[SS]: I rewarded Korac a few dozen words early. He kept assuring me I wouldn’t appreciate this next scene. Or that it might turn me off. So here we are. Messy hair and smeared lipstick.

After our “success” at L. Capra, the Lyriks arrived. Back then, there were thousands of them across the Vast Collective.

But only one mattered.

Sorry, Pehton. I hope this story doesn’t break your heart too much.

Me at seventeen, Nox at eighteen, and Xelan at thirteen. We attended the banquet to celebrate our new guests. One struck a curiosity in me. Black eyes. Orange feathers. She was their leader.

Gale.

[SS]: He caught me frowning.

Yes. That Lyrik. The one who tried to seduce Nox and embarrassed him when he put the “leash” before her. She’d asked for us both at dinner, but then Umbra humiliated his son to the point of a hasty retreat. When Gale left the table, I knew she meant to follow him. I waited for her outside my bedroom.

You see, this wasn’t the first man or woman to show interest in Nox. I couldn’t help but notice how many of them he turned away at parties and festivals. He never danced. Never reciprocated their attentions. I could only guess at why. But when a Prince continuously spurns company, rumors spread.

Blood thirsty. Only interested in killing them so he steals anonymous girls in the night. Rapes and murders them.

Or impotent and otherwise incapable of producing heirs.

Or too unintelligent to take the hint.

To this day, I believe Umbra spread that nasty gossip.

So when Nox put the great Lyriki leader out of his apartments, I took the opportunity to protect his reputation.

“He left you unsatisfied. I can tell.”

Huffing, Gale turned to find me in the doorway of my bedchamber. The half-dressed Lyrik composed herself. Her sexual frustration soured her otherwise pleasant scent. Some kind of fruit.

The woman glared over her shoulder at Nox’s door. “I can take care of myself.”

I smirked at her. “In a race consisting only of women, I can imagine you are well equipped to do so. But would you like some company?” I swept my long hair behind me, revealing my bare chest and stomach carved from rigorous exercise. “At your will… until you make it mine.”

Gale’s black eyes sparkled. Her scent sweetened once more, and I decided I’d enjoy this assignment. Her armor receded even more as she followed me into the room. Immediately, she tried to take my face in her hands and kiss me.

I gripped her wrists, squeezing until she stopped.

“What—Are we not—”

“Quiet, Gale.” I placed a finger firmly on her lips. “You will not touch me here. You will shut your eyes, and you will keep your mouth closed until I tell you to open it.”

Her eyes widened. As I took my finger away and hovered my lips closer to hers, she sighed and softened against me. Gale yielded to my control without resistance.

“Can you smell that I want you?”

She nodded, her breath coming quicker. On a raspy inhale, she tried to reach for me.

I stopped her. “No. No touching. The next time you try, I will punish you. Do you want that?”

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It took a while of her searching my face before she licked her lips and shook her head “no.”

“With your consent, I will do what I want to you in this room. If you want me to stop, tap your foot twice. Until then…” I opened the sizable trunk at the foot of my bed and smirked at the enticement in her eyes. Withdrawing a few choice items, I promised myself to work out the cravings I’d neglected for years.

With Gale.

The whip lay on top, but I set it aside for now. Far too intense for a first time engagement, but maybe for subsequent visits.

Instead, I handed her the bit. She put it in her own mouth. I strapped it in. Blindfolded her. Shackled her hands behind her back. All the while, she kept her word. So, I stood her straight and kissed her neck from behind. Sucked over her pulse. Grazed my teeth there.

I breathed in deep of her scent.

Still good to go.

I put my hands on her and dug my nails into the joint of her hips. Her purring was acceptable. Her ass grinding against me was an intriguing invitation. All the while, the armor receded until she was left bare to me.

I accepted what she offered.

