her by blood and fate and place.
She looked over at Archon, beaming widely.
“You got my family back! You kept your word! You got all of them!”
“I did," he said. “You seemed unhappy without them, and I prefer it when you are happy. Besides, I am not a liar, and a deal was a deal.”
“Simple as that, is it?”
“We heard you’d become famous and rich,” her grandfather said. “Heard you’re some kind of queen to this king bastard who burned all of Wendy’s cook books.”
“Yes. Well. That wasn’t my finest moment, but it was amusing for the… anyway,” Archon coughed. “Enjoy. I hope you are all very happy here.”
Chapter 26
“This is not how it was in the age of grand kings.”
Smithers was completely correct. It was not how it had been in the age of grand kings. In those times, the castle had been a dark place, largely empty, cavernous halls full of riches and little else. It had been quiet then. Refined. Occasionally some army or other would attack and then there would be a great deal of screaming and dying and they would have to wash the blood and entrails off over a period of weeks, if not months.
Now the screams were less panicked and pained, but somehow louder and even more wild. Brimsley did not care for it. But it did not matter what he cared for, because Archon was king, and therefore whatever grand mess Archon decided to rule over was his business.
The kitchen was full of Iris’ grandmothers, aunts, and cousins. Each of them was insisting on making their recipe for the first dinner of their occupation, though Smithers and Brimsley had both been instructed not to call it that.
“Old man!”
“I’m Iris’ grandfather. I’m old. Like you. You’re old. Like me. We should have a drink.”
The logic was impeccable. Brimsley shrugged at Smithers, who shrugged right back at him.
And then they all had a drink.
Iris sat, beaming at the upper table where she was perched on a throne which was a slightly smaller version of the one Archon was sitting in, looking thoroughly massive, utterly sexy, and entirely immoral.
It was wrong what he had done to her. In the beginning, and then in the end. At every turn, Archon used his power to subdue and destroy her - right up until the moment where he realized that destroying her meant destroying himself. She could judge his love selfish, and perhaps she would have been right to do so, but she did not know that her love was any more pure.
It seemed to Iris that all love was inherently selfish, the attempt at preserving adored connections. Did that make it bad? No. It made it, like everything else human, and alien… flawed.
“What are you thinking?” Archon caressed the back of her neck lovingly as they watched jugglers entertaining the gathered nobles.
“You’re an utter bastard,” she smirked at him.
“Well, that’s true,” he smiled. “Anything else?”
“That I love you very, very much.”
“What a coincidence. I was just thinking how much I love you too,” Archon replied, giving her a very sweet and loving kiss. Sweet because it was a wish for her happiness, and loving because it was laced with all the unending carnal desire of the alien king.
* * *
And so their story ended, far more happily than it had any right to. It was sweet, but sad in a way, because what is an ending without a new beginning?
* * *
Speaking of new beginnings…
Order book two in the royal aliens series!
The Alien King’s Pet
Katie is on her way to work at a job she hates when she is abducted by a winged alien king.
Kind of a lucky break, really.
Dominax wants to make her his pet.
He wants to pamper her, protect her, and procreate with her.
Beats working for tips, right?
At least, once she gets used to the collar and leash.
“My good friend Archon took a human mate, and has never been the same,” Dominax said conversationally to the bound human lying on the ground at his feet. “I intend to handle you differently. He allowed his human to get the better of him. But nobody gets the better of me.”
The gagged young lady made a faint sound which might have been agreement, disagreement, or perhaps an appeal for her life. Dominax was not certain. He didn’t understand much of the human’s speech. Apparently his old friend Archon knew how to speak human, but Dominax did not.
“Best you learn Intergalactic Speech,” he informed his captive. “I don’t learn foreign languages. Takes up too much space in my brain.”
He realized that what he’d said did not make him sound terribly intelligent. How was he managing to make a fool out of himself with a bound captive? These human had an intangible power. He was most intrigued by it.
While Archon and the human had gone to see the dry cleaner, Dominax had stood on the street in all his winged glory and been asked by multiple people if he was a movie prop. He hadn’t understood them terribly well.
Then this human had caught his eye. She was pretty. Broad hips, ample breasts, a nice smiling round face with ruby lips.
So he had taken her.
Why not? How hard could it be to train a modern human as a pet? Seemed to Dominax that they were intelligent little creatures, and this one was certainly very pretty, though he didn’t care for her boxy charcoal uniform which bore a strange golden insignia in the shape of a large M. That would have to go.
This book is a standalone entry in the Royal Aliens series. Very standalone. HEA guaranteed.