lily harper 04.5 - the bladesmith (8 page)

As I disengaged my head and my shoulders from her body, I kneeled forward and held my eager cock at the slick passage of her opening.

And then I woke up.

EIGHT

I was convinced that Lily had reached out to me in my slumber. With my blood coursing through her veins, the bond between us was now thicker than ever before. Aye, it was this bond that allowed her to penetrate my dreams, to place her imprint on my psyche. She was reaching out to me to let me know that my ministrations were not for naught, that my blood was helping her, reviving her strength and giving her the will to fight.

Be strong, mah wee lass,
I thought to her, closing my eyes to further my emphasis.
Ah’m fightin’ fer ye, an’ Ah willnae give oop. Sae ye moost nae give oop.

Almost immediately an image of Persephone exploded behind my eyelids, as if I had been addressing her and not Lily. Anger began to rise up within me, but I suppressed it because I had to understand why I was experiencing this vision.

Persephone appeared as she had all those years ago, with her platinum blond hair piled high and her wide blue eyes narrowed on me suspiciously. My breath caught and my heartbeat sped up because the image was so clear that I half wondered if she were really standing before me. Once I reminded myself that my eyes were still closed, I began to relax. But the force of the image would not leave me. Before I could control my wayward thoughts, I began to remember a time long since passed that somehow felt as if it were only yesterday.

The wind howled through the stone walls of my kingdom, the sound echoing until it sounded like a great roar belonging to some ferocious animal. Or, as this was the Underground City, some ferocious demon. I was not excited about the task before me, but I knew it had to be done, all the same. Persephone had grown uncontrollable. She was greedy and hungered for power in such a way that she was a threat to the balance of the order of the Underground. She was a danger to my rule. I was in peril of becoming disrespected by those in my charge because her interactions with Alaire were becoming less and less covert.

She was my queen, yes, but what was most important, ultimately, was that I was the Master of the Underground City, the king, and the ultimate ruler. I could not allow myself to be ridiculed by a woman. I could not and I would not. Love did not enter into the equation and, as I was an honest man, I could level with myself that love had never entered into the equation. I had been fond of Persephone in the beginning, aye. That much was true. I had lusted after her, enjoyed our sexual trysts and even tolerated her trifling conversations that did little to interest me. But I had never trusted her, and now, as the time was drawing nearer, I understood why. She was untrustworthy.

There was no wholesomeness within her lovely exterior and there never had been. When faced with the promise of power I supplied as leader of the Underground, she had jumped at the opportunity to possess that control. I was well aware that she considered me nothing more than a vessel of influence, a way to attain the supremacy she sought. And it had and was corrupting her. Now it was time I put a stop to it.

I did not bother to rap on her door but showed myself into her chamber. She was naked and lounging on the red, silken linens of her bed, just as I knew she would be. I found my attention drifting from her wide open legs and her lascivious grin to the four-poster, carved mahogany bed. It had been one of several gifts I had bestowed upon her. Now the image of it suddenly infuriated me. I despised the fact that I had ever given her anything.

I returned my attention to her encouraging expression and frowned. Once upon a time I would have leapt on her, forced my head between her thighs and lapped at her feminine flesh with abandon before pummeling her with my determined cock. But this was not that time.

“Ah am strippin’ ye o’ yer title o’ queen,” I announced, my tone of voice steely and resolute.

She closed her legs and scooted back on the bed, sitting up as she faced me squarely. Instead of the concern I expected to see in her gaze, I found amusement, ridicule even.

“Oh, are you?” she asked with a small laugh as she shook her head, giving me the impression that she was the one in charge, or believed herself to be.

“Aye, Ah am,” I answered with the briefest of nods.

She pulled one of the silk sheets to her body and covered her lower half, not bothering to cover her beautifully symmetrical breasts. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked upon me with sudden ill humor. “You cannot take anything away from me.”

“Ah’m the king, the ruler o’ the Oonderground. Mah word is law,” I answered and tried not to stifle a yawn. I had hoped she would yield the keys to the kingdom with some level of poise and dignity, but it appeared such would not be the case. I did not know why I expected otherwise. Mayhap it was just stupid wishful thinking.

“And I am the queen, your queen,” she insisted, all the while glaring at me. “You have no right to strip me of my title. Not when I am recognized as queen by our people and by Afterlife Enterprises. You cannot simply do away with me just because you so choose.”

“Yer affairs with Alaire are makin’ ye ah laughin’ stock,” I started as I sighed and then rubbed my forehead because I had not wanted to get into this much depth. I had hoped to get in and get out, as it were. “An’ Ah willnae allow mahself tae be included in the ridicule.”

“Is that what this is about?” she scoffed at me as a huge smile took hold of her mouth. She knee-walked a few steps down the mattress until she reached me. Then she dropped the satin sheet that guarded her nudity. “I am all yours, my love,” she said, her narrowed eyes betraying the lie in her words. “Alaire means nothing to me. He was simply a distraction because you have not shown me the same interest you did when we first met.” She paused for a moment as she studied me. “Have you taken another woman to your bed?”

“Ye know Ah havenae,” I answered, my lips tight because I hated the sound of Alaire’s name on her lips. I was not jealous. I just hated his name, hated him and everything he stood for. As to other women in my bed, I had not taken any, but that would soon change.

“Then show me you still love me by claiming me and imprinting yourself on my body. Take me back from Alaire. Make love to me the way only you know how,” she continued as she fell back against the bed and spread her legs wide so I was greeted with her slick, pink flesh. I eyed her femininity before bringing my disinterested gaze back up to her face.

