True Hearts

“... and that’s why pickles are objectively better than sauerkraut,” Chris finished, and Anne laughed.

“Boy am I glad you’re not head of the FDA,” she said, nudging him in the ribs with a toothy grin. He laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. Anne turned away. Even in the evening light, she was afraid he would see her blushing. She’d had a crush on Chris since middle school, and now, with both of them out of college, she still hadn’t told him how she felt. But tonight was the night. She could feel it.

Silence stretched between them as she worked up the courage to talk to him, the only noise the clopping of her combat boots on the sidewalk as they hurried past the border of The Other. Every day on her way home from work, Anne had to pass by the long, eroded brick wall to get to her apartment, and on some days she just couldn’t stand making the journey alone. Today, as she glanced nervously over, she could swear she saw a pair of gleaming eyes watching her. With a shiver, she sped up.

“So,” she began cautiously, steeling herself for rejection. “We’ve been friends for a long time now.” Shit, that was already wrong, she was sure of it. Chris said nothing, and stared straight at the ground as they walked. Did he know what was coming? “I mean, we’ve been through a lot together.”

He chuckled. “That was the understatement of the year.”

Anne smiled, but her smile died as she remembered some of what he was talking about. “Anyway I thought… I thought by now we’d be in a different place, you know? The two of us.”

Chris stopped and looked at her, his hazel eyes turned pink in the light of the setting sun. Anne shivered. She hadn’t planned on the temperature dropping so quickly that night, and a breeze picked at her nose painfully. Her light jacket wasn’t enough to keep out the chill, but Chris either didn’t notice the weather or didn’t want her to know he was cold, because he wasn’t wearing a jacket at all, his short sleeves blowing in the breeze.

“What do you mean?” he asked, an odd look on his face.

“It’s just, we’ve been hanging out since high school, you know? And even back then, I feel like there was a spark between us that neither of us had with anyone else, even the people we dated over the years,” Anne continued, words beginning to spill out of her. “And now we’ve been through so much together, and all through these years we’ve only really had each other, but, you know, we always had each other, no matter what, and I guess what I’m trying to say is--”

Chris scooped her up into his arms and silenced her mouth with his. It was a breathless kiss, one that she’d dreamed of for years. As she drew deeper into his embrace, she took in everything about him that she’d known for all these years but could now experience in a new way--his strong, heady smell, the way his muscles felt against her skin, and, embarrassingly, the way the bulge in his pants rubbed against her jeans in just the right place.

When they finally parted, she said dizzily, “that. That’s exactly what I wanted to say.”

“I know,” he whispered, his eyes tracing her lips as if thinking to devour them once more.

Her heart pounded in her ears, hands shaking. As it turned out, her dream reactions were very different from her waking ones, and now that her wishes were coming true, she could feel panic rising in her throat. Why did her body have to betray her like this? Taking deep breaths, she forced the feeling down, but it wouldn’t leave her alone.

“So… what do we do now?” she asked. Another breeze blew past them, and Anne felt goosebumps rise on her arms. She crossed them, and hunched over against the wind.

“Well, first we get you home,” Chris replied. “We’ll see what happens after that.”

The rest of the walk home was silent, each of them lost in their own thoughts. What if his kiss was just trying to make her feel better? It certainly worked, but what if that marked the end of their friendship? Of course, after they kissed, could they really remain friends? So many questions ran through her mind and none of them led her to good places that by the time they got to her apartment she was certain he hated her. Surely over the years he’d seen what a terrible person she was and his kiss was more out of pity than love.

However, after tromping their way up the stairs to her apartment doors, he gave her another peck on the cheek while she unlocked the door. The touch of his lips made her heart beat faster in her chest. Could he really like her like that? She opened the door and was immediately embarrassed at the state of her living space. She didn’t often have visitors, and even though she’d known Chris for many years, she still put in her best effort to have her place looking nice when he came over. Now, empty takeout boxes littered the house, gathering like flies to meat on her coffee table and huddling in the dark corners of the house like frightened rabbits.

“Nice place,” Chris joked, jabbing her in the ribs. “I hope your room is clean.”

Anne bit her lip. Did he mean what she thought he did? “Let me go check,” she said quickly, loping over to her small room on the other side of the apartment. Turning on the lights, she saw that while her room was decently clean, she’d left her favorite dildo on her nightstand from last night. Hurriedly she tossed it under her bed and took her bra from off the post at the end of her queen-sized bed, whose covers lay spread across it. She wasn’t sure how he felt about being covered while having sex, so she made the bed meticulously on the chance they would be on top of it.

Moving back across the house, she found him waiting for her in his usual spot on the couch, his foot balanced on his knee and his legs wide open. He didn’t try to conceal the erection that strained against his pants, but instead looked at her through half-lidded eyes and beckoned her to come sit with him. Crossing the hallway and living room that separated them felt like crossing an ocean. On the one hand, she had waited for this moment for years, and now that it had finally arrived she was eager to make her dreams come true. On the other, however, this would surely change the dynamic between them, and the one they had was so comfortable she wasn’t sure what the future would look like after sex.

Finally, she took her place beside him and he immediately wrapped his arms around her, kissing her once more with his strong, narrow lips and searching tongue and removing any doubt as to what he wanted. Anne’s heart rate spiked, and the air between them rose several degrees as they groped at each other, searching each others’ bodies hungrily. Her tongue went deep into his mouth, tasting as much of him as she could and feeling the hard squares of his teeth. His hands grasped at her breasts under her bra, and he reached around to unhook the offending clothing item. She ran her fingers through his hair, taking what little there was into her hands and bringing his head even closer to her, as if by bringing them together they might become the same person.

Then, moaning, she flipped her leg over him so she was straddling him. Impatiently, desperately, Chris took her shirt in his hands and pulled it off her along with her bra, breaking them apart for a moment while she removed his shirt as well. His abs were hard as steel, smooth skin covering them and rippling along with his panting breaths. How did she never notice how muscular he was? Her pussy coming alive, she ran her hands over his chest, awed at the mountains that formed his six-pack. Sucking in deep breaths, she rocked her hips back and forth on his lap, feeling his hard cock at her jeans. It was bigger than she thought it would be, she noticed, growing wet at the thought of having it inside her. He’d dated over the years as well. She was certain he knew how to use it.

“Nngh, don’t play with me like that,” he breathed, taking her by the back of the head and pulling their mouths back together. His taste was intoxicating, and she was certain that no matter how many times she kissed him, she would never get used to it. Her eyes closed, she grasped at his pants to undo the button as he held her close, breathing her in. Flustered, she gave up and gave in to his kiss, putting her arms around him and continuing her steady rubbing at his member. He moaned into her mouth, pulling them apart and licking the saliva off his lips.

“Fuck, Annie, you really know how to get me going,” he said, pushing her off him and unzipping his pants. His cock sprang to attention as he pulled his pants and underwear down, dropping them to the floor as if they were poisonous.

Despite herself, Anne found herself blushing. His cock was beautiful, with a round, defined head and long, veiny body. It was also considerably larger than her last boyfriend’s. Who knew such a beautiful thing was so close to her for all these years without her knowing it? Her own underwear grew damp with arousal as she looked at his standing form, all hard muscle and coarse hair.

Voice trembling with excitement, she said, “I thought we were going to the bedroom.”

“With you doing that to me? I can’t wait that long,” he replied, pulling her off the couch and undoing her pants fiercely. She helped him remove her remaining clothes and they stood before each other completely bare for the first time in their lives. She couldn’t help how much she wanted him, every ounce of her body trembling at the thought of being with him. All of a sudden, however, a wave of shame crossed her mind, and she felt all at once vulnerable in a way she’d never felt before in her life. What did he think of her? He often called her “thunder thighs” when he saw her in her bathing suit. Would he do the same now that she was bare before him?

“Come over here and let me fuck you,” he said, setting her blood on fire for him.

For a moment, though, her sex-addled senses returned to her, and she said, “wait, you brought a condom, right? If you didn’t, I have some.” Her parents had raised her knowing better than to rely on one form of STI prevention. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Chris, it was just that until she was married she preferred not to have to wonder.

“Oh right, I forgot,” he said, rolling his eyes but going to his jeans. “You’re miss sex-ed. I swear, you’re worse than your parents about that stuff, and that’s saying something.”

“Safety first, Chris.”

“Does it need to be second and third, too?” he asked as he pulled a string of condoms from his pocket and went back to where he was standing before.

“Safety can be sexy,” she said, striding over to take the condoms from him and rip open one of the packages. It was pre-lubricated, but that was never good enough, and running back into her room, she rummaged through her things to find the lube. She brought it back into the living room where Chris stood waiting, and opened the bottle, squirting some onto her hand and massaging it onto his cock, making him groan with pleasure. “See?” she asked, pinching the tip of the condom and putting it on the head of his penis, rolling it down with gentle strokes.

His member was hard in her hands, but the skin under the condom was supple and soft, and as she moved her hand up and down his length it moved along with her, milking the precum from him with expert skill. She took his balls in her other hand and gave them a soft pull, evoking another groan and making her feel more powerful, as if she could make him do anything she wanted from here on her knees. The lube she had was strawberry flavored and warming, and she could feel it working its magic on both her hand and his dick, his already burning skin turning to fire. While she’d used it on herself several times, she’d never actually tasted it, and wondered now if it was any good. Smiling evilly, she decided she’d just have to find out.

Sticking out her tongue, she sampled the lube at the tip of his penis and found that it tasted like the strawberry syrup they put in milk to make it taste better. This was going to be good. Swiping her tongue across his head, she licked this way and that across him, bringing out a range of glorious sounds that made her heart sing with joy. Then, bringing her lips to the head of his sex, she took the tip into her mouth, moving her tongue around and feeling him out. He throbbed in her mouth, and his hand grabbed the back of her head as he pumped himself further in, his hips gyrating uncontrollably.

“Oh, Anne…” he moaned softly. As Anne took more and more of him into her throat, she swallowed back her gag reflex until her face was touching the coarse hair at his base, her hand still working his balls. The feeling of being filled like this was one of her favorites, and Chris’ hard length filled her like no one else had. She relished the feeling of his head at the back of her throat, warmth flooding her as she began to suck at him. This was something she’d gotten good at over the years. He let out an exclamation as her tongue scrubbed the tender organ back and forth, and he rocked himself in and out of her mouth, his movements growing erratic as he neared completion. She knew better than to let him come so soon, though. Taking Chris’ hand from the back of her head, she pulled herself off of him and let go of his sack.

“Shit, you’re such a tease,” he said, his hand going to his groin.

She swatted him away from himself. “My turn,” she said, beckoning him forward with a finger. Eyes half-lidded, he gave a pleased grin and sauntered over to her. Playfully she danced backward, trying not to run into her kitchen table. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure of her. Not yet. Knowing she had this much power over him, she wondered why she ever felt he didn’t care about her. He tried again to catch her, and she scooted to the side, leading him slowly to her bed. Her thighs were wet with her arousal, but she did her best to hide it as he chased her step by step into the bedroom. This was her game. She couldn’t let him know how much she needed him, and needed him now.

She paused beside the bed and swayed to and fro playfully, biting her lip and staring once more at his arousal. Her nostrils were still filled with the scent of him, which was powerful and stimulating and most definitely masculine, and seeing once more his organ she wondered that she ever fit that much down her throat. Knowing he’d caught her off guard, he turned her around and bent her over the bed as she shrieked with anticipation. This was it. This was the moment she’d been dreaming of for years now, that made her awaken with wet sheets and a head full of love.

