28. Dark Lord Balen

"What do you think, Lexa? Is she or is she not a suitable queen for the Dark King of Tanselm?" I nodded to Lidra.

She lay still beneath the overhead grayish-green canopy of leaves in her inner court. The dais and several tables still stood where they had only hours ago, when the council had debated Alandra's homecoming.

"You're kidding me, right?" My sister sounded amused. At least she'd lost that rosy glow of innocence that had been so vexing when we'd first found her.

I sighed. "She is pathetic, isn't she?" We studied Lidra, aware an Aellein blood drinker, while rare, was not entirely a new creation.

"What did you do to her?" Lexa stared at Lidra without expression, no fan of the Aellei.

"A bit of this, a bite of that," I teased, pleased that Darkness threatened to smother Lidra's glowing form.

Ah well. I'd fed too long, ingested too much of the Aellein queen's magic. Still, even in her downward spiral toward madness, she kept her beauty. Her need for youth and grandeur remained her last tether to sanity.

"Next time finish her so I don't have to witness such waste." Lexa looked peeved, her pale eyes glimmering like stars in the shadows. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing the Light Bringers soon."

"But of course, sister mine," I said with a lightness I was far from feeling. Though I longed to finally kill Arim, I couldn't quite extinguish my fear of the notorious sorcerer. "I look forward to dealing with them all, especially with you by my side."

She walked away in silence.

Fair enough. No need to utter false platitudes. I knew Lexa well enough not to trust her. Sure, she'd told me what Sin Garu had been doing, but not until the last possible moment, when it seemed my brother had lost his way.

Her allegiance shifted with the wind, floating one way then another. The key to Lexa was knowing what made her tick. Unfortunately, I didn't know anymore. Once, I'd commanded her obedience to the letter. But now I didn't know where she went when she left our stronghold in Malern.

I would have asked my brother, but I hesitated to give Sin the impression I wasn't as in control as I ought to be.

I still held sway over the queen, though. I toyed with her, sending her a command she readily obeyed. Lidra played with herself for any passerby to see. I couldn't tell how much of her hedonistic side came from me and how much she'd had before I'd bitten her.

Lidra had always been a bitch in heat, but perhaps not an exhibitionist.

No matter. She would debase herself now whenever I told her to. A sexual puppet dancing on the strings I held. I had to chuckle.

Until I saw Lexa shake her head then glare back at me before she disappeared into the woods. Disapproved, did she?

One thing I knew about my uptight sister—she had a history with Arim, one that I intended to use to my advantage should the fucking sorcerer finally show his face.

Lidra brought herself to orgasm then started again, her appetite for pleasure insatiable since becoming a blood drinker. I understood the hunger, knowing it all too well myself.

I nodded to several of my wraiths standing in the shadows. They left and returned with a hapless Aellei, an immature Der still sparkling with the bloom of youth. The young warrior stared with helpless fascination at his writhing queen.

It didn't take much persuading to get him to drop his drawers and lay supine on the ground. She mounted him and squirmed over his dick, riding like a winged horse in flight. Up and down, the flap of her magic riding the Dark currents around them.

I waited for my favorite part of the act to unfold. Just as the warrior ejaculated into his queen, Lidra leaned down and took a bite out of his neck. A sloppy blood drinker, Lidra ate as much flesh as she drew blood, a disgusting combination that drew delighted laughter from the wraiths watching.

Her lover flailed but was no match for her empowered strength. We all watched as she ate him piece by piece, until only his rib bones, spine, and skull remained. Lidra's bloated belly stretched, distorted with the flesh she'd consumed.

The wraiths looked from her to me, and I flicked my fingers, giving them the go-ahead.

Once Lidra staggered away from the corpse, they fell upon him until nothing remained.

My enjoyment with Lidra grew tedious while I waited for Alandra to be brought to me. I wandered toward the Aellei's dungeon, an ostentatious display of how prettied up a dungeon should never be.

Just as I approached the entrance, the doors opened to reveal Alandra le Aelle guarded by half a dozen Der warriors. Zartic led the way.

His eyes widened when they met mine, and the captain stopped and bowed. His men hurried to do the same.

Pleased, I nodded. "Captain, were you perchance escorting the princess to see me?"

