The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)
Chapter Thirty-Six: Better Than Chocolate

Dawn fell over the MacDuffy’s wildly but well maintained backyard. A large pool lined with gray and brown stones sat in the middle of their yard an equal distance from the Estate and tree line. Brushes and clumps of wavering flowers sprung up sporadically over the available empty space in bright splashes of color. Hand gliding over the metal handrail, I made my way down the stairs from the terrace to the yard.

Half my soldiers floated leisurely on the surface of the pool while the other half were hidden in the trees standing guard. Cillian had left about an hour or so after brunch, apparently his father needed to tell him something important. Important enough for Cillian to go wanting to see the proof himself, though he gave me a mile long list of do’s and don’ts. At this point, I don’t understand why he still bothered trying to get me to do things his way while he wasn’t here.

Don’t leave the Estate alone, Macha. No more chocolate, you can eat real food now. No, Cell Bait. You cannot continue freaking out the MacDuffy’s, they get it, I mocked mentally with a huff.

Hefting the heavy sack of raw materials up higher on my shoulder, I ripped a chunk of chocolate off the candy bar I forced the cooks to make for me. I don’t know who gave me more grief, the cook or Grumpy when I showed up at the mine. Although, Grumpy only caught sight of me for a brief second before I finished filling the sack. His gray face took on an ashen color that couldn’t have been healthy for his species.

The heels of my boots clipped over the winding cobblestone path that fed into the thick tree line. A calmness settled over me as I entered the Estates forest grounds. It was obvious that Sorcha spent a lot of time in these woods. Her energy was thick between the branches and hummed in the very ground beneath my feet. Without a doubt I knew that nothing went on in these woods that she didn’t know. Which was why, I wasn’t planning on doing anything where she could feel it.

Stepping off the cobbled path, I pulled the chains from around my waist and flattened them into a large square. Lowering the metal, I placed a questioning boot on top of the square and then the other. Having never done something like this before I was skeptical that I could even do it but it seemed that I could still surprise myself. Jumping and landing heavily back on the floating metal, I laughed a little before sinking into a cross legged position.

Opening the sack, I poured the fae metal filled rocks across the minimal space left in front of me. Stuffing the empty sack under my left leg, I grabbed hold of a chuck of rock and pressed it between my palms. Elbows pointing out to the left and right, I squeezed the rock as I pushed my will into the metal inside it. A cool heat stemming from my chest pulsed down my arms and into the metal. Increasing the pressure of my hands, I felt small pieces of rock flaking off in the gaps between my hands and the metal.

When I felt the cold silky sensation of uncut metal pinch my skin, I loosened my grip and pulled my hands apart. Little pieces of rock tumbled from my hands to the metal beneath me but the real treasure sat in my left hand. About the size of a large roughly cut marble, a beautiful little chunk of shiny blue metal winked up at me. Smiling softly, I reopened my empty sack and dropped the little nugget inside. Proud, I turned my head back to the pile of unspecial looking rocks with a dimming smile.

One down, fifty three more chunks to go.…

……………...

Hands trembling, the freed little chunk of metal rolled out of my grip to hit the metal square I was barely still managing to float on with a faint ping. Panting, I picked up the last rock with shaking arms and wiped the sweat trailing down the side of my face. There was a reason I only had the amount of blue metal that I did. It was enough to create any weapon I might need but it took me over two weeks to make. I had to exert my will over and over again at full capacity to first pull the metal from the rock and then infuse it with the power of my will.

Having this kind of metal was like having a forged piece of your will in your hands. That was what made being a master at metal so difficult, you needed to have enough willpower to change the natural state of the metal itself. And even if you could do it, it was draining and taxing on your strength. I didn’t care how strong someone was, you needed time to make this much personal metal. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of time and the rewards that came with the creation of this metal was too great to wait. Like the fact that only I could command this metal.

Temples pounding, I squeezed the last rock between my hands and held tightly to the will I forced into it. My will should regenerate back to full strength within the next two days but it isn’t wise to leave yourself completely drained. Even I knew, and actually listened to that rule. Eyes squinting from my exhaustion, I ignored the pulsing in my arms to focus harder on the rock in my hands. Finally feeling the metal practically pierce my palms, I let it go just as the silver metal under me dropped to the ground.

With labored breaths, I gathered up all the different sized chunks of metal into my sack before shoving myself up onto my feet. Looking down in dread, I sucked in a huge breath and barked a mental order for the silver to fall back into chains. For a second nothing happened and then it slowly morphed into what I had ordered it to. Falling into a squat, I snatched them up off the ground and leaned against a tree to stand back up.

