Chapter 33

S he’d unleashed a beast.

Ever since their first sensual escapade of wild lovemaking, Kaxim transformed into an insatiable love machine.

He couldn’t get enough of her.

From sunrise to sundown, he found ways of pleasuring her, undoing her, making her scream.

One time, he located her in the washroom and lifted her, impaling her on his cock, pounding into her from behind as she begged for more.

In another instant, after their generals had filed out of their war room late one night, he spread her on its vast table.

Among the scrolls and battle plans, he’d bunched her robe up.

Shucking her lacy undergarments and drilled his shaft into her while she bucked into him, hissing at him, urging him on.

If he wasn’t thrusting into her, he was lavving her.

His mouth was like nothing else she’d ever experienced.

It didn’t help that the man used the filthiest, dirtiest speech in bed to make her wild. ‘Woman, my fokkin’ focus is on how many licks it’ll take to make your thighs quake, to make you waterfall with cum.’

He followed it with a session where he proved it, making her scream. Her legs shook around his crown as he brought her to pleasure over and over, drowning her in ecstasy.

One morning, as she sipped her kahawa , staring out at the undulating hills before the k?lajan , he came up behind her.

Hands slid down her body, pulling her snug to his torso.

In his customary gruff fashion, all he did was grunt into her throat as he slowly pulled the edges of her robe up to her waist.

Seconds later, his thick, sinewed fingers sunk past her abdomen, brushing her mound and sliding into her slit.

She gasped, clutching her cup tight.

‘Kaxim,’ she warned. ‘I’m going to spill my -.’

He tugged the vessel from her hand and threw her back over his chest and shoulder, striding to the daybed facing the private outdoor view.

He bent his silver head with the wind whispering over their skins and the morning birds’ calling from the trees. He canted one thigh to the lounge, widened her as far as her legs would part, and drank.

She bucked, gripping his air as his tongue whipped across her clit.

His fingers sunk into her pussy as he suckled, licked, and worshiped her.

Until she was a mess, her magenta and scarlet tresses flying on the back of the divan behind her. Hands on her nipples, pulling at them to extend her pleasure.

With a white-hot explosion, she orgasmed, giving tiny screams, long gone in ecstasy.

He surged to her, lips anointing hers, sharing her essence with her as his scorching, thick cock plunged into her.

He thrust and jacked so hard his cock head struck her cervix and upper tummy.

Still, she wanted more.

She widened even further, mad for this man, loving how brutal and beastly he was in bed.

His face was rigid, his expression more severe, yet in those eyes was a wild passion for her.

His lips fell on hers once more, and they kissed with such abandon until he lowered his head to her breast, suckling her nipple powerfully into his mouth.

She screamed as her bliss hit one more time, this time in a crashing wave, her pussy rippling, clenching, and squeezing his length so tight he, too, blew.

Hips jerking, cock spurting as jets of his white-hot release bathed her cervix.

He slicked in and out of her for many long minutes, breath harsh and ragged against her nape.

It was times like these when their bond was most intense.

Lying next to each other, their bodies close but their souls even closer, the connection would hum between them like the softest of whispers.

Kaxim closed his eyes, savoring Liana’s heartbeat as if it were his own. The steady rhythm soothed him in a way nothing else could.

And Liana, in turn, stretched out to him through their khamana , offering a sensual caress, comfort, love, and an unspoken understanding.

When he finally pulled back, he remained rooted in her, his solemn silver storm eyes on her. He reached a hand and stroked her cheek.

‘You are my world, Liana,’ he grated.

It’s the most he’d ever said about his feelings for her.

‘I love you too, my mighty Katánian gyrfalcon,’ she ventured with a small smile.

He raised a brow. ‘Is that what this is? Love?’

‘Don’t you think so?’ she asked, a slight panic rising.

His lips, often pressed tight in a slash of grimness, turned up at the end.

He chose his words with care, hesitating over some. ‘I think it more than love; it’s rapture because what we feel for each other transcends our reality. Like a prophesized exhalation, it’s a new heaven, a captivation, enthrallment, and bewitching that exists in an unfamiliar realm.’

Her eyes widened in shock as she traced a finger along his mouth. ‘That’s such an exquisite, beautiful way of putting it. Who knew? Behind his stoic mask, there lies a poet.’

‘You’ve made me one, sahasí . You’ve turned this black soul into a believer.’

She kissed him, slow and tender until he shifted her and sunk his cock into her once more with a growl.

KaKos, seething with rage over KySyene’s humiliation, rallied his forces and marched on the sacred Ilkanite shrine complex at Kelchis.

His K?str?l warriors stormed the grounds, brutally slaughtering the priests and acolytes who tried in vain to defend their holy site.

