Page 43 of Up from the Earth

“What can we do?” I didn’t like how small my voice sounded, how empty I felt after working so hard to save our son. “How are we supposed to stop Father Paine from wreaking more havoc when we cannot stand up to face him?”

The Queen looked up at me, lifting her other hand up to cup my cheek. “We refuel, and we fight smarter. Power doesn’t begin and end with the ability to destroy. Creating life is a magic far more ancient and timeless.”

I leaned into her hand, needing that comfort as much as I needed the physical rest. After a moment, her movement caused me to open my eyes—which I hadn’t even realized I’d closed—and I panicked when I didn’t feel or see Cerberus.

“What?! Did something—”

“Calm, little seed.” The Queen was there before me, but we weren’t in the simple black room anymore; the massive pool of blood surrounding her throne was there, and we sat on the ground before it. “He is alright. I’ve transported him to his room to rest. Cerberus—our sweet boy—will need his rest for some time, which, again, I can try to stretch as much as possible.”

The tension in my posture slowly eased, and I looked around the room, still surprised that we were back here again. The throne was as terrifying and beautiful as ever, and my Queen looked like she had when I’d first encountered her, with massive braids stretching into infinity like a spider web and only long strips of them hiding her most intimate areas from view.

“Why are we here?” The Queen pulled me up as I asked, walking backward toward the still lake of crimson that surrounded her throne. “We should be doing something about Father Paine.”

That whispering sound I’d heard before in here, the song that stirred while remaining somber, was still there, filling in the quiet of the castle as the unending wind whistled past the enormous windows. For a moment, The Queen didn’t respond; she only smiled that wicked smile at me and pulled me along as she waded into the blood.

“I—”

But as the liquid slid over my skin, it cut off my words. She’d pulled me in, the level only reaching mid-shin, and I was so shocked. I’d expected the unique bath to be frigid, as icy as the room we stood in, but it was warm, blissfully so, and I couldn’t stop the moan that bled from me as my flesh rippled with goosebumps.

Meeting her gaze again, The Queen grinned, her tiny fanged teeth still a bit unnerving to look at. Her dark eyes, a red so deep that they looked nearly black, bored into me, and I trembled under her gaze. It was so familiar to our first meeting: the way she’d tracked me like a predator in her throne room, the effortless grace she possessed, and the incredible need in my bones that nearly brought tears to my eyes.

“It’s so warm.” I sounded nearly drunk.

“It is what you need. A release of tension, a connection with your Queen within its shallow depths.” She held her hand out, the obsidian gleam of her claw-like nails catching in that eerie red light that filled this chamber. “Join me, sweet Cerridwen. Let me ease your aches with my own.”

A shiver ran through me, crawling up the entire length of my body from feet to head. I couldn’t express what I needed at present. I knew I needed something, something to strengthen me, to wash away the terror that had gripped me so roughly when Cerberus had been injured, but regardless of that fact, I knew that whatever The Queen might do to me, it would satiate all those needs.

Taking her hand, I stepped further into the pool. She walked us to the center, and while I expected it to get deeper, it remained at shin level. A strange part of me—one that still knew what it was made of—craved for the warmth it gave to cover every inch of my flesh. I wanted that warmth. I wanted to feel safe within its embrace.

“You won’t be needing this.” The Queen reached out a claw and lifted a piece of loose fabric from my dress, nearly catching my arm beneath.

In a flash, the garment was gone, and I was as nude as my Queen in the shallow bath of life’s blood. Without speaking, she guided me down to sit and then lay back, her lithe form hovering over mine as she lowered her lips to my throat. A gentle kiss dressed me from her mouth, and then The Queen nipped and caressed her way up to my lips.

The kiss was a communion with this ancient being. I could sense her in all her dark glory melting into my being—this dark mother who was there at the end of all things to usher souls into the beyond. Her kiss tasted like a promise of demise, but one welcomed and celebrated. The Queen’s cool flesh smoothed over mine, her tongue dancing over and under my own. It held that forked tip and dexterous movement just as her masculine form did.

“I can feel your need, little seed. You want warmth. Shall I paint you in it?”

The Queen’s eyes gleamed with wicked glee. My core clenched at the sight, and I wished for every exquisite part of her to touch me. I nodded, my eyes lust-lidden and glassy from the swell of everything blooming inside me. She balanced on her knees, lifting up bloody hands and dragging them down my sides, from my neck to my hips. It melted into me, making my head buzz. The heat, the slick feeling of it over my skin, was incredible. The liquid gathered between my legs as more of it dripped down my ribs. Letting go of the rational, of the anxiety-focused part of my brain, I dipped my hands in the crimson pool and mirrored The Queen’s actions, painting it down her sides.

She was solid and real beneath my hands, her curves supple and soft. My fingers brushed over the sides of her full breasts before I glided them down to her hips. They were curvaceous, her ass absolutely perfect, and as my stare raked over her stunning body, something caught my attention.

At first, I thought it was a trick of the light, the liquid coating my Queen catching just right at the center of her to create a false sight. But the longer I stared, smoothing my hands up and down her body as she did the same to me, the more I realized it wasn’t.

I couldn’t tell what I was looking at, and before I could ask or adjust to get a better look, The Queen’s lips dusted over my stained collarbone, working their way down to my breasts. I arched up, my head pressing back into the blood, coating my pale locks with its bright, deep red. Inch after inch, she swirled her tongue over my skin until she reached my nipple, winding her tongue around the pert, thick bud and squeezing.

“Ugh!”

A chuckle drifted from her like a musical score, and my nerves sang in response.

“That’s my sweet, little seed.”Her tongue lapped at my blood-coated skin, tasting it all as she teased my nipple with her fangs.“Ugh, the taste of you mingling with the blood of life. Perfection.”

She spoke into my mind, and then I felt her knee nudge between my legs, pushing them apart before rubbing against my aching seam. I ground myself down on her, taking any bit of contact to alleviate the throbbing need that pulsed in my clit with each heartbeat. Then in a slow progression that was as glorious as it was torturous, The Queen moved her kisses down my body until she reached my slit.

I cried out as her long, forked tongue slid between my folds, flicking at my clit before diving inside me and coiling against my walls. For what it lacked in width, her tongue made up for it in dexterity. The wondrous appendage twirled inside me, hitting each of the sensitive areas that drove me to the edge quickest.

“I know exactly where you need me, my love. Now,”she drove her tongue deep enough to hit my cervix before retreating just enough to find that magical spot at the top of my walls,“let me taste your sweet cum in this form.”

Pressing into that bundle of nerves, I shattered, climaxing hard as she immediately made my womb gush. My release rocked me, making me thrash about in the pool and splash the thick, sanguine fluid across us. It was an unhinged, unburdened expression of passion, and my entire being thrummed with pleasure.

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