Текст книги "The Fallen King"
Автор книги: T. A. Grey
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Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 17 страниц)
“What are you talking about?” He shook his head and she tightened her grip in his hair. “Answer me, honey, please.” Something big was happening here, she just didn’t know what exactly. But, she was finally going to find how what had guilt eating him up inside.
“I can’t do it. You’ve made me care.” Wetness formed at his eyes.
She couldn’t have been more shocked if he struck her right now.
A single tear slid down his dark cheek. Yet his expression was stoic and distant, his eyes not meeting hers. “You’ve made me love again, and I can’t do it. I can’t put you in danger.”
Her heart leapt flying high as a bird, but still the words were surrounded in agony. “Honey, what are you talking about?” She wrapped her legs around his waist, looped her arms around his shoulders. She pressed kisses to his cheeks and along his straight nose. “Please, just talk to me.”
God, something huge was happening but she didn’t know what to say or do to take the pain out of his voice. She wanted to focus but she was still floating on high after his subtle declaration.
He loves me.
One strong arm snaked around her waist and his hand slid up under her shirt. Her breath caught at the skin on skin contact. “Alrik?” She held him tighter as she pressed her face into his warm neck.
“She wins. I’ll never be who I was. She’s won. I can never lift this curse.”
He sounded defeated, and she winced.
“Why not? Isn’t that why I’m here?”
“Not now. I won’t put you in danger. I won’t risk it.”
Abby squeezed her eyes shut. She supposed now was the time she’d get the other answer she wanted. Just what did he have planned for her after she killed his mother?
“You have to tell me what you’re talking about, Alrik, because I don’t get it. Why don’t we just go and kill the old bitch?”
Tension filled his shoulders. She could feel them harden beneath her grip.
He pulled back forcing her to meet his eyes. A long moment dragged out between them and then he spoke and shattered her world. “If you kill her you’ll die.”
She blinked, swallowed, and tilted her head in confusion. “What?” Now she tensed. Her throat struggled to work.
“The seer says that you are the only one who can kill her, but if you do then you’ll die with her.”
“How?” she croaked.
“I don’t know. He didn’t say. So now do you see?” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her to make his point. His crazed eyes beseeched hers.
Oh, she saw a few things. All the pieces finally fit together, she just wished that maybe they didn’t because she didn’t like how the puzzle looked after it was put together. It wasn’t a pretty one.
He would have let her die for him. He would have sent her to her death to remove his curse. Inside it felt like two hands were tearing her heart in half. One part of her understood. He hadn’t know her then and neither of them felt about each other like they did now. However, the other part didn’t care. The other more emotional part wept with white-hot pain in her heart that he’d see her die.
How could he?
Pain sat in her chest like a heavy weight. Pain at what he’d kept hidden from her after all that they shared and pain for him.
Fiery emotions tore at her. It shouldn’t be like this. He didn’t deserve to have to live with this curse. It wasn’t his fault. If she didn’t kill his mother then it would be her fault that he lived with this curse.
Then Abby might as well be the one who cursed him, because by not helping him she was making sure he stayed cursed. She’d be the reason why every time he looked in the mirror he saw somebody else’s reflection. The only one who could fix him, who might have a shred of hope at saving him from the curse, was her.
But, she’d have to die to save him.
Tears pools in fill her eyes and slipped down her cheeks in streams. Only by the strength inside her did she manage not to burst into sobs like she wanted to. Never once had she sobbed and cried hard before but right now, she did. The burning pain in her needed release. It had to go somewhere.
She wanted to scream her rage to the heavens at the unfairness of it all.
However, she didn’t do either of those things.
Instead, she embraced the demon in her arms, the demon she loved, and kissed him with every ounce of that beautiful love inside her.
The kiss was raw, wild, and a little unhinged. His lips moved against hers as if trying to memorize the feel of them. A soft sob escaped her at the thought.
Somehow it felt as if she was losing him. They went at each other like ravenous beasts…like people who didn’t have much time left together.
Tongues stroked in hot, wet strokes, hands clung and teased. Both of them moved, reaching under each other’s shirts and pulling them up and off.
With an irritated grunt, Alrik struggled over the clasp of her bra.
