Chapter 19: A Throne of Ruin: Chapter 19

Dominance rang in his tone and blistered through my body. I rubbed a little faster, dropping my head back in delight.

“We’re getting close now,” he said.

“Yes, I am.” My breathing sped up, and my pussy clenched around him, getting ready for a second release.

He growled, his shoulder hard under my palm.

“Hang on for just a— Hah!” He kicked his heels into his stallion’s side.

His cock drove into me. I was weightless for a second, and then it drove into me again. My jaw went slack. I slapped against his balls, wet from my orgasm. His cock pummeled me in hard, uncompromising jolts. It was the best fucking thing I’d ever felt—and probably one of the most dangerous things I’d done, given our speed and his divided attention. That made it even better. Death while fucking. Dick of death.

We ran across the castle grounds, his cock deep in my pussy, my legs wrapped around his middle. I held on to his shoulders as I slammed down onto him, was lifted, and then slammed down onto him again.

“Holy fuckity cunticles—” I didn’t know what I was saying. Couldn’t do anything but swear. “Arsehole twat trolley!”

The glorious friction nearly undid me, the merciless pounding branding my body with his cock. The pleasure built, and built, and built. I bit down hard on the base of his neck as his cock speared me. I didn’t know how to claim, but I knew how to mark. My teeth tore flesh.

He growled in pleasure, hissing out, “

Apparently he wanted a claim as well.

The thought spiraled me higher. I hit a wall and then a gush of pleasure tore through me, so intense that I blacked out for a moment. I screamed and shook on him, my pussy clenching him tightly. But the ride kept going. His cock kept ramming into me with each hard landing. Another wave came. I came with it. Another, my teeth tearing at his skin, the thought of claiming him making me dizzy with lust. I came, and came, and came, almost unable to fucking stand it.

“Fucking ,” I swore, vibrating against him, drenched with my climaxes.

Finally the ride slowed and the swell of incredibly intense orgasms softened, letting me come down.

I breathed deeply, trembling against him, draped over his massive shoulders. There was zero stress left in my body. Now, was a hard fucking.

We approached the stables.

“Turn around,” Nyfain growled at Gyril in a voice that sent a merciless shiver rolling down my spine. Heat tingled in my core, and my animal pumped out power, wanting more action. Wanting more of him. All of him.

I told my animal.

I ignored her. If she had her way, a ground-bound dragon and a tabby cat, or whatever, would take on the demon king and his forces…without an army. Yes, why not? Let’s all die.

Nyfain kissed me deeply, running his hands up my back, still hard within me. Fuck, he was a good kisser.

“I regret to inform you that we lost your pants along the way,” he murmured against my lips.

I glanced down quickly. “Ah, man. I liked those. Also…now I have no pants. Or underwear.”

“I can lend you my skirt.” He pulled back so that he could put his hands under my armpits.

“Your…

, did you say?”

He hefted me up, his cock sliding out of me. My wetness coated his length, and he tensed, holding me in the air, every muscle on his big body tense. A vein pulsed in his jaw as he turned and lowered me, dropping me the last foot to the ground. He bent then, bracing his hands on his thighs, clearly in pain. I had no idea how he hadn’t blown his load in that last stretch.

“We’re not far from the castle,” I said with a suppressed smile, checking to make sure Gyril was still turned around and couldn’t see my bare ass or out-of-control lady beard beside the hanging dagger.

“No.” Nyfain stiffly pulled his leg from around the animal’s back and jumped off. “I will attend to you now, and finish deeply inside of you when I can’t stand it anymore.”

His cock still out, he pulled his shirt from over his head and bent, holding it out for my feet.

I braced a hand on his shoulder. “What’s happening?”

“Step into the neck hole. I’ll stretch it to fit around your waist.”

“You’re going to ruin your shirt.”

“I’ve lost your pants. It’s only fair that I now ruin my shirt. It isn’t as magnanimous as the dragon letting you torture my balls, but it’s a start.”

I laughed and slipped in one foot, then the other, standing with my legs close together as he stretched the neck up over my knees and then started tearing it to fit over my hips. He cinched it around my waist, and the shoulder area draped down my hips.

“Huh,” I said, keeping it put. “That actually worked.”

“I’m bigger than you.”

