Emperor of Shadows

by Mike Truk

  “Why risk it? You see, I have a certain power. Let’s put the matter to rest, shall we?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And what power is this?”

  “Tell me the truth,” I commanded, and my words thrummed with my king troll heritage. “Do you mean me ill?”

  Xandi blinked rapidly, taken aback. “Not particularly.”

  “Be more precise,” I commanded. “What are your intentions?”

  Xandi scowled. “You are the most powerful and wealthy man I’ve yet met. I wish to ingratiate myself with you, seduce you, destroy you utterly with my sexual abilities so that you will make me your mistress and provide me with my every desire.”

  I blinked and looked over to Cerys. “No desire to assassinate me, then.”

  “Unless she has a demon inside her.”

  “Unlikely.”

  “Why? An enterprising Uncle would have known you were going to make a move against the Cloud. It wouldn’t have taken much effort to plant a demon-infested assassin amongst the workers there, in the hopes of reaching this exact eventuality.”

  Xandi rolled her eyes. “And if I were a demonic assassin, you think I would have waited weeks to make my move? I could have slipped into his bed-chamber any night before now to cut his throat with demon talons. Why wait? Why put in this elaborate act?”

  She looked back at me. “No. What I’m offering is simple, my lord. It is what all-powerful men are offered: an exchange. My beauty, my provocative nature, my refined techniques, in exchange for gold and favor. I know you appreciate beautiful women. Cerys is gorgeous, Netherys darkly seductive. You wouldn’t notice the expense of keeping me. And I’m not the only one. Others enjoy your hospitality that would equally enjoy sharing your bed. And why keep us here if not to avail yourself of our favors? You have a dozen of the most beautiful, talented, and desired whores in all of Port Gloom under your roof. There can be no reason to not enjoy our company, not when we all so eagerly desire yours.”

  “Amazing,” said Cerys in disbelief. “I’d be furious if I wasn’t so impressed by your boldness.”

  Xandi took a very slow, sliding step to come around the corner of the desk across from Cerys, watching her with all the calculating care of a rival predator trying to sneak a kill.

  “Xandi?” asked Cerys, arching a brow. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

  “You know very well,” said Xandi, taking another step closer to me. “Yet you fail to stop me. I can only assume that means I have your permission.”

  An interesting new look entered Cerys’s gaze. Something dark and dangerous, halfway between excitement and arousal. “Don’t you think you should be asking Kellik?”

  Another sliding step. “I know he won’t mind. No man does. But you. You’re protective. You’re the true obstacle. Unless… of course… you like to watch.”

  Cerys turned to me. “You want this little hellcat to suck your cock, Kellik?”

  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat - my pants were growing tight. “You want to watch?”

  Cerys reached out for my whisky, rubbed its edge across her lips, then licked them, otherwise making no answer.

  Xandi flicked her tufted ears and took the final gliding step to reach my side. With all the feline grace in the world, she sank to her knees before me. “Have you ever had your dick sucked by a graymalkin?” she whispered, her vertical pupils narrowing a fraction amidst their vibrant irises.

  “Can’t say that I have.” I leaned back, unsure, trying to gauge Cerys. Was this a test? Did she want me to push Xandi away, or was she enjoying it?

  A quick glance revealed nothing. Cerys was completely self-composed, poised on the edge of the desk, my whisky glass held before her lips - watching with smoldering intensity.

  Xandi undid the drawstrings of my pants with careful plucks, then slowly locked her eyes with mine, pulling my fly open.

  I could feel Cerys’s gaze on me. My heart was hammering. Was now the moment to end this?

  But I was entranced by Xandi’s beauty. Her feline dexterity, her swishing tail. I couldn’t do more than watch as she gently drew my cock forth, then leaned her head down with a contented sigh to slowly stroke her cheek up and down its length, purring deep in her throat.

  I shot Cerys another glance. Two spots of color had appeared high on her cheeks; still she said nothing.

  I felt Xandi kiss my cock, soft kisses that ghosted down my length, down to the base of my shaft. She arose, tongue snaking out to swirl around me, a rising helix of heat. I flushed and adjusted myself in the chair again.

