Chapter Twenty-Five
Kahleena
We’d moved to a new location that pulsed with silverish-blue veins of power that felt wrong. Arius was sitting beside me, and his hand clutched my thigh while we took in the chamber around us.
“You’re fearful,” he mused as he slid his pensive gaze toward me. “Aren’t you, princess?”
“I have nothing to say to you.” I muttered, continuing to the room decorated with corpses littering the ground.
“Do you like what I did to the place? I believe we’re in what is left of the Night Court.” Without warning, he shifted and pulled me from my seat and settled me onto his lap.
“Can we just sit in silence?” I asked.
“Are you still pissy that I forced your mother to choose? I am actually shocked she refused to do as I demanded of her. My parents weren’t great, but in the end, they got what they deserved. The memories I have of them are fractured, but violent. I remember being torn between saving them and watching as they were slaughtered. My brother was a good man, but my sister? Well, she didn’t care about much besides which knight she planned to please next. My sweet wife may have been lovely, but she feared me too deeply to have any real affection for me.”
“I thought you loved them all?” I countered, gasping as he spread my thighs. He grabbed, and forced me back against him with one hand curling around my throat.
“Just because I couldn’t stand them most days, it didn’t mean I didn’t care for them. They were my family, and in the end, that was all that mattered.” When his hand stroked the inside of my thigh, I had to swallow the shudder the sensation elicited.
“Is that why you issued an ultimatum to my mother? Because family is all that matters?” I struggled to move, but his hold tightened on my leg and throat simultaneously.
“Admittedly, it was cold and unfeeling, but I learned what I needed to do when she was here. Not only does she love you but also she cares about others. Both are weaknesses I plan to use against her. Your mother is very young, and I’ll admit that she’s more powerful than I expected, which doesn’t mean much since her power is paltry compared to my own. I’m glad you take after her and are going to be very easy to handle, and teach new tricks to.”
“You may be surprised by what I got from my father, asshole.” If he thought I’d take his shit, or do tricks for him, he was wrong.
He chuckled, dragging his heated lips over the back of my neck as his fingers pushed against my center. I fought the pleasure, which only grew more insistent as soft brushes of his mouth against my flesh became teasing nips of his teeth it created. The sensations he was sending through me caused my breathing to become labored, and tension to build in my pelvis.
“I’m not worried about your father, Kahleena—not so long as I have his pretty little princess as my plaything, anyway.”
“You’re arrogant, and arrogance is not useful in wars. You cannot bring down the kingdom from the inside, Arius. The only way to overtake the horde would be to capture or claim those who hold their secrets. Not even you can do . . .” I paused as the sound of footsteps filled the room.
“Don’t stop now,” he urged, sliding his fingers harder against my pussy. “Tell me what you think is the only way to reclaim that which is rightfully mine?” He kissed up my throat before sliding his fingers up to my jaw and forcing me to remain on display for whomever entered.
When I fought against his grip, Arius’s hold on me tightened. His nose rubbed against my ear, and he chuckled.
“Hold still, princess. You’re going to like what happens next.”
When Zahruk strode into the room, worry warred with hope inside me. I hadn’t expected him to be here, nor had I anticipated he’d walk right up to Arius, and stopped as if waiting for Arius’s permission to speak.
Tears pricked my eyes, and I shuddered in fear. If Zahruk noticed me, he didn’t show any sign of doing so.
“Didn’t you mention I’d need someone who held all the secrets to bring the horde down or something like that? Victory blazed in his arrogant smile.
“Be a good girl for me and return to your seat.”
Thankful to be free of his hold, I moved to do as he bid, but my uncle made a humming sound that had Arius wrenching me back. My gaze lifted to Zahruk’s, but it was as if he were staring right through me.
Arius made a strange sound in his throat, which drew Zahruk another step closer.
It was as if they were communicating with the guttural sounds. I observed them, slowly trying to solve the puzzle or decipher the differences in their sounds.
Arius made a deep rumble in his chest, slid his hands to the bodice of the gown he’d dressed me in, and ripped it wide open. I cried out as the other guards chuckled, but Zahruk didn’t respond. Arius cupped my breasts, growling huskily against my ear as I felt him growing hard against my lower back.
“You see, he’s mine now as surely as you are. I could slip your panties aside and thrash your cunt. He’d simply stand guard, protecting me while I wrecked your pretty, tender princess parts. Shall we test which of us he serves, princess?”
“I’d rather allow your blade the honor of defiling me before I touched your cock, Arius. You have a palm, so I suggest you use it and leave me alone.”
He stood without warning, drawing me tight against the length of his body. When I started to struggle against him, he chuckled and wrapped one arm around my waist, securing his hold. Then he slid his free hand into my hair, twisted, and yanked my head back, exposing my throat while he moved us down the stairs.
“Maybe sometime in isolation will cure your disposition? I wouldn’t want you learning of my plans before I unleash them on your family, now would I?” he whispered against my ear, holding one breast as he wandered his finger around the pebbled tip. He shoved me, and I stumbled forward into Zahruk, who didn’t so much as twitch in annoyance. “Sit, Kahleena, now.”
I pulled the ripped dress closed as best as I could as Arius spoke quietly to the guards in that strange language. Tentatively, I shifted my attention to Zahruk, who seemed to have decided I was worthy of his focus. His lips pulled into a soft smile, and he winked before settling back into the look of blank indifference. I’d barely managed to bury my shock when Arius returned, smirking at me before he turned to Zahruk.
“Stab yourself,” he ordered, stepping back to watch as Zahruk produced a blade. The blood drained from my face as Zahruk held it to his heart, but then Arius amended his demand. “Not there—no, wait. Push your blade through her palm instead. Once you’re finished, head to where the others I created are and wait for me to come find you.”
Zahruk stepped forward and grabbed my hand while I struggled against what he was about to do. I slid my stare to him and then Arius, who just smirked. The blade pushed through my palm, and I locked my jaw closed, refusing to give Arius the satisfaction of hearing my pain. Tears swam in my eyes as my body shuddered with the pain, but I didn’t scream. Then Zahruk stepped back, turned on his heel, and strode from the chamber.
Red-hot pain ripped through me as I wrapped my free hand around the hilt and pulled the blade free. Without allowing myself a second to hesitate, I lunged at Arius so hard that he and his throne tipped backward while the dagger sank deep into his chest. I followed him to the ground and pulled my weapon free, fully intending to plunge it right back into him, but his hands cuffed my wrists and he flipped me, pinning me like a butterfly under him.