Chapter 52

Mereruka had been expecting a fight. Insults, sinister insinuations, condemnations, veiled threats and hidden schemes—he’d prepared for these and more when he and Taisiya presented the scales as tribute to Khety. The king sat conspicuously alone on his throne. Betrest was nowhere to be found. Neither was Serfka, nor even Hemetre, his favoured concubine, was to be seen. Instead, Khety looked almost… tired. Mereruka could hardly believe his eyes, so ready he’d been for conflict. He almost wondered if some imposter was sitting on the throne when Khety inspected the scales and broke his silence with a hollow voice.

“Exactly as I requested.”

“Is Your Eternal Serenity pleased with the tribute?”

“Yes. You have not failed me, Princess Consort.”

The nefarious deal was at an end. Mereruka inwardly sighed with relief.

“I heard there was trouble…”

“A feral dragon attacked, and one of Radjedef’s men used the situation to assault Princess Consort Taisiya. The soldier has been dealt with, and Radjedef took the mark of disinheritance to atone,” Mereruka answered.

A muscle in Khety’s jaw clenched.

“So be it. Then be gone.”

Mereruka didn’t need to be told twice. Still, what was ailing his brother, and more importantly, was it fatal? Khety was well into his ninth century now. If Mereruka were lucky, the bastard would die of natural causes before his younger brother’s schemes did the deed.

Even the halls of the Court of the Innundation were absent their usual cheer and liveliness. The hatya present drank in sombre silence, casting inquisitive looks his way as he and Taisiya passed. Sedate board games and tranquil music were the order of the day. No one dared appear boisterous when their king was so clearly unwell.

“He looks haggard,” Taisiya whispered.

Mereruka nodded. Hopefully it was permanent.

“Maybe Bas has some idea why.”

When they reached their barge, now fully restored, Vasilisa was there already.

“Kitty left a note.” Vasilisa handed Mereruka the small papyrus scroll, tapping her foot impatiently.

Mereruka unrolled the message and read it over.

“He’ll be back by nightfall. He’s confident he’ll have retrieved my earring by then.”

Vasilisa frowned.

“I’m going looking for him.”

Taisiya nodded.

“Don’t scare him if he’s in the middle of something.” She raised a copper brow at her friend.

Vasilisa smirked.

“If he’s at the beginning or end of something its fine then, right?” Vasilisa tweaked Taisiya’s nose. “I’ve been learning my fae-speak like a good little spy.” Vasilisa melted into the shadows before Taisiya could reproach her.

Mereruka chuckled.

“She catches on fast,” he said.

“Vasilisa has always been fond of mischief. The way the fae speak is just another game for her.”

“And you, wife? Are you fond of mischief?”

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. She looked better now that they were far from the graveyard. Gone were her haunted eyes and strange yearnings. Whatever spell those hearts had over her had dissipated. Though the strain of all that had happened was hidden beneath a glamour he’d woven on her—the dark circles beneath her eyes, a brow pinched in anxiety, palms marked by nails. He was worried for her—for them. Sometimes he feared that if he looked away, she would be gone, that her life would slip from his hands like grains of sand. Or she would decide she’d had enough of the peril he’d placed her in and leave, a part of his heart gone with her. After everything they’d just experienced, he feared he would break—that they would break, and that what they had would be undone and never recover.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I might break. I’m fine.” She narrowed her eyes, her voice clipped.

Lies. Mereruka furrowed his brow, placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, marching in front of a mirror. With barely a thought, he tore the glamour off her.

“What do you see, love?” he hissed.

Taisiya’s hands fisted as she looked away. Always so proud. Always the first to hide from her feelings, needing to be coaxed out. He needed her to be with him in this moment, to share it, to know he wasn’t alone in the dark, coiled mess of his heart.

“I can’t afford to be weak. Not now. We’re so close.” Her breath hitched.

Her words wounded him. If she were weak, then he was no more than a cowering mess.

“If not now, when it’s just us, then when?”

She bit her lip.

“You’re not weak. You’re afraid. You haven’t had a single moment where you could come apart at the seams, like any sane person would after facing a gods-damned feral dragon.”

