by Ana Calin
But the door closes softly behind us, and I can no longer feel any presence besides Cerys and me. We’re alone, in the privacy of her suite, surrounded by perfumed candles.
“You’re here,” she whispers, smiling as if she sees me for the first time, her eyes filling with tears. “You made it.” She touches my jaw, then kisses it, while her other hand moves slowly up and down my cock, making it torture to keep myself from coming.
I want to control myself, but I can’t help but rock my body into her touch, the muscles in my arms tightening like rocks.
“You risked your life for me,” I say, my voice low and gruff. “You shouldn’t have. If you’d died, all this would have been for nothing.”
“My life would have been for nothing, too, if you didn’t come back alive from this quest.” She lifts her head and kisses me, her soft lips molding mine, inviting me in for more.
She keeps working my cock, tearing sighs from me that betray how weak she makes me. How moldable I am in her hands. For millennia the worlds have feared me, and I believed myself invincible because my heart was dead. After millennia of watching horrors as I kept cosmic behemoths at bay, nothing could still move me. I believed myself above all emotion until I met this woman, who became my heart beating outside of my body. Considering what I wanted to do to her before we met, she should only give me pain, forever.
But what she gives me is pleasure as she positions the crest of my raging cock between her deliciously wet folds, easing herself down my shaft. My veins swell as I strain to resist coming, but she keeps sliding up and down my cock, milking me. I ram a fist into the ground and squeeze my eyes shut as I try hard not to unfold myself inside of her, waiting for her pleasure first. But she goes on relentlessly, doing me faster as I hold myself on my elbows on top of her, giving her space to move. She grabs my hair and fucks me like she owns me, her golden eyes alight.
The need to possess her burns through my veins, shadows curling up from my body.
“Yes, that’s how I want you, my King,” she says seductively. “In your real form.”
I take control and pin her under me, holding her wrists above her head, and pump her hard, almost mercilessly. I know exactly how to give her pleasure, something she would not allow herself if she were still the one in control.
Soon she comes undone, lifting her chest up, and offering me her breasts that I kiss with hunger. I manage to hold until her pleasure starts subsiding, moments later, when I unfold myself into her, doing her wildly.
We remain entangled with each other on the floor, the fire in my veins retreating slowly, the shadows pouring off my skin dissipating. Soon we’re two lovers glistening with hot sweat in the candlelight. I could hold her for hours, kissing her, but I can hear the suite door open. I jump to my feet and help Cerys up as well as we hear Marayke’s voice trying to keep away the visitor.
Then the visitor speaks, insisting to see me, and Cerys’ eyes become slits. She scoffs, picking up her robe and wrapping it around herself angrily.
“Zestari,” she spits. “Of course. Your concubine.”
“She’s not my concubine. You’re the only woman that matters to me.”
“Of course, and the rest are just diversity, yes?” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Maybe I’ll take a lover, too. You know, since we’re having an open relationship.”
My jaw tightens so much that it hurts. I grab her elbow and push her back against the wall. She holds my stare defiantly.
“You can try,” I growl. “But if you do, be well aware that I’m going to kill him and have you watch.”
“So you’re the only one who gets freedom, yes? And I thought that fae were so much more evolved than the rest of us.”
“Oh, please just stop and let me fucking explain what happened.” I glance to the door. I have to do this fast, because Marayke won’t be able to keep Zestari out forever. “The man you saw in bed with Zestari wasn’t me. It was Draven.”
Her eyes widen, but then anger returns. “Do you think I’m stupid, or what? I saw you, clearly.”
“He was wearing a glamour charm.”
Understanding illuminates her face. She opens her mouth and blinks as if she can’t believe it. “What? How—? Why?”
“I had to make Kareim and Zestari believe that my resentment of you was genuine, and simply acting out in front of her wouldn’t have been enough. They would have seen through our plot sooner or later, so Draven and I came up with that solution. We paid one of the witches at the inn to cast a powerful spell on him. I would have explained sooner, but I never had the chance, and when I did you wouldn’t listen.”