  “Mmm,” she said, soft fingers ghosting up and down me, eyes half-lidded. “I love your cock, master. Thick, strong, and large. I could worship a cock like this all day.”

  “You don’t have all day,” said Cerys, voice husky. “Get to work.”

  Xandi grinned, revealing her milk-white teeth, and obliged. Rising just enough to take my head between her lips, she bowed forward, allowing me to slide inside her.

  I nearly jumped when her tongue rasped against my shaft, the lightest of touches. It was rough and abrasive, but she applied just enough pressure to heighten my pleasure - the merest touch that she quickly replaced with sweet suction as she pulled herself off my cock with pop.

  “That’s why we graymalkin are so prized,” she whispered, leaning down to rub her cheek against me again.

  Before I could answer, she resumed sucking me, but now she did so sloppily. It was on purpose, I could tell – she slurped and worked my cock ever deeper till I hit the back of her throat. Again she pulled off with a gasp, and this time strands of saliva hung down over her chin. Her fist pumped me insistently. “You’re too big, master. You’ll make me choke. Do you want to see tears in my eyes?”

  She grinned wickedly, getting back to work. I closed my eyes, leaned my head back, and lost myself in the moment. The sensation of her fondling my balls, the brief touches of her tongue, the pressure and release that she expertly brought. She was amazing. Beyond talented. She kept bringing me closer to the edge then slowing down, teasing me, tantalizing me, and clearly knew exactly what she was doing.

  Movement. I opened my eyes and saw Cerys step up to my side. She’d stripped her leather leggings off, standing in just her panties, the glass of whisky still in hand.

  I looked askance up at her, uncertain. Then she pulled her panties aside, revealing her swollen lips.

  “Go on,” she murmured.

  I laughed huskily under my breath and leaned in, kissing her mound, the crimson hair cropped short. I then moved down to her slit, her lips engorged, swollen together.

  Cerys pressed her hand to the back of my head even as Xandi bent to take one of my balls in her mouth, teasing it as she rubbed her thumb in sensual circles just under my cock head.

  Cerys was wet. By the Hanged God’s ever questing cock, she was soaked. I licked her but once and her hand tightened on the back of my head, pulling me in closer, so my nose became buried in her muff as she angled her hips, opening herself to me.

  Xandi was determined to not be forgotten. She rose, turned, and peeled her leggings off. I felt her tail swish across my midriff as she backed into me, hand reaching down to secure my cock. Then my head was nestled between her lips, which were bare, I realized - completely shorn.

  “Focus,” said Cerys, giving my head a tug. I grinned into her, working my tongue up slowly between her inner and outer lips, around her clit, back down the other side.

  Even as I did so, Xandi lowered herself upon me. For a moment I couldn’t enter her; her pussy was too tight, her lips wouldn’t part, and I heard her curse. I felt her fingers as she rapidly frigged herself, working her pussy, and tried again.

  This time she slid down onto me with ease, and the sensation was sweet perfection.

  “Xandi,” said Cerys, tone clinical, almost bored. “How much did men pay you in the Perfumed Cloud for this service?”

  “I… oh, your cock, Master Kellik, it’s… it’s just right… it… ah.” She sig
hed contentedly as she took more of me inside herself. “A hundred gold for a night,” she added. “To begin with.”

  “A hundred gold,” said Cerys, then her breath hitched as I sucked on her clit, teasing the small button between lips. “That’s… that’s quite the sum.”

  Xandi began to rise and fall, her full ass pressing down onto my lap each time, hands clutching at my knees to steady herself. She was doing something amazing with her spine, undulating it with surprising fluidity so she could pump my shaft up and down with her pussy. The rising and falling rhythm made it hard to think.

  Cerys made it hard to breathe when she began grinding her pussy into my face, bathing my nose and cheeks with her arousal.

  “I’m going to come,” said Xandi, tone piteous. “Oh, master. Please? Will you let me come? Please?”

  “Don’t be silly,” said Cerys. “You can’t possibly be close to climax already.”