“Oh yeah? I didn’t notice that when you were looming over me in barely contained rage all those times.”

The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. He tucked himself into his pants. “You love my rage.”

I really did—especially when he exploded into my body with it.

A gush of wetness dripped down my upper thigh. His nostrils flared, and he tensed all over again, breathing deeply.

“Stop,” he pleaded.

“This is your fault, not mine,” I replied.

“I was talking to the dragon.” He put a hand to my hip and gently pushed me behind him before leading his stallion toward Gyril.

“Hadriel will be along shortly,” he told the stable master.

“Very good, sir.”

Nyfain draped an arm around me as we walked toward the castle, stopping behind a hedgerow to drop to his knees in front of me and lift my pseudo-skirt. He ran his tongue within my folds and then sucked in my clit.

I looked up at the castle looming just behind the dead lawns, three stories of windows looking down on us.

“Someone might see,” I said with butterflies exploding in my middle, my fingers in his hair.

“I can feel how much that excites you. My goodness, princess. Naughty, naughty. Maybe tonight we’ll join the perimeter of a party, and I’ll bounce you on my cock for all to see.”

He thrust two fingers into my wetness, stroking hard. His tongue swirled my clit.

“Didn’t…

…a moment ago you tell someone to turn around to prevent him from seeing me?” I panted as his fingers worked, his tricky mouth winding me up once again.

“That was different.” He wiggled my clit with his tongue. “You would’ve been standing nude on your own without the protection of my scent to mark you as mine. When I’m inside of you, it’s very clear who you belong to. I protect to the death what is mine.”

I tilted my head back as my animal beat a drum of pleasure at his words.

“I don’t belong to anyone,” I said in a throaty whisper.

“You know that you do. You also know that do.” He replaced his fingers with his tongue for a moment, tasting me. “I belong to you, eternally, body and soul. I am yours, completely.”

He plunged his fingers back in again, curved just right, hitting the spots I needed. I tangled my fingers in his hair and rocked against his mouth, my pussy clenching around those fingers, everything tightening up. I moaned in little bursts, giving myself to the feeling. To him. Feeding him my desire and something deeper through the bond. Feeding him my acceptance of who I belonged to, at least for now. At least while we could belong to each other.

“Yes, baby girl,” he whispered, feeling it, working faster. Harder. “Come for me.”

I shattered, my chest heaving, my world cracking. A surge of euphoria ran through me, and I sank to my knees in front of him, meeting his eyes. He kissed me dominantly, salty sweet, reacting to my silent admission.

I might be damning myself, but I would give myself to him, body and soul, and ride it for as long as I could. Our futures might collapse, but when it all went tits up, at least I’d have the memory of him to keep me company in the darkness.

He stood with me and swung me up into his arms. I leaned against his solid chest as the afternoon waned, the sun starting its retreat toward the horizon.

“Now what?” I asked, lethargic in his arms. I didn’t care whether the staff saw. I could be a tough girl tomorrow. Right now, I just wanted to bask in this big alpha’s pampering.

He entered the castle and climbed the stairs to the tower, meeting a straight-backed man with an air of importance along the way. I’d never seen him before, not roaming around at night or even in the halls during the day. He wore a crisp black suit with a black waistcoat underneath, over a stiff white button-down shirt. A black tie completed the ensemble.

“Sir,” the man said, his arms straight at his sides.

“Prepare the largest salon room. We’ll be down shortly.”

“Yes, sir.” He walked away like he owned the world.

“Who was that?” I asked as Nyfain continued up the stairs.

“My valet. He’s all that’s left of the original valets.”

“Why haven’t I seen him before?”

Nyfain stopped next to the door, looking at me for a long beat, and realization dawned. “The key was in my pants.”

Still, he stared down at me. I couldn’t read the look in his eyes or the complex emotions coming through the bond. He turned with me and headed back the way he’d come, down the stairs to the second floor and back to his room. He set me down gently before moving away, into his bedroom. In a moment, he was back with a key in hand.

“This is the only key in this whole castle at the moment that can access that tower. I’ll take you up now and let you get freshened up. You won’t need to eat or bathe. I’ll be taking care of that. But if you want your lady’s maid to help you work out what to wear tonight…”

“For dinner?”

“Dinner and dancing, yes. It’ll be a formal affair.”

