King of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 2)

by Scarlett Dawn

  Master Dorian worked his jaw. “I have it on good authority that your Kimber will be gone for several more hours.”

  Master Dorian was seducing my lover.

  The pregnant pause ended, and I held my breath. I could hear Elex sucking his teeth while he was thinking.

  “Would you care to join me in my room for another drink, sir?”

  I couldn’t believe they didn’t hear my gasp—but I lucked out because the chair scraped on the floor, covering it up.

  Walking side by side, carrying brandy glasses, the eldest temple master and my now-former lover headed through the halls to my old room for some stupid tryst that…

  I was flustered. No, I was beyond flustered. I was pissed and betrayed and didn’t understand a thing going on.

  The curtain I was semi-hidden behind rustled, and Roran appeared, holding out his hand.

  “Come. We have to get to your old rooms.”

  Confusion wrinkled my forehead. “That’s where they’re going…”

  “Yes. Come. This is important.”

  Roran led me away from the stairs, and I was even more confused. A right turn down a hall and another right a moment later brought us to a set of doors I had never seen.

  Cranking the door open, there was a small, wood-paneled room beyond. Roran pulled me inside and cranked the door closed.

  Pressing a button, the whole thing shuddered and started to ascend.

  I slammed myself against the wall, terrified. “Roran! What the hell is this?”

  “A lift,” he chuckled. “Do you really think the household workers carry linens up five flights of stairs? Or the kitchen staff drags those carts up the stairs?”

  “I’ve never… it’s…”

  Roran couldn’t stop laughing at me. “You are a treasure, Kimber. Really.” He sobered after a moment. “There are three of these in the building, and we’ll be at the top floor before they are on the second. Dorian will delay the walk so we can get to the rooms.”

  The lift clunked to a halt, and Roran pulled the doors open, ushering me out.

  I hoped I would never use that dreadful contraption again.

  It was, however, convenient, and we were only a few doors away from my old rooms. Hurrying through the halls, Roran pulled out a key and let us in.

  Rilen was standing in the door to the bedroom and motioned us over. “Quickly.”

  We all ducked into the closet, and the folding doors weren’t quite shut so we could peer through the cracks.

  “Masters,” I whispered, “doesn’t it bother you your mate is purposefully attempting to cheat on you with my former bedmate?”

  “It’s not cheating,” Rilen whispered.

  “It’s with our blessing, my sweet.” Roran’s voice was barely audible.

  “Why? Why would you ever encourage this?”

  They exchanged looks with each other over my head and turned back to the room.

  “Always for the magic, Kimber,” Rilen said. “We claim to be temple masters, but we listen to the magic first.”

  “To preserve that, this must be allowed to happen.”

  The door clicked open in the foyer, and the three of us fell silent.

  I could hear the panting and rustle of clothes, and eventually, the footfalls to the bedroom.

  Elex walked in, already naked and erect.

  Master Dorian followed, pulling his pants down.

  My stomach clenched.

  I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t know if this was something I wanted to watch.

  I was trapped, though, and I was transfixed.

  Once again, I was reminded how well-endowed Master Dorian was.

  Yanking Elex back against him, he leaned into his ear. “Listen to me, boy. This is fucking. Nothing else.”

  Elex reached behind and grabbed Master Dorian’s lengthening shaft. “That’s all I need. Your dick in my ass.”

  “On the bed, all fours. Face away from the headboard.”

  I put a hand over my mouth and stepped back, afraid he would see me in the closet.

  A feeling of foreboding ran down my spine.

  Master Dorian wanted us to see this.

  There was no gentleness in him in the next moment. Master Dorian spiked himself into Elex’s passage without any warning.

  The shriek of pain was ear-splitting, and I shrank back.

  I saw the twins flinch. Of course, they did—they knew a very different side of the master.

  Starting slow, he drew out of Elex and then pushed back. Elex whimpered again and dropped his head to bear the pain. A few more strokes and he was getting used to being stretched.

