C. Swallow Novels

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 2 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I can’t get privacy to cry when Damion follows me into my bedchamber, so I just sit next to the fire and he stands guard at my back, behind my couch. “Sit down,” I command him after ten minutes of having my skin crawl with him staring at me. I know he’s staring. He’s up to something. Damion listens, though. To my shock and horror. I watch as he gracefully sits opposite me, still staring at me. “Speak,” I say one word because I see he wants to talk. “Everything your father saw in the Ice – kept us alive,” Damion mentions, “You’re an Ice Seer?” “Damion, I’m not meant to talk about that with anyone but the elders… no offence,” I look at him and see he isn’t perturbed, “…do you hate me or something?” “I had no belief in you,” Damion murmurs, admitting the truth, his eyes half shut as he keeps himself brutally honest. “Had?” I bite on that, raising a brow. “Time will tell what I think,” Damion shrugs, “Not that it matters if we’re all dead.” “We won’t die as long as I’m alive,” I add this with a hard stare back, throwing my apple core into the fire. “You don’t trust us to defend your life?” Damion asks in a low drawl. I can’t look back at him and it’s my mistake, as it gives him my answer, “…ahh… you don’t trust us… is that it? That’s it. I can see it.” I can’t speak. It’s truth. What the Crow said. Damion takes out his short sword suddenly, and I quickly turn my gaze back to him, as he cuts a line on his palm, and holds the bloody hand out to me. “Your turn,” Damion whispers, “This is a vow, princess.” “I know what that is,” I whisper, holding out my hand. To my dismay, my fingers tremble, but Damion doesn’t comment. He gives me his weapon. I take it and place the blade on my palm. “Careful,” he warns me, the only sign he can be kind, but I’m scared I can’t do it. I press a little and it cuts instantly. Fff. Fuck. I bite my lip hard. I give Damion back the short sword, and he cleans it in his cloak and sheaths it. I hold out my slit hand and he holds out his. Damion and I shake on it. We both stare at each other now. But the energy has changed. “What’s your vow, Crow?” I ask, as demanding as I can manage. “I vow to protect your purity from any suitor who may dare try and take it,” Damion slowly smiles, “I vow the Crows that I lead will protect your body and blood. I also vow to you that the blood you pass on, will be laced with Crow. No one will claim you, Anastasia – no one but us.” He was rather demanding. “I vow in return…” I try to think of  a quick come back, “I vow to resist whatever maleficent crude plan you just suggested… or vowed… you are a curse on me, Damion.” “Anastasia,” Damion lets our bloody hands slip from each other, as he looks me over, “We will run the Cren together – or we will die together,” Damion finally stands up, throwing my words back in my face, “Shall I go or stay now, my Queen?” I stand to glare at him now, how dare he act like he could be King. “Your vow is repulsive to me,” I drawl at him, “You can sleep with any of the concubines at your leisure. I’m sure they’re lonely. And yes. You should go.” “I’ve had them all,” Damion growls, “…I haven’t had you… and by the time I do, you’ll be collared like all the wives in the Cren. It’ll be then you do as you’re told, and not I… when that happens, we will fuck at my leisure.” Damion stalks from my chambers. My legs feel weird. I turn and look into the fire. Sitting down. Damion’s vow was ludicrous. But everything about this situation was bad. So, it couldn’t get any worse.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 1 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I was the last of the Ice Seers. I could see into the Ice. This was predominantly a male ability in my family. But my family was dead. I was officially the only one who could open the vault. I had the Ring of Cren so the Court of Cren ordered I be protected at all costs. A little unexpected for everyone, but my father intrusted it to me before he went off to die. Anyone who had the Ring had a veto over everything. I was a default Queen right now, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. I had the blood that allowed the spell to work to get the vault open. The vault itself contained the Cren. It was said to kill any one who stood against my blood. I don’t know what the spirit looks like or how it does what it does, but everyone has seen the effects of it before, so only those loyal exist – and those disloyal die. Forced loyalty was still not an ideal, I knew that ruling in fear was short lived. For my family the Cren was the foundation, the bedrock to holding power, but I had to earn the love of the people to make it a rule worthy of my bloodline. The only problem with being the ruler… is the system in place. All the females were owned here. All of them. At least, the ones who were taken by a man. I was a free woman at 25 with no collar to signify my servitude to a husband. And to say it was daunting being a free woman and the only ruling entity in place… was a bit of an understatement. Not that I had time to be scared. I take my daily walk down the cold runs, a declining cobble path, which led through Cren’s city centre. Each time I walk through the winter cold, I remember my father doing the same. It was to show intimate connection with the people. I’d stop and talk to a few if they asked – but my first walk is met with silence and fear. Word hadn’t spread that I was wearing the Ring. My protection are four knights who flank me front and back. The powerful men don’t talk to me. Having a top rank in the kingdom, they never talked to women. Unless it was instructing them. It was weird – being in control of them. They were forced to follow my instruction – and they did, whatever I asked. I just noted their stoic silences and stares the past few hours. They’d stare and try to make me look away first. I never did. I always stared back until I’d instruct we were walking again. They were… different. To say the least. Damion was walking in front with Axe – not a weapon, it was his brother. Behind me I’m flanked by Krystoph and Rurx. They were brothers too. The only reason my best warriors didn’t die on the battlefield is they were ordered to stay behind and defend me – much to their confusion. Until the news came. My father and three brothers died fighting the Boned people. While our kingdom believed in containing the four maleficent spirits of the earth – the Boned people wanted them free. They hadn’t released any but their own. The Ring of Bone was destroyed, and they were all possessed by death. Without thought, they ceased to talk and only focused on collecting bones. Every dead person they killed was fed to their Bone spirit. So no trace was left. None at all. I would never get to lay my father and brothers to rest. The Boned army could wipe us out and there would be no memory either. The Cren was about power. The Bone was about death. The Eye was about magic. The Mal was about evil intention. The Mal and the Cren kingdoms were allies because we contained out spirits successfully. We were standing in Bone’s way. The Eye wasn’t really a kingdom, but a spirit people. They drifted everywhere as ghosts, passing on ancestral magic. Everyone became a part of the Eye when they died. My father and brothers visited me in my sleep last night. That’s how I was given the power to control the fate of Cren. Right now, I had been rather numb to it all. I stand cloaked outside a fruit shop, looking at an appetizing pink apple for sale. “The pink one, Damion,” I tell him, and I see him pay the shop owner and turn to pass me the apple. They’d been good to me for… 2 hours? Aside from the constant staring. Now one is about to show me his first sign of disrespect. Damion domineers me just in height, not to mention his menacing battle prowess. He was a fighter, not a guard. Nor a babysitter. And I guess it’s driving him mad. I can see it in his eys. The apple slips through his fingers and lands at my feet. He grumbles a fake apology. “Damion,” I just say his name and keep staring back. Always staring, like that’ll change anything. Even if they wanted to kill me, it’d only guarantee the death of everyone here. Only I could open the vault. Only me. “Without us protecting you, Anastasia,” Damion’s first real words, finally spoken to me, “They’d all tear you to pieces for wearing that,” he motions to the ring, and I hide my hand in my thick cloak. “I’m glad you could finally get that off your chest,” I whisper, “Now pick it up.” Damion glares at the apple at my feet, annoyed I didn’t bend over, but then he seems to realise he is angry at a fruit, and he finally picks it up and shoves it into my open hand. We continue on along the walk. I’d lie if I said my ring protecting me, provided me with a full range of confidence. Everything about me this morning, was bluff – an act. One meagre sign of weakness and these men who were used to obeying women or not even listening to them – would probably toss me in chains. I’m surprised none of them thought of that yet. They just needed to protect my body and therefore my blood, not anything else. But I figure that my resolution to keep acting like the empirical point of power, has saved me from experiencing that. I didn’t want to disappoint my father. He was kind to me, even when my mother died in childbirth as I was born. He was kind to me still, even though I was to become nothing but a spinster with old age. I wasn’t allowed to marry. So as not to allow anyone an opportunity to seize power – let’s use my knights for example – Damion, Axe, Rurx and Krystoph were not going to get anywhere near the throne. Not a chance. They’re own blood lines were not equipped for it. They were blood thirsty warriors, not levelheaded kings. That calm thinking was in my blood. “You killed them, you power seeking witch!” I hear a rough scream from my left, and a drunken tubby man is sprinting at me with a sword, after he had been hiding behind a door ajar to the local blacksmith. I knew this would happen eventually, I didn’t expect it would happen so soon. Seeing the weapon raised and the passionate fury in his eye causes me to feel completely ridden by terror. I thought I’d be ready for this kind of reaction, but I’m not. Krystoph and Rurx turn to face any threat at my back, while Axe prepares to use a soul swipe, pulling back his hood. He doesn’t get a chance to look into the man’s eyes, however, because Damion wants a piece. A minute ago he was taunting me about an apple, now he sees his first chance to kill and I can barely watch as he puts himself in danger. Damion walks into the barrelling man without drawing his own sword. Instead Damion catches the assailant’s wrist, he just breaks it with one twist, then takes his sword – and… I spin so fast I almost trip. I’ve turned to Krystoph, and he looks at me briefly to see me shying away from the slaughter that just took place. Damion cut the guy in half. What the fuck? It also scared the living day lights out of me. What if he wanted to kill me – I doubt he’d spare me a quick mercy. Then I remember the Ring of Cren. I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m the only Ice Seer now. They have to protect me. “Anastasia…” I hear a deep lulling voice and I don’t even know whose it is, since they never bloody talk to me. I turn to see it’s Axe now, facing me, through his dark hood which covers his eyes is back in place, so I can’t be hurt by his lethal gaze. I see Damion facing me as well, he’s tossed the bloody sword aside but he’s veins are pulsing in his head, he’s pissed that I’m standing still and not moving pas it. “Let’s continue on,” I speak as clearly as I can. My voice doesn’t waver. At least I like to think it didn’t. I walk forward with a straight back. The sudden rush and smell of blood and guts makes me dizzy. I try not to show it, as I make it to the petrified tree at the end of the long road, carved into a snake that’s eating a little bird. It was just a decoration piece – there were a lot in our city, a lot of artists and such. I stare at it for a bit, remembering I need to be the snake and not the bird if I’m to survive this. I turn around, and I head back to my castle, knowing I have to walk past that corpse again. As I walk up the path, to my relief his corpse has been removed, and only a large bloody stain in the ice remains. I don’t know if that’s a consolation. Did my father or brothers die so barbarically? Did they get chopped in half? I had not thought of it, but Damion’s brutal killing has now put that thought into my head. My strength is diminishing. I quicken my pace. I have to return now. I can’t shed a tear for them. It’d be the end of me and my freedom. **** I manage to get back in half the time I’d usually take, and I stop by the throne made of crystal quartz. I put my hand on the back of it as I turn to the four knights lined up behind. “Go eat something,” I murmur to them, “I’m retiring this day to grieve my family. Don’t let anyone in. And if anything is that urgent… well, knock three times. My door will be shut for privacy, but I will hear.” “Not a chance, princess,” Damion immediately interjects, “We were charged with protecting your body, you can’t be left alone,” he doesn’t look at me when he says it, he looks at the ceiling. Great, now I’m too beneath him to even be acknowledged with sight and speech at the same time. Such an asshole. “I appreciated you guarding my room last night, while I couldn’t sleep a wink – but no one can get up there, so don’t worry,” I murmur to all of them. “Shadows can,” Axe murmurs back. “Any assassin can, if they’re prepared enough,” Rurx talks for the first time to me, his own profession being just that. An assassin. His voice was a husky whisper. “I know. One. Of us should go with you,” Krystoph adds eloquently, like a high-born lord – which is what he was, before abruptly turning and walking away. Rurx looks at me and his friend, and follows Krystoph. Axe and Damion turn at the same time, but as Axe walks away… I see Damion pause. He turns back to me, slow. “I guess it’s me,” Damion says, clearly smirking and sinister at the same time. He lowers his hood finally and I see his black hair frames his face perfectly. I see his black eyes – he wants to fuck with my composure. He wants to see me cry before I can hide it. “I didn’t order any of you to leave,” I say, bored, pretending not to care. “You ordered all of us too,” Damion adds, “But your father’s last wish overbears your own. Your body, ours to protect,” he likes saying that, like he’s implying something else. I don’t want to cry anymore, I want to scream. Instead I reach into my coat, take out the apple and take a bite in front of him. I slowly chew, and Damion realises I’m just having my own back, in any way I can. It’s not like I can fight him. I could only fight mental battles. And I feared if I needed to punish them for misbehaving, none would be strong enough to enforce the punishment. I had no choice but to try and get along with them. “The future is ours. We can run the Cren together – or die together,” I tell Damion, using my first bold threat. I swiftly turn before I can see his reaction. All I know is he immediately follows.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 3 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I can’t let myself be intimidated. I let myself shed a few tears but only in my wardrobe, where I’m surrounded by countless winter coats and boots… and some particular dresses I had made up as costume pieces. They were my little indulgence. I take out my favourite. I had this one made with chain mail. It was expensive but it was to mimic a goddess of ice in one of the stories I read in the library. I never had a chance to wear it, but now I feel it is appropriate. It’s just chain mail for the breasts, and below it’s a metallic skirt that hangs around my waist, purple, thin, with silky purple fabric hanging beneath that. The chain mail top is sheer, and not as heavy as what men wear. It still looks like armour. I put all of it on, and I immediately feel united with my favourite character in my favourite book. My heroine – she was a human who ruled a kingdom of elves. She could freeze over oceans. I had no such power, but I could open that vault, and I could see into the ice – giving us all fair warning about the threats to the Cren and where the best power was centred. I have shed four tears, for each family member lost, then I shoved it all away for another time. In every book I read the rule of war was repeated over and over – grieve after the war is won. No point crying when I could be dead soon. You could only cry in peace times. My hair is peculiar, because it was so silver it looked like ice. But it was just normal hair. When I’ve dressed myself, not asking for assistance, I make my way to the Ice, to practice being a Seer. It’s outside my chamber, down a blue encrusted hall that slowly became nature more than architecture. The castle was built into a glacier. I leave my coat behind, because I don’t want to feel comfortable, I want to feel something distracting, slightly painful and raw. The cold in the Cren was enough to give you that. The Ice is just a carved and polished oval just like a mirror, and it melts sometimes, becoming dewy, showing different things, before freezing over again. I look into the Ice on my own, no words need to be uttered. I’ll just see. But the Ice is more dewy than I’ve ever seen it, and only one thing keeps showing to me. One face. One threat. Or power. Me. It’s not a normal reflection – it’s truly a vision. It’s me, wearing exactly what I am now, but it’s me in the future. I don’t look in at her, she looks out at me, smiling, reaching out a hand. She points to me and brings her fingers to her eyes. Did I smudge the charcoal? It’s like she’s telling me to fix it. I shake my head and turn away from the vision. I walk to the well behind me, another oval shape, but this is just full of water. This one acts as the normal mirror. I lean over and look at my face. I have charcoal dripping down my cheeks, it looks like black tears – but I haven’t been crying, I’ve just applied the makeup wrong. When my father applied it, he had a certain process. I didn’t know what that process was and now I didn’t do my face right. My hair is starting to frizz and looks unkept, not sitting as nicely as I thought it might. The makeup artists that helped the concubines had never helped me. I wasn’t about to ask for assistance. My father made sure I was isolated from everyone. My life was by his side, with my family, or in the library – or by the Ice. Right now I feel like I’m five years old, like my experience is totally inept for the challenges that lie ahead of me. How can I be 25 and know so little? The answer is pretty simple. I was shielded and I took peace for granted. I couldn’t imagine a world where