His shaft paused at her entrance. “You think you can play me like that?” he asked, bending over so he was close to her ear. “You’re not the only one with games.” Straightening once more, he grabbed her by the hair and put his tip inside her, little movements bringing it in and out of her pussy and rubbing at her lips tantalizingly. She cried out in desire, ready to take all of him but getting only his knob, which throbbed as she cried out, telling her she was still in control of his arousal even as he toyed with her.

She tried to force more of him inside of her with her hips, but with her hair caught up, she couldn’t move to slide backwards onto him. Groaning in frustration as he continued pumping just his head into her, she pulled backwards anyway, tugging on her hair and receiving a completely new sensation that wasn’t all unpleasant. She’d never been fucked like this before, and his roughness with her and complete control over the situation she was in was exhilarating. Her nerves were on end craving his totality inside her womb, and she knew he relished that.

“Do you want me?” he asked, a smile in his voice.

She knew her answer would betray her control over him, so she said nothing.

He pulled completely out of her and asked again, “I said, do you want me?”

“Mmm,” she responded desperately, trying not to scream yes! Just fuck me already, I can’t stand it!

“We won’t go anywhere if you don’t say something,” he said cruelly. “I want to hear you say it.”

Her body was going crazy with desire, and she squirmed under him, her hair being tugged and jerked as he struggled to keep her head in the same position. She wouldn’t say it, wouldn’t give him control over her, no matter how much she wanted to just let go and get fucked by his beautiful cock. But her will wasn’t as strong as her mind was, and somehow the words slipped out of her mouth.

“I want you to fuck me!” she exclaimed, “Please, please fuck me, Chris!”

All at once all of him was inside her, filling her and taking control of her senses. She screamed in delight as he pounded her from behind, using her hair as reins to pull her onto him. Her muscles tensed around him as she took all of him in, and he pounded to the rhythm of her spasms. He was so much better than she could ever imagine, so much realer than her dreams had been, and as a soft moan sighed from his lips, she knew he had wanted her just as badly.

Her mind went fuzzy as she struggled to maintain control over herself, but his erection was too powerful for her. By the time he let go of her hair and moved his hands to her breasts, she was helpless against his assault on her senses. Cupping her breasts in his hands, he took her hardened nipples in his fingers and squeezed, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to nearly send her over the brink. Her mind went to la-la land as he continued what he was doing, squeezing her breasts and nipples again and again while his cock slammed into her from the rear. The smell of their love sat heavy in the air, a smell she loved and drank in now with whatever of her brain she had left.

“Fuck, Annie, you’re so tight,” he groaned pleasurably, slowing his pace so he felt every ripple of her muscle as it closed around him over and over.

As if reading her mind, one of his hands went to her clit and rubbed slowly, and she could take it no longer. Her body exploded around her in an orgasm, every muscle in her body tightening until they quaked from exertion. Another scream erupted from her lips, and the sound drove Chris to hammer himself into her with one huge stroke as his seed spilled into the thin rubber of the condom and he let out a roar of his own, the sound echoing through the apartment. A tiny piece of Anne’s mind knew her neighbors would probably complain about the noise, but at this moment, this pivotal moment in her life, she couldn’t care less what they thought. She had her prince charming and he had his princess, and nothing could drive them apart. Slowly, so slowly, he pulled out of her, her love juices dripping onto the carpeted floor. She didn’t care. She’d spilled hair dye onto the bathroom tile and knew she wasn’t going to get her security deposit back. Finally, she relaxed, and a wave of exhaustion poured over her. He must have felt it too. With a sigh, he collapsed onto the bed next to her, facing the ceiling.

“We’re going to regret this at work in the morning,” he murmured into her ear.

“No, I don’t think we will,” Anne smiled, nodding off.

* * * * *

Her eyes opened slowly onto a scene from a dream. In it, she was in a four-post bed, draped heavily with forest green velvet. Instead of her street clothes, she wore a linen chemise with no underwear beneath it, and her auburn hair hung loose around her. Smiling, she drifted deeper into the dream. There it came again, the knocking that had awakened her the first time. Yawning, she opened her eyes once more, but the dream hadn’t ended. Probably the neighbor coming to complain, she told herself. She smiled again, not caring, and looked beside her for her prince charming. That was odd, usually in dreams like these Chris was in bed with her. Now, he was nowhere to be found, and something seemed out of place.

For a third time there was a knocking at the wooden door, and she gasped when she realized what was so strange. She was already awake. Heart pounding, she looked about her for anything familiar, but even her favorite boots were gone. Instead, the room around her was like something out of a fairytale. Usually she would have been amazed at the scene before her, from the enormous, gold-gilt wardrobe in the corner to the tapestries hanging on the wall, but now all she could think of was that she was going to be late for work if she didn’t find her way out of here soon. She looked down at her wrist where her watch usually sat, but it had been removed as well, showing the smooth caramel skin beneath it. Was Chris playing some kind of prank on her? Had he planned all this as a surprise for them dating? If so, she wasn’t amused.

“Your Majesty?” came a man’s voice through the door. “Are you decent?”

Your Majesty? She took a deep breath. Maybe she could get answers from whoever was outside the door. Casting about again, she found nothing in the room that might aid her in capturing the man, but perhaps she could use her newfound title to wriggle answers from him. She looked down at herself. The chemise was fairly sheer. No way she would call that decent.

“Give me a moment,” she called through the door, and walked to the wardrobe, hoping there would be something inside she could wear. Opening the doors, another gasp escaped her lips. Dresses in every shape and pattern could be seen inside. Remembering there was someone at the door, she hastily drew a dress of heavy green brocade patterned all over with butterflies from the rack, and dressed herself before he got bored and left.

Thankfully, when she opened the door the man was still there, waiting patiently. He was a tall, thin, older man with silver hair put up in a ponytail and modern-looking glasses on his nose. All over, he was a mix of new and old, with a cell phone sticking out of his navy blue breeches and black sneakers on his feet. A navy blue, buttoned vest hung over a long-sleeved, white, cotton shirt. The effect was just confusing enough that the questions died on Anne’s lips and she stood there, mouth wide open, thinking how little they must be being paid to be so out of character.

“Ah, Your Majesty.” He looked her up and down, a look of distaste souring his mouth. “Which maid dressed you?” he asked.

“I could say the same of you,” she replied, already annoyed. “What kind of costume is that?”

“Costume?” the man asked hostilely. “This is my livery.”

Be nice, he could be your ticket home, she thought, and calmed herself down. “Besides,” she said, trying her best to sound regal, “I am the queen. I may look as I wish.”

A wry smile appeared on the man’s face. “Certainly, Your Majesty. But come, breakfast is served in the Great Hall.” He turned and walked away.

Her senses came back to her. “Wait.”

He turned, eyebrows raised. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, we’re already late. His Majesty does not like to be kept waiting.”

All at once, a sea of questions sprang to her mind, each clamoring to be answered. “Where am I? Did Chris do this? What time is it?”

He held up his hand, silencing her. “His Majesty will explain all to you in time.”

“His Majesty?” Anne asked. “I thought I was the queen.”

“You are. Through marriage.” He looked impatient, as though speaking to a very slow child.

“Marriage? What do you mean?” The world around her was beginning to swim. She knew for a fact Chris wouldn’t have done something like this. What was going on?

He sighed. “Quite simply, you are married to the King of Thadoria, the kingdom you call ‘The Other.’”

Her heart sank. As a last hope, she asked, “is it Chris?”

“It is not.”

Her vision went dark.

* * * * *

She awoke with a renewed sense of panic. She had to get back to Chris. As it was, he was probably already contacting the police about her disappearance… unless he didn’t think she’d disappeared. Maybe he thought she left for work early. But they’d taken her cell phone. Surely after she didn’t respond for a few days, he’d know something was wrong, right? She thought back on all the times she’d waited a week to respond to him, and bit her lip. Maybe not. It seemed in this case she would have to take the initiative. Taking a deep breath, she swung out of bed, once more down to a chemise and bare feet, and touched her feet to the cold stone floors.

“He’s not who you think he is, you know,” said a voice from the corner of the room. Anne whirled around to find the servant from earlier leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, the light from the window casting him half in shadow.

“The king? I don’t think he’s anyone, and I want to go home,” she said boldly.

“I’ll let His Majesty know. I spoke of this ‘Chris,’ as you call him. You think you can trust him, but what if he already knows you’re here?” he asked, cocking his head.

“If he knows I’m here, he’ll call the police to come get me.” The cold was beginning to seep into her feet, chilling her.

“Once again, you miss my meaning. I’m saying he already knows where you are, and he’s surely coming to get you, but most certainly not in the way you think. You are very valuable, Your Majesty, though I can say no more than that. Had you been at breakfast, you would have gotten the explanation you seek from the king himself. As it is, you’ll have to wait.”

“Where is the king?”

He pushed himself off the wall, tilting his head the other direction. “Busy. You missed your opportunity to meet him when you fainted this morning.”

Anne was hardly deterred. This servant was getting on her last nerve, and weren’t servants supposed to be punished when they spoke out of turn? Still, she tried to keep her cool. “Too busy to talk to his queen?”

“You use that title as if you know what it means here,” the man said peevishly. “You don’t.”

Anne stomped a foot in frustration. “If I’m nothing more than property to him, that’s sexist, and I demand--”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Anne. Your role is vital to the kingdom, and you have no idea the scope of your title.”

“I thought I was ‘Your Majesty’?” she shot back.

He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t push your luck.”

She crossed her own arms now. “That’s not very servantly of you.”

“I’m no ordinary servant,” he replied coolly.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Rowan,” he said, bowing deeply. “I have served this kingdom for generations as head of the household. I take orders from none but the king.”

“And the queen?”

He laughed. “Not until she learns her duties.”

Anne sat back on the bed. The cold was too much for her. Where was a pair of slippers when you needed one? “So what am I doing here?”

“We’re protecting you from the likes of--er, Chris,” he told her, then muttered, “what a despicable name.”

“It’s not despicable, and Chris is not the bad guy here. Kidnapping someone and marrying them against their will is a lot more evil than anything he’s ever done.”

“You don’t know the half of what he’s done,” Rowan snapped, his eyes darkening. “Besides, you were quite aware of what you were doing, I’m told. But come, I’ve said too much already. It’s now nearly noon. Lunch will be on soon.”

“So I’ll be meeting the king shortly?” she asked.

“Probably not. It may be days before he makes another appearance.” Rowan made his way toward the door.

“Wait, so you won’t tell me anything in the meantime? How did I know what I was doing if I was asleep when I got married? Why do you keep saying Chris is dangerous? When will you let me go?”

Rowan said nothing, but kept moving quickly out of the room and down the hall, checking the watch on his wrist. Anne looked quickly, but it wasn’t hers.

“Oh, and where’s all my stuff?”

This stopped him, and he turned to her with a look of contempt on his face. “Your… things are in the chest at the foot of your bed.”

“Thank you,” she said too loudly, throwing up her hands. “Finally, some answers.”

“You can find them after lunch,” he told her simply

“I can find them now, thank you very much,” she said, temper flaring.

Curling his lip, Rowan replied simply, “I’ll take my leave, then, Your Majesty,” and left.

Back in her room, Anne took a more careful look around. Though there were a great many things in the room, none of them looked dangerous, to her or anyone else. Aside from her bed, there was a large chest at the foot of the bed, covered in intricate carvings and trimmed in gold. There was no lock on the chest, and inside were her things, minus her cell phone, just as Rowan had said. She frowned. So she really was a captive. After she changed back into her own clothes, she continued looking around the room, and found several outlets along the walls. What kind of place was this, anyway? She’d always thought of The Other as a backward place suspended in time, or perhaps in a time all their own. This place appeared instead to be a blend of old and new, with ancient furniture beside brand new appliances. It was like going to a Renaissance faire where they didn’t care if you saw their water bottles or gadgets.

