Emperor of Shadows

by Mike Truk

  We stood shoulder to shoulder, staring out over that wondrous world. It looked so real. A warm, humid breeze gusted over us, bringing with it strange scents from an alien world.

  “What magic,” whispered Cerys in awe. “It looks… so real.”

  The volcanic range colored the underbelly of the night skies in smoldering hues. Flocks of great birds soared over the forest. Out on the rocky plain, I thought I could make out a string of campfires.

  It made me feel like an ancient king, gazing out over his world.

  “The Cloud really spared no expense,” I said in wonder. “This looks like a permanent illusion. They must have hired a truly talented mage to do this.”

  “What’ll become of this building?” asked Cerys, hands resting lightly on the railing. “All the magic and wonders contained within?”

  “I’ve no clue,” I said. “But we can figure that out later. I’ve other, more pressing matters on my mind.”

  Cerys leaned her hip on the balcony, crossed her arms, and eyed me with a smirk. “Oh? Pray tell.”

  Hunger awoke within me - a savage desire, a fierce lust that desired nothing more than conquest and possession. To make Cerys mine, to impress my love upon her, to leave her without the shadow of a doubt as to how much I loved her, desired her, wanted her.

  One stride and she was in my arms, moaning as I kissed her again, turning her head to the side so that our mouths could open more fully. Her hands tore at my clothing as I sought to undo the buckles that strapped her leather armor to her feminine frame. We stumbled toward the bed, shrugging out of shirts, toeing off boots. Falling onto the bed, Cerys wriggling back on her elbows as she frantically tore at the buckles. I knelt, ripping my tunic off and unfastening my belt, then fell onto her like a panther dropping onto prey.

  I kissed her clavicle, biting the side of her neck, then licked a long line up the hollow of her ear as she gasped, raised her hips to shimmy her form-hugging pants off.

  She was strong, her body athletic, and gave as good as she got, her hunger such that she wasn’t content to just lie there and be devoured. I felt her lips on my neck, leaving a trail of fire down to my chest as her nails scored my back. Then, with a growl, she shoved me over onto my back, was on me, eyes flashing as she tore her undershirt off and flung it aside.

  I sat up, intent on cupping her breasts through her plain bra, wanting to tear it off, to suck on her nipples, to feel how hard they were - but she had other ideas. She shoved me back, hard, and shimmied down my form to pull my cock out.

  Her other hand cupped my balls, and even as I looked down my length at her, she slowly rubbed my shaft across her cheek, eyes closing as she moaned with anticipation.

  “Cerys,” I groaned, head falling back as she took all of me in her mouth, the heat liquid and intense.

  Her tongue undulated under my shaft, and for a moment she bobbed her head up and down, sucking hard, swirling her tongue around the head. She pulled away with a gasp, my cock suddenly cold in the air. Pushing one of my legs up, she lowered her face to my sack, which she tongued and nuzzled, then pulled one of my balls into her mouth.

  “Fuck,” I groaned, fighting not to take over, to let her have her way.

  Her hand closed around my shaft; she began to pump me, then she pushed my leg up higher. Her tongue dropped from my balls to her ass, her tongue circling me, hot and questing, to slip inside my ass and send a wave of sparks flooding through my body.

  “What - Cerys!” I tried to sit up, aroused, confused, aflame with desire. Her grip on my leg was iron. She kept it pushed back, working her tongue in and out as she pumped my shaft, the pleasure building, building, till with a cry I came.

  She immediately took me into her mouth, swallowed rapidly, hand still pumping, as I clenched at the sheets.

  “Fuck!” I sat up, blinking away stars. I’d come across her cheek, sent drops of cum into her eyelashes. She’d been a second too late to get my cock in her mouth. “That was…”

  “Stop talking,” she grinned, kicking the rest of her leggings off. She turned to press her face into the bed, shoulders down, ass up in the air. “And fuck me already.”

  I smacked her ass, hard, and she yelped. A bright red handprint immediately appeared on her skin, and I grabbed her by the hips, pulling her ass around so I could inhale her scent.