That one little action made her giggle. The hot poke of pain in her chest lessened as his strong fingers fumbled over the three little hooks. He didn’t find it so funny and cursed in Demonish. Another fit of giggles swept over her that dried away her tears and left her feeling light as feather. As he finally got one hook open, then another she took the opportunity to run her hands over his round shoulders, and down the warm skin of his back. So strong and hard. She loved the way he felt, loved the dips and contours of his muscles.
“Fuck!” he cursed. Finally, the bra straps slid down her arms then he ripped away the offending material. Without missing a beat, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her until one tender nipple was at mouth level, and then he sucked it hard.
She gasped, her hands threading in his hair for anchor. He suckled her. Warm lips tugged and tortured her sensitive peak. Raw heat kindled inside of her as wetness dampened between her legs in a flood. With that one masterful touch she was ready for him...more than ready.
“Alrik,” she gasped.
His mouth released her breast with a wet pop, and then he opened that sexy mouth wide and latched onto her other breast. Oh my. Her eyes rolled back into her head and it turned into a struggle to keep the heavy weight of her head up.
Fuck it, she thought. It fell back, which worked out great because it pushed her nipple even further into his mouth and he didn’t waste the opportunity. He scraped his wet tongue around and around her peak flicking across it until her core throbbed in time with the movement. Each possessive tug, every tender rub pulled an answering need from deep inside her.
That’s it. She needed release. Too much pressure had built up inside her.
She shoved his shoulders hard. He didn’t have to but he rolled back taking her with him, cradling her against his chest as he laid back.
She landed on top of him and rubbed her core against the immense erection in his pants. A breathy moan escaped her. Need drove her movements and made her unable to stop rubbing her tender clitoris against him over and again.
“Abbigail!” He said her name like a curse.
She couldn’t stop moving, her hips undulated against him working them both into a fiery frenzy. Sitting up she traced her hands over his hard chest, and down the flats of his nipples. Her mouth soon followed, kissing and tasting his warm masculine essence. Hard muscles bulged in his abs teasing her to touch.
So, she did and followed the tempting path of hard muscle and satiny skin with her lips. His abs bucked under her touch. His erection pressed hard against his pants as if trying to escape.
She didn’t know what was louder: her panting breaths or his deep grunts. Either way they created a sensual storm around them.
Her hand cupped his length, tracing over his hard cock, and squeezing him. The fabric of his jeans had to go. She needed to feel him hot and hard in her hand. She moaned just at the thought of how he’d soon be filling and thrusting inside of her. Her core beat with a pulse at the erotic vision.
“Abbigail,” he said again, this time a warning.
She laughed softly and darted her tongue beneath the band of his pants. His entire body stilled.
Yes, she thought. You’re mine now.
She wanted to see him under her control all that under brilliant strong man melting all because of the flick of her tongue. She wanted to see him, this strong and brilliant man, squirm and melt under her all from a flick of her tongue.
Abby curled her fingers into the band of his pants. Only a row of four buttons kept her from what she wanted, and from what pushed hard against the seam as if trying to escape. She hooked her fingers around the first button and opened it.
“I want you, woman,” he growled, his voice making a shiver race down her stomach.
The tip of him poked through; hard, rounded, and wet at the tip. Her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. Slowly she opened the next button and then the next until finally he sprung free, eager, and solid.
She curled her hand around the shaft loving the contrast of rocky hard strength and velvety soft skin. Her hands pumped up and down the dark shaft, but her eyes watched his expression. His lips parted, abs curled as he arched and thrust his hips into her grasp. He was a beautiful, sexy sight.
“Oh baby,” she breathed at the sight.
“God damn you,” he cursed.
Every instinct inside her told her to tear their pants off and sit on top of him until she felt him invading every inch of her.
But this was such a good, bittersweet torture that she couldn’t. Not when she had the sexy dark demon undulating in the palm of her hand—literally.
So she licked up and down the length of his shaft, listening to the catch in his breath, the deep groans rumbling from his chest, and the way his hands gripped then released the grass at his sides.
As her tongue performed a particularly seductive move around the tip of him, he automatically reached for her head. Her heart stuttered in her chest as her breath caught. Would he curl his hands into her hair and push his cock into her mouth? The thought aroused her so much she flushed.
He reached for her but before he touched a strand on her head, he pulled back. His hands shook as if it took great effort to keep them at his sides. That made her grin and suck on the tip of him even harder.