father died. Where my loving brothers were all gone. I stop staring in at the reflection and I look up to see my guards approach together. Damion had gone to fetch the other Crows. I watch them check my chamber. They realise I am not in there and they turn to look toward the Ice down the hall. Even from a hundred or more feet away from me, I see their reactions at what I’m wearing. I step around the well and I keep my head high. I’ve managed to evoke a reaction out of them that isn’t totally standard. Damion doesn’t even look like he’s breathing. Krystoph drops whatever he is holding. The forever graceful lord in him picks it up and puts it away into his silver coat, whatever it is. I didn’t really look. Axe gazes out the bottom of his hood for a moment – a rare moment indeed. Rurx finally pushes back his own hood, and his long dark brown curls are flowing about his face, more beautiful than any woman. It’s kind of annoying how perfectly thick his hair is, but he is the first to stride toward me, looking proper for once. They actually reach me as I wait for their company, and I face the Crow who vowed to take me with the others. He promised me his desire and I was promising him my response in my heroine’s dress right now. I didn’t think much about it, but now I do. My tits are on display in this dress, hidden behind the chain mail, but it’s not to seduce. To me, it’s a representation of every woman enslaved or owned in the Cren. I was one with them, even though I wasn’t owned. They were often topless and I wanted to relate. It was just tits, anyway. Tits that have completely captured my knights. I can’t help but look them over as they stop in a formidable, disciplined line in front of me, at my beck and call. “You have Ionen requesting backup in the throne room,” Damion manages to tear his dark eyes from my tits. I nod and say nothing. I start to walk ahead, but Damion stops me, a hand on my shoulder. “Like that?” he asks, a low snarl. It’s not a command, just a truly anxious question. I turn to him. “Exactly,” I speak. Damion can’t find the words as he looks me over and back up to my eyes, “If you have something you want to say, you best say it honestly. And quickly.” Damion forces himself out of the apparent allure I’ve cast over him, and he manages to look pissed, but he refrains from speaking his mind. So, honesty now would betray his power? I bet. I knew what he was thinking. I look to the others, who are silently watching the interaction. Krystoph holds out a letter, “Can you read?” he asks. “Yes,” I hiss, truly annoyed by this statement of all, “All my life I’ve spent in that library to your left, and you, who have been in these halls all your life also, you did not notice me?” it’s the first time I crack under the pressure. I guess for me it’s insulting my reading inability. And for Damion it’s an apple. I wonder what would tip Krys and Rurx over their edges. Regardless, my knights enjoy my fire. “Never saw you, Ana,” Krystoph answers smoothly, “…girls don’t read.” He dare call me Ana. I glare at him, but I don’t make it an issue just yet. “My father taught me,” I just open the letter and I read what Ionen is requesting, “No, I’ve always distrusted this snake,” I whisper, “I’m going to kill him myself for being so blatantly disloyal to the last Ice Seer. How dare he talk to me like that.” I turn and start walking. I drop the letter and I don’t care who picks it up. I just have to face the bastard. Ionen was a General only by riches. He was born into gold. He had come for more men for war and wanted me to direct him to the closest male authority who could entrust anything I saw in the Ice wasn’t a lie. Some kind of guarantor of my word. I reach the throne room with my knights in tow. They say absolutely nothing, which I find suspicious. But I couldn’t focus on that right now. Right now I had to address the court. **** Ionen stands in my court with chains behind him, connected to fifty or more women, all prisoners of war. He was known to walk about with his flesh prizes. “I closed the court,” I tell Ionen, who is as fat as you can imagine. He would strategize like my father, they had been childhood friends – to my dismay. He looks at me with pity. “The sentries let me in on face alone,” Ionen explains very, very slowly, so I completely understand. “It’ll be the las time,” I answer, “You want men, you’re not getting any. Our King is dead and you come here to insult my blood. Leave before I label you a traitor.” “Everything he did was to protect this Kingdom,” Ionen replies, not fussed by my strong words, “Where is your guarantor? I want you to take me to the Ice now. It’ll be whatever your Father saw last and I want to know what it was.” I can’t deny Ionen this… it keeps me quiet. Until I decide to tell him. “I was at the Ice,” I tell him, but less aggressively, “It was me. I was in the Ice. You’re telling me that is the last thing my father saw?” I thought I was doing it wrong, but it made sense why the Ring was given to me before they left to fight. It would mean I am not the threat, but an answer. The Ice always showed both. Threat and answer. Ionen approaches me, and I forget to order my knights to tell him to stop, so they let him through. Ionen stops until he stands over me, picking up my hand with the ring, I watch in horror as his face tries to convey empathy and horribly fails, “I will take you as my wife, and you won’t have to worry about matters concerning the throne. I’ll give you a diamond encrusted collar. You don’t have to cry anymore,” he touches one of the charcoal tears on my face, smudging it further. I take my hand from his and I say nothing as I step backward, out of his range. Ionen smiles, nods, assuming I’ve agreed, as he turns to the sparse court. Most were in mourning. “I am not your King,” he says with a hand on his heart, “Well, I will be soon, I was promised to you, yes, yes, all of you, by your father, Gendaw,” he turns to me, Ionen had this weird way of speaking to crowds, where his voice went high pitched, and he sounded like he was singing out of tune – it was every time he told a lie. I could tolerate it – but he was being a traitor right now. “Don’t say my father’s name,” I lose myself to the mention of Gendaw; he had no right to use his name in search for power. As Ionen waves a tubby hand at me and reaches into his coat, taking out his knife, he cuts his hand for me, attempting a vow, “Now you. Come on, no more tears. None. I’ll lead you as your father desired me too,” he laughs and smiles to everyone when I approach. I take the knife from him and he gives it to me – fool he is. I hold it over my hand just to see what he does as he looks at me, and I step forward and give it back to him. Straight. Inside. Him. I slam the small knife through his chest. I don’t know how to do such a blow in the right fashion, but practicing it on this bastard is easy. However, I think I’ve missed a killing blow – as Ionen screams and starts stumbling around in a circle, before awkwardly dropping to his knees and looking back at me, “You stabbed me.” Yes. Yes, I did. I just stare at him, no more words for him as I reach for his belt and take off the loop with the chains linked to the slaves. They were mine now. Ionen watches me, while I feel heat at my back – and his eyes go up. I watch his eyes crust over with black ink and he falls to the floor. Axe soul swiped him. I lean down and grab the keys from his belt too, and I throw the chain and the keys to the prisoners of war. “Swear allegiance to me or die,” I mimic what my father used to say to prisoners of war. I don’t even know if it’ll work. I step back and I hit two torsos, my hands feeling across two more. When I look behind me, Damion, Axe, Krys and Rurx are right behind me – they seemed ready to catch me if I fainted. I was not feeling faint. I wasn’t really feeling anything. I guess that’s a good thing when you’re a monarch – you have to be numb to some things. Ionen died for using my father’s name in a lie after his death. He deserved it and worse. I push through Axe and Krys, to move back to the quartz throne. I sit on it, and I watch as the filthy women, wearing scraps, use the keys to undo every chain on their bodies. Guards at the door step in, knowing the process as if Gendaw was still here. I see a distinct change in the room from other mourning court officials. Those who have been sulking desperately to paintings and murals on the wall, now turn to me and give me their full attention. Without another word I watch as the women whisper to each other, whoever is family or friend among them. Then I see my first prisoners, they kneel and bow their heads. I prepare to stomach the death of more people in this throne room – knowing not all of them will capitulate. It was highly improbable. One by one, they submit. My knights resume guarding the bottom of the podium, also preparing to kill any who are disloyal. I’m glad they’re quiet for once. It’s not long before every woman gives themselves to me. When they’re all on the ground, I feel completely confused. I hadn’t dealt with this before. Not even as a witness. The mood in the room is… power – and it’s given to me. Whoever is here right now, I’ve somehow earnt they’re eyes. I feel overwhelmed by this luck. But that was the power of the Ice. It gave answers – and it told me to trust in myself. So I did. And it worked. “Slave Master,” I think of more words my father had used, and I watch as the elderly man shuffles forward, looking concerned at all the new potential staff for the castle, “Bathe them and give them all back to the injured soldiers who caught them – I just want the women to help heal them and give them company. And if they find partners, well they can marry. And if not, they can go anywhere they please. But they owe the soldiers who didn’t kill them. So they’ll serve them for a half-year. Then the debt to their life will be repaid and they’ll be freedwomen.” I am surprised. At myself. It’s like my father is in my head, my brothers too. Their words are my words. Ancestral magic through the Eye. It feels like a miracle to me. “And the court is retired today, so please go home,” I finish with that. When I’m done, I get up and leave quickly, my knights always following. I march from the throne room and I walk into the adjoining courtyard to watch the snow. It was a place to take guests, but I go outside to revel in my moment. “Come closer,” I ask the Crows to approach for a chat, as I move toward a frozen fountain, with frozen fish inside. I am freezing and shaking but I don’t care. They stand at my back, all of them, while I look at the glistening garden. I turn to them and walk into their circle, to huddle with them for warmth. I somehow feel right standing in the middle of them, these giants of war. “You’re keeping me warm,” I smile, “Thanks. I wanted you to come close because I need a favour. Tomorrow is the Harvest. You know it’s one big social event,” more like an orgy, “…I don’t have a partner. I don’t want one. I want four. Of you. What I’m asking, is for you to protect me and stay by my side… it’s not the kind of event where you need to watch me but I’m asking you to keep me company anyway,” I definitely use too many words but I ask it in good faith, then I remember to add, “…any concubines available that you see and like, I’ll allow you to take them but… I prefer not to be alone. Will you be my company? The reason I ask… I have no friends. It will be awkward for me otherwise.” The silence is compounding and I’m starting to feel utterly weird for asking it when they barely knew me. I turn to Damion, since he vowed to me. Even if it was… well… whatever it was. I look up at him. He catches the eye of his Crows. He breathes out a breath of fog and warmth into the icey air. They run so hot they don’t seem to feel how cold it is out here. “Yes, you’ll have me,” Damion answers, short and sharp. I try to keep in a grin, lest it angers him too much – that I’m happy with his compliance. I turn to the others, and I wait for their answers. Krystoph swipes up my fingers, holding them, he says honestly, “You’ll have me.” “You’ll have me too,” Axe’s soft voice is that husky lullaby. His whisper sounds like a sensual promise of romance. Rurx is last, he just nods, looking me over. “Thank you,” I breathe it out, and I mean it, even as my shakes get worse. “…why… are you still standing out here… literally freezing your tits off, princess…” Damion finally asks what’s on his mind. I turn to him, and I’m still shaking from the cold. “It’s better than feeling nothing at all,” I answer, especially after this morning. “Then I insist on saving your tits, Anastasia,” Damion gives a knowing look to Axe behind me. Damion pushes his hand to my collar bone, pushing me into Axe’s front. My whole back warms instantly. Then Damion reaches under my chain mail and grabs a hold of my left tit – while Axe reaches under my chain mail, his arm snaking in as he grabs the other. They’re not lying – they’re warming me up quick. Also… what the fuck just happened? I’m just… also… um… I’m frozen. Because every bit of me should scream a protest… and I don’t want to. “Um, thanks?” I snap out something, looking down at Damion’s gloved hand, and Axes – as they knead and squeeze my tits so softly. “Your lips need saving too,” Krys side-eyes my mouth, his white hair is short and styled but it gathers snow flakes out here. I’m looking up at his grey eyes and hair, wondering how he makes it look so perfect all the time, when he reaches in to kiss me. Gosh, my brain was slow. His mouth moves on mine, even as my lips are still, I half close my eyes – breathing manually. I didn’t have time to process any of this before it was happening. Rurx roughly shoves Krys off me, into the fountain, stepping in to kiss me too. He tilts up my head, and I kiss Rurx back. When I dare to return it, every part of me feels alive in an entirely different way. Rurx’s tongue slides into my mouth, and I breathe in his breath. I could kiss a man for hours if this is what it felt like. His finger tickles under my chin, as if he’s saying good. I start to pant and I suddenly remember who I am and what I represent. And Damion’s threat… being followed through while I submit already. This was unacceptable. “Get off me,” I beg Rurx, as I shove him off me and he moves for me. Axe and Damion let me go too… it’s clearly a mercy. I see it in Damion’s smug eyes, although he says nothing to rub it in, as I turn – and I run away.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 4 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV Next Morning I slept last night. I didn’t expect to, but I did. I went for a walk early that morning, thinking I wouldn’t find any of the Crows awake at that time. I didn’t know how to face them after yesterday. Because even I didn’t understand my reaction to them. Ionen approached me so bold and I stabbed him. Damion slipped his hand under my chain mail to warm my freezing tits – something that should have warranted a scream or at least my immediate reprimand. Instead, I felt like I enjoyed it. It had nothing to do with him being handsome and strong. I was immune to vanity on that scale. I had seen them from afar most of my life, I was often happy to keep my distance. And his vow – maybe it was the vow. I don’t know. I don’t understand my reaction to him or the others at all. I experience the same nervousness and desire intertwined when I spot them before they spot me. Outside I’ve found them. Beyond the snowy private courtyard, this one is only accessible to me and trusted staff. I’m behind a pillar after just existing my walk through the laundry to grab a new towel for my room. I serviced my room myself. I hold the steaming hot towel to my front, as I still wear my grey shift from when I went to bed. In my other hand I hold a cup of tea, which is almost empty. I sip it as I see the knights casually making their way out of the men’s bathing house, located across the courtyard. They wear nothing but loose trousers, and they towel through their wet hair, talking and laughing to one another good naturedly. Even Axe has his hood off and he is able to look them in the eye, his hair is cut short to his head, the opposite of his brother Damion. Krys and Rurx couldn’t look any different but still, they are somehow related. Krys has well defined and well fed musculature, while Rurx is leaner and a little taller, his long, long, long locks of brown hair still settle around him like doll’s hair. I still hate how thick and perfect it is. It’s just not fair. My hair frizzed from the slightest moisture, so I tried to braid it whenever I could be bothered, although most of the time it was just wild and untamed around my head, floating just past my shoulders. I wait for them to cross into the connecting guest chambers, separated from my side of the castle, but instead of turning back to their rooms, they start to round the courtyard, following the stone pillars, still talking, and clearly speaking of food. They’re hungry now. I was hungry too. I was making my way to the kitchens next to grab a fresh bit of bread and run with it back to my room. We were going to intercept, or they were going to see me spying from just outside the laundry. I have to make a decision quickly. I am so nervous I don’t know if I can approach them without chickening out. I try to channel the power I had yesterday, the kind of power that I really had to try to hold onto around them with every word and look, calculating everything. I couldn’t slip. I slipped into kindness for a moment yesterday, I got too close and smiled too much and welcomed them – and then they all went for me. I let it happen and I forget the world. It was a dangerous feeling. An escape. I walk with my tea cup on my hot towel, heading for the kitchens, and I decide to quicken my pace. I am closer than them, but their strides are quicker. As I approach the corner which opens to the kitchen and the smell of freshly baking bread, always on par with the winter sun rising, I hear the silence of their sudden sighting of me. I step into their path and I look them over, but I quickly turn and stride into the kitchen with them behind me. Wiping through their wet hair or rubbing their towels across their shoulders, they had stopped to stare. I was so tempted to look at Axes’ eyes, but I stopped myself at the last moment. I just felt them from the corner of my vision as I turned. No one says good morning to me. But neither have I said it to them. So, whatever. I hurry in, placing my towel on top of a barrel with my empty tea cup, I pass the tables to reach the fresh bread on top of the counter next to the kitchens and I take a bun, then I take some butter and I spread it through the middle. The chef smiles at me, I smile back. I am too hungry to speak. I take a bite and chew, while my stomach rumbles. I had forgotten to eat yesterday, too consumed with nerves and grief combined. The Crows move