  “Fuck, but I love your body,” I rumbled as I drank in the sight of her. Her tight lips, red bush, the perfect curvature of her ass. I pulled her cheeks aside and took a long, conquering lick from her clit all the way up over her ass; when she moaned, I did it again, lingering on her asshole, which was a perfect, tan star. She gripped the sheets in her fist, burying her face into a pillow and moaning again as I licked her there. I couldn’t hide my delight at how much she was reacting to my touch.

  “Never knew you were so sensitive here,” I said, pulling back and rubbing my thumb over her star.

  “Yes,” she gasped, voice tight, body straining. “Feels so… oh Kellik.”

  I spat, rubbed the saliva around with my finger, then pushed the tip into her tight canal, her whole body shivering as her cheeks clenched around me. I slowly pushed in, then couldn’t restrain myself any longer. Ducking down, I ran my tongue over her slit, and we collapsed onto our sides.

  A moment later she’d navigated back down, taking my cock into her mouth once more as I began to lick her folds, drilling her ass with ever-increasing speed, drinking in her moisture, her taste, exploring her petals with sensual abandon.

  She gasped and moaned around my cock, taking me as deep as she could, clenching my ass with both hands as she worked her head vigorously up and down. All the time I moved my way around her clit, teasing, flicking, sucking on it, then pulling away just as she started to moan excitedly to extend my tongue deep within her. Her arousal was endless, her fluids coming as if from an infinite font.

  We grappled, rolled, and pinned each other, sucking, lapping, laughing. It became a contest, who could pleasure the other. My admiration for her wrestling and strength only grew as she contorted out of my grasp, again and again, till at last, I pinned her. She struggled, but to no avail.

  “You’re mine,” I said, prying her legs open. “You hear me, Cerys? You’re mine. Your body. Your mind. Your heart. Your soul. Just as I’m yours.”

  “Yours,” moaned Cerys, throwing her head back as I dove my face down into her pussy again. “Yours, Kellik, all yours, forever and ever.”

  This time my attention was merciless, and I slid my clean fingers inside her pussy even as I worked her clit. Soon she was gasping, crying out, her entire body clenching, muscles taut; then with a cry, she came, squeezing her powerful thighs about my ears, crushing her mound into my face, her hips lifting off the bed.

  I continued to work her, my pace unvarying, pushing her further and further into her orgasm, until she collapsed to lie there shuddering, stomach fluttering, knees rising as she gasped and moaned.

  I lay down and admired her. Her freckled cheeks, the slopes of her body; I drank in the sight of her coming, the follow-up tremors that hit her as if by surprise, so she’d jerk and gasp again. I ran my fingers up and down her back, caressing her, and finally, she turned over to stare at me, gaze aflame with desire, lips pulled into a grin.

  “You beast of a man,” she said. “You’ll pay for that.”

  “I sure hope so,” I said, then fell back as she leaped atop me, reaching down to guide my cock between her legs. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, she lowered to impale herself upon my shaft.

  It was heaven. It took us a moment to find the same rhythm so that I rose as she descended, a muscle in her thigh shaking as she did so over and over again. The sight of her biting her lower lip and squeezing her tits as she lost herself to the sensation was something I never wished to forget.

  We came together, Cerys’s pussy clenching my shaft like a fist as she came. For a moment we just lay together, gasping, covered in sweat.

  But I wasn’t done.

  I wanted to
devour her. My love for her was endless. I’d seen too much pain in her eyes, knowing how much she’d suffered. I wanted to blast away that pain with endless devotion. I began to kiss her again, and we rolled over, once, twice - then with a cry, we fell off the bed.

  We lay there laughing, tangled up in the sheets, until I rose to my feet. Hauling her up, I bent her over a dresser; with my hand still clamped on her neck, I leaned in to growl in her ear. “You ready?”

  She went still. “Ready?”

  I cast around. This was a lady of the night’s bedroom, after all. And there - a bottle of clear cream. I snatched it up, unscrewing the lid, then dipped a finger inside tentatively. Oily, slick perfection.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped, looking at me over her shoulder, then shook her head and rested her brow on the dresser. “Actually, I don’t care. Do whatever the fuck you want with me, Kellik.”