His hips bucked forcing his cock deeper into her mouth.
She didn’t want him to behave. Not now. Now she wanted him wild and unleashed. She wanted to feel every single sensation that he felt for her. She wanted their love to be a physical thing that could be felt in the air around them.
So, she swirled her tongue over the tip of him and sucked his cock into her mouth. His wet shaft glided smoothly into her mouth, filling her wide and deep. He was big, bigger than she’d ever had. Her lips spread taut around his shaft, nearly hurting but my God was it worth it. Her hand worked the bottom of his long shaft, fist pumping slow before gathering speed. His harsh breathing filled her ears as her mouth worked him up and down, sucking and licking, lips caressing his hard shaft.
It had all been worth it because his entire body jerked under her touch, hips twitching then pumping to fill her mouth as if he was fucking it. His chest rose and fell in hard pants like he’d just finished a hard mile-long sprint. Ecstasy tightened his features with raw beauty. She moaned around his shaft, actually wishing he’d come. Just come now and spend in her mouth. She wanted to give him that pleasure, wanted to taste all of him in a way she couldn’t explain. As if she wanted to share everything with this man, take in all parts of him and give it back ten-fold.
“Dreenaru gina slinah!”
“Hmmm?” she hummed as she sucked him deep again, moving faster now with both mouth and hand. His cock grew harder, hotter. The vein pulsed beneath her fingertips as his thighs trembled, actually trembled at her touch. She felt like she had the power to move mountains.
“You are incredible,” he said huskily, translating for her.
Yes, well, she felt incredible bringing him this kind of pleasure. Each grunt and groan from him, each thrust of his hips and hard roll of his packed abs sent a pulse straight to her clitoris. She ached. Squeezing her thighs together did nothing to ease her. Hot moisture escaped her at the action and rubbed along her swollen folds.
“Stop now, Abbigail. Take me inside you,” he pleaded.
Yes! Her body screamed.
She wanted to stay and tease him but instead she listened to him, her body too tense to do otherwise. In a rush, she kicked off her shoes, socks, and tugged down her jeans. Her panties followed next, and then she tossed her leg over his wide, thick waist with the V of muscles cut above his hips bones.
God he was sexy.
His hands steadied her, caressing from her thighs up to her waist then around to her ass. She was open to him completely. As she arched over him, prodding his cock with her entrance, he took full advantage of her position. He squeezed and molded her breasts, tugged a hard nipple between two warm fingertips. His other hand slipped down her side and gave a quick squeeze to her hip before cupping her sex.
“You are so beautiful,” he said.
A soft moan escaped her. Her heart melted and need poured from her. She tensed at his touch. She thought he might take to torturing her as she had him, but he didn’t.
His fingers slid over her wet center to dip inside and tease her of something much bigger and harder to come.
“Alrik,” she gasped. Her hips rocked against his fingers.
He moved much too slowly.
One hand tugged her tender nipple in time with his fingers thrusting lazily in and out of her. His touch created a spike of pleasure from her brain to her core that threatened to burst. Her breaths turned ragged as need built. She could come she was that close to climax. She just needed a push.
“Touch me,” she begged, trying to watch him but she could barely manage to keep her eyes open.
“I am touching you.” The corner of his mouth kicked up in a sensual way she wanted to bite.
She might have laughed if she could. “No, I mean touch me faster.”
His palm suddenly pressed hard against her clitoris then his fingers curled inside her rubbing over a spot that instantly made her head fall back and her body tense.
Oh yes, right there, her body cried.
Everything that mattered, everything that she thought or felt centered on his hands and the pleasure he wrought from her.
“You make me feel more than I ever have,” he said roughly. His palm circled over her clitoris rubbing in a steady rhythm.
How could he share such deep words at a time like this? She couldn’t respond coherently let alone with the thought and care his words deserved.
So, she said the simplest and most honest thing she could think of. “I love you.”
His fingers around her breast as he thrust his fingers inside her, curling them as his palm pressed against her and moved faster. Blissfully, wonderfully faster. Her sex clenched around him as her breaths caught. The erotic sensations were too much. Burning waves rose inside her. Her skin drew tight as hot steam built up inside her. He kept playing her, thrusting faster, pressing harder against her, and building her up to a tremendous peak.