Her stomach rumbled suddenly, and she remembered it was lunch time. She looked at her watch. 12:37. Hopefully she wasn’t too late. She may not have liked being here, but right now she didn’t have a choice, and she had to eat. At least she wasn’t wearing one of those heavy dresses with the corsets, or she would have fainted again, this time from hunger. They were lovely, though, the kind she’d always dreamed of owning. Perhaps if she didn’t find her way out of here before her clothes got too dirty to wear, she would try one of them on again. But she would be back before then, she knew it. Steeling herself, she left the room, and--

She looked to the left and the right, down the long hallway that stretched on for what seemed like eternity on either side. Oops. Which way was the Great Hall? There didn’t seem to be anyone nearby she could ask for directions, either. Fighting the rising tide of panic in her, she took a deep breath and headed in the direction she’d seen Rowan go. Taking the next left turn, she figured maybe she could do like they did in movies and take every left turn until she found what she was looking for. It turned out, this just led her in circles. Instead, she tried right, then left, then right, which landed her at a dead end. Her stomach growled again, and she knew she had to find the dining room soon. Taking every pattern she could think of, she soon discovered this castle was a great deal larger than she’d thought, and as the day went on she grew more and more lost.

It seemed like ages before she found an atrium of the castle where life bustled by and there were people she could ask for help. Just as with Rowan, all of these people were wearing a mix of new clothes and old. Blouses under bodices, more utility kilts than she ever wanted to see in her life, and someone wearing a Halloween werewolf mask. She could only guess where he was going. She? They? Anyway, she stopped a middle-aged woman in business attire to ask where the Great Hall was. Lifting an eyebrow and looking her up and down as Rowan had done, she pointed wordlessly behind her, where, oh duh, Anne saw a huge set of double doors.

“Thanks,” she said, but the woman was already gone. So much for being queen.

After whatever was left of lunch, the rest of her day went much the same. How was she supposed to get out of here if she couldn’t even find her way back to her room? She did find a door to the outside, but she found the guards there already recognized her and wouldn’t let her out without the king’s permission. If she had a weapon or knew how to use one, she might have fought her way out, but she imagined how that might carry itself out and decided against it. So she was trapped, as she thought.

And Rowan was right, it turned out. She didn’t see the king at all that day, though she followed the young servant boy who was sent to fetch her for dinner and wasn’t late this time. He also wasn’t there at breakfast the next morning, or any meals for the next several days. She soon took to spending her time wandering the halls, trying to figure the place out. After almost three days of wandering, she’d found twenty bedrooms but not much else. She seemed to be in the living area of the castle, and discovered that the place was vaguely L-shaped, the Great Hall being the separator between the bedrooms and the… well, she hadn’t been to the other side yet. She’d also discovered a bedroom that looked like the king’s own, with heavily carved wooden doors and an enormous bed inside, but he wasn’t there when she went to look inside and she hadn’t been able to find the place since.

On the fourth day, she ventured to the other side of the castle and found herself inside a cavernous library with high, vaulted ceilings shelved top to bottom with books. She thought of a scene from one of her favorite animated movies, and now she was living that scene in real life. It was almost too much. But she couldn’t get comfortable here. She was trapped. She had business.

“Ahem,” said a calm voice from beside her. She turned to find the librarian studying her from over her glasses. She was tall, and even slimmer than Rowan, though she looked considerably younger. Pointed ears told Anne she wasn’t human, her navy blue livery set off her bright, green eyes well. This was something that wasn’t present in the movie, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do. Was she even allowed to be in here? “Is there something I can help you find?” she asked, pushing her glasses up her nose.

“Oh uh, not really. I’m just browsing I guess.”

“Well, take your time. Not many people come here other than the king, though it’s open to all the staff as well. Recent hire?” she inquired kindly.

“Oh I don’t work here. In fact,” she said conspiratorially, “I’m actually trapped here and trying to get out.”

“Oh, then you must be Anne,” she said, a smile on her face. Had the king told everyone to be on the lookout for her? “His Majesty has spoken so highly of you. He did say you might be resistant to being here for a while, though. May I direct you to some reading I think you would enjoy? From what I hear of your interests, that shelf over there will suit you nicely.”

“Will it help me find my way out of here?” she asked hopefully.

“I’m afraid not in the physical sense, though you might find a more ethereal escape in their pages. I know I do. Why, just the other day I was reading a book about--well, my interests wane more romantic than yours, but it took hours after I was finished for me to come back to this world.” She sighed. “Don’t you sometimes wish the world was more like a book? Oh, but I suppose yours is rather turning into one, isn’t it? It must be terribly exciting.”

“Terrible is a good word for it. Why is the king even keeping me here?”

“Haven’t they told you?” she asked, shocked. “It’s to keep you safe from the likes of Artaxes the Heartless and The Angel of Death, both of whom I hear have their eye on you. I would be terrified if it were me they were after. They both have quite the reputation as killers.”

“They sound pleasant,” Anne said dubiously. “But I don’t even know who those people are. Why would they be after me?” Finally she was getting somewhere with someone who clearly wasn’t in on the let’s-keep-everything-a-secret club.

“The prophecy. Don’t you know the prophecy about yourself? It makes you highly valuable to a great many people, not all of whom have your safety in mind.”

“Prophecy?” she asked incredulously. “There’s a prophecy about me?”

“Well, not you specifically, but I’d best not say it if you don’t know. It’s a lot to take in, and I’m not sure it’s my place to tell.” The woman looked ashamed, as though she knew she’d said too much and was trying to take it back.

“Great. So I got kidnapped to keep me safe from people I’ve never heard of to fulfill a prophecy I don’t even know, is that about it?” she asked sarcastically. “What’s next, I have to complete three trials to prove I’m the chosen one?”

“Only if you want to,” the woman said seriously, then laughed. “My, you do read, don’t you?”

“I haven’t in a while,” she replied abashedly. “High school kind of killed it for me.”

“What a shame. I hear that a lot from our human hires. Your classes must be simply awful.”

Anne nodded. “It was pretty terrible. I remember every year on the last day of school someone would pull the fire alarm as a joke and make us stay after school ended because of a stupid fire drill.”

The woman hissed in a breath. “I’m not sure I know what all of that means, but any time I have to stay late because of someone else it’s positively infuriating.” This woman seemed nice, but Anne needed information.

“Hmm,” she said as a change of subject. “So, about the king,” she said, walking over to the desk where the woman stood. “What kind of person is he?”

“Well… that’s a difficult question to answer. I only see him when he’s in a particular mood, but he’s pleasant enough with me. Of course, seeing as not many people come by here, I also don’t hear much about him that doesn’t come from his own mouth, and he mostly comes here for, well, quiet reading. He does do quite a bit of that, though, which I find an admirable quality in a man. Still, from what I hear, he’s not one to be on the wrong side of. But haven’t you met him? What do you think of him?”

“I wish I had. Then I might have some idea what’s going on. People keep telling me ‘the king will explain everything,’ but where is he? What’s he been doing that he’s too busy to talk to me if he’s the one who brought me here?”

“Well, I can tell you he was in here yesterday doing research. On what I’m not sure. He doesn’t really need my help searching for books. Honestly I think he hired me because my family supports him, but this is really a dream job for me, so I can’t say I’m complaining.”

“That’s sad. So what do you do all day?” she asked.

“Quite simply, I read. I’ve read many of the titles in this library, and a fair few in the others, as well.”

“There are other libraries in the castle?”

“Two of them, yes, though neither are as large as this one. If you’ve stumbled here on accident, you made it to the right place.”

“Might the king be in one of them?”

She looked thoughtful. “I suppose he could be, yes. Though he could be almost anywhere in the castle, when you put it that way. Honestly I’m a little jealous for you. I’m far too old for His Majesty, but he cuts a pretty picture. Of course, my own husband is something to look at as well, but someone as virile as the king would be…” she let out a long, wistful breath.

Anne shuffled her feet awkwardly, then thought of something. “Is there a map of the castle here?” she asked.

“Of course. Right this way,” the librarian told her, and led her over to the atlas section, where on the wall hung a map of the castle. “It’s a bit small, but if you’re looking for the other libraries, they’re here” she pointed without touching the glass, “and here. I can’t promise you’ll find the king, but you’ll certainly find something to keep you company until you meet him. Is there anything else I can help you find?”

“I’m good for right now,” Anne told her, feeling bad for her.

“Right. Let me know if you need anything else,” she said, and left her alone with the map.

For a moment Anne wished she could think about stealing the map from off the wall as a reference guide, but it was clearly very old and fragile, and besides that she’d never stolen a thing in her life. Instead, she studied it. As the woman said, it was a bit small and the rooms were hard to see, but after a while she found where she was and visually traced her way over to the other libraries. It was worth a shot, she told herself with a shrug. Making her way back to the entrance, she bid the kind woman goodbye and went on her way.

Her luck had apparently run out, because search as she might, the king wasn’t in either of the other libraries, either. Where did kings do their work? What did they even do all day? Anne didn’t know, but it was beginning to piss her off. Maybe he was avoiding her, she thought. Making her wait because she fainted her first day there. But that wasn’t very fair, was it? It wasn’t as though she’d had any choice in the matter. Of course, it wasn’t as though she had any choice in being here, either. Trying to keep her head, she went back to what the librarian woman had said.

Had Anne not already been in a relationship, this might have sounded like a dream come true. From what she’d said, he was at the very least attractive, though Anne cursed herself for not asking about his age. She got the feeling the librarian was a lot older than she looked, and so what was attractive to her may have been different than to Anne. He also seemed like a kind person and fair ruler, but that may have just been from the side of the conquerors. Certainly The Other had been vying for more land in the last few years, but as far as Anne knew they hadn’t gotten it.

She went to bed that night frustrated and confused. Her situation at home wasn’t a great one, and here she didn’t have to think about working or paying bills, only being a queen, whatever that meant. So far, it didn’t seem to mean much. Still, she had friends on the other side of the wall, and she was already in a relationship with Chris. But wasn’t she married to this man? Surely it couldn’t have been legal if she wasn’t aware of it, though. Her head spun with these thoughts until she thought she would never fall asleep, and when she finally drifted off, her dreams were of home.

* * * * *

Finally, a week after being captured, Rowan approached her once more after dinner. She hadn’t seen him since her first day there, and seeing a semi-familiar face after so long was actually nice. This time, she was more prepared to listen to what he had to say.

“His Majesty wishes an audience with you,” he said, bowing politely and offering an arm. She took it, feeling fancy. This may have been a prison, but she was certainly going to find her way out. Why not enjoy herself in the meantime? After all, she was queen here. What was she back home but a retail clerk? Best not to start thinking like that, she chided herself, but still allowed herself to be led along by Rowan.

Today she’d been dressed by one of the female servants who noticed something about her she would rather not be noticed, but she was nice about it, and the dress she chose was striking. It looked like a dress Cinderella would have worn, a light blue that offset Anne’s golden skin well and highlighted the red in her auburn hair. It was sewn all over with tiny flowers, and had several layers of sheer fabric underneath, making it flow like something out of a dream. Smiling a bit, she raised her skirt with one hand as she walked, feeling like a star on the red carpet.

As they neared their destination, Anne was proud to say she recognized at least half of the journey. Clearly her wandering and finding a map had been a good idea after all. In fact, unless she was mistaken, the room she was headed toward looked just like the one she’d found the other day she’d thought belonged to the king. It was, she noticed as she saw the carvings on the door. Her fist pumped the air. It was the little victories in life.

“Quite alright, Majesty?” Rowan asked, seeing her behavior.

“Hmm? Yeah, I’m fine.”

