.....☆....
The "weekend getaway" had long since dissolved into a blurred, agonizing eternity of silk, shadows, and the unrelenting weight of a god. For three more days, the suns of the Dragon Realm rose and set behind heavy obsidian curtains, but inside the royal chambers, time was measured only in the rhythm of Ignis's restless lust.
Ignis was a tidal wave. He was possessed by a manic excitement that seemed to grow the more Kaelan withered. From morning until the deepest depths of the night, the Dragon King demanded "overtime." He was a predator who had finally tasted a prey that fought back with every breath, and he was gorging himself on the sensation.
Kaelan was beyond exhausted. His body felt like it had been dismantled and put back together by someone who hated him. His panther ears were permanently flat, pressed painfully against his skull, and his fluffy black tail could only twitch in rhythmic, resentful agony.
There were moments when Kaelan simply passed out, his mind retreating into a grey void of jaded silence, but even then, Ignis didn't stop. The King would simply shift his weight, his movements forceful and rhythmic, waking Kaelan back into the reality of his swollen, ruined state. Occasionally, Ignis would pause only long enough to force feed Kaelan a few bites of starlight fruit or to carry him, limp and livid, into a steaming marble bath to wash away the sweat and the scent of their shared sex.
"You're a... monster," Kaelan would rasp during those brief interludes, his voice a dry, papery ghost of its former sarcastic self. "I hope... your blood... turns to... dry!."
Ignis would only smirk, pressing a kiss to the bite mark on Kaelan's shoulder. "A monster you've marked, little cat. Sleep. We have hours yet before dawn."
On the morning of the seventh day, Ignis finally felt the pull of his duties. With a lingering, possessive look at the unconscious, sprawled form of his favorite "asset," he dressed in his royal silks and vanished toward the throne room.
Kaelan lay in the center of the massive bed, a pale, broken figure against the dark sheets. He was awake but lacked the strength to even lift a finger. His internal monologue was a muffled, distant hum of funny curses that had lost their teeth: I hope he...he get everything worse ... I hope his...eyes burst out!...
Suddenly, the heavy obsidian door creaked. It wasn't the powerful, silent opening of Ignis's arrival. It was small. Hesitant.
A small child , a girl with shimmering, iridescent blue scales along her jawline, slipped into the room. Her eyes went wide as she saw Kaelan. She let out a tiny gasp, her little tail twitching in confusion, before she turned and bolted back into the hallway, crying out for her mother.
Minutes later, the room was flooded with a different kind of power. It wasn't the dry, scorching heat of the Dragon King; it was the suffocating, humid pressure of a storm.
Lady Kai Selene, the Second Concubine of the Dragon Realm and a high, ranking Water Dragon Shifter, marched into the room. She was breathtakingly beautiful, draped in translucent blue silks, her eyes cold as ice.
She stopped at the foot of the bed, her gaze raking over Kaelan's exhausted, naked form, the gold chain still glinting on his ankle, and the unmistakable marks of the King's obsession littered across his skin.
"A male?" Selene hissed, her voice a dangerous, bubbling roar. "He keeps a filthy feline male in the High King's sanctum?"
The outrage radiating from her was palpable. Selene had been relegated to the West Wing, miles from the main castle, despite having birthed a royal child. To see a common Panther Shifter, a human born creature, occupying the bed she had been denied for years sent her into a furious spiral.
"You," she spat, her hand glowing with a lethal, watery light. "What trickery did you use to bewitch the King? What perverse spell did you cast to occupy this room?"
Kaelan's emerald eyes fluttered open. He looked at the beautiful, enraged woman with a slow, jaded blink. He was too tired to be scared. He was too exhausted to even be flustered.
"I didn't... bewitch... anyone," Kaelan croaked, a tiny, sarcastic spark returning to his gaze. "He's a... kidnapper... with a nose bleed fetish. If you want... the bed... you can have it. I'll... pack my... fucking…non existent... bags…if I have one…."
Selene recoiled, shocked by the audacity of the "pet." "You dare speak to me with such contempt? You are a stain on this palace! A temporary toy!"
"I'm a... student... who needs... a nap," Kaelan muttered, his head lolling back onto the pillow. "Go tell... your lizard husband... he's a... scaly bastard... for me... would you?"
Selene's face contorted with livid jealousy. She raised her hand, the water magic coiling into a whip. "I will wash your existence from this chamber myself!"
Kaelan just closed his eyes. Finally, he thought, maybe she'll actually kill me and I won't have to deal with Microeconomics anymore.
But before the blow could fall, the air in the room didn't just heat up,it ignited.