  “That’s got to hurt,” Rilen whispered.

  Master Dorian’s eyes snapped right to the closet, and he started moving faster.

  “What is it about Kimber’s pussy that has you disinterested?”

  I wished he wouldn’t talk about my lady parts while he was balls deep in another man’s ass.

  Elex whimpered, and I saw tears streaming down his face. “Not disinterested.”

  “What then? I will kill to sink into that pussy.”

  “A little torture.” Elex grunted.

  Master Dorian’s fingers dug into his hips, pulling him back on his cock. The look on his face was dark and intense.

  I wondered just how much he was enjoying himself if he was at all. I couldn’t imagine this deceit brought him any joy.

  But males worked differently, and there was a chance he was just enjoying having his erection in someone.

  Gods, I didn’t know what to think.

  “Torture?” Master Dorian didn’t slow his strokes at all. He was performing his own form of torture.

  “Magic needs sex. I want to see how long she can go before she cheats on me.”

  Another quiet gasp from me, and I felt hot tears in my eyes. He wanted to force me to cheat on him?

  “To what ends?”

  The motions of the two men seemed to find a more comfortable rhythm.

  “An experiment…oh, yeah…” Elex’s eyes rolled back in pleasure.

  A grunt of satisfaction came from Master Dorian, as I could hear the slap of flesh.

  “That is raw,” Rilen ground out in the quiet of the closet. “He cannot be enjoying that.”

  “I think they both are.” Roran’s voice was gruff.

  “Are you two okay?” I whispered.

  “Fine,” they chorused.

  Master Dorian grunted again. “Just an experiment?”

  “She’s weak—oh!—and I think she’ll either cheat on me or she’ll be so stubborn, she won’t have the power to control the magic in the Spine.”

  “You’d like that.” There was no question in Master Dorian’s statement.

  “The Spine should fall when—fuck!—when it’s ready. Not when some little fancy, spoiled twat says it should.”

  It felt like he was driving a spike into my chest, again. I had never been anything but good and kind to him. I thought he enjoyed my company and our friendship…and our bedroom romps.

  Master Dorian didn’t like it either. His hands moved to Elex’s shoulder, and he scored the flesh there, deeply. His fingers dug into the wound and blood ran down Elex’s arms and chest, dripping to the bed.

  Elex barely seemed to notice.

  “It’s her job,” Master Dorian said.

  “It’s not her job,” Elex grunted. “The Spine just needs to fall and take with it whoever the Lost God wants.”

  The rocking of the mattress picked up. Master Dorian was driving into him, his face growing redder with each hard thrust.

  “The Lost God is lost.” Master Dorian’s breath hitched as he glanced up at the ceiling. As he swallowed, I saw his throat bob and a look of near-completion on his face. “We listen to the magic. Not some accursed god who fled through the gate.”

  What did that mean? Accursed?

  “The Spine—shit—should still fall as it will!”

  Master Dorian leaned forward, still sla
pping his hips hard against Elex’s ass. With one arm holding him up, he wrapped the other around Elex’s neck.

  “You like breath play, boy? While my cock drills you?”

  “Yes…” It was a strangled answer.

  His hand closed tighter on Elex’s throat, and his face went red.

  I saw the twitch of Master Dorian’s hand at his throat, and a fingernail scored across the line of Elex’s neck, opening the critical vein that led to the heart.

  It seemed nothing more than a quick nick, but that spot would kill him, drain him of his life’s blood.

  I had to choke back vomit.

  “The Spine will fall when the Breaker says it will fall,” Master Dorian ground out.

  “No one should have that say,” Elex managed.

  “Only the magic has that say.”

  “Why give that power to a stupid little cunt like Kimber? That’s proof enough—gaaaaahd!—that it was not meant to be controlled.”

  The grip on his throat changed, holding his windpipe even tighter, and Elex was suddenly staring straight at the closet.

  And then, he was staring at me.