He said nothing, but raised an eyebrow and sneered, knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” asked an attractive voice from the other side of the door. The sound slid into her ears smoothly, making her bite her lip. She didn’t think she had a thing for voices, but this was an exception. Shit. That wasn’t a good start to hating her captor.

“Just me, Majesty.”

“Is she with you?” he asked, voice trembling slightly. Anne’s heart fluttered, but she stomped it down.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Rowan replied dourly.

There was a pause, and a shuffling noise could be heard on the other side of the door. After a moment, the voice called, “send her in.”

Rowan opened the door, bowed her inside of it, and left, shutting her in. The last time she’d found this room, she’d been awed by the size and magnificence of it all, from the massive bed to the attached bathroom that was larger than her entire apartment. The door to the bathroom was open, and inside she could see a hot tub that could surely fit five people comfortably. The area in which Anne stood was larger even than the bed, and open aside from a wooden desk that was covered in papers shuffled hastily into a pile. In front of it stood the king.

She gasped. If gold was a person, it would be the man before her. His bronze complexion matched her own, but his skin was much smoother and the hair that flowed from his head was a much darker, almost black brown color. Two large, off-gray ram’s horns curled around his ears, from which hung gold jewelry the likes of which she’d never seen. He was positively dripping with jewels, from his ears, from his nose, from his neck, very few of which she’d ever seen in person. Kindly, chocolate-brown eyes gazed at her from under long, curling lashes. The opulence of his clothing matched that of his jewelry, with a long, navy blue, military-style coat she could tell was expensive just from the cut and narrow gold pants that looked like something out of a Chanel catalog. Finishing the look was a pair of deep brown, furred boots that were tipped in gold. But wait, those weren’t boots, they were cloven hooves, and the fur was his own.

“Hello, Andy,” he said, snapping her out of it. The only people who called her Andy were people she knew when she was younger. She wouldn’t allow anyone to call her that anymore. It reminded her too much of the past. She looked at his face again. Something in it looked familiar, though under all the gold chain she couldn’t tell.

“Do I know you?” she asked, uncertain.

“I should hope so,” he replied. “We used to play together every day as children.”

Memories came flooding back to her now of the young boy she’d met one day over the border. She used to climb over the fence on a regular basis as a child, before she was nearly killed by a ghoul that had strayed from its cave. On one such trip, she met a young boy with tiny horns poking out of his head crying on a rock. When he’d seen her, he’d nearly run away, but she convinced him to stay and talk about his troubles. The encounter ended with them both laughing and sharing the Barbie she’d brought with her, combing her hair and talking about her life.

After that, they’d met every day, Anne bringing more dolls and other toys for them to share. He would tell them the name of them in his language since he spoke very little English and they would sit and bask in the sun that filtered through the leaves and splash in the pools of water not far from where they met. He had been her first crush. Thinking back on it now, her heart beat faster. Something was nagging at her though, a memory tugging at the back of her mind like a child trying to show her mother something important.

“Andy, I love you. Will you be with me forever?” he had asked solemnly, taking her small hands in his.

“You said you loved me. I said I felt the same,” she said now.

“That’s right,” he replied with a smile. “I love you just the same now.”

“Forever and ever,” she said in response, heart fluttering in her chest. She didn’t know much about love, but she knew how she felt around him, and if her parents felt that way about each other, it must have been love. The sun was beginning to set, casting their features half in light and half in shadow. The little boy looked very serious now, and his hands began to glow.

“This magic will bond our souls together forever. From now on, nothing can separate us. Not time, not distance, nothing.”

“You bonded our souls together,” she said, the reality of the situation hitting her.

“I did. And now we’ll be together forever.”

Gathering slowly, rage rose within her, and before she knew what was happening her hand flew across his face. “Why the fuck did you think a six-year-old was capable of making life decisions?” she screamed as he rubbed his face, hurt.

“I did tell you what I was doing beforehand,” he said as a red mark appeared on his cheek. She hadn’t meant to hit him that hard, or hit him at all. It had just happened. Still, she wouldn’t let that calm her down.

“I was six! I didn’t understand what you were doing!”

“I told you it was very serious,” he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

“So that makes it okay to bond souls with a six-year-old?”

“How was I supposed to know you didn’t understand the gravity of the situation? It’s not as though you weren’t old enough,” he told her sharply. Shaking his head, he said, “I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here. I’m not sure you if you remember my name, since clearly you forgot everything else, so my name is--”

“Dominian, I remember,” she said, her anger subsiding a bit. “And I go by Anne now, by the way.”

“Oh.”

Silence stretched between them as they processed what had just happened between them.

Rubbing his face again, Dominian said, “you seemed so happy at the time.”

“I was, I just…” she trailed off. “We were just kids playing, you know? I didn’t think it was serious. Or maybe I did, I don’t know. Dom, I… if you bonded our souls together, why did you leave?” she asked. “You disappeared one day and never came back. I showed up every day for months waiting for you to come, but you never did. What happened?”

Pursing his lips, he turned away. “Life has its ways of interfering,” he said dully.

“What the hell does that even mean?” she asked pointedly, anger rising again.

“Listen,” he said, “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“You married me and then disappeared. You better talk about it,” she said accusingly.

“My father--” he stopped. “Look, sometimes you have to grow up faster than you want to. My father was the king, and my brothers didn’t think it fitting that I was playing dolls with a human. They… never let me out of their sight after we bonded.”

“Oh yeah, you have two older brothers.” As she remembered, they were the reason he’d been crying when they met. “What assholes. I’m really sorry, Dom.” It didn’t change all the nights she’d cried herself to sleep waiting, but at least now she had the answers she’d waited so long for. Suddenly, she thought of something. “Why didn’t one of your brothers become king? Kyre or… what was the other one’s name…” she snapped her fingers, trying to remember.

“They died,” he said shortly, and she knew that was the final word on the subject.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Dom. That must have been terrible.”

“Hmm,” was all he said in response. Anne dropped her hand. Again, neither said anything, the only sound breaking the silence a grandfather clock beside the massive window across from them.

Anne’s heart began to beat faster as the situation settled in with her. She didn’t expect it to be like this. Chris was the hero, this king was the villain, and she would find herself in the arms of the one she loved before the end of the film. Now she didn’t know how to feel. It was true she was only six when they soul bonded, but she had very much seen a future with this man before he disappeared. She remembered all the nights she’d spent weeping when he’d gone, and a rush of emotion flooded through her--anger, sorrow, pain, and an almost crushing feeling she couldn’t identify. Was it love? Looking at him now, with his moony brown eyes and perfect Cupid’s bow lips, she again remembered how he made her feel when they were together. And seeing his body, a new feeling awakened within her.

“So… we’re married? Really and truly?” she asked, feeling embarrassed but needing him all the same.

“In human terms, yes. In reality it’s much deeper than that.” He must have seen the look on her face, because he paused what he was saying, smiled, and stepped in closer. “Why do you ask?”

She bit her lip. This man smelled sharper than Chris, muskier, but also cleaner, the scent of jasmine hanging about him as though he’d just washed. The scent was intoxicating, going straight to her most sensitive part and filling her with longing. She knew how she felt about Chris, but the man before her was her husband. Surely she could figure out her feelings after this. Chris would understand, she told herself.

“I think you know why,” Anne whispered, looking longingly at his lips. Moving slowly, he brushed them up against hers in the shadow of a kiss.

“Is that so?” he asked, bridging the remaining distance between them and pulling her into an embrace, eyes roaming over her voraciously. “First you slap me, and now you expect me to make love to you?”

Color rushed to her cheeks, her heart fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. “Uh… kinda?” she said.

He breathed out slowly and heavily through his nose. “Okay. But only because it’s you,” he replied, smiling wryly.

A thought occurred to her. “Um… you don’t expect me to be… virginal, do you?”

He let go of her, laughing. “Gracious, I hope not, or I would be in big trouble. We’ve been keeping an eye on you for years, and we’ve certainly seen the choices you’ve made. To be honest, I’ve had a few run-ins myself.”

“Oh good, ‘cuz I was gonna be like, ‘uhh, I have some news for you,’” Anne laughed uncomfortably. She suddenly felt nervous all over again, like a child getting into something they know they shouldn’t. She’d spent so long missing him, and in the years that passed had loved so many others that now getting to have him felt like forbidden fruit. But their souls had been bonded. This fruit was hers forever, whether she wanted it or not.

Dominian took her in his arms once more and tugged at the buttons on the back of her dress. Biting her lip, she moved to the buttons on his coat, staring intently at them and trying not to blush any redder than she already was. Her hands shook. With Chris, it had seemed so comfortable. Now it was as though something that was beyond even her strangest dreams was coming true, something she hadn’t even dreamed of in childhood because that world hadn’t opened up to her yet. It felt wrong somehow, as though they were back to being children. But the hard muscles under his jacket spoke of a man and not an innocent, crying boy.

Her breaths came in short gasps as the top of her dress came down over her breasts and he caressed them worshipfully, as though she were some goddess and he a humble servant. His hands were soft on her skin, the hands of someone who’d never had a hard day in his life, though she knew that wasn’t true. A fire lit under her skin and she burned for more of his touch, yearned to feel his hands all over her. Suddenly impatient, he shrugged off his coat and pulled off the clean, white t-shirt underneath. Seeing his bare chest, it took all of her strength not to put her hands to him and feel the way his muscles moved under his silken skin. She pushed her dress the rest of the way down, fabric falling like a waterfall onto the floor.

“You’re so beautiful,” came the words she was thinking, but they spilled from Dom’s lips and not her own. His spell temporarily broken, she looked down at her own form, a little too chunky in some areas, her thighs and stomach covered in cellulite and stretch marks. She laughed.

“Says Adonis himself. I think you may be looking in a mirror, Dom,” she said.

“I worked very hard to look like this. I wouldn’t want you to have to do the same. You’re perfect, and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t deserve you.”

She thought then of Chris, and his frequent jokes about her being “thunder thighs.” Now before her was a man who only called her perfect, though he was looking at her naked form, bare even of the jewelry that covered so much of him. How could he say that? She looked behind her quickly to make sure there wasn’t actually a mirror there. There wasn’t. Looking back down at herself, she saw a glimmer of what he must have seen in her. Her body was interesting, curved and striped, powerful in a way muscles weren’t. Was she really beautiful?

His hand touched her arm and she gasped and looked up to find that Dom had removed his pants as well to reveal fur legs and an erect penis like none that a human could possess. Its thick girth was covered in ridges and bumps, and had to have been at least eight inches in length. He also had a Prince Albert piercing in titanium that was quite fetching. Seeing it, she gaped.

“Wow,” she said, eyes wide. “That’s…”

He suddenly looked embarrassed, and covered himself with his hands. “Is it bad?”

“No, it’s wonderful. I’ve never seen anything like it.” A terrible thing occurred to her then. “I don’t suppose you have condoms in Thadoria?” she asked sheepishly.

He raised an eyebrow. “We do. I’m guessing you’d like me to use one, then?”

“If you don’t mind,” she replied.

“Why should I mind? Let me go find one,” he told her, and disappeared into the bathroom. He was so different than Chris. She hated to admit it, but she was beginning to suspect she enjoyed Dom better. But that was foolishness. She wouldn’t let herself think that way. This was simply to satisfy her craving, and then she would escape and find her way back to her true love. When Dom came out again, he was sheathed in rubber, which saddened Anne a bit as she’d wanted to taste him fully, but it was a pleasure she would have to forego.

“Better?” he asked with a smile.

She nodded, and approached him to take him in her hands, but he put out an arm to stop her. “Please,” he said, “the pleasure is mine.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. Was he going to do it himself?