“Ah want ye tae pack yer things an’ vacate mah kingdom by nightfall. Ah will prepare ah coach tae take ye tae the gates an’ ensure yer safe passage,” I answered, this time not bothering to stifle my yawn.

She threw her hands down against the bed and slammed her legs together as she sat up and glared at me. “You are serious about this then?”

“Aye, whit would cause ye tae believe Ah’m nae serious?”

She shook her head. “You are so callous! You always have been. You are nothing but ice inside. You never truly loved me! I don’t believe you are even capable of loving anyone, save yourself! You are soulless, empty!”

“Aye, yer correct.”

She seemed flustered by my admission and did not say anything for a few seconds. Then she began adamantly shaking her head. “I will not leave! You cannot make me! I am the queen!” She raised her voice steadily until she was screaming.

“Ah didnae want tae make this ooncomfortable, boot Ah will if Ah moost,” I answered, my jaw clenched.

She stood up and approached me, naked and unashamed. She stood proudly, fully aware that she was a stunningly beautiful woman. There was a time when her beauty would have had the desired reaction on me. But that time was long past.

“I will have you know that your days as king and leader are numbered,” she warned me, her breasts rising and falling with her increased breathing. “Alaire and I have made damn sure to win support for our cause, and we’ve done so right beneath your nose!” She took a deep breath. “You’re a fool!”

I gripped her by the arm and started leading her from her room, not bothering to look at her as I did so. I wanted her out. The time for polite conversation was over. If I had to throw her out, naked and helpless, so be it.

“Alaire is triple the man you are!” she continued as she dug her heels into the hardwood floors and then gripped hold of the chair just beside her bed. All she managed to do was drag it alongside her.

“Ah amnae interested in anythin’ more ye have tae say,” I answered tersely.

“He knows how to treat me, how to treat his queen! When he is inside me, I have double the orgasms I do with you! He is a real man, and he knows how to … fuck a woman!”

“Ye are the fool!” I responded with an acidic laugh as I finally turned around to face her. “If ye think Alaire is anythin’ other than power hoongry, ye are more dimwitted than Ah gave ye credit for. Alaire only wants ye fer yer title an’ fer whit exists atween yer legs!”

“How dare you speak to me like that!” she wailed at me. “How dare you disrespect your queen!”

I did not see the blade until she buried it in my chest. I gasped as I dropped her arm and backed up, into the door. My eyes found hers and fury boiled through me once I realized she was laughing, her eyes echoing the mirth in her smile. But she would not have the last laugh. With a pained sigh, I reached for the handle of the blade and pulled it from my chest. She watched me, the laugh falling off her lips as I began to approach her.

She had crossed a line and there was no going back now. She had assaulted her king. She had attempted to kill the leader of the Underground City. Never mind that I was unable to die. That had been a little fact she had unfortunately overlooked.

I did not hesitate as I grabbed her by the arm to hold her in place. Then I dragged the steel blade across her throat. She fell down against the bed as soon as I released her, shock poisoning the beauty of her face. Her hands immediately went to her throat as she choked on her own blood and collapsed in a heap against the bed.

I said nothing as I dropped the blade, the sound of the metal hitting the floor reverberating through my ears. I started for the door, even as I felt my body mending the wound she’d inflicted upon me. In another few seconds, it would be completely healed. I could still hear her sputtering behind me, but I did not care. I was free of her and that was all that mattered to me.

I took a deep breath as the memory left me. I blinked a few times as I focused on my surroundings, taking in the cold stone walls of my prison cell that matched the bleakness of the stone floor. Even though I had left Persephone to choke on her own blood, thinking her dead, it was now apparent that she had not gone quite so willingly. I closed my eyes as I sought that side of me that channeled my Druid magic. I extended my feelers until the magic thrummed through my entire body.

Show meh,
I thought to myself.
Show meh whit happened after Ah left her,
I demanded of my ancient magic.

The image of Persephone’s drawing room began to fall back into place behind my eyelids. I could see her on the bed and I could see myself standing in the doorway, just before I left the room. Persephone lay there dying, her eyes fully focused on the doorway. Her blood soaked everything beneath her, coloring her platinum hair bright red.

As I watched from afar, the door to her bureau suddenly opened and Alaire stepped out. He immediately focused on her still form but there was no sign of panic nor concern on his face. Instead, he approached her vanity table and retrieved her crystal and diamond crown. He then walked toward the bed, his stride long and purposeful. He placed the crown on her bloodied head and then leaned down onto his knees so he was at eye level with her. He placed one hand over her severed throat and cupped the other into a fist that he held in front of her mouth.

“Breathe into my hand, my love,” he instructed her. “And I will ensure you do not meet your fate this night.”

Apparently happy with her attempt, he brought his fist up to the crown and then released his fingers. At the same moment, Persephone’s eyelids fluttered as her eyes rolled back and her head fell to the side lifelessly. Alaire stood up and reached for the crown, the diamonds of which were now sparkling in a way they had not before. He brought the crown to his mouth and kissed it delicately.

“We will be united, my love, someday when we are both ready,” he whispered to the crown as he started for the door. “In the meantime, I will place you in the custody and protection of the harpies, for they will always ensure your security. Sleep well, my queen, sleep well.”

NINE

“Tallis,” the angel rasped from his cell. “I dunno how much more I can take of this,” he finished, his voice breaking. “My whole body hurts so bad, I can’t even fuckin’ move, an’ I’m so hungry, I’m gettin’ skinny.”

He was far from skinny. “Dinnae git ahead o’ yerself,” I started, but once the sound of him sobbing reached me, I figured he needed my encouragement more than my ridicule. “Ye moost be strong,” I said as I reminded myself of exactly the same thing. “They are tryin’ tae break ye, ye moost nae allow them tae soocceed.”