Zartic nodded, his gaze still downward. "Yes, my lord."

"Then it seems I've saved you a trip. Take a few of your men and clean up the queen. The council should be gathering soon, and we want our magnificent lady to look her best."

Zartic's lips pressed tight, but he said nothing and left to complete a task meant for a lesser ranked Aellei. Well, wouldn't the Der captain be in for a surprise. I smiled wickedly.

Normally, her majesty's ladies took care of the queen, but in Lidra's current state, she'd see the help as no more than dessert. At least Zartic knew to keep his mouth shut, and he'd treat his former lover with care enough to preserve her illusive dignity.

"And speaking of queens." I stared at Alandra, who was studying me as intently. Dark's Own Heart, she was stunning, a paler version of Lidra but one more lively, radiant with a winsome grace and deep-rooted sensuality.

"Balen Van Norsen, I presume?"

I wondered how soft her lips would feel around my cock, if she would milk me as hard and as often as her aunt had before I drank her blood.

"In the flesh." I walked around her, taking in the power that thrummed with her every breath. Excitement flared as I realized how close I'd come to finishing my plan to conquer Tanselm. I ached to fulfill the destiny to which I'd been born.

With the right Shadren by my side, I would create a new line of Dark Lords to rule Tanselm and every world we captured. First, Tanselm. We already had Malern. Then Aelle, and perhaps we'd venture into Seattle and grab it as well.

I reached out and would have grabbed Alandra, but she danced out of reach. Amused, I smiled, baring teeth accentuated with eight sharp fangs, four on top and four on my lower jaw.

I expected to see some fear from the girl. Even Lidra, as excited as she'd been to dance on the Dark side, had quivered at the sight of my impressive fangs.

Alandra raised a brow but didn't otherwise react.

The game grew that much more interesting.

"So, you're familiar with my kind?"

"With a blood drinker? A Dark Lord? Or did you mean a morbid, pathetic sorcerer so afraid of his own brother he tried to have him killed?"

"I think there's been some mistake," I growled and grabbed her by the hair. I yanked her down to her knees and spat, "I am Balen Van Norsen, your future king and ruler of Tanselm. Beg for mercy, bitch, and rejoice that I allow you to live to show me the respect I'm due."

She looked bored. "Respect you're due? How can I possibly respect a male who cannot stand up for himself? You used your brother's minor setback as the bottom rung in your ascension to power. What strength is there in a man who can't beat a simple Storm Lord?"

Her words kindled my fury. "You should ask Sin Garu that very question. He had ample opportunity twice, first with the Prince of Fire and again with the River Prince. But both times he failed to do what I have done with one simple bitch."

"You mean Queen Lidra?" she asked with humor, as if the pull on her hair didn't pain her when I knew it did. "She's been in thrall to sex for a millennium. Nothing you've done has been impressive in the least."

She shimmered, and an image of Lidra took her place. "You would turn me into a blood drinker?" She sounded and looked exactly like her aunt. "I can fuck for days without end. What more is a bit of bloodletting? It's only a matter of time before my true heirs succeed me."

"That's enough, Alandra." I jerked her to her feet and met her gaze.

She needed to know her place.

"Change back," I ordered.

She shimmered back into herself, her violet gaze filled with disdain. "As if your strength wasn't already in question, there's also the fact you're not nearly as attractive as your brother."

Lidra had mentioned how disagreeable Alandra could be. But now that I'd witnessed her offensive nature firsthand, I had less interest in bedding her for pleasure than to show her who ruled this world and everyone in it.

Just thinking about how much she'd hurt excited me.

I took my turgid cock from my trousers, showing her the weapon soon to give her such delicious pain. I expected tears, screams of fright, begging for mercy.

Not laughter.

"Please tell me there's more than that to play with. At least the Storm Lord had a cock to make me whimper."

I'd heard enough. I no longer knew why I'd sought Alandra. All I could think of were ways to make her pay, and dearly.

"The council won't start for a few hours yet." I showed her my fangs, realizing she must have misunderstood me. "We've gotten off on the wrong foot. I think it's time I showed you just what you don't understand about me."

I smacked her in the face and watched her fall to the ground in pain.

The fear in her eyes when she looked back at me made me warm and fuzzy inside.

"I'm not as nice as you'd think."