Then, he drove her over.
She shouted a strangled cry of pleasure. She trusted him completely with her body and with her pleasure. She trusted him because she loved him. She could feel it in the wild palpitations of her heart slamming in her chest.
“Alrik, Alrik...”
His arms snaked around her waist and then her back pressed into the grass and his strong body cocooned hers. Hot lips pressed against hers wringing another kiss from her, this one sweet and filled with longing. She couldn’t possibly float any higher, any lighter at that moment because right then everything in the world was right.
As her body floated back down to earth and her skin cooled, she rubbed her legs against his, wrapped her arms across his back, and simply cradled him to her. Time passed, she couldn’t be sure how long and they just kissed letting the passion cool.
When he finally slipped his hips between her legs and slowly entered her , her breath caught and needy warmth fill her, she was ready. He took her slowly, his eyes loving hers, their lips kissing then tasting each other’s necks and shoulders.
He wasn’t fucking her.
He wasn’t having sex with her.
He was making love to her.
She held him close as each thrust brushed her clitoris making her blood burn hotter and hotter. He took her slowly toward another heart-soaring peak. This time she knew he’d be right there with her though.
Her hips rocked against his until they made a perfect tempo together. He grew restless, breaths coming heavier as she entwined her legs with his, opening her core to him.
He groaned deep in his chest as if she was killing him.
“You are so beautiful,” he said in her ear.
No, you are she wanted to say but didn’t. She didn’t want anything to ruin this.
One arm slid beneath her hips to pull her up.
A strangle moan escaped her at this new position. “It’s too much,” she whispered raggedly. Her thighs started to quiver, her core to pulse, and she knew she was so close. But, she didn’t want to go without it.
“It’s perfect.”
He drove into her faster, harder. They were one with uneven breaths mingling and lips clinging to each other without really kissing. He was hard and moving inside her, pushing her closer and closer.
“I love you, Alrik.” Her heart stuttered at saying the words aloud. But his response erased any doubts she had whatsoever.
The hand at her hip flexed against her. “You’d be scared at how much I love you.”
His reply shocked her, but then he slid his tongue against hers and focused all his energy on making her scream. Which he did, two more times before finally burying himself deep and jetting into her.
“You’re crazy,” she said afterward.
Their sweat-slicked bodies had long dried. He’d wrapped her up in his arms like a precious bundle he didn’t want to let go. She’d never cuddled before, couldn’t stand it in fact. However, with Alrik she could easily get used to this.
“No, I’m not. I’m just feeling something I haven’t ever felt before,” he said.
His words shut her up and got her thinking. While this whole situation might be one big mess, she’d at least gotten one good thing out of it.
Abby pressed a kiss to Alrik’s lips and he returned it.
Yeah, that was worth it.
Chapter Twenty
The soft, feminine voice hissed at him.
“Alllriiiik. Awaken, Allllrik.”
He twitched, fighting the lulling sound. There was something about it he recognized but couldn’t quite place. What made his hairs stand on end was the magic encompassing the words. The woman wasn’t asking, she was commanding it with vast power behind her words.
As if in a daze, Alrik woke and stood. Abby turned on her side but he had no care for her.
“Come to me. Coooooome.”
He started walking. The voice seemed to come from nowhere yet must have a distinct location. No matter, the spell slowly wrapped around his mind and body knew where to take him. He walked across the base of the mountain towards the south where the flickering of fire in distance looked so much closer.
As soon as he saw the fire, he knew that this wasn’t a dream. He was being summoned. And his mother was waiting for him. It was her sick magic being forced into his body to answer to her will. He tried to fight it, but no amount of spells he tried to cast overcame her power.
Each step he took he tried to still it. Nothing worked. His body just kept moving. He dug his heels into the ground and desperately tried to turn away from the fire in the distance. He had to get back to Abby. She was alone and unprotected. His heart started hammering in his chest. Sweat beaded his temples and slicked down his face.
The path he walked ended on a ledge just past the mountain. He couldn’t see down it yet but he knew it wasn’t a cliff because he could just make out the other half of the valley sunken into the ground. The area felt warmer here. Sweat pooled and slid down his back and chest. Humid air suffocated him as he neared the ledge like a walking zombie.
