Blood Empire

Chapter 7

When Elios went back to his room, it was empty, he was grateful that Emalia wasn't there to start nagging him right away.

Elios managed to have a shower and shave before she got there, when she did sneak into his room, he was already waiting, knowing that she'd have something to say about the confrontation.

"You can't pull a knife on the princess," Elios says before Emalia can say anything.

"She was threatening Azali," Emalia argues.

"No, she wasn't," Elios scoffs, "She called my sister out on her berating and bullshit, and that's besides the point. Karilya is a princess, a guest of the palace and my wife, you cannot pull a knife on her and expect there to be no reprimand."

"Reprimand?" Emalia echoes, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise as she laughs.

"You could be disbanded, banished from the palace or worse," Elios says standing and crossing over to her, "I don't want to lose you."

"You called her your wife," Emalia says with a growl.

"And I said that I don't want to lose you," Elios sighs, "Emalia, I love you, but you are being reckless and jealous over nothing."

"Nothing?!"

Elios can feel the argument brewing, but all he wants is to go to bed and go to sleep, so to speed things along, Elios crosses the distance between them and grabs Emalia by the face and pulls her in.

She melts into the kiss and the arguments dissipate.

But Elios doesn't remain in control for long, Emalia takes over, pushing Elios down and stripping him.

"Ah, gentle," Elios pleads as Emalia bites at his neck, "ouch, that hurt Em."

"You're mine," she says between kisses.

"I know Emalia," Elios responds as she sucks hard at his tender skin, "I know, please... ah."

She keeps him up all night despite his protests, and in the morning, Elios gets out of bed earlier than normal, leaving Emalia asleep in his bed as he dresses quickly and then leaves.

The sun isn't fully up yet, but he walks down the hall to Karilya's room, where he knocks gently and calls her name.

"Come in," she calls out.

Elios opens the door and steps in, he finds her sitting at her desk, brushing out her hair.

'She's beautiful,' it's the first thought that floods into Elios' mind, as he watches the princess she seems to glow beneath the firelight that dances around the room. But a thought of the deadly woman who is still lying in his bed intrudes in his mind and leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

Karilya looks to the prince's reflection in her mirror, from where she sits she can see the look of irritation on his face and the purple bruising around his neck.

The sound of his moans and panting flash back to Karilya's mind, she takes a moment to compose herself before turning around and leaning back on her desk as she looks the prince up and down.

"Come on," Elios growls, "I have a lot to do today."

"Not yet," Karilya says, standing and gesturing for him to sit.

Elios' frown deepens as he looks to the princess in confusion.

"When you refused to bed me on our wedding night, I thought it was because you thought I was ugly," she says, sighing as she pulls her hair over her shoulder, "when you didn't even look at my naked body, I thought it was because your taste was for the opposite sex..."