Screams of terror and agony echoed through the blood-stained halls as KaKos strode through the carnage, his eyes gleaming with malice. He would make the Ilkanites pay dearly for his loss at KySyene.

‘Burn it all!’ he bellowed to his men. ‘Leave nothing but ashes!’

As the temple rose in flames, KaKos turned to the next target: the Ilkanite border city of Kaswa. He would take it and crush any remaining resistance.

Miles away in her war encampment, Liana received word of the atrocities at Kelchis.

Ja’Kan delivered the news in person as the royal couple seated at luncheon on the terrace of Kaxim’s k?lajan .

Liana sat up straight, listening as her attendant recounted the horrors at Kelchis.

‘My heart aches for the lives lost, the sacred ground defiled.’

‘Let me go after him, kavisi ,’ Kaxim growled at her.

The day was beautiful, breathtaking, with the sun spilling over the garrison and view beyond, the breeze ruffling her crimson hair.

The view of the southern plains stretched before them. For a moment, Liana wished she was free to soar from here over the stunning undulating hills in the distance and escape the madness with her lover.

But they were in a conflict, and she sighed, saddened for the people KaKos was still tormenting.

‘I have to try my hand at diplomacy, my love,’ she countered, stroking her husband’s arm. ‘I can’t be seen as a war-hungry Kwen? , sacrificing the lives of my warriors and citizens for glory.’

Kaxim knifed up in his seat beside her, rose, pacing the terrace. ‘Fokk tactfulness. The traitor needs a sāb?r run through him.’

Giving her menacing husband a warning glance, she turned to Ja’Kan. Ask K’Lita and Nakan to fly to Kelchis with a squad at once. They’ll need to go to the K?str?ls under a flag of truce. Tell them I am prepared to return their captives from KySyene in exchange for ending hostilities.’

Ja’Kan bowed and left to do her bidding.

‘A bold gambit,’ Kaxim growled.

‘It’s one I hope might stay KaKos’ hand and prevent further bloodshed. But know this kadari , even as our envoys depart, I harbor little real expectation the K?str?ls will listen.’

Her fears were founded a few days later when the two councilors returned, bearing grim tidings.

‘KaKos has razed Kelchis to the ground, my Queen,’ Elder K’Lita reported, her head inclined in sorrow as she addressed Liana in the camp war room. ‘He took many of our people captive, and he rejected your offer of peace.’

Liana closed her eyes for a moment, absorbing the blow. Then she nodded. ‘So be it. KaKos does not want to negotiate. He’s just signed his fate.’

Kaxim was slicking in and out of his Queen, lips to her nape, growling into her neck as his desire shook his thick thighs.

Underneath him, Liana trembled, her skin on fire as she approached a storm of bliss.

‘ Kadari ,’ she moaned, ‘oh my love, fokk me harder.’

He obliged as they rode the waves of ecstasy, his hips pistoning hard.

A loud sound blared overhead, so deafening it rattled the k?lajan’s walls.

Kaxim froze mid-stroke. ‘Fokk. War horns?’

He glowered down at his woman, his face still lost in lust, and grimaced. ‘We need to move.’

‘We do, but I’m so close, kadari .’

‘Fokkin’ come now!’

He growled the words just as they both combusted, and they spent a few precious moments shuddering through their orgasmic bliss.

‘ Hotdamnfokkinhellandfeathers ,’ Kaxim snarled as he pulled out of her, hating the unbidden interruption.

Seconds later, they cleaned up and tugged on the closest available clothing, their faces grim.

As Liana scrabbled for her weapon, she hissed as the horns blared again.

‘The K?str?ls have made their maneuver,’ she told Kaxim, lips pressed in a dour twist. ‘If they think they can conquer my kingdom, they are gravely mistaken.’

They rushed out of their sleeping quarters and into the war room, where maps stretched across wooden tables, illuminated by the flickering glow of oil lamps.

Advisors, generals, and elders murmured, their voices swelling and ebbing like the tide. The mood in the command tent was tense, the air thick with tension and the scent of sweat and steel.

All eyes turned to her as Liana swept into the room, her presence commanding silence.

Kaxim marched by her side as she approached Kione, who was brooding over the íkan infused map showing troop movements.

‘While you two were fokkin’ like jackrabbits,’ the Katánian Second Armorer growled, his voice a rumble only the pair could hear, ‘the K?str?ls launched a fresh military campaign to annex Kaswa and assert their regional dominance.’

‘Watch your damn language,’ Kaxim snarled, taking a threatening step toward his friend.

‘Stop it, you two,’ Liana warned. ‘This is not the time for dick twirling. Let’s get this started.’

