Chapter 9: A Throne of Ruin: Chapter 9

Nyfain had done a very convincing job of dragging me back to the castle, which had involved throwing me over his wide shoulder and a lot of growling and grunting on his part. Back in the tower, Leala had come to me as I was stripping off my disgusting pants, and she’d started a bath right away.

After I’d been scrubbed from head to toe, Hadriel waltzed into the room. “My darling.” He wore a purple robe open at the front, revealing a bare torso covered in sparkles and tiny pink briefs showing off the outline of his flaccid cock. Fuzzy blue slippers covered his feet, and the pungent aromas of smoke and alcohol drifted off him.

“Hadriel, she’s bathing,” Leala snapped, waving at him to get out.

“Yes, clearly she is bathing. That is what one does in the tub.” He sat on the edge of the large copper lip as I hurried to cover everything up. “Finley, my love, I would’ve been very angry at you if you hadn’t sent that fantastic potion along with the master.”

“Oh yes, milady,” Leala gushed as she shoved Hadriel to make him get up and out. “Blocking the demon’s magic, even partially, was fantastic for clearing the head. This place is—”

“It’s a nightmare. Cheers!” Hadriel put up his hand, scowled, and said to Leala, “Be a dove and get me a drink, would you? It’s needed for that toast.”

She gave him a disapproving look. “I was going to say that this place is of a nightmare—”

“Cheers!” he said with a grin. “Still works. Where’s that drink— Would you quit shoving at me, you tramp? I might fall in!”

“Well, get out. She doesn’t want visitors right now. She’s naked!”

He rolled his eyes and looked at me. “Sweetie, don’t worry about that. I’ve seen it all. You ain’t got nothing the other ladies don’t have. Except you are much hairier.”

“She’s natural,” Leala said with a fist on her hip.

“And currently embarrassed,” I muttered, ducking my head to hide my red face.

“Nonsense.” Hadriel waved it away. “We’ll get that sorted. Now, I have a bone to pick with you. I got in an awful lot of trouble the other day when you locked me in the tower. The master was not pleased.”

“Are you still drunk?” Leala asked him.

“Yes. But I haven’t stuck my dick in anything unsavory since Finley gave us that potion. Things are looking up. Speaking about that, dear girl.” He smoothed his wisp of a mustache, which currently resembled patchy moss growing on his upper lip. “Do you have any more? We’ve run through it already.”

“Can I maybe get dressed before we have this conversation?” I asked.

Hadriel scoffed and stood. “I forgot about your modesty. That won’t stay long.”

He wandered out, and Leala set a towel down on the cold tiles so I could comfortably step out of the tub. She wrapped another around me, rubbing to dry, and retrieved my robe.

“I can do it, Leala, really. I’m not accustomed to being waited on.”

“Yes, milady, except I’ve gone so long without having anything to do. This is my job. You must let me do it.”

I pushed my hands through the sleeves of the robe and allowed her to lead me into the bedroom. Once there, she pulled out a seat near the window and sat me down so she could work a brush through my hair. It felt like being pampered. Like being looked after. I couldn’t say I didn’t like it.

“Now, all better?” Hadriel sat on my bed with an ankle over his knee, giving me an unwanted view of his crotch.

Leala hissed at him, pulled out another chair, and gave him a dirty look.

“Goddess spread her thighs and squirt, this is ridiculous.” Hadriel grumpily lowered into the chair. “Now, as I was saying, we need more of that potion. It is magnificent.” He leveled a finger at Leala. “Don’t tell anyone we are getting more. Make up an excuse why we can’t—Finley cracked her head and can’t remember it or something. We have some loose lips in this castle, and we need to start picking and choosing who gets the potion or the demons will surely be all over our asses for more information. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had just about enough demon ass-play to last me for a lifetime.”

“You aren’t supposed to speak to me while in front of the miss,” Leala said stuffily.

“Really?” Hadriel shot back. “We’re going to try to go back to the old customs? Because I’ll be honest, I don’t know them. I was not trained for this job.”

Leala sighed softly.