Like he was about to. Didn’t she know how terrified he’d been? How that fear was still creeping at the edges of him, fraying him?

“And yet you’re perfectly composed,” she accused him, hugging her sides.

He grabbed her wrist, leading her into his pocket realm.

“Come.”

When they were through to the other side, he dropped his glamour. She blinked in surprise. No doubt she saw the dark circles under his eyes, the lines bracketing his mouth. No doubt she could see the fear that stalked him. All the anxieties he couldn’t speak aloud for fear he would make them real.

He was not a good man and she could do better, or at least be safer. And as events had proven, he was a piss-poor protector—and he wanted to be a better one. He’d never imagined feeling so deeply for the co-conspirator he’d planned to choose for a wife. Before Taisiya, a wife had been little more an abstract concept. He hadn’t planned on caring whether she lived or died, whether she was scared or needed comfort—he hadn’t planned on needing her so badly he couldn’t breathe without her. Now she was part of him—he couldn’t let her go any more than he could keep her safe—and he was going mad from helplessness.

“If you think I’m not one hair away from coming undone, from letting heart-stopping terror at losing you overwhelm me, from the need to hold you so tightly I might break you, then you’re not looking closely enough.”

Taisiya searched Mereruka’s eyes, fierce and vulnerable. She reached a shaking hand up to his cheek, her bottom lip trembling. Only in front of her would he ever reveal such an expression. He gave her permission she didn’t know she needed to be as vulnerable before him as he was before her. When she spoke, her prickly pride was useless, leaving an ache in her throat as it tightened with emotion.

“I thought I would lose you and I couldn’t—”

He interrupted her with a brutal kiss, his arms crushing her tight as his hands fisted her gown and hair.

“You were never supposed to turn around and fight that fucking dragon!” he roared desperately. “You were supposed to be safe!”

Tears stung her eyes, not because of his anger, not at his words, but because she felt the same bone-deep fear as he did. He released her hair and she wrapped her arms around him, petting his back.

“You will never do anything like that again! I will put you in an impregnable fortress, surrounded by every luxury and protection where you—”

“Will die of boredom and be entirely useless. That isn’t why you married me,” she reminded him.

When she’d seen him broken, bloody and bruised in the desert, she wanted to do the same. It was why her heart fluttered to hear the sentiments on his lips. This feeling in her was mirrored in him—fear and longing. A fierce and terrifying love that would destroy anything that imperilled the other. She supposed if he were a villain, then she was his perfect match.

He held her face in his hands, forcing her to look into his citrine eyes.

“That was before. Before you were necessary to my very existence. I can’t live without you, Taisiya. I don’t even want to contemplate a world in which you don’t exist. I would burn such a hell-scape down to the bedrock. The only thing I want more than the throne is your safety. Except I need the damned throne to keep you safe!”

He was plucking the words right out of her mind.

“If you’d wanted a pet to keep safe and coddle, you chose poorly.” She grinned ruefully, knowing it applied equally to her.

Safe would have been marrying an elderly nobilissimus with too much money and too few family members. Safe would have been accepting the first ambitious merchant as a husband and retiring from scheming. Safe would have kept her from making their bargain. Safe would have been convincing him to give up his schemes and ambitions. But she’d chosen him and his mad schemes in the end, safety be damned.

“Damnit, Taisiya—”

She pressed a finger to her teal lips.

“I love you too, Meri.”

He looked as though a trap had sprung on him and he’d only just seen the bars slamming down around him. He laughed, a touch hysterically. Was this the first time she’d said it, either of them had said it? Mereruka looked as if it had only now occurred to him what this wild thing in his chest was.

“I have liked you from the start, Taisiya, but I suppose I am well and truly caught now.”

“You will never escape me,” she agreed.

“I almost wish we had been bound by that bloody marriage oath. It would be a comfort now to know I wouldn’t have to live in a world without you. I’m a fool.”

“Wishing for a tactical disadvantage is rather foolish.”

He traced her bottom lip with his finger.

“You’re perfect.”

She grinned, a shiver cascading down her spine. His eyes darkened with desire and wild intensity.

“I love you, Taisiya. With every fibre of my black heart. Gods help you.”

