Chapter 234 Chapter 233
Ysolde sat in the King's chamber, grimacing as the sounds of a woman moaning her pleasure burned through her ears. Dorian was at it again, as he always was. A new woman every week, taking them to his bed whether they wanted to or not.
The infidel act caused Ysolde so much pain since they were mated, but it was something she'd grown used to since he never cared.
"Ah… that's it! I'm coming!" The lady gave a shrill cry as she approached her orgasm.
"Come, bitch!" She heard Dorian groan, followed by a loud smacking sound. The woman’s shrill screams of ecstasy mixed with his low grunts of satisfaction.
Ysolde winced at the sharp pain that cut through her chest. She held her chest, rubbing against it even as tears burned her eyes. She quickly blinked them back; this was not the time or place to cry.
"Are you done yet?" she called out when silence finally settled. Nobody answered—just exhausted sighs filling the space. Eventually, Dorian stepped out of the bedchambers with a robe draped carelessly over his body, his face still shining with sweat, the chamber reeking of sex.
Ysolde resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose even as she pinned him with a glare.
He sat across from her, grabbing a half-drunk liquor bottle on the table and taking a swig, grunting as the alcohol burned down his throat.
The woman he was with soon sauntered out of the bedchambers, her steps faltering as she saw Ysolde seated. “Your Majesty…” she said in surprise, offering a quick bow.
“I didn’t know you were here,” she muttered in a saccharine voice. “I apologize for being so loud,” she added.
“Get out,” Dorian groaned, rubbing his forehead. The woman flinched, her gaze immediately darting to Dorian.
“What?!” she repeated, surprised.
“You heard what I said. Get out right now.”
Ysolde watched with mild satisfaction as the latter’s face flushed with embarrassment, but the woman soon hurried out of the chambers, leaving them alone.
“I didn’t think you would have the nerve to wait. Whatever you wanted to say must be important,” Dorian muttered, head tilted to the side.
“You do realize what you’re doing is hurting me, right?” she began, hating the way her voice trembled. “Do you not want me to carry this child to term as well?”
Dorian rolled his eyes. “You know I have no intention of doing that to you. I’m just spreading my seed to other lands. Who knows, one of the women will finally become pregnant and give me my son.” His gaze narrowed as he glared at her. “You of all people should understand that.”
The dam she held back threatened to burst. He never hesitated to hurl those scalding words at her whenever she reminded him of his infidelity. It wasn’t her fault all her pregnancies kept ending as miscarriages.
“That aside, what about the people? We’ve been receiving more complaints that they’ve run out of food, and some of them have started resorting to cannibalism. How do we help them?”
“I don’t know…” Dorian answered simply, taking another swig from the liquor bottle. “Didn’t Jethro say he would be returning with supplies soon?”
“He did send a message,” Ysolde answered, fiddling with her fingers. “But that’s just a short-term solution for the bigger problems we have. We haven’t had rain in years, Dorian. Crops, trees, rivers, and even wells are drying up. We can’t keep living like this. What are we going to do?”
“That’s too many questions, Ysolde!” he snapped, disgruntled. “You can see I just finished an exercise and I need my rest. How can I find answers for all these problems in my state?”
“But Dorian…” she started to say, but he cut her off.
“You should go. We’ll discuss this later. I need rest,” he said, waving a hand to dismiss her.
“You know that ‘later’ never comes, Dorian. The councils are asking questions. They need to know what you’ll be doing!”
“Ysolde, get out before I do something really cross!” he yelled, throwing the now-empty bottle at her side. Ysolde screamed as it landed beside her, shards of glass exploding in her vision.
She turned to look at him in a daze, but there was no flash of remorse in his eyes. He pointed at the door instead.
“Get out!”
Ysolde instantly rose to her feet, rushing out of the room, the door closing with a bang behind her.
Dorian scoffed, leaning back on the couch. Who the hell did she think she was to order him about?
Bitch.
.
.
.
After four arduous days on the road, Rayena and Soraya finally reached the borders of the Shifter realm. Rayena's heart palpitated as she gazed at the grand gates, feeling terror settling in her gut. For a moment, she had doubts. Was coming here the right decision? Should she turn back?
Her mind flashed memories of her first time in the Shifter realm, and the unease in her stomach worsened. Things were a lot different now. The last thing she should be expecting was the less-than-warm welcome she'd first received.
A hand wrapped around hers, and she turned to see Soraya gazing tenderly at her, squeezing her already frigid hands reassuringly.
"Everything is going to be alright," Soraya whispered, and Rayena took in a deep breath to help calm her nerves. The long blast of the kopel rang out, and the procession moved slower as they entered the realm.
Rayena instantly sat next to the window, looking around her. The sight she was greeted with was far from what she was expecting—a sharp contrast to when she first arrived here. The land looked arid; there were barely any trees, and people were sparse and in downtrodden clothes. What happened?
The sore sight continued until they arrived at the palace, and the atmosphere there was different. Gone were the beautiful, lush gardens she had fallen in love with; there were more soldiers on patrol and women who dressed too much like harlots moving around.
They seemed excited to have the army back, and Rayena guessed it had something to do with the food they had come with.
Eventually, they stepped out of the carriage, looking around them, shocked and unnerved at the unmistakable changes.
The palace had a darker feel to it, and Rayena felt a shudder run down her spine. This wasn't looking good at all.
"The two of you!" the commander barked, marching up to them. Two soldiers materialized at their sides, gripping their hands. "You'll be coming with me."
"Where are you taking us?" Rayena ground out as the soldiers dragged them along, ignoring the stares that were gathering.
"To the king. He needs to see you both," he muttered.
Rayena's heart skipped several beats at the mention of the word king. Her mind drifted to Xenon, and her chest twisted painfully. If only he was the one she was meeting. That didn’t seem to be the case with what she'd just observed arriving here.