“I can make more of it,” I said. “Did you say it only partially worked, though? I made it stronger than normal, but it still wasn’t strong enough?”

“It mostly works—that’s what matters, milady,” Leala said. “It leaves the head much clearer when the incubi and succubi are around.”

“I mean…I can just make it stronger. It’s no big deal.” I closed my eyes as Leala ran the brush through my hair. “I can make enough for everyone—”

“No, no,” Hadriel said. “If we all suddenly didn’t respond to the demons, they’d know something was up. No… Wait, is that…”

I opened my eyes to find him staring at my neck. I covered the bite mark with my palm, my cheeks warming.

“It’s nothing,” Leala insisted, draping my hair over the mark. “She slipped and fell.”

“On the master’s teeth?” Hadriel quirked a brow. “Who are you trying to fool, Leala? I’m not one of I know to keep my mouth shut. The master said he’d pull off my arms if I didn’t”—his eyes widened—“and I believe him.”

“You’re drunk. You are a horrible gossip when you drink and don’t have a dick in your mouth,” she mumbled.

“Not about the master’s affairs, I’m not. So, doll, tell me everything. I know he got hurt saving you, and you nursed him back to life.” He braced his elbow on his knee and his chin on his fist. “Then what? He’s a closed book, that one. I’m to know how you ended up back at the castle. I honestly thought he was going to let you go, what with the way he was moping around, snapping at everyone, scaring the staff half to bits. The demons thought it was because you got away. So that’s good, at least. And you did, except now you’re back. Tell me, did you miss him, is that why?”

“Hadriel,” Leala said with a note of warning in her voice.

“I’ll tell you everything after I get a few hours’ sleep,” I said.

Hadriel made a disgruntled sound. “I hate when the party has to end.”

“I don’t know why, with the amount you party,” Leala said, putting the brush aside and moving to turn down my bed.

“What else do I have to do?” Hadriel stood and staggered as he put the chair back.

“Help me with the garden, for one,” I said. “Playtime is over. There’s an entire kingdom that needs our support, and you’re going to help me cater to them. Nyfain can’t be expected to hold this place up on his shoulders alone. It’s time we pitch in and do our part.”

“I suddenly think I need another drink,” Hadriel muttered as he wandered out.

Later that afternoon, I did as I’d said and put Hadriel to work. Nyfain had already started him on the garden, with help from some of the other staff, so I let them continue that. I visited the small herb garden on the east side of the castle, something the cook apparently took care of for the food and what little supplies Nyfain needed to add to his subpar healing remedies.

“This is it?” I asked, standing at the edge and looking it over.

Jessab, a round-bellied man with a white mustache and thin lips, puffed out his chest. “That is all I need to make the food. You want I take care of plants I don’t need so that I don’t make the food?”

He was clearly not from this kingdom, but I didn’t want to waste time asking about his past. It didn’t matter in the present. Also, I had a feeling he’d say something unsavory about my nosiness.

For some reason, it felt like I was on a timer. It felt like I had to get the kingdom healthy before doom struck us. Again. I had no idea what form that doom would take, but I had a suspicion it had to do with the demon king.

“Don’t you have a gardener? I thought someone told me there was still a gardener left in the castle.”

“The gardener, he tends the everlass plants with the master. He has no need to be messing with no herbs for cooking.”

“Right. Well, I’ll need some starter sprigs from you. I’ll be creating a larger herb garden for elixirs and whatnot.”

“Listen here, honey. I no answer to you. If you want starter sprigs or whatever, you ask the master—”

He cut off as I leaned toward him, a few inches taller and a whole lot meaner. I dropped my voice and upped my menace.

“I will take what I need, and I’ll do it as I need to. Do we understand each other?”

He turned a little and pulled his arms up, as though my words were poisonous darts and he was trying to protect his chest. He didn’t answer. Not that I’d expected him to. I gave a last look at the herbs and headed out to the everlass field. I’d plant an herb garden in the queen’s garden so everything was in the same spot. There was no sense wandering all around the castle trying to keep everything watered, when I could do it all in the one place. She’d had space for it anyway, I seemed to recall.