“So he—oh, wow. Then.” She looks to the door. “If Zestari catches us now it will all have been for nothing.”
“Not exactly.” I reach into the pocket of my leather pants and hold up the key in front of her. “Thanks to you, we won the first quest. We have the golden key. You’ll say you compelled me to come here through the bond between us, because you thought it was best that you kept the prize, to make sure that Samael’s people wouldn’t try to steal it while he and I are gone on the next quest.”
“May we come in, Milord?” Marayke calls from beyond the door. “Zestari insists.”
“Do come in,” Cerys answers, arranging her robe around her body and raising her chin proudly as the women walk in.
It’s a miracle that Marayke could keep Zestari out for so long. Now Marayke, one of my most trusted generals, and Zestari, the most devious courtesan at my court, stand here facing us, the first with an expression of ‘I did everything I could, and now I’d like to choke her,’ and the other with an air of entitlement.
“There you are, my King,” she says. “Everybody is wondering where you disappeared so quickly. You didn’t even stop to accept the congratulations for your victory.”
“Because he had urgent matters with his queen,” Cerys replies in my stead. “What worries me is that you dare to come in here as well, interrupting a very important discussion between King and Queen.”
“Discussion,” she says, her tone laden with jealousy. Her golden-skinned cheeks flare with a deep hue of red. “This place smells of sex,” she spits. “I can’t believe it. You just won the first quest. There’s a crowd downstairs that has been waiting for you, some of us mad with worry. And the first thing you do is race by us all, and come to her?”
Cerys scoffs. “Look at her. The courtesan feels betrayed. I suppose there’s no explaining to her what the bond between mates feels like. But let me try to put it in simple terms.”
Cerys steps in front of me, facing Zestari with her arms crossed over chest. Even in her red night robe she’s queenly, making Zestari pale in comparison despite her pompous courtesan dress.
“The King was compelled to come see me first, because I used our mates’ bond to compel him. I didn’t want anyone else to get their hands on the key Xerxes has won from the Great Smoke, because I feared betrayal and theft.”
My mouth quirks up in a grin. I think I’m gonna like this.
Cerys walks elegantly to the wardrobe and opens it wide, scanning it leisurely. “The time Xerxes spent out there, deep in the Caledonian that’s notorious for its hidden dangers, it made me realize that I wouldn’t want to keep on living if anything happened to him. I also embraced the fact that a mates’ bond like ours can’t be broken by meaningless affairs, such as the one he’s had with you.” She waves a hand in Zestari’s direction as if she’s not worth a glance. “As soon as I felt he had the key, I compelled him to come visit me before he spoke with anyone else. With the first quest won, Samael’s acolytes may start to fight dirty. I am the best suited person to keep Xerxes’ prizes until the final quest is completed. As for the intimacy—I just missed my husband. I’ve been without him for too long, and you know what? It’s my right to claim his sensual favors.” She picks an opulent red dress from the wardrobe.
“And since I missed the first dinner banquet, I’m not missing this second one. I will be joining my husband. Besides, the
welcome committee would certainly feel offended if I failed to appear tonight as well. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like some privacy to get dressed. Marayke is to stay and attend me.”
I comply, but I just can’t wipe the grin from my face. I pass by Zestari, leaving the golden key on the vanity table by the door.
“Find a safe place for it, Milady.” I turn to Zestari. “Come with me, please.”
I open the door to my suite, letting Zestari in first. My thoughts and my heart still hang on Cerys, on her changed demeanor, on how queenly and dangerous she has become, and how her tapping into Tartarian powers is changing her. The original Cerys is still there, but she’s adding layer upon layer of sophistication, which I find very much to my delight.
“I’m exhausted,” I throw over my shoulder as walk behind the closet partition, and begin to I strip. “Prepare a bath for me. Then, I’d like some company.”
