Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“I do not care about that!” I exclaimed. “And I am no visitor—I am a member of the Royal Family. Take me to the Throne Room at once!”
The guard bowed.
“As you wish,” he said uneasily. “Though I must warn you, Princess, that you may see something that is not to your liking.”
“I am confident I will—seeing my cousin upon the throne where my father used to sit is very much not to my liking,” I snapped, as he escorted me briskly through the Summer Palace halls. My soft slippers made almost no sound on the white marble flagstones.
The guard made no answer and soon we were at the carved golden double doors which led to the Throne Room of the Summer Palace. The guard knocked loudly at the doors, as though he was trying to warn those within.
“Princess Alira, once of the Summer Court, now of the Winter Court, come to visit King Asfaloth and Queen Calista!” he bellowed in a voice that nearly sent me deaf. Only then did he push open one of the doors and escort me inside.
If my cousins heard the guard’s warning bellow, they hadn’t heeded it. Asfaloth was lounging on one side of the Shining Throne with Calista on his right. She was bent over with her head in his lap and after a moment, I saw that she was openly sucking his cock, which stuck out through the fly of his golden breeches.
I felt a moment of shock—they had never been so open with their incestuous relationship before. But then, there was no one to stop them now—no one to say no. So of course, they had grown bold.
“Ah, Cousin Alira,” Asfaloth greeted me, while his sister continued to work on him. “To what do we owe the honor?”
“To the fact that you have my husband.” I marched down to the front of the Throne Room and stood with my hands on my hips, glaring up at the two of them. “I am here to collect him—give him back at once!” I demanded.
I had calculated that it was best to appear proud at first and then look shaken and sad, as though they had beaten me when they refused my request to hand over Liath—as I was sure they would.
Sure enough, Asfaloth laughed at me.
“Do you hear this, dear sister? Our little cousin demands that we release that brute she calls her husband!” he chortled.
“Mmm-hmm,” was Calista’s only reply—but then, she did have her mouth full of cock.
“Now that you are King of the Seelie Realm, you can release prisoners of war,” I insisted.
“Yes, now that I am King.” Asfaloth smirked at me and I longed to wipe the smug expression off his face.
“How did my father die, anyway?” I asked.
“He passed in his sleep. So very sad.” Asfaloth made a face of mock sorrow. “Alas, the Royal physician could find no cause of death.”
I wondered if the physician had thought to check for traces of poison. I’d had a pet cat once—little more than a kitten—when I was a girl. Calista had given the poor little thing something that caused her to contort her fury body and yowl in terrible pain before she finally foamed at the mouth and died. After that, I had never dared to have another pet, for fear that a similar fate would befall it.
“So a Fae of healthy middle age simply dies in his sleep?” I demanded.
Asfaloth spread his hands.
“As you see. Ah! Have a care with your teeth, sister dear!” he added, in an undertone to Calista. He looked back at me. “And do you think now that you should sit the Shining Throne? The sad little Princess with no magic?”
I was glad that reports of my magic had not crossed the Great Divide. It was better if they thought me completely helpless.
I shook my head.
“No—you are welcome to the Shining Throne. All I ask is that you give me back my husband, so that we can return to The Winter Court together.”
Asfaloth glared at me.
“After the way he humiliated me at your farce of a Joining? I think not! He’s rotting in a prison made of iron bars down in the dungeon and that is where he’s going to stay.” He made a shooing motion at me with one beringed hand. “So you’d best just scoot on back to the Unseelie Court with all the half-breeds and monsters where you belong. For Liath Blackthorn is never leaving.”
At this, Calista stopped sucking her brother and shot a venomous glare at me.
“Did you hear that, you little brat?” she hissed, swiping at her mouth which was shiny with spittle and her brother’s precum. “You’re never getting your beast of a husband back! So you might as well tuck your tail between your legs and scuttle back to the Winter Court where you belong!”