  “Not everyone’s a frigid bitch, Cerys dear,” said Xandi with arch amusement. “Some of us get off on fucking quite… oh. Quite… oh fuck. I’m going to… I’m…”

  “I suppose the acting comes with the service,” said Cerys, her own voice turning tremulous as I worked her pussy.

  But I was starting to realize it was no act. Xandi’s claws were digging into my knees, her movement losing its fluidity, becoming jerkier. With a cry she slammed down into my lap, taking all of me, her body shaking as she let out a startled, drawn-out yowl of pleasure.

  “No shit,” said Cerys, fighting to keep her tone cynical and rich with disdain. “She actually…” I heard her gasp, felt her left leg begin to quiver. “She’s… that’s right, Kellik.” Her tone became stern again. “Like that. Now. Slide three fingers inside me. Do it… do it… now… oh fuck…”

  I did as ordered. Xandi had slowed down but never quite stopped; she resumed fucking me, rising and falling, her pussy clutching at me, tightening at the base and releasing at the top as if milking me for my seed.

  My fingers sank deep into Cerys’s tight snatch, curling and touching her where I knew she loved best. She set the whisky glass down hard on the desk, nearly tipping it over in her need to grasp me by the back of the head with both hands.

  Xandi, with expert timing, began to pump up and down with furious speed just as Cerys came violently, wetting my lips and chin, grinding her pussy into my face with shameless abandon. But she didn’t cry out; her breathing grew hectic, descending into a series of harsh gasps, then stilled as she sagged back against the edge of the desk.

  Xandi was clenching herself tightly around my cock, and the endless slippery friction proved too much. The tension and release undid me, and with a hoarse cry, I came deep inside her, even as she slowed her pulsing and pressed down hard upon me.

  “How was that?” she said, turning to regard me with obvious self-satisfaction. “Unlike anything you’ve felt in your life?”

  “Pretty good,” I said, wiping sweat from my brow. “Not half bad.”

  Xandi’s pout was immediate.

  Cerys pulled her panties back over her pussy, took up the whisky, which I saw was nearly gone. “You performed… adequately, Xandi. You may leave us now.”

  “Leave?” Her surprise was genuine. “But we’re just getting started.”

  “Kellik and I are just getting started. You were the foreplay. Now it’s time for he and I to move to the main course.”

  Xandi pulled herself off my cock and turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “Surely you don’t want me to leave, do you master? There is so much more I can show you, do to you…”

  I sighed, pulled myself back into my pants. “Maybe another time, Xandi. Thank you.”

  She narrowed her gaze, glanced at Cerys, then laughed. “Fair enough! But I was telling the truth.” She leaned forward, resting her forearms on my shoulders, rubbing her cleavage into my face so that some of Cerys’s juices made them gleam. She then bowed her lips down to my ear. “Your cock truly is perfection. And trust me. I would know.”

  “Xandi?” Cerys’s tone was sharp.

  “Oh, fine.” The graymalkin pulled away, pulled her leggings back up, hopped a few times to squeeze all of herself into them, then sauntered toward the door.

  I watched her go, admiring the sway of her hips. “Xandi?”

  She turned at the door. “Yes, master?”

  “You said you had other news for me.” I took the brandy from Cerys, took a sip. “What was it?”

  “The Aunts and Uncles are being led by a man called Eddwick.” Xandi leaned against the doorway. “He has emerged as their leader, and the plan to assassinate you is his.”

  And like that my arousal was doused completely. “Eddwick. Great.”

  Xandi raised her chin defiantly. “Don’t blame the messenger. I’ll keep my ears open for any other news. But remember, if you find yourself needing a willing, pliant body with which you can do anything without fear of being judged or resented - come find me. Not only will I be willing to entertain you, but I swear this: whatever your darkest desire, I will enjoy it.”

  “Xandi?” Cerys pointed at the door. “Out.”

  The half-graymalkin grinned at me, tail flicking from side to side, then dropped into a deep curtsey. “I am your most eager and willing servant, my lord.” And with that, she rose, turned neatly on her heel, and sauntered out the door.

  “The tart,” said Cerys, voice rough, half-amused, half growl. I give her a home, a generous allowance, promise to help her establish herself in any business in the city, and this is how she repays me? By sucking your cock right before my eyes?”

