I had no idea what’d happened and how I ended up in bed. As if a piece of my memory had been erased. I just opened my eyes in the morning, as if I’d woken up after a long sleep. The room wasn’t familiar, my party dress made me think I’d just dropped off in my clothes.
“Reive?” that was the first thing I said on seeing the necromancer sitting beside me in a chic crimson chair.
By the way, the rooms were just amazing. Twice as big as the previous ones, luxuriously furnished, with ornamental carvings on the furniture and drawings right on the walls.
“Reive! Where are we? And what the draugr am I doing in bed with my clothes on?”
The necromancer smiled, put his cup of aromatic coffee aside and came up to me. The bed sank under his weight. This time, I tried so hard not to blush because we were in the same bed again. I wasn’t naked so why should I have worried about that?
“Little one, you faint
Blood, blood everywhere. When he closed his eyes, a red haze spread beneath his eyelids, seeping into him, bringing poison.Blood. Wet and sticky. All over arms, clothes and armor. Mountains of corpses underfoot. And he, Reive Eridanus Castro-Firel, guilty of the death of each one. The Undead King!Since when had the ghosts of the past turned into nightmares chasing at his heels? Since when had he begun to care about the lives of those whose dead bodies he had stepped on to rise to greatness? To power and strength. To might, such as had never been seen on earth before.The necromancer walked along the castle corridors but saw before him only the paths of the past. Again, they floated before his eyes, like the agony of a dying man watching his own life during the seconds before his death.Now, Shaina Dellmar emerged in front of him. His ex-wife. He had only to close his eyes and her image appeared in his head. Evil laughter echoed from the walls, turning i
She leant towards him, cuddling up against him with her high breasts tightened in her bodice and drew him closer by the lapels of his shirt. For a split second, their lips touched, then Reive moved back, pushing the witch away. At first, there was confusion in Livia’s eyes, but then, when she realized he had spurned her once again – outright fury, “What are you...” she began to say, but suddenly, she had a fit of coughing. She grasped her throat, swallowing repeatedly in torment.Suddenly she turned a completely different look on the necromancer. Fearful. Her eyes were now full of bewilderment and disbelief.Reive smiled. Yeah, he liked seeing Livia Rendan look like this.“You’re correct, Your Grace,” he said calmly, seating himself in the armchair that she had occupied. “You’re feeling how the curse is coursing through your body, aren’t you? Because you’re Firel’s strongest necromancer! I&r
At a certain moment, the zombie heard the order. His master pulled invisible threads through space, making the dead man come to him from wherever he was.Zomzom didn’t object. In any case, there was even some rudimentary feeling resembling curiosity inside him. Like a dandelion root: if you pull the plant up, it won’t disappear. A tiny root will remain deep in the earth’s womb, and eventually, the hard-bitten sprout will rise again.Now, the zombie felt the itch of this underdeveloped undead curiosity sprout inside him.What did his master call him for? Maybe he’d finally feed him somebody’s yummy finger?Last time, he’d brought a tongue. Unfortunately, the zombie couldn’t eat it.Zomzom tossed the strange organ about in his mouth. He munched a couple of times and closed his mouth again. It seemed like he was happy all the same that things had worked out like this.The closer he came to the place his
The boy continued croaking, while slowly standing up.Zomzom cocked his head to one side, vividly remembering what it meant not to be able to say anything. Now he was staring from side to side, watching his master do magic. He liked watching the twilight magic begin to move like a living being, obeying every wish of its creator.Now, this ‘living being’ kept getting scarier. Zomzom couldn’t remember its name, seeing vague images from the past and trying to remember something very important that would explain what was happening around him.Suddenly, in a flash of enlightenment, a picture began emerging before his eyes like an old puzzle.Jake Eridanus Castro-Firel. The King of Aldenor. He ascended the throne thirty-five years before Reive. The crown went to him, though not by inheritance. The Eridanus genus was a side branch in the royal genealogy tree. However, Jake was lucky. His second cousin died without any children or direct heirs.
By lunch time, I had finally got myself out of bed. I was brought breakfast and lunch right into my room, about which I was incredibly surprised, confused and, frankly speaking, happy. I was a real lover of hearty meals. Especially since I’d rarely had the chance to please my stomach with fried tomatoes in prawn sauce, freshly baked bread with sunflower seeds, and freshly squeezed dragonfruit juice. This was only the first part of the meal! I even thought that the eggplant omelet with spicy sausages, flavored pastry and an orange mousse were for two people. For Reive and me. However, it turned out Earl Eridanus had breakfast long ago.The same thing at lunch. Again, I was happier than ever. It turned out a potter’s adopted daughter needed so little to be happy – only a couple of buns and a plate of delicious food. Good that Reive didn’t see me. He’d have thought me a hungry village hick.Anyway, in the afternoon, I finally came to myself.
We did indeed run away. At some point, Reive did an about-face, pretending to have a splitting headache after doing magic, and carried me away.The thing was, none of the guests dared to say a word. On the contrary, They told us both to rest and get outdoors as much as possible. Therefore, Reive promised to do that right away.As we left the castle, the sun was already beginning to set, but the necromancer looked happy. As if a picnic at night was exactly what he wanted. He had a suede backpack with two bottles of wine and fruit over his shoulder. Just like a few days ago, when we arrived at Firel. This time, Reive promised we wouldn’t ride horses.We set out of the castle on foot, enjoying the evening sun and the soft breeze caressing our skin. I so much wanted to find out what curse had been put on me and what was happening to Duchess Rendan. And how Reive was helping her and where this black magic could have come from. But I just watched the necromancer
This thought flashed in my head like lightning, dispersing gloomy clouds of naivety and worry. Fear. Only hunger remained. It only grew with each second.I slowly undid his shirt. Button by button, sliding my palms through the shirt to his body, burning myself with the flame of his skin. Tormented by the desire to taste it.Fixing my eyes on him, I unhurriedly bent down and touched his neck with my lips.So hot…I closed my eyes, shooting out my tongue and licking the smooth prominent flame of his body.It was the end. I was falling somewhere deep down, and I liked it.I slid down him with my lips. Slowly. So intoxicatingly slowly it seemed like every nerve string was about to break.I embraced him, burying my hands behind his broad back, unknowingly digging into the hard muscles with my little nails. I moved my lips over the axis of his chest, not quite realizing what I was doing. Moving
Reive opened his eyes long before dawn. He was laying and looking into the deep vault of the cave, shifting his gaze from one crystal spike to another. The mellow light of the magic lanterns calmed him, tuning his mood.The necromancer turned his head, his glance sliding over the unclothed girl. He wasn’t afraid she would be cold. It was warm here, and it would have been hard to freeze in his arms. He felt unusually fine this night but morning was coming, and soon, he would have to get dressed, get up and say something.Reive didn’t want to. He didn’t want to at all.He might have felt guilty but he didn’t. He might have felt like the scum of the earth because he had used the girl to a certain extent. However, he wasn’t going to be tormented by pangs of conscience. When it came to it, they both wanted it.Faint echoes of guilt deep down in the necromancer’s loins tortured him. He himself didn’t understand why it w