Page 82 of Marked By the Dark Lord
Aurr’av, realizing he hadn’t pierced my armor, gestured impatiently into the hallway. “Keep the Lady waiting at your peril,” he growled. “Not mine. Let’s go.”
With a casual shrug, as if to say I really didn’t give a shit about him—which I didn’t—I moved past him, then waited for Mila to go through the door first. She looked up at me while moving past, eyes searching mine for something. When she didn’t find it, she looked forward and set her shoulders.
She was strong. Stronger than I’d ever given her credit for.
Was that enough, though? I was confused. She continued to insist on ignorance, but clearly, she knewsomethingabout her was different. The fact that she’d been willing to admit to that much suggested she was telling the truth …
Unless that’s exactly why she revealed she suspected herself to be different somehow. So that her story becomes even more believable.
What I couldn’t figure out was if she was trying to maintain her cover,why? Why keep the lie going? I’d been forced into the open. I’d entered Faerie for the first time and proclaimed myself to the head of another Great House. Word would get around that I was still alive. My brother would probably come for me at some point, which was just another thing to be wary of. All the hard work I’d put into staying out of the way, hidden in The Place Behind, a wayward back-alley pocket dimension, was undone. Because of her.
If that wasn’t her game, then what was?
A growl of frustration rumbled in my chest, prompting looks from both parties. I ignored them.
I wanted to hate Mila. To take her back to Dannorax, remove the bond mark, and put her into the hands of the Jury’s justice. Rid myself of the entire thing, move on, and find a new place to go where I could just be myself without the worry of my past coming to find me.
Kraw’ok could have House Duloke, for all I cared. I just wanted peace.
Mila stepped slightly closer as Aurr’av moved past us to open the huge doors into the Dark Lady’s throne room. As she did, a hint of her magic tickled my senses, driving itself deep into my brain.
Against my will, images of us were conjured forth, cascading through my mind like a slideshow on fast forward. Clenching my teeth, I tried to push the memories away while remaining calm. She wasn’t mine anymore. I didn’t want her. It had meant nothing!
My body didn’t agree. As we reached the moment of our first kiss, Mila standing in the doorway of her solitary cell, my cock began to stir. An ache throbbed deep in my balls as I relived standing behind her in public, smelling her scent as she had an orgasm in front of all those people, unable to move.
Then we were together. Her body on top of mine, her hands wrapped around my horns, using them to guide her hips down and then as leverage to grind hard into me, capturing my cock deep inside her tiny body. I clamped down hard on a groan as I recalled the sensation of emptying my seed deep inside her.
Claiming her in an entirely new way.
I hunched over slightly, breathing hard, trying to contain myself and stop from reaching out and grabbing her and takingher lithe body right there, right then. I didn’t care if anyone was watching. And neither would she when the heat came to her. My touch would be irresistible, and she would melt. Just the way I longed for.
Aurr’av threw open the door and announced us into the Dark Lady’s presence. Still breathing deep through my nose, drawing curious stares from Mila, I entered the room.
The sight waiting before me turned my blood to ice, sucking the breath from my chest at the same time.
“Welcome!” the Dark Lady of Mirgave said, waving us both forward.
“Who is that?” Mila asked, her eyes darting from me to the figure standing at the base of the throne, fingers interlocked behind his back, waiting for us with a broad smile etched into his midnight skin.
Two horns, just like mine, poked up from his skull. Eyes the color of rubies glowed with pleasure as they landed on Mila, then me.
“That’s my brother,” I rumbled. “Kraw’ok. The new head of House Duloke and the one who killed my family to get where he is.”
“Oh.” Mila didn’t sound nearly concerned enough. “Why do you think he’s here?”
“I don’t know. But whatever it is, it can’t be good,” I growled. “These two Houses are supposed to be at each other’s throats, on the verge of war. Why would she admit him here unless it was for her benefit? And the same goes for Kraw’ok.”
“How do you know it has to do with us?” she asked, a bit more nervous.
“Because of me,” I said. “He knows I’m alive.”
“I don’t get it,” she murmured as we walked down the azure carpet between aisles of empty pews. The entire room seemed ominous in its empty, cavernous state.
“Kraw’ok is the youngest of four brothers,” I reminded her. “He killed the other two and my father to gain the throne as his by right.”
The sudden sharp intake of breath showed Mila had clued in. “And with you showing yourself now, you have a better claim to the head of House Duloke.”
“Exactly.”