The everlass shed was clean and immaculately organized. Leaves had been set out to dry, and a cup sat in the middle of the first worktable, halfway full. I picked it up and smelled it. The nulling elixir, I’d know that scent anywhere. Cold, though. Old. It wasn’t good anymore.

I turned toward the door to toss out the contents and jumped. My hand jerked, and liquid sloshed over it.

Nyfain stood in the doorway, watching me. The guy was incredibly light of step for having such a big frame.

“Hey,” I said with a shaky release of breath.

“Well?” he asked, clearly still in a shit mood.

I ignored it. “It’s great. It’ll definitely work. This batch is old, though. It does best when it’s fresh.”

“It’ll work…meaning it’s not quite right?”

I brushed past him and poured the contents out. I set the cup in the wash station and looked over the spread-out leaves. “When were these dried?”

He walked up behind me, pointing at the first batch. “At dawn to try that out…” He pointed down the way. “In the evening.”

“Great. And you’ve collected the other ingredients?”

“Yes, but we’ll need to start a larger herb garden if we plan to make a lot of this. I can also ask the villages to supply me with what we need.”

“I already told your grumpy cook that I’d be taking sprigs for my own garden, and yes, the villages’ help would be good to get us started.” I looked at the cold ash below the cauldron in the corner. “How do we intend to transport all of this?”

“I am having a staff member create a harness fit for a dragon so that I can transport large quantities. Was mine not quite right?”

He clearly wasn’t going to let it go. “Yours would be great for almost all cases. But it was a little acidic smelling, which likely means you didn’t grind the leaves enough. It’s almost there, and it’ll work, but for the toughest of jobs, it’ll fall short. It won’t hold someone back from the beyond. Don’t take it personally—most of the people making the elixir can’t do it as well as you did, and they’ve been attempting for years.”

He grunted but didn’t otherwise comment.

I familiarized myself with all the supplies. “Given the distance you’ll have to travel…the elixir is going to lose potency anyway. We’re fighting an uphill battle.”

“Can you find a workaround?”

I sighed and sagged against the table. “I’m going to have to, right? People are dying.”

He slid his hands over my shoulders, kneading the tense muscles. “At this point, anything will help. What about that potion for blocking succubi and incubi magic?”

“It’s a draught, not a potion. Potions are stronger, temperamental, and require faerie magic. Luckily, draughts are incredibly hardy, so preparing that to travel is no problem. Hadriel implied that the one I gave you to pass on didn’t fully work. I need to make it stronger. The demons in my village weren’t packing the same power.”

Suddenly I felt incredibly overwhelmed, but he continued to knead my shoulders, his touch comforting me.

“I’ll help,” he said softly. “We have some time. We stopped the lower-hierarchy demons from bringing you to the demons here. With you back and…how you’ll act toward me in public, they’ll be content to play with us for a while.”

I nodded and thought about leaning back into his warmth, but he’d already moved away, going to stand by the door.

“I’ll join you here tomorrow,” he said. “You can show me the proper way.” A ghost of a smile flitted across his lips. “I already gave the last batch to the hardest-hit village. I haven’t heard the results yet. We’ll put together small batches for the other villages to try. As soon as they request more, as they will, we can put together larger batches while they try to make it themselves. You might have to show them. I don’t have the patience to teach. Before you do, though, I want you looking…” His gaze slid over my body, and regret bled through the bond. “I want you looking the part.”

I was wearing his old clothes again because he’d ruined mine and I didn’t have anything else. Before, it had aggravated me to wear his things. Now…I kinda liked it. It brought a bit of comfort to my turbulent life.

“You’re going to try to put me in dresses?” I asked with a sinking heart.

“You don’t like dresses?”

“I like them just fine, but they have a time and a place. Working is not that time or place.”

“What is that time and place, then?”

I shrugged. “A nice dinner. A ball. A date, I don’t know. Things we don’t have anymore.”