Taking her hand, he led her over to the bed. Turning her to face him, he hoisted her into his arms so her legs were around his waist and she could feel his phallus rubbing against her inner lips, wettening her even more. She moaned, but confusion overtook her once more as he laid her on the bed and dropped to his knees. Was he doing what she thought he was? Her heartbeat quickened and her breath caught in her throat. Many times she’d given oral to men, but they’d never once returned the favor. This would be a completely new experience for her, something that made her quake with anticipation. She laid back and stared up at the ceiling, gasping when she felt his hot breath at her entrance.

But his mouth moved off to the side, and his teeth barely nibbled at her inner thigh. Her inner muscle contracted, though he hadn’t even touched her most sensitive parts yet. What was this new feeling blossoming in her chest? Softly he suckled his way outward, and with each separate kiss she spasmed harder and harder, loving his sharp canines against her skin. He took his time making his way back down her thigh, biting slightly harder this time.

“Oh, Dom,” Anne said breathily, “I love you.” The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them, and they hung there in the sweat-filled air around them as he sucked his way up her other thigh. He moaned into her flesh, and suddenly she felt guilty for what she was going to do to him. But they were bonded. Could she really leave him?

All thoughts vanished from her mind as he licked her outer lip and took it into his mouth. It was as though she had a completely new part of her body all over again, and only Dom’s lips had brought it into existence. She bit her lip and groaned, closing her eyes tight as he sucked delicately at her, just next to the button she wished he would push. Waves of pleasure rolled over her in time with his mouth, and as he moved to the other side she was sure she would burst. Finally, when she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, he put his tongue on her love button and swirled it around. It was as though someone had set off fireworks inside her body. The hot, wet pressure of his tongue was enough to bring her to the edge with its first touch, and as he lapped at her sensitive skin, she gripped his head between her thighs and shivered uncontrollably, a wave of heat pouring through her. Her mind blanked like a television going dark as she focused on herself getting face fucked by a man beyond her dreams.

Slowly his hands reached up and grasped her nipples, and they hardened at the attention being given them. It was too much to take. With a long, drawn out cry, every muscle in her body quivered and spasmed as he took up licking at her hole, sucking the juice from her as she had so often done to others. But he wasn’t done yet. His tongue slipped inside her honeypot, head moving in and out, in and out to the rhythm that she came.

“Oh, fuck!” she exclaimed, her heightened sensitivity feeling every bud on his tongue. She’d already had an orgasm and hadn’t even felt his cock yet. She was almost ashamed of herself for giving in so easily, but it was hard not to when he so clearly knew what he was doing. The more he pushed his tongue back and forth, the more she craved something larger, but just as she got used to what he was doing, he licked his way back up to her clit and brought it to her attention once more. As his tongue laved her most sensitive part, fire coursed through her veins, and now more than ever she needed to have his dick in her.

“Please, oh please I need you,” she begged. He acted as though he hadn’t heard her, though she knew he must have, and probably the people in the bedroom next to them, as well. She didn’t care. Nothing mattered but her craving, and as he continued to lick the very soul from her, her pussy burned for him in a way she’d never needed anyone in her life. She threw her head back and covered her eyes with her hands, squirming under him, though he didn’t stop even to comment, but moaned into her skin, causing a hot vibration that sent a bolt of electricity up her spine.

“Fuck, Dom, please,” she pleaded, the last word coming out as a dry sob. Finally, with one last lap from her dripping wet slit to the nub of her clitoris, he stood, and it seemed now that his erection was even harder than it had been before. He licked his lips and looked at her through half-lidded eyes, his irises brown rims under dilated pupils.

Wordlessly he got on top of her and put his shaft at her entrance, nudging himself into her pussy bump by bump, ridge by ridge, and stretching her open to receive the rest of him. He felt impossibly large, filling her to the brim with his girth. A breath of ecstacy escaping his lips, he pulled just as slowly back, and as he left her she felt a need to be filled once more. He was a desire that created itself, sucked her in deep to his world. Gradually he picked up the pace, planting his lips on her neck and sucking at it as though he were a vampire and could drain the life essence from her through a kiss.

The feeling of his rock hard, yet velvet smooth body against hers was sensational. Their breath mingled together as his muscles rippled on top of her, contracting again and again with each plunge he took inside her core. Finally he released her neck, his hot breath coming in pants as he neared completion. Anne’s back arched and she wrapped her legs around Dominian, aching to be closer to him. Her nipples brushed against his chest, creating a shiver down her spine as she felt every inch of his shaft pulling in and out of her.

Please don’t let this end, she begged whoever was listening. Fear struck her at that moment that he would realize what was wrong with her, that he would see who she really was and despise her for it. She often wished that she looked like other girls, that she was normal like they were, and with him being so close to her, she was terrified his rose-colored glasses would come off. Her heart pounded at the same time it soared at the feelings he gave her. Suddenly he tensed and let out a cry of satisfaction, his hot cum filling the condom and erasing her fears. He loved her. He’d said as much. Releasing herself to feel what her body told her, she tensed around his cock and groaned, reaching her peak once more as he continued pumping his seed into her. The feeling was electrifying, and she was certain this was the strongest orgasm she’d ever had.

When he was finally satisfied, he pulled out of her inch by inch, and she shook uncontrollably, heightened sensitivity feeling every peak and valley as though it were ten times larger. Exhausted, he fell into bed next to her and threw an arm across her stomach with a sigh.

“You know, I got tested just last month. I’m clean. In case you’re wondering,” he said, curling her hair around his finger idly.

“I’m clean too, I just don’t want to take any chances,” Anne told him. “We just met again for the first time in almost fifteen years.”

“So it isn’t because you don’t want children,” Dom said with relief.

“No, I want kids,” she said, staring at the ceiling as her breathing returned to normal. It wasn’t that she didn’t want children. That wasn’t it at all. She sighed wistfully.

“You alright?” asked Dom, shifting his head to look at her. She wondered if his horns made him uncomfortable.

“I’m fine,” she said shortly. Thankfully, he didn’t press the matter further. She didn’t want to talk about it.

Instead, he asked, “Do you want to take a bath with me?”

“Oh my God yes,” she said, turning to face him. “That tub looks amazing.”

He grinned and took his arm away from her, grunting as he sat up once more. Even limp, his dick was sizeable, and Anne couldn’t keep herself from staring. Had that really all fit inside her? Seeing where her eyes were, Dominian looked embarrassed again and covered himself with his hands once more.

“Sorry,” he said.

“For what? Amazing sex? An incredible penis? Don’t hide that, it’s a gift to humanity--er, Other… manity?” she asked, unsure.

“We’re called Thadorians,” he replied, bemused.

“Thadorian-manity?” she asked, this time as a joke. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, smiling kindly.

“I’ll go run the bath,” he said, scooting his way off the bed. That was one downside of having such a large bed, Anne told herself. They were hard to get out of.

She bit her lip. There was still something bothering her. “Hey Dom, can I have my phone back?”

He was halfway to the bathroom when he stopped and turned to look at her seriously. “Are you going to use it to call that… Chris?” he asked. The look on his face said he didn’t want to end his sentence that way.

Anne frowned, pursing her lips. “What’s your problem with him? You and Rowan both seem to hate him, but you won’t tell me why.”

“I don’t want to get into an argument with you after something so good. I know you feel strongly about him.” Turning away once more, he went into the bathroom and started up the tub. As much as Anne hated to admit it, he had a good point. Why ruin something like what had just happened when she could just leave it be for the moment? He would be around, and it wasn’t like Chris could find her any time soon. No matter what they said about him, she knew Chris, and he wasn’t what they thought he was.

The bath was even better than she thought it would be, though slightly furrier. Dom must have had a thing about being clean, because he had every soap she could think of in every scent imaginable, from Lush’s latest bar soap to the classic scent of Softsoap. Of course she went with Lush because she couldn’t afford it herself on a regular basis. After they’d washed themselves, they dressed again in their clothes and Dom said sheepishly that he should probably be reading the letter that had arrived for him, but promised he’d meet her for dinner to tell her about Chris.

* * * * *

Back in her room, Anne had time to think about what she’d just done. What would Chris say when she was finally able to call him? Sure, she didn’t have to tell him, but that seemed unfair. She would want to know if he had had sex with someone else while she was away, too. She sat down on her bed. The curtains had been drawn by one of the servants, and it took a while for Anne’s eyes to adjust to the new darkness.

“Shit, what was I thinking?” she asked herself, putting her head in her hands.

“You weren’t,” said a familiar voice from the corner of the room. “But that’s okay. I forgive you.”

She gasped and looked up. “Why do people keep appearing in my room?” she shouted. “Rowan, I swear, if that’s you I’m gonna have a serious talk with Dom about my boundaries.” Getting up, she fumbled around for the light switch. A hand gripped her arm, and she tried to swat it off, but it held on tighter and spun her around. She tried to cry out, but the other hand went to her mouth.

“Shh,” hissed the voice into her ear. “Don’t you want to be rescued?”

She tore her arm away and looked into the face of--

“Chris?” Her heart leapt, though whether from joy or anxiety she couldn’t tell. “How did you get here? How did you know where I was? What are you--”

“Are you just going to stand here and question me, or are we going to get out of here? They weren’t exactly happy to see me, you know.”

“They saw you?” she breathed.

“It was figurative. Let’s go,” he urged her, dragging her toward the corner of the room.

“How are we going to get out this way? We’re not jumping out the window, are we? Because--”

“So many questions. Come on,” he said impatiently. He was taking her toward a floor-to-ceiling tapestry of a unicorn fighting off its captors. Brushing aside the piece of art, he opened a servant’s door that was behind it.

“Has that always been there?”

He glared at her, and ushered her through the door. Something felt off about this. How did he know where she was, and where the secret passageways through the castle led? She stopped, remembering Rowan’s words the first day she’d been here.

“Come on,” Chris urged, “we don’t have all day.”

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, heart in her throat.

“Home, idiot,” he hissed. “Do you want them to find us? Come on, before the sun sets.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s when his regime is most powerful. I’ll tell you everything when we get home.” He gave her a big hug, and suddenly he was back to just being her Chris. “I’m just as scared as you are, Anne. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

She nodded, and allowed herself to be led through the door, down the stairs, and out into the courtyard. There were no guards here, probably because servants didn’t need to be watched over and they didn’t expect her to find the door. In fact, the whole place seemed deserted on that side of the castle. There wasn’t much over here, and it was right by the wall, so there was probably no need or desire for anyone to come this way. So close to the wall was it that they had to squeeze their way down the alley one at a time, Chris holding her hand the whole way. It was just like their walks back from work, except now there would be people chasing them if they knew she was trying to leave. Her boss usually didn’t do that.

Chris’ car was waiting for them on the other side of the wall, tucked into a side street where it wouldn’t be seen. Anne had never seen the city outside the castle, and it was an amazing sight. It looked like the movies she’d seen of the bazaars in India and Marrakech, except the street was paved, open air stalls lining either side of it and shopkeepers crying their wares. They seemed to have everything for sale here--bags of real and fake brand names, blankets and dresses, beautiful silver and gold jewelry--

“Are you gonna get in the car, or what? It’s cool, I know, but we have to get out of here.” Chris’ voice snapped her out of it, and she noticed he was holding the door open for her as he always did.

“Oh. Thanks,” she said, hopping in and buckling her seatbelt. He leapt over the front of the car, a trick he reserved for getting off of work for the day, and swung himself into the driver’s seat, keys already in his hand. He put the keys in the car and revved the engine.

With a cunning look on his face, he asked, “you ready to go home?”

Fighting the rising tide of panic in her, Anne replied, “let’s go.”

He jetted around the corner and down the street, raising a cloud of smoke and dust behind him. As he drove, he let out a victorious hoot.

