24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“ A re you okay?” I asked Ruvyn, pulling him aside after dinner. Astrid had cornered Ophelia and was whispering urgently to her, with Iris standing close by, offering what looked like soothing words to the both of them. I imagined that if someone was going to feel panicked by the asshole comments some courtiers had made at dinner, it would be Astrid. She was primed to see danger everywhere, and rightly so. “I’m sorry, that didn’t go as I’d hoped.”

Ruvyn looked contemplative. “No? I think it went about how I expected.”

“And you had no qualms about doing it anyway?”

“I’m a historian. It’s not for me to pass judgment on the events of the past, merely to establish what those events were to the best of my ability, acknowledging that I can never be truly impartial because I’m shaped by the world around me. Sometimes, the things I find in my research are unpleasant. That doesn’t make them untrue. “If only I was a more charismatic speaker,” he added ruefully. “I expected their response and yet, I wasn’t able to counter it successfully.”

“Leave some talents for the rest of us, Ruvyn. That you were able to translate those ancient texts is a far more impressive ability.” If he could have blushed, he might have. “Will you return to The Itrodaris now? You’re more than welcome to join me for a drink.”

He looked past me, scanning the room. Specifically, the spot where the ex-Hunters always sat.

“Looking for someone in particular?” I teased.

He started guiltily, shadows rippling in embarrassment. They were hearty-looking shadows too, almost like he’d fed very well recently…

“A slightly smaller crowd of ex-Hunters than the last time you were here,” I observed, allowing myself a little fun before putting him out of his misery. “I believe there’ll be a larger group here in a couple of days though, to finalize the new arrangement between the Shades and the Hunters.”

“That’s nice,” Ruvyn mumbled.

“Isn’t it just? I hope you’ll come back and say hello. To me, of course. Who did you think I was talking about?”

He narrowed his eyes. “You’re so irritating. Why is that sweet woman even remotely interested in you?”

I perked up. “Do you think she is?”

Ruvyn scoffed. “I think that’s obvious to everyone, though I can’t imagine what she’s thinking. From what I overheard at dinner, she’s sweet. Courteous. Helpful. Kind. Curious about the world, and driven to participate within it.”

“Are you saying I’m not those things?”

Ruvyn didn’t even dignify that with an answer, he just stared. And that was fair because I certainly hadn’t been any of those things in the past, but I was trying to do better now. Iris had made me realize how indolent I’d been, and I didn’t want to be that Shade anymore.

Iris had never demanded I be better. Being in her presence made me want that for myself.

“I’m working on it,” I muttered, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed at how I’d reveled in my ennui for the past decade, proudly boasting about how uninterested I was in everyone and everything while others worked hard around me, striving to be better.

“I can see that,” Ruvyn said after a long moment, watching me a little more closely than I was accustomed to. “And I’m glad for it—you’ve always had the talent and the ability, Damen. Just not the drive to see it through. And now you do. I’m going to return to The Itrodaris now—this has been more than enough conversation for me for the day. Enjoy your evening.”

As soon as he was gone, I made my way back to Iris, wanting to check in with her after what had been a rather tumultuous meal. Of all the nights to invite her to sit at the top table with me.

Though, she’d handled it perfectly, because of course she had. Iris was smart and adaptable, and never shied away from any challenge sent her way.

“But Shades value strength, everyone knows that,” Astrid was telling Ophelia. “Someone is definitely going to have a problem with the king of the shadow realm mixing genes with a weak Hunter.”

Soren grimaced where he stood next to his mate. I suspected he’d had the same concerns but intended to keep them to himself in order to spare Ophelia’s feelings. Her sister had no qualms about telling her the truth.

Allerick’s shadows flickered in irritation. “If they have an issue with me, they can challenge me for my throne.”

“No one is going to challenge you—you’re the strongest,” Astrid pointed out, shaking her head slightly before returning her attention to Ophelia. “Make sure you don’t go anywhere unescorted for the next little while. Or forever.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Ophelia replied, a little bemused. Probably because Allerick was hovering behind her and Levana, her own personal guard, was standing nearby. Ophelia was almost never alone. Still, the reminder was worthwhile.

“Iris, are you ready to go?” I asked, touching her arm.

“Yes, I think so.” She turned toward my voice, smiling softly up at me. I was probably imagining things, but her smile looked a little different tonight. More affectionate and more unsure all at once.

It was probably just Ruvyn’s words. I’d ask her about it when we were alone.

“I’ll walk you back,” I offered, tucking her hand securely into the crook of my arm before giving Tilly’s head a quick scratch.

Allerick looked as though he was going to object—probably wanting to discuss the evening’s development, but Ophelia shushed him, gesturing for me to go. She really was my favorite sibling.

“Is your friend okay?” Iris asked as we made our way through the corridor, filled with Shades clustered in small groups, discussing recent events. Wisely, they all fell silent when I was in earshot.

“He is. He’d already considered the likelihood of such a reaction.”