“Gods help our enemies. They’ll need it more.”

“Vicious woman,” he said with a rumble in his chest as he hooked a finger under the strap of her dress.

“Ruthless bastard,” she breathed, her hand sliding under his kilt.

His lips crushed hers. Fierce need overpowered her. They tore at each other’s clothes, barely pausing for breath. Fabric split between their needy fingers. He grabbed a breast in one hand and pinched her nipple between his fingers. Taisiya all but threw off the scraps of her dress as Mereruka kicked his kilt away, their tongues still tangling. She tackled him onto the bed and they rolled, fighting for the dominant position. She licked the shell on his ear and he nipped her neck. His tongue on her nipple sent tingles down her spine and she rewarded him by taking him in hand and stroking him.

Taisiya nibbled along the edge of Mereruka’s ear and he shuddered in submission.

“Fuck! Taisiya!” he warned.

She eyed him mutinously. His earlobe found itself between her teeth as she tugged. Breath caught on a sensual groan, he gripped her thighs. She revelled in her power.

Until he cupped her sex and rubbed his fingers along her most sensitive spot. Her gasp of shocked pleasure was all he needed to turn the tables, flipping her onto her back so he could punish her in the most wonderful way. Hands once again bound by his hair, he swallowed her cries. There was no sweetness left in him. His tongue fought hers, his hand behind her head holding her close, never once allowing her to pull away, to regain her senses, to be anywhere other than there in his arms. The pleasure built until she was bucking against his hand, desperate for release. And yet just as he brought her close, he eased off. She fought his hold on her wrists.

“Meri!” she pleaded. “Please!”

“No. This is your punishment.” He nipped her neck, the sweet sting of his teeth making her whimper. “You’re never allowed to be in danger again.”

His fingers returned, feather light and utterly maddening.

Pleading had failed. Threats were needed.

“Meri, if you don’t—”

“You’ll what?” He chuckled darkly before his lips found her nipple, tugging it, sending a shiver down her spine.

His fingers continued their ruthless, too-light strokes. Every time her hips sought his touch, he pulled away.

“Ah-ah. Now you’re being a bad girl. Finish your threats, Taisiya,” he growled, torturing her other nipple with his teeth and tongue.

Lost and needy, she bit her lip, revelling in his cruel mastery of her body. But she soon reached the end of her tether. She needed it so badly she might go mad.

“If you don’t give me what I want I will cut off your gods-damned cock.”

She was rewarded with the wet slide of his fingers on her, and a pressure that sent her over the edge. Taisiya splintered in his palm, screaming his name.

Mereruka loomed over her, a hunger in his eyes.

“You’re so fucking beautiful when you come.”

His hand moved up and down his length as he stared down at her naked body. She pushed him away.

“Taisiya?”

“Get on your back.”

Crouching over him, she took his cock in hand, gripping him tight but refusing to move until his eyes locked with hers. She ran her tongue up the shaft, her hand following. She teased the tip with her thumb and tongue until his back arched. The moment their eyes lost contact, she stopped. Two could play this game.

“Taisiya,” he growled.

“Meri,” she replied primly, rewarding him when his eyes found hers.

The head of him sheathed in her lips, she sucked, gradually taking more. His hips bucked and he hissed in pleasure. Taisiya reached up to his nipple and toyed with it. When next his hips demanded more of her, she let a trickle of electricity dance across her fingertips.

“Fuck! Fuck! Taisiya, gods!” he choked.

She came up for air, licking the head again.

“You’re not allowed to die until I tell you that you can. Take your punishment like a good boy,” she purred.

“I’m… a fucking… paragon,” he ground out as he nearly shook with the strain to be still, his eyes dark with the promise of retribution.

There was only one sensible thing to do in the face such bald-faced lies. Another small jolt of electricity flicked across his other nipple as she took him deep. He roared every obscenity she’d ever heard.

“I’m going to make you beg!” he swore.

She was already aching for it. Another snap of lightning rolled down his chest.

“I’m going to fuck you until you can’t remember your own name!”

Just what she wanted. Another slow lick from the stem to the tip as she eyed him without remorse. Another light dose of pain as she tweaked his nipples with the bite of her magic.