  I scooped a large dollop of the gel over her asshole, then worked carefully at pushing it inside. She bit her lower lip, beginning to pulse her hips back against me.

  I set the jar aside. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “Tell you what?” she moaned as I continued to work her ass with my finger.

  “That you liked this.”

  “I… it never… I mean… oh. Like that. Yes. Yes.”

  I slid a second finger inside.

  “You should have told me,” I said reprovingly. “Think of all the fun we’ve missed out on.”

  “I never felt… comfortable with the way it made me… oh fuck. With the way it made me feel,” she said, voice low, eyes squeezed shut. “It felt… wrong.”

  I positioned my cock head over her tight, glistening hole, and with careful deliberation, pushed it inside. She’d grown relaxed enough that I entered without difficulty, but still I moved slowly, carefully, giving her time to adjust, to relax around me.

  “And does this feel so wrong?” I asked.

  “No.” Her voice was so faint I could barely hear her. “Oh god. No, it doesn’t. Go slow. Go… yes. Oh yes.”

  I kept entering her till she’d taken my entire shaft. I felt her squeezing me, adjusting to my girth, then stayed still as she began to pulse again, her asshole clenching my cock, the sensation exquisite.

  I watched, mesmerized, as her asshole slid up and consumed my cock, then stretched out as she pulled away, the sensation deliriously orgasmic. Moving slowly with her, gently, I watched her expression as she grimaced but began to move quicker as well.

  “Like that,” she said. “Say it, Kellik. Tell me what you’re doing.”

  “I’m fucking your ass,” I said, and felt her fingers on her pussy, brushing against my balls each time I slid all the way home. “I’m fucking your sweet ass, Cerys.”

  “Oh, Kellik,” she moaned, legs beginning to shake. “Harder now. Harder.”

  And I complied. I rode her with greater and greater strength as she furiously masturbated, my hands gripping her hips, her whole body beginning to shake each time I slammed home.

  “Fuck,” she cried out, knocking bottles over as she lowered her shoulders and chest to the dresser. She sent them spilling about herself, surging forward then pulling back. “Fuck, yes, yes, Kellik, like that, like…. That!”

  Then she simply locked up, her whole body going tense, her ass cheeks clenching, one leg curling up, her mouth opening up into a silent “O”; only her fingers still feverishly worked her clit.

  The sight was too much. I came again into her bowels, pumping my cum deep inside her, the sensation insane, pure heaven.

  We stood thus, both frozen in paroxysms of pleasure. At last, I fell back, still holding her to me, and we both collapsed onto the bed.

  I don’t know how long we lay like that, my cock still buried inside her, spooning amongst the tousled sheets. But I never wanted it to end. It felt so right to have her against me, her body curved against mine, her hair in disarray, the sweat cooling, her breath returning to normal.

  “I love you so much,” she whispered. “I love you so much it scares me.”

  I kissed her shoulder. “Don’t be scared.”

  “The thought of losing you. Of something happening to you. It terrifies me.”

  I chuckled deep in my chest. “Good thing I’m an immortal king troll, then.”

  She carefully pulled away from me, turning to study my features over her shoulder. “Does… does that bother you?”

  “What?” But I knew what she meant.

  “That… I’ll grow old soon? That you’ll stay young? That I can’t be with you forever?”

  I didn’t know what to say. The look in her eyes was harrowing, the awareness that these years were so precious for how fleeting they were.

  “Don’t answer that,” she said, reaching up to kiss me gently. “I’m sorry I asked.”

  “Oh, Cerys,” I whispered, kissing her and then resting my brow against her cheek. “I don’t want you to ever leave me.”

  “Me neither,” she whispered.

  For a moment we lay thus, entangled, holding each other tight.

  “Can you stay with me?” Her whisper was hesitant. “Like this? For a while longer?”