around me, taking their choice, while other staff show up yawning and stretching their arms above their head, rubbing their eyes as they also quickly line up for breakfast. I move back to my towel, and I see the naked backs of Damion, Axe, Rurx and Krystoph as they just focus on their food, paying me no attention. I hold my towel and my empty tea cup and I stay for a moment, glaring at their inattention. Only masters treated their slaves with such disregard. I had seen it timelessly, even wives, classified as men’s slaves, they were barely acknowledged – unless they were of some immediate use. Like pleasure. Mostly just pleasure. Now that they didn’t feel like groping my tits, they were leaving me alone. This makes me weirdly furious. I keep glaring at them, feeling my anger rise. I take another bite of my fresh bun and storm from the room, heading back to my room. On the way out of the kitchen, I see four new faces. Concubines weren’t allowed in the general vicinity. But I see four of them, makeup all scattered, their lips puffy from being kissed all night – and their clothes cover their thighs but not their tits. They have love bites all over, and they’re all blonde like me. I don’t know why I think that. But I stop next to them and I stare at one of their thighs… all of their thighs. D. A. R. K. They were cut by a knife. Marked by their initals. The concubines don’t seem too upset by this, in fact, one of their fingers trails over one wound. “Jealous?” she whispers at me, her light blue eyes alight with a satisfied fire. “Why would I be jealous of a whore?” I ask, feeling my voice tremble. The girl looks taken aback. I almost cry, and she almost looks guilty. I don’t think she meant to tease or taunt, she was just making light of the brutal way they were owned by the Crows, “I… apologise,” I quickly add. The concubines don’t know what to say, they stare at me, speechless. I turn to run and one of them grabs my wrist, but lightly, she tugs me closer, to whisper in my ear, “They asked us to be you.” “What?” I tug away from her, “What?” “Be careful,” the first one speaks up again, “All they talk about is you,” I don’t stay around to hear anymore, “See you tonight, Ice Seer!” she adds, and she actually sounds friendly. I shouldn’t be so surprised, the concubines were always friendly. They were all willing. I quickly move back inside, finding the staircase to head back up to my level and my bed chamber. I didn’t expect such kind words from them. And I also feel guilty. I don’t know why I feel guilty. I wash quickly, with a sponge and tap water. I don’t have time to heat a bath. I dress in a light blue dress, which covers me from my neck to my ankles. It was a fine dress, hugging every curve, and I also had cute white gloves that went with them too. I liked this look. I wanted to open the court today and talk more. It would be a good distraction before the Harvest. Maybe an hour later I hear them outside my door, talking to each other. They’re awfully relaxed. I open my door and face my Crows. This time my hair is braided, and my charcoal is more lightly applied around my eyes so it doesn’t start to mix with the humidity and drip down my face. Damion, Axe, Rurx and Krys have a respectable distance for now, waiting by the opposite wall, leaning on it, waiting for me. They give me their full attention now. Axe, in his full black coat and hood pulled over his eyes, Damion in his usual scuffed and thick armour, Krys with his shiny rings, glamours belt and shiny black shoes. They all wear their black coats as well, for any travelling involved for the day. “Do any of you know, if anyone like Ionen is coming today?” I ask. “Probably his first wife, with a rage for you… every other house that bides by what you see in the Ice, is out protecting the usual territories. The Boned people don’t rise again for another month until the new moon, it should be a quiet day,” Krys says this all smoothly, as if he prepared it. “If it’s too quiet, I’ll retire the court early,” I respond. I then walk past them and make my way for the court. I couldn’t look at Damion. He had a fire in his eyes. He wanted to tease me. I could feel it coming before he even airs it. “How can we please you best today, Anastasia,” he drawls it, sounding ready for a fight. “You can break your vow, that would be a start,” I growl it under my breath. Damion chuckles, “…I don’t think I will, princess.” “You can have anyone here,” I hiss back at him, and he’s right there, right near me, eager to see my screwed up face. “Concubines don’t fight back,” Damion tugs my braid once before he falls back into step, “…although none of us thought you’d be one to… run from us.” His deep voice is full of pleasure. Pleasure at my apparent weakness. He had to go there. I spin in an instant and I approach Damion’s front, reaching for his belt and looking for his short sword. Damion keeps his hands up, as I unsheath his weapon and press it to his throat. “Shut. Up. You. Vile. Man,” I hiss at him. But Damion gives me his throat. Hands still in the air, looking… happy. Even though Axe looks nervous by his side and the other two aren’t moving. “If I offended you, I’m sorry,” Damion says it so smoothly, even arching a brow without twitching. “Why aren’t you fighting back?” I ask, “Huh?” “Well, you’d lose miserably,” Damion states the obvious,  “And we couldn’t keep playing together, now, could we? If I threw you in chains… it wouldn’t be any fun,” he watches me lower the sword and push it back into the sheath at his belt, as I shake my head and spin around, marching forward again. Why did I fall for it? Why did I like it? Why did I like him? Or any of them? It wasn’t a game. This was my purity they were coercing. I hated it. I hated that I was giving in, in small ways. The moment I caved completely; they’d lose interest. I had to remember that. Their interest in me in the first place was one of the reasons I was defended. And my interest in them was the reason they stayed. It was both ways. But, fuck, they were an unhealthy distraction. I almost felt safe with them. The moment I felt safe, they’d put a collar on me and be done with me. I had to remember that. I had to remember. Me. I. If they took me, if they owned me – I wouldn’t exist.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 5 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV The court was quiet. I answered everything as best as I could, then I decided to retire the court to look in at the Harvest celebration as it was being prepared early. A feast, fires, music and high-born lords mingling together all night. They’d bring their wives, but that didn’t mean concubines weren’t handed around either. It was a strange event. In the middle of the hall was an ice statue of a shield with the Cren’s symbol. Which also happened to be a Crow, for our people and our spirit that we protected. My Crows were just following suit, named after our spirit. Damion admires the ice shield while Axe stares into the massive fire place, fifty feet wide, it tended to provide enough heat to those fucking on the rug. Rurx is already eating some of the food being brought out early. Krystoph flanks me, as I speak to the connecting kitchens out the back. “Only display half the ale and wine,” I tell the staff, “Last time I heard there was throw up everywhere in the morning – I don’t want that happening again… everyone should be advised to have some restraint – their King just died. I don’t want disrespect shown to his passing, or my brothers.” “We’ll keep the rest in storage,” the head chef agrees, and I turn into Krystoph’s shoulder, as he stood so close, following me around. I slide past him and he follows, “We can always retire the Harvest early, if there is trouble,” Krys suggests. I look at his grey eyes and then his lips. When he dared kiss me yesterday and called me Ana. I liked to reimagine it was said with admiration and affection. “I was thinking of that,” I admit, “…why are you looking at me like that?” “I have affluence with your allies, if you have trouble addressing them, I can always help,” Krys suggests this very carefully. “Does it look like I need help?” I ask, offended. Krystoph doesn’t answer me, he looks quietly smug and his eyes swipe past me to the Harvest hall, where the others wait. I walk with him back out to see my Crows wondering about, not paying me any attention as I walk through and stop briefly, looking toward the top banquet where I’d sit, where my father once sat. I had never joined. I didn’t like it. I’d be alone up there today, and I wanted the four extra seats to be filled with my four Crows – the only other people I knew well enough to take those seats. It would mean a lot to me… as long as they behaved. For some reason the thought of being the only one on that top banquet would drive it home that my father and brothers were never, ever, coming home. Then I’d most likely cry in front of everyone. Everyone you shouldn’t cry in front of. Krystoph, perhaps, understands me, and it’s why he flanks me so close. His eyes follow mine to the top banquet and I know why he suggested we retire it all early… if there was trouble. Not from the allies at all. But from my own emotions. It would only be a matter of time before I realised dressing up as my heroines could only distract me from the truth for so long. That I was the very last Ice Seer – and that meant I had no choice but to do the impossible. Maybe deep inside it’s the last thing I wanted. Maybe I just wanted to read and disappear and be a kid again. Already I had a duty to make offspring and that’s something I did not want to think about right now. Is growing up this hard for everyone else? Or am I the only one complaining about my growing responsibilities? I don’t show it to them. But I feel pathetic inside. I wonder if the Crows know that, deep down – I am fragile. I quickly leave the hall and they all follow me now. “Do you have a wife?” I ask Krys, as we walk side by side, and I choose to head back to my quarter of the castle. “No,” Krys answers, sounding offended, “Why do you ask?” “You’re very mysterious, like you have a secret wife and secret children running around town, wondering where you are,” I don’t know why I think that, but when I look up at him he’s quietly amused. “I live by my sword and I’ll die by it,” Krystoph answers, smooth, “I have no time for a family.” “Do any of you have wives?” I ask, looking over my shoulder to see Damion, Axe and Rurx walking together, eavesdropping on our conversation. Damion looks distraught by the question, “Fuck no.” I look to Axe, he shakes his head. I look to Rurx, he winks, his eyes looking deep into my own with pure intention. He wants me. And that’s my responses from them. No more words other than ‘fuck no’ from Damion. Well, we’re definitely not making progress. Fantastic. “I’m just going to…” I start to speak openly, kindly again… I stop myself from finishing the sentence as I reach my bedchamber door, laying my hand on the door knob. I turn around to face them, they wait for me to finish speaking. I just sigh and walk into my room and slam the door shut. Why even bother telling them my plans before the Harvest? They’d do what they wanted anyway while roaming my halls. I walk to my wardrobe, and I eye the rest of my costumes. All these pieces I had made for me – I thought I’d never, ever get to wear them. I used to just admire them on the rack. I shut my wardrobe door and I see a few candles still burning from last night, giving my large wardrobe a golden ambience over the thick red rug and golden wallpaper – and the huge mirror. As a kid, it was where I played. Everything in it used to belong to my mother. Her clothes are on the left, still there, and I still maintain them. I had never worn any of them either though. I just admired them. I go to my costumes and I feel my mind run wild with how I can present myself tonight. How about, Princess Jewel, from another novel I admired. She was a slave, picked by the prince of darkness to be a concubine, but she eventually became queen, and found out her lineage was connected to royalty from the enemy kingdom anyway. A crazy, preposterous story. She was always a princess and didn’t even know. Maybe it’s reversed for me. I’m a princess and the whole time I have… a different side in me. I have to stop my thoughts before I let them manifest. Damion’s vow was still fucking with my head. I look at my cut hand, healing into a pink line. A man, vowing to me. I had never imagined it. Even if his language was crude, the fact he promised his blood to mine is… well, deep inside, I guess I thought it was romantic sort of, kind of… I could never let them know that. I feel cheeky as I pull out the dress that’s made of thin golden chains and many, many jewels. It’s entirely see-through. A step up from the chain mail. I undress and put it on for fun. Every move I make into the special costume has to be the right one, or it’ll all get tangled. When I’m ready, I face the mirror. I had never put this on, but I’m in love with it. The tiny jewels over the chains, hang across my skin and sparkle in the candlelight. I look amazing! And entirely naked at the same time. Two knocks – at my wardrobe door – and then one of the Crows opens it, “…princess?” I turn around, my heart racing. It’s not Damion. Rurx is holding out a sealed scroll, “I thought I better…” he pauses when he really sees what I’m wearing. I hold out a hand for the scroll and he steps in, pulling in his coat as he shuts the door a little too hard behind him. He wants me all to himself, huh? I see it. I returned his kiss yesterday. His tongue had slipped into my mouth – and I welcomed it. He knows that. Rurx comes forward, his eyes devouring every inch of me. “You’re wearing that tonight?” he asks quietly, anxious for an answer. “Should I?” I ask him as I take the scroll from him and put it on a stool next to me. “You know… what Krys was saying down below… is he meant you can celebrate the Harvest, alone – in your chamber. You don’t have to join the festivities.  You can choose your own place,” he adds, seeming to want me to choose that option. “Why would I want to… eat a feast… alone… in my room?” I ask him, truly confused. “You’ll have us –” Rurx drawls, and I realise immediately what Krys was trying to do earlier. “Get out, are you always so horny?!” I hiss. Rurx turns to walk out at my hiss. He reaches the door and looks back at me one last time, “About having a wife,” he dares to open his mouth. “What about it?” I ask back. Rurx stays by the door as he keeps running me over with his eyes, “We joke about… sharing a wife… and we love sharing you between us.” My eyes pop. At least he’s honest. “Uh… well… Damion said something similar in his vow… just more vile,” I add, “He wants to fuck me at his leisure…” I scoff. “We will,” Rurx agrees with Damion, then, and he just tells me straight, “It’d be expected.” “And my future children would have Crow blood,” I add, “He thinks he owns my body too already. Do you think so, Rurx? Do you own me? In your conversations?” I really ought to know. “Think of it this way,” Rurx considers himself carefully, “…if you’ll allow the thought to enter your mind… Anastasia… we would fuck you all the time…” “I am… still pure,” I add, awkwardly, not knowing if they even know that. Rurx seems honoured I’ve admitted this. He raises his head a little, and he looks at me with a different light in his dark eyes, “…why should I… Rurx… why should I allow any of you to take me for your pleasure?” I am scared for his answer. “Ice Seer – you are a woman,” Rurx reminds me with a bit of impatience, “You belong to us already.” His indignant tone. Like he’s my master. And I’m his slave. I could kill him for saying that. Rurx leaves before I can attempt to thwart him. I had balled up my fists. He had left and slammed the door. What a… what a prick! Is that how they saw it? Is that it? I look at myself, and I feel my skin sweat with a new round of nervous anticipation. They didn’t talk about wanting me. Be careful, she said – one of the concubines. They talk about you all the time. They had me. That’s how they see it. So, then. Every word, every bloody thing they did and said to me, pretending to listen – I was still a plaything to them. Damion said, I’d lose miserably. That’s why he wasn’t even trying. They were just toying with me. Playing with me. What were they imagining? What were they planning for me? Just the thought of them all grabbing me, ripping my clothes off and making me do whatever they want… smiling the whole time because some twisted side of me complies and lets them do it… when I angrily turn to my stool and my legs twist… I feel it… the wetness gathering between my legs. I reach down and it’s more cream than I thought. Way more. No. Why?! What was wrong with me? I had to bring a new sense of courage with me tonight. I was going to need it… because I feel like I’m about to break. They couldn’t have it that easy.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 6 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV That night I watch the Harvest from afar. It’s a larger crowd than expected. I wear a thick coat around my shoulders, hiding my jewel dress beneath. In the crowd of the Harvest I see the usual faces, and some new ones. The scroll passed to me earlier today from Rurx said to watch my back, word the Cren was seen as up for grabs, was spreading. It was an unknown sender. The Bone kingdom was more interested in death. They were dead once they released their spirit. The Eye were all ghosts. The Cren and the Mal were the two co-existing ruling entities. The Mal Kingdom was visiting, they were meant to be our allies, but I had my hackles raised. We were meant to be unified in battle, to defeat the Boned people, which we were, but… I always considered my only threats to be people disloyal to me, but then again, Mal could always try and take control of the Cren spirit as well. Their maleficent spirit, the Mal, if released, would corrupt minds. They wouldn’t be interested in death, as much as things like torture and pain. One of our agreed pacts was to stay separate, only our armies mingled on the ground. When their officials were sent to speak with my father and brothers – it was rare, very rare. We had the Ice Glacier, between us, fertile lands we shared for food, and on the other side – the Mal Kingdom was centred in a dense forest. They were intensely interested in magic, so finding your way through their cursed forests was their biggest defence. Ours? Aside from the Cren – it was the cold. It was bitterly bleak for us, but the Mal people liked the warmth, and it was enough to kill any troublemakers that thought they might wander this way. Any travellers that came this way had to be escorted by our guides. That’s why the Mal being here without warning, is a worry. They’re striking while I’m weakest. 