“Not interested,” I told Ruxnoth.
“Of course you are. You are just allowing leashes that are now broken to continue to restrict you. Your ice dragon, your fireborn, and your serpent prince belong to a world that failed you. I have already severed you from that life. They are closed to you. Accepting that is key to your wellbeing.” He slammed rapid-fire into the guy. “If you had already done that, you wouldn’t see me forcing you to view this erotic tableau as a violation. And that is how you see it, yes?”
“Yes,” I hissed.
“The only one who should be uncomfortable here is him.” He grabbed the guy’s hair and then licked his jaw. “He doesn’t like an audience, but I’ve arranged it to make him uncomfortable while he also experiences extreme pleasure, as a lesson for his insolence earlier.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed.
“Don’t feel upset for him. I don’t deliver harsh punishments down here, just mild lessons to keep everyone on course. Besides, he will receive what he needs, regardless, so you can take comfort in that.”
“What he needs? Your dick? That’s some next-level narcissistic framing there.”
“It’s a great deal more than that.” His eyes narrowed dangerously. “And you shall see. You shall watch. And you shall be stirred by it in the process, letting that erotic need spark in you.”
“No.”
“Yes.And at that point, you will kneel to my will in the name of being fully satiated. Then we will move forward with you recognizing that your cooperation will lead to a fulfilling life in Sanctus—sexual gratification from some, familial love from others, and care from me, along with understanding from one abomination to another.”
This situation was fast becoming… unconquerable.
Specifically, while I was in this de-powered and weakened state.
While thoughts of the loss of my dad strangled me, while they were all that I could see and breathe, while I was responding to that anguish with rage and bursts of intense, unchecked emotion.
And that wasn’t what Dad would have done.
When Mom had briefly died many years ago, he’d channeled that into action—dangerous action, yeah, but definitive action, nonetheless. Powerful fucking action. He’d formulated a complex plan. That was how my family had survived—complex plans with layers upon layers. Tempering their reactions and… channeling them into being effective against their enemies.
If I continued in my current way, Ruxnoth would go further and further. He’d retaliate in other ways. He’d already threatened to harm my family and my loves. He’d take more of them from me. And I’d be stuck imprisoned in thisNihilumbranightmare, powerless.
And I wasn’t powerless.
I was a fucking god among them all.
The supernatural world was afraid of me for a reason.
And it was time Ruxnoth got a demonstration of that.
It was time for me to rise.
That would honor Dad, and it would protect everyone left behind.
I averted my gaze just enough from the actual fucking taking place, picking a spot just off to the side of Ruxnoth’s shoulder that he would read as me still partaking in his fucked-up voyeuristic show, then I said, “That’s quite the plan you’ve got there. On the surface, it seems infallible, the perfect course of events to get what you want, get me right where you want.”
“Then we are in agreement? You will fall into watching this erotic scene, allow it to—”
“That’s the thing. It doesn’t work like that.”
“Excuse me?” he asked, slowing his thrusts, and then grasping the guy’s cock in a harsh grip that had me wincing. His whimpers followed as Ruxnoth stilled completely, not even paying attention to his partner’s needs.Urgh,I was still registering too much of it in my peripheral vision.
But it did tell me something—well, confirm something.
The fact he could stop like that… he couldn’t experience sexual pleasure in the way the rest of us knew of it. He wasn’t extremely controlled, there was nothing to control in that respect. So, his magic… that was where he experienced something close enough to that? Made sense with the living warmth he’d been infusing me with, and his reactions to it.
“This little tableau isn’t doing what you planned. And it won’t. You see, I can’t get turned on by random displays of sex or eroticism involving people I’m not emotionally connected to. It’s just… motion to me, another form of interaction.” At his frown, I went on, “Something you can’t recognize because there’s an emotional disconnect in you.” I smirked. “You forget, almighty one, I’ve been inside your head as well—all those dreamscapes required your mind to be partially open to me.”
He snarled then raised his hand, clearly intending to hit me with his power, or probably more likely, turn the notch up on theNihilumbraand worsen the torment.
