her back and lifted her leg to invite him in, eager to chase away the oddness of their exchange and return to the brutal familiarity of their rough and delicious mating.
***
For the next few days, the king tried to get her to connect with the tenebris multiple times. After he fucked her as soon as they woke, he lay on her and guided her focus toward to lump of energy, asking her to
try different ways to affect it. Then he would leave and return just after lunch, by which time, she was in almost agony in need of him. They had to fuck straight away, and in one instance Malloron didn't even make it to the bedroom. He tore off her tunic and slammed her up against the bedroom door, hooking his forearm under her knee and pounded into her. She was so delirious with need for him and didn't even notice where they were until two climaxes later when he knotted her and held her against him. They tried again to connect to the tenebris when he returned after her evening meal and three times more before the end of the day.
The days followed the same pattern, and Amara came to realize that it wasn't possible to think when Malloron was with her. When awake, she existed in two states—out of her mind with desire or focusing on the fucking tenebris. It seemed to be a cycle she couldn't escape from. But just as Amara was beginning to get frustrated by her existence, a knock fell on the door during their evening meal together.
Malloron spoke to whoever it was for a short moment and then turned to her. "I have to go for a little while.”
Amara breathed a breath of relief but outwardly feigned indifference. She waved her hand casually. "Do as you please, Your Majesty.”
For some reason, the king’s eyes narrowed. "I will return soon.”
"Take your time,” Amara responded, as graciously as she could.
The king growled as he grabbed his robe and marched to the door, while Amara stared after him bewildered. What reason did he have to be annoyed? She was the one having to put up with his constant attentions and the attempts with the tenebris.
After he left, the room felt strangely quiet, but not in terms of noise. It was as though the king’s absence had made the energy in the room drop a little. She stared at the door wondering how long he would be and what he—
Amara stood up abruptly, cursing herself. He had only just left and she was pining for him already! She needed to take the time to enjoy his absence. She wandered over to the fireplace in the corner and shuffled the sheets of parchment on the desk. She held her pen poised to write for a long while before realizing there was nothing for her to say and no one for her to write to.
She abandoned that task and headed to the washroom to soak in a hot bath. Then she wandered around her rooms exploring the gaps in her vision, feeling her way to see what lay in the places she couldn’t visualize. The room remained mostly how she remembered it, but the feel of the benches and equipment bought back memories she was trying not to remember. As she climbed into bed, the need for Malloron had risen drastically.
When he entered the room again, she was desperately hugging the pillow and a harsh annoyance blended with her need.
He slid in behind her, his warmth enveloping her as his body spooned hers. "You missed me.” It was a statement, not a question. And it annoyed the shit out of her. What if she only needed to be away from him for a longer period of time to go through the withdrawal? He wasn't allowing it to happen.
"No,” She shot over her shoulder. "Why are you back? This isn't your room.”
"Amara,” he growled her name in warning.
"I told you I needed my space.”
"And you’ve had it,” he countered. "I’ve been gone for at least two hours.”
"There’s no point in me being here if you’re just going to move in here with me.”
"I agree—there is no point in you being here. You should be in my bedroom.”
She scowled in frustration. "This wasn't our agreement.”
Malloron flipped her to her back. "You want me to go?” he asked, a bitter annoyance in his tone.
It took every ounce of willpower for her to answer, "Yes.”
"Fine.” He rose up onto his knees, a determined glare in his gaze. "I will eat, and then I will go.”
Before she could respond, he hooked his hands behind her knees and pulled her down the bed. He placed her legs over his shoulders, lifted her hips up from the bed. She squealed in surprise, but he was already between her legs.
She felt his rumble as he pressed his face into her already wet pussy. It was embarrassing how easily she was ready for him. She moaned as he sucked her, taking his time as he focused on every part of her sensitive area. He swirled his tongue around her clit and lapped up her slick until it drenched his chin. She watched him, her body trembling from the pleasure coursing through her, and he watched her back, the desire in his eyes making her nipples hard without him even having to touch them.
He held her hips up as he fed on her, her peak approaching quickly, but she soon noticed one of his hands below, pumping his cock as he lavished her with his tongue and it sent her over the edge.
She came with a cry, jutting her pussy up into his face, twisting from the intensity of the blissful climax, her slick squirted over his face. He moaned with pleasure as she drenched him, keeping her hips steady while his mouth stayed on her throbbing clit until her peak abated.
As soon as she started to come down, he dropped her hips and climbed over her on all fours, his brown eyes dark and wild. "Tell me to fucking go,” he growled.
