It started low in my throat, rising fast. Bubbling up with the speed of the repressedfinallyset free. Free of the one who held the leash. Beholden to nothing but the glow of power set in stone—mypower mixed withhis.
Coupled with ecstasy, it burst forth from the seat of the bond itself, taking flight.
Laughter, born of darkness.
“I tried,” I rasped, head falling to the side, meeting wide blue eyes ringed in white. “I should be commended for the effort, at least. Not for what comes next, of course.” I licked dry lips. “But Ididtry.”
The general shook me. “What comes next will—”
“You want thanks?” I asked, letting my knees part, hooking my heels behind thick, muscled thighs. “Shall I call you ‘Master’ and plead for mercy? Is that what makes your cock hard?”
His head jerked back. Surprise etched into his skin.
“Shall I cry and beg? Or do you prefer your victims too weak to fight as you rut above them? Because if that’s the case…” I shrugged, locking my ankles at his waist. Unconcerned with the sad lump pressing against my naked thigh. “You’re going to regret barring your toy soldiers from this room. I know, because that wasmymistake too. Once.”
“Ah. Little slut thinks she’s still got a chance at freedom, does she?” A nasty grin spread across his lips, replacing the shock. “Have you forgotten, then? Your kind was born to kneel to mine,” he whispered, bearing down, wrapping his fingers around my throat.
But even as he began to squeeze, the grin remained fixed to my lips.
“Mila, no!” the High Priestess rasped, but it was far,fartoo late.
Too late to summon help or beg forgiveness, for through the bond, the pendant wasmineonce more.
My mother’s Glaith spat shadowed flames of retribution, hanging from another’s neck. Reaching through time and space to surrender my due. Liberated, I pressed branded palm to the general’s chest. Pulling the ki out from under him even as he bore down, fingers flexing around my windpipe.
“I will break you into a thousand pieces,” he snarled, sour spittle misting my cheeks and lips. “You’ll be given to the men as a reward, fucked raw until you’ve been bred. The babe will be torn away before you’ve even seen its face. A gift to the Empire. A fucking commodity to be traded at will. Property from birth. It’ll never stop. Not when you’re ragged from birth. Not when you beg, and plead, and scream.Never,”he hissed, grip tightening.
Still, my smile did not slip. Even when my vision began to tunnel and my lungs screamed for relief. No. I merely concentrated on the thrumming pulse beating beneath my palm, willing the rhythm to break down. Become erratic. Claiming my prize, even as I reached for more. Hurling ki straight into his heart, then clawing it back. Watching as my veins began to pulse, as gold spread from the chains circling my wrists once more.
“You will never—” he coughed, sweat beading on his brow, blanching in spite of elevated blood pressure. “Never know anything else. Not until you’ve been used up and your cunt is stretched and sagging and only those being punished will bed you. Only then—” A bead of sweat dripped into his eye, making him wince, even as his grip slackened, just a little. “Only then will you be given to an Elite and bound again, as… as…”
I dragged a frayed breath in through my teeth, and with it, pulled his life-force through my palm. Exhaled, and sent ki surging into the frantic, fluttering muscle pounding away behind his ribs.
Breath in, ki out.
Ki in, breath out.
Again.
Taking everything.
Keeping nothing.
And heburned,dressed in flames fed by breath, tempered with sweat, and anchored by the stone sitting proud atop another’s breast. A stone filled with power so brilliant, it could ignite the world with little more than a stray thought…
A perfect circle.
“What—What magic is this?”
“Mine.” Victory in sight, after all these years, I grinned. “All mine.” I pressed him back, keeping my palm steady on his chest even as I slid off the desk. Complete control with little more than a touch, even with the bond’s nagging tug whispering of temperance and seduction. Begging for control.
“Im-Impossible. You… youcan’tbe… Yourface… it’s…how?”Blinking sweat from muddy eyes, the general’s fingers slid away from my throat, hands lax and useless at his sides.“Trila-Glís”
“Kneel,” I purred, forcing him down with the toothiest of grins. Reveling in the thump of his knees on the tiles for I couldfeelit. All of it. Such sweet torment wasmineonce more! I felt the skin split, the glorious shock of pain lancing straight through me, radiating. Leaving sweat heavy upon my brow. And when I pressed forward, sending another surge of ki, I felt the muscles constrict and ripple through my own chest as the General gaped. Jaw working to swallow the terror clotting in his throat before he choked on it. But there was no stopping the spread, not whenhisveins began to fill with Caledonian gold. Radiating from my poisoned touch.
Faster than a lion’s strike, gold lightning raced down his arm, curling in the palm of his hand for an instant before doubling back, feeding me. Letting me taste his agony as I swayed, drunk on power.
“Kneel,” I said again, voice thick, head thrown back. Breasts standing high and proud, shamelessly exposed to the chill and both sets of wide, shocked eyes. I bared my teeth, pressing harder, pulling every available shred of ki to the fore, then forcing it into his heart. Relishing the purple tinge blooming on his cheeks… savoring the terror as I pulled everything back, drinking his agony even as it raced downmyarm. “Kneel as you were born to do.”
