A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 3)(22)

Please, Nyfain, I begged, unable to handle the onslaught. Tears streamed down my face. Help me, Nyfain, please!

His hold on me through the bond increased to a death grip.

His answering feeling was clear: Mine!

It felt as if the golden dragon were rearing up and spreading his wings over us. His power vibrated through the loose threads the demons had frayed from our bond, stitching everything back together again. He’d broken me and remade me so many times, it was muscle memory at this point.

His hard cock pounded into me, beating back the pain. Combating it with the hard crush of pleasure. The peaks of my breasts rubbed against his hard chest. I scratched down his back and heard his roar of pleasure. The sensations throbbed within me, harder, faster, bigger, and then I exploded, crying out with my orgasm and clutching him, the feelings so vivid they felt absolutely real.

In my mind’s eye, I continued to envision two lines of gleaming golden scales down his back. I envisioned those protective wings shining in the buttery-yellow sun, the great golden dragon who would once again be the pride of Wyvern someday. He would do us all proud. A comforting hum vibrated through the bond, and I slipped into darkness.





SEVEN





FINLEY





The cool stone was a welcome relief against my overly hot front. Two weeks had passed since I was presented to Dolion. I’d blacked out from the pain of their…magical exfoliation? Whipping? Beating?

Apparently, they’d done all three.

Their goal hadn’t been to beat me to death, but if I hadn’t passed out, that was exactly what would have happened.

It seemed they’d never encountered someone like me before, with the ability to use her will as a strong physical presence and an incredibly powerful alpha dragon mate to feed her power. They wailed on me, and I guessed I’d struck out hard with my will, slashing and stabbing and maiming with the help of Nyfain’s power boost.

I’d given them a bit of a scare.

They’d reacted by trying to pound me into unconsciousness. When they finally succeeded, they’d beaten me a little more for good measure. Govam was the one who’d pulled them off, and it had been universally agreed that they would need to try something else to get the stench off. Their magic wasn’t gonna do it.

Thank fuck.

I’d heard all of this secondhand from Vemar, who had excellent hearing and made an art of eavesdropping. He’d heard Govam telling a guard about it when they dropped Jedrek off for a while before his big debut. Perhaps they thought Jedrek might calm me down or something. They really didn’t have a clue.

It had taken three days to recover from Dolion’s Great Cock-Up, and then the officers dragged me up to the top floor of the dungeon, strapped me to a whipping post in the back corner, and had another go. Those fuckers were good, too. They hurt me just enough for Nyfain to bring me to orgasm, then gave me a day or two to recover before they did it again. They knew I wouldn’t intentionally lash out with my will due to the threat of being beaten to death.

My life was pain now, but Nyfain made sure it was always mixed with pleasure. What a crazy fucking afterlife I was living at present. Horrible but good at the same time. A fucking nightmare…and an exquisite daydream when in the moment.

Despite all the torment, I’d never once reached for the sword. Not in the height of danger, or when they were changing shackles and I had a few seconds to spare. That was probably why I still had it wrapped around my waist. They took it off for whippings and gave it back with a snicker afterward.

Ha-ha, fuckers. I don’t know how to use this fine sword. Hilarious joke.

The guards didn’t seem to take such enjoyment from their jobs, eyeing the sword warily before stoically carrying out their orders. I liked them much better for it.

I squeezed my hand around Nyfain’s letter, which I held for comfort when I got back from being whipped. Govam had returned my clothes as promised. Nyfain’s letter had been replaced with a note of Govam’s, indicating under which stone the letter was now hidden. Some were loose at the back of the cell, and one of them had a somewhat deep hole under it.

Why the fuck Govam was so cool about some things and a lying sack of shit about others, I did not know. Mind-fuckery, probably. A means of breaking prisoners. I had to be on my guard. There was no kindness here. Not from the demons, at any rate. I couldn’t let myself think otherwise.

“You bring this on yourself, you know,” Jedrek said, sitting in the corner of the cell with his legs pulled up and hugged close with his arms. His hair was mussed but recently cut, his clothes were plain but freshly laundered, and he didn’t have any dirt streaks.

“Do I really?” I asked, catching sight of Vemar down in his cell, sitting with his shoulder propped against the bars, listening. A couple of others edged up closer to their bars as well, mostly quiet except for some rustling of straw or clothes. I was pretty sure my bickering with Jedrek, whenever the demons brought him back to “cheer me up,” was a source of entertainment.

“If you’d stop talking back to them, they wouldn’t have any reason to beat you, or whip you…or whatever it is they do.”

“You know what, that right there is why our forced relationship is going to stand the test of time. It’s your attention to detail regarding my affairs. I feel like you really listen when I talk, you know? You really pay attention to what’s going on in my life.”