There were stories about what happened to women who went to the palace. None of them were pleasant. Most palaces sat above townships, or in cities, because they were places where people were protected by royalty. Not here, though. No villages were permitted for hundreds of miles around to preserve the view.
The wagon rattled up the hill toward the palace, and finally in under a portcullis and down a ramp into the bowels of the earth. It was then that she realized the hill which looked so pretty from the outside actually contained a good bit of dungeon and human suffering.
She steeled herself to meet Archon once again. Of course in the end he had given up and simply had her arrested by guards. He’d gotten tired of having to actually track her down. No doubt these stoic looking mugs would soon be witness to another carnal display with her as the focal point. Iris tried to tell herself she didn’t like the idea of that.
He’d fucked her life up, and he’d fucked her right in the head. She was still dripping from their last tryst, a public humiliation which she might have gone out of her way to earn, might even have made certain was publicized, may even have told some people to keep an eye out for a nine foot tall cape stooping around pretending to be shorter and told them to tell him where she was.
She might have, in fact, gone from loathing him with all she was, to finding the vicious passion of their lovemaking the most stimulating and invigorating experience of her life. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to give him hell for having her arrested like a common criminal. They both knew there was nothing common about her.
The wagon stopped inside the dungeon entrance, and the metal portcullis rattled as it was cranked back down into place, landing with a heavy clang. The guards climbed down from the wagon and moved around to let her out with lumbering, disinterested gaits.
“Git down,” one of them said, reaching for her with his big brutal hand. She slapped it away and jumped down out of the prison cart by herself.
“So, where is he?”
“Where’s who?" The guard had poor diction, and an even worse personal smell.
“I assume the young lady is referring to me,” a voice she did not recognize purred.
A tall figure came to meet her. He walked with smug swagger and tossed an ermine cape over his shoulder. But he was not blue eyed, and he did not have a single scale that she could see.
“You’re not Archon.”
“No. I am General Naxus. I rule this planet.”
“I thought King Archon ruled it.”
The mention of King Archon made the male lift his lip in a sneer of utter disdain.
“Occasionally. When he can be bothered. I am the one who has to deal with the fallout of his attempts at command. Hence, your presence here. You are to be incarcerated for the rest of your life. That’s the bad news.”
“And the good news?”
“The good news is that won’t be very long.”
She stared at him silently.
“Because I intend to have you executed,” Naxus offered by way of explanation.
“Yes, I got that,” Iris replied. Truly, her life was one long stream of bastards, one after the other.
“I apologize for the tardiness in stopping your rebellious rampage. We would have caught you sooner if the king hadn’t kept interfering.”
Chapter 17
Three times they had mated. Three times she had run away from him.
Archon was a good light year away from the planet when his heart began to ache.
At first he thought it was something he had eaten, but the longer it went on, the more he started to think that there was something seriously wrong with him. It was a feeling which did not quite feel like a physical feeling, and yet somehow it was also entirely physical.
He tried eating and drinking, but neither of those acts made him feel better. Indeed, his appetite was gone almost completely. He was uninterested in food, even the most delicately seasoned meats and finest cuts held little appeal.
Brimsley suggested that he might find solace in the bosom of one of the concubines, but Archon had never been particularly interested in the concubines in the first place, and now they almost repelled him. The thought of touching one of them, of being inside one of their lithe, nubile, willing bodies produced in him an even greater ache of something like loss.
He had the feeling that it would be better if he had the human, Iris, in his custody. It was gut instinct which informed that idea, which he did not understand. There was no need to have the female. They were heading away from her meaningless little planet at a speed greater than any she could imagine. She was a small, weak creature who had surrendered twice. That alone should have been enough to sate his interest. He had never fucked the same holes twice in his life.
Archon was not entirely sure why he had left. Maybe it was because his ship had to be called to pull him from the planet’s surface before he slaughtered a village after the crowd turned on him. Maybe it was because Iris fleeing again felt like a rejection.
It didn’t make sense to expect her to like him. He had brutally ravaged her, of course. He had punished her with sex. He had dominated her and tried to break her will.
But now he missed her.
There was only one thing for it. Archon went to the helmsman and issued an order.
“Turn the ship around.”
“Sire?” Smithers intervened upon hearing the order.
“We’re going back. I forgot something on the planet.”
“I’m sure General Naxus could retrieve it for you.”
“I am sure he could. But not a word of this to Naxus. I don’t want him to know that we are coming.”
“Oh, very good, sire,” Smithers said, barely raising a brow. This was acceptable behavior for a king. Trying to catch one’s subordinates off guard was half the fun of being royalty. Most of them were guilty in one way or another.
They arrived back around a week after they had departed, a round trip which was objectively, and perhaps even subjectively, a complete waste of time.
General Naxus met them at the palace landing pad, his armor shining aggressively into Archon’s eyes as he disembarked. As Archon ordered, they had not given warning of their return. Archon thought it best to not to. He did not quite trust Naxus, their sparring match aside, the general clearly had little respect for the crown. In fact, he increasingly seemed to regard the planet as his own little kingdom, an idea Archon intended to disabuse him of.
“Your highness,” Naxus said, bowing low. When he stood up, his teeth were bared in the sort of way teeth tend to get bared when one is trying to smile but is instead grimacing. “To what do we owe the repeated honor?”
“I forgot something.”
“Oh? What, pray tell can we do to get you safely on your honored way?”
Archon was certain that he was not imagining the very cool reception he was receiving. It stood out, because most had the sense to at least pretend to be glad to see him, but Naxus had been a renegade from the outset. What had once held some charm, now merely served to irritate the king.
“I would like the human. The girl. Iris. She comes with me. I should have taken her before I left.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
Archon did not like to hear the word no, and as far as he was concerned I’m afraid that won’t be possible was just the word no all spread out.