“Then he was very brave to stand up in front of everyone anyway.”

“He was,” I agreed, consistently amazed by Iris’s compassion when the world had shown so little compassion to her.

Tilly bounded inside the moment Iris opened the door to her room, and I quickly formed a shadow cane for Iris before crossing the room to let Tilly out to the courtyard.

“Will you stay a little?” Iris asked, slipping off her shoes and making her way over to the bed, climbing up gingerly and sitting in the center with her legs crossed.

“Of course. What do you want to do? I had a very stressful evening, you know. I think licking your pussy until you’ve come so many times you can’t walk would make me feel much better,” I suggested solemnly.

Iris laughed, the sound brightening the entire room. “Tempting, but I have my period.”

I groaned. Shade females had them too, but not nearly as often as human women got them from what I heard. I don’t know how they coped—Ophelia complained fairly openly about it and it sounded unbearable.

“We can do other things, can’t we? If you want to,” I added. “Or I could send down to the kitchen for tea and cake, and read to you again.”

Iris’s scent sweetened delightfully. “You’re so wonderful. Maybe… I could make you come? I really want to. It’s not like I don’t feel arousal when I have my period—sometimes it’s worse than normal.”

My cock stirred hopefully. “I can help with that.”

“No, no, I wouldn’t expect you,” Iris said hurriedly, blushing scarlet.

“You do know I’m not scared of a little blood, right?” I asked, just to make sure. “It’d take a lot more than that to keep me off you if your cunt is aching for my attention, Iris.”

I sucked in a breath, the scent of her arousal filling the room in an instant.

“Can we have sex?” Iris rasped. “Please, Damen. I just… I need you. And I probably won’t get pregnant while I have my period. Maybe.”

“Iris,” I groaned, inching closer, wanting to inhale at the source of that sweet scent. “I can’t be the responsible one and argue with you here. I’m very fond of the idea of getting you pregnant. If you let me, I’d give you as many children as you wanted.”

She exhaled shakily. “Does this mean we’re boyfriend and girlfriend?”

“Sure.” That sounded a little flimsy for what Iris was in my head, and it was most certainly a human term—I was no boy— but I’d take what I could get.

“And you’re going to have sex with me, right?” she pressed, her voice a little more stern this time.

“As often as I can.”

“Okay, good.”

“I probably shouldn’t knot you though,” I said regretfully. “Because pregnancy really is something we should talk about more seriously. I’ll pull out. It’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” She blinked up at me, her fingers flexing next to her on the blanket. “What are you waiting for then?”

I grinned at her eagerness, climbing up onto the bed and reaching for the bottom of her shirt so I could pull it over her head. “How rude of me to keep you waiting, princess. Will you let me make it up to you?”

“You’ll have to work very hard,” Iris sniffed haughtily, almost pulling off the petulant princess act, were it not for her needy expression and the pink flush that traveled all the way down her neck. It grew deeper for a moment before she spoke again. “Do you think you could put a towel down or something?”

I laughed, climbing off the bed. “The palace staff will be grateful for your thoughtfulness.”

Whatever made it easier for Iris to get out of her head and let go, I would do it.

I fetched some towels from the washroom and laid them out while she finished undressing. I traced the curve of her jaw with my tongue then softly with the sharp points of my teeth, keeping my head up by hers and my gaze on her face because it was clear she was self-conscious.

That was okay. I’d have her relaxing soon enough.

“Can I kiss you?” Iris whispered, running her hands over my shoulders before trailing them into my hair and up to the base of my horns.

I hummed in agreement. “I’ve heard of this kissing thing. Be careful of my fangs, princess.”

“You probably shouldn’t call me that.”

“I’m sure as fuck not calling anyone else that.”

I pressed my lips against hers before she could argue with me, surprised at how pillowy soft hers were. Everything about Iris was soft and warm and inviting. I wanted to wrap myself in her embrace and stay there forever.

The urge to taste her sweet mouth was suddenly overwhelming. I’d never needed anything more in my life. I’d die if I didn’t have it.

Iris gasped as my tongue swiped her lower lip, greedily opening her mouth for more.

“That’s it,” I encouraged, sliding my hand around the back of her head and gripping her hair just firmly enough to keep her in place. “Give me more. Give me everything, princess.”

She whimpered, grabbing my horns tightly to pull me closer, brushing her tongue against mine, occasionally touching the tips of my teeth as she got bolder in her exploring.

Self-consciousness forgotten, Iris climbed onto my lap, grinding her pussy desperately on my aching cock. Her slick coated me, marking me with her scent in a way that made my territorial instincts bubble dangerously close to the surface.

Don’t knot her.

Don’t bite her.

Fuck, how was I meant to remember two things when I was holding onto my self-control by a thread?

“I want you now ,” Iris demanded, tipping her head back as I shifted my hands to her ass, giving her better leverage to grind on me. “Please, Damen.”

