The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (6 page)

Chapter
Five

The human was different than he’d
expected. The presence of magic surrounded her like a bright cloud. How could
she not be using it if it was wrapped around her so? She must still be
practicing. The seer must be wrong and this meant only good news for him. This
meant she’d be ready to kill his mother much quicker than he’d originally
thought. Perhaps with a little additional training from him she’d be ready in
no time. They could leave to track the queen in as a little as a week if luck stayed
with him.

Alrik shifted the slight weight
of the human girl in his arms—she was a light thing—and scanned the area around
him before swimming down into the lake and resurfacing in the hidden cove that
lie under the slope of the beach. He rose with the human, water dripping from
their hair and clothes. Thanks to the effect of porting, she still slept. Many
couldn’t handle it especially for their first time.

His boots splashed in the
ankle-deep water as he made his way into the blackened cave that’d become his impromptu
home. He’d had many ‘homes’ since being banished by his brother Telal.
Sometimes on his travels, he would find a desolate shack or old farmhouse that
he’d steal a few nights away in, but the further he’d gone from the kingdom the
less he saw of other people.

Not much lived outside the
kingdom, and the kingdom offered the only protection against
idummi
attacks. They had a highly trained militia of
shahoulin
demon
warriors—the best in the rift. The lethal venom
idummi
carried in their
fangs would kill anything it bit unless treated promptly by someone who knew
what they were doing.

Alrik hadn’t slept well in years
it seemed. Since he was forced from his crown, his journey seemed to stretch on
endlessly. He had no one. He’d never known how much he craved companionship,
even just idle conversation, until he no longer had it.

He couldn’t even relax let alone
get a full night’s rest. Not when the
idummi
targeted him like he’d be
their next juicy snack. He’d interrogated enough
idummi
before ending
their lives to learn his mother stood behind the attacks. He couldn’t say that
surprised him. She knew he was after her and that he was shunned from his
kingdom. Which only meant that she knew he wanted to kill her. Alrik had
prepared the best he could for her because few were smarter and more cunning than
his mother. She’d set a target on his back the moment she learned of his
banishment. Now it was just a matter of time to see who died first.

Just how many
idummi
she’d
managed to rally to her cause, he didn’t know. If his mother was one thing
aside from insane, it was smart. She might have an army bigger than he could imagine.
He’d just have to prepare for the worst. He did have one benefit on his side—determination.
He wouldn’t stop. Nothing would get in his way until her royal wet blood
slipped between his fingers.

The cove he’d chosen to use was
off a small, freshwater lake in the rift. The cave was well hidden around sharp
rocks and a dangerous, steep slope that led down to the water. From atop the
slope it looked like it went down into the water and nothing else, but when one
actually walked down the slope and swam down, the slope actually gave way
underneath to a large, cavernous space.

The human mumbled to herself, her
head lolling left and right. Something tightened in his gut as he looked at
her. He didn’t like it. Gazing upon her stirred something deep inside of him.

Alrik cursed.

Who was she to try to compete
with his Arianna? She was no Arianna. Arianna was a goddess. Beautiful, shining,
dark black hair fell down to her slender waist and a graceful figure and
demeanor that could only be obtained with the best of
haute,
aristocratic
blood in her veins. This human looked nothing like his Arianna. She had hair
the color of wet dirt. It looked thin and not heavy like Arianna’s hair. She
had wide hips and more curves than Arianna, but Arianna didn’t need blatant
curves. Her graceful figure brought about attention alone.

Simply put, she wasn’t his Arianna.

Then why did his gut clench just
looking at her?

Too long without a woman, maybe.
His gaze trailed over her form once more taking in the slight span of her waist
and the flare of her hips. The sight stirred something hot buried deep inside
him. He wondered how she’d feel pressed tight against him…bare skin to bare
skin.

His cock hardened like steel.

Enough!

