Page 45 of Prince of Ruin

I arch a single, cocky brow. “Weak.”

Hetsks, then grabs some rope. Crawling on top of me, he straddles me while he pins my wrists together and binds them with the rope. Then he raises my wrists above my head and ties the other end of the rope to the headboard. His knees are on either side of me, his tentacle cock right at my chin as he peers down at me. My own cock is rock-hard, the precum dripping down the tip at the look in his eyes. There are very few people who get to see Aden’s kinky side. Ash, Wolfsbane, and me. And I’m so fucking grateful to be among that group.

“Tell me again what you think about mortals,” he says, poking my chin with his dick.

I meet his stare. “You’re all fuckingwea—”

I don’t finish the sentence before his tentacle-dick is sliding down my throat, shutting me the fuck up. He pulls out, then shoves it back in, slowly at first, then faster. I love his massive dick in my throat. I love all his dicks and how he fills me with them. I love the power he has over me, both in bed and in real life. People might look at us and think I’m the one in charge, with me being fae and Aden being a human, but the reality is that Aden makes the call, all the gods-damned time.

He moans above me, his shaggy blond hair falling into his face as he fucks my throat. I want to reach up and touch his soft torso, feel his twin scarsbeneath my fingertips, but my hands are bound together and I’m useless.

“Let me touch you,” I finally breathe when he pulls out long enough for me to get a word out.

He quickly unties the rope from around my wrists and I reach up and run my fingers down his abdomen, then reach down, lower, until my thumbs find his clit beneath the strap-on. He moans, his body shuddering with the touch as he sinks his cock back into my mouth. I move my fingers deeper into his center, gently running them in that tender spot between his folds, then plunging two fingers into his center the way he likes. I move my thumbs over his clit and pump my fingers to the rhythm that he fucks my mouth, giving him the sensation that his dick would feel.

“Fuck, I’m going to cum,” he moans, eyes closed. He reaches behind and begins pumping my cock while fucking my throat. And fuck, I was already close, but with his fingers around my shaft, I can hardly hold it in. My balls draw in tight, and an explosion of pleasure washes over me as I cum. Aden finds his own release as my fluids cover his hand. His movements become slower and more deliberate, and I slow my pumping to match his rhythm.

His body shudders above me as he finds his own release, his head thrown back and his tentacle balls-deep in my throat. Slowly, he pulls out and flopsdown beside me, spent in the most delicious way.I watch him as he catches his breath, his chest rising and falling with each inhale and exhale. Sweat glistens on his forehead, and his eyes are closed, long lashes fanning over those high cheekbones.

“It never gets old with you, Aden.”

He turns his head to the side and meets my gaze, and something in his eyes pains me. I know he’s worried about…the future. Thirty, forty, fifty years from now, when he’s old. He thinks I won’t be in love with him anymore. But the reality is, I’ll never stop loving him. I will cherish him, hold him, love him until he’s lying on his deathbed. And when he releases his last breath, I fully intend to drink the poison I have stashed away. The poison a sorcerer concocted for me only days before I met Aden, when my heartbreak over losing Clavicle had grown so strong that all I wanted was to end the pain.

I decided to take a trip to the human realms one last time to spy on Clavicle in the human realms. It didn’t help—seeing him from afar only made me realize what a conniving liar he was and how much I wanted him in spite of that.

I’d promised myself every gods-damned day that I wouldn’t think of him. And every day for eighteen years, he was the first thought that popped into my head. Seeing him only made the pain worse.

Ash transported me to the city, then, thinking I needed some time before returning to my palace in the fae realms. She had no idea what I intended to do that night, how I fully planned to end it all with a vial of poison. I walked around the human city, ignoring the stares of the humans who complimented me on my costume.

I spotted Aden from afar. There was something about him that immediately drew me in. His smile, the way his eyes shone as he laughed at something his coworker said as they disappeared into the coffee shop. He was small, but there was something strong about him. Something far more fierce than any of my Spine Warriors possessed that spoke volumes of the fire he’d walked through time and time again. I hadn’t realized I had followed him into the coffee shop or that I was standing across the counter from him, staring like an idiot, when he asked me for my order and told me I had the best cosplay that he’d ever seen in his life.

It was love at first sight for both of us. The hope he offered was a rope I clung to that pulled me out of the dark pit. Aden saved me from complete self-destruction that day. And without him…without this human boy by my side keeping me sane…I would have no reason to live at all.

Clav

I don’t know how many hours creep by in this pit, illuminated only by the eternal faelight coming from the crack in the door. It could have been hours. It could have been days. Who the fuck knows? I’ve always been one to miscalculate time. One thing I do know—my tongue is dry and swollen with thirst. That prick didn’t even slip me a sip of water after I asked. I haven’t had anything to drink or eat since before the battle, and I’m parched, hungry.

So hungry.

Every now and then I fall into these light slumbers where strange nightmares haunt my dreams. I dream of dancing in a ballroom filled with fae and demons. I dream of skulls on the mantle in some ancient room, bones hanging from the ceiling, clicking together like some nightmarish wind chimes in the breeze. Of dried lavender burning and orchestral music playing in some faraway place. The chill hanging in the air awakens me, but when I open my eyes, theroom spins so fast that I hunch over and puke on the stone floor.

I’m dehydrated. Cross country taught me the importance of hydration, and the symptoms of going too long without water. I’m feeling it. Nausea, dizziness, my mouth dry as sand. I considered drinking my own urine like those survivalists tell us to do, but, well, I haven’t peed in a while.

Tarsus does know mortals need to drink every few days, right? Surely Aden told them, at the very least. But then, Aden was playing his fiddle to the tune of my death. He hates me just as much as Tarsus…if not more. And who could blame him? When I thought he was taunting me, he was actually trying to warn me, enlighten me, tell me a truth my own mother kept from me for twenty-three years. And what did I do? Pinned him down and slapped my hand over his mouth to silence him. The fear in his eyes is still a spear to my chest.

My stomach drops at the realization that I have no one on my side. Assuming Tarsus is telling the truth about wanting to stop the human sacrifices, then Abaddon didn’t tell me the whole truth. Only the parts he wanted me to know, which was that the volcano is erupting and Tarsus isn’t doing jack shit about it.

Everyone here is the enemy, it seems. Nobody is redeemable, save for Aden. Which means that if I’m truly the Prince of Ruin, if deep inside I really am theintended sovereign of this empire, then I need to find a way to take back my throne and rule all of them. I want to stop the human sacrificesandstop the volcano. And if the only way to enforce my will is to get back my throne, then by the gods, I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen.

Darkness presses in on me at the grim realization that I’m completely fucking alone. I’m done. I’mdonetrusting anybody. They want me to be the ruthless sovereign that scares them all shitless? Then that’s what I’ll become. Even if it goes against my nature.

I just need to figure out how to get my powers back. Because as a human, I’m nothing compared to these monsters.

~*~

The metal door budges open, and Ulna steps in. I’m not sure whether to be relieved or not. No emotion appears on her face. Her arms are the size of tree trunks, brushing against mine as she unlatches my chain. She leads me through the winding dark corridors, up, up, up the many stairs that lead out of this earthen prison. My legs are sore from the battle and from running from the tarantula. Every now and then the floor shifts beneath my feet, and I have to press my bound hands against the stone wall to steadymyself, hating how weak I must appear to this Fae general.

“What day…how long have I been locked up?”

---