Brown sack dangling from my grip, I shuffled my way back to the cobblestone path. Muffling my yawn with a hand, I straightened my back and took firmer steps the closer I got to breaking through the tree line. The oppressive humidity made it feel as if I was dragging my feet through a thick sludge. With every blink feeling heavy and forced, I pushed myself at brisk pace through the backyard and into the Estate. The people I passed were a blur of color as my entire being was focused on getting to my room.

Tightening my hand around the slipping sack, I turned left down the third hallway I entered and beelined straight for the blue door. Sorcha and Loch had had our doors conveniently painted the same color of our hair to make it easier for us to find. To my disappointment after the initial argument between them, they had a very deep emotional talk where I somehow came out as the savior of their relationship. How they got to that conclusion, I wouldn’t even know where to fucking begin.

Twisting the knob, I pushed my way into the room and slammed the door closed behind me. Dragging a chair from the nearby desk along the wall, I shoved it up underneath the door knob. After making sure it was sturdy, I threw the bag of blue metal near the bed where it slid half hidden underneath. Grabbing the hem of my tunic, I yanked it up and over my head to fall with a rustle to the floor.

The next to go were my boots kicked off the side followed by the slap of my leather pants and chains hitting the marble. Bare feet freezing to the chilled floor, I quickly tiptoed to the metal tub in the furthest corner of the lavish room. The marble tub was held up on golden hawk feet, it’s metal claws digging into the white pearly surface of the floor. When I reached the literal claw foot tub, I dropped a hand into the room temperature bath water and waited.

In my tired state, I brought images of heat and warmth to the forefront of my mind. A languid heat like the kind you felt against your skin after a cold shower rolled down my arm to my hand. Holding it in the water, I braced my other hand against the tub and blinked against the fog of fatigue threatening to drown me. It was only when I felt the heat coming from both my hand and the water that I plopped myself down into it.

Sighing at the feeling of relief coming over my old bones, I ignored how water sloshed over the sides and sank up to my neck in the hot water. Laying my neck back against the curve of the tub, I allowed my head to slightly hang off it and placed my hands on the sides. Settling in, I closed my eyes and relaxed every muscle in my body until I couldn’t feel the difference between me and the water. Clearing my mind of everything except the deep rhythm of my breathing, I didn’t fight against the sleep drifting over me.

What felt like minutes later, my eyelids fluttered open and I felt completely re-energized. Raising my arms, I gave a full body stretch that had my toes and fingers flexing. Yawning, I sat up straighter in the tub and lazily gazed out the window built at just the right height to give me a beautiful view of the backyard. I could get used to this, I thought until my view was suddenly blocked out.

“Is this going to be a regular thing with you?” I drawled, feeling absolutely no urge to rush out or cover myself. This was my assigned room and my tub, damnit.

Turning on his heel, Cillian pulled the thick orange and red designed curtains closed before facing me again, “He’s impossible!”

“Despite how you’re ruining yet another one of my baths, I’ll bite. Who’s he?” I questioned, reaching into the little basket hanging off the side of the tub.

Shoving his hood back, he pulled his mask off and threw it on the bed, “My little brother, he doesn’t listen. He won’t listen to my Father and he ignores everything I tell him.”

Pausing in my rummaging, I looked at him with furrowed brows, “Syrus? I can’t imagine him refusing to listen, he’s the most open minded and peaceful person I’ve ever met. The total opposite of you, now that I think about it. Where is he by the way?”

“You met him once almost two thousand years ago and he’s off in the human realm running some relaxation retreat. He doesn’t get involved in anything violent but I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about Baris, Bria’s twin.”

“Ahh, Okay. Do go on. What is Baris not listening to you guys about?”

Putting his hands on his hips, he started pacing in front of the tub, “The little idiot is getting more and more involved with this female soldier from Mab’s army. To the point that he told her something he shouldn’t have.”

“What did he tell her?” I asked, going still.

Sighing, he stopped pacing to give me a look, “You’re not going to like it.”

“What exactly am I not going to like, Lilly?”

“When you told my father about how you found out about Mab draining Fae of their magick, he asked me to look into any missing Fae. But I couldn’t find any records of missing Fae since after you were imprisoned. My father found something and he mentioned it to Baris-”

Rage and despair dropped over me like a dark cloud, “She’s still doing it, isn’t she?”

“My father asked Puck to question his inside man about it and apparently there’s been whispers of Fae going missing in some of the far off villages but whenever it’s brought to their Chief, it’s the last anyone hears of it.” He replied, slowly.

Nodding, I let myself fall deeper into the tub until the water was just underneath my eyeline. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling at the moment. The rage and despair was obvious enough but it wasn’t overwhelming to the point that I wanted to lash out. It was different from how I had felt before. I still felt a hefty amount of guilt for not stopping her when I had the chance but I also understood that there was nothing I could have done for all those poor Fae. I was in prison at the time and-and-not everything my mother did was my fault.