I swallowed. I’d never participated in anything that could be called that. I had the dresses for it now, but I didn’t know if I’d hold myself the right way. Or use the right cutlery. Or dance well enough not to make a fool of myself. I never had managed to sneak in a lesson.

He smiled softly, probably feeling all that through the bond. “It’s just us, Finley. No one else will be permitted in the same room. You can be yourself with me, always. Save being someone different for when you address the villages.”

“I’m very me, actually, when I address the villages.”

“That is true. And it works very well.” He swooped me up again, nuzzling my neck as he did so.

“I can walk,” I murmured, wrapping my arm around his neck and leaning into his warmth.

“My dragon is demanding this closeness, and I want it too. So do you.”

He wasn’t wrong. My animal had calmed somewhat, approving of this treatment, and…honestly, it wasn’t so bad. A girl could get used to being looked after like this.

“You lived up to the book scene, by the way,” I said as he walked. “Including all the orgasms. That was intense.”

“We’re just getting started.” He opened the tower door and handed me the key. “I would have had a copy made for Leala, but the blacksmith was killed, his replacement cleaned waste basins before all this, and I’m not totally sure Leala would hang on to it when she was being rammed from all angles and flogged to boot. So…”

“So here we are.”

A grin worked his lips again. “So here we are. I’ll be up in a while. I’m going to go find your pants and that key. I don’t want some creature smelling your pants and having the wherewithal to search the pockets. They take things of note to their masters, and the demons in this castle would know just what to do with it.”

Cold trickled down my spine. I did not want one of those demons sneaking into my room when I was sleeping. They’d get the jump on me, and that might be all they needed.

“Right, so…dress for…”

“I’ll send Leala up. She’ll have the rundown.” He put his hand on my arm and kissed my cheek. “Rest. Relax. Read. Put your feet up. Let me handle everything.”

I nodded and he turned to go.

“Oh—” I put up my finger.

He turned back, his foot on the edge of the stairs and his hand on the banister.

“I replaced the note you left in your mother’s place with one of my own. If you need inspiration tonight, or…want to try something neither of us has done, check out chapter fourteen…” I felt my face heat. “And if you’re serious about a little semi-public display, that’s chapter…” I bit my lip and thought, trying to stay chill but totally excited and embarrassed and naïve—and eager not to be so naïve. I wanted to try new things so that we had some firsts together, but was nervous about those things all the same. “Um…I actually don’t remember. Scan the notes. It’s at about three-quarters, I think. At the corner table in a busy tavern. Oh, and…I don’t remember the book, but…there’s a tying-up scene with a blindfold. If…that might suit you.”

If a dragon could smile…

Hunger burned in his eyes.

“Also…” I shrugged. “I don’t know if you care what I’m thinking and feeling, but since we communicate better in letters than face to face, I let myself ramble on about life.”

His eyes softened. “I do care. Keep them coming. I assume…you read mine?”

“Yes.” I ran my fingers down my stomach.

He caught the movement, and longing bled through the bond but didn’t interrupt the planes of his face.

“And obviously you haven’t bled yet,” he said evenly.

“No. Should be any day. Sometimes stress can delay it a while.”

“How long is a while?” He couldn’t keep the growl from his voice, it seemed.

I ignored it. “The longest has been a week.”

He tensed and closed his eyes, longing and hope warring with fear and anxiety in the bond. He half turned away, and this time I could feel his dragon sing through the bond, possessive and dominant and desperate to get at me. Desperate to mark me and claim me and mate me. They were currently in a battle for control.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Pretend you’re writing a letter instead of just about to explode and ruin the whole night before it has even begun.”

He sucked in a deep breath. “The idea that you might be carrying a child—my child—has sent the dragon into a possessive frenzy. Again.” He leaned heavily on the banister. “It’s overwhelming, to say the least. He can’t get at your beast, so he is trying to shove me aside and get at you in my skin. He knows your animal will welcome it.”

She would, no question.

“He can’t get at my beast as in…they… The beasts bang in animal form? Does that happen?”