“First, I didn’t mean put you in dresses, no. I meant that you should wear clothes actually made for you with a certain finery of fabric that the villages will expect from a representative of the royal court. You’ve already been measured; we just need them delivered and you wearing them. You’ll have to resign yourself to wearing my old training clothes just around the castle. Second, we can certainly plan a nice dinner. I get a least a night off a month. I’ll look forward to being your date.”

My belly flipped over as he left, the sun showering down on the white shirt spanning his broad shoulders. Talk about hot and cold.

I shook my head and looked around. He’d said he would help me tomorrow, but that didn’t mean I had to wait. Might as well get started.

By the time evening descended, I was sweaty and tired, having worked feverishly all afternoon. I’d hunted down some canisters that would work and prepared them for Nyfain’s evening departure. He found me almost as he’d left me, standing within the shed, staring.

“It’s time to go in,” he said in a dark tone, his gaze sliding across the workstation. His brow furrowed. “What is this?”

“So.” I unstuck my hair from my sweaty face. “I think I’ve solved our traveling issue. I’ve prepared and mashed the ingredients. Come here, I’ll show you.”

He glanced behind him, up at the sky. Without comment, he came around the table and stood beside me.

I took the pestle out of the mortar and held it up for him to smell. He leaned down and did so.

“Do you smell the difference between yours and mine?”

He nodded, straightening up.

“Okay. I’ve sectioned the prepared ingredients into these canisters. I’ve scratched a line on each one to indicate how much hot water should go in. All they have to do is fill it, mix it, wait until it cools enough to drink, distribute it into ten equal cups, and feed it to who needs it. It doesn’t matter how far along the person is in their sickness. This is safe for anyone to drink. It’ll be as potent as it gets if they just mix it themselves.”

Nyfain chuckled. “Incredible.”

“What?”

He shook his head. “The rate at which you problem-solve. This is perfect, and it’ll be much easier to carry. Thank you. The villages will thank you.”

“Yeah, and they’ll also witness firsthand what it’s supposed to look and smell like. That should make it easier for them to re-create it.”

“I am constantly wowed by your giving heart. Most people would become wealthy by selling or trading this elixir. There is no reason that your family should struggle.”

I put lids on the canisters and piled them up for him to take when he could. “People don’t have much in my village. It isn’t fair to profit from people who don’t have the money to pay when there are lives on the line. Living shouldn’t come with a price tag.”

“A sentiment not many people share.”

“That’s their problem, not mine.”

He stepped away and waited for me to follow.

I hesitated, uncomfortable with leaving a job unfinished. “I didn’t get a chance to do the demon draught.” I glanced at the dwindling day, the light leaching from the doorway. “I’ll get to it tomorrow, I guess.”

“You don’t have to do everything in a day, like I said. Relax for a moment. Maybe try to enjoy yourself. There is a lot to learn at the castle. I hear watercolor painting is fun.”

I laughed, thinking of Hadriel’s story about painting a bunch of dicks for that class.

“Maybe I’ll go and mess with Hadriel’s puzzle setup,” I said. One of the rooms was full of half-completed puzzles—every surface covered in loose pieces—and Hadriel was apparently their star.

“There’s dancing, too.” Nyfain’s tone turned somber. Quiet. “I used to love to dance. I haven’t done it in so long.”

We crossed the grounds toward the back door. “I can dance, a little. Hannon taught me. He was impatient, though, and also my brother. It was weird. Maybe I’ll try that just to see what it’s like with a proper partner.”

“I need your choice of book, too. I’ve read the last one twice.”

“Yes, but I hear there’s a tight-ass guarding the library, and I have to be shown the proper way to check out a book.”

He flashed me a mouth-watering grin as he pulled the door open for me. “True. I’ll show you the ropes tomorrow, I promise. You can use the library at your leisure.” His gaze turned serious, and I stalled in the doorway. “All I have is yours, Finley. You have but to ask.”

“Well…” I put out my hands and looked down at my attire. “It looks like I’m already taking the shirt off your back, so what are a few books…”

He laughed and slid his hand across the small of my back. It was time to pretend we were a “happy” couple—one kidnapped and held captive, the other a horrible beast who wanted to use her at his will.