Cringing at my last thought, I peeked around the room waiting for the ceiling to fall on me. But instead, I felt okay. Pretty soon, I was going to finish what I started all those centuries ago and Mab would no longer be able to hurt anyone else. It wasn’t like I had been or am sitting around on my ass while innocent Fae were being killed. I paid ten times over for the unforeseen consequences the Fae had to face when I was sent to Slykhelm and now, I’d make it up on them.

“I want a small group of Trolls stationed at each of those villages. Five should be good enough.”

Eyeing me, he cautiously approached, “Is that all?”

Thinking about it, I felt moderately upset so I said, “Yup. Now, continue with your rant about Baris. I’m intrigued.”

It took him a moment and then he was back to pacing, “I honestly don’t know what goes through that kids head sometimes. Why would he tell some girl he just met about the missing Fae? Doesn’t he understand how serious this is?”

“How old is he?”

“Almost eight hundred.”

I waved a dismissive hand, “He’s just a boy. Let him show off to his crush, there’s no harm in what he told her.”

“That’s not even what I’m annoyed about, Cell Bait.”

“Then what are you annoyed about, Lilly?” I sighed, getting to my feet.

Smirking, I watched him completely stop and stare as I climbed out of the tub. Leaning back over it, I rang out my hair and raised a brow, “You were saying?”

“You know what, how about we talk about you!” He snapped, ripping his eyes up to mine.

Alarm spread through me as I gave him my back and walked at a perfectly natural speed towards the dresser, “No, that’s okay. I don’t really like to talk about myself.”

“Since when?”

Jumping back as he suddenly popped into existence before me, I gave a hesitant laugh and tried to side step him, “You know, where was this speed of yours last night?”

“Don’t.” He bit out aggressively and moved with me.

Raising my hands, I was acutely aware that I was butt naked, “Your right, your right. Cheap shot. But if I could just-”

“When and how.”

“Now and if you’d move further to the right... ”

Something told me that by the way Cillians brows practically became one he was unamused, “The first time you died. When and how?”

“Lilly, why are you constantly asking me questions you know you’ll hate the answers too?” I replied back with a casual smile. “It’s almost like you enjoy being mad.”

Matching me step for step, he said, “Because to not know everything about you is certain death.”

“You give me way too much credit.” I snorted.

Silver eyes flashed, “Answer the question, Macha.”

“And if I don’t feel like answering?” I taunted, rounding the tub.

I almost laughed when he missed a step but wisely held it in as he caught on, “Then it looks like I’ll be punishing you after all.”

Wrapping my arms around myself, I gave a mocking shiver, “Oh, I’m just shaking in my skin.”

Slapping a hand on the tub, he lunged forward to grab at me with his free hand. Laughing, I jumped back and slipped past the tub to run towards the door. Hearing his boots thumping behind me, I turned at the last minute and jumped on top of the bed. Bouncing on the mattress, I snagged some pillows and started pelting them at Cillian. Batting them away, he shook his head with a small smile and with another lunge swiped at my ankles.

Yelping, I tumbled back and off the bed to hit the floor before popping back up with a grin, “Come on, Lilly. Replace that weak ass kiss from my memory.”

That did it. His eyes narrowed a second before he winked out of existence and I bolted for the door. Just a few feet away, I was suddenly shoved and pinned up against the wall. A rough hand slid up the back of my neck to tightly grab a hand full of my hair and yank my head up to slam our lips together. Unlike the first brief kiss we shared, this one was pure sex and heat. Tipping my head, I parted my lips and gasped at the way his grip on my hair tightened as our tongues brushed.

Rolling my hips against his, he immediately used his free hand to keep my lower body pressed against the cool wall. With the ground dropping out under my feet for a split second, I tensed and then relaxed as my body sunk into the soft mattress. Fabric from the bed and his clothes rubbed against me on both sides creating a friction that made me hyper aware of every scrape. Trying to lift my legs around his waist, I broke away from the intense kiss to huff in frustration when he shoved them back down.

“No.” He husked, authoritatively. “You might control everything, Cell Bait. But in bed, I rule.”

Brows raised and jaw slightly hanging open, I struggled to ignore the desire pounding between my legs at his words. Swallowing, I shrugged as nonchalantly as one could in my situation, “Y-yeah, sure. We can-we can try it your way.”

And damn it all, if I didn’t almost cum in shock at the grin that crawled over his handsome face. I didn’t though, fuck that. I clenched down and fought it away as hard as I could. He already had a big ego, I couldn’t imagine how he’d act if I actually did. But that line of thinking went straight out the window when I felt something soft wrapping around my wrists. Blinking up at the bare muscular chest hovering right above my face, I tipped my head back and arched my back to look.

