The Hated (Sleeping With Monsters Book 3) (17 page)

“I’m sorry -- I forgot -- you’ve only been with the puppet – “

“And you, once. When you were stone.” I pushed myself up on my elbows, heart racing, breathing hard. “Whatever you need to do to me, Zaan, I can take it.”

My Zaibann warrior made a strangled sound, and leaned back in.

His cock was in me in a moment as his body curved and I cried out at feeling him slide into me. There was something about the way he filled me – like Joshan never had – or maybe it was all the sensations that came with it, knowing he needed me, that he craved my blood – within thrusts, I gathered my feet under my knees so that I could thrust back, taking his cock each time it was given.

He kissed me, hard, and I felt his fangs scratch my tongue and scrape my lips – it was like he was devouring me, but it was all right, because I needed him just as badly. I held onto his back, felt the ripple and curve of his muscles there, reached down to grab his ass to feel him thrust into me, and then freed myself of his mouth to start kissing him back, tasting as much of him as I could, his chin, his neck, his shoulder, biting him for all the times he’d bitten me, listening to the low groans rumbling through his body every time his cock rowed forward.

If I rocked my hips just right I could rub myself against him more, and soon with each thrust there was a hiccup of time where I ground against him hard. I felt my magic tighten in my belly, in my chest, as one of his hands kneaded my breast and he leaned down to suck my nipple hard. I started to moan and my body started to do what it needed to, hungry on its own, my hips bobbing faster, rubbing harder against him. Zaan groaned again and looked down at me with dark eyes.

“Keep it. Keep it in you. Don’t let it out.”

I knew what he meant – I tried to hold onto the magic as it fought me for control, wanting to come out of me in a screaming rush.

“You can do it, Ilylle. Be its master,” he said, without relenting.

“Za-an –“ His name broke in my throat and my hands clenched over his shoulders and my hips sprang up and held there, taking all of his cock in and rubbing against him. “Zaan, yes – Zaan!” I bit my own lip then shouted his name again. “Zaan!”

He made low growling sounds at this, continuing to fuck me through. My power whirled out of me for an uncontrolled instant – and then just as quickly flew back in. I shuddered beneath him, quaking, feeling ecstatic and divine.

“Good, Ilylle,” he murmured, pushing my hair out of my face. “Good.” He took two more strokes in me, and then pulled out.

I was too dizzy to realize what had happened for a moment, as he started put his armor back on. Then I realized – “Wait – you –“

“When you turn me into stone, I have to be hard.”

“No –“ I shook my head. I was strong now – I didn’t need the fucking anymore, but I didn’t want to be left like this. “Zaan –“

He stopped and looked at me. “What was your first lesson?”

I thought back quickly. “To take what I want, or be content with what I’m given.”

He nodded, fastening another buckle. “Are you not content?”

“No.” I rose up in bed, pulling the rest of my poor torn dress off, crawling over to him. If he would not put his seed inside me, I would suck it out of him again. My power swirled around me, crackling like electricity. I could make him fuck me again, I knew it.

He watched me, his eyes traveling over my body as I neared. When I was close enough to touch, he put his hand out, trailing his fingers through the veil of my hair. “If you do that you will break me, Ilylle.”

I sat back abashed, as he continued to pull on his clothes. His actions were deliberate, familiar, but I could read the tension in him. Just as I had had to conquer the cradle, he would
have to conquer being remade stone. He finished the last buckle, and I reached for my dress, hopping off my bed.

“Stay naked. It makes it easier for me to stay this way.”

“If it helps you.” I leaned in and kissed him. His armor was cold, the buckles and leather made my nipples light up, and I felt his cock rub against me as I rose up on my toes.

He breathed heavily as I rocked back. “That helps, too. Let’s go.”

We walked back to his display chamber. Neither one of us had been back since he’d bitten me, although the zoomers had moved all the furniture, preparing for the ceremony. All the seats were arranged in rows at the back half of the room, with an isle down the center that we walked down until we reached his empty pedestal.

Zaan stepped up onto it. “How did I look?”

“Worried. A little angry. Kind of like now.” I reached up and pushed his braid to hang down his back.

