"Your Majesty, why are you crying like a girl?" Darius growled, crouching down to my level on the dais, silver eyes narrowing as he gripped my chin roughly to force my tear-streaked face up. "Until you explain yourself—Merol, the bill, your little secrets—we're not leaving you alone in here."
"Maybe we'll call the nobles back too," Kairos added with a wicked purr, shadows flickering like laughter at his feet. "Let them all see their emperor's crying face—sobbing on his knees like a jilted maiden. Priceless."
"Tch! Your chest is so cute," Elowen muttered, violet gaze dropping to my exposed pink nipples pebbled in the chill, one callused finger circling one teasingly through the gaping white silk. "Never seen such delicate little things before—perky, begging for a twist."
"You should cut your hair short," Darius rumbled, fingers combing roughly through my loose golden strands. "Looks too girly, trailing everywhere."
"Hey, it'll make his lover grab it better when fucking him deeper," Kairos snickered, reaching down to rub my tangled locks mockingly—then yanking hard, scalp burning as my head snapped back.
Sobbing harder, raw instinct took over; I lunged forward and bit his other hand—teeth sinking into pale flesh, tasting salt and copper as terror fuelled me.
But Kairos didn't even flinch, gaze turning to ice; he glared down, shadows thickening menacingly.
Scared expression freezing my blood, I immediately let go of his hand, whimpering an apology—but too late.
His backhand cracked across my cheek with casual force, a sharp slap echoing off marble, pain blooming hot and stinging, head snapping sideways.
"Idiot!" Elowen snapped at Kairos, eyes flashing annoyance as he shoved him back. "That'll leave a mark on his face—his skin's too delicate for your brute shit."
Darius loomed closer, thumb brushing the reddening welt almost gently. "He's fragile enough without you bruising that pretty mug. Playthings break easy."
I curled tighter on the cold marble floor, cheek throbbing like a brand from Kairos's backhand, bruised wrist pulsing with fiery aches that radiated up my arm with every hiccupping sob.
My crimson robes lay in a crumpled, dishevelled mess pooled around my trembling knees like spilled blood—white silk inner robe gaping wide from Elowen's yank, pink nipples pebbled and exposed to the chill draft whispering through the chamber, golden hair a tangled, tear-damp veil half-hiding my blotchy, flushed face as snot and mascara mixed on my upper lip.
"Y-you all a-are b-bad..." I whimpered pathetically, voice cracking small and broken into the vast hall, hugging my knees tighter to my chest as if I could disappear into the fur mantle tangled at my elbows.
"And you are good, Emperor?" Darius scoffed, crouching low again with a predator's grace, his eyes glinting like sharpened blades as he pinched my already stinging cheek—callused fingers twisting the tender, reddened skin hard enough to wrench a sharp, keening cry of pain from my pouty lips, fresh tears spilling hot and unchecked down my porcelain cheeks.
"Ow—stop! Your Majesty," he growled mockingly, thumb digging deeper into the soft flesh, "you will stay away from her. A fickle 'woman' like you is not good for Jenne—she needs real power, warriors and mages, not a crying doll who breaks at a touch."
"We'll behave good with you if you stay away from her completely," Elowen added coldly from his looming height, adjusting his wireframe spectacles with precise fingers while his staff hummed faintly in warning, azure sparks dancing along the runes.
"You..."
"But you can't pass that peasant bill until we approve it. The council belongs to us—you're just the pretty face on the throne."
"The public needs to hate you more," Kairos purred silkily, shadows writhing at his boots like living ink. "People should support me more—my guilds feeding the cities, my shadows keeping the streets 'clean' from rats like you."
"All of us share the glory," Darius snapped at Kairos, straightening to tower over the underworld lord, massive chest heaving. "My knights hold the borders, bleed for this empire—we get the lion's share."
"I'm not... f-fickle..." I sobbed pitifully, peeking up through wet, clumped lashes, voice trembling like a leaf in storm. "You took a b-blowjob from me, Darius... d-deepthroated you, swallowed your thick load... begged for more..."
Dead silence crashed down like a guillotine—heavy, suffocating. Darius's rugged face drained of all colour, eyes widening in stunned horror, mouth parting soundlessly. Elowen's staff sparked violently, azure bolts crackling wildly across the chamber; Kairos froze mid-smirk, shadows exploding outward like a nest of startled snakes, dagger hand twitching.
"What the fuck did you just say?!" Darius roared first, lunging to his full 6'5" height, towering over my crumpled form—fists clenched white-knuckled at his sides, veins bulging thick in his neck like ropes, face twisting into apoplectic rage. "You lying little whore—that was a mistake, not some grand seduction! You dropped to your knees first, begging like a bitch in heat!"
"You let the emperor suck off Darius?!" Elowen barked incredulously, violet eyes blazing with betrayal as he whirled on the knight commander, staff thrusting forward aggressively. "You hypocritical, Jenne-preaching bastard—parading as her pure knight while getting your cock worshipped by the man on the throne?! No wonder your 'honour' reeks of cum!"
"Shut your prissy mage mouth!" Darius snarled back, shoving Elowen's shoulder with brutal force—the staff skittering across marble with a screech of wood on stone. "He's lying to divide us! Threw himself at me like the cockslut he is—you've seen how he flirts, how he bends easy. Don't act holy!"
"Begging? You're the brute who shoved your fat cock down his throat and flooded his belly!" Kairos laughed wildly, circling the pair like a gleeful hyena scenting blood, shadows boiling chaotically. "Hypocrite knight—silver-tongued saint for sweet Jenne by day, but balls-deep in imperial ass by night? Your 'loyalty' stinks worse than my sewers, 'hero'!"
"Like you're pure, you shadow-rat gutter-crawler?!" Darius whirled on Kairos with a bellow, grabbing the underworld lord by his scarred leather collar and slamming him against a marble pillar—cracks spiderwebbing stone.
"You are a fucking bastard, Darius."
"I've seen your brothel tabs running into fortunes—fucking tavern wenches, boys, beasts if the coin's right—while preaching your underworld 'justice' and guild 'protection'! Jenne would spit on your filthy dick!"
Elowen shoved bodily between them, staff glowing white-hot with barely contained mana, runes flaring like miniature suns.
"Both of you—disgusting pigs! Jenne deserves better than your cesspool of filthy secrets and double standards! If I'd known the emperor was this tainted with your taint, I'd have frozen his slutty mouth shut months ago—spared her the scandal!"
"Try it, spark-boy—freeze this!" Kairos hissed venomously, dagger whipping fully free in a silver blur, shadows lashing like whips toward Elowen's throat. "Your 'pure' mage magic hasn't stopped you eye-fucking his ass like the rest of us hypocrites—don't pretend your robes hide a saint's cock!"
"Enough! You vipers!" Darius bellowed like thunder, slamming a plated fist into the throne arm—obsidian cracking audibly with a spiderweb fracture, chips flying. "He's manipulating us on purpose—twisting that one drunken night into this shitshow to pit us against each other! The little slut planned it!"
They devolved into full shoving chaos—Darius hurling Kairos into a banner pole with a crash, Elowen blasting shadow tendrils away with a mana pulse that shattered a nearby vase, Kairos's dagger clanging off Darius's vambrace in a shower of sparks, insults exploding like grenades.
Fists flew wild, robes tore, staff clashed dagger—pure melee frenzy while I stayed curled small on the dais, cheek burning raw, heart racing in panicked awe.