All Chapters of Dead Queens Don't Kneel Twice: Return of the Beheaded Empres: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

VALERIUS POVI didn’t speak to her. I dragged her to the post, chained her facing it, arms high, legs spread and locked open with a spreader bar. A thick ball-gag was forced between her teeth and buckled tight. Then I took the single-tail and the cane.I worked her slowly. First the cane across the soft cheeks of her ass until both were dark red and swollen. Then the whip across the same marks until the skin broke in thin lines and blood beaded. Then the cane again across the backs of her thighs. Then the whip across her already marked breasts until she was sobbing continuously around the gag.I used my claws to score deliberate, shallow lines across the welts—enough to hurt, enough to bleed, not enough to cripple. Then I stood behind her, gripped her bleeding hips, and fucked her from behind in long, brutal strokes while the entire courtyard watched every wet, violent impact. She screamed into the gag with every thrust. The chains rattled. Blood and arousal ran down her thighs togeth

NESSA'S POVI watched the women scream and cry. I watched them beg. I watched them fall apart.And I felt nothing.They had degraded themselves for him. Stripped naked in front of thousands. Touched themselves while the crowd watched. Let him use their mouths, their bodies, their pain—all in front of everyone. They had given him everything. Their bodies. Their dignity. Their pride. Their souls. All for a throne. All for power.And now they had nothing.I didn't feel bad for them. They had made their choices. They had crawled to him like animals, desperate for his approval. They had let him humiliate them, hurt them, break them. They had watched him do the same to the women before them and still they volunteered. Still they begged.And now they were reaping what they had sown.Served them right.I watched Valerius laugh. I watched him spread his arms and declare himself untouchable. I watched the crowd shrink back in fear. I watched the women on the dais sob and shake and fall apart.A

NESSA'S POVHis words washed over me like poison. I heard them but I wasn't listening at this point.I was thinking hard about our current predicament.We were at a major disadvantage. Valerius had all the cards. He had the soldiers. He had the palace. He had the power. We were in his territory, in his kingdom, surrounded by his people. There was no way out of this. Not without bloodshed or war. It was almost certain that both I and Castiel would die brutal deaths if we dared defy him.And I couldn't let that happen.I couldn't die here.Not until Valerius was dead. Not until I had watched the light leave his eyes and I had made him feel everything he had made me feel—the fear, the pain, the helplessness, the absolute terror of knowing you are about to die and there is nothing you can do to stop it.I needed to think and find a way out of this.My mind raced. I considered every option. Every possibility. Every escape route.Nothing worked. Everything led to the same conclusion.There

CASTIEL'S POVI didn't understand what was happening.One moment, I was sitting in my seat, watching Valerius humiliate and destroy these women. The next moment, he was calling Nessa forward. The next moment, they were talking. The next moment—She agreed.She agreed to be his Luna.I stared at her. My mind went blank. The world around me faded into nothing. The crowd disappeared. The courtyard disappeared. All I could see was her face. Her cold, composed face. Her empty eyes.What the fuck was she doing?She hated him. I knew she hated him. I had seen it in her eyes every time she looked at him. I had felt it in her hands when she held mine. I had heard it in her voice when she whispered his name like a curse.She wanted to kill him. She wanted to destroy him.And now she was agreeing to marry him?I couldn't breathe.I couldn't think.My heart was pounding. My hands were shaking. My Lycan was roaring inside me, clawing at my chest, demanding release.And then—Rage.Fire burned thro

NESSA'S POVI stood there, watching the exchange between the two men. My heart was pounding. My hands were shaking. But I kept my face still and stared at the drama before me.Valerius's face was red. His jaw was tight. His eyes were burning with barely contained fury."You dare," he said, his voice low and dangerous, "speak to me like that? In front of everyone? In front of my court?""I dare," Castiel said, his voice flat and empty. "I dare because I have nothing left to lose.""Nothing to lose?" Valerius laughed. A cold, cruel laugh that echoed across the courtyard. "I could have you killed right now. I could have you tortured. I could make your death so slow and so painful that you would beg me to end it.""Then do it."Valerius blinked. "What?""Kill me." Castiel's voice was steady. Unwavering. "Torture me. Make my death slow and painful. It doesn't matter. Death is the least punishment you can give me."I felt my chest tighten."I have survived the worst things imaginable," Cast