“I’m going to ruin you forever!”

“What are you waiting for?”

Then Mereruka lost all control—or regained it. Auroras of magic all around her, he put her on her hands and knees, gripped her thighs almost painfully and bucked into her until she saw stars. She thought he might never stop until he bent her head down to the sheets and angled her hips, his next thrust igniting a newer, deeper pleasure. Breath left her on a gasp. The sound sealed her fate.

Mereruka paused, his rumbling chuckle dark and cruel. His frenzy cooled, every thrust was slower than the last, filling her to the hilt before he dragged himself out, rubbing some part of her she couldn’t reach but needed to touch. She reached to touch herself, only to have the sheets wind around her wrists.

“Ah, ah. I made you three promises, Taisiya.”

She thrust her hips backward, impaling herself on him on a moan.

“Naughty,” he hissed.

His hair threaded around her thighs, holding her immobile.

“You’ll pay for that,” he purred, refusing to move inside her.

Instead, his fingers found her and stroked her in the same maddening, feather-light way. Now over-sensitized, she didn’t know if she were trying to lean into his touch or flee it, only that both were impossible. His caress might have been considered reverential, but for the fact that he was slowly bringing her towards release over and over again only to stop, his magic tweaking her nipples, his cock seated inside her, her hips unable to move. She needed it to end as much as she needed him to never stop.

“Beg,” he whispered.

“Meri, please,” she sobbed.

“Come for me, Taisiya.”

When he finally gave her what she needed, she screamed. Mind-numbing pleasure had her arching her back as he thrust himself inside her. Overwhelmed, her hips sought his, bones turning to jelly at the unexpected intensity. Magic gliding over her neck and nipples like a hot tongue, his fingers on her bringing her close to another release, and his cock thrusting hard and hitting her just right—she was undone. Grateful for the magic holding her up, Taisiya surrendered to the ferocity of his lovemaking. Clenching around him as another wave of pleasure hit, his thrusts turned almost brutal as he reached his own release.

“Do you remember your name, wife?”

All she could manage was a whimper.

“And have I ruined you forevermore?”

She nodded. Her heart might explode if he ever used her in such a delicious, pitiless way again.

Every part of her was weak. When his magic gave way, she collapsed on the bed with barely enough energy to turn to her side and face him. Their harsh breaths mingled, cooling their sweat-slicked skin. He shifted, their noses almost touching. Pulling her close, his eyes were as solemn as his voice.

“I love you, Taisiya.”

“And I love you, Meri.” She grinned.

He tightened his grip and covered her messy copper hair in kisses. She circled her shaking arms around him.

“If I have to drown Maat in blood to keep you safe, I’ll do it, and gladly.”

She kissed his chest. Dramatic man. Didn’t he know she would do the same?

“No need, when a single head on a silver platter will do.” She looked up at him, unable to hold back a cruel little smile.

“A gold platter. I don’t do half-measures.” Mereruka grinned wickedly.

“Inlaid with precious stones, I should hope.”

“Only the finest will do.” He nodded.

“Braggart.”

“Temptress.”

“Villain.”

“Villainess.”

“Every villainess is in need of a villain.” She slid her arms up around his head and pulled him down for a soft, slow kiss.

“How fortunate that we found each other,” he murmured against her lips.

He hooked her leg around him and made leisurely, achingly tender love to her. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, only to be awoken by an intruder in their pocket realm.

Taisiya gasped awake at Mereruka’s insistent jostling. She readied her lightning.

“He’s been captured! Bas has been captured!”

The electricity died against Taisiya’s skin. Vasilisa had tumbled into the realm with tears in her panicked grey eyes.

“Who has him?” Mereruka asked, fear and menace rolling off him in waves.

Vasilisa shook her head and handed him a bloody note as she cradled something in her other palm.

“What does it say?” Taisiya asked.

“‘If you want your shifter, then come find me. Alone. Now.’”

“Vasilisa, how did you…” Taisiya began to ask, knowing neither of them could yet read the fae script. She trailed off as Vasilisa held open her shaking palm to reveal a lump of bloody gore and fur.

“They cut off a piece of his tail.”