Thwack—thwap—“Gahh!”
The sounds and moans from the other room needle my brain, warping my sensibilities. My fists clench. Between my legs, my cock throbs against my pants, protruding and aching. Begging to be released.
I know there will be no release tonight. I have dug my grave and now I must lie in it.
What is it she wants from me?!
Well, it’s a silly question, isn’t it? My practical, logical mind tells me she wants me toatone.To beg forgiveness. To grovel.
That’s not who I am. I’ve never fucking begged for anything. The revulsion in my body at the mere thought makes my muscles stiffen and constrict.
I have a long way to go before I ever kiss the ground Lukain walks on, no matter how angry Sephania is with me,I tell myself.
I could lie and say I apologize, but that only digs my grave deeper, doesn’t it? My temptress is too astute for that. She would see right through my words if actions and sincerity are not backing them up.
I can’t tell a lie to apologize for a different lie.
Something I’ve also noticed, which has seemingly gone unnoticed by the others, is the shift in Sephania’s personality. I witnessed it with Aelin, telling Lukain not to kill her. Instead, Sephania said she had not sufferedenoughand deserved a lifetime of torment. This, after Lukain murdered her husband.There’s something else incensing Sephania when it comes to Aelin. Something more.
I wonder, now, if Olhavian life has become too cruel for my little temptress. The rebellious, reckless, loud human I love with every inch of my blackened heart. We threatened and frightened her with corruption when first meeting her. Now I fear we might have become too successful in it.
The day Sephania turns evil is the day my cause ends in failure. Because what is it worth—bringing down the Five Ministries and starting a new order—if my queen falls and isn’t there to join me?
What does it matter what happens to the other Ministers, or anyone at all, if Sephania falls into utter depravity and loses herself?
. . . Nothing,I decide.Nothing matters at all if I lose Sephania Lock in my conquest over Olhav.
My head shakes and I sigh. She’s headed down a dark path with this newfound wickedness of hers, and—
The pounding walls grow louder, the muffled whimpers deeper, and my head shoots up. I bare my teeth.
If only I couldthink clearlywith all the damned racket!
But again, that’s the point.
Sephania wants me to suffer . . .
. . . Because I’m making her suffer.
Of course.
I grind my teeth. My fangs dig into my bottom lip, drawing a bead of blood.
I have a long way to go before I ever beg for forgiveness . . . and as my eyes lift from the floor to the wall across from me, and the lewd sounds emanating from the other side . . . I realize it’s going to be along nightbecause of it.
The next evening as I wake, I feel pent-up and frustrated. Thankfully, the raucous sex next door has abated. No more moans, no more sound effects.
My mind wanders in a sleepy haze, wondering what Lukain and Garroway might have done with my little temptress. How they might have twisted and stretched her, to have her screaming and crying out that loudly.
With a new night brings a new outlook. We are safe from Overlord Aramastun, it appears. He would have already been here by now had he decided to pursue us into the northern hills.
My mind has been racked with jealousy, envy, sadness, and anger. These weak human emotions are not like me. I’ve prided myself on not having them.
Like every evening since my ousting from Manor Marquin, I know what Sephania will ask when she sees me. She will play dumb at the loudness of their frolicking last night, and ask, “Where do we go now?”
Which makes me realize she’s afraid. She feelsunsafe,and I hate it. At Marquin, we had a home. A dysfunctional one, no doubt, yet a home nonetheless. Now we are fugitives on the run. Our allies are few and far between. They’re scattered throughout Olhav and below the mountain in Nuhav. People I thought were allies, like Tymon Aldion, are now enemies. We need to tread carefully.
As the self-appointed leader of this outfit, I can’t very well tell her “I don’t know.” I have to be certain in a time of incredible uncertainty.