48 hours into my father’s death, they must have travelled here nonstop – eager to face the last Ice Seer. The Mal King’s two adult sons are here, I see them enjoying the food and the Cren’s concubines, known to all to be a one of a kind beauty that couldn’t be found anywhere else. There is a large party of Mal officials also mingling with my allies. I take comfort knowing they are all unarmed since they came in here. I stand on the balcony outside the library, it had a view of the courtyard connecting to the Harvest hall. Firepits hold some crowds of my own local allies, as they talk about the newcomers in the hall. Rurx was the assassin in the Crows, so he is already mingling with everyone, trying to get information. Axe and Damion stay with me. Krystoph worries for his little brother, and he watches from the firepit down below, also from afar, occasionally looking up to me and Damion and Axe as they flank me above it all. My fur coat ruffles with the wind. “I think I have a plan,” I whisper, finally speaking since my spying of the Harvest. I take my hand out of my cloak, showing my ring with the crystal in the shape of a C, “I could open the vault. Release the spirit. The Cren will kill any disloyal here.” Damion makes a noise, a kind of sigh of worry and growl combined. I look to Axe and he is looking at me, he is tall enough that when I stand below him I can see his eyes clearly below his infamous hood. I look to Damion, since Axe has no expression or words forthcoming, “Damion,” I ask him now, but with a firm voice, “Your thoughts on this?” “The Cren is reserved for when the Kingdom is under extreme threat, specifically, if your rare blood line is under threat of extinction, and you being the last Seer, you may see it that way,” Damion glares over the courtyard, “It is your choice, Anastasia.” “They may see it as an act of weakness, too,” I add, “Panic.” “Not if they’re all dead,” Damion cocks a brow, finally looking at my pleading stare. “Do you think… it’ll kill everyone?” I ask, “What if they’re all disloyal. What if none are loyal?” “That is where you must be careful,” Axe speaks up, his lullaby voice is a like a poison all of it’s own, he barely sounds human at times, “You should talk to the Mal princes first, see what their intention is.” “I don’t want to talk to them,” I growl under my breath, “I didn’t invite them – they’re already breaking the rules which are steadfast between our kingdoms.” “If the rules are broken, you can break them too,” Damion growls this low over me, almost seeming to regret saying that. “I need to appear strong,” I talk it out, “…will you at least obey me in front of them?” “Always, princess, our job is to protect and defend you. We’ll do whatever it takes,” Damion admitting this, gives me confidence. I smile a bit, as I turn around and I add, “Then I will face them… and find out what they want. I will not drink or eat anything, in case there is poison.” “The Mal would not poison… you are too naïve,” Axe looks to Damion, “We could just bar her in the library. It may be safer,” I spin and put my hand on Axe’s shoulder, turning right against him, stepping closer. I slip my other hand into his coat, looking for a weapon, but his hand falls on mine, looking for a knife. He just stares at me. He won’t let me take his weapon. He doesn’t trust me like Damion did. Or maybe Damion was just crazier. “You need to stop that,” Damion drawls with annoyance into my ear, his hands grabbing my forearms, pulling my arms back and then shoving my front harder into Axe’s. He squishes me between them, so I’m kept still. My forehead rests on Axe’s coat, as Damion kisses my temple and my ear, “Stop,” he warns me, between kisses, “Being. Naughty… now… are you warmer yet?” “Yes,” I answer, licking my lips but hiding that I do it. “You shouldn’t get so cold that you shake,” Damion holds me a bit longer between them, his hands still on my arms, forcing me to stay still, “When you enter the hall, stay by the fire. That’s not a suggestion,” he presses his cheek to mine, “Yes?” “The fire,” I agree with two words, even though I enjoy the heat between them. Damion rubs his hands up and down my arms, warming me up even more. I press my cheek to Axe’s front, and I’m actually glad I’m squished right now, as I do feel stronger as they help keep me warm. “…Anastasia… your lips are turning blue,” Damion sees and I hide my face in Axe’s front. But Axe reaches for me instead, pulling out his blade – I get a fright so I look up, as he puts the blade to my throat, keeping me looking up and nowhere else. Axe looks calm and in a psychopathic kind of way, he is happy I’m so frightened, as he leans down and presses his hot mouth to mine – kissing me silent. I stay still so the blade doesn’t cut, but he holds it flat against my skin anyway. I close my eyes as Axe keeps his lips gentle on mine. It’s not a hard kiss. But it does send a fire through my loins. Every part of me bursts with renewed flame. It’s scary how hot I feel all of a sudden. “I’m too warm now,” I complain, pulling my face away from him. Axe lowers his knife, and sheaths it back into his coat silently. Damion puts a hand to my cheek, still keeping me between them, he makes me turn toward him, “I don’t like kissing that much,” he admits, “But they’ve all had your mouth and I haven’t.” He sounds pissed about that, as he presses his scowling lips to mine. It’s a quick kiss, but he is happy he finally got a taste. As he leans back, I let out a long breath I had been holding. “I said I’m warm,” I state, “Release me.” Damion steps back, Axe also. I flutter my eyelids as I look between them. They made me feel alive. I was actually in love with that feeling. Being wanted the way they wanted me. They wait to see if I’ll complain about their treatment of me. But I don’t scold them for it. Strangely… I enjoyed the risk they posed. “Let’s make my father proud,” I suggest, with tears in my eyes, “And show these Mal princes their place. If they dare suggest a vow to me… thinking I am available to take, or even if they show me disrespect, I want you, Damion, to cut a hand off – let them return to their King with the consequences of crossing the last Ice Seer in her own Court of Cren. And make sure you show them this,” I grab Damion’s hand, bringing it up, I open his fingers, looking at the pink scar he made for me, “Show them who protects me. Not a Mal. A Crow. My Crows.” Damion looks to Axe and they share a smug smile between them. Brotherly affection. Knowing what the other is thinking. But they’re also happy with me. I turn and I lead the way. I wasn’t scared anymore. My Crows were protecting me. I was ready to face the enemy.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 7 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I enter the Harvest with Damion and Axe flanking at a distance, so it appears I enter alone. I walk slowly toward the fire, the eyes of every ally and the two Mal princes in the room, follow me as I unhook my coat and let it slip to the floor. Naked and covered in jewels, I channel the power of the Jewel queen. No matter what she was judged for, she was born into power, enslaved to it and eventually embodied it. I let the fire warm my skin, while Damion and Axe have paused by the food, I feel their eyes on me – shocked that I am practically naked in a room full of mostly men. I look to the two Mal princes, with concubines on their arms. New ones, they look freshly hired into the service. At least they’re distracted. “Come here,” I demand the Mal princes to come to me – and they do. The room is silent as they abandon their food and pleasure and walk toward me. Both brothers seem a similar age but it’s obvious to me right away that neither like each other. They both try to get a head of each other, before trying to dispel the look of rivalry from their expressions. They slow and stop before me, but already I have what I need. Both Mal princes have strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes, but their Mal tattoos of swords cover either side of their necks. A maleficent spider badge is on either of their coats, signifying their alliance with Mal customs. “Your name?” I ask the brother with a scarred lip and down cast eyes; he has a fascination with the red jewel covering my naval. “Sorer,” he introduces himself, and I look to the older more dominant brother, whose brows twitch repeatedly with irritation at being ignored. He is interested in material. He has golden rings on every finger, a golden chain around his neck with a symbol of a naked woman dancing, hanging from the chain. “Fanguard,” the older one answers and I interrupt quickly. “Why are you here?” I ask, quickly, looking to Sorer. “Our condolences,” Fanguard attempts to answer. Sorer looks up at my face and his eyes are sharp, I feel right away he knows what I’m up to, so I focus back on Fanguard, changing tactic. “That’s very thoughtful of the Mal royal family to send their two princes to me,” I hold out my hand to Fanguard, to kiss if he were to dare it. He looks at it like my hand might burn him – but even so, he doesn’t get a chance to try and touch me. Damion walks over and puts himself between us, facing Fanguard, “The Ice Seer is untouchable,” Damion’s growl is utterly guttural with a threat – and I feel my skin shiver with the passion in his voice – and the power, the potential violence he could wield like magic. For me. Just to possess me. “Anastasia offered her hand,” Fanguard starts to smile. Damion starts to snarl. “Crow, back off, now,” I growl it and even though a small part of me wants to giggle, I abolish that ridiculous thought. Damion steps back instantly but the look he sends me is still full of passion – and now directed at me. Regardless, the sharp Crow holds himself well when asked. I notice Krystoph and Rurx in the back of the hall, walking along the wall, looking through our guests’ things. “We’d like to see the Ice and your ability,” Sorer speaks up now. “No,” I answer him with one word, “…not tonight. Why are you really here without invitation?” “Our people are dying together, we should be together, in close discussion – not as distant witnesses to our people becoming the Vanished,” Sorer is getting quite passionate about this. “The Vanished?” I ask, never hearing this word before spoken out loud, but certain I have read about it. “You don’t know, do you,” Fanguard raises his chin now, “Our Mal spirit joined the Boned.” “What,” I let my fear out in this second, “Who released the Mal?” “It’s a good thing you have not released the Cren, Ice Seer. Our father panicked. Released our spirit. It left our kingdom and it joined the freed Bone spirit and the Eye. Now the dead aren’t dead, they’re trapped in an eternal hell, alive but forced to be in the Maleficent Castle. It’s lore we’ve all forgotten, but three centuries ago the evil spirits once all joined together, are able to open the door between the Eye and our reality… for all us to cross, it can release untold magic, threats none of us can hope to counter. If that door opens, all our lives are at risk. We came here to tell you to never release the Cren,” Soren looks distraught by this just as much as I. “I’ve read all the stories… I thought they were just stories,” I admit, and I decide I like Soren as he is also well read. He nods and looks away, avoiding staring at my naked body any further. Fanguard, however, is still ogling me all over. “You are the last one alive keeping us all safe, I believe it,” Fanguard licks his lips as he asks for more wine, taking it from a servant, he drinks, “Our father will not listen.” “He doesn’t know,” Soren adds, looking back to me, hesitant, “That we’re here in secret.” “You have my protection,” I say right away, “Did anyone see you come in?” “No rumours have spread,” it’s Krystoph who speaks, coming in from my left, looking in my eyes as he places a protective and possessive hand on the small of my back, “The only ones who know they’re here – are the high born allies and the staff.” “Good, I want them to be in our best guest chambers, if you’re in them, vacate them, and I mean all of you Crows,” I look the offended Krystoph in the eye, and I see Damion looking so furious he can’t even meet my look. Axe has heard but stays back. Rurx is somewhere I can not see for now, but I know he also listens, “As you are my Crows, you have my permission to take any other room, just make our guests comfortable – and we will discuss this more tomorrow,” I promise Soren. Fanguard is already drinking himself under, clearly scared of the retribution from his father. They could be disowned for thwarting him. Rule and hierarchy in their kingdom was extremely strict, even worse than the Cren. Soren looks exhausted, he nods and walks off to find soft company. The rest of the allies go back to their circles to talk while Damion stalks over and lifts up my coat from the floor, placing it back over my shoulders, he tugs it around the front and hooks it up for me, his dark eyes on fire. “You have to vacate your guest rooms now,” I remind him, my eyes hardening, “Now, Damion. Don’t make me repeat myself a third time.” He promised to obey me. I had to appear powerful. He had to help by respecting me. Damion is on the edge. Even Krystoph’s hand on my back is quite rigid. “You too,” I turn to Krys, “Now.” “Where will we go?” Krys asks. “Oh, I’m not your staff master, or your house maiden, you know these walls well enough and the Court of Cren is massive, work it out, you’ll probably find accommodation somewhere close to pleasurable company. Also, I will put myself to bed,” I don’t know why I have to rub in my power trip right now. I didn’t want to be like that, but my nerves are on edge and I am ready to let out my frustration at my Crows. I appreciated them of course, but they were painful to deal with. I was always behaved and trying to appear good natured. They could at least just do as I ask this time without a fuss. It wasn’t a big deal at all. I was truly the one who had a right to be stressed. After Soren’s words, right now I wasn’t just the last Ice Seer. I was the last thing standing between evil pouring back into the world. My ring and I. It’s enormous pressure. I need them to listen. My Crows depart rapidly, much faster than I anticipate. I walk around to the allies. I make small talk. I feel safe. For the next hour or so, I mingle. Most of the conversations I have are small talk, but one thing remains consistent. Every ally is loyal, as they should be. I actually think I’ll sleep well tonight. Finally. Something goes right. I go to Soren and Fanguard last of all. I usher more staff closer. “Damion advises the secured guest rooms are empty and ready,” a manservant tells me, and I tell my guests. I see to it that Soren and Fanguard are being safely ushered outside the Harvest hall and being escorted to bed. Now, I finally take my leave. I was tired. And I was annoyed. Even though I said to the Crows that I’d put myself to bed, I thought at least one of them would come back to check on me. I know I sound selfish and up tight and bratty and spoilt. But I just had that in me. My father and brothers spoilt me rotten and I missed the pampering for being the only girl in blood line. None of this attention-seeking is justified. But maybe I just miss my father. My family. What if they’re alive? Just trapped. In the Maleficent Castle. Being tortured. The thought is enough to almost knock me out with anguish and hope simultaneously. I think about all this as I exit the courtyard and walk by the firepits. I feel eyes on me out here. I look up to the second story balcony of the library. I see the edge of a cape and a shadow move. Was that Axe watching me from afar? I feel a little better. So one did return to watch my back. I’m glad they don’t hate me. I’m glad they do care about my safety, even after I was a little mean to them in front of the guests. Anyway, I was only human. I couldn’t be perfect, I was just trying my best! Admittedly a little drunk, I finally retreat up to my room. The walk back alone is refreshing. Time to be alone and think. And soon, bed. And maybe, time to re-read the Honey Princess, which was the title of the Jewel princess and her story with the prince of darkness. I had started to read it again and left it on my bed. I wring my hands together, excited to get lost in that make-believe world. As I reach my bedchamber… …the door, I see it’s left ajar. I never leave my door open. My heart races for a moment, until I hear smug voices from the inside. I open the door, looking into my private chambers. All my Crows – with all their things. Scattered everywhere haphazardly, their man-smell quickly permeating everything. “What is this about?” I ask, at first angry, and then worried, “Oh. Are there no rooms?” I look all around. Rurx and Krystoph sit by the fire on the velvet red couch. Damion stands waiting for me in the centre, right there, hands clasped behind his back, his loose pants his only remaining garment. I try not to stare at his glorious hard defined abs. It wasn’t fair – but he was a warrior so what should I expect? I bite my cheek as I glare at him, mimicking him by putting my hands behind my back too, clasping one wrist tight. But then I also happen to notice Axe is behind Damion, lounging on my bed – boots off, making himself quite comfortable, his hood still over his face even as he reads through the book I’d been reading! A romance! Axe looks rather bored by it, but he is also smiling the whole time, clearly understanding my brain a bit more – probably realising just how girly I am. I blush but I try not to react. “I… I d-don’t understand,” I stutter. “It’s what you said,” Damion drawls finally, “You have my permission to take any other room. You said it quite aggressively, Ana, so we took the order very seriously… or do you deny your own words… Jewel princess?” that killer smirk that pulls across Damion’s face at the end has my cheeks flaming red. I could die right here, right now. Axe told him what I was reading. They were discussing my interests. I go so red, and I feel so upset, I barely know what to do or say. I try to stick to logic. “There is one bed,” I tell him, too exhausted to argue but here I am at midnight still having to debate everything with my Crows. “We will make do,” Damion lowers his voice, he looks too sly. I lose it. My temper unleashes. “Oh, will you, Damion? Then like dogs, you’ll all sleep on the floor – not on the bed,” I can’t help myself. And I don’t know where my tongue comes from. I let it fly as sharp as their eyes, “I am the princess. You will obey me.” “So we can stay?” Damion grins and laughs to the ceiling, and it’s deep and resonate – but it’s way too relaxed. I’m in trouble. They’re encroaching on me, quick. I almost cry – but I remember they can’t see that. They’re too in control. They’ve struck while I’m tired – exhausted – vulnerable. In a panic, I walk by him, shoving into his shoulder, he barely moves, like smacking into a wall. I hurt myself doing it, but I keep pacing through my bed chamber looking for a place to escape before I let the tears fall. My salvation. I strut to the wardrobe with a high back and I go in and shut the door quietly. I put my back against it, my breathing shaky. I had a good night. But the Crows in my room – it was against my powerful narrative, my attempt to be the heroine. I needed support. I didn’t know how I could survive… four of them taunting me. When I wanted them. But they wanted me collared. Even if I could think of a witty solution I am too tired. My best solution is a dress pile, and to sleep on my costumes. It would do. I’d sleep in my wardrobe. I’d deal with them tomorrow. …but… what if I needed to pee? Well… I look back to the shut door… I’d go when they were sleeping… And I’d have to tip-toe. It’s all I have for now. That’s my ‘amazing’ plan. It’ll have to do. It was the wardrobe and my freedom – or them. And maybe I wouldn’t mind that. But I couldn’t afford to back down – my freedom and room to wriggle was just getting smaller and smaller. It was looking like soon I’d have nowhere to go but right into their arms. And they knew, I could fucking tell, they knew that’s exactly where this was headed. They had all kissed me. I wonder what else they wanted?

