by Tiya Rayne
“Nicorias, what would you do with a dumb girl? You will have full control over the future kings of the Locke. When those bastards take their rightful role as rulers, you will have their ear. You will be the father of kings. What more could you want?”
Nicorias’s eyes look to me briefly and I notice the heat of his stare out the corner of my eye.
“Why wait to rule the Locke behind sniveling children, when I could control the kingdoms now. Do you know the power that the slip of a woman holds?” his icy stare turns back to Medina. “The kingdoms are in a massive search for her. With one word from her lips she could start a war. Not to mention the power she wields between her legs. Even the Dark King has been snared by her womanly wilds. She is the true power source.” Again those calculating eyes turn back to me, and this time, they find me watching him.
Does he speak the truth about me? Am I all that he says that I am? Is what he mentions about my babies true as well? Are there kings in my belly? I had so many questions. The more I tried to think about them, the more I tried to search my memories for the answers, the more my head throbbed.
“Well,” Medina says bringing Nicorias’s eyes to her. “The girl is not for sale. However, the bastards still are.”
He lifts one eye brow and ask, “If you aren’t using her for political power, and you aren’t keeping the future kings, then what use is the chosen to you?”
His beady calculating eyes seem to scan over every scar that mars my body.
His question causes Medina to freeze. Her cup of tea stopping midway to her lips before going back to the table.
A smile so fake and vicious that it looks plastic lands on her lips. “Her value is of sentimental use. I do get so lonely out here by myself.”
There is a weighted silence as they both study each other. The obvious mistrust coating their faces.
“In that case,” Nicorias says standing to his feet. “I guess I’ll stick with the original plan. I assume I will be notified when the boys are born?”
This was the moment that I realized exactly why this hideous cruel man was here. Their talk of kings and chosen ones got me sidetracked, but now it became clear of his real business here today. The plate I was about to place on the table slips from my hand, and this time I did not pick it up.
“No!” I say.
As if I had not spoken a word, Medina talks over me. “I think it will be soon. I will send Plinket to the village to notify you when…..”
“I said no. You will not take my babies.” I shout.
I don’t know where the courage came from. I had never before shown this much backbone. I think my actions even shocked Medina because for a moment she stands there and just watches me. Quickly, she snaps out of her shock and I can tell I will pay severely for my outburst.
“Have you lost your mind, Girl? Do you know that at this moment I could snap your neck before you can even think of the words to apologize to me? Or how about I take you to the nearest village and hand you over to the soldiers. The gods know they are crowding around there like weeds.”
I flinch at the mention of being in the hands of the soldiers.
Just that quick, the courage that reared its head in me is suddenly washed away. I again felt weak and fearful.
“I…I....I’m…” I stutter over my words. “I’m sorry. Please don’t take my babies.”
I try pleading. It has never worked for me before, but I will do anything to keep my babies.
“It seems, you do not have the control you thought you had.” Nicorias’s words seem to anger Medina even more.
I knew that my speaking back to her made her look bad in front of the obvious warlock.
With a purposeful stride, Medina walks over to me and back hands me to the ground. I fall like a sack of potatoes to the filthy floor.
“I was doing you a favor, you ungrateful twat. I had planned to drown the bastards in the river upon birth while you watched. I thought this was a kinder gesture. I have the right mind to go on with my initial plans.”
“No, please.” I plead again.
Running a hand down the front of her elegant dress she doesn’t take her eyes off of me as she speaks to Nicorias.
“Do not fret, Nicorias. A few nights in the cabinet will have my little slave girl in a more agreeable mind-set when next we meet.”
I shoot to my feet with the thought of running away, but Plinket is there the moment I stand. He’s in his ‘human form’. His pale arms wrap around me like a vice and starts to drag me. I kick and fight the best I can. There is no hell like the cabinet. The darkness consumes you and the cold breaks you. A space so small that you cannot stand or stretch out. It is pitch black and freezing cold. A cold that goes straight to your bones. I have been left in the cabinet for days without a stitch of clothing to block out the biting chill. The only position one can find is sitting up with your back against the wall and your knees to your chest. I never want to go back into the cabinet. But even with all my fight and determination it is no use. Plinket shoves me head first into that chilling cold and depressing darkness.
