Chapter 5

5

T aya whined the entire time I packed my bags to leave for Zheka, the capital of the Day Realm, where the little princess was to be presented to the world in two months’ time. The worn leather saddlebags I’d used for years groaned as I stuffed clothes into them, followed by the jewelry I’d claimed as my own from the Royal Treasury. Impressions were important, after all. And Taya was not giving me a good one as she begged once again.

“Why won’t you make me your queen? I don’t care that you want to fuck the others. We have so much fun as a group,” she purred, running a sharp nail along my arm.

“I don’t have time for this conversation right now,” I grumbled in response, buckling the strap to secure the opening of one of the bags.

“If you made me your queen, you’d be able to take me along to events like these,” she continued, ignoring the warning in my tone.

I was on her in an instant, pinning her beneath my weight while she sank into my bed. My hand formed a ring around her neck, and her golden eyes flashed with desire. “First, carry my child, and I’ll consider it.”

She spread her legs wide, wrapping them around my hips and pulling me in closer. “Come inside me again before you go, then.”

My cock was harder than my sword as she whispered those words through the constriction on her throat. Angrily, I used my free hand to unbutton my pants and free my cock, only lifting my weight long enough to flip up her dress and insert myself inside her. She wore nothing beneath the thin dress, and I growled my approval as her pussy soaked my cock.

The thrusts I delivered were so brutal that they threw her backward on the bed, and I had to chase her to it to keep fucking her. “You want my seed?”

“Yes,” she whimpered when I released her neck.

In my mind, aquamarine eyes replaced gold, and the red ribbons that fanned around her head darkened to a deep chestnut. Her breasts bounced in the thin straps that held them up, and I leaned my head down to bite the pebbles peeking through them. She cried out, and I slapped her before capturing her chin in my hands.

“Who do you belong to?” My voice dropped to a sinister level.

“You,” she panted, her walls beginning to flutter around my cock. “Harder.”

I obliged her plea, forcing her mouth open and my fingers inside it while I speared into her, seating myself to the hilt and circling my hips. She gagged as I forced my hand deeper, but she did not ask me to stop. Instead, she pushed her hips into mine to deepen our connection.

“Good girl,” I praised, removing my fingers from her throat and allowing her to breathe again. “Your breath is mine. Your body is mine. I own you.”

She nodded, her eyes blown out with lust. I slapped her again. “Say it.”

“You own me,” she repeated back, giving me the words I needed to hear to come.

My balls tightened, cock thickening inside her. Her moans became erratic as we chased our releases, and with a roar, I found mine, filling her with ropes of hot seed.

The pulsating sensation sent her over the edge, and she cried my name. “Kazimir!”

Her pussy milked every last drop from me, and it wasn’t until I was certain every bit of me was so deep inside it wouldn’t come out that I pulled away. “Stay there.” I growled the warning, tucking away my cock before continuing to pack. She obediently remained, tracing lazy circles over her pebbled nipples and down to her bare stomach as she watched me.

“How long will you be gone?” she asked after silence reigned for too many minutes.

“A few months,” I said, gritting my teeth around the words. It wasn’t necessarily the truth, but no one here knew of my plans to earn us some fucking respect on this continent again.

She sighed, a lazy, disappointed sound that had me narrowing my eyes on her. “I’ll miss you.”

I didn’t deign to respond as the last of my things were packed away, and I hefted the bag over my shoulder. We’d have to travel light since we’d be cutting it close with our arrival anyway. Taya made to rise from my bed when I snapped, “I said don’t move. I want you pregnant by the time I return.”

She whined, her wolfish side emerging momentarily, but remained in place. Raking a hand over my face, I crossed to her side and planted a kiss on her forehead before brushing her red hair back. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

Those golden eyes shone as she nodded, and I almost felt bad about leaving her.

Almost.

Before she could say anything else, I slipped from my room and trekked through the halls of Este Castle – my Goddess damned castle – toward the stables where the Nighthounds waited for me. What was left of them anyway.