“You’ve got to shield yourself from them, Ilylle. If they know how powerful you are now, they’ll never come near you, they’ll kill you from afar. Keep your power hidden at all times -- pretend to be the girl you were when I first met you here.”

I looked around, imagining who I used to be. So much had happened since then. I might as well have been a copy when I’d first fucked him, idiotic and innocent -- I knew so much more now. “I’m not like her anymore.”

“I know. But you must not let on.”

I frowned but still answered, “I promise.”

“I’ve marked where Yzin’s soldiers will enter –“ he said, and held his hand out to me. I took it, and felt the passing of a piece of knowledge – the sensation of being called from deep in the Feather Palace’s halls. “When they breech the wall, you’ll have to protect them until they get up here to help fight.”

“I will.”

A moment of silence passed between us as we both contemplated our difficult paths, and then Zaan reached down to stroke himself with a sigh. “I can’t believe I was displayed like this.”

“I’m the one who has to fuck you in front of all of them,” I said, stepping close. He grimaced and shook his head.

“It’d better be you when I wake again, Ilylle.”

“It will be.” I pushed his hand out of the way and replaced it with my own. He was soft – because unlike Joshan he was mortal and knew fear. I leaned in, as his hands took the position they’d held for centuries when he was a statue. “The next time you see me…” My voice drifted, search for words. “I’ll be right in front of you – when you wake up, I’ll be the first thing you see. You’ll feel me wrapped around you, and you’ll know that I am yours and you are mine.”

My Zaibann’s chest heaved and emotions raced across his face – sympathy, longing, need – and his cock firmed in my hand. “Ilylle,” he whispered, as I wished that stiffness through his entire body, for him to be bereft of life as I knew it, to change back into a statue. I closed my eyes and willed it as I kept stroking -- and when I realized I was rubbing stone I opened my eyes again.

It had worked. I was alone inside the Feather Palace once more.

“This is not a good-bye, but a parting,” I whispered, and stepped back.

Chapter Sixteen

“Am I doing something wrong, my Queen?”

I shook my head. “No, Beza. Just keep going.”

There’d been a time in my life when I’d looked forward to ceremonial baths – the endless quantities of oils that Beza poured on my skin and then scraped off, the way her fingers massaged between my muscles, slipping over every inch of my skin.

If I were still the naive girl I’d been mere days ago, I’d be twisting and turning inside Beza’s embrace, whispering my foolish hopes into her unreal ears. But now, knowing all? Each bath was intolerable, and each touch burned like flame.

I pulled on the simple white silk dress I was supposed to sleep in somehow, and entered my bed. Either the zoomers or Joshan had straightened the sheets after my last encounter with Zaan – there was nothing that proved he’d ever been here at all, except for my memories.

I tugged the sheets up as the lights in the chamber dimmed – and a man appeared in the hallway.

I leaped up, Zaan’s name on my lips – just as he strode in, and I realized it was Railan.

“My Queen,” he said, by way of announcement.

“High Councilman,” I responded, clutching my sheets up to my neck. When was the last time Railan had come by personally? Was he going to wrestle me into the cradle again?

“I’m sorry to startle you,” he said with a bow, before walking in to sit at the edge of my bed. “I just wanted to see with my own eyes that you were ready.” I felt his power snaking around the room, pressing in. It was hard not to let my magic flare in indignant response – but I remembered my promise in time.

“I can’t wait,” I said, feigning breathlessness. “I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for this day.”

Railan chuckled, his power receding. “Indeed you have. You have no idea, my Queen, just how magical tomorrow will be.”

When a group of men would be standing nearby waiting to watch me die. I kept my smile plastered on and was grateful for the lowered lights. “Tell me about it?” I begged him.

He shook his head. “There’s no way to explain it, Ilylle. It’s an experience you just have to go through.” He stood and looked at me and I wondered how many Queens he had looked at in the past, just like this, hungering for their lives. “Good-night, my Queen. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

“And I, you,” I said, still smiling.
But not the way you think
.

I managed to sleep at the end of the night, but Beza woke me early to work on pinning up my hair. The celestitians had sent a dress for me – it was gold and absolutely lovely, the kind of dress I would adore if I hadn’t known I was meant to die with it on. Soon singing started in the Zaibann Chamber, and other servants came into my dressing room.