“It’s not something people talk about. It’s…a different sort of experience, having sex when one’s animal is in control, as we know. More so, though, in…the other form. But yes, I’ve heard it happens when the animals are desperate for each other and the humans aren’t acting on it. They’ll force the hands of their humans. I remember a couple that absolutely hated each other. They couldn’t stand the sight of each other. But their animals couldn’t get enough, and they ended up having three kids together before finally getting over their differences and mating officially. Then imprinting. Their bond ended up being incredibly strong, but they only got there because their animals forced the issue.”

“As our animals did.”

“Yes. And continue to do.”

My animal surged up out of nowhere, sublime and content one moment, and shoving me aside the next. I couldn’t get my bearings fast enough to claw her back down. I couldn’t even get out the gasp that I’d tried to utter.

Our voice came out breathy. “Let me stop the tea, Nyfain. Fuck me as nature intended, with no barriers. No safety nets. Mate with me. Ensure that I carry your brood.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and wilted over the banister, resting his forearms on it, his body shaking. Power flooded the bond, washing into us and boosted by my animal before being fed back. It nearly stole my breath.

I roared at her, grappling with her presence.

she said, preening, and drifted into the background.

I ground out, my body trembling, half crouching and my nails digging into the wooden doorframe. How I’d gotten in that position, I didn’t know.

not “Go…inside,” Nyfain said, gripping the wood now, straightening up slowly. “Go in…your room. Lock it. He’s…pushing too hard.”

my animal said with pride.

“I’m sorry!” I said to Nyfain. “That wasn’t me! My animal is being a real shit.” I stepped into the tower room quickly and grabbed the door.

“I know. Go!”

I slammed the door, but I had to quickly open it again as Nyfain turned toward me, his eyes glowing brightly. After grabbing the key out of the lock where he’d left it with a shaking hand, I slammed the door again. Metal clinked, but I got the key in and turned it right before the handle spun. A moment afterward, something thudded against the wood, as though two palms had collided with it. They slid off in a moment.

Need coursed through the bond, hard and hot. It dribbled down my body like lava, making my nerve endings tingle as it flowed toward my core. A gush of power filled me, overwhelming me. With it came a strange sort of serenity.

My hard breathing was the only sound in the quiet room. His scent drifted from under the door.

A low, amused chuckle sparked electricity across my overly sensitive flesh. Nyfain’s raspy voice had taken on a dangerous edge, filled with malice and carnal sin. Crackling with power and confidence.

“You can run, my princess,” he said, and it was obviously his dragon. “You can hide, if you’d like. But I will find you. I will drag that passion out of you, kicking and screaming if I must, and claim you. You are .”

Goosebumps covered my flesh, and my animal pounded me with her pleasure. My stomach flipped, and damned if my knees didn’t go weak with the urge to run. To hide. To fight. And to be taken.

Fuck, what was wrong with me? These weren’t the thoughts of a normal person. These were the thoughts of—

my animal supplied gleefully.

I pushed off the door with some effort.

She laughed, feeling absolutely no remorse.

Footsteps led away from the door. He was leaving me be, thank the goddess.

I moved to the window and looked out, catching my breath.

she thought.

I shivered but didn’t respond. She wouldn’t understand why I wanted to honor Nyfain’s wishes, not when I did want to be claimed by him. When I wanted to claim him so no other woman ever would touch him without knowing I’d been there first. He just felt so damn .

But Nyfain knew the score better than anyone, and I was learning what was at stake within this curse. Primal urges were well and good to access power, but to beat the demon king, we’d need a heavy dose of logic and strategy, too. The beasts’ desires were shortsighted.

Knuckles rapped on the door, thankfully pulling me out of my reverie. A shape came into view below me at the same time, Nyfain walking out beyond the garden without a stitch. He turned and looked up at my window for a full beat before changing into his animal. He puffed up his chest, tilted his head back, and roared so loudly that the windowpanes shook.

Something stirred in my middle—a memory of a golden dragon cutting through the sky, his roar pulsing within me like a command. A call to arms. A leader summoning his people.

And now…a mate calling his beloved.

My animal thrashed against my hold. Fire filled my blood, and stinging pain rolled over my skin. She stretched for the surface, expanding until my skin felt tight, itchy. Needing to come off.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I said, bracing my hands against the window frame. “Do not try to force me to change.”

She continued to slash at my control, desperate to get to him.

The dragon huffed, and flame spouted from his nostrils, boiling across the dead grass. Blackness curled in its wake.

