The Savage King and his stuck-up queen had died through my cunning and superiority and their offspring would soon suffer the same end. Once they were dead, there would be no one left alive who could match me or challenge me and I could rule in peace as I had intended from the start, making Solaria into the great and prosperous nation I knew it could be once Order supremacy was embraced the way it should be, and crossbreeding was finally abolished.
Minutes ticked by as I started working on my next move, waiting on the return of my son so that I could lace him into my plans more deeply.
“Sire!” a high-pitched voice made a shudder of irritation run through me and I looked up as Stella Orion burst through the door, her dark hair dishevelled. “Oh my love, I was so worried about you!”
She raced forward as if to throw herself into my arms and I flicked my fingers at her, stopping her short with a barrier of air magic.
“Was me fucking your daughter in place of you not message enough?” I snarled, my distaste for her desperation showing on my face, but I was done pandering to her delusions about me and I had far more pressing matters to address right now. I didn’t need to waste time on this desperate woman.
“I don’t know what you-”
“You were useful to me once, Stella, and I may have gotten a thrill from fucking you right under your husband’s nose, but I long since grew tired of your over used cunt. And now I find myself tired of the sound of your voice too.”
“I don’t understand,” she gasped, clutching at pearls which did not hang around her neck as her gaze darted to the beautiful woman who continued to circle the room like a predator on the hunt for blood, singing a strange and eerie tune under her breath. A frown of confusion pulled at Stella’s features, and I realised she didn’t know that her daughter was gone or what creature now stood in her place. And I had no more answers to how that had occurred than she did, so I wasn’t in the mood to discuss it. Especially with the Shadow Princess listening in to every word and watching every move we made.
In fact, I was refusing to outwardly react to the change in the creature who held dominion over the shadows but in all truth, she was the main focus of my plotting now. I needed to bind her to me again, one way or another.
“You understand perfectly, Stella,” I sneered. “So stop embarrassing yourself and prostrate yourself before your king as you should before I decide I prefer the idea of you dead.”
Stella glanced at Vard who still remained bowed at my feet, his forehead pressed to the cold tiles and hands stretched out before him, clearly understanding how close I was to cleaning fucking house a lot better than she did.
“Where’s Clara?” she breathed. “What happened here today? Why didn’t you invite me to the wedding?”
“Did you not hear me, woman?” I spat.
Her bottom lip wobbled as she sank to her knees but as a growl escaped me, she quickly flattened herself before me alongside my other useless aid.
I toyed with the idea of ending her now despite her submission, wondering what use she even was to me anymore, but the sound of hurried feet drew my focus to the door once again.
“My King!” Jenkins cried, his voice filled with horror as he pushed his way into the room, dragging a breakfast cart along behind him with a hogtied, pig-ugly girl balanced on top of it.
“What is the meaning of this?” I demanded, shoving to my feet as I took in the sight of Darius’s bride tied up and gagged with her beady eyes swivelling back and forth between my face and the stump where my hand should have been.
“I found her tied in the closet of the marital chambers. There is no sign of Darius. I thought you would wish to question her yourself,” Jenkins explained, wringing his fingers together as he backed up and I stalked closer to the prize pig.
I ripped the gag from her mouth, the hair of her moustache brushing my fingers in the process and making my stomach turn with distaste.
“Speak,” I commanded.
“I don’t know what happened!” she wailed, fat tears leaking from her eyes as I left her hogtied on the breakfast cart. “I was so excited to marry my snookums. The last thing I remember, I was about to don my dress and the next thing I know I was tied in the closet all alone in the dark.”
“This happened before the wedding?!” I boomed, my gaze snapping from her to Jenkins who shook his head helplessly. “Do you mean to tell me you didn’t consummate the union?”
“I d-didn’t even get to say my vows,” she wept and a roar escaped me as I shoved the cart away from me, sending it crashing into the wall and knocking her off of it where she rolled away across the floor with a wail of fright.