Without even a moment to determine the drop off, he was sent rolling down the hill. He rolled like a log falling down and down. The grass was wet, mossy. The valley had a distinct moist smell. The trees were wide and not as tall as the other rift trees. They were bulkier and shorter. Their long branches hung like old arms out toward the ground with thousands of dark green leaves coloring them.
A fire roared nearby. He could hear its mighty crackling flame, and smell its woodsy stench. Except it didn’t just smell of woods. Something was burning in that fire. Something that smelled so repulsive his stomach clenched to keep from heaving.
Wherever that fire was and who tended it was behind him, but he couldn’t even turn his bloody head to look.
Like a robot, the spell commanded him to stand and come forward. Then he saw her. And her army.
Fuck!
Things were so much worse than he expected. She didn’t have a small army of maybe a few dozen idummi under her control. She had more than a few hundred.
The idummi stood as his body waded through the crowd. They parted for him sneering and chomping their teeth at him. Rage boiled in his blood. He fought even harder against the magic binding him. He’d tear off every single one of the demon’s heads and toss them into the fire pit right after he slaughtered his mother.
And there she was—his mother—in all her crowning horror.
She stood on a stone dais. It looked recently built, not aged as some of the temples and old buildings he’d seen along the rift. The corners were sharp and not worn down. The rock still shined as they had just been dug up. A set of six stairs were carved into either side of the dais. The whole thing looked so out of place in this marsh that he would have laughed if he could. Only his mother would require elegance and royalty while banished from home. She hadn’t learned to hunt her own food or to live humbly as he had. No, she just weaved her spells until she had an army do it for her. Smart, really.
The fire roared off to his left. Massive stones formed a circle around the base and a mighty black cauldron was held above it by tall metal stakes coming from the ground. Idummi worked around it with their bony legs bent out at sharp angles. Their green skin shined sickly in the fire light. They tossed things into the black cauldron. A ladder stood up against one of the stakes and one idummi held a mighty pole that he used to stir the hellish concoction inside.
She had her minions create her favorite part of the castle—the throne. She even had a lavish chair on top of it. The frame looked elegant and intricate, worthy of royalty even in his eye. The wooden frame curled into spirals at the bottom of the four posts, and at the top two curled back. A rich green cushion decorated the wooden frame and she sat upon the edge of it, her bony, golden shoulders thrust back, and her body facing him with a mad gleam in her eye.
She stood as he neared.
“I see nothing has changed,” said Alrik.
Even out here in the middle of nowhere in a damn marsh she wore a vibrant splash of color on her face. Her eyes were darkly lined in black to better show her violet eyes. The reminder of what his real eye color looked like didn’t sit well with him. The fact that he had anything in common with her made him want to jump into the fire until he burned to a crisp.
Her long raven black hair sat in two heavy braids on each of her shoulders. Gold, silver, and red thread was weaved through the braids, and atop her head was a golden crown. It wasn’t her royal crown. No way would they have let her leave with it when he banished her from the kingdom.
No, she’d forged her own. Two crescents of shimmery gold stood apart from each other. Small jagged points stood facing each other from opposite sides of her head. A middle piece with luminous diamonds and rubies flashed from the fire light, and atop the crescents and middle connector were two sheer points like horns of an animal. They arched up into the air.
Her red gown had gold flowers etched into the tight bodice and white fur lining the long, elegant sleeves and the bottom of the dress swept the ground as she stood.
“What do you want from me?”
He looked upon her cold beauty and golden skin with uncontained disgust.
A small smile played at the corner of her mouth. “Is that any kind of greeting to give your mother?”
“No. The better one would be to cut your fucking head off.”
Her eyebrows rose. Good he surprised her. That made him feel better.
The smile died from her face. Even the life in her eyes seemed to die. She raised a hand and flexed her fingers in the air.
Alrik choked. An invisible forced grabbed at his throat and squeezed. He struggled, but couldn’t move his legs or even his arms under her magic. His eyes squeezed shut as his muscles flexed hard against the choking, his bones grating, and throat bruising.
“Look at me!” his mother hissed like a serpent.
He took his time and slowly opened his eyes while inhaling air through his nostrils. Once they made eye contact, she held the spell for a moment longer then released him. She released all of him because he once again had control over his body. He rubbed at his throat still feeling the lingering invisible hands.
