Deanneth When Clara decided on a whim that she wanted to chat with my half-brother, at first the thought annoyed me. I suppose my brother still had his charm intact. He was supposed to be the leader of the Dark Shade after Arinauld died. My sire had taught him well, or maybe his regal bearing was far more authentic than mine. There was a flavor of noble melancholy about him as well. Perhaps that was what drew her to him. I congratulated my brother’s cunning. I guess the old devil still had it in him. Obviously, Bruess needed to be disciplined, but the thought bored me. I had years of experience of thinking up new ways to humiliate Bruess, but he was surprisingly resilient. The problem with tormenting my brother was that the other werewolves of the pack were starting to notice his strength. He bore each new punishment with fatalistic grace that annoyed me. He was starting to win back the admiration of the pack, and I knew that he still had the ears of several Councilors, including Lor
DeannethIn between dreamless sleep, I heard someone pound at my door. I had half a mind to tear them limb from limb. No one was allowed to disturb my sleep unless the Quarter was on fire.“Lord Deanneth. Emperor Deanneth!”It was Felix. I groaned and rubbed my eyes.“Stop pounding the damn door and come in already,” I said.He opened the door in a rush, and I watched him from my bed. “You seem to be missing someone,” I said coolly. “Surely you did not come back here without a certain lady that I expressly told you to protect?”If his brown face could turn pale, it would do so right now. A sullen look was on his face, but it did him credit that he seemed remorseful for the time being. “Your half-brother shut me out of his rooms. I told Clara to come, but she refused.”I sat up straight and interrogated Felix. “Let me get this straight. I told you in no uncertain terms to stick to Clara like her second shadow. I told you that you would end up in a soup if you didn’t do this for me. I a
ClaraFingers stroked my hair. I saw my father in the distance shuffling parchment on his desk. Someone hummed a soothing melody, and I listened to it. My mother held me in her arms. “You’re going to have a little sister.” Her fingers grasped mine and pushed them onto her swollen belly. “We’re going to call her Elena.”“Elena,” I burbled happily. My small hands patted my mother’s stomach, and I giggled when I felt a kick. “You’re going to protect her and make sure that she’s loved. Even if they say terrible things about her, even if they say she’s not really your father’s. You’re going to always be there for her.” **I was half-asleep when I heard voices murmuring in the darkness. Someone massaged my neck, and I moaned in pain.“Ugh, what in hells is that smell?” said a low voice. “It’s not the regular slum stench.”“Vamp blood. You better get used to it. They’re going to be crawling out of the woodwork now.”There was a sound of disgust. “Is that what that is? Smells like old b
DeannethWhen the girl was asleep, I found that I was fascinated by the whorls in her hair. In Lycaneum society, plain brunette hair was common and nothing remarkable. I was disappointed at first when I met Clara. Loretta had soft blonde hair that was so light, it could have passed as white.I touched her hair and let her auburn brown locks slide over my skin like silk threads. Clara mumbled in her sleep, but I continued to let her hair slip through my fingers. I had drawn the curtains of my chambers so that she could sleep better. But some rays peeked through the room, and her hair transformed into shining golden locks. There was an understated beauty to her hair, and it hypnotized me.I touched her neck, and she still was ice cold. I got up and threw several logs into the fireplace. It was hot as hells in the chamber, and sweat dripped out of every pore of my body. I let my fingers slip over her breasts, and she felt like unbroken snow on a winter’s day.I suppose I should’ve called
Trigger Warning: This chapter may include explicit sexual content. Please read at your own risk. Clara Everything felt so cold and blurry. My eyes only saw misty shapes in the room. I felt his powerful body pushing up against me, and I greedily drank in that heat of life and desire. Deanneth pushed my legs apart, and then he pressed his tongue up against my thighs. I wanted him more than anything. I wanted him to extinguish that horrible vamp’s scent and skin from memory, and I wanted him to replace it with his sweat and blood. Anything would do. Even this. I pushed his head down harder, and I heard him chuckle. “You little whore,” he whispered, and goosebumps trickled all over my skin. “Very well. I’ll give you what you want. All you have to do is say ‘please.’” I don’t know why my heart raced. I don’t even know why I was allowing this to happen. I wanted to breathe and feel alive. I wondered if despair was a part of it too. I gasped as his tongue pierced deep inside me, and I
Trigger Warning: This chapter may include explicit sexual content. Please read at your own risk. Deanneth She amused me, but her helplessness made me want to crush her in my arms. I wanted to devour her whole. Every essential part of her – I wanted to absorb her very soul and make her a part of myself. I pushed her down and listened to her soft mews. She reminded me of a lost kitten in the rain. Poor little dear. Her bravado amounted to nothing, but a kitten can still bite. Her cheeks burned red, but her indignity only charmed me all the more. I don’t remember the last time I had a virgin – I relished the idea of sampling this rare delight. I shifted my hips and felt strangely reverent. I’d be her first. Her claws dug into my back, and despite the sharp pain, I grinned. Did she claw me because of her fear, or was it desire? I kissed her long and hard. I wanted to taste the sweetness of her tongue. Her moans excited me, and I retracted my claws. I slid one finger slowly into her s
Mateo I sat on the castle walls made of ancient gray bricks. The winter storm had abated, and snowflakes flurried down harmlessly onto the ground. The Wilds were a far cry from my homeland – back home I had never even seen snow before. That was almost two hundred years ago, but the memories of my youth were still fresh in my mind. Maybe it was because I was relatively young, compared to the others. I still remember the taste and scent of fresh oranges. I remembered what a rare treat it was to rip their thick skins off and devour them like a barbarian. It was a pleasant memory that I still smile at. It wasn’t like that with the Elder Ones, but so it goes. All good and bad things pass away with time. I had a vellum notebook in my hand and a charcoal pencil to sketch out the castle battlements. Supposedly, I was to mark any problems with our castle’s defenses, but wasn’t that a bit of a joke? Torieux employed several human magicians to create a barrier that obscured the appearance of th
ClaraEverything ached. I took snatches of sleep whenever I could, but it was hard to calm my nerves down enough to rest. It was especially hard when Prince Legiere also woke up now and then beside me. Most of the time, he would yawn, doze off, and sleep with his arms cradled around me.But sometimes he would wake me up and play with me, and then he wouldn’t let me sleep until we both lay on the bed gasping for air.The sharp, excruciating pain between my thighs soon ebbed into a dull ache. Sometimes, it almost felt better when he pushed his cock inside me and made me squirm with pleasure. He liked it rough – that much I should’ve known from the outset. I had held on to some fragile hope that he would be tender and loving with me, but now I wanted to laugh at how deluded I was.If any servant or royal healer came into the room, Prince Legiere would rouse himself, yawn, and then throw things like vases or books at them. He barked at them to leave, and they scattered away to the four co