In a moment he launched forward and ran, all robust muscle and sinewy grace even when ground-bound.

my animal demanded.

I turned and crossed the room to the door. “What would I be tossing aside? I don’t have anything.”

I twisted the key and opened the door to find Hadriel frozen with wide eyes darting all around.

“You okay?” I asked.

“What was that?”

“That was Nyfain. Haven’t you heard his roar before? I have, loads of times.”

He shook his head in tiny jerks and shoved past me into the room. “Not like that. That was…” He blew out a breath. “And my stomach was finally settling down. It would be ideal if I didn’t shit myself right now.”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “It’s not like he was attacking or chasing you. That’s usually when I’ve heard his roar before now.”

Although…I guess he kind of chasing me. The dragon was, at any rate.

Hadriel continued to shake his head. “I don’t know. It just… Wasn’t it terrifying? I thought it was terrifying.”

Leala poked her head into the open door. She smiled and walked in, her eyes sparkling. “Did you hear the master?”

“See? Leala isn’t scared,” I told Hadriel, splashing my face at the water basin.

“Of course she isn’t scared!” Hadriel yelled, sitting in my chair and wiping his face. “She isn’t scared of anything. She lets demons beat the shit out of her and smiles while they do it.”

Leala rolled her eyes as she opened the wardrobe. “You’re such a baby. That roar had nothing to do with you. It sounded like he was warning away enemies or something. Anyway, it had a lot more power than before, don’t you think? Or am I just imagining it?”

my animal said.

Her laugh grated.

Leala laid a white slip on the bed, and then my large purple robe. “What did you want to wear for dinner, milady? I was thinking maybe…” She pulled out a slinky little number.

“No, the master already saw one like that.” Hadriel waved it away. “It needs to be something grander. How about red? Now, Finley, tell me.” He crossed an ankle over his knee and entwined his fingers. “Are you not over the moon about today? People just, like…came back to life! I’ve never seen anything like it. That one guy—the one who was literally on his deathbed?—I stayed in the room with Hannon after you left. I figured he’d die, but his eyes started fluttering! And then blinking. He was confused, I could see that, but little by little, tiny things started changing. It was like watching a flower grow. It was so fucking cool.”

“What’s this now?” Leala asked, sitting me down and taking a hairbrush to me.

“And the rest of them. They didn’t really believe they were getting the real stuff, did you see that?” Hadriel went on. “They were dubious. Sure, they drank it, because you looked so fine and you have this air of ‘shut the fuck up, this is happening,’ but they were dubious. And then within hours they were feeling loads better. Like a switch had been flicked, did you see that? Hah!” He put a fist up. “Holy fuckstains on the goddess’s sheets, I’m seriously pumped. That’s better than gardening. Because you’re, like…growing people! No, that’s making a baby. You’re, like…harvesting people. I don’t fucking know—you’re helping them, anyway. You’re keeping life going.”

“You’re starting to lose it,” Leala muttered.

He stood. “I feel good. It feels good to help people. I’d rather do that than be a butler. I think I’ll switch jobs.”

“You’ll get killed a whole lot faster for curing people than prancing around like you know what you’re doing at butlering,” Leala said, now washing my face.

“Not likely, since I’ll be near Finley, and she has no qualms about killing demons.”

“It’ll also be during the day,” I added.

“Yes!” He pointed at me. “It’ll be during the day! So you see, Leala? Suck a ballsack.”

“You first,” she replied. “Now leave so I can get the miss ready.”

“Yeah, yeah. See you later, Finley.” He knocked on the frame of the door as he left. “Enjoy your date with the scary, somewhat unhinged dragon. Better you than me.”

When he was gone, Leala tsked. “He’s just remembering getting picked on by all the dragons when he was small. He’d run his mouth, and then they’d kick him around. Schoolboy stuff. Now he nearly wets himself when one of them spouts off. Though obviously…” She stood back, eyeing me. She tousled my hair. “He hasn’t heard one in a long time. After the curse, the master’s roar was nothing special. Equivalent to a lion shifter back in the day or something. But today…” She shivered. “He really amped it up. Did you have something to do with that?”

“No!” I said automatically. “Why?”

She shrugged, moving to the wardrobe. “Let’s pick that dress so we can wow him. From the sounds of it, he has an incredible night planned for you.”