“We did it, Anne! We made it out alive!” His fist pumped the air as the car swerved down the street, causing Anne to grip the handle above the window.

“Did you think we wouldn’t?” she asked, still anxious.

“I didn’t know what to think, Anne, especially not after you started asking me all those silly questions like you don’t know me or something. We could have been stranded if the sun had gone down while you were dilly-dallying.”

Anne narrowed her eyes. “About that. How do you know that? I don’t even know that, and I’ve been trapped here for over a week.”

“I did some research while you were away,” he said, eyes focused on the road. “I noticed the Others watching you and figured they must have captured you when you disappeared. I tried calling you so many times, Anne, but you didn’t pick up. What happened?”

The road before them curved and the houses became less packed. They must have been leaving the city. Half of Anne was relieved to finally be able to go back to her regular life, but the other half missed Dom already. Still… “They took my phone and wouldn’t give it back.” What kind of hero would trap his princess? If he was such a good guy, he would have at least let her call her parents and let them know she was okay. “Oh shit, that means they still have it.” They went over a pothole, and Anne grabbed at her seat. They were going very, very fast. Too fast for her comfort. Of course, Chris always had a lead foot.

“Why would they want you?” he asked, and then quickly continued, “I mean, not that you’re not attractive, but why you? What did they want you for?”

How could she tell him about her relationship with Dom? That she was married, soul bonded to someone she hadn’t seen since childhood? Instead, she said, “I don’t know. They never told me.” It wasn’t like her to lie to her best friend, but if she wanted him to be more than that, she couldn’t let him know the truth here.

“Hmm,” he responded. Then, “it just doesn’t make any sense. I mean, he didn’t get you knocked up, did he?”

She scoffed at him. “Of course not. I didn’t even have sex with him,” she lied, “and anyway, you know how I am about protection.”

He made a face of disbelief, but said nothing. They rode on in silence like this for a while. Somewhere along the way, Chris had pulled off the highway onto a dirt road, and they sped down it now, racing the sun to get over the border before nightfall.

“So what happens at night?” she asked, breaking the ice that had settled between them.

“Hmm?” he asked, distracted. “Oh, that’s when this whole place really comes alive. I read that Dominian’s troops are ruthless to anyone who doesn’t have their papers in order.”

“Papers?” she asked.

“Identifying papers. Like a visa or something.” Blessedly, she could see the border wall from here. It was just turning dusk, and she knew they would be having dinner at this very moment, and would surely discover she was missing by now. Her heart hurt thinking of what Dom would think when he realized she’d escaped. But this whole week had been hell for her, wondering where she was and why she was there. He could have come to her before he did, and he didn’t. It didn’t matter how close they were as children. It seemed he’d grown into a heartless dictator of an adult, and she couldn’t bear being with someone like that.

Suddenly, he skidded off the road and sped up.

“Oh my God, Chris, what are you doing?” Anne asked, her nerves shattered.

“Well, we can’t just go to the border guards and say ‘oh, who are we? Just escaped prisoners, that’s all.’” He seemed so calm, but his speedometer read 90 mph. Sure his reasoning was sound, but did he have to go that fast? “Don’t worry, though,” he continued, “I found another way out in in my research.”

“Does it involve slamming through the wall like in Harry Potter? Because it looks like that’s what we’re about to do,” Anne said, her voice rising in pitch. The wall grew taller and taller before them, but Chris didn’t slow down. In fact, he seemed to be picking up speed.

“Just trust me,” Chris said, an edge coming back to his voice.

Anne frowned. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked. “You’re not usually this irritable.”

He sighed. “It’s been a hard week. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alri--oh my God we’re gonna die!” she shrieked, covering her face with her hands as they sped at the wall.

But the impact never came. Instead, when she peeked out from between her fingers, she found herself in an unfamiliar part of town that was definitely on the other side of the border. Everything was run-down, but in a modern way, and no kiosks lined the streets, but streetlights, their blossoms of yellow, created suns on the windshield before her. The familiarity was instantly disarming, even though they weren’t in a place she knew. Chris quickly brought up his GPS and typed something in on his keyboard, pressing “start” and placing the phone on his dashboard.

Anne felt herself growing drowsy as the sun sank behind the horizon. She must’ve been under more stress this week than she’d thought. But it was okay now. Everything was going to be okay…

* * * * *

She awoke as the car pulled into a motel in an unfamiliar place. Her hands began to shake all over again. Where was she? Looking quickly beside her, she checked to make sure she hadn’t been captured again. No, it was just Chris. Surely he knew what he was doing.

“Why are we at a motel?” she asked, sitting up.

Chris startled. “Oh! You’re awake. I figured we had to lie low for a while, so we’ll be travelling around a little until this whole thing cools off. Is that okay?” he asked. “We’ll get you a new phone so you can call your parents and your job, and we’ll never have to see those Others again.”

“Thadorians,” she said. “They’re called Thadorians.”

He parked in one of the vacant spaces, got out, and crossed over to her side, where he opened the door for her. “I mean, does it really matter?” he asked finally. “We’ll still never have to see them again. We can be happy. We can be together.”

Taking his hand, she pulled herself out of the car and smiled at his words, stomping on the heartbreak of realization of what her childhood friend had become. “Yeah. We can.”

When they finally checked into the hotel, it was after midnight and she was beginning to sink into sleep once more, her head nodding as her feet kept her walking to the room. Inside was a single queen bed, though she distinctly remembered asking for two. Or maybe she had dreamed it? She’d wanted to have some space to herself to think about the events of the last week, but she figured having another body beside her would be comforting, especially someone’s as familiar as Chris.

The bed felt heavenly, though it was neither as large nor as conforming as her bed at the castle had been. The fact that the nightmare was over was good enough for her. Her eyes drifted to Chris, and she sighed. He stood naked, his cock erect, stroking it with a hand. Was it too much to get a break?

“I’m tired, Chris. I just got rescued. Can’t I get some sleep?” she asked, a whine creeping into her voice.

“Come on. Victory sex. We did it!” he said.

She sighed again, her shoulders sagging, and tugged at the buttons on her Cinderella dress. Chris approached her and undid the buttons, hoisting the whole thing up over her head. He seemed a lot more energetic than she was, probably because tonight was about to go a lot better for him than her. But he was right--she owed it to him. Her mother had taught her that she didn’t owe anything to anyone, but her mother also didn’t foresee her getting captured by the person she thought was her best friend and then freed by the one who really was, either.

Seeing her, Chris laughed. “Good old thunder thighs. I’ve missed you.”

Her body, which had been beautiful in Dom’s eyes, was suddenly back to being lumpy and ordinary in Chris’. Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t deserve you, she heard again in her mind. Normally, she would have been able to laugh Chris’ comment off, but tonight wasn’t like other nights. Tonight, she’d just had the best sex of her life with a man she thought she’d loved, and had been told that she was perfect and didn’t need fixing. She’d also escaped that man with her best friend, and was so tired now that nothing mattered to her more than sleep. Why had this happened to her? She wished she’d just forgotten Dom and he’d forgotten her. Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes, and she broke down, collapsing onto the bed in a fit of sobs.

“What happened? What did I say?” he asked, his erection fading slowly. “Come on, Annie, don’t be like that. I was only joking.”

“I know, Chris, I’m sorry,” she said, hiccupping. “I’m just really not up for that right now.” Crawling under the covers, she said, “let’s just go to bed. We can have sex tomorrow if you want.”

“Come on, Anne. That’s not fair. What do I do with this?” he asked, gesturing to his member, which was still trying to remain upright.

She sniffled. “I don’t know, Chris, just deal with it. The bathroom’s right there,” she said peevishly.

“Not even a friendly handjob?”

She glared at him. “What do you think?”

“Hmph. Some girlfriend you are,” he muttered, walking into the bathroom and slamming the door. Anne winced at the sound, but was soon asleep anyway despite her tears.

The next morning, she was awakened by Chris rocking her back and forth, shouting into her ear that they needed to get on the road. It was not a hopeful beginning to their journey. At least they stopped at a nearby shopping center for her to get some new clothes. They spent most of the day driving, and spoke only what was necessary to each other. The scenery had quickly changed from where they were last night. They spent most of their time driving by the ocean, and several times she spotted a pod of dolphins or even a whale. They must have driven for quite a while after she fell asleep last night, because they lived nowhere near the ocean.

Slowly, they went inland once more, and passed mostly by farms and cattle. This was nice at first, but led to a lot of bugs splattering the windshield, and quickly grew both gross and boring. For a while, she turned on the radio, but it too became just a drone in the background, and she shut it off after a few hours. It only occurred to her as the sun began to set to ask any questions.

“So what’s the plan here, anyway?” she asked finally as they passed another sign that pointed to a hotel, gas station, and food.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “We have to get away from The Other.”

“I think we’re plenty far away, if you ask me,” she said, irritable after a long day on the road. “We’ve been driving all day. Do they even have cars? Would they know where we were going anyway?”

“I think you underestimate them,” he said darkly.

Anne looked over at him, and saw a grim expression on his face. “What do you know that you’re not telling me?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest. “It isn’t like you to keep secrets.”

“And it isn’t like you to lie. I guess we’ve both changed over the week.” His tone was sharp, and his hands gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white.

“What do you mean lie? I haven’t lied!” she said, her heart pounding.

“‘Oh, I didn’t fuck him,’” he mocked, batting his eyelashes. “Yeah, right. We both know that’s not true. You still have a hickey.”

Embarrassed, she covered her neck with a hand. “Oh, you want to play it like that, do you?” she asked, raising her voice. “You’re right, I did have sex with him, and you know what? He was better than you’ll ever be, and nicer, too,” she spat.

“I guess you go for goats now,” Chris yelled. “Here, I’ll pull over so you can get some nice tail from one of those cows over there!”

“You know what, Chris? I don’t need this! I thought you were going to take me home, because that’s where you said we were going,” she shouted back, gesturing with her hands.

“Whatever,” he said gruffly, “we’re almost there anyway.”

“Almost where, Chris? I don’t even know where you’re taking me, but you sure seem to, because--” she stopped. “You’re not using a GPS,” she realized then. “Where are you taking me?”

“Oh, now you figure it out, when we’re so close to being there? Wow, you’re so smart,” he mocked, then muttered, “makes me wonder what that thing ever saw in a dipshit like you.”

“What the hell? What are you saying?” Anne looked around her. Somewhere along the way, they’d pulled off the freeway once more and were slowing down in front of a large farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. “What’s going on?” she asked, heart pounding and breath quickening.

“We’re here. Home.”

“This isn’t my house or yours,” Anne said, voice wavering. What was going on here?

“Oh, did I say ‘home?’” he asked, “I meant headquarters.” He put the car in park, unbuckled himself, and kicked the door open, letting himself out. “Come on. There’s someone waiting for you.”

“I don’t… I don’t think I want to go with you,” she said slowly, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. Were they really right about him? But they couldn’t be. She’d known him for too long. They’d practically grown up together. If he was really the monster they said he was, she would have known. Then why was she here, in the middle of nowhere, getting led who knew where to meet who knew who?

“You don’t really have a choice, Annie. I mean, where else would you go?” He waved his hands around, gesturing at the rolling pastures around him in the fading light. He had a point. There was nothing around them for miles aside from crops on any side. What had she gotten herself into?

“I want to go home,” she said, her voice cracking. “Please, Chris. Say this is a joke. Let’s go home. I just want to go home.” Tears began pouring from her eyes for the second time in as many days. This was too much for her to handle. She’d never asked for this.