My knees hit the dirt floor so hard my teeth rattle in my mouth. I turn and pound against the wooden door begging for Medina to not take my boys.
For hours I yell to her, but she never responds. Eventually, the entire ordeal drains my fatigued body. I collapse back against the stone wall. As the tears start to fall, the rain begins to hit the roof of the small cottage from hell.
What am I going to do? I cannot allow Medina to sell my boys. Boys. I am having boys. I have loved these babies from the moment I realized I was pregnant. After they first started to move, I figured out that I was having two. I always wondered what the gender would be. Finding out should have been a happy day, but instead it is the worse day of my life. Not even finding out they will be kings brings me any joy. I didn’t have much to offer these boys. I am a servant slave. Despite what I use to be or what they say I was, right now I am a captive in a witch’s house. I have nothing but these babies in my belly. They are the only things that are mine and she wants to give them away to that horrible man. A man that doesn’t want them to love and treat well, but because he would use them to gain power.
A desperate sob rips from me. How do I stop them? How do I protect my sons?
My stress and my tears lull me into sleep. Not even the promise of seeing one of my dream men can soothe my aching heart.
Chapter Three
I live for the short glimpses of her in the dreams. I have searched the Locke over and over and have no idea where my little human is. The first time Avalia placed me in the dream realm with Lilly I lost my shit. Avalia thought the strong connection I had with Lilly would maybe spark her memory. It didn’t. I spent most of the dream pounding and screaming against an invisible wall like a raging lunatic. Whoever has her knows their way around magic. Initially I thought it was the Dark King. It took Avalia and a ton of magic to keep me from tracing to the Northern Kingdom and fighting my way to the Dark King. It wasn’t until a horde of trolls tore through the Kingdoms in search of Lilly that I realized he did not have her. The Dark King was just as desperate to find Lilly as we were.
My first glimpse of her left me raging. Other than a few bruises she was alive and healthy. But as time passed, her body became a testament to what she must be suffering. Dark lines cover every length of her body. It is obvious that someone is using her blood for their magic. And by the looks of her body, often. Her cuts are not the most alarming thing. What stands out the most is her obvious lack of food. She is nothing more than skin and bones. Her once curvy figure has given way to pointed edges. With her protruding belly it makes her look even more malnourished. Every time I see her I have to fight down my fury. She is out there somewhere unprotected and being abused in ways I can only imagine. And there isn’t a damn thing I can do for it. The only positive thing about this experience is that it is clear that she has no memory of who I am.
The look on her face the last time she saw me still g
ives me nightmares. I wish that I could rip that memory from my mind. It plagues me throughout my days.
I sit underneath the Red Root tree waiting for her to appear. Sometimes she does not come to the dream scape. Avalia says that it is more likely that she is not sleeping or not sleeping on schedule.
I decided on the Mystic Falls for our dream tonight because it was the last time I was with Lilly. It was near this beautiful waterfall where the water is a soft purple, that I got my first taste of Lilly. A taste that still tingles my lips when I think about her body convulsing around my tongue.
Suddenly Lilly appears. She is wearing that same blue dress with its empire waist. Her massive curls are in a messy braid over her shoulder. Her face is marred with dark bruises as if she’d been struck multiple times. Dried tear tracks mixed with blood from tiny scratches coat her face.
I immediately stand to my feet. Her eyes lock onto mine and for the first time, I see something worse than I did that night in the Southern Kingdom. I see surrender. I see defeat. All the fight has left her and that brings about a fear like I’ve never had. She collapses to her knees and drops her head in her hands. I rush to her, as close as the barrier will let me.
