Page 58 of Of Spindles and Nightfall
The crowd of demons were already in an uproar and when their demon king stepped up and grabbed Aryana by the nape of her neck and jerked her hair, forcing her head back, the roar sounded like a rushing of bulrushes in her ears. Then he pinched her cheeks, causing her mouth to open.
He gazed at her with eyes carved from stone, flat and inhuman. A sickening cold bled through her veins, thick and consuming. It froze her in place. Her body convulsed beneath his touch, trembling with the kind of terror that lived deep in the bones, but still she sat there paralyzed. Her heart slammed against her ribs, each beat like a scream. A strangled whimper broke past her lips, the only sound she could manage.
“Behold!” Zarathos shouted up to the stands as he wrenched her mouth open wider, revealing her elongated incisors. “The vampire princess is at my mercy.”
A gasp rolled up among those seated and then, like fire shooting up from the abyss, the shouting, hissing and cheers rose in volume.
Oh gods, his touch. Her breath clogged her throat. She jerked from his grasp as tears stung her eyes. She fell against the ground and twisted, digging her elbows and knees harshly into the dirt in a desperate attempt to flee. Her chains clanked against her skin as she regained her feet. The arena’s walls loomed a short distance off. She didn’t care if they were too high to scale. She only had to get away fromhim. Facing a crowd of raging demons was preferable to being at the mercy of the demon arch king.
A loud laugh escaped Zarathos, and he reached out, catching her chains, whipping her around. He lifted her off her feet, bringing her close. “Don’t try to run, little vampire,” he said loudly, his face a mask of cruelty. “You belong tome.”
He brought her closer. “Beg,” he murmured.
The threat in his eyes shattered what meager composure she had left. Her chest tightened as tears cascaded over her cheeks, her breath coming in ragged sobs. “Please... please don’t hurt me.”
Zarathos laughed again, sharp and full of dark promise, a predatory triumph radiating from his features.
And Aryana knew. He very much was going to hurt her.
Without another care, he dropped her to the dirt but didn’t release her chains. Turning, his wings flared behind him as he dragged her forward. Her back and ass scraped across the ground and up the steps of the podium.
This was it. This was how it ended. Horribly. Terribly. Inevitably. She couldn’t believe she’d ever thought he might restrain himself. She was the vampire princess, and he was the demon arch king. He had no need for her in the trials. Vivane’s words had proven true. Killing her now would be the most advantageous move.
When he reached the podium, he pulled her up the dull steps with him, then he flipped her around, dropping her at his feet. Something angry and ferocious lingered in his eyes. More tears slid down her dirt-stained cheeks as she lay there, her hair splayed about her, her silvery dress encircling her legs and released another whimper.
“Please, please…” she gasped. The air became thick with the scent of her own panic. She lay there, exposed and vulnerable. Prey. She washisprey. He was the predator who towered over her wounded, helpless body. She was unable to resist, her will completely his, even while she awaited the final blow destined to end her life forever.
Drinking the potion had been a mistake. A deadly one.
The other demons in the arena watched, enraptured. The hunter instinct she aroused in them brought a ravenous hunger to their gazes. But none of them dared to interrupt the spectacle unfolding at the hands of the demon arch king.
Zarathos’s gaze met hers, and something dark and sinister flickered behind the golden glow of his eyes. Her heart thundered in her ears so hard she could barely breathe.
“On your knees.”
She did as he bid her. The heaviness of the chains pulled on her aching joints from how he’d dragged her across the arena.
He gripped her hair and tugged her closer as he bent forward so his lips were close to her ear. “Don’t move, don’t respond. While my cock is in your mouth, you will feel nothing. No fear, no terror. You will be blank. When it comes out, your fear shall return stronger than it is now. Put those incisors away and watch your teeth. Remember.” His mouth grazed her ear, his voice low. “You asked for this, Aryana.”
The din of the throng no doubt drowned out his words for anyone nearby.
He flicked his tongue over her cheek before straightening. “Your fear tastes exquisite,” he declared, drawing hooting and hollering from those watching.
That glowing gaze locked with hers. “Open your mouth.”
Tears fell from her chin onto the ground, but she had no choice but to obey.
He drew back only slightly, splitting open his trousers. Aryana’s incisors retracted right before his cock slipped between her lips. In an instant, the fear fled. It was almost a relief. His length slid against her tongue and it twitched. His fingers twined deeper into her hair, taking control of the movement as his hips moved with small thrusts. His length twitched again and again, hardening inside of her.
Emotionally, Aryana felt nothing. The crowd had gone silent, not expecting this—this sexual display from their king. Dominating the little vampire princess in a new way. A way that wasn’t grotesquely violent, but strangely just as morbidly satisfying to those observing.
Zarathos’s scent drifted up to her. He was aroused and… angry. His fingers in her hair held her in a manner that allowed only him to control their movements. As he moved in and out, his breaths quickened, and a growl escaped. His grip guided her head in time with his thrusts.
“Tighter,” he snarled. And in obedience, she clamped her lips harder around his cock.
The crowd erupted, cheering loud and wild, reveling in the unexpected spectacle laid before them.
She heard his heart rate pick up, while hers calmed. While hers settled into a steady numbness. And she realized—he expected his passion, his scent, and heartbeat to become dominant to the surrounding demons, where hers would become nonexistent, which was why…
