Page 115 of Of Realms and Chaos

“Wow, I have not seen you this jumpy in centuries, Mia.” Her scowl could have obliterated him in that moment. Perhaps a weaker male would have perished, but I was slowly learning that the king had a hidden backbone. “The plan will work. I do not know why you allow yourself to wallow and stress.”

“Anyone with a modicum of intelligence would be thinking about every possible outcome, Xavier. The fact that you roam these halls right now without a care in the world tells me that you have still not learned anything after all these years.”

Brutal.

Each venom-soaked word slammed into the king, but if they truly hurt, even I couldn’t tell. All I felt within them was sin, coagulating in their chests and proclaiming itself love.

“When you bring her back, I want to be the one to speak to her.” The demand fell from clenched teeth, proving that King Xavier was far more irritated than he let show. Though his leash was short, he tugged all the same.

“You will not see her until I tell you that you can. It will be me who doles out this lesson. You have failed for two centuries!” Screaming in a hallway? Tsk tsk, golden queen.

“I have loved her and taught her and molded her into what she is. You will do well to remember that! It has always been me. You are the one who sat back and did the pretty work. I did the hard things!” His finger was in Queen Mia’s face, fire lighting his other hand aflame. Oh wonderful, perhaps they would fight to the death.

“And yet I am the one who is nothing without her!” The queen smacked her hands against her mouth, desperately trying to take back the truth that had been laid bare before them.

Despite the declaration of what sounded like devotion, sin still clouded her mind. That’s what happens, though, when one was taught not to love but to conquer. At least she recognized it for what it was.

The king laughed and was quickly met with a slap to his face. His head tilted to the right, and they momentarily stood there, both gazing at each other in disbelief as the sound of her strike reverberated through the nearly empty golden hall. Servants could be heard not far away, their feet scurrying to take them anywhere else. Before anything more riveting could happen, Queen Mia stormed the opposite direction, leaving the king dazed in the middle of the gilded hallway.

Pity.

Taking that as my cue to move, I headed for my creature, creeping down to the now familiar dungeons until I arrived at his cell. He sat, as usual, with his back to the wall.

“Of all the times you have visited me, this has to be the most exquisite you have looked.” He leaned forward, eyeing my billowing navy dress with a half-lidded gaze. If I had just met him, I would assume it was desire, but I knew now that it was his mind at work. “What is the special occasion, Spice?”

His voice was stronger today, though that wasn’t anything particularly impressive. The golden-haired prince had taken to beating my creature almost daily now. The Healer had looked as if she were close to passing out that morning when she came in to check up on him. I needed to take him as soon as possible, but the stupid princess was nowhere to be found.

Every pointless visit back home, the horribly massive scolding I received for my insolence, all of it made this adventure less and less fun. But if I could bring my creature home with me, that would make it all worth it.

“Well, this is the last time I’ll be visiting until it’s time for us to go. Of course, me freeing you is contingent on one thing.” I leaned forward, eyeing him with untamed desire. Oh, it would be sweet, winning after so long of playing the game.

Hopefully he lived up to my increasingly high expectations.

For his part, my creature simply laughed, resting his elbow on a raised knee and leaning back against the filthy wall. “Of course, there are rules. Do tell me, glorious goddess of death, what must I do for my freedom?”

Normally, I hated the gods narrative, because how absurd was the idea of such a thing? But the mere suggestion of it from his lips sounded erotic.

I was in trouble indeed.

“You agree to be mine.” There was a nonchalance to my voice that did not quite match my racing heart. Before he could let the request go to his head, I added, “A pet of sorts.”

“Spice, if you told me to bark, I would do it.”

I laughed, my head falling back and soaking in the humor of such easily given devotion. My creature didn’t respond in kind. Instead, he smiled at me, the soft lift of his pout a reminder of the fun we would have soon. “Did you know that a Multiple has, on average, about an hour to remain in any shifted form? Then they need to recuperate, though that varies in length.”

More facts. Perhaps I could train that out of him. Well, Iniko would get a kick out of it if not. Actually, I would bet he might even try to steal this toy from me.

Would my creature accept such an advance? Did he even like males?

“Very interesting, creature. Anyways, tell me, have you ever been with a male?” My arms crossed as I leaned against the adjoining wall, eager to hear his answer but unwilling to let him know that. Raising his brows, he took me in with a perplexed expression, as if something I had done confused him.

“You can call me by name, you know.” He stood then, walking to me on shaky legs. His ripped and worn clothes were still caked in grime, his hair matted and tangled. If I looked closely enough, I could see that there must have been at least a slight curl to it at some point. And was it truly brown, or was that the dirt?

Damn it all, that inquisitive nature was rubbing off on me.

“I don’t want to.”

His fingers met the bars just above where mine had been, his head leaning against them as if they were nothing more than a convenience rather than a prison. “Can I call you by name?”

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