Alrik charged into the dark cave.
He didn’t need his sight in his place; he knew it like the edge of his sword.
He went far back into the cave, sidestepping the fire pit he’d made before he’d
left to find the human. Then he dropped the human on the sandy floor. He wasn’t
gentle about it and she gave him the response he’d been looking for. Her eyes
shot open, mouth forming a big circle as pain pinched her features. She let out
a low, husky groan that did nothing to alleviate the pressure in his groin.

“What the hell,” she groaned,
turning on her side to rub her back.

“We will talk now.”

She hadn’t been aware of him, he
realized. Now she was. Slowly her head fell back, her eyes turned up to meet
his. Recognition dawned slowly. Her eyes darted wildly around the cave filling
with panic and fear. She stood in a rush then wobbled on her feet. Panic had
her in its grip. She swung her arms out, found the wet cave wall with a hand
and then leaned towards it to steady herself, pressing both hands against it.

“What the hell’s going on? Oh my
god, where am I?”

“Be quiet. I will talk and you
will listen. Do you understand?” He hadn’t met a human in years. In his
previous experience, some were smart and others not so much. He hoped his
salvation didn’t lie in a daft girl who looked entirely too young to have the
amount of power the seer spoke of.

She turned and glared at him. The
spark of anger was good, and the cleverness he spotted in her eyes even better.
Good, she wouldn’t be daft.

“Excuse me? How about you tell me
who you are,
demon
, where I am, why I’m here, and what you want with
me?” She crossed her arms and set her light green eyes on him.

Alrik had the distinct urge to stalk
over to her and tower over her just to see her quiver in fear. She will learn
her place soon enough. Her attitude would go even quicker. He was a king, and
some lowly human would not treat him like a servant.

Alrik straightened and let the
darkness in his heart bleed out to the air around him, stifling it, biting out
the oxygen she so desperately need. The human sensed his magic. Her eyes traced
the air around her as if she could see it. Maybe she could.

Then she gasped, choking. Her
hands flew to her throat as she gagged, her lungs working hard to suck in air.
Her knees buckled and only then did he release his magic. Stepping close to
her, he looked down at her puny form with a sneer. “You do not order me around,
human. Stay down or what you just felt will only be a taste of what I’ll do to
you.”

When she looked up at him it
wasn’t with fear as he’d expected but...anger. Alrik took a step back, then
another. He had to stay away from her. Maybe she was more dangerous then he’d originally
given her credit for. She had fight in her. She wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t
easily scared. Hmm... Maybe this could turn out to be in his favor. Having a
strong witch under him, a smart one even, would be much better than a weak one.
She wouldn’t cower in fear when she saw her first
idummi
demon, which
she surely would see many of during their journey.

“Good, your lack of fear gives me
some confidence that you’ll do after all.”

“For what?” she spat, her eyes
glaring fiery hatred at him.

He loved the look. His body
absorbed the hatred and when he sucked in a deep breath, he almost felt fuller,
more whole, and some feeling close to happiness. He loved the hatred as much as
it loved him. He smiled bearing his teeth. “You’ll aid me in killing my
mother.”

She choked in surprise, her eyes
flying wide and jaw dropping. He could see the edge of her pink tongue and
jerked his gaze away as a blaze of something wrong flew through him. Kneeling
by the fire pit, he set to work stacking logs and began lighting them with a
quick spell. He needed something to do other than stare at her. Something
unsettled him when he looked at her.

“Excuse me, camp master, but I’m
not helping you kill anyone. Where am I?”

He waited until all the logs
caught and the orange glow lit up the cavern. His gaze caught on her face. She
wasn’t beautiful like Arianna, but something about her was pleasant to look at
he just couldn’t put his finger on it yet. Overall, she almost looked plain,
simple even, but something about him stirred him.

“You’re good to look at too that
will make things easier,” he said.

Her face scrunched, then relaxed,
and then scrunched again. “What?”

He shrugged and then pulled his
swords off his back laying them next to him, but away from her in case she got
any ideas. “A pleasant face is easier to look at than an ugly one.”