That gets her heart pounding, I can hear it.
“With pleasure, Milord,” she says, and hurries over to the bath chamber, while I inspect myself in the mirror. In the thousands of years that I’ve been alive I’ve been in countless battles, and I never come back unscathed. Scratches and bruises like burnt paper always marked my body, but not this time. The Great Smoke was an unfathomable enemy. The Council have obviously given the tasks a lot of thought, and made sure that this wouldn’t be easy on either Samael or me.
“Milord, if I may,” Zestari says as she appears behind me in the mirror. With my torso already bare, she’s waiting for me to take off my leather pants, or for me to command her to do it herself. By the glint in her red eyes, she’s looking forward to it.
I turn to face her. I need to keep her in check just a little longer.
“On your knees,” I command. She complies, her breasts swelling out of her corset as her breathing turns shallow. She’s looking forward to this.
“You would suck my cock,” I tell her as she opens my belt. “After it’s just been inside another woman?”
“I would do whatever pleases you, my King. That’s why I’m here.”
I stop her hands as she tries to reach in and free my absent erection. It would be an offense to her to find my penis flaccid. It would cause her to rage against Cerys and me, thirsty for revenge, and we don’t need more problems now.
“But I can’t do this to you. Not after what has been between us. I can’t use you like this.”
“But I want you to,” she pleads.
“You deserve more, Zestari.” I help her up to her feet. “I will not do this to you.” I force myself to smile at her, the corners of my mouth twisting as if I were asking them to lick a lemon and pretend to like it. “But I could really use a backrub, like only you can give.”
She smiles, too, but she’s clearly disappointed. A while later, as my body is hidden under foamy water in the bathtub, and she gives me that back rub, she dares tell me why.
“I was actually flattered at first, that you would take me despite having fought so hard on your first quest, and having been forced to please your wife, too. That was the true sign that I meant something to you.”
“Please, understand.” Maybe I should take her hand from my shoulder and hold it gently as I say this, but I just can’t bring myself to. “It’s been a rough night. Very demanding. I fought an enemy that I could not touch. Soon I will be going on the second quest that’s bound to be at least as difficult as this one. The Council has clearly given these quests a lot of thought, and they made sure that neither Samael nor I would have it easy. I’m worried, Zestari, and I need time and space to deal with it.”
“You need space even from the Queen?”
That puts a knot in my throat. In truth I want to tell her to her face that there never was and never will be another woman for me except Cerys, but I have to be careful how I play my cards.
“The Queen’s role is another. She has her own burden to carry.”
“Like for example the knowledge that you will leave her after this is over?”
I don’t answer, but I don’t have to. She clings to her wishful thinking, and part of me feels sorry for her, and guilty for playing on it.
“Zestari,” I start. “You’ve been wonderful to me lately, and I’m growing comfortable with you. I’ve come to trust you.” My mouth distorts from the sour taste of lying, but luckily she can’t see me, as I still have my back to her. “I can’t help but notice that so has Kareim. You have a way with men, probably your unique way of getting under their skin.”
“Are you jealous?”
“I’m not sure.”
“If you want us to be exclusive, I will cut off Kareim completely.”
“Wait, you’re sleeping with him?”
“It’s not a courtesan’s place to refuse a gentleman of much higher standing than herself, unless a man of even higher status has made a more or less official claim on her.”
Okay, I gotta let this sink in first, Zestari and Kareim sleeping together. But I can’t deny the feeling of triumph, because I see many ways I can use this.
“I understand. And since I cannot offer you anything official...”
“You will. Soon.”
I turn to her, the hot foamy water lapping over the tub edge.
“I can’t lie to you, Zestari. After Cerys, I might not be able to be official with any woman ever again. All I can promise you is that there will always be a special place at the Fire Court for you.”
“A special place at your side?” she insists. By the look in her eyes, I don’t know what weighs heavier in her motivation. Her feelings for me, or her power struggle with Cerys. I think her hatred for and competition with Cerys are as strong an obsession as her unhealthy passion for me.