“What is it, Lilly?” I plead even though I know she can’t hear me. “Talk to me!” I rage against this fucking invisible wall.
She doesn’t respond, only continues to cry in her hands. The mood of the dream changes causing heavy rain clouds to hover. It rains often now that Lilly has been missing. Each time a droplet falls from the sky, I know that somewhere, my little human, is crying. Right now, I want to hold her and wipe her tears. At one time I was ok with watching her from a distance. Always standing on the outskirts of her life, never interacting. But the moment I had her in my arms for the first time inside that dingy diner, I knew I would never go back. My limbs burn with the need to hold her, to touch her. I feel useless.
I sit for what feels like an eternity watching the only woman that I will ever love, hurt. It kills me to see her spirit so broken. I have done everything I can think of to save Lilly. I have questioned everyone that could be questioned. I’ve searched every Kingdom, even being as bold as to go into the Northern Kingdom. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to save Lilly and free her from her tormentor. As I sit and watch her break apart, it reminds me of a memory, one I’d nearly forgotten.
Lilly was six when she got lost on a hunting trip with her Uncle. It was not long after I found her in that forest the night she broke her step-father’s mug. Just that day, Lilly had gone swimming in the lake and misplaced her butterfly pendant. It was the first and only time the charm had not worked for me to locate her. I remember being against this hunting trip from the beginning. Lilly begged her uncle to take her with him. Her mother and I thought she was too young. However, Buddy, as usual, scratched at his chin as he looked down at Lilly’s pleading eyes and caved. The old man was hard on her, but she had him wrapped around her finger. Even when he was forced to discipline her it tore him up. Once, he took a switch to her after her Mother had discovered she’d attempted to steal meats from a store, I followed him back to his home that night. I was determined to wring the bastard’s neck for hurting my Lilly. Then I watched him crumble in the privacy of his room and cry. He whispered his apologies to Lilly even though she never heard him.
That night of the hunting trip, while he slept, Lilly realized that she had lost her necklace. She crept from her makeshift bed under the stars and went to look for it. She was missing for almost two days. Her Uncle was near mad with worry by the time they found her. The ranger warned that in such a heavy bear and mountain lion area that her survival was limited. Add to that the dropping temperatures at night, her survival was on the lower percentage. It was early morning on day two of the search. Her uncle and the search party were going over the map to track her. Out of nowhere a very dirty and exhausted Lilly shows up. After she returned home and was snuggled into bed, her uncle asked her what had happened out there. With sleepy eyes, and the biggest yawn ever, she told him. “I did like ya told me, Uncle Buddy. I didn’t wait on no Prince Charming. I saved myself.”
That’s it!! The moment of clarity had me jumping to my feet startling Lilly from her tears. How could I be so stupid? The first lesson I ever learned about Lilly, was that she could take care of herself. Hell, the first time we met she saved me. All this time I’ve been figuring out ways to rescue her, but Lilly is more than capable of rescuing herself. If she could remember who she was, she would quote some hillbilly phrase from her Uncle Buddy, and figure out a way to find her own freedom. Whoever took her has done well with making her forget who she is. But I know that deep down inside of her the fighter is still there. It is my job to pull that fighter back out.
I turn to Lilly with a smile plastered on my face. That’s right, my love, I’m bringing you back to me.
* * * * *
I awake in my room in the glass castle. The king size poster bed with its dark woods and black sheets surround me. I awake to the same scene every morning after I have a dream with Lilly. An erection so hard it could break rocks. With my eyes close I wrap my hands around my raging cock under the tented black silk sheets. Pre-cum is already dripping from the head like a lone tear.
I imagine Lilly is there with me, her hazel doe eyes looking down at me as I dip my tongue into her navel. She moans and arches her back like a cat.
“Azriel.” She purrs my name in that way only she can.
