Chapter Seven
Kahleena
My body screamed in pain, forcing air to escape my lips as I stared sightlessly into the midnight sky. The man slid to his knees, chuckling as he adjusted the gown to cover my midriff, drifting his fingers over the curve of my breasts as I sucked in air.
“I wonder how your parents will react to knowing that I claimed their precious daughter, Kahleena.”
“You didn’t claim me, jackass. You abducted me,” I whispered, grinding my teeth together to force the anxiety away from my mind. A lone tear rolled down my cheek before his finger captured it. He lifted it to hold before his penetrating black stare.
“I’m not sure which claiming you’d like me to accomplish. Do you assume I’d ever willingly taste the venom of your lips or plunder that pussy with anything other than my sword? I assure you, I won’t. You’re nothing more than a filthy, pitiful creature that feels it is clean.”
His wings blotted out the light, and power rumbled over my skin. Darkness blinded me, battering me until it pushed me to call on the brilliant hue of my soul as protection. The moment it lit within me and my vision returned, I found myself staring into polished orbs filled with glittering speckles of mercurial-colored particles radiating from narrow eyes. He had intense, well-defined cheekbones that cradled a strong nose between them. Full lips curved into a devilish sneer, which promised me suffering. Wispy, intricate brands covered his arms in silvery ropes that drifted from his wrists, whirled up to and around his biceps, and ended at his shoulders. A remarkable, ancient symbol—a marking that was the twin to my own—glowed on his chest. The symbols seemed to slide up his throat to curve over his jawline before vanishing into his dark hair below his ear. The symbol that perfectly matched the one on my chest became more visible the longer I gazed at his tattoos and sinewy physique. The shadows I’d noted before had grown and danced around him like they idolized him.
“If I were you, I’d start running. The shadows are eager to dine on your flesh, Kahleena. I’ve invited others to hunt you with me tonight, and I’ll reward whoever catches you with a night spent in your cell. Do you expect that they’ll spend it to relieve their carnal lust or to dine on your bones? You’re so fucking lovely that I suppose they’ll endeavor to achieve both. Maybe I’ll seize you myself and encourage them to help break that which I’ve won? Then I could revel in the music of your cries as they satisfy their hunger in that poisonous pussy that you play with at night, yearning to ease the ache growing there. Tell me, have you ever been destroyed sexually before, princess? Has anyone ever held you down and fucked you so ravenously and so viciously that you screamed and pleaded to be spared from their depravity?
“Fuck you,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “You’ve no right to violate my privacy or room at night. The present state of my body isn’t your fucking issue. I don’t desire for you, or anyone else, to relieve the discomfort between my thighs. Poisonous, remember? You don’t want me, and I’d hate for you to debase yourself with the likes of me or force you to seek to steal something I’d never freely give to you.”
He snatched me from the ground, sinking his fingers into my skin as he yanked me to my feet. Before I could protest, he fired us into the air. My hands wrapped around his back, and I pressed my face into the solid wall of the muscle of his chest. The enticing hint of twilight and masculinity assaulted my senses while my body pulsed with violence.
I pried my eyes open enough to peer out through the breach between his arm and chest. Stars burned brightly in the midnight sky while he climbed higher. His hands started to release me, and I grappled to hold on, assuming that he fully planned to release me. Panic and fear surged through me, and his deep laughter sounded very much like a warning.
“I’ve decided to be the one who seizes you tonight. First, though, we should discover the difference in the sound of your screams. I’d like to know how you scream with fear so I will be able to decipher it tonight when I’m driving into your supple body. Who knows, Kahleena, maybe I’ll renounce my loathing of you long enough to allow you to feel me ruining you. I wager you’d scream so delightfully if I wrecked your soft body with the hunger savaging through me. Would your parents enjoy knowing I fucked you and eased my eternal hunger on your pretty princess parts?” His hand lifted, slipping through my hair to jerk me away from his body. I squealed, grabbing out to fasten onto his frame.
“That’s not happening—ever.”
“Do you think we can’t hear you night after night, touching your needy pussy? No matter how much you touch that useless cunt or your clit, you won’t come. Your screams of frustration at never feeling that euphoria of pleasure give me fucking life,” he chuckled cruelly. “I must admit, I am impressed with your dedication to achieve the goal of getting your messy cunt off. It is, however, fruitless to continue trying. The only way you’ll get what you want is if I allow you to have it.”
“Go to hell—” He dropped me, and I tumbled through the air weightlessly, hurtling toward the ground. With every rotation, I caught a glimpse of his grinning face as I screamed.
The air in my lungs failed, and I held my arms away from my body, fully expecting to crash face-first into the ground that I was hurtling toward. Fingers clenched my sides, snatching me up as the noise of wings battling the wind exploded around me. My back collided with his chest and I allowed a single exclamation of relief to pass my lips.
“Now that I know the difference between your screams, I will offer you a choice.” He brushed his lips against my ear, laughing darkly. “Do you want me to release you and allow you to run through the maze and take the chance of the others capturing you? I assure you, they’re ravenously hungering to sample your body.”
“What’s the other choice?” I whispered, trying to ignore the heated mouth against my earlobe.
“You can concede to me, and I’ll be the one to ruin your pretty soft princess parts all night. I promise to allow you to come at least once before I begin tearing you to pieces.”
“Honestly, I prefer to take my chances in the maze and reach my room untouched. I’ve managed it every other night, asshole.”
He chuckled while settling us on the ground and then releasing me. His dark head inclined, and he studied my face before he whistled into the shadowy night. My skin prickled with alertness, acutely aware of the creatures and beings slithering from the stalks. The entire shadowy edges of the field we stood within had moved, exposing thousands of creatures that regarded me with ferocious hunger within their eyes. They stepped forward, and I stepped closer to the asshole who laughed coldly, noting I’d moved closer.
“I present to you my army, the entities who I’ve promised to let learn you intimately, Kahleena, Princess of the High King and Queen of Faery.” His thick, muscular arms crisscrossed over his exposed chest, and an arrogant smile fluttered over his mouth. The dark stare glittered with mirth, and millions of glowing specks dancing within them, threatening to devour me. “If you’re reluctant to choose, I’ll answer for you. Yes, you’ve escaped many hunts before, but only because I wasn’t seeking to seize you. I was simply studying you, princess. I studied your strengths, vulnerabilities, fears, and what you coveted and longed for as you rushed through my maze. I felt you longing to return home, but you dread what they’ll expect of you. You suspect they won’t recognize what you’re becoming, or that you’ll thirst for better things than merely being a pampered, adored daughter. You let me capture you because you craved adventure, and to evade the threads they knotted around you. Your mind is sharp, and you’re strong, but you’re so fucking young. You neglected to consider the repercussions of being taken captive, because you read the situation like it was some romantic fucking tribulation. Tell me, do you still assume that?”