She took her place at the head of the table, her expression unreadable but her gaze simmering.

She was dressed in her battle attire, a dark leather corset reinforced with metal plates, her crimson flaming hair tied back.

Kaxim stood at her side, his muscular frame towering over the council members, his jaw set in hard lines.

Outside, through the view of the íkan infused k?lajan walls, the sky over KySyene was thick with the movement of winged warriors—the air heavy with the promise of conflict.

‘Along the southern borders, word has already spread like wildfire—the K?str?l army has launched a sustained assault on Kaswa,’ Kione reported, his voice clipped and urgent. ‘The city lies on the other side of the border from El Kamos in Katánē. The bilateral trade across its checkpoint amounts to a third of our volume, making Kaswa’s loss fokkin’ significant. The enemy aims to control the key paths to Ilkan and have a direct route for incursion.’

Kaxim’s dark eyes flicked toward Liana, seated opposite the table, her face grim but composed.

She didn’t flinch, though she grasped the gravity of Kione’s words. Ilkan’s independence was at stake, and the K?str?l armies were relentless in their ambition.

‘We can’t let them secure those commerce routes,’ Liana said. ‘If they do, it won’t be long before they attempt a full invasion. Ilkan will fall if they get through.’

‘The K?str?ls are strong,’ RyKin began, his voice laced with frustration. ‘Their forces have been spotted advancing across the southern borders, and their encampments grow daily. We estimate their full strength will arrive within the week.’

‘Ahead of them is a wave of Ilkanites running from the crisis that has displaced thousands and left millions needing assistance,’ K’Lita added.

Elder Nakan shook his head, shaking with rage. ‘I hear in Kelchis that the K?str?ls, forced to fight on multiple fronts, have intensified their strikes and announced a policy of mandatory conscription. They’re enslaving Ilkanites for their cause.’

Liana listened in silence, her fingers brushing the edge of the map.

‘If they want war, we’ll give them one. But we can’t wait for them to come to us. We need to be proactive. I won’t sit back and watch them pick off our southern territories one by one.’

Kaxim nodded beside her, his hand squeezing on the hilt of his sword. ‘The K?str?ls’ generals are skilled at conventional warfare and will use their sheer numbers to overwhelm us if they can. But they’re also overconfident,’ he said, his voice steady and commanding. ‘They’ve spread their troops thin, assuming we’ll be too afraid to counter. That’s their mistake.’

Liana stood, her hand resting on the table’s edge as she began pacing. ‘But before they can even make another move, let’s strike them where they least expect it. We’ll advance fast and launch a surprise attack, something the S ā b ?r Hawks are adept at and can lead on.’

She and her husband exchanged glances.

Kaxim’s expression was unreadable, but his eyes showed a gleam of respect. His woman had grown into her role as queen—strong, decisive, and unafraid to act.

General RyKin stepped forward, his brow furrowed. ‘A shock-offensive, Your Majesty? That’s a risky strategy.’

Liana’s gaze was unwavering. ‘It’s a necessary one.’

‘Agreed,’ Kaxim said, stepping in. ‘We’ll split our response,’ he said, ever the pragmatist, his tone measured. ‘I’ll direct the vanguard in an ambush aerial raid with my Hawks. We’ll take the K?str?l forces off-guard, hit them from the skies, throw them off balance, and create chaos, destabilizing them. They’re testing our defenses, but they’re underestimating us. We can push them back if we strike now before they entrench themselves.

He turned to Liana. ‘Meanwhile, Kwen? , you’ll remain here to oversee the second wave onslaught. Once I’ve sent word, your troops can pound hard and fast.’

Liana stopped pacing, her gaze meeting his. ‘It’s risky. But if it works, we’ll drive them out of Lower Katánē and protect Ilkan.’

Kaxim’s lips curled into a rare, grim smile. ‘The K?str?l army won’t know what hit them.’

Liana exhaled, nodding. ‘Then it’s settled. I’ll prepare the units for the second wave offensive. We’ll hit them with everything we’ve got as soon as your raid disrupts their lines.’

Kione, who had been watching the exchange with quiet intensity, cleared his throat. ‘I’ll make sure the second wave is fortified and work with Liana to reassign the resources to sustain the campaign.’

Liana shot him a grateful look before turning back to Kaxim.

Their soul bond rippled, a shared understanding of the enormity of the task ahead.

The room fell silent, each man and woman in the war council absorbing the plan. RyKin exchanged a glance with the other generals, then nodded. ‘It’s bold, but it just might succeed.’

‘It will,’ Liana corrected, her voice leaving no room for doubt. ‘It fokkin’ has to.’