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 8 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I can hear a snowstorm outside, the howling wind sounds like an omen to me and I hope everyone in town is somewhere warm, or else they’d die out in that weather. An hour or so pacing the wardrobe’s small length, I undress and put on a white shift. It’s loose, no showing off my curves or anything like that. My makeup is still on but I’m going to wash it off once I creep across the bedroom and enter the bathroom. My Crows went quiet awhile ago, and the lights were out. The only light left was the fire. When I am brave enough, I walk to the door and I think I see a shadow underneath – but it flickers away. It’s just the way light dances from the hearth. When I’m brave enough, I place my hand on the door knob and twist, inching the door open as slow as I can. Without a sound, not even a creak, I lean my head against the wood and peek out into my bedchamber. I expected? Well, what could I expect – other than men, sleeping soundly. Or men, perhaps reading in the dark. What I see sends a chill through me. The room is very dark. The light of the fire has burned so low, only embers and a small flame licks around the black wood, caving in, sending out a flurry of embers as the last fuel is used. I feel like I’m staring at grey statues. I almost forget they’re alive. I almost forget they’re men. Damion stands exactly where he stood before – but he faces me, a dark silhouette – it’s extremely unsettling. Axe isn’t on the bed but he is by the window coloured by the violent blizzard. He is standing still, hood pulled over his face, his side turned toward me. Rurx and Krys are pretty much half naked like Damion now, only in their loose trousers, both by the dying fire – and the light of it licks a grey, low amber light across their rippling shoulders. Rurx’ doll like hair is still flowing in perfect curls like it’s just been made, pushed off one shoulder. They have moved to the couch opposite the one they were on earlier. So now they face me – staring at the princess peaking out of the wardrobe. Four men being totally creepy in the dark. There is no way I’m going out there. I slip my hand off the edge of the door, I had been about to open it, now I’m about to close it. But I need to pee bad, it’s not like I can wait any longer. I just didn’t expect them to be silent as stone and watching me – as if they were waiting for nothing else. Courage. I need courage. Be the Jewel princess – she feared nothing. I shove open the door, heaving in breaths to try and breathe in confidence as I ball my fists and walk into the darkness of the room. As I march across, no one says a word, no one moves. My heart flys into my throat, as I make it to the bathroom, but I felt their eyes follow me. I do my business as quickly as I can, and then spend a while at the sink, washing my face, over and over, worried by how wide and scared my eyes are. I look like I’ve been through hell. Really, Anastasia? My Crows protected me. What was I complaining about? Why was I still sacred of my own men? Hmm… my own men. “Mine…” I mouth the word at myself, finding the answer. Mine. My men. I had to own that. I dry my face and brush through my hair. I walk back out into the room, and this time I don’t march across. I walk slow, watching each of them, still as they are. I walk up to my bed, still made, and I sit on the covers, placing my hands on my knees, as I sit back on my turned feet, “What’s wrong with you?” I ask into the air, still warm but getting cold. I look to Damion for an answer, since he is the one standing so rigid, hands still clasped behind him, his silhouette still facing me. “Do you always speak to yourself… Ice Seer?” I hear a strangers voice to my left, and I turn to see a cloaked assassin by the wardrobe, smirking and whispering to me, as he shows me the blade hidden beneath his furs, “There’s no one here – just you and me. You can scream but no one will hear – the blizzard itself screams louder.” I look to Damion but he doesn’t move otherwise. I look to Damion’s feet and I see shadows swirling. Oh. My Crows are using a glamour. Forbidden Mal magic. What the hell? The assassin cannot see them. Only me. I scramble off the bed as the assassin goes around wide, side stepping, blade held out, as he watches me. Just a paid sword. This is a job. “You can’t touch me,” I tell the assassin, “I am untouchable.” “Is that what you believe?” he pulls down his hood, and I recognise the man as the sword of Ionen – and he is also Ionen’s widows brother. So not hired – this was vengeance? “You don’t seem very scared of death…” he whispers, “but I guess the power of the Cren has given you a false sense of protection,” I just stand still and listen, as he moves closer, step by step – but as he moves, Damion does too, mirroring him, ghosting his moves, right behind him, still silent like a stone – even as he moves with a killer’s grace. “What will taking me achieve?” I ask, trying to appear scared, I put a hand to my shift and clutch it over my heart, “I know who you are. Please. What is it you’ll gain by doing this for your sister –” “It’s not revenge for Ionen’s death,” he admits in a hiss, “It’s that,” he looks to my hand over my heart and the Ring of Cren, “No woman should wear that ring. I’m saving everyone from a woman who thinks she can rule,” he hisses as he lunges for me. I don’t flinch. He can suddenly acknowledge the confidence in my eye too late. I don’t know his name, I don’t remember it, but his eyes widen, and he turns, just too late. Damion’s hand clamps down on his wrist, squeezing until I hear tendons snap and a bone breaks. The blade falls and levitates through the air, back into Damion’s open hand, as the assassin spins to my Crow – Damion smoothly slices his throat in one silent swipe. The body drops, every bone breaks – I hear the snapping. I don’t know how. I watch as Damion opens his hand and the assassin levitates up a few inches from the ground, as his neck is coated red. Damion then kneels down and slams the blade into his heart. The man twists and curls into black shadows… one second he is real… the next… he vanishes. Every drop of blood is gone, every bit of him that existed doesn’t exist anymore. But my Crows never had that kind of power? My mind races. If the Mal infected them, it would explain the inhuman silence… the menacing stares, the waiting. What if I’m their next victim? But instead of death, it’s just torture. I bet they’d love to torture me. I don’t know where the thought comes from. But I know they love to play. And I know what they did to those concubines. Damion gets to his feet and I see his black eyes – they look evil to me. I’m next. I can’t shake the thought. Run. “Anastasia,” Damion tries to calm me down, I see his open hand, gesturing in a fashion that he means no harm – but his expression is entirely different, and his voice is becoming like Axes’ lullaby. Inhuman and strange. “What the hell are you?” I cry out the question as I run past him, and I see Krys and Rurx stand, but Damion barks at them. “Don’t,” Damion keeps them off my back… but the sudden laugh at the end is short and precise, a perfect song note. Where will you run to? That’s all I hear. Well, I had my plan. And I don’t care if I’m panicking like the Mal King. I sprint for the Ice chamber. Once there, I turn into a cut in the Ice, walking into the freezing cold, I carefully navigate the ice corridor. At night it’s silver, and I barely see a thing, but I do see moonlight at the end. I run for the open room, empty of everything except the ice vault. It’s a massive opaque circular door, thick and fully shut. I stand in front of the door and I hold my fist and the ring out toward the Ice. I’m opening it. The whole door sings and cracks – making all kinds of beautiful noises that only ice can make. It starts to swing. I had no choice. If my Crows were maddened by the evil spirits in our lands – I only had the Cren to defend me. Whatever it was. Whatever it could do. The Ice swings open, revealing the sparse insides. Inside the glacier I see furniture carved from the ice, every inch of what I see in there looks amazing – every surface is reflective or silver or translucent. And the spirit? Nothing rushing out. There is nothing. Because the vault was already emptied. “Hello?” I call out and my voice echoes, “…Cren?” I whisper it. I hear footsteps behind me and I turn, my Crows sneaking up on me. I face them with finality in my heart. I think I’m going to die. “Your father did it,” Damion drawls. “What?” I whisper, “Did he open it?” “Yes. The moment you were born and when your mother died. He wanted us to protect you, his only girl, you meant the world to him,” Damion answers, straight to it, “…and after all, we value Ice Seers and their blood. We’ve been looking out for you ever since.” I look them over. My hands open and close at my sides, my eyes scattering over their forms, not so human now – even though that’s exactly what they look like. But they never aged… and I never noticed. I don’t have words, Damion can see it’s too much for me. I look at my ring… my useless ring. I look back up to my Crows, they’d all kissed me… and the whole time I had no idea they weren’t even human. They were something evil. They came from the Eye. “You’re not human,” I state, “You’re the Cren.” Krystoph nods, explaining for me, “We were human once. But we wanted to control the Eye and everything within it – we did that by becoming Crows, the Eye gives us eternal youth. But we had no magic out here while the other spirits were locked away. You need to understand why. The bone spirit delivers the dead to the maleficent castle and the mal devours and spits out magic from the cracked bones. The cost of magic is bones. All magic comes from bones. Bones make blood. In the Eye, bones make magic. It’s all connected.” “The Mal that makes all magic,” I whisper, “Is evil.” “It’s just magic,” Damion uses a more gentle voice, “…and we have always kept our promise to your father… we’re not going to kill you.” “All magic is evil,” I add, trying to understand, “So t-that m-means you’re Evil. All the spirits have been released. The Bone… and two days ago, the Mal… and now you’re… charged – with magic? What does the Cren… what do you do exactly.” Now Axe steps forward, pushing down his hood, he is happy to answer, “We are the Princes of the Eye,” he sees my own eyes widen but he continues, “We lived within it, until we were taken out by an ancestor of your bloodline. An Ice Seer. We made a deal, we’d protect them and their bloodline – keep them ruling this glacier… and they wouldn’t kill us… at the time, it was complicated…” “But,” Damion continues the story, “…if the spirits were all released, we’d be as powerful as we once were again, not just eternal knights – but Princes and Sorcerers of the Eye. The Cren, what we are, is the most powerful weapon anyone can have. That’s what we wanted. Eternality and power,” Damion is proud of this. “Why both those things?” I wonder. “…ambition,” Damion answers very personally, “What I want… I always… have,” he stares a little too darkly at my pink cheeks, “Same goes for us all.” “I just realised this changes nothing and I’ll be going to bed,” I state, rather hysterically, trying to escape this room. “Look into the Ice,” Damion commands me, stepping in my way and clasping my elbow. He stops me. He turns me and pushes me toward it. “The Ice is back out there,” I say. “Any part of it, look, I’ll let you see,” Damion murmurs. I give in. I walk up to the glacier and find a smooth part. I kneel down and place my hands on the Ice. My Crows follow me. I look in and I watch for a premonition. A threat. An answer. One, or the other, or both. Sometimes it’s one thing. Sometimes two. It’ll be whatever is in my future – my fate. Seeing it early can help me change it. All I see is Damion and I in the reflection, as he gets down behind me, and moves his cheek next to mine. His black hair touches my cheek, and his eyes eat me alive. “See?” Damion asks, his voice a song. “What?” I watch him through the reflection, “What should I see?” Damion places his large scarred hands over my shoulders – gently caressing my skin. I let it happen and I watch him move them in the reflection. His hands slip under the material of the shift across my collar bone and shoulders, then down my arms. He grips and pulls in either direction, ripping my dress in half. I flinch from the material breaking, but he leans in to kiss the curve of my neck, his hands sliding across my bare arms, sliding across my exposed rib cage, on both sides. My blood rushes hot and I whimper as I try not to gasp, as his hands slide up… he holds both my breasts in his hands, squeezing gently but holding them so possessively, he kisses the side of my jaw and looks me in the eye through the reflection. Damion presses his cheek against mine, he smiles slow and handsome. My cheeks are red and now I’m the one silent as stone. Damion doesn’t have to say a word. I know what I see. I slowly close my eyes. I gulp… as I realise. The evil spirits were all released when the Mal was released. It was over. I belonged to them now. Damion was making it clear. From this moment on I was enslaved to the Cren. And the look on my face and the feelings in my heart were one and the same. I was submitting to it. Not them. But the feeling. The feeling evoked in me – making me feel alive while held captive by dangerous maleficent beings. I was letting that feeling in. I wanted to know more about it. What did surrender mean?

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 9 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV Without fully turning my body, I slowly look back into Damion’s face, as I ask, “Will you protect me… forever?” Damion nods, making a dark noise of confirmation. I turn back to the ice and look down, my dress has ripped in the reflection and not in real life, and it makes me mad. Of all things… But it’s just what I feel. I reach up and place my hands on his, as he has placed them on my shoulders. I grip Damion’s scarred and rough hands and make him grip the material. I look back once more, leaning up to kiss him. It’s the first time I initiate with a Crow. It seems to be the thing Damion was waiting for. Was I ready. Yes. “It’s too cold,” Damion growls into my wanting mouth, his eyes alight with fire. He refuses to take my shift off, so I grab it myself, pulling it over my head. I throw it aside and Damion’s eyes fall over me, as I sit up from kneeling, reaching for him. I press a hand over his abs, my fingers touching his mouth. As he stands, he grabs my wrists and pulls me up and into his torso, clutching me to him so my front is warm against his skin. He… he is warm all over – with strong magic running through his veins, I feel it while pressed against him. Damion is suddenly more than a knight to me. However, my knight shakes his head in disapproval, “You may be ours – but you are extremely disobedient, Anastasia. To the core… do you even want this?” A dangerous and provocative question when I’ve already kissed him and demanded he take this shift off me – only to deny me. I see Damion means to trick me, while also curious with his honesty. “I don’t care if I’m cold,” I almost cry with my need for him to understand, “I like the cold.” Damion smirks and swings me around, still holding onto me, his hands run over my bare skin across my back. Now I smile. The Crows come forward, but not too forward. They watch me, my naked body being clutched and my submission to it. I look back at them. “I want it,” I answer to Rurx, my eyes sliding to Krystoph and Axe’s lowered hood as he paces, seeming impatient. “To the library, Damion,” Axe murmurs his cruel lullaby, a cruel smile tugging at his mouth. “Yes,” I answer right away, and Damion reluctantly lets me go, spinning me instead and smacking a hand over my ass. It tingles! “Go,” he commands me to move and I move. I attempt to run ahead of them, I’m stopped only briefly by Krystoph as he holds out a hand and lightly grabs my wrist, sweeping me around to him, I skid to a stop and he puts a finger under my chin, lifting my eyes, “Bold, Ana,” he smiles, “You would be naked all the time for us.” “Oh, shh… my purity is still intact,” I whisper at Krys, and he loses his polished smile as he realises I am correct. They don’t really own me like that. Not yet. I hear a beautiful chuckle from Rurx as I turn and run away into the ice corridor, to the Ice itself, and I keep moving for the library. When I look over my shoulder I see them coming, Axe at the forefront, eager to catch me. I don’t know why they want the library to be where we can play all together. The Cren and I. They vowed to protect me. As they vowed to have me. The world was falling apart, and I was going to enjoy this night with them, even if they were the problem. I was just one girl in the face of impending doom and the spread of evil magic that had been contained for so very long. What could I do? Oh, what, what could I do? Really? Nothing. I feel giddy with hysteria but the kind that makes you high. Life was over as I knew it. A darker life was blooming and I had four of the most handsome knights intent on me, somehow, captivated by me? What did I do to even command that? Would I lose their attention? If I did, I’d surely die of grief. Nothing compares to this feeling of being lusted over by power itself – power that can have anything. And the Cren were the ultimate power. I skip into the musty library, circular, with a centre stone sculpture. It’s my favourite art piece in the whole world. Not that I’d seen much of the world. A woman carved from stone, holding a sword as big as herself. This fictional