“Your slave here, Despoina, has made you believe she is loyal to none but you, isn’t that correct Father?” Cyrus asked as he strolled slowly up towards where the humans had been dropped before the thrones. Standing just behind them, where the king stood in front. King Astraeus looked up from who was apparently his personal “companion”, as I was supposedly Cyrus’s.
“Of course. Despoina has always been loyal.” Astraeus insisted, a severe frown aimed at his son.
“I am—I swear! I am!” The woman cried and nodded frantically and reached her hand out to the king, who ignored it despite looking like he wanted nothing more than to take her hand. My heart hurt watching her. She was so desperate—desperate for the king to believe her. She looked at him withadoration and love in her eyes. It made me feel faintly sick. He didn’t deserve that from her.
Cyrus smirked up at his father as he leaned down. He grabbed the neck of the male beside Despoina and wrenched him upwards, whispering something in his ear that made the man’s head hang low. At least until Cyrus forced it upright.
“Meet Tavarius.”
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand to keep the sound muffled. Cyrus turned his head to me—his eyes dark like a gathering storm and his smirk vicious as a blade.
I inched my way up until I could see Tavarius better. That ruggedly handsome face was beaten and bloody now. My hand shook in front of my mouth, and I slowly lowered it, numb shock filling my limbs with heavy dread. Cyrus’s look at me lingered in my mind as I took in the broken man in front of me. The only one since arriving that dared to flirt with me and offer to take me to bed…
A sick feeling rose in me, and I struggled not to vomit right onto the throne room floor.
“They’ve betrayed you, my King. He’s been fucking Despoina behind your back.” Cyrus explained, rather callously. I shook my head slightly in disagreement—no! This couldn’t be happening! “Committing treason by touching the king’s property. Defiling it. Making you look a fool. And worst of all, she’s pregnant with his child.”
Glee radiated from Cyrus as he put on a front of sympathy and grace. His face painted with a frown of disappointment before he pursed his lips and nodded to the king in apology. Not a spec of the gloating I was sure he was doing internally could be found on the surface.
“Is this true?” King Astraeus’s face grew hard and cold, all the care from before wiped away. He turned to Tavarius, and hisvoice was as icy as his expression. I waited for Tavarius to deny the ridiculous accusation.
“Yes, my King.” Tavarius replied through his blood-drenched mouth.
This had to be Cyrus. Whatever he said to Tavarius, he ensured he would lie to the king. That he’d believe telling the truth would be an even worse fate. I couldn’t imagine any other way this could come to pass. The room was spinning, and I was beginning to feel out of control in a way I rarely allowed myself. The piece of me I let care for others was being carved into now, my heart bleeding out onto the floor along with Tavarius’s blood.
“Astraeus, please. You know I wouldn’t do such a thing!” Despoina pleaded, frantically shaking her head as she cried her denials. The king stepped in front of her, I watched as he backhanded Despoina so hard she fell onto her side. I winced at the motion of his hand, at the abhorrent force with which he struck her. Her sobbing increased as King Astraeus turned away from her, a clear dismissal. He turned to Tavarius, then pulled back his fist and punched Tavarius with enough force that his head flew backwards. Cyrus merely laughed as he lifted it back. King Astraeus hit him again and again, Tavarius’s blood rushing and bones crunching.
I watched in mute horror. My stomach turning and tears streaming down my face. I could do nothing but shake in fear. The queen on the other hand, looked incredibly pleased, smiling down at Cyrus like he’d accomplished a wonderful feat.
I suppose to her, he had.
The sick bitch.
The king looked backwards and held out a hand. One of the Fae guards came forward and handed the king an object from his belt. He cracked his hand and…a whip unfurled to the floor.
Old Gods, no, please no…
Two guards came up to Tavarius, taking an arm each as Cyrus stepped back and ripped his shirt down the middle, exposing his chest and back completely. Cyrus prowled over to me as I watched the whip dance through the air, the hard crack as it landed and broke skin, and the heart wrenching scream of agony from Tavarius as it hit his skin. Cyrus came up behind me, his arms encircling my waist and pulling me back against his body.
His cock was hard as a rock and pressed snugly against my ass.
Old Gods, I was honestly going to be sick.
Cyrus got aroused from this? What in Tartarus was wrong with him? I watched the whip come down, again and again. I didn’t even notice I was still crying steadily until Cyrus leaned down and licked a trail of tears off my cheek.
“You see, my dear Asteria?” His lips murmured against my ear, my heart shielding itself with its cage of ice. “You see what happens when you flirt with another?” My heart dropped into my stomach as the ice around my heart spread through my veins. My body frozen with horror.
“Oh, yes.” Cyrus laughed lowly. He nipped at my ear, torturing me with a honeyed voice and poisonous words. “I know all about that. You considered letting him take you to bed. That is unacceptable.” His voice hardened as he pressed my body back against his, rubbing his cock against my ass in the process. His fingers came up and trailed across my heaving chest. The fear and anger made my breaths heavy as I struggled to breathe through the panic.
“This is your punishment. And his.” Cyrus lightly bit my earlobe, then sucked it into his mouth. He tried his best to taunt me as he worked to turn me on against my will, but my horror was too vibrant an emotion to be dulled. His fingertips against the tops of my breasts, his cock snug against me, his teeth on my earlobe. All of his motions clashed against the terror and pain of what I was witnessing. The brutal torture of a good man.One who was beaten and then stripped down to be viciously whipped. He’d committed no crime; Cyrus was obviously lying about Tavarius fucking Despoina—they were both innocent.
This was him making a space for Emmie in his father’s bed. His cruel machinations lined up perfectly with punishing me and Tavarius. A happy coincidence for him when he needed a man to blame, and a brutally eye opening one for me. I realized now how quickly all of my plans could fall apart. How much did Cyrus already know about them? Was he just humoring me? If he knew about Tavarius flirting with me, he could knowanything. Fear rose and rose, pricks of rage joining it, until—
A strike of lightning reverberated around the room. I watched as blue lightning barreled toward Tavarius. I screamed in horror and tried to run to him, but Cyrus held me fast against him. Laughing in my ear all the while.
“Oh no. You’re going to watch this.”
I cried as I struggled against him, but Cyrus grabbed my hair and forced my eyes on Tavarius. Just in time to watch the lightning from the king’s fingers strike his chest. His whole body lit up, the lightning seeking everything inside him and liquifying it.