  Goosebumps ran down my body, and it felt like she was asking something else. “Yes,” I whispered back, into her ear. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

  “Good.” She nestled back against me. “Just hold me, Kellik. And I’ll… I’ll pretend everything will be all right. That it’ll be like this between us, forever.”

  Despair clamored in my heart. I wanted to deny her words, to tell her that we would be, but I couldn’t lie. I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t destined to live centuries after she was dead and gone.

  So with my heart burning with pain and love, adoration and grief, I held her close. Even after her breathing slowed and became even, for long hours after she’d fallen asleep, I lay beside her, holding her close.

  Don’t forget this. Don’t you ever forget this, Kellik. Brand this moment into your memory. Because one day she’ll be gone, and that memory is all that you’ll have left.

  Chapter 9

  Three weeks later I was seated in my private study in Thorne Manor, knee-deep in paperwork with no end in sight.

  With a sigh, I sat back and poured myself a fresh glass of brandy. My king troll powers meant I could drink liquor as freely as if it were water, and thus was able to enjoy the taste of the finest alcohols in the city without stinting myself.

  I sipped the golden booze meditatively, eyeing the remaining pile of documents I needed to review, and then chose instead to stand and move to one of the windows and gaze out over the moon-lit grounds.

  A knock sounded at the door, Pogo’s quick, rapid rattle.

  “Come in,” I called.

  Shouldering the heavy door open, the hunch-backed goblin entered, arms filled with folders. “I had a presentiment that you would be awake, Master Kellik, due, in large measure, to your impossible metabolism and conscientious desire to execute the matters of state.”

  The goblin paused, searching for a place to deposit the folders, then set them down on the last remaining empty chair.

  “More paperwork, Pogo?”

  “You sound less than enthused?”

  I turned to consider my desk. Once I’d thought it a symbol of excess, easily three yards of rich mahogany imported from the Heshaman Isles, but now every inch of it was buried. “I’ve yet to tackle the critical items from three days ago.”

  “Oh?” Pogo adjusted his spectacles as he rose to his tiptoes to consider my work. “How distressing. Especially since what was critical three days ago is now probably alarmingly so.”

  I sighed, sat on the window sill, and hiked one foot up. “I hadn’t expected there to be so much… minutiae, to be honest. And for everything to be so complicated.”

  “Hmm.” Pogo linked his hands behind his back and frowned thoughtfully. “Yes. But alas, the machinery of the state will run only as well as you tend it. Left alone, it will chug along,
belching black smoke and continuously on the verge of ruin. But if maintained with an exacting eye? Ah! The profits, the splendors, the general joy, and rapture!”

  I tapped my finger on the side of my cut-crystal glass and said nothing.

  Pogo wilted a fraction. “Perhaps a restructuring of how we approach these matters would be better. I have been operating under the assumption that you wished to sign off on every decision, large or small. But I could myself take charge of certain matters…?”

  “You have my complete trust,” I said. “And I end up agreeing with everything you advise.”

  “Hmm. Well. In that case…” He finger walked through the pile of folders he’d just set down and extracted about half of them, which he set on the floor. A moment later he was on the desk, bent nearly double as he examined the piles, and from there took another third. I watched, trying not to sigh in relief, as my responsibilities dwindled to nearly half of what they had been before.

  “There. I shall charge myself with the restructuring of the civil courts, the expansion of the provost of merchant’s office, and the streamlining of the taxation protocols which are hopelessly convoluted and designed, I fear, to do little more than facilitate graft. I will also oversee the city’s monthly budget, which I’ll submit in its final form for your approval, along with the management of the treasury and where we invest our surpluses.”

  “We have surpluses?”

  “Each raid you execute against the Family usually results in the confiscation of several hundred thousand gold coins, so yes. Though - and this is worrying - I’m afraid we’re beginning to see signs that the economy is imploding.”

  I sat up. “Imploding?”

  Pogo climbed down from my table with great care. “At this point, the Family is gutted, and my investigations reveal that the official economy - think of it as the legal one, what we traditionally think of as an ‘economy’ - was hugely dependent, if not systemically intertwined with the underground economy, which the Family ran. With the destruction of the Family -”