Desire whispered across my flesh. Nyfain moaned softly.

“What did you just think about?” he asked as we walked into the castle and down the quiet hall.

“You using me sexually,” I whispered, pushing in a little closer to him. His side rubbed mine. My nipples tightened.

“Would you like that?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

A pungent whiff drifted across my senses. A demon.

Nyfain veered, pulling me with him. He spun me around and changed his hold, wrapping his fingers around my throat. He slammed my back against the wall and leaned over me, his body inches from mine.

“Try to look scared,” he murmured, his gaze roaming my face.

I did try. I really did. But my core tightened up, and my new panties (again taken from Leala) were quickly doused with wetness. My pussy ached from what we’d done last night, and yet it craved more. I was desperate to be filled by him again. To be bent over and taken from behind. To feed him my pussy and arch with the pleasure.

He squeezed my throat before bending down and running his lips over mine.

“What does it mean when a male grabs a female by the throat like this?” I whispered against his grazing kiss.

“It is either a challenge or foreplay, depending on the woman. If foreplay, the female is inviting the male to exert his dominance. Only if and when he overcomes her will she submit, and then they fuck explosively. If a challenge, the male will try to physically dominate, possibly kill, and the woman must overpower him first. Typically a male’s power is in his strength, and a female’s power is in her magical will, a will that can be manifested physically if she is powerful enough. When they mate, the strength blends with the will, and they create an unstoppable team. In theory.”

“So with you, I would command you to step away.”

“No. With me, you’d likely command me to fuck you. With others, you wouldn’t get the chance to kill them or use your will because I would have already ripped them away from you and twisted their heads off.”

“Right. And so what are we doing now?”

“Waiting to see if that demon is going to come this way.”

“And if it does?”

“I haven’t gotten that far yet. Probably grope you. How’s your pussy?”

“Really, really sore. Please don’t touch it. Unless you want to touch it, in which case, please put your cock in it. I’m sure the soreness will go away…”

He smiled and kissed me, a hard, consuming kiss, with his hand still squeezing my throat. The whiff of demon increased. He grabbed my other hand and pushed it to his hard bulge.

“Don’t kiss me back,” he whispered, barely heard. Louder, he barked, “Rub my cock.”

I whimpered, closing my eyes and clenching my jaw, so fucking turned on by him ordering me to do sexual favors for him I couldn’t stand it. Who would have thought I’d be into that? I held my breath to hopefully make it look like I was uncomfortable.

I rubbed, stroking firmly. Wanting to undo his pants to get at that smooth skin.

“That’s right,” he said in a rough, dominant voice. “Tell me you want me to fuck you.”

I opened my mouth as his hand left mine and braced against the wall next to my head. He was leaning over into my space, trapping me there.

“I want…I want you to f-fuck me,” I said in a somewhat quavering voice. It was the best I could do, trying to hide my need.

“That’s a good girl.” He licked my bottom lip, obviously a show of sexual dominance for the demon, but damn if it didn’t zing through my body. “Maybe when I get back.”

“Or maybe I could fuck her for you…”

Nyfain jerked away from me, his hand still on my throat. A succubus I hadn’t seen before sauntered down the hall with a little leather whip in hand, a tassel at the end. She wore a tiny thong and no shirt, her full breasts bobbing as she came to a stop. Her brown hair had been pulled back and fastened on top of her head.

“She is ,” Nyfain growled, power whipping through the hall. Another burst of wetness soaked my panties.

“Yum.” She curled around him so she could get a better look at me, still some distance away. “She responds to her fear, it seems. I can smell her arousal. You’ve had her, then, Nyfain, hmm? How was she?”

She inhaled the scents, and I grimaced.

Nyfain yanked me closer, his arm coming around me possessively. “If you touch her, I will end you.”

“Is that so?” She smiled wickedly. “We shall see. Guard her, Nyfain. Or I will show her how good sex can truly be.”