Amara breathed heavily, her body trembling of its own accord, knowing what it needed next. This was a trick. He had made her come with his mouth and now he was challenging her to continue to reject him. But she couldn't—not when his scent had deepened so beautifully, not when his fist stroked his cock so roughly, not when the need and desperation in his tone, his eyes, in the way he held himself, was echoed in her own body. And not when that deep part within her whispered that the anger she been holding onto had been about his absence, not his presence.
Sinking into the acceptance that so strongly beckoned—the feelings that urged her on as she stared at him—she slowly moved her legs. He stilled, watching her closely, still waiting for an answer. Bringing her knees up to her chest, she widened them and dipped her fingers into her soaked slit. Raising her hand, she smeared his lips with more of her wetness and her next words were a whisper of a thought that slipped too far away from her to keep him from hearing. "I like seeing you wearing my slick.”
With a growl, Malloron grabbed her calves and placed her feet on his chest, pressing his weight down and locking her bent legs between them. The position opened her up wide for him and he roared as he slammed inside her.
Amara screamed in shock at how deep he went, how wide he stretched her in this position and before she knew it she was climaxing again, his vicious grunts and moans echoing in her mind, his scent dominating her, his weight pinning her down as he plundered her deep, those sweet spots inside her rejoicing as he crushed her with his massive bulk. She fucking loved it. She clawed at him, licked his skin, and whined for more, completely lost in the delirium that erased all thought from her mind. She came again and again, until she was barely able to make sense of anything but the carnal sensations. They owned her, they claimed her, they controlled every part of her, and they were caused by him, her enemy, King Malloron.
***
On the fifth day, Malloron wasn't beside her when she woke. She pushed away the sudden mourning that twisted in her at his absence and got up. She bathed and sat at the table until her morning meal appeared, but as she ate, she wondered what she was going to do all day if he didn't return. She had to stay busy to keep her mind off him yet there were no meetings to attend, no reason to roam the castle. She couldn't even really see her surroundings properly, with the gaps in her vision. What was she supposed to do?
Just as she finished her meal, the door opened and Malloron strode through. His presence charged the room immediately, and her body became acutely aware of his. She tried to ignore it, but unbidden memories of everything he did to her and the utter raw abandon and gratification he did it with, kept rising in her mind. The man took great delight in her body—he never hid that fact.
He sat opposite her at the table, eyeing her empty plates. "I was hoping to eat with you.”
She lifted her brows. "I thought you would have things to tend to. Meetings and appointments.”<
br />
"That has all been suspended.”
"Why?”
Malloron’s head tilted, his brown eyes glittering as a smile played on his lips. "You and the tenebris are a priority.”
Amara nodded. "Of course.” She sipped her wine, her mind becoming clouded with thoughts about the tenebris. "I assume the other ruling kings in your family had the tenebris?”
Malloron dipped his head in a nod.
"But they were all immobile eventually,” she said slowly, recalling her research on the Visant kings. "And they became so quite young.”
"They did.”
She eyed him. He must be, at least, in his late thirties. The other kings had been immobile by then. "How have you avoided immobility then?”
Malloron’s dimple appeared. "Potions. The tenebris has responded to certain unique potions.”
Amara lifted her head. "Ah.” Considering the volume of unique gems and ingredients he had access to, it was likely he had created some powerfully strong and unique potions. She sipped her wine again. "Would they work now? To repair it in its current state inside me?”
Malloron frowned. "I wouldn't risk it.”
"Why not?”
"The potions have been honed very specifically to affect the tenebris while in my body. I have no idea how it would affect you. It would require significant testing and I’ve already decided it’s not a risk I want to take.”
Amara snorted. "I’m surprised you thought twice about it,” she muttered.
Malloron’s jaw clenched and then he scowled. "I have never poisoned you, Amara!”
Amara inclined her head and shrugged a shoulder as she placed her wine down. It’s not as though he would tell her if he had. "Why is it so important that you remain mobile? It’s not ideal but your father didn't and he ruled successfully.”
"I wouldn't call his rule successful,” Malloron said, darkly.
"What would you call it?” she asked. "He had less of a hold on the rulers, but many liked him.”
"Weak is what I would call it.” Malloron leaned forward on the table. "And it is what he called it too. The royal family shouldn't be beholden to the other rulers. He knew it but he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't rule as strongly as he wanted to because he couldn't move. He wanted me to redress that.”