“Happy Tide’s Day, my Queen,” said a blonde as she entered, and it was echoed by a brunette by her side.

“And happy Tide’s Day to you,” I responded to both of them.

“You look lovely, my Queen,” said the brunette.

“Thank you,” I said. Neither of them were real either, but they set to helping Beza straighten out the hem of my gown, after lacing me into exquisitely gilded shoes, and then they
all fussed over setting gemstones into my hair, and brought out jeweled bracelets for my wrists and arms.

I caught sight of myself in the mirror when they were through. I looked like a creature made of gold and glass – I closed my eyes as they powdered my cheeks and reddened my lips.

“We’re finished, my Queen,” the blonde announced. “Are you ready?”

I inhaled and exhaled deeply. I was so close to seeing Zaan again – everything would be all right if I just focused on that. “Yes.”

“I’m so glad, my Queen,” the brunette enthused. She offered me her hand and I took it, walking with her in the unfamiliar heeled shoes they’d put me in, into my own chamber, where a crew of male servants – Joshan included – stood on either side of some sort of strange chair.

“What is that?” I asked before I could help myself – but surely asking some questions was normal.

“It’s your wedding throne, my Queen,” the blonde said, smiling eagerly.

I had a throne. This did not look like one. It looked molded for my body, with holes at intervals on its edges. “And I’m supposed to sit in it?”

“Yes, my Queen. It’s part of the ceremony,” said the brunette. I looked to Beza and saw neither confirmation nor denial.

Did Railan know? Was that chair some way to trap me and put me into the cradle again? There was no way of knowing – there was only going through.

“If you will, my Queen,” the brunette said, pulling me gently. I went with her and pretended not to care.

Once I’d sat on the ‘throne’, the remaining servants looped gold chains through the holes to lash me down at my chest and waist, while the ones at my ankles were hidden by my dress.

“Are you ready, my Queen?” the blonde asked, as the singing down the hall took on a fevered pitch.

“Yes,” I answered calmly, fighting to keep my magic down.

The servants started singing and wheeled my throne out of my chambers, down the hall to where I’d left Zaan.

I knew the words to the song as they pushed me, and knew too that I ought to be singing along at this point, at my pleasure at meeting my true King at last, and how lovely it was going to be to be paired with him, ruling Aranda side-by-side.

I moved my mouth but no words came out. What if I couldn’t turn Zaan back? What if I did, and the room was full of more cradles, and both of us died? I felt my power begin to swell in me in my panic, then remembered to press it back down, forcing myself to sing a few notes. Beza was walking beside me, and Joshan somewhere behind – I wanted them to stay close, but didn’t think it was safe.

“Joshan, Beza, wait for me in my room, will you? I’ll be back soon.”

“Of course, my Queen,” they both answered at once, and bowed away from my ‘throne’.

The other servants kept singing as we walked through the doorway. My council was arrayed three rows deep in an even arc away from Zaan, and they turned to watch me enter as my new throne was pushed down the aisle. Some of them had tears streaming down their cheeks – for me? For my fate? No, I realized as I looked around, my elaborate hair crunching on the throne’s back behind me – they were crying with relief for themselves, that my death would invigorate them again. I sought out Yzin instinctively. He wasn’t crying and I kept his gaze for as long as I could, until the servants pushed me past.

Railan stood in front of Zaan, in his red robes with their gold flying lilans, holding a book. The song was almost done now and somehow I’d managed to keep singing, out of years of habit and foolish hope. When it finished Railan made a gesture and the servants brought me near. It was impossible to look at him and not think of all we’d done, the time we’d spent – my magic wanted to flare, but I pushed it down.

“Ilylle, Queen of Dreams, you have served Aranda long and well,” Railan said, smiling graciously. “It is time that you take your reward in the arms of your Zaibann King, who you will rule with side by side forevermore.”

Railan leaned forward and picked up my skirts, pulling them high, as the throne tilted precipitously back. I gasped, both at being jolted and exposed.

“I am sorry the manner of your wedding has been withheld from you till now, but you will come to understand things quickly enough,” he said. Servants spun wheels on either side of me, and the throne I was lashed to split apart at the thighs, pulling one leg to either side, as other wheels propped the whole thing up, so that Zaan and I were almost level.