“Oh, cut it out. You’ll be sent home as soon as you produce a child for His Lordship,” Chris said, going to her side of the car, opening the door, unbuckling her and grabbing her by the arm. She tried to shake him but his grip was too tight. A child? His Lordship? She hoped he was kidding, but the way things were going for her lately she doubted it. He pulled her from the car, but she lashed out at him, punching and kicking with all her might. She might not have known where she was, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying to reach someone, anyone, who might be around.

Just then, she heard a sound she’d only heard in movies before: the cocking of a gun. “If you don’t stop struggling,” Chris said too calmly, “I’ll blow your fucking brains out, sweet cheeks.”

Terror gripping her, she said as tears streamed down her face, “you wouldn’t. We’re friends.”

“You haven’t figured out I was using you yet? You really are stupid,” he said, shoving the barrel of the gun into her back. “Now get moving.”

His words cut deeper than the Grand Canyon into her heart, and she let out a shaking sob as she walked toward the house, her arm twisted behind her and a gun at her back. It was like her worst nightmare coming true. She was somewhere no one could hear her being led to “produce a child” for someone she never wanted to meet by someone she thought was her real friend, far from the only person who had treated her decently over the last week. Now that this was happening, she realized how good she had it at the castle--free reign of the whole place, no pressure to do anything she didn’t want to. None of that mattered now. She was never going to see them again, she was sure of it. They would kill her after they were done with her and no one would know what happened. She’d be just another missing person.

They reached the door, and Chris let go of her, telling her to stay put while he unlocked it. She considered fleeing, but none of the plans she thought of ended well. He had a gun, and obviously knew how to use it. Anne thought back on all the times they’d talked about gun control, and how he’d agreed with her that there needed to be stricter rules so that things like what was happening to her now didn’t happen. Was everything he said a lie? Every time they’d laughed together, cried together, shared a moment? She couldn’t believe it. Surely there must have been some part of him that truly cared about her.

“Chris?” she asked, terror in her heart as the door opened and he grabbed her arm painfully once more, pulling her inside and forcing her ahead of him. He didn’t respond. She shook as she continued her question, passing by a brightly colored, wallpapered hallway that belied the horrors inside. “Do you remember that time in Mrs. Green’s class when we were passing notes to each other in that language we made, and she found out so she took the note and tried to read it out loud in class, but she couldn’t so she tore it up and threw it away?”

“What about it?” he asked, pushing her along the hallway roughly with the barrel of his gun. They reached a kitchen and dining room area painted all in yellow with lemons on the dining room table and on the tiles in the kitchen. Not a soul was in the house, no one to bring a glimmer of hope to her situation.

She bit her lip. “Do you remember what the note said?” she asked hopefully as she was shoved past the table and through the kitchen into a darkened area with a staircase that led both to the floor above them and the floor below. She swallowed, imagining what lay in store for her. Was there a dungeon downstairs, with shackles on the wall and a furnace with iron shoes in it, meant to burn her to death? Was the upstairs an attic from which hung ropes and handcuffs, where she would be slowly sawn in half?

“Of course not,” Chris responded. “Why should I remember something that happened in high school?” He forced her up the stairs.

Her breath quickened and she knew that if she could convince him, it was now or never. “You said we would be friends forever,” she said, her voice rising in pitch. “You said you wanted us to be together even when we were old. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Upstairs was another hallway, carpeted plushly in brown with a door before her and doors on either end of the hall. This was no attic, but what would happen here was sure to be just as sinister as her imaginings.

“Honestly, no. I was already an operative when we met. My job was to befriend you, so I did. You’re so gullible you didn’t even stop to wonder why I took notice of you at all.”

“Why should I have to wonder that? I was twelve!” she said, suddenly angry. “I was just happy anyone noticed me at all, let alone my crush. Chris, please, don’t do this. We can just go back to being friends. I won’t tell anyone, and we can live like normal forever. Please?”

Once again, he shoved her to the side as he opened the door at the top of the stairs, then gripped a handful of her hair and yanked her through the door and into an ordinary looking bedroom with a king-sized mattress in the center, tufted headboard the centerpiece of the room. “There never was a ‘normal,’ Annie, that’s what I just told you. Christ, don’t you listen?” he asked angrily, taking her arm once more and dragging her toward the bed.

“No, no, no, please, I don’t want this. Chris, I can’t do this.”

“My name is Artaxes,” he said, bending her over the bed and pulling his pants down to reveal a raging erection. He put the gun back in its holster under his shirt. “You wouldn’t have me last night, but now I’ll make you scream my name. My real name.” Just then there was a knock at the door. Growling in irritation, Artaxes pulled his pants up and went to the door.

He gasped. “Your Lordship,” he said, and bowed low. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Anne thought miserably. But her hands weren’t tied, and Artaxes’ gun was put away.

Thinking quickly, she looked over at the single-pane window on the opposite wall. Couldn’t people survive jumping from a second floor? She was about to find out. Taking a deep breath, she rushed at the window--

And bounced off it. Artaxes and “His Lordship” had been having a hushed conversation when she tried her stunt, and now the room was silent. She looked up to find two pairs of eyes on her, one from a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a black suit and red tie. He wasn’t unattractive, with gray eyes and laugh lines, but he certainly wasn’t someone she’d consider having sex with. Now it seemed she would have no choice. They went back to their conversation, not paying her a second thought. Finally, Artaxes left, unsheathing his gun once more, probably to guard the door while the deed was done. Taking his place in the room was the man known as His Lordship. He strode in with an air of importance, looking down at her on the floor with his head held high. Closing the door, he shrugged off his jacket and untied his tie. Anne heard the sound of a lock clicking, locking her in.

As he unbuttoned his shirt slowly, Anne asked in a bid of desperation, “wait, before you do anything, will you at least tell me why? Why me?”

He stopped and eyed her coolly. “Because you’re Dominian’s soulmate. I don’t expect you to know anything about prophecy, but there is a prophecy that tells of the child of the king of this age’s soulmate, who will decide the fate of the worlds. I intend for that child to be mine.”

Now would have been a good time to tell him what she was thinking, but she asked instead, “doesn’t that mean it has to be Dominian’s child?” She didn’t want to think about what would happen to her if he knew what she wanted to tell him. Hopefully if she stalled long enough, Dom and his men would find her. At this point, she didn’t care how cruel he was to his people. At least he wasn’t about to kill her.

“Listen again. The child of the soulmate of the king, not the child of the king. Artaxes was right about you, you don’t listen well.” He finished unbuttoning his shirt and took it off to reveal a hairy chest and stomach that had seen too many large dinners.

Her brain could barely think, but she had to keep asking questions. “Okay, so who are you? I’ve never seen or heard of you, but Chris--er, Artaxes calls you ‘His Lordship.’ Why?”

“I do my best to keep out of the spotlight. My name is Gregory, though you may also call me His Lordship. I am the head of the human resistance on this side of the coast. You probably don’t know where you are, and that’s just as well, but you are in the heart of this side of the United States. I will impregnate you, and as leader of the humans, I will beat back the scourge of The Other and take back what is rightfully ours.”

“Is it, though? I mean, weren’t The Other here first? Like, I’m pretty sure they were here before even the Native Americans ever set foot here. I know I read stories about them living together in harmony.”

“Clearly you know nothing of politics,” he said, and unbuckled his belt. She was running out of time.

“Well, what about Dominian? Why is he so important? Why did it have to be the king of this age, and not some other? How do you even know it’s him? It could be the king after him.”

“Why don’t you ask him why he chose the date of his coronation? That’s right, the prophecy is the only thing on his mind, too,” he said gruffly, and grabbed her by the wrist in his massive hand, hauling her over to the bed. There, she screamed as he ripped her new jeans off as well as the underwear underneath, revealing her legs and what was between them. Grabbing her by the hair, he flipped her onto her stomach, just as Artaxes had, and she heard a zipper unzipping. She stayed still as he positioned his erection at her hole, then wiggled this way and that as he tried to enter her. She wouldn’t, couldn’t let this happen.

Outside of the room, she heard a gunshot and a cry of pain. Someone was here to rescue her! The sound of voices shouting carried through the door.

“Stay still, or you’ll join whoever that was in a shallow grave,” Gregory said, and once more she heard a gun cock. Where was he keeping that? It didn’t matter. The only thing that was important was keeping him away from her. Besides, she told herself, he needed her. He couldn’t kill her until… after.

She swung herself away from him, gripping at her hair and trying to get his hand off of her. Someone outside the door was grappling with Artaxes, and there was a loud thump! against the door and another gunshot.

“Oof!” came a muffled voice through the wall, and again someone thudded into the door.

Suddenly a cloven, gold-tipped hoof crashed through the door, splintering a hole in it, but not one large enough to get through.

“Dom! Dom he’s got a gun! Ple--mmf!” Anne cried as Gregory’s hand let go of her hair and covered her mouth. He fired two shots through the door, and there came a cry. In a moment, Dom’s horned head came crashing through the door, then retreated and Artaxes’ bleeding form was shoved through the hole. He’d been shot twice.

Hurriedly, Gregory put his pants back up and prepared to fight. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t King Dominian himself,” he said, his voice shaking. “What an honor to see you.” He pointed his gun at the king, who used Artaxes as a shield.

“Wait, father, don’t do it!” he shouted.

“Father?” Anne and Dom asked together. She was about to be raped by the father of the man who’d already had sex with her? Yuck, she thought.

“You let them in here. You deserve this and more,” he said, firing at his son.

Dom pulled them both out of the way. “Shit,” he said, “no wonder you turned out so fucked up.”

“Like you didn’t kill your own father and brothers,” hissed Artaxes, a pained expression on his face.

Dom’s eyebrows rose thoughtfully. “I did do that,” he said matter-of-factly, then ducked as more shots fired across the room. “I guess that makes us both fucked up,” he continued, tossing the man to the side and leaping over the bed. Artaxes tried to stumble out of the room, but an enormous soldier was waiting on the other side. He must have been given orders not to kill him, because he grabbed Artaxes and threw him over his shoulder to a scream of pain, hauling him down the stairs and Anne didn’t know where.

“Let her go,” Dom said, grabbing Gregory’s arms, but it was like a stick man grabbing a bodybuilder. Even with all of Dom’s muscles, he paled in comparison to Gregory, who punched him in the face and sent him flying across the room, blood spurting from his nose. Quickly Dom recovered and kicked out at the man’s legs, causing him to stumble. He fired his gun as he went down, hitting Dom’s arm. Dom cried out but grabbed at him and they began wrestling on the floor. Finally, Anne could take it no more.

“I’m transgender!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. She didn’t care if neither of them wanted her after that. So much the better. She would even have preferred if Gregory had killed her on the spot, just so no one else got hurt. They stopped grappling with each other and stared at her, agape. “Neither of you are going to have my child, because I can’t have children,” she continued, feeling embarrassed and exposed with a character shirt and no pants but shoes on. “Fight all you want, you can’t change the facts.”

“Ugh, I almost had sex with a shemale? But you don’t have a penis!” Gregory said, picking himself up off the floor and dusting himself off. She didn’t even care at the name. It meant he wouldn’t go near her again.

“I went all the way to Europe for surgery, of course I don’t,” she said, no longer afraid of him.

Slowly, Dom smiled. Then, his smile turned into a chuckle, which evolved into a guffaw. “How wonderful! Anne, do you know what that means? Oh, I can hardly stand it that’s so funny!” He laughed again until tears sprang to his eyes.

Gregory was becoming incensed. “But--the prophecy--” he sputtered. “Why, you little demon! I’ll kill you!” He lurched toward her, hands out. Anne screamed and ducked as she heard shots fired in the room. Gregory turned around, and she saw the bullet holes in his back as he fell to the ground. Slowly, Dom stood and brushed himself off, keeping hold of Gregory’s gun he’d picked off the floor in the confusion.