  “You didn’t seem to mind too much,” I said mildly.

  The corner of her lips rose. “I was curious.”

  “About?”

  “What it looked like. To see your cock in another woman’s mouth. I wanted to see how I’d feel.”

  “And how was it?”

  She slipped off the edge of the desk and came around to kneel before me. “I liked it.”

  “You did?” I considered her expression, trying again to read her emotions and failing. “Then why did you send her away?”

  “There’s sharing, and then there’s sharing,” she whispered. “Xandi’s sweet, but I don’t want her to forget that you’re mine.” She paused, eying me. “Unless you wanted to fuck her more?”

  Her tone, I realized, was daring. Playful. Were we still provoking each other? It looked like we were. So I leaned back and pretended disinterest. “Wouldn’t mind doing her over my desk, to be honest.”

  “Is that so?” Her voice had dropped to a whisper. She seized hold of my belt buckle with both hands, beginning to roughly unstrap it. “You’d enjoy being with that little hellion? To abuse her? To make her mewl?”

  I sipped some more brandy. “I’m just curious as to all the different sounds she could make.”

  She paused and looked up at me. “Different sounds?”

  I grinned. “If I fucked her hard and long enough.”

  Cerys nodded slowly as she sucked on her teeth, then with great focus pulled out my cock and began to slowly, almost aggressively, pump it up and down. “And the other women? You’d fuck them to keep yourself amused?”

  Was she upset? Then I saw her slip her hand inside her breeches, reaching down to cup her sex, and my reservations disappeared.

  “Maybe. Put them on a rotating schedule. Two a night.” It was growing harder to keep my casual tone. “You think they’d mind if I brought two or three to bed at once?”

  “Why not all twelve?” Cerys leaned down to rub my cock against her cheek, bowing her head farther to lick my balls.

  I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, sinking into the vortex of pleasure. “I’d need a bigger bed, I guess.”

  “Bastard,” she whispered, then took all of me into her mouth, where she began to vigorously suck me off, working with a feverish intensity I’d not seen in her before.

  By Blind Fortuna’s immaculate cleavage, the thought of pulling all twelve of the Perfumed
Cloud’s finest consorts into my bed was insane. I tried to imagine it. Twelve nubile bodies, their gleaming eyes, their hands reaching for me, those who couldn’t get close tending to each other, the moaning, the sighs -

  With a cry I came, clutching at Cerys’s head with one hand as I thrust deep into the back of her throat and splashing brandy all down her side.

  She took all of me, gulping hard time and again, then sat back on her heels to wipe at the corner of her lips.

  I leaned back, still breathing hard, and set the nearly empty glass aside. I studied her, unsure.

  Cerys’s stare was enigmatic. “There. That’s twice you’ve received head. Whereas I’ve only been pleasured once. Are you cruel as well as a bastard?”

  “Not at all,” I said, reaching down to take her hand. “I’m sure there’s a bedroom around here somewhere we can retire to.”

  “Good.” Then she started. “Oh. I almost forgot. I’ve other important news to share with you.”

  “It can wait,” I said, rising to my feet. “I’ve an overwhelming urge to do unspeakable things to you.”

  “Important news, Kellik. I can’t believe I even forgot for a second. Olandipolis has fallen to the Aurora. Word just arrived. One week was all it took for her to break through the walls.”

  I froze. “One week? How is that possible?”

  “There was a revolt from within the city. The Revelator was murdered, and the city guards swamped by the faithful. Who opened the gates that night, and allowed the hereshen to ride into the city. She’s been named the new Revelator, and now rules all of Olandipolis without opposition.”

  I pressed my hand to my brow, sagging back to sit on the desk’s corner. “Just like that?”

  Cerys’s expression was grim. “Just like that.”

  “She already had a large army. With the faithful of Olandipolis added to her ranks, she’ll be unstoppable.”

  “I’ve sent word to Tamara, asking her that she join us. We need to figure out how vulnerable Port Gloom is to a similar rebellion from within.”

  “You think she’s coming for us?”