Her mouth dropped open again. She
did that a lot, he noticed. Her entire face was active, flashing from one
emotion to the next at any moment. It’d make her easy to read. He smiled into
the fire. The seer might just earn a reward after his mother’s ashes were
burned to crisp. He’d chosen a worthy witch it seemed.

“Answer my questions, demon,” the
little witch said. A hint of threat lingered in her words. He’d tolerate her
insolence for a little longer. She’d realize her place soon enough.

“Stay silent and hear me well,
human—”

“I have a name,” she cut in.

His fists clenched. “Do. Not.
Interrupt. Me.” He waited until she slumped against the wall before he
continued. “I was told by the seer that you will be the one to kill my mother.
I thought I could do it, but that’s not the case. With the curse on me—”

“You’re cursed?” She didn’t look
angry so much as curious. Her eyes skimmed over him leaving him unsettled. He
fought the urge to cover up his darkened skin, to turn away from her.

“Don’t look at me.” He hadn’t
meant to say it. It had been a knee-jerk reaction. He could do nothing to take
back his words though.

She scoffed. “Really, I can’t do
that either? Get real, demon.”

Inwardly, he breathed a sigh of
relief that she didn’t notice his revealing words. “I am very real, I assure
you, human. My name is King Alrik and you will call me thus. As to where you
are, leave it said that you’re in the rift—the demonic nether-realm.”

Her head fell to the side. “A
king? Really?” Her eyes rolled in a way that sparked irritation. “Come on just
take me home and I won’t press charges.”

Now Alrik frowned in confusion.
“How do you press a charge? You’re speaking nonsense, human.”

Her face flashed with annoyance,
her small shapely mouth pinching together. “That means I’ll go to the police,
you know the authorities.”

God, maybe he had been wrong. She
might just be daft after all. “Abbigail Krenshaw if you think your human
police
as you call them could ever contain me, you’d be very wrong.”

She started to say something,
then slammed her mouth closed and leaned back against the wall with a defiant
cross of her arms.

“Fine, continue your little story
then.”

He stiffened as anger flowed
through him. She thought to speak to him as if she had control of this
situation? He took a deep breath as anger filled his blood thick and hot like
syrup, warming his cold body. The rush of it went to his head like a bolt of
lightning, quickening his senses. “You will kill my mother.”

“Why?” she shot back.

“To remove the curse that binds
me.” He’d already considered the other part of the seer’s words and figured it
better not to reveal the probable ending to the human’s life. Knowing she’d die
in the process would not help her decision to join his cause.

“What kind of curse is it?”

Alrik jerked his sword into his
lap and pulled out a smooth rock from his pocket. Bending over the blade in the
firelight, he began pressing the stone to the edge of the blade and slowly dragging
it down in long strokes. The soothing motion of sharpening his blade helped him
to think. He hadn’t planned to reveal his curse to her. It brought about too
many problems, problems he didn’t want to think about. His blade hissed over
the metal.

“One that I must remove. That is
all.” He left it at that.

She shook her head in disbelief.
“Fine, but I’m not doing it.”

His gaze shot across the fire to
her. She flinched. Good, he thought. “You might want to rethink your words,
human. I know of someone very precious to you. Someone whose life I could take
as easily as I stole you from your home.”

She shot to her feet. “My
mother?” she yelled, her cry echoing off the walls.

Alrik let out a stuttering breath
as her anger caressed him like a soft hand. His eyes fluttered closed, hand
flexed over the hand of his blade. “Yes, I know who she is and where she is. If
you are wise you will abide me on my journey. After, you can return to her
unharmed both of you will live.” He let his lie hide beneath his dark eyes. He
couldn’t stop from noticing the way her heavy breaths moved her quite full
breasts up and down in the most erotic way. He jerked his gaze away and stared
into the fire, focusing on banishing the unwanted, lustful thoughts.