Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

O nce again, Beliath felt himself being pulled up out of the deep, dark down-below like a prisoner being dragged from his oubliette for questioning.

Once again, he was being summoned.

He may have been gone a moment or a millennium. It was so hard to tell when he'd had nothing but his own wicked thoughts to mark the passage of time.

It could not have been too long, however, for there was the same little dark-haired queen who had summoned him before.

There was Malissa.

In a way, she had never left. She'd been present in his thoughts during his time away, and his thoughts had been wicked, wicked thoughts indeed.

The forest was there too, the clearing, the darkstone ring, the candles—and that blasted barrier of containment which he could not see, but which he could feel humming between the stones. It was night again, and a quick glance skyward revealed the positions of the planets and the shape of the moon. They told him exactly one day had passed since the woman had summoned him last.

"I knew you'd be back," Beliath said, "I just didn't expect you to return quite so soon."

The little queen jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. He was still keeping himself invisible from her tonight, so until he had spoken, she could not have known if her summoning had been successful or not.

Her fright soon disappeared, however, and her expression shifted into that look of defiance Beliath had seen the night before. It was a becoming look for her.

"I didn't return to have you mock me, demon."

"I wasn't mocking, woman. Merely making an observation."

In truth, he was overjoyed to see her again. It was not simply about freedom. If she had not returned, sooner or later, someone else would have happened across the darkstone ring and summoned him, but it was Malissa he craved. There was something about the little dark-haired queen that put the steel in his loins as no mortal woman had ever done before.

Indeed, he was already erect and dripping with lust, though the queen could not see it.

Perhaps that was for the better.

"I take it you've reconsidered my offer?" he said.

The little queen looked at him for a moment. Or rather, she looked at the place where his voice was coming from. Just like the night before, she was completely naked, with an arm covering her nipples, and a hand covering her sex. Her creamy skin seemed to glow in the flickering light from the candles, and her black hair snapped blue in the moonlight.

At last she dropped her eyes and nodded.

"I have."

The words were barely above a whisper, and Beliath could see tears trembling at the edges of her eyes, bright and clear as gemstones. Ordinarily, he would have savored those tears, but he sensed there was something else behind Malissa's pained expression, and it made him curious.

"Why did you return so quickly?" he asked.

The queen lifted her face, and her eyes were wide. Perhaps it was the question that had surprised her. Or perhaps it was the gentle manner in which Beliath had asked it.

"The king will be returning sooner than I expected," she said.

She began to pace slowly around the outside of the darkstone ring. Her breasts and sex remained covered, but the new angle offered Beliath a different view of her feminine curves, and what a view it was. His balls felt as if they might explode. He reached down and began to stroke his invisible shaft with an invisible hand.

The woman continued to speak as she walked. Though it was difficult, Beliath forced himself to pay attention to what she was saying.

The king, it seemed, had been wounded in battle. Luckily for Beliath, the wound had not been fatal, otherwise Malissa would never have returned to summon him. The king would spend some time in the west, convalescing, then he would return to Castle Drachenval to complete his recovery. He was expected home in three months' time, at which point Malissa needed to already appear six months pregnant. She had even lied and told the king in a letter that she had stopped getting her moonblood.

She was clearly distraught.

And clearly determined to go through with the agreement she had discussed with Beliath last night.

He ought to have been overjoyed at the prospect of his impending freedom. He'd been trapped within the darkstone ring for a long, long time now. But he was even more excited by the thought of penetrating this luscious little queen.

Strange. He had fucked thousands of mortal women over the years. What was it about this one that aroused him so?

Beliath felt himself starting to ejaculate, but he managed to stop himself at the last moment by clamping his fist hard around the base of his erect shaft. A single drop of his infernal seed managed to slip through. It leaked from his tip and plipped on the stones between his feet.

The queen halted and looked up at the sound.

"What was that?"

"Never you mind," Beliath said. "Just step inside the circle with me, woman, and let us solve your troubles together."

But the queen just stood there, worrying her lip with her teeth.

"Is there a problem?" Beliath asked.

"Yes, there is. The child you will beget within me… what will he look like?"

Beliath immediately understood the nature of her concern.

"Demons have begotten offspring with mortal women before," he said. "Often, these children have an unearthly appearance. However, it is possible, with a little magic, to conceal their demonic traits so they look like ordinary human children."

"Could you do this for our child?"

"Yes."

"And could you make him look like the king? Or at least like a child who could have been sired by the king?"

Seven hells, this queen was a demanding little creature, wasn't she?

"It is possible," Beliath said. "However, I do not know what this King Wulfgang looks like."

"But if I showed you his likeness, you could do it?"

"I suppose, but—"

"Then I'll bring a painting to show you," said the queen, striding around the circle to the place where she'd left her magic book. "There's not enough time for me to fetch it from the castle tonight. I'll have to come back tomorrow…"

She pressed her lips together, and Beliath sensed she was about to utter the word of banishment.

" Wait! "

She did.

Beliath felt his rage boiling inside him. This was unacceptable. He was a prince of hell. He would not let himself be treated like some lowly page expected to answer to this mortal woman's beck and call. Even the priestesses of old had treated him with more respect than that.

He needed to put this haughty little queen in her place.

"This goes beyond our previous arrangement," he said, keeping his voice level and cool. "I agreed to give you a boy, and I even agreed to speed up the gestation so that he will be born at the appropriate time. But if you want him to look like the king's own son, well… I shall require an additional payment."

"An additional payment on top of your freedom?" the queen asked. "What more could you possibly want?"

"Oh, nothing much. A mere pittance, really. But you must give it to me tonight before you send me back to the realm of darkness."

The queen thought for a moment. Then she tossed her head back and glared in his direction.

"Name your price, demon."

Beliath smiled.

"A kiss."