“Are you really transgender?” he asked, suddenly all business.

“I really am. I’m sorry for lying to you,” she responded.

“When did you lie to me? You never told me you weren’t transgender, as far as I can recall,” he said, that kindly smile back on his face.

“I mean, I didn’t, but I also didn’t tell you,” Anne said, trying not to look at the man bleeding to death on the floor.

Dom didn’t seem bothered. “That’s your business,” he said.

“Can we get out of here?” Anne asked, beginning to grow sick to her stomach.

“I haven’t been told the coast is--” there was a whistling noise from outside the window. “Oh. I guess we can. Come on, I’m certain there’s an ambulance waiting outside to look at us.” He offered his hand, and she took it, allowing him to step over the man on the floor and lead her gently out the door.

“Did you really kill your family?” Anne asked. Artaxes’ words just processed through her mind with the rest of what had just happened. She began shaking.

“I did. They deserved it, though, and if anyone ever asks I’ll deny it and you will, too. Here we are,” Dom replied as they approached the waiting ambulance. “Looks like you might have some shock to deal with, and I did get shot, so I’ll see you again as soon as I can.” Each of them was led away by different paramedics.

They asked her all sorts of questions, which she answered dully, her mind racing with everything she’d just been through. Surely it wasn’t what it seemed like. There must have been another explanation for all of this. But she’d been told why she was there and what his intentions were. There was no mistaking it. She broke into tears once more. When would this nightmare be over?

* * * * *

The next week, she was back in the castle, having been given back her phone and called her parents. She didn’t tell them everything that had happened, but she did have to tell them about “Chris,” who was still recovering from his injuries in Thadorian custody. They were horrified by the whole situation, and asked her if she was okay, to which she had responded that she would be, and she knew it was the truth. She had asked them if they’d wanted to come live in the castle if Dom said it was alright, and they had told her they enjoyed where they lived but would come visit her soon.

She hadn’t seen Dom in days, though thankfully he’d ordered her hormones sent to her, but not seeing him was beginning to scare her. Did he not love her anymore because she was trans? Was it possible to un-soul-bond? Would he want to if it was? He’d seemed okay with it at the time, but if there was one thing she’d learned over the years, it was that people’s first reactions were seldom their last. She had, however, seen just about everyone else in the castle as she’d wandered the halls restlessly, not even wanting to sleep because of the nightmares that so often brought.

In truth, she wanted to sleep in Dom’s bed, but she had no way to ask him and didn’t feel it was her place. Rowan had told her before that she didn’t understand the scope of her position. What if part of it was sleeping apart from the king unless he wanted to have sex with her? She remembered reading something about historical queens having their own bed separate from their king’s for just that reason, though it had probably been from an unreliable web resource, so that may have been false.

Finally the day came where she saw him over dinner. He was wearing a sling and his crown, and didn’t seem able to meet her eyes. She swallowed down the panic that rose in her upon seeing him, telling herself it was okay if he rejected her. She didn’t need him. She’d lived most of her life without him, she could do it again, she told herself, but she didn’t believe a word of it. Dom seated himself at his throne, right beside where she sat on hers.

“Hello, Anne,” Dom said, looking straight ahead.

“Hello, Dom.”

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m okay. You okay?” she asked in response.

“I’m okay.” Neither of them said anything as the food was served, a teriyaki-glazed chicken half with rice and seasoned vegetables. If anything, she couldn’t say she was underfed here.

All at once, she couldn’t stand the silence any longer. She just needed to come out and say it. “You know, I’d understand if you don’t love me anymore,” Anne said at the same time Dom said something she couldn’t hear.

“What?” he asked when she finished.

“You go ahead,” she said.

“Ladies first,” he said, bowing his head slightly, the gold chains that decorated his horns once more swinging. This was actually a really good start. At least he still saw her as female. She repeated herself all the same. “What? Why wouldn’t I love you anymore? Do you--you don’t--I mean, you still love me, don’t you?” he asked, alarmed.

“No, no, I mean of course I still do, I just… I thought since I’m trans that maybe…”

“What difference does that make?” he asked as a servant cut up his chicken. “You’re still you, aren’t you? You were trans--is it trans or transgender?--when we met all those years ago, and I loved you then. Just because I didn’t know doesn’t change who you are.”

“Really? Then why have you been avoiding me?” she asked, and immediately regretted how rude that sounded. She couldn’t think of any other way to put it, though.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you. Well, ask you, really. I’ve been trying to give you some space over the last week, and I was trying to ask if it helped.”

“Was that why?” she asked. “Dom, I’ve been wanting to see you so badly this past week. You didn’t think I’d want reassurance that everything was going to be okay?”

“Oh yeah, huh,” he said quietly. “That would make sense.” Taking his fork in his hand, he shoveled the rice onto the chicken and swirled them together. Anne almost laughed. She was definitely a separatist, and seeing the man she was married to swirling his food around his plate was such an ordinary thing to differ about that it was almost pleasant. He took a small forkful of his concoction and delicately placed it into his mouth, chewing slowly. Anne took a bite of her own food. It was amazing as always, succulent and flavorful, and she once again thought her parents would love being here if they knew.

“In that case,” Dom said after he finished chewing, “I’m sorry for leaving you like that. I guess that wasn’t a very thoughtful choice, was it?”

“You were doing what you thought was best, I’m sure,” Anne replied demurely. “So what about the prophecy? I heard you scheduled your coronation date around it.”

He grinned into his plate. “I did. To be honest, I’m not sure what the future will bring now. I suppose we’ll have to figure it out together.”

She bit her lip nervously, keeping her eyes on her food. “Can… can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Of course. You can sleep with me every night if you wish. In fact I wish you would,” he told her frankly.

“So why did you give me a separate bed from you?”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to force you to sleep with me if that’s not your wish, now am I?” he asked, shoving another chunk of chicken into his mouth and swallowing before continuing, “besides, when you first arrived here, your disposition toward me was less than favorable. I wanted to give you some room to cool off.”

“Oh,” she said. Of course; he was being a gentleman. That seemed to be his style.

Her heart soared at the thought of sleeping with him that night, and she couldn’t wait until dinner was over. After she finished her meal she was out of her seat and down the hall, and was in his bedroom before he was. Laughing joyfully, she spun in a circle with her arms out, feeling the wind under her billowing, sea foam green skirt. Then she had an idea. Quickly undoing her buttons, she slid out of her several layers of clothing and waited on the bed for him with her legs spread wide.

She didn’t have long to wait. Dom joined her in the room in less than five minutes, sighing deeply from exhaustion. Seeing her naked form on the bed, his mouth dropped, but his expression quickly turned to a devious smile, and he strode over and joined her on the bed heavily, coddling his injured shoulder.

“I’m going to need some help tonight,” he whispered tenderly in her ear. “Will you help me?”

“Anything you need,” she breathed back, undoing the buttons on his shirt. Carefully she removed it, showing the cast on his arm. The bullet must have gone through his bone. “Are you going to be okay?” she asked worriedly, speaking of how he would heal.

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m okay, Anne. I already lived.”

“No, I mean… nevermind,” she said, focusing on undoing his pants. “I can’t get them off you,” she told him.

Chuckling awkwardly, he stood and shook his pants off his legs, turning away from her and revealing a short tail she hadn’t seen before.

“You have a tail?” she asked, stating the obvious.

“Is that a problem?” he asked in return, turning back to face her.

“No, I just can’t believe I’ve never seen it.” She sat up and took his length in her hand, stroking it slowly.

“You didn’t see it the last time we had sex?” he asked, and then moaned.

She shook her head. “You were on top of me the whole time.”

“In the bath?” he asked incredulously, his member hardening under her hand.

“Are you going to have sex with me, or what?”

He laughed breathily, groaning and looking to the ceiling. “Fuck, that feels good.”

“Damn straight,” she said, and licked the precum from his tip, taking it into her mouth and sucking gently. The titanium was cold on her tongue, and she wondered if he felt the cold too.

“Ah, fuck! Oh, Anne!” he said, and shuddered.

“Mmm…” she said around his dick, and pulled off of it to say, “relax, this is just the beginning. Can’t go shooting off too early.”

“Easier said than done,” he said wryly.

She went back to sucking him off, enjoying every bump on his cock with renewed energy. She’d forgotten just how amazing the feeling of him was, and she’d remembered a lot about their last encounter.

“Shit, Anne, you’re so beautiful,” he said, and stroked her hair. That was one thing she definitely didn’t forget about him. He was the first person who hadn’t told her to lose weight or called her some sort of name. “You’re perfect,” he told her now, bending over to kiss her on the top of her head. Suddenly he stood, and his body tensed. She knew he would come soon if she didn’t stop. She pulled her mouth off of him and smiled up at him. He was panting as though he had already come, although he hadn’t.

“Anne, I need you so bad,” he said, pulling her up from the floor. She locked her lips with his, and he caressed her all over with his hand, pulling her close. His hand went to her pussy, and he fingered her clit lovingly, still kissing her with his tongue deep inside her mouth, tasting every part of her at once. Using his whole body he pushed her over to the bed and her knees folded beneath her, forcing her mouth away from his, though his fingers stayed where they were. Her knees came up involuntarily and she wriggled with pleasure, cooing delightedly.

One of his fingers slipped inside her, and she gasped. Even just a single finger of his felt like a dream. She couldn’t wait to feel his whole girth once more. She sighed, a smile on her face as his finger slid back and forth inside her. All at once it was two fingers, though somehow it felt exponentially larger.

“Oh… fuck…” she moaned softly.

“Are my fingers better than I am?” Dom asked jokingly.

“How will I know if you don’t put it in me?” she asked teasingly, wiggling her ass back and forth playfully. He didn’t respond, but kept going with his fingers until she felt the longing for his member like a fish longed for water. “Fuck, Dom, please!”

“Please what?” he asked, an evil grin on his face.

“Please I want to feel your cock inside me,” she rushed out, embarrassed by how much she needed him.

“How much do you want it?” he asked, curling his fingers inside her. The feeling was incredible. She arched her back.

“Oh fuck, so bad!” she whined loudly, covering her eyes with her hands.

Cackling, he took his fingers out and replaced them with the tip of his penis, and she cried out in ecstasy, the cry turning to a groan as the rest of him entered her and she felt once more the magnificent texture of his member. Every ridge felt like a mountain to her sensitive hole, each peak and dip with its own personality. A shiver of pleasure went down her spine. In and out, in and out went his sex, slowly enough to drive her wild from desire.

“Just fuck me already!” she yelled when she couldn’t stand it any longer.

“I’m savoring the moment,” he said wickedly, but sped up anyway and put his finger back to her most sensitive place, rubbing it while he pounded her. Slowly he tensed once more. “Anne, may I come in you?” he asked then, squeezing his eyes tightly closed.

“Ooh,” she cooed, “you have to ask? Of course you can.” She said this, but she’d never felt a man’s cum inside her without a condom before. She couldn’t say that any longer. He threw his head back with a howl and came, and she felt jets of hot liquid inside her, causing her to grip around his waist with her legs and curl her toes. How could something so ordinary feel so good without a condom? She tensed and shivered as an orgasm rocked through her. Sparks went off in her mind as she kept him inside her while his cum dripped out of her. Wave after wave of pleasure shook her as he continued massaging her clit, which suddenly grew impossibly more sensitive than it had been.

After what seemed like ages, her muscles relaxed and she took Dom’s hand from her, unable to stand any more of an assault to her senses. Slowly, so slowly, he pulled himself out of her and laid himself next to her on the bed.

“Say you’ll never leave me, Anne,” he said breathlessly.

“Never ever,” she replied, and knew it was true.