Were we really doing this? I should have probably thought out the potential ramifications for our relationship going forward. But that was going to have to be a problem for Future Damen because my cock wasn’t in the mood for thinking and it was making all the decisions right now.

I wrapped my fist around my shaft, squeezing the burgeoning swell of my knot.

Don’t knot her.

“Is this pussy ready for me?” I asked, notching the tip of my cock at her entrance, suppressing a groan at how good just that felt.

Iris didn’t even answer—not verbally. She grabbed my shoulders and slowly sank down, letting gravity do the work, at least at first. Eventually she gave my shoulders a squeeze of encouragement, and I held her hips, helping her take the rest of me.

“Fuck, Iris,” I rasped, pushing in slowly, feeling her body stretch to accommodate me. “You feel incredible . Are you okay, my princess? How are you feeling?”

“Good,” she replied. Each shaky breath made her breasts rise spectacularly.

The hollow pit that was my nearly empty power reserves filled at an almost overwhelming speed as I fed from Iris’s lust. It was more pure, more satisfying, more decadent than any fear I’d ever fed on in the human realm.

I could very easily get addicted to this.

“What can I do to make it even better? Do you want to lie down?”

Iris smiled, leaning in to clumsily kiss the tip of my nose. “Yes, please.”

“Hold on, princess.” I banded one arm around her waist, keeping her securely in place—on my cock, which I felt very strongly was where she was meant to be—and carefully rolled us until she was lying on her back and my hands were braced on either side of her head.

“Come closer,” Iris whispered, running her hands over my chest. “I want to hold you.”

Fuck me. Maybe I should just bite her. She’d probably forgive me someday, right?

No. The idea of Iris being mad at me for even a second was agony. I wasn’t about to be another suffocating presence in her life—she’d already had plenty of those.

I lowered my weight onto my forearms, bringing my chest close to hers, and Iris immediately buried her face in the crook of my neck, wrapping her arms around me as much as she could, nails scratching my back.

She held on to me like she’d die if she let go. I knew the feeling.

However close she was, I wanted more. I wanted to be connected to her in a way that couldn’t be undone.

It wasn’t just a want. It was a need. A craving like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

I turned my head to press my lips to her hair, sliding one hand beneath her neck to keep her face close to mine.

“Iris,” I groaned, rocking my hips, grinding my pelvis against her clit with each movement. “Princess. I’m fucking obsessed with you, did you know that?”

She nodded fervently against my shoulder, teasing my skin with her own delicate teeth and tongue as though she wanted to mark me just as much as I wanted to mark her.

What was this sensation? I was almost feral with want.

“I need you to be obsessed with me too,” I rasped, shifting my hand so I could gently tug her silky hair again, my claws faintly scratching her scalp.

“I am,” Iris whined, planting her heels in the mattress so she could match my movements. We both sucked in a breath as I went deeper, her cunt clenching tightly around the base of my shaft.

“You better be. You’re mine in all the ways that matter, Iris. I’m not letting you go.”

Iris whimpered greedily as I used my hold on her hair to pull her head to the side, my tongue teasing a spot on her exposed throat.

Don’t bite her.

But if I was going to bite her, that’s exactly where I would put it. Nice and high up, front and center, so no one could miss it.

“Don’t let me go,” Iris whispered, digging her nails into my skin as best she could. “Please don’t let me go.”

“Never.” Was she worried I would? I wasn’t capable of leaving Iris alone.

And then there were no words, because nothing was sufficient and nothing was needed. The feel of her skin on mine, of her breath against my neck, her quiet, desperate moans in my ear… It was everything. She was everything.

Iris was embedded in my heart and soul, mating mark or not. She was lodged so deeply in there that there was no letting go.

“I want your knot,” Iris whined, her pussy clenching tightly around me. “Please, Damen.”

Shit. Don’t knot her .

But she was asking to be knotted.

What was I supposed to do? Say no to her? The idea was offensive.

“You know you never have to beg me for anything. Are you sure?”

“Yes!” She wrapped her legs around my waist, digging her heels into my lower back like she was worried I was going to pull out. Probably because I’d said I was going to, though that seemed like a very long ago and idiotic statement now.

I pressed harder against her clit, wanting her to come before I did. I was so overflowing with power from feeding off her that it was nothing to form shadow limbs, sending them everywhere. They wrapped around her arms, her ankles, they swirled and teased her nipples, and formed a barely-there, elegant collar around her neck.

“I want one in my mouth,” Iris whispered.

Fuck.

The moment I sent one thickening shadow through her open mouth and down her throat, I was done and so was she. Iris clenched around me so tightly that it almost hurt, and I rolled my hips forward to lodge my knot into place as it swelled, pumping her full of an obscene amount of cum. The shadow tentacles disappeared as my concentration shattered, both of us breathing hard and clinging to each other as pleasure swept us away.

This time I didn’t cut off my purr as it rumbled to life, filling the room with the sound of my satisfaction.

There was no moving on. There was no letting go. Nothing about this was temporary.

Whatever I had to do to make this permanent, I would do it.