She continued down the way, turning right to go down a different hall. She glanced back as she went, that seductive little smile just for me. She tapped her whip against her shoulder before turning.

He let out a breath. “Let’s get you back to the tower. I am sorry it has to be this way. It can’t be pleasant for you… Though…” He cocked his head.

Yeah. He could smell my arousal too. That had to be confusing, given he was trying to be a villain.

What he didn’t understand was that he was a villain on my side. A monster in my corner. A beast that would kill for me. It was so incredibly hot that I couldn’t stand it.

Possibly that made me unhinged. I’d just blame this newfound desire on my animal. Conscience cleared.

“I don’t like pretending I don’t like it,” I murmured, curving my hand around his forearm. “Can all creatures smell when a woman is turned on?”

“Demonic creatures who feed off emotion can smell that emotion. She feeds off lust and desire, so she can smell arousal. But normally shifters cannot, no. Not unless…they are in tune with the person they are smelling.”

“And you’re in tune with me.”

“Yes. You are in tune with me, as well—you probably just don’t know what you’re smelling.”

“I don’t really want to know.”

“Exactly.”

A middle-aged woman with a dirty blond bob streaked with gray walked toward us. I staggered, caught and held up by Nyfain, as I cataloged her situation. Her face was etched with lines, around her eyes and across her forehead. She wore a chain choker, a leather bustier that exposed her breasts, and tiny leather briefs over fishnet stockings. Around her crotch was a holster of sorts, holding in place a large purple cock.

“Master, you’re here late.” She stopped in front of us casually, as though her tits weren’t hanging out in front of the prince and a large purple cock wasn’t strapped to her person.

“Missus Smith,” he said indifferently by way of greeting. “Yes, I was helping Finley finish up with the everlass. I’ll be leaving shortly. She will need a bath and dinner brought up.”

“Yes, of course. Leala has been expecting her return. I believe the food has already been prepared. I’ll make sure cook knows to take it out of the warmer. And for you?”

“I had a bite to eat earlier. I’m fine, thank you.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She bowed to him, smiled at me, and excused herself down the hall.

“Was she wearing… I mean…” I rubbed my hand down my face. “I know she was wearing a big purple dildo. Why was she wearing a big purple dildo?”

“It’s called pegging.” He guided me toward the stairs. “She is more alpha than many, and she likes to dominate. A few men in the castle enjoy it when she fucks them. The women do as well, I assume.”

I lifted my eyebrows and glanced back as we rounded the first set of stairs and headed for the second. “So she screws them in the ass with her big purple dildo?”

“Yes.”

“Huh. That’s…” I couldn’t tell if it was crazy or hot or crazy or… “I feel so naïve.”

“You are handling it a lot better than I did when everything started to devolve. A lot better. That is one pairing I have never wished to try, though it’s interesting to watch.”

“You’ve watched?”

We got to the tower, and he opened the door before following me in and closing the door behind us. He leaned against it, watching me as I stopped and turned, suddenly bombarded by his delicious smell. Balmy and light with a hint of extra spice, heavier than normal. Heady, almost.

“Yes,” he said softly. “Some things in this castle are…interesting.”

I remembered the admission he’d made in my bedroom when he was basically forced to hump my bed in uncontrolled desire.

“You’ve wanted to try some things,” I murmured. His bulge was pronounced, and I knew he was rock hard.

He didn’t answer, his eyes liquid gold.

“The demons have smelled you on me.

me,” I said softly, stepping a little closer. Wariness clouded his eyes. Lust flooded the link. “Eventually that smell will wear away. If you’re being so obviously sexual with me in their presence, they’re going to wonder why you’ve stopped banging me.”

“The thought had occurred to me,” he whispered.

“While I could always jack you off and let you come on my pussy, that wouldn’t be nearly as fun as you coming inside of me.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Food for thought,” he said in a strained voice, and then left, closing the door behind him.

I let out a breath and leaned against the bedpost. That guy was a hard nut to crack.

I had bigger things to consider, though, like my curiosity about the crazy things that went on in this castle and what, exactly, Nyfain was interested in trying.