My cock pulses underneath my tight grip. I imagine that look in her eyes when she sees me in the dreams. I can tell that she has no idea who I am, but finds me attractive. I caught her in the dream once trying to straighten herself out before I noticed her. It doesn’t matter what Lilly looks like, she will always be beautiful to me. I hate to see her so abused in the dreamscape. Yet, even with her scars, protruding belly, and dirty dress, I still wake up with a raging erection after every dream.
My hips rock off the bed pumping my shaft into my fisted hand as I think about her body. I can still imagine the exact way her body looked. Her dark caramel colored breasts tipped with milk chocolate nipples. Without the hair, I had a direct sight to her engorged clit and fat pussy lips. Lips that glistened with her need for me. Lilly’s essence runs abundantly when she is aroused.
I imagine her naked body laid bare to me. Her dark golden skin in beautiful contrast to the black sheets. Her wild curls circle her head like a halo. I’m between her legs, at perfect view to taste her creamy nectar once again. She stops me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I look up into her heavy sex-glazed eyes and she whispers.
“Not now, Azriel. I need you inside me.”
I’m rocking my hips so fast into my fist as I clutch the sheets beneath me. I tighten my hold as I imagine the snug fit of Lilly’s pussy.
In my mind I turn her on her side to get a better angle of her sex. Her swollen stomach does not allow for me to be on top. With her perfect ass pressed to my groin and one arm under her side between her and the bed. I lift her top leg draping it over my thigh as I glide into her.
“Ahh.” I growl into her ear as her tight sheath welcomes me and expels me at the same time. “Lilly, your pussy feels so fucking good.” I can’t move. The tight wet walls feel so perfect that I’m threatened to spill upon entrance.
“Please, Azriel.” She begs, rocking her pelvis in a forward motion, trying to get friction. “Make my pussy yours.”
I almost come at her imagined words. I pull out slowly, only the head of my cock left in the tight confines of her sheath, then slam back into her. She cries out in pleasure and the sound is so erotic that I have to hear it again. I ram into her with long deep thrust as she claws at the sheets like a cat. I lift her leg higher to go deeper. I need to feel all of her. I want to go further inside her than any man have or ever will again. She sings my name like a sonnet. Calling out to me like I’m her pagan god.
I’m working my hips, lifting them on and off the bed to meet my fist. I’m also pumping my fist up and do
wn my shaft, in the same rhythm that my imagination Lilly is working her hips. I feel my release approaching. It will be a powerful one.
With Lilly’s imaginary leg thrown across my forearm I reach underneath her thigh to find her clit. I use my two longest fingers to circle her button and a new coating of arousal floods my cock. Her passage gets so much wetter that her essence slips from our joining down between her buttocks and runs down my shaft to my balls.
“Fuck!” I won’t be able to last long. Her hips are making circles against my pelvis, going in the opposite direction of my fingers. “Come for me, Lilly, come for me now.” I yell.
“Azriel, I’m coming.” She shouts as her walls tighten on me causing me to buck off the bed. “Lilly!” I shout as I cum in long ropy jets into my fist and black silk sheets. I come until I can no longer move.
Completely spent I fall back onto my bed. Sweat coats my body as I kick the now sticky and drenched sheets off of me. My cock lays placidly against my thigh still oozing my release.
“Well that was theatric.”
I shoot up from my bed grabbing the silk sheets and covering my nakedness.
“Avalia,” I shout as she stands beside my bed watching me unamused with her hands on her hips. “What the hell?”
Usually, after I awake from my dreams, I spend a moment with my dick in my hand. Then I immediately meet Avalia and the others down in the throne room to debrief them on my dream. They are always chomping at any bit of information I give them about Lilly. The ladies always want to know what Lilly did in the dream. They enjoy my tales of Lilly discovering her new surroundings. Augustus and the other men are more concerned of her well-being. They ask about her health and state of mind. I never keep any information from them. They have all earned their right to be in my inner circle, and they all deserve the right to hear about Lilly. We have fought side by side in the battle to find Lilly. Every day we are back out in the Locke searching for her or any information in where she might be.