Page 57 of Hers to Rule

Murmuring as Argento’s hand moved up along her thigh, she arched her back. But rather than surrendering to him, she surrendered herself to the creature of untold power that slept miles below her. She felt the rumbling response vibrating through her, and she gasped.

Argento chuckled, thinking that her rising desire had something to do with him when the only thing she felt for him was revulsion.

Mari opened herself to the strange being she didn’t understand, offering everything she was to its hunger, hoping that it would answer her call. Her lips parted in a wanton moan as she felt it rushing toward her.

The room around them froze. Nothing moved. None of the others in the room even breathed. Something huge and dark swelled from the shadows across the room, coming into being as if it had always been there, just out of sight.

“Mariana, what have you done?” Argento’s voice shivered with fear.

“She’s freed me from the yolk of servitude your kind held me with for far too long,” an impossibly deep voice answered as the congregation of shadows resolved itself into something vaguely shaped like a man. The figure stood tall, his curling, elegant horns not quite brushing the twelve-foot ceiling. Huge dark wings rose behind him, and those did scrape the plaster above him, making it rain down over him like a gentle snowfall.

Every inch of his coal-black skin was covered in glowing red arcane symbols that looked carved upon him. He wore no clothing, so she could see that the entire surface of his body was marked in the same manner. The application of whatever those were must have been excruciating. His enormous cock hung flaccid against his thigh. A heavy piercing hung from the tip and glowed enticingly. The air around him shimmered as if he emitted heat.

She could feel his power uncoiling from across the room as he moved toward them almost lazily, his midnight black hooves reverberating with every step. This was the most powerful creature she had ever seen, or heard of, and she had set him free. Shivers of anticipation danced over her skin at his approach.

The demon, or devil, or whatever the fuck he was, laughed darkly, the rich sound of it resonating through the room. “Mariana, is it? This is what you made when you were playing at being gods? Your kind is even more foolish than I ever thought.” His glare cut toward Argento, who whimpered and tried to back away, but he was caught between his ridiculous throne and Mari. “You could never have held her forever, even without me to contend with.”

Mari couldn’t look away from him, even though he terrified her to the very core of her being. “What am I?”

He looked back at her, into her, with his black-on-black eyes. “You were the trap meant to enslave me forever. The gift so perfect that I would thank them rather than destroy them as they deserved. My ideal mate. Everything I could ever want in a mouth-watering package created just for me.”

He spoke the words calmly, as if none of this affected him. One corner of his lips curled. “But they didn’t understand what they were making. A gift made for a god is a god in its own right.” He licked his lower lip. “A bottomless well of every dark desire made flesh. A bounty that could sate even my endless hunger. There is no taming what you are. They, of all creatures, should have understood that.”

Argento cringed under her. “Basilio insisted he could control her by keeping her hungry and powerless.”

“And how did that work out for him?” The creature laughed, and the joy in it made her want to bask in him.

Her toes curled as she felt the laughter move through her. She found herself smiling at him before she knew what she was doing. Mari struggled to bring her body back under control. The implications of what he was saying were so frightening. She needed more information. “How far does all of this go back?”

“When those who would become humans were still living in trees, his kind found me here. I was an innocent then, a simple child of nature who didn’t understand desire or my own power. But they trapped me here, twisting me over the eons into what they needed, an endless hunger that they could feed when it suited them and extract what they wanted.”

“And what is that?” Mari asked, though she was terrified to know the truth.

The creature focused his heavy gaze on Argento again. “Good fortune. The ability to hide from their creator, who hunts them still in every corner of the universe but this one because of my protection.”

Argento was shivering uncontrollably now. “No, please. You can’t.”

The creature’s fathomless eyes moved to Mari once more. This creature was ancient. Beyond ancient. And all of those years were held in the weight of that stare. The question was clear, resonating in her head as if he had spoken aloud. She knew it would wait as long as it took to get her answer.

The response was a simple one. After everything her father had done to her and those she cared about. After everything Argento had done to who knows how many in the years he’d run the club as his own personal playground. Her nod was curt, barely more than a bob of her chin, but it was enough.

“You don’t understand what you’re do—” Argento cut off with a tortured scream just before he exploded into a chunky red mist under her.

She jolted as she hit the throne he had been sitting on, now slick with every atom of what he had once been. Gore covered every inch of her, and she wasn’t sure any amount of water would ever clean her of it. It took her several seconds to find her voice again. “What did you do?”

The creature chuckled darkly. “All I did was stop concealing him.”

That thought was much more terrifying than the idea that this creature had annihilated Argento with a thought. “And whatever is hunting them, will it come for us?”

“You and your city are still under my protection.” The huge fanged mouth attempted a smile that was more horrifying than friendly. “I would never let you come to harm.”

The threat was palpable in the air between them. So long as she kept giving him what he craved, they would be safe. Fear shivered through her. “What should I call you?”

The creature tilted his chin up slightly and purred seductively as if he could taste the emotion on the air and enjoyed the flavor. A slow smile turned one corner of his mouth up. “Dohal.”

“What happens now, Dohal?”

He looked as if he had never heard anything as sweet as his name on her lips. “Let them worship at your feet, my dark goddess, but never forget who you belong to.” His hands glowed suddenly, his power reaching out for her.

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