Page 80 of Jailer to the Death God
There is no other way to describe it. That other woman, beautiful and worthy in her own way, is not right for me like Vale is.
An exquisite chill raced over my skin when I came, and I’m still feeling the heady haze of the ecstasy.
I pull back a little, seeking the Queen’s eyes, yearning for that link with her.
Her eyes shimmer with tearful gladness, and my chest tightens with shared emotion. I want to kiss her delicate features, over and over. I want to be joined with her like this for eternity.
“What is this?” I whisper. “What am I feeling?”
“That was an orgasm,” she says primly.
“Don’t mock me.” My voice is raw and thin, drawn from a place in my consciousness I’ve never opened to anyone. “You know what I mean, little doe.”
“I’m sorry.” She presses a palm to my cheek. “I know what you mean. I feel it too.”
A loud, lilting voice shears through the moment, cracking our fragile intimacy in two.
“Well, aren’t you both justdarling.”
Macha stalks out of the darkness between the pillars, her bloodied face split in a wide, playful grin. She is dressed entirely in white bones and crimson rubies, a fantastical gown that looks as uncomfortable as it is grand.
I wrap Vale in my arms, instinctively shielding her body as I ease my dick out of her.
“How cute.” Macha giggles. “No use covering her now, brother. I’ve already seen everything.”
“Shit,” whispers Vale. “Oh shit, is that—”
Macha’s eyes snap to Vale’s face, her smile gone. “I am Macha, goddess of war. Kneel, puling mortal. Kneel like the naked little worm you are.”
Vale sinks a little as if to obey, but I hold her up.
“She is a queen, and my wife,” I say. “She need not make obeisance to you.” Magic flows out of me, clothing Vale in a gown of shifting shadows. I switch to my jade-skinned form, complete with a large pair of antlers.
“Have it your way, brother.” Macha saunters nearer, ogling my cock just before I swirl a skein of shadow around my hips to conceal it from her. “Incarnation suits you, doesn’t it? If I could touch her without killing you and thereby angering the other gods, I would slay her in a second, for the sin of enjoying that beautiful cock before I could.”
“As if you had a chance,” I reply. “You’ve been trying for millennia, without success. Why don’t you explain why you’re here?”
“To celebrate your nuptials with you, of course!” Macha raises both hands above her head, giving her hips a little shimmy. She beams at Vale and me. “Did you really thinkyou, the god of death and Lord of Annwn, could be married in Beirgid’s shrine and she would not notice? Did you honestly think she wouldn’t tell me about this new adventure of yours?”
“I know that you, Beirgid, and Aine gabble like a trio of foolish geese,” I mutter.
Vale’s eyes widen, as if she’s shocked I would dare to compare three goddesses to geese.
“So you don’t want to party with me then?” Macha pushes her full red lips into a pout. “Very well. But you must tell me, brother, is her pussy as good as her mother’s was?”
Vale’s pale face goes bone-white.
Macha drinks the Queen’s shock greedily, her grin expanding. “Oh yes, worm, I knew your mother. Well—your stepmother, if we’re being precise. The fucking Princess of Yurstin, so regal and beautiful. She and I were quite the pair for a while, until she objected to me having fun.”
“I know what you call ‘fun,’ Macha,” I say. “I’m not surprised she objected.”
“Stars, Arawn, you’re sodull,” Macha groans. “Yurstin was already at war with Thannira. I just made it a wee, tiny, itsy-bitsy smidge worse. That’s all, I swear. I thought the kingdom would be far more interesting that way, you see. But then my beloved Princess went behind my back and—” Macha closes her eyes, teeth gritted. A shudder runs over her. “Suffice it to say, she left me and came here, to this godforsaken island that calls itself a continent, and she started fucking the idiot king. She was far too smart for him, of course. Smart enough to protect herself from me, until I found a way around her schemes. Can you guess how I finally got to her, in the end?”
I have suspected the answer. I wish I could protect Vale from hearing it, from realizing it, but I cannot. So I speak my guess, gently as I can. “Beirgid’s antimagic. She is the goddess of love, fertility, and pleasure—but she can also create the most virulent of plagues. You persuaded her to start a plague here in Cerato, didn’t you? And she agreed. But she spared the denizens of her temple, and her most fervent worshipers.”
The sound that breaks from Vale’s lips cracks my heart.
“Thousands dead,” Vale says, staring at Macha with grief and growing anger. “Whole families slaughtered, because you were angry at the woman who jilted you?”