“You have been busy son. Visiting the last and most powerful seer. Seeking to murder me, your own mother,” she said in a soft, mocking voice. She walked down the dais as if she was in the ballroom back home making a grand entrance. Idummi parted for her as she knelt and picked something up and then she tossed it at him.
Alrik felt his body jolt.
The seer’s head landed near his feet—a bloody hunk of meat. His dark face was frozen in a look of terror, his eyes rolled up.
He couldn’t say anything as rage boiled inside him.
Then with the seer’s blood on her hands, she held her hand up as if awaiting a man to take and place a kiss upon it. Her other hand grabbed the long length of her gown and lifted it as she came near him.
“You’ve been very bad…I mean really, son, trying to kill your own mother?”
With a vicious snarl, he ran for her. The seer’s words didn’t matter. She was so close he could almost feel her blood coating his fingers.
Her trickling laughter taunted him as if she found him entertaining. He didn’t even come close to reaching her before she tossed up her hand as if waving and he was blocked by an invisible wall. He knew spells and magic. He could fight back but as he thrust his own magic out to dispel the wall, nothing happened. More of her feminine laughter assaulted him.
Maybe, just maybe if he could get his hands on her then he could end her life the old fashioned way—by cutting her damned head off.
An idummi crept up between them. He bowed before his mother like a servant and spoke in a garbled, demonic voice. The idummi had their own demonic language and trying to speak in the shahoulin tongue of Alrik’s people was hard for the creature.
“Master Demuzi, it is done.”
His mother clapped, her wild eyes gleaming with madness. “Fantastic and here I thought things were starting to get boring. Bring it here.”
The demon slinked off back toward the fire pit.
Alrik tensed. He’d thought things were bad enough before, but now a sinking feeling came over him.
His mother saw his look and smiled.
“What are you going to do?” Just asking the words was like trying to pull his teeth out one at a time.
She made a tsking sound and shook her head. “You’ll just have to wait and see now won’t you? Besides, you mustn’t think I brought you all this way for nothing?”
“Salindra, what have you done?” he shouted. His body lunged toward her but the barrier spell kept him from doing more than leaning towards her. His palms twitched and fingers itched to scrape his fingers over her colored face until he saw blood.
Suddenly, the demons swarmed around him.
They bounced on their bony, lithe feet and stared at him with excited eyes. Alrik spun around finding more and more of them around him. The creatures didn’t look as if a spell kept them here which only meant that his mother had actually gained their support without magical means. Just what could she offer these ruthless, cannibalistic demons to keep them loyal? He was afraid to find out.
Once again, he spun and faced his mother.
“Why?” he gritted out.
“Your father was strong. He kept our people in line, and well, he kept me from causing too much trouble. Of course, if I would have dared any of my games while he was king he would have had me imprisoned. But you, my son, were so new to the throne. Telal, my eldest, was supposed to take it, but he betrayed all of us to those vampires. Well, he’ll get his as you will yours. You were so eager to please.” She twirled in a circle with her arms spread out from her like a little girl dancing. “Eager to please me, the court members, and the commoners. It was sickening really watching you bow down to them like that.”
“I wasn’t bowing to them. I was helping them repair the damage from the war!” Alrik fought against the barrier spell separating them. He dug his body into it just hoping it would break. All he would need was one second and she’d be dead.
She rolled her eyes and made her face into a mocking sad expression. “Aw, poor Alrik. Where did my tough son go? Where did his kingliness go? Well, you were no fun so I fixed it. I fixed all of that. You were so regal and fun after I fixed you.” She laughed a cruel sound. “And the best part was that you didn’t even see it happening. I took your hair and bound it into a totem where I cursed you once a week for nearly a thousand years. I fooled you for a thousand years! When things started to get boring, I would give you my special “stress-relief concoction”. Sure you would feel dazed and relaxed for a minute, but the rage would grow in your heart.” She sighed in pleasure.
“I wonder how many innocent prisoners you sentenced to die or to become a slave because of that little potion. Fifty? Maybe more?” She laughed delightedly.
“It wasn’t me. It was you and your black magic. Let this barrier go and fight me.” Still, he couldn’t believe that. He’d done those things. Every last horrible one of them.