goddess, she was the mother of wrath. She cried red and it was painted on the grey stone, dripping from her ruby eyes. I stand at the bottom looking up at her, looking down at me. “Why the library?” I ask into the cold air, as I hear my Crows approach. “The Eye… can you spot it?” Axe stops right behind me, a whispered dare, telling me. But… The Eye wasn’t… real. Although maybe now… I wonder what he means, but I look around the room and then I look up at the ceiling. It’s painted over but the etchings had always been strange to me, like they didn’t make sense. A window at the top shows the crescent moon and pelting hail as it smashes into the roof with the storm. Then the moon disappears as a violent low cloud passes over, and the eye almost looks like it’s blinked. “I see it,” I answer, “This is the Eye?” “You like this place?” Axe asks, too kindly, his voice floating by my ear. I turn to him and he is right there, looking down at me from the side, “Would you like this place to be your golden cage?” “Why a cage,” I challenge Axe immediately, spinning to him, “Am I war booty to you?” I ask it with a cheeky tone, though. Axe smiles softly, but has no words. “So… I am… your slave… whether I like it or not?” I whisper, pursing my lips. “Whatever keeps your body safe,” Axe answers cryptically, “Which we vowed.” “Oh please, you can stop lying to me now,” I dare him now, as my heart rate flies, as I feel myself about to admit all my fears, throwing caution to the storm, “My body is naked, Crow. I am literally inches from death – if the Cren wants the Kingdom, Princes of the Eye – and I, blood of an Ice Seer who took all your power in the first place… your revenge must be so deeply sowed,” I use my royal wit now, ingrained into my blood, as I lower my tone, no longer smiling, “If you wish to use and kill me, all I’m meaning to say is do it sooner rather than later– my father and brothers will see me. I know what you want –” “Do you?” Axe is amused in the face of my sudden seriousness. I see Rurx, Damion and Krys pacing closer, especially Damion, listening intently to Axe’s choice of words. “It’s obvious what men do in war – and no royal woman escapes any woman’s fate. To be had and buried by the enemy – I accept I’m dead. It makes no difference you’re all sweet to cover your vile intent,” I look them all in the eye, each one. I have spoken offensively. I do not know it until I see the look on their faces. Axe pushes back his hood slowly, glaring at me, “…is that what you think of us?” “You bitch,” Damion whispers it, actually shocked, and full of sudden and righteous anger, “We aren’t evil. We are ambitious and this reign we earnt. I’ll tell you our plans before your own warped mind drowns you in emotion. You are clearly still bereaved. So take my advice and stop thinking – let us do that for you.” “Just tell me exactly what you want,” I whisper back, feeling slightly embarrassed that I got it so wrong. “I was going to,” Damion growls over me, “We are ambitious. We’re secure here. We will stay here. And you will remain. You belong to us. As we, the Cren, belonged to your oath. In time, it was bound to be repaid and you are the repayment. Your skills are still necessary. Your body is ours. Your tongue though… I’m not sure you need it,” Damion narrows his eyes, his lips twitching up in the corner when I back up and raise my fingers to my mouth, as if to protect it, “Still drunk, princess?” argh, Damion is just teasing me, the buffoon. “Hardly,” I lower my hands, answering, sultry, “I barely had a… glass.” “…good, because we’re going to make that body our vessel for our blood,” Damion catches me off guard, “Princes of the Eye – with their prized magic blood. Congratulations, Anastasia, you’re going to be our breeding-bitch…” “Don’t say that!” “You’re the one who called us dogs, Ana,” Krys speaks, snidely, and I shut my mouth. “Mm, well,” I shrug, “How do four… princes… even share a woman? It’s impossible. Not even the Jewel princess had more than her lover – the prince of darkness, and he was more than enough,” I add, “…why me… anyway…” my voice tapers off to a whisper and then I lose my thoughts… Because my eyes. They wander. Axe is still in front of me, watching my mouth move, listening to every word – waiting to strike. My Crows come closer, and they all watch as I’m reduced to a quiet nervousness and maybe a little awe. “We don’t want anyone to know we’re the Cren,” Krys has to speak of politics, as always, he leans into me, suddenly explaining, “So we’ll keep up the façade.” “That you’re mine?” I ask too quickly, my voice all high pitched and girly, way more than was necessary. My excitement got the better of me and they immediately all laugh at me. It’s kind though, even though I want to die on the spot from the hard blush hitting my cheeks. “Mmhmm, princess, you shall remain the last infamous Ice Seer of the Court of Cren,” Krystoph agrees with me, after he contains his short, sweet laugh, “Now you know the rules, don’t you?” “What rules?” I ask, confused. “What does a woman do, for the man she serves…” Krys waits for me to answer. “Men. Please, women have to please,” I answer without too much thought, “I’m good at that, right.” “Not really,” Rurx moves in next to Axe, who looks protective of having the best position before me, as Axe shoves his shoulder into Rurx, keeping him back from getting too close, “Then you do it,” Rurx hisses into Axe’s ear, and Axe smiles, it’s all I see as he reaches into his coat – oh no, not that blade. I stiffen as he takes it out of his coat and presses the flat end to his lips, and his gloved finger to mine. Axe’s eyes, a glint and a swirl, glance at me from under his hood, as that soft all consuming smile of his says it all. Quiet now. I nod against his finger slowly, my eyes fixated on the blade. Would they mark me like the concubines? He knows I’m thinking it. Axe lowers the knife… and places it back into his coat. I finally let out a long shaky breath of relief. Maybe I’d be spared that. But I don’t speak, and I’m reminded, since Axe is still holding his finger against me. “Now,” Axe speaks firmly, almost scaring me with how authoritative he can sound. He grasps both my shoulders, “…Ana… it would please us…” he leans in closer, “If you’d close your eyes,” I do, as he leans closer and even closer, until I feel his hot magical breath over my cheek and then right next to my ear, his mouth caressing me, “Listen. Obey. Obeying is very important. Will you please us… Ana? You only have to nod, if you agree…” “What if I…” when I speak, Axe moves back to glare at me, already annoyed I stuffed up, I spoke and opened my eyes. I shut my mouth, not asking the question. Axe knows what I was going to ask. What if I don’t agree to be well behaved? So, he finishes with an answer. Axe holds both my cheeks, in both his hands – and he leans in and kisses me, hard. It’s perfect. Perfect in every way. I feel my breath taken from me by his passion. His mouth is hungry as his lips slide across mine to feel how soft mine are, owning my mouth in this moment. Taking my words. Until the end, Axe uses his sharp canine to nick my lip and I taste the iron even as I whimper from the bite – and Axe licks my wound, only to let his tongue explore my mouth too, pulling me in all the way. My body, jerked up. Axe is moving me onto his thigh, that he sticks out for me to rub against. It feels good, especially the way he rubs his leg between mine and up high…. but just as I enjoy it, Axe releases me. I fall to the floor, panting and embarrassed by how quickly I lose strength and focus from standing. I look up since I’m now sprawled on my knees and hands, and Axe has his knife again, as he holds a thread of my hair – and he cuts it off, wrapping the silver hair around his finger, putting it into his pocket, “I can do all kinds of things with that,” Axe warns me quietly with a poisonous growl, “Obey or be punished like the naughty slut you are. You taste exactly like a brat.” He means it, but his words strike a nerve. I’m both furious and… and… in love. Ah! The indecision on my face must show my every emotion, but my tongue is still and I’m just towered over by all of them, as they look in at me… with that adoration… mixed with that… that look. That hard but soft look. “It’s difficult but you’ll adjust,” Rurx adds, drawling at me, “We take your existence very seriously, Ana. Will you return the favour and be good.” “I’ll try,” I growl it out. Axe looks disappointed I spoke again. “Practice makes perfect, some are slower to learn than others,” Damion whispers off to the side, “Shall we put the princess to bed? She’s had enough.” “Don’t talk about me like that, like you know when I’ve had enough!” I get so annoyed, I spring up to my feet. I shove past Rurx and Axe to shove my hands into Damion’s chest, as he just catches me close. Damion smirks so big, he holds me with one arm, holding me squished against him, as I heave, clenching my fists next to me, since he has trapped my arms to my sides. “I just wanted a reason to punish you,” Damion admits, a growl over me, “Be naughty with me and you’ll find my hand quite likes your ass, princess.” He releases me too. From warmth to empty air. Damion nudges me with a hand on my shoulder, pushing me again. To bed. The others want to follow me again. Meanwhile, I have stumbled forward, barely finding my feet on numb and jellified legs, face red, my mind now having unholy thoughts of Damion’s hand on my ass and how that’ll turn out. I can almost feel the tingle of pain already, fighting with the pleasure of being touched. My Crows were being cruelly patient in their seduction. I guess to them – they had eternity. I don’t know if I appear a fool or a catch. Either way, I’m enjoying this game they’re playing, and I really shouldn’t be. They expected me to follow rules in the bedroom. I could submit to a feeling. Rules, though… I had never had rules. I was the princess. Mmm… damn it… I wanted them to touch me again. Now. Already! Oh, no. But how. How to be good? They won’t progress to the next part if I’m not good to them. Axe punished me. Damion also, holding me and releasing me. Torture. That’s what it is. A different kind. Torture by cold. My Crows are… strange.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 10 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV Stand still and close your eyes. A very simple command. That’s what Axe murmured to me when we returned to my – our – bedchamber. I wanted to try and be good. So, I stood straight and still while already naked, in the middle of my room. My eyes were tightly shut, while I heard them all undressing, throwing off their trousers – and I? Ah, well I was officially too scared to look at them completely, utterly, totally naked. Half-naked Crows were already a handful. Fully…? Help. I can feel how it gets colder and colder because the fire died and we were too unfocused to stoke the flames with more logs. But who cares right now. Fuck the fire. We were the fire. It’s a romantic thought, but the reality of submission is a lot harder than the real deal. It’s already a battle for me, since I feel I am both strong and timid at exactly the same time. Maybe it was a curse on all women to feel so much that you become indecisive. But I also had crazy thoughts too, to feel like their natural energy of intimidation is something I can change to my own benefit. To play with. Taking their masculine energy and making it flow around me like it’s my own magic. I always wondered why men never understood women and women never understood men, a riddle as old as time. You’d think we’d work it out. But…? Well. When it comes to sexual feelings, when we come together, that’s when the fire burns. And you need friction to cause a flame. I imagine my Crows touching me before they even do, forgetting they’re even here for a moment, until one Crow makes the first move. “Here,” I hear Rurx murmur some encouragement by my head, and I feel his hand grab my hand, his fingers splayed undermine, as he lifts my whole arm up. His finger slides across my Ring of Cren and that is when I open my eyes. I can see the others naked around me and standing back but I focus on the Ring. Rurx is naked too, as he keeps his distance standing behind me, other than his hand, touching mine. “What about it,” I ask, as he holds my finger steady. “If you turn the moon around, it’ll lock… and we’ll be forced back in the vault,” Rurx says this very, very quietly. His tone is not just serious… but also trusting? I gulp and nod, “If you want us locked away, that’s all you have to do to activate the curse on us.” “Why would you tell me this,” I whisper, staring at the ring with sudden terror at it’s power over my Crows. I didn’t know I could put them back inside. Rurx steps into me, his hand slides from mine up my arm to my elbow. He just holds my elbow lightly, as his whole naked front steps into my back, and I feel him right behind me. He slides his second hand lightly down my other arm. “In case you get scared,” Rurx kisses the back of my head, over my hair, and I immediately close my eyes as my lips pull up in the corner with a small smile. I don’t have words to respond to that. Rurx now tests my reaction to his naked skin on mine. I’ll admit… I was fucking frozen. I wasn’t about to crawl all over them, I had no idea how to do that, how to even start showing them what I feel. All I have inside my middle, is this warmth that I like. But I don’t know where to even begin. I let out a long exhale and relax back into Rurx… that’s a good start right? Feel him even more. He’s hard and warm… I shuffle back until I swipe a hand behind me, curious if I’ll touch the – His shaft – there – crap – I make contact with Rurx’ hard cock and I jerk my hand back, giggling under my breath, then immediately feeling embarrassed and sighing at my own reaction. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whisper my admission, my eyes shut again. I hold my left wrist with my right hand in front of me, as I twist it anxiously, “…help me?” “We’re your Crows, open your eyes,” I hear Damion and I quickly obey as he walks in and around me – all of him – his height was always intimidating but right now I just keep my eyes focused up so high on his jaw and his mouth and his eyes – just anything other than below, as he slides to my front, his black hair is just like a raven’s, absorbing all light, reflecting midnight blue – but his dark eyes, I’ve just now noticed how thick his eye lashes are… and I focus on that because – “We are your help, Anastasia – it’s our oath,” Damion growls over me, as Rurx is playing with my hair, lightly pulling it behind my shoulders. Damion waits for me to respond. He seems to realise I can’t form words because I’m thinking way too much and he licks over his canines – a simple instinct, just some strange thing I notice. But I like it. I really like it, and I feel so weird by how much I like it that I look at his neck instead, while at the bottom of my vision I see another very high and hard dick. To my relief, Damion reaches for my tits, and his arms temporarily half-way block my downward view. He squeezes them generously, holding them both completely, warming me up. “I can’t think straight,” I whisper to Damion now so he understands how much guidance I need. All I can feel is how wet my thighs are, and I’m kind of worried they’ll make fun of me for it. I squeeze my legs together self-consciously to hide it, as I shuffle my feet together and look at his hands on my breasts. His fingers pinch my left nipple, and Damion smiles as he makes it small, while his other hand slides up my chest – toward my neck. Damion pops a thumb under the side of my jaw as he makes me look up again as he looks down. Fuck me, this blood thirsty warrior just wants me right now – there is nothing sexier than that soft look in his eye, when I knew what he could do with that passion raging inside him. Damion says nothing, he just keeps my head up, as he leans down to my mouth, but not for a kiss. He just moves closer to me as his second hand stops playing with my nipple, to slide down my front instead, his hand turning, and his fingers dipping lower. I hitch my breath. He notices immediately. Damion holds my gaze steady the whole time, watching my eyes. Even as he sees the fear in me, I stay as strong as I can. It’s just that no one had ever touched me down – there before… He makes contact, forcing my legs apart for his hand. It’s easy for him. I make a slight high-pitched noise and immediately lift myself to my toes, just from the effect of Damion’s hand. He slides his fingers through me, not into me – and I’m so slippery it’s ridiculous. He gathers so much wetness with one stroke across. I wait for him to laugh or smirk, but Damion does neither. “That cream helps us fuck you,” he drawls slowly. “I know how it works,” I hiss, gritting my teeth, unable to keep in my defensiveness. Damion shakes his head, unfazed, “Don’t be naughty or I’ll make you taste it,” he sees my eyes widen and then he does smirk, “It’s not bad – but don’t worry, you can taste us instead,” he suddenly grabs the outside of my thigh – lifting my leg, jerking my body toward him. My exposed pussy is open for him now. He places my leg around his hip, holding up my knee. I hop forward, suddenly scrambling for him. I grab his shoulders to keep myself steady, I also look down as his hand slides across the small of my back, and his cock is near my tits. As I use my tiptoes to try and move my body backwards – Rurx steps in closer and simultaneously wraps his arms around my waist and ribs, his mouth diving for my neck. Damion pulls me back into his front one more time, his fingers dipping and sliding through my pussy again. I’m tightly squished between them, but their heat is welcome. Fuck, I love their strength while holding me, pulling me to the perfect position for their own needs. I roll my eyes back as I whimper with pleasure uncontrollably, and then I see Axe and Krys waiting. Krys has his arms crossed over his chest, patient. Axe, not so patient. He looks right at me and he looks like he could punish me just for making him wait – even though I can’t stop Damion and Rurx from doing this. “We consider your body ours, Ana,” Damion reminds me, “You got that?” It seems like a command. I look back at him, while Rurx kisses the corner of my mouth. “Mm,” I nod, as Damion slowly starts to dip a finger inside me, and then two fingers. “Oh. Oh. Um. Why,” I think of a question, “Why do I feel like I like you doing – uh-h?” Damion pushes his two fingers deep, thrusting them in hard. I squeeze. “This?” Damion wonders, and I quickly nod, “Because, princess, you’re made to be fucked like this,” he whispers with a small smile hovering over my mouth. The moment I scowl, he grins as he takes his fingers from me and I make a noise of complaint, just to see him show me his glistening silver threaded fingers, covered in my cream. I look on, intrigued and