“What I can promise you is that I’ll fulfill as many of your wishes as I reasonably can if you tell me something.”
“What?”
“Did Kareim ever mention anything regarding the second quest? Anything related to it, like what it might be?”
She watches me out of slitted eyes. “Why do you ask me this?”
“You know why. Zestari, I almost died out there tonight. I have rarely encountered such danger before, and not because my opponent was particularly strong, but because he was particularly well put together. The Great Smoke isn’t something I could touch or fight using my fire powers or my blades. He’s untouchable, and my fire would have only fueled him. And the second quest will no doubt be even harder.”
She stares at me, pondering whether she should tell me what she knows. Kareim believes her to be his ally. He feels the two of them are in the same boat, and his tongue was loose around her, no doubt.
“Zestari, I can use any help I can get,” I press. “These aren’t battles than can be won by force. One can only succeed through wit and insider knowledge.”
“You think I have insider knowledge?”
“You look like you do. And besides, any man would connect on a deep level with you as his mistress. You’re not like other courtesans.”
“Did you connect with me on a deep level?”
“I’m sure Kareim did. Because, unlike me, he doesn’t have a bonded mate.”
She searches my eyes, searching for honesty beyond my words.
“Well, he did mention this one thing that might just—”
Cerys
WHEN I STEP INTO THE Grand Ball Room, all noise stops. I’m not the most important person in here, but there are advantages to making an appearance rarely, and making an impression when you do. I’m wearing the most pompous dress I could find in the wardrobe, starkly red, the corset tight and encrusted with gems, the lower part wide and vaporous.
I enter in the company of Marayke, her spiked red hair shining. There was no way to get her into a dress, but she did go for another kind of armor. She’s always worn colorful mail and plates, showing off her quirky sense of fashion, but this one is made of shiny black and white mail, making her resemble a dangerous figure in a chess game. Guards flank us, and a fairy hostess lea
ds us to our table.
We’re sitting with Xerxes, of course, only that everyone expects there to be tension between us. The table is round, but our seats are placed right across from each other. Zestari and Draven flank Xerxes on each side, while I’m forced to sit by Kareim’s. He grins triumphantly. He almost raped me, and yet here I am, unable to do anything about it. I stare back at him with a completely cold face, not showing the slightest trace of my resentment. If I show him any emotion, he will feel like he’s won. I promise myself that, by the time this banquet is over, I will have him thrown in a dungeon.
Every second of the welcoming committee’s speech all I can think about is what’s at stake for us—the very existence of the Fire Realm, Xerxes’ freedom, the harmony between all realms. I glimpse Lysander at a table fairly far away from ours. Despite the good arrangement, the ballroom is full, dinner rich and the drinks magic, helping everybody loosen up, talk. It’s a struggle for Marayke and me to hear each other over the noise.
Everybody seems to be having fun, but the committee knows how to keep us on edge. They will only tell us what the next quest is at the end of the banquet, which will probably be around morning.
“Defeating the Great Smoke is a remarkable achievement,” one of the angel women says when the time comes. “The King of Flames has secured the golden key, which means he has won the first of three quests. However, the game isn’t in his pocket just yet. Whoever wins two out of three will be granted his preferred way of settling this dispute. The key,” she continues, leaving the high podium and coming down the stairs among us, “opens the underground tunnels underneath the Mausoleum. Make no mistake, those tunnels aren’t like any other catacombs you’ve encountered.” She stops by our table, making it clear from the way her eyes sweep over us that she can’t fathom how Xerxes made it out of this first quest victorious. There are powers against him, that much is clear.
“These tunnels,” she continues as she moves along, “they guard a portal to the realm of Chaos.”
Gasps travel through the room. I look to Xerxes, who’s watching the angel intently, as if he knows what she’s talking about, and he doesn’t like it one bit.