Page 41 of Cursed Shadows

Cambion pushes against my shoulders as though he’s trying to move me. But failing, he gives up.

“If we fall... if we lose this battle, all of this blood is on your hands!” he yells at me, slamming his index finger into my chest. “You made me believeshewould turn the tides of war, that—”

“I have to be the one to kill Variant!” I repeat the words that suddenly drill through my head, as though they’re the answer to our quandary, as though me being the one to kill Variant will destroy this confusion that’s taken root inside my head. “Lamia says I’m the only one who can...”

Cambion takes a step back, narrowly missing a blade that slashes out at him from a nearby enemy I didn’t even notice was present. He counters the next blow with ease and decapitates the soldier.

“She’s still controlling you,” he says, shaking his head and inhaling deeply.

“No longer,” I yell as I push on, weaving through the bodies that clash into one another. All I can see is Variant. Variant standing there with that smug fucking smile of his. Variant with Lamia beside him. His arm is around her and the two of them mock me as one, laughing and pointing.

A break in rank allows a rare opportunity. Instantly, I go on the attack, charging up the small incline of a hill. Variant stands at the top. When I reach him, Lamia steps in front of him and renders me paralyzed. I stand there, helpless, as she taunts my very existence. I hate her! God, how I fucking hate her! I want to destroy her, want to sever that fucking head off her shoulders. And yet, I can’t wield my blade against her.

I can’t kill her.

“He’s a traitor,” I grouse as I motion to Variant with my sword. “A murderer who turned against his brothers and slew one of us in cold blood. And for what?” I ask emptily, my eyes searching Lamia’s, trying to make her see the truth of the false king. She doesn’t respond, so I continue. “For greed.” I take a breath. “What makes you think he won’t do the same to you?”

“Because I’m not expendable.”

Little does she know—everyone is expendable in Variant’s eyes.

She narrows her eyes and I feel the snare of her power pulling me to her. The tendrils of her magic surround me, sinking into my flesh. Blackness swarms my vision once more as I fight her for control of myself. But her power is incredibly strong.

“Bow to your king,” Lamia orders as Variant cups one of her breasts beneath her gown. Her nipple instantly hardens and he pinches the rosebud as I try to look away but my fucking eyes won’t allow me.

“Bow,” Lamia repeats.

No fucking way!I scream inwardly.I will not fucking bow to this desecration…

But her words act as an order to a body who can’t deny them. Something breaks within me and I feel my knees bending as I drop my sword and fall to my knees, bowing before the false king and the bitch at his side.

“Dragan, no!” Cambion’s voice yells from the distance.

But it’s too late.

My lips curls with unabashed hatred.

Variant grips my chin and turns my head, forcing me to watch as the last of our forces submit. The wounded pride in Cambion’s eyes is too much and I look away, guilt weighing heavily on my putrid soul.

We have lost.

And I am to blame.

***

At first, my banishment to the Gorge in the Shadow Realm feels like a blessing because I have only the darkness to face. And the darkness is much easier to look upon than the disappointment in Cambion’s eyes, or the death stare of Baron’s…

Baron.

I can’t bring myself to think of him… murdered.

But my solitude is not for long. Lamia isn’t done with me yet.

As Variant’sStewart of Shadow, her sole purpose is to keep me sedated and, as such, less of a threat to the false king. She and her daughters subdue me by feeding upon me all hours of the night and day. I’m no longer the ruler of my own realm, but a pawn of Variant’s making.

I fucking hate him almost as much as I hate myself.

Each day, I awaken to the sight of a Succubus using my body for her pleasure as much as her nourishment. And I’m incapable of denying any of them. With a touch, my cock hardens to their liking and even though I abhor my traitorous body, it can’t ignore their call.

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