terrified as Damion licks both his fingers, sucking them clean in front of me. Meanwhile Rurx keeps holding me up, his embrace a true support in this moment, while Damion’s eyes flash. “Fuck,” Damion whispers, losing himself, as he drops to kneel so he can lift both my legs up violently, he keeps his hands under my knees, keeping my legs back, spread and out of his way. What the hell is he – ! I can only watch. Damion holds up my weight like nothing. He looks right at my open pussy and I feel my blush spread all over my skin. He moves closer to smell me. Then I just watch, aghast and excited as Damion licks right through me, but it’s not like a one-time thing. The shock of it has me crying out with the sudden spot he touches that sends extreme pleasure shooting through me. My clit?! Directly. He keeps massaging it with his tongue, his hands now hold my thighs right apart, refusing to let me close my legs the moment he notices me trying to in protest. “I can’t take it,” I beg Damion. Rurx holds me tighter, so I can’t escape through wriggling and writhing. He presses his mouth to my ear though, to remind me. “You know what to do if you get too scared,” Rurx ends that reminder just as I let out a half-scream, because Damion assaults my clit quick and rough with his tongue. I try kicking my legs and he leans up, chuckling as he wraps his arms right around my thighs, until I’m completely still and locked into place, open for him to continue to eat. “She’s almost there,” Krystoph speaks formally, even now. I don’t know what he means, until he walks over and looks at what’s happening to me, his hand sliding across my stomach. He splays his hand over my womb, “Let go, Ana,” Krystoph’s possessive hand, and lastly Axe… he just growls as he watches. I hear the noise. It’s like a dark approval. And Krys’ eyes are focused between my legs. “Your body is ours.” I don’t know who says it. It could be Rurx – or Krys – or Axe. Maybe all of them. But Damion’s tongue licks through me, taking as much cream as he wants – massaging me until my blood boils. I’m done, I’ve reached some horizon and I fall off the edge. Every muscle in my body contracts and the moment I scream, Axe appears to slide a hand over my mouth, keeping me quiet as he smiles in triumph, eating me up with his poisonous glare as I climax, looking right at him. I can’t stop the feeling rising up and exploding in waves. It’s like torture how sensitised all my nerve endings are. Whatever feeling this is, it doesn’t end – it threatens to get worse and worse. I keep screaming into Axe’s strong hand, as Damion pulls me even closer and keeps eating me out. I can’t move. I can only feel my body trying to. I want to fuck. I want to escape. I want both. Fuck, this is the best feeling in the world. Somehow, I reach a point where I can breathe heavy, no longer screaming, but my body keeps singing. Damion miraculously stops licking me, abruptly he pulls back, looking up at me as I look down, Axe’s hand still covering my mouth, Rurx still embracing me from behind, as Krys keeps his hand on my belly. Damion slowly stands up, releasing my legs as they flop down to the floor, and my whole body heaves as I breathe through my nose. I feel them all releasing me at the same time. When I can stand, they’re all around me, huddled close. I rest my face dramatically on Damion’s chest, while I feel Axe and Krys move in and slide their hands between my legs at the same time, just to get an idea of how wet I had become. I wince and cry out as Axe dips two fingers inside me, fucking me a few times, making my body tremble as I clutch Damion for support while Krys rolls my clit once or twice between a thumb and finger, smirking as he tries to see my eyes but I hide from his cool stare. Damion snarls over the both of them, “Enough,” he wraps an arm around my waist, and swings me away from them. As I’m still shaking against him, Damion’s hands slide down my back to my legs, lifting me up, hoisting me onto his front so I don’t have to walk. I hold onto his shoulders, my legs wrapped around him as he walks us to the bed. I hold on tight, as if he’s my saviour, even though he was the one to suck my strength away. Damion pulls back my sheets and I drop off him into the covers, as he kneels by the bed, and he leans on the mattress with one arm, his face close to mine. “As ours,” Damion starts, “…did you enjoy that…” his voice drops to a lower octave. I just nod, “What did I say the other day?” he murmurs. “Um?” I whisper, “Oh…” I purse my lips, “I know what you said…” “I will fuck you every day at my leisure,” Damion nods, knowing I’ve remembered as he repeats it anyway, “We all will.” “Is this a mercy or something?” I ask, quietly, “Not fucking me now.” “Don’t be a brat,” Damion slowly smiles, “You’re not ready.” “I’ll be good,” I whisper. “No, you won’t, don’t lie,” Damion growls over me, “You don’t really understand how we’ll move forward with this. We fuck to own – your body isn’t to love. Yes, you’ll bare children but your pussy will be the sheath to all our cocks. Your mouth too. Your ass when you’re really naughty.” “Damion,” I gasp. “I’m serious,” Damion looks so evil in this moment, just casually smiling at me, “Sleep.” “I was going to,” I growl back, “…but… where will you all… sleep?” “Axe and I will take the couches – Rurx and Krys want the bed with you tonight,” Damion growls deep and rolls his eyes, “They need their beauty sleep, or haven’t you noticed how fucking manicured they both are?” he stands up playfully glaring at them as they come over, and Damion side eyes me one last time, “Sleep, slut – our pussy needs rest for the workout it’ll have tomorrow.” Fuck. My whole-body shivers, and Damion’s eyes spot that positive reaction immediately. He looks deeply satisfied with that response. I glare but I say nothing. Damion stalks away and Axe just kisses me with his eyes but also heads to the couches by the low burning fire. I turn to see Rurx hop on one side of the bed, sprawling out on his front. Krys comes up toward me. He casually rolls me over into the middle of them. As they get comfortable, I wonder what I’ll have to do. But it’s not that hard, when they manoeuvre me for me. Krys pulls me onto his chest, holding my wrist across him, making sure my cheek is against him. His other arm goes around my back, and I can snuggle him easily if I want, but there is Rurx too. He just lays a hand over my ass. That’s all he does, and my blood sings again. I watch Krys shut his eyes, and quickly peep out through half closed lids at me, still staring up at him. Just the look is enough. Go to sleep. I quickly close my eyes. I have a bit of a conundrum. I’m tried, a bit drunk and very comfortable in this position. …but… sleep? Heh. I’ll try? It’s hard to turn off with them naked, so close – and so… touchy. Argh. Fuck no, I’m going to go crazy with them touching me. I can only wait for sleep to take me. And hope it does. Or I’m going to be exhausted running this kingdom. Just the thought of being tired tomorrow makes me clutch onto Krystoph in growing anger and stress, and I suddenly kick hard back at Rurx. He gets the message, and his hand leaves my ass, as he laughs handsomely under his breath. Krystoph sees I’m stressed as I claw at him, so he lets me go too, shoving me roughly into the middle of them. So that’s that. I end up in the middle of my bed, on my back, my sheets curled in my fingers, with my own space. I breathe in deep and let out an even deeper breath. At least they were understanding and compassionate – sometimes? Strange Crows. As my breathing slows, and I feel safe with them, my eyes naturally flicker shut. Way more quickly that I’d anticipated, I fall into a deep sleep. The best sleep I’ve had in a long, long time.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 11 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV The next morning, my Crows have gone early to the baths, so I wake up alone in my room. I use the time to get ready, and I can feel how it’s extra chilly out, even with my fire roaring in the hearth. I pull out a new costume, this one a thick dress, with one difference. The middle is exposed, around my waist – it’s an area I’ve left for a slave chain, fashioned into a belt. I also take the shackles fashioned into bracelets, and I put them on my wrists. I would always show the women of the Cren Court that I was connected to all of them in our combined misery of slavery and submission. If a princess and Ice Seer could wear such things as fashion – it was no longer a vice, it lost it’s meaning as just weight on our bodies. I’m in the bathroom, making sure everything is centred, the glacier-coloured wool, the bronze arm bands. Lastly I dust some bronze sparkling powder to my mouth. I brush out my hair one last time and then stand back. The material hugs my breasts but you can see the belt looping around my skin in the middle, and it looks dangerous – like I’m a chained up lunatic. As I admire myself, I did not hear my bedchamber door open, because I get a fright when Damion walks around the wall to appear in the archway to my bathroom, looking at me – while he wears his trousers, his bronze torso clean and uncovered. I know what they expected of me today – and I was quietly looking forward to their seduction again. I loved thinking about his mouth between my legs, lapping up my desire, but it will have to wait until I address the people. Damion pauses to take in the chain, the unlatched shackles, and my new dress. He keeps in his amusement, no outright laughter thankfully, but I see the look in his eye. “I have questions,” I ask formally, “Perhaps you can answer me openly, Crow?” Damion slowly paces toward me, “…Good morning, Anastasia…” he paces to my back and around to my other side, inspecting the outfit, “Ask.” Instead of turning to him and his glorious hard body, I look at myself in the mirror as I pat down my dress a few more times. “When people Vanish… like my family – when they were murdered, do you benefit…?” I already know the answer, but I want Damion to tell me if my Crows are secretly enjoying the waves of death throughout our lands. “It has always been that the bone spirit reaps the living and then magic is spun in the Eye, by the Mal,” Damion explains slowly and gently, “The magic was waning, the bones were gone, so the price was high to refill the Eye… we were human once, too, Ana, and we knew this, we learned to tap into the realm and system already in place. Axe, Rurx, Krystoph and I were great strategists, and perfect comrades… but we were sick of fighting with our mundane hands, battles that never ended, knowing one day our only reward was old age, disease and death. We wanted to match the monsters beyond who feed off our own Vanished. The journey is too long to tell you now. But the end result was the same. Now we not only live eternally but we can also harness that death magic as our weapon. We will always be warriors first and monsters second. When we were named princes and sorcerers of the Eye… it was more the majesty of such titles for our achievement… but we are and always will be defenders of mortals,” I nod because I appreciate the detailed answer. I feel like Damion despises me slightly less now for being in command of him – he even trusts me to hear their truth. I give him my approval with my respectful silence, absorbing all that information. He then drawls to me, generously offering, “Any other questions, princess?” I ask immediately, my mind already swimming with ideas and wonderous thoughts, “Damion. Now that every evil spirit is released, travelling these lands… what will happen now? How do I address this as my people die across the kingdoms.” “It will all settle in time. As Crows we control access to the Eye and the realm beyond,” Damion picks up my wrist and my hand, grabbing my direct attention as he holds my fingers in his grasp, quite the gentlemen today, hmmm? I wonder what he wants. Damion’s dark eyes half shut as he gazes down upon me, gently pulling me closer. I turn and step into his front, placing my other hand on his middle, directly over his rippling abdominal muscles – I’m trying to keep us separate, so we can start the day with success, but I can’t help curling my nails into his skin and clawing down him just a little. Damion watches my hand, and he lets me play with him, as he further adds to the topic, “We can open the Eye and unleash what’s within… but we wouldn’t want to scare you… the monsters within are not the kind of company you would enjoy… we will harness them if our Court is threatened. From here, in this land, we rule. There is nowhere to go, Anastasia. This is the centre of magic and the home of all the greatest kings and queens to have ever reigned on this earth. We are the front line. That is why you will command this place – continuing the tradition of keeping magic in the royal blood. We will defend that status. Always.” “…so the magic is contained until you open the Eye yourselves? And it will come from the library,” I gulp, as I take my hand from his torso, but he does not release the one he holds in his grasp, “…the stone statue, the goddess below – the mother of wrath… is that just a statue… or does it mean something else… there’s no name for her, I don’t understand the origins, how old she is, why she’s in our court… do you know what she represents?” “You’re very observant, princess,” Damion smirks, “Why do you wear such things as garb,” he nods toward the slave chain I’ve put on as a belt. “To connect with my people, especially the women, not just those married or born to elite classes, but the women who suffer, often in silence,” I reply easily with my answer, “As slaves or otherwise. I represent those who have everything and those who have nothing. Because at the end of the day, women have no true rights here… we are all somehow slaves,” I feel my eyes tear up with my heart aching for all of us, and Damion sees my expression bleed with my own inner-wrath. “You’re so cute…” Damion whispers, dark and sexy, as he brings my hand right up to his lips, kissing it, and lowering it, low, lower – all the way down to his trousers. My gaze flickers down as he casually lets my hand rest on his hard dick covered by his thin trousers, holding my hand there, he casually continues to speak, “You’ve answered the question yourself. The statue does the same thing, that mother cries for all women – she is all women, whichever female gazes on her, can imagine their tears have power,” Damion murmurs, eating up my face, as I look from his dark eyes to his trousers and back again, “…your ancestor… the first Ice Seer… she was a woman – but then she only had sons and their queens would only have yet more sons. Being a Seer overtime appeared to be a man’s power. You’re the first female Ice Seer since her reign.” “Was she the one who put you in the Ice?” I ask, gently. “Yes,” Damion murmurs, “She wanted to separate magic from the human realm to protect all humans from being fed to the Eye. She made the rings for Mal and Cren and Bone.” “She defeated you,” I whisper, “How?” He stands taller, growling under his breath, “…what do you mean?” “How did she capture the Crows,” I tease him, as I tickle his dick, and he palms my hand off back to me, annoyed by my insolence, “Tell me, Damion.” “She also had a propensity for nakedness,” Damion admits, “She ran through these halls without clothes, teasing us by calling our names – she also had an inclination to tease and then decline us… so we ran blindly into the vault and she sealed it shut. A woman’s trick.” “The vault looks cold,” I clasp my hands in front of me, “Pray I don’t…” I wriggle my finger up with the ring, as I slowly smile, “Seal you back in.” Damion goes silent, starts to look quite annoyed by that, so I step back and roll my eyes over him, licking my lips, before I murmur, “Get ready. You can’t come to court like that.” “Bitch,” Damion whispers under his breath as he stalks by, smiling again. I bite my lip as he walks out. In his place, Rurx and Krystoph appear in the archway. Krys is sliding on leather gloves, his midnight suit pristine and perfect. Rurx’ hair, as always still pissing me off by it’s perfection, while he wears his loose shirt and thick pants, swiping on his black fur robe to keep out the winter chill. Krys keeps his off, but his eyes slowly take in my dress. “Give me a kiss,” he asks, suddenly. I like how bold he is. Without words, I smile as I skip forward and grab Krystophs’ shoulders, leaning up on my tip toes as I gift my lips to his. Krys slides a hand under the chain at my belt, holding me close as his mouth has not moved on mine, he just let me kiss him as his judgey eyes roll over my dress from much closer up. “You’re quite the trouble, aren’t you,” Krystoph clearly doesn’t like the way I wear slave attire – destroying it’s meaning by the way I mock it on my skin with my royal dress, “Our chains are of the soul,” Krys mutters this cryptically, his hand releasing the chain at my waist. I step back from him and end up feeling Rurx behind me. I turn into Rurx next and he kisses my forehead, his finger sliding under my chin, tilting up my head as he smirks down at me. “Good girl,” Rurx approves, “You’re being better behaved.” “Why did you have to say that?” I ask, “I am the same.” “For accepting your subservience,” Rurx explains, still ticking his finger under my chin. “How do you know I did?” I ask. “Give me a kiss now,” Rurx tempts me, leaning down to my mouth as I lean up on my tip toes again. I kiss Rurx. But he too doesn’t kiss me back, his lips still. I sit back on the soles of my feet. I pout. “No kiss for me,” I whisper, “Why not?” Rurx slowly shakes his head, “There is no time to fuck you yet and tasing your mouth will set us off on a different path. But. Tormenting your pussy…? You can wait,” he drawls this slow, holding my shy eyes, as I gulp. Bastard. I can wait. Like it isn’t just tormenting them in return!!! I close my eyes, I regain my focus and I sigh dramatically as I move past them both. Axe is waiting by the fire, looking into it’s flames as he pokes at it with an iron stick. No welcome or good morning from him. Damion is still dressing, so before I leave the bedchamber I stalk up to Axe and his large robe trailing across the rug. I step over it but I can’t avoid it. “Good morning,” I sing song as I step in front of him, “Do you want a kiss –” Axe’ sexy mouth sneers as he pokes the fire a bit more aggressively, embers flying out over us, making me flinch back before it catches my dress on fire. As I prance backward, he turns his head, his eyes warring with mine. “Okay, no kiss for you then,” I hold up my hands in surrender as I keep backing off. “Axe isn’t a soft man,” Damion laughs, “He doesn’t want a gentle kiss from you, love. He’d rather put clamps on your tits and laugh when you cry.” C-clamps on tits… are a… are a real thing? Um. Don’t dwell on it. “Mm, no, he just wants me locked away in the library,” I accuse him, as