For the first time, I explored someone under my own volition. We both consented. We both asked for this. If Gale could talk, she would beg for it. Especially given my generosity. Her pleasure from my fingers intoxicated me. The headiness of her scent encouraged me to continue. I wanted her panting at the bit. Begging for more. Breaking our terms so I could punish her.

I reduced Gale to a puddle after a few hours. She wept from more than her eyes. Begged until she choked on it. With every broken term, I sank my teeth into somewhere new in her. Wrist, bend of her elbow, below her ribs, her inner thighs—the poor thing.

Her kerosene blood mixed with sweat and tears. I enjoyed it. When I strained myself into oblivion, I walked Gale to the trunk and made her stand on it. I stood behind her, and I reined on the bit until her back arched sweetly for me. Until she sobbed from the angle. And just when she couldn’t take anymore, I gave her what she begged for.

Gale screamed against the thick leather in her teeth.

It was so hard to find subs who kept to the terms. She was no exception, but she was my first intercourse partner of my free will. We satisfied each other plenty.

Until we finished.

I knew something was wrong.

Night dissipated into dawn. The final climax rocked us simultaneously to a gentle curl on the bed together. After we shared a few heavy breaths, she spun on me. The blindfold fell. Her makeup was smeared all over her tear-stained face, flushed under her black skin. Ruffled feathers. Breathing too fast. Eyes too wild. She searched around as if she forgot where she was.

“One moment, Gale. Let me release you. You have nothing to fear here.” I reached for the bit, and she shrank away as if we weren’t just engaged in great sex. “Gale.” I made my voice firmer.

She went still and allowed me to unbuckle the bit. Let me reach around to remove the cuffs. And then I followed my instincts and backed away from her. All the way across the room, almost onto the balcony.

Feral, Gale felt herself all over. The bruises and holes from my bites. The soreness of the restraints. Her swollen lips. For a moment, she closed her eyes and seemed to drink in the sensations. Savoring them.

I wouldn’t mind doing that myself, but not while she seemed so frazzled. I worried at her response.

When she opened her eyes again, a coldness seeped into them. Gale regained her composure and covered herself in armor. Without a word, she got off my bed and left my chambers.

I stared after her for a while, pondering the ramifications. I wondered about my first time with someone that I wanted to be with and kept reliving it to understand what went wrong.

Gale visited Cinder many times after that for parties and strategy councils, but she treated me as if I didn’t exist. I tried to find her alone and open a dialog with her. To check exactly when she felt uncomfortable and if I missed the signal. Perhaps it was too intense for her. But I never found her alone or willing to speak to me.

Then one night, I overheard her discussing strategy with Amolot. They arranged figures on a board and pointed at various weaknesses. Called out solutions.

Gale stretched over and moved a set of figures. Casually, she instructed, “You can deploy the ‘contaminant’ here…”

That was enough for me. I couldn’t undo it, and she wasn’t willing to discuss it. I no longer cared.

Not long after this, Xelan joined Nox and Korac for our mission to Monarch 3. What a fucking disaster. They tried to force us to wipe out an entire hive. After which, Xelan announced the secession of Icarean forces from Enki’s campaigns. He was only fifteen and put the Tritans in their place.

“I will take no part in genocide.”

Nox glared at him.

I smirked.

Eminent Lance nodded. “Of course, Prince Xelan. We sent you with that very notion in mind. We knew you would prevent their demise.”

Umbra snarled, wordlessly.

Xelan pressed, “I am no mock leader like my father. Nor am I a good soldier like my brother.”

My eyebrows popped high as I glanced at Nox.

In Nox’s Verse, at this point he referred to Xelan as “the rightful leader of our planet” as the young Prince declared, “Your aid for Cinder so far amounts to very little. And I know what you needed here. I know what you can do. Yet you do nothing for us. Do not call on Cinder again. The Icari will not serve you one more time until our people no longer starve.”

At nineteen, I was impressed and a little turned on.

Nox, at twenty, looked mortified but ready to take down all of Enki for his younger brother.

And oh, the destruction Xelan wrought.