Using a long piece of black cloth I’m assuming he ripped off his tunic, Cillian was busy tying my bound wrists to the metal headboard. Heat pooled between my legs and caused everything down to my toes to tighten. My heart picked up speed in excitement when he finally finished and shuffled back down until we were face to face. Giving an experimental tug, the cloth was tied comfortably around my wrists but secure enough to hold me.

“Now would be the time to back out, Cell Bait. Because nothing about this is going to be loving or gentle.”

Panting a little in my extremely sensitive state, I winked and wiggled my hips, “Good. Neither am I. ”

Silver eyes growing hooded, he leaned back on his right knee and grabbed my hips to flip me over onto my stomach. Grinning, I pushed up on my knees and stretched my arms out flat across the bed. My flip twisted the cloth causing it to tighten around my hands but I just curled my fingers into the sheets and arched my spine. With shallow pants, I felt the bed shift and the rustle of leather from somewhere behind me.

Feeling his calloused hands run down the sides of my back and over my ass, I remembered something important as I felt the heat of his skin, “Condom.”

“Already on.” He replied, fingers curling around my hips.

Shivering, my entire being followed the trail of his free hand brushing against the back of my left thigh before it dipped between my thighs. The pads of his fingers slid over the delicate skin of my entrance twice before he sunk both fingers in deep. There was a slight discomfort that had me drawing in a breath and holding it as I squeezed around the intrusion. Fingers digging deeper into the mattress, I arched my back deeper until I couldn’t and waited for him to move.

Instead of moving, he withdrew and that’s when I felt something else nudging against my core. Breathing out, I relaxed and tried not to tense at the intense pressure and pleasure as he slowly pushed inside. Fingers flexing against the sides of my hips

By the time we were pressed hip to hip, I was panting with my forehead pressed against the bed and covered in a light sheen of sweat. Biting my lip, I choked down a cry as he pulled back and buried himself back to the hilt with a hard thrust.

Like he had promised, he started up a hard rhythm that jolted me forward a little with every thrust. And in the position that I was in, there was nothing I could do but take what he was dishing out. Tightening down around him at the tension building in my lower stomach, I turned my head to the side and laid it flat between my arms to get a deeper arch in my back.

A sharp slap against my rear followed by the tantalizing sting of pain had me clamping down harder around his length even as I jumped in surprise. “Don’t you dare cum, Macha. Not until I say you can.”

“But-”

“No.”

Fucking hell, I thought as I moaned. He needs to slow down then. “I can’t. Slow down.”

“Your pleasure isn’t yours, it’s mine.” Cillian rasped, punctuating his sentence with a hard thrust. “You rule over thousands of people already Macha and you forget about yourself. Sleeping, eating, sexual relief, it’s all at the back of your mind. And if you let me, I can make sure those things aren’t forgotten. I want to do that for you but while we share a bed, cause this won’t be the last time that we do, there will be no one else. For either of us. Do you understand?”

Throughout his entire speech, his rhythm and the force of his thrusts didn’t stop or change once. And I surprised myself by being able to coherently listen and understand what he was saying. Limbs shaking, I panted, “Yes.”

“I mean it, Macha. Man or woman.”

“I know. I understand.” I rushed out.

One of his hands slid down around my waist to press against my neglected clit, sending a shockwave of pleasure throughout my entire body. “Do you want that, Macha? Do you want me?” He replied, sounding forced.

“Divines, yes.”

“Then cum.”

Letting go, I felt the orgasm that I had barely been holding back crash over me. Wave after wave of pleasure pulsed through my body prolonged almost torturously by Cillians thrusts until he finally gave a shout of my name. Slumping down on top of me, he laid there for a moment before rolling off to the side. Panting, I tossed my limp tired form onto my back and stared up at the red ceiling.

“That. Was. Unbelievable.” I panted. “Why have we never fucked before?”

“Because you were an underaged prisoner the last time we were together.”

“Oh. Right.”

And for an impressive minute we stayed silent before bursting into loud bouts of laughter. Turning my head, I watched the white flash of his teeth and the crinkle of his silver eyes as he laughed. Gazing at him, I couldn’t help but feel that what we did wasn’t just sex. It felt like the start of something long term, the start of something that didn’t scare me one bit.

—

Welp, looks like I really did give you guys a treat for Halloween. Lol. These past two chapter felt very domestic between Macha and Lilly. And to anyone who had been wonder how she makes her blue metal, hope this was fulfilling answer to your question.

As always, share your thoughts in the comments!

Happy Halloween, Verbage🎃👻

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