“It’s all yoursssss…” the three-stranded voice whispered in my head.

The Fates had been speaking to me more and more frequently since I had left the Iron Realm, coaxing me along the path to glory and victory. I was their vessel, chosen to carry out their wishes, and in return, I’d have everything I wanted.

“Yessss…” the voice hissed again.

But as I turned down the hall outside the massive ballroom, I was struck with a wave of grief. My walk ground to a halt, and I gritted my teeth as I paused at the spot where Kriztof, Krigin, Zekari, and my father’s lifeless bodies had lain. The Fates couldn’t return them to the land of the living, so I’d seek vengeance against the Iron Realm in their names instead.

As with every time the thought of my fallen brethren entered my mind, I wanted a drink. Or a fuck. Preferably both at the same time.

The waning summer sun caressed my face as I emerged from my castle, and I was reminded of a day, very much like this one, a year prior when my father, Viktor, Endre, and myself had set out toward the Agrenak Mountains with hope in our hearts to recover the lost princess. Vadim, Kriztof, and the twins met us along the way with the very last piece of information we needed to find her.

And then? She fucking chose Ruslan over me.

I searched for her. I saved her. I fixed her. She had been mine long before I laid eyes on her. That fucking bitch would rue the day she’d broken our bond.

Viktor snapped me out of my ruminating thoughts, handing me Fek’s reins. The black stallion tossed his mane, nearly as restless as I felt being stuck in Vaenor for months on end. “Where are the others?” I asked, scanning the bustling stables for Endre and Vadim.

“They’re speaking with Tibor about constructing some new housing outside Vaenor’s walls, among the trees so our army has a dedicated place to stay,” he replied. “They’ll join us in a moment.”

“Fucking Fates, we need to get going,” I spat out, checking the angle of the sun to gauge the time.

Viktor’s sage eyes swept over me, taking in my rumpled attire. “Have fun saying goodbye to Taya?”

A wolfish grin spread across my lips. “You could say that.”

The courtyard in front of Este Castle buzzed with activity, and my skin itched with the need to be on our way. Endre and Vadim appeared moments later, but only Endre led a horse. The council would rule in my stead while we were gone, and as usual, the High Lords had given their sons permission to represent their interests while we met with the other realms.

“Where is your horse, Vadim?” I frowned.

“I need to stay behind and manage the army. The three of you will travel faster without me,” he replied, rubbing a hand against his scraggly beard.

I scanned the three of them, all wearing identical hardened expressions. With the looming threat of the Iron Realm marching on us, everyone’s stress was at an all-time high. Not that anyone but us knew exactly why they would respond with such ferocity. Since our return, I’d had to do a damn good job of fanning the flames of fear and snuffing out whispered questions as to why we should be afraid. Not that anyone really questioned me anymore. I’d made a show of strength from the moment I returned as their rightful king.

That included creating this army. Vadim staying behind to oversee the development of our fighters wasn’t the worst idea.

“Fine. Let’s get going,” I said, stomping my foot into the stirrup and swinging my leg over my stallion’s back. My friends joined me in their saddles, and I tapped Fek’s sides with my heels to move him along, steering him in the direction of the open gate. The Night Fae stopped in their tracks as we passed, some wide-eyed in awe of their king. I waved to them, casually adjusting the Night Crown so it glinted in the summer sun.

The streets of Vaenor were overcrowded, and in every direction warriors clad in leather armor dipped in and out of taverns and shops. But the Night Fae parted for their king, and we had a clear path through with my subjects bowing to me along the main thoroughfare out of town.

This all too familiar ride seemed to bring with it more and more pain, and I gritted my teeth until we finally crossed the bridge leading out of Vaenor and into the woods beyond. My two closest friends and I wasted no time bringing our horses to a gallop and speeding off into the woods in the direction of the Crystal Realm, and beyond, the Day Realm, where a new little princess would soon be introduced to the world.

And my plans would begin to unfold.