  Roran and Rilen had pushed the doors open.

  Elex’s face was a mask of terror. But Master Dorian didn’t give him enough air to speak clearly, to get out more than a few words at a time.

  “Kimber.”

  My chest heaved, and my face was soaked with tears as I stared at him. Master Dorian held him still while he still pumped in and out of him.

  “I would have done nearly anything for you, Elex.”

  “…lies…”

  “No, I won’t hear it. I heard it last night and in the lounge downstairs. I know the truth.”

  “…S’kir must die…”

  I stepped out of the closet and walked toward the bed. “You say that, but what do you really know? You’re a liar, you’re a rebel, you’ve got no clue what the magic tells me.”

  “…shouldn’t control the Spine…”

  Moving even closer, I stared at his reddened face. “I don’t. No one does. The magic tells me what to do. The magic you denied me. The magic I need to save the people of S’Kir from the mountains falling on them.”

  “…temple wrong…”

  I stared into his deep black eyes. Something Roran had said to me came back.

  “The temple doesn’t make the rules, Elex. They never have. They only listen to and conduct the magic through our land.”

  “…loved you…”

  “No, you didn’t. Not for a moment.”

  “…could have convinced you…”

  I leaned into him, and let my words dust over his skin. “I am a Master of the Temple of the Lost God. I listen to the magic. I am loyal only to the magic of this land.”

  Master Dorian’s body seized for a moment, and in the next, he came deep inside Elex with a window-rattling roar. I watched as he took his pleasure in filling my ex-lover with his cum.

  “You wanted me to be less naïve, didn’t you?”

  The grip on his throat now allowed no air through, so there was no answer. His eyes bulged. His lips sucked desperately, trying to find air.

  I stared at him. I knew what had to happen, and yet I was still being torn in two. My face was soaked with the tears of what might have been for him.

  For us.

  Trembling, I leaned in to touch his cheek.

  “You have destroyed all that goodness you tried to protect. I am no longer a pawn in your game.”

  Fast and sure, Master Dorian snapped his neck.

  Elex dropped to the bed, dead.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ~ Kimber ~

  Both Roren and Rilen caught me before I hit the floor.

  I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t think.

  My throat constricted as my stomach heaved.

  I wanted to scream and yell at Master Dorian, but it was only a reaction. The good memories of our lives, from our friendship, were the only reason to be upset.

  Elex had fully planned to let the people of S’Kir die.

  Climbing off the bed, leaving Elex where he fell, Master Dorian walked over to me.

  “You tortured him before you…” I started hyperventilating.

  “Yes, I did.” He put a hand on my shoulder.

  “I already knew he was a traitor.”

  Master Dorian smirked. “You think I tortured him to get him to confess? No, girl, not at all. I tortured him because he deserved no better. You’ve suffered at his hand, and he needed to suffer at the end.”

  I smeared the tears off my cheeks, narrowing my eyes at him. “You really are a bastard.”

  A finger on my chin lifted me to face him. “Never forget that, girl. I am a bastard. I am an asshole.”

  He looked at his two mates holding me. “Have we heard from the university about their machine’s warnings?”

  “No, not yet,” Roran said.

  “Then there is some time still.” Master Dorian studied me. “You need power, girl.”

  I nodded, sniffling. “I do. Vitas offered—”

  I gasped as Dorian was suddenly in my personal space, a looming presence. His hand caught my chin—not painfully, but I couldn’t move as he stared into my eyes. “No. You are ours. Remember my words.”

  I will kill to sink into that pussy.

  He hadn’t been play-acting.

  It had been a warning.

  Then, the full reality of what he said slammed into me.

  My knees gave out again.

  “Rilen, Roran. Take her to my quarters. Get her settled, and then make certain she has enough power for the next tremor.”

  “And you?” Rilen asked.

  “I have things to tend to.” A long finger pointed at the bloody and foul bed.

  “Later?” Roran asked.

  “Not this time.” He tossed his chin at me. “Go. Take care of her.”

