Never in my darkest days did I imagine Titus, the great general, would smear his name with betrayal. Magnus too had left. I was feeling uneasy on the inside, but I put up my facade keeping all feelings locked away in the darkest corner of my mind.
I took comfort with the elf, revealing my inner beast, and letting my body feed on the roughness of our encounters. I should get back to my love, but at this stage, all seemed superficial. All but the need to find the beings behind her abduction.
*****
I thought, knowing why Titus did it, would make me feel better. But not if the why was because of me, I hated myself for causing it and Basilea knew it. Though she had been supporting me by being there for me. While I slipped out of bed once she was satisfied, only to find Justus and fucked the life out of him.
Somehow I didn't want us to be together and letting my dark desire was too much for her after her abduction. Though I know she would embrace me either way, she was a demon after all.
Justus on the other hand... damn, the elf was a perfect specimen of an elven warrior. He'd be the perfect addition to my line of generals. There was something about him that I couldn't get my mind to pinpoint. He was driven, sometimes I think he was too driven but then I thought it was his elven traits that made me ignore my train of thought. I was analyzing him too fucking much.
Basilea didn't ask for another threesome with him though, not after I turned her down for the second time. There was something in my gut telling me that I didn't want to share her with anyone else, or was it something in me wanting to push Justus, wanting him to reveal himself and surrender to my beast?
Either way, Basilea was mine alone, I took great comfort in our sexual induced intimacy. While with Justus... the times I've spent with Justus after losing Titus had been feral and uncontrollably wild. He made me push boundaries and engrossed in our heated passion, made him scream my name and each time trembled under me the second we finished in unison.
For the next couple of weeks, we mostly tend to our affairs. Me with my generals, Justus with his training, and Basilea went about to the dragon enclosure to care for Brontes.
All was calm until whispers were heard. The guards by the far end of the kingdom had found crawlers and had taken them to the dungeon.
"My king, we're ready for you." Osirus seized my attention and I followed him down to the said dungeon where two crawlers hissed and cowered back to the corner of their cell, their limbs restrained to the ground.
"Where's Justus?" I asked Osirus while looking at Bharat and Obi questioning where my general in training was not present.
"He volunteered in searching the area where we found them for others," Obi explained.
"He's in training, I do not expect him to be on his own. Osirus, make sure he sticks to you for guidance, I want him primed for the position as soon as possible. We're two men down." They all nodded in compliance and let me through to the front of the cell.
"Get inside, restrain them higher, and question them." I gave my order and Bharat opened the cell and hold out his daggers menacingly, threatening while Obi assisted in pulling their restraints to the ceiling until their lower limbs were dangling off the floor.
Bharat who speaks crawleans continue to demand their intentions, I waited already bored, knowing that it was not going anywhere.
"Kill them, throw their carcasses where they were found, and prepare our armies. I want patrols scheduled on our parameters."
I called Osirus afterward, the male was the first rank general after Titus. I need him to get our armies ready for their invasion. These two crawlies feels like spies to me and Osirus thought so too.
"They must've sent them for feelers, sniffing our weak entrance and invading us from there since we've blocked their previous entryway." The first rank general added.
"Right, and now that we suspected this, I want us to get ready to give the first strike instead. I want to send our feelers and give a detailed report of their layout, their numbers, and if they join forces with other kinds aside from the red demon. This feels too structured for them, They shouldn't be this smart. They're not the ambitious kind of demon."
Osirus agreed with me, "I think you're right. I'll arrange it and get back to you with the information."
I was out of the dungeon, my mind was heavy with possibilities and that was how Basilea found me.
"My king, you looked troubled."
"Nothing for you to be concerned about. Everything will be okay." I lay a kiss that turns deep and filthy within seconds. We were in the great hall and anyone could find us locking lips and feel the air around us buzzing with high sexual intensity.
I let her lead us back to my private chambers where she stripped me naked and eased my trouble away.
But hours later the uneasiness was back and I left my bed to roam the silent hallways, then stopped to stare outside of the windows. The reddening skyline had darkened, it looked peaceful, but the dark tinge of red was a blood-like color. Just like the blood of my warriors that spilled many weeks ago when we saved Basilea from the crawlers.
The timing was a bit off, I noticed. It had been too long from when one of them saw Basilea the day they got Brontes, so what makes them plan out her abduction and succeeded? Crawlers was a low-rank demon, even if they had aligned forces with the red demon as their muscles, still, the puzzle sits there. They're not a thinker, unless... unless they were ordered to do so. It made more sense. Then, the question will be, who ordered them? who was behind all of this?
A sound from behind pulled me from my thoughts. It was very late, almost dawn when I saw Justus looking tired and going straight to his chamber. But then he stopped when he saw me, his facial expression dropped a little but within seconds it was back to his usual self.
"My king, were you waiting for me?"
"Where were you?" I didn't answer him but questioned him instead. The male was supposed to be in his chamber, resting for tomorrow when he was going to continue honing his skill with Osirus. Where did he go, why did he look so tired and what happened to his knuckles?
And as if he noticed he hides them away, "I... I heard you and Basilea earlier, so I decided to take a walk."
"Oh," I was caught off guard. I was ready to think for the worst, the late-night excursions, it wasn't the first time that I saw him doing so. Weeks ago I saw him walking back from the outer side of the palatial walls. After Titus, my mind was on high alert. I didn't want any more of my men being a traitor, I needed Justus to not be one.
"Yeah, so, I'm going to rest now, I'll be..."
I took a step closer to him and I quickly retreated when I smell crawlers on him. And he noticed when his eyes landed on mine.
"I walk to the dungeon and release my anger at the crawlers. I'm sorry, but... they're still alive. You just... you just have to wait for a couple of days before questioning them again. My apology." The male looked lost like he was not sure of himself.
He stepped closer and started walking to his room, still talking as if he knew that I will follow him. And I did, follow him that is.
"I was given to you for your sexual pleasure and now you're being too gracious with appointing me as your future general but all I wanted was to be sexually yours. I'm so fucked up, I just need to get my head in check."
My hand was on his neck the second we were behind his closed door. I needed him to know, I needed him to remember that he belonged to me.
"You are mine," I uttered, almost growling with frustration while my grip tightened around his neck. "To use as I pleased, and you do give me sexual pleasure." The kiss was rough and he was pliant to my demand. I didn't need another Magnus, Justus was mine to use, I didn't want him soft under me, I wanted to roughen him, treated him as the sexual object that he was given to me for.
"My king, please..."