  Roran and Rilen had me between them as we walked out of my old suite and headed for Master Dorian’s rooms.

  I was stuck in a cloud of horror and confusion, lost in my own mind. I knew, on an intellectual level, that Elex couldn’t be allowed to return to the rebels. He knew the dorms, he knew routines, he knew us.

  “Why death?” I murmured.

  “Having him here, in a jail cell, would just invite the rebels to attack,” Roran answered.

  I cocked my head as he pushed the door open. “We have magic to fight with—”

  “Just because they don’t believe as we do, doesn’t mean they don’t have powerful magic wielders,” Rilen supplied. “We would have a battle that involved and killed too many people.”

  “His death serves a purpose and sends a message.”

  Roran helped me to sit on the chaise lounge outside the massive master bath. “We are both very sorry that you got involved.”

  “At the same time, though, if not for you,” Rilen reasoned, “we would never have found the traitor in our midst.”

  “I brought the traitor here.”

  Roran shook his head. “If not him, then it would have been a cook or a housemaid, a butler, a launderer. Someone.”

  I gasped. “Jallina!”

  Rilen walked in from the bathroom. “She’s safe. Once we figured out who our spy was, we put them all on alert.”

  The smirk lit Roran’s face. “Quite the little spy network you have there, my dear. Only Drez and Jallina would talk to us.”

  I let out a breath. “Good. Thank you.”

  Rilen nodded. “I’m glad you have them. We’ve all lost our contacts out in the larger world.”

  Roran pulled the cloak off me and rolled it up. “That will be burned. There’s blood on it.”

  Rilen found the buttons on my shirt and started to unfasten them. “Come. You need a bath.”

  I was lost in the sensation of his hands on me for a second and then realized what Rilen was doing. I gasped and pulled my shirt closed.

  “What—?”

  “Bath.”

  “I can t
ake care of myself.”

  “But, ilati, we want to.”

  My stomach quivered. “What? Aren’t you—”

  Roran finished my question. “Gay?”

  “Well. No. Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Oh.”

  Oh.

  Rilen pulled me to my feet. “Bath. Come.”

  The massive tub with running water was filled and scented, and there was a layer of tiny bubbles on it. I glanced at the twins in the door behind me.

  “You’ve taken care of women before if you know about the bubbles.”

  They glanced at each other and took a few steps into the room with me.

  “Any male worth his salt knows how to draw a bath for a woman,” Roran said.

  He was close to me now, and his hand reached for the buttons of my shirt again. I watched him as he moved my hand away, letting it fall partly open.

  I simply didn’t know what to think.

  Rilen waited behind me until Roran was done unbuttoning me before slipping the material off my shoulder. “We want you, Kimber,” he whispered. “We have since we met you.”

  “Your loyalty was nothing we wanted to test.” Roran took the shirt from his brother and draped it over a chair. “We would never dream of touching you if you had chosen Elex.”

  “But,” Rilen said, sliding my pants off my hips and down my legs, “you haven’t chosen Elex.”

  His hand trailed from my hips up to my sides, and out, holding my arms to either side to keep me balanced as Roran retrieved my bottoms from the ground.

  Why wasn’t I protesting this? Why was my body, and hell, my mind going along with this insanity? Was it just easier to give into this?

  I thought I should tell them to stop. Just let me undress and bathe myself. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

  Just because Master Dorian had fucked and killed my boyfriend didn’t mean I couldn’t wash myself.

  I knew if I said no, that I wanted to go to Vitas and Carolee, they wouldn’t stop me. They’d help me put my clothes back on, let me leave.

  The thought of leaving them made my poor, battered heart cry and twist.

  I wanted to stay. I needed to trust them.

  Roran took my left hand, and Rilen had moved to the right. Each of them kissed my fingers and moved me over to the tub.

  Rilen pulled my camisole over my head, baring my breasts to him, as Roran slipped my panties down my legs and over my feet.