I keep backing away, “Feral man.” “I’m not feral, still your tongue, Ice Seer,” Axe finally speaks, and his voice is mellow with masculinity and I love it – no longer just a poison in this moment but a manly warning not to label him as anything else other than what he is. “I’m going to the Court,” I suggest, “And then I’m going for a walk. Come on,” I leave the room first, “We have a big day ahead of us.” I am trailed by Rurx and Krystoph first, while Damion and Axe get left behind. Rurx and Krys both speed up to flank me either side, as we walk down the hall… it’s strangely misty. “It must have been a bad blizzard,” I whisper, “I’ll have to see the damage.” On my way down the stairs, a messenger boy starts to run toward me. He looks like a squire, but he is also haphazardly dressed in a too large shirt and breeches he must have just thrown on, as his eyes are wild and scared, a tremble in his hands as he holds them out toward me. “Miss, Ice Seer!” he skids to a stop when Rurx and Krys step in front of me, keeping the boy at a distance as I step down the last step onto the cold tiles. “What is it?” I ask, worried. “Half the city,” the boy states, his hands on his knees as he gets his breath back, “They’re gone.” “Gone?” “…there was a darkness…” the boy stands back up, his black hair and face are wet from the heavy mist, he looks so cold, his skin ghostly, “Last night – in the clouds. Anyone who was caught outside and touched by the black snow – they vanished. The whole of Cren is quiet, so many are gone. My own mother, she turned to air before my eyes. And there’s Eye preachers who travel the streets, the survivors of the massacres in the war, they arrived at dawn, they are preaching for submission to the Eye. Everyone is scared Ice Seer. Please. I’m begging you. Release the Cren. Save us all. Before we’re all gone and only evil remains.” I am humbled this kid got in here just to tell us himself, he would have had to get past the guards, and then his speech after all that was concise and articulate – speaking for his intellect. “Thank you for this report – if you can go home for now and keep yourself safe–” “I can’t go back home,” the boy begs, cutting me off, “My mother was all I had. I don’t want to go back out there. I’m– I’m scared, I’m sorry,” he looks down, looking embarrassed. “Then come with us,” I suggest. I look to Rurx, who has pity in his eyes. Krystoph steps forward to the boy, taking the lead. “Chin up,” Krystoph intercepts the boy, grabbing him by the shoulder and getting down on one knee to look him in the eye, “The bane of all evil – is courageous men.” “What about my mother…” “She was the most courageous – the Eye demands a sacrifice and she wouldn’t let it take you, your fate is to be a man of honour, a protector of our realm. You remind me of a brave boy I once knew, what’s your name?” “I’m Damion,” he says, his eyes wide with shock and some slowly calming adrenaline, he seems more at ease with Krys’ words. “Damion, huh,” Rurx chuckles under his breath, as he looks back and so do I. Axe and Damion finally reach the top of the staircase, coming down to join us. “Go to the hooded man behind me and tell him Krys said I’m to be your squire,” Krystoph pats him on the shoulder, murmuring so quietly I almost do not hear the last words, “He had a son and lost a son, now you will be his son.” Little Damion walks around us, pausing as he looks up to Axe – who is quite intimidating with his large hood covering most of his face. I had no idea he had a history like that at all. I’m so stunned I do not speak. I watch as Axe doesn’t sneer, he simply grabs his hood and throws it back off his face to look down at the kid, who waits for him quietly. “Sir,” the kid speaks, “Krys said I’m to be your squire.” “No,” Axe speaks normally and then moves on from him, not even looking at him twice, refusing to acknowledge his presence. I glare at Axe but his eyes look rather fierce as he glares hard at Krystoph, who adjusts his cuffs and pretends not to care. Clearly it was a risky move. Damion looks intrigued so he jumps down the last step and intercepts the boy. “What’s your name?” Damion growls over the scruffy kid. “Damion,” as the kid answers, Damion’s eyes light up immediately. “Are you 12 yet?” “Yes. I’m 12 now! How did you –” “It’s the age a boy can first practise holding a sword,” Damion slowly grins, “Do you want to learn to cut men open – and see their guts decorate the pavement?” “Damion,” I growl under my breath, but both Damions ignore me. “Um… hell yes,” the kid whispers back. “But are you strong enough?” Damion growls low, glaring at the kid, challenging him, “Or are you weak?” “Of course I’m strong enough!” Damion yells at Damion, and he balls his fists as clearly wants to fight him already to prove his strength. “Oh really? I could eat you for breakfast, kid, you’re tiny. You better come with us to eat some meat to get some muscle onto your bones. Do you know how to take orders or will I have to snap your scrawny little arms off to teach you how to behave… maybe you do understand what real strength sword dancing requires, but I don’t think you’ve got it in you, kid, want to prove me wrong?” Damion takes his sword out of his sheath at his belt, lunging forward, pretending to chase the boy, and poor Damion Jnr. runs back – all the way to me. He clutches onto my dress, hiding in front of me as I fight back the urge to laugh. I ruffle up his hair, he is small from being underfed, but he has a fire in his eyes that all kids have – hope for more. “I’ll protect you from Damion,” I tell little Damion. “Who?” he asks me, confused – as Rurx grabs the kids arm and tugs him off me, pushing him back. “That’s his name,” I murmur to the boy, smiling, “And you’re his son now. I command you obey your new Father.” “I’ve never had a father,” the boys eyes light up, “But my queen, he said he’ll snap my arms off.” “You could cut his tongue out for me,” I whisper at him, “I’d really appreciate –” actually, Damion’s tongue was mean with his words but also perfect in other regards, sooo…“Hmm. Never mind,” I wink at the kid, who stands with his hands clasped behind his back, tears glimmering in his eyes. He’s been through so much, the least we can do is give him a safe space to heal and feel safe. “Don’t get used to this, kid,” Axe hisses off from the side, “You annoy me? If you even so much as talk to me, you’ll regret it.” We all go quiet to look at Axe and his temper, as he shakes his head sharply and pulls his hood back over his face, stalking off for the kitchens. The kid gulps, shuffling from left to right, eventually following us as we make our way forward as a group. I glance up to Damion and he looks very fucking proud of his new squire. Then I look to the back of Axe’ robes and I feel terrible. “I had no idea he lost a son,” I whisper under my breath. “And his wife,” Rurx answers me, just as quietly, “It was a bolt from the sky, brought by the Eye… it burned their house down… Axe was on campaign, he came back to their charred bodies. He was a farmer once.” I stay silent. I had no idea Axe had such a tame history. Now he was more magic than human. With his Soul Swiping gaze… one look and he could kill. But I guess there wasn’t much human to be left in any of them… it makes my mind race. If that’s his story… what are all their stories – as individuals… when they were mortal. Did they lose mothers or family like little Damion did? Like I did? What pushed them all to seek such power? I can only imagine. They have deep histories, hidden wounds and hidden scars. I had never thought it until now. And I’m rather embarrassed by how slow it took to realise… my Crows are brave and courageous men. They’ve been through their own hell. Slowly they were opening to me – and I vow silently to cherish them for it. No matter the difference between us and our lives now, we all shared pain.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 12 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV After a brief breakfast with my Crows and Damion Jnr., I speak to the court or what little is left of it. Truly – hardly a soul appears, and I wonder if anyone is left at all! From my throne, I quietly ask Damion, Axe and Krystoph to help survey the city and do the rounds – they seemed eager to check, to see how many had truly Vanished. It was suggested most of my citizens were cowering in their homes, too afraid to come out lest they also disappear if another cursed blizzard was to suddenly blast through. I made sure Damion Jnr. went with my Crows – but even as I retreated to the Ice, I wasn’t to be left alone. Rurx volunteered with one look, and I accepted by giving him my hand. He led me from the Court, and we walked together back to the Ice. “Rurx, I am confused. Armies, dead, Mal princes, absconding from their own kingdom to our Court. A magical blizzard, causing half my population to disappear. It’s like humans are on the brink of extinction and there’s nothing I can do,” I murmur my concerns to Rurx as we walk side by side, my hand tucked in his elbow, “I wonder how many fighters are truly left? And what evils will still return, through the Eye… when you eventually open it, and I don’t know why you would, but I know you will…” I confess my racing thoughts, and Rurx listens intently, “Your thoughts on this, Crow?” “No thoughts, princess, none of the kind you would appreciate,” Rurx murmurs quietly, always prompt and short, this time with his gaze running over me. “We are in peril, and you’re focused on thoughts of me?” I ask, furrowing my brows. “The only threat you have to worry about, Ice Seer – is what you see in the Ice,” Rurx replies too formally now, looking ahead, no longer perving. “Mm, I’m afraid you’re right,” I murmur back as I take my hand from his elbow and I walk ahead, taking the lead to the Ice. We’re already here. Rurx stands back, giving me space, while I look into the polished glacier, looking for the threat… and the answer. I’m sick of seeing my own reflection. Surely now, I would see someone or something else. An image starts to form. At first I’m disappointed by what I see… and then seconds later I’m terrified. In my shock, I have stopped breathing. Then I feel heat at my back. It should be comforting, but I almost jump right out of my skin. “What did you see… Ana?” Rurx asks over my head, and I spin quickly, into his front. I shove my shoulder into Rurx, moving him aside as I pace away from the Ice. I aim for the library – my safe haven. I’ve forgotten to answer him, too shocked and needing to move. I keep walking faster, my throat dry, my skin… cold… my heart racing. I – I saw… Me. But… I push the image away, Rurx trailing behind but giving me just enough space to make it feel like I’m the one in control here. I pace into and through the grand library, pausing to see that the heavy mist has found a way in here too. I wonder if lighting candles would somehow help. I’ll do that later because the fog is only growing and it’s ominous, almost looking like the remnants of lost souls. I glance up at the Eye on the ceiling, then I glance around to the aisles of books. I power walk my way around and through them, trying to dispel the adrenaline still flowing through me, making me flighty as I wring my hands together in front of me. Rurx has stayed in the centre of the library, leaning against the mother of wrath. He kicks back a boot, arms crossed over his chest, his robe in place, his hair curling through one of his fingers, as he tugs it once, bored and equally patient as he glances at me, staring down at him. He’s awfully handsome. Awfully. Awful. What I saw was… I saw not just me in the vision but all my Crows and their other sides. The monstrous blood and power and soul-sinking depravity in their eyes, on handsome faces – with their humanity peeled away. What was left of them was… awful. I walk down and stand below the mother of wrath. I’m starting to understand the blood red tears. Rurx rounds the statue, as he was on the other side. After he shuffles around her, still leaning back on the statue casually and now watching me, I finally speak with him. “Why did Axe want me locked in here?” I start with that, wondering if Rurx will be more open now that the others are busy. Rurx’ soft dark brown eyes hold onto mine, nice and steady – his mouth doesn’t move, his expression is calm, yet he says absolutely nothing. Simple silence. It’s powerful. And I feel weak in his power over words, when my own mouth ran away with itself sometimes. Rurx was a typical master. Men did not respond when they did not want to, toward women – and I feel the brunt of his cold shoulder now, even with his eyes caressing me and the worry on my face. Frustrated, I turn my back on him, and I also lean on the statue, crossing my arms over my chest as I look up at the Eye – briefly… and quickly… looking forward, just thinking. About the vision. And the fact there was no answer. I was… I… I close my eyes, and the vision is clearer. I let it in, too scared to have acknowledged it completely. Now, I just remember every image, every word, every feeling. I’m naked, I’m dirty, the look on my face is filled with excruciating pleasure. I’m chained to a black silk bed, in a place that looks familiar. Rurx is eating me out with pure greed, his tongue is forked and long as it laps through me. His eyes are a poisonous turquoise. The skin over his arms is scratched and bleeding from my raking nails. I had been so rough on him when I had been clutching to him earlier. “Do you want more?” Rurx asks me, his eyes expectant. Yes. I scream it. Or do I even say anything at all? Maybe it was just a feeble gasp. I barely know. But I don’t even want it. If he licks me again I’ll die from the over sensitisation. Rurx smirks between my legs, pulling back briefly to look down at me squirming, drawling monstrous words, “Good slave, your cunt is very well behaved… for me,” Rurx moves back down and slides his tongue deep into my pussy, massaging my walls, feasting on the cream. I cum for him again. I’m crying and begging for him to fuck me instead, but the words are gibberish, I’m completely sex-drunk. What’s worse is the location of this vision. I think it’s the Eye. The bed looks like it’s in the middle of the library – but there’s no books, there’s no statue, it’s an empty room with the bed centred. The walls are carved with ancient symbols as blood pulses from the crevices between the bricks. When Damion enters the room from the hall, he’s two fangs are sharp and far too long – like a vampire, but he also has two massive black horns, straight out of the top of his head. At his side, Krystoph is no longer pristinely dressed but glassy like a ghost – hair translucent as his skin. A phantom. Axe is the same as I see him now. The power resides in his eyes. The only difference is the gruesome whip in his hand. That’s when I notice his nails – transformed into ten-inch claws, each one its own blade. It would explain the small straight marks on my skin, from where Axe attempted to hold me at some other time. And the ending. Damion closes the distance between us, watching me lurch and whimper, he leans over me, looking deeper into my wide eyes, his own eyes vibrantly ruby red, swirling with cursed tears, “I can’t wait to meet you,” Damion growls so low over my lips, his fangs pushing against my chin as he looks at my neck and then back to my face, trailing his fangs along my cheek, as he smiles and explains, “No, not your neck, Ana… mm, no, no… I’m going to drink the blood straight from your cunt – we all will.” The growl in the base of his throat, the malice in his eye, as I notice the clamps on my nipples – the chain now in his hand as he tugs and hears me scream. Sadistic monsters from the Eye. They make the Crows in their human forms look like angels – true defenders of humanity. I remain in the present, not lingering on the vision, as Rurx intercepts me – after seconds to myself, having all that flood through me. Rurx tilts his head to the side, looking right down at me, matching my stance, his arms also crossed. “What did you see, Anastasia?” Rurx demands an answer. “Threats with no solutions,” I answer honestly, trying to keep the heat out of it, “Just defeat.” “To whom?” Rurx asks, “There’s no one you’re fighting,” he blinks slowly, holding out his open palm, “You are not just a princess, you’re a queen,” he winks, “Outside of our promise to you. You still belong to us.” “Well it’s a good thing you take good care of me,” I mutter it quietly, “Rurx, I have a bold question, how do I please you?” I look at the ground and I look back to him, “…how do I please all of you…? I know I’m being bold but… give me a hint.” I’m hoping by being indirect, I get some answers. “If we need you, trust us, listen and obey, when we give you permission to cum, you may, and when you ask us nicely to fuck you, we’ll oblige, it’s quite simple,” Rurx answers far too pristinely and correctly. It annoys me. “I meant… how do I… manage – four Crows, surely not… all together, and all in a night, or day,” I am unsure how to structure this, but I try, “I am just one woman.” Rurx smiles softly – so handsome, his eyes always so kind yet so stern, “A woman can be used multiple times.” “Used?” I gulp, uncomfortable with the word, especially after that vision, “Details, Rurx… stop being vague.” Rurx reaches out a hand for my mouth, “May I?” I nod and he seems to have amused himself by asking my permission. He trails his fingers on my lips, “I could lay my cock into your mouth, over your tongue, fuck your cheek, or deep into your throat… of course, you wouldn’t breathe if we use you so thoroughly, but we’d train you to handle it better,” Rurx sees my blush bloom across my skin but continues as he lowers his hand, picks up my own and directs mine to my dress, “Your wet royal pussy. The greatest pleasure of all,” Rurx doesn’t need to explain that any further. I nervously smile up at him, but he suddenly steps forward, pressing his warm front into mine and violently backing me up against the statue. I gasp in excitement as Rurx’s hand slides behind my waist – curling down and spreading over my ass, clenching and kneading my cheeks, as his firm eyes continue to hold mine, “That would be to punish you.” “Will you take turns?” I whisper. “Multiple times,” Rurx is so straight forward, it makes my blood rush low instead of just to my face. “And sometimes all together?” “Mm… you dirty girl,” Rurx is hesitant, “But only if you’re good.” I bite my lip as I place my hands over his coat and I lean up, wanting to initiate a kiss with my Crow – but he notices my intent and refuses to participate. Rurx releases me, snaking his arm from around my waist, he steps back three paces, before asking again, “Tell me, Ana… and be honest. What did you see…?” I open my mouth and hesitate, “I can’t… tell you.” Rurx tries to keep a straight face, as the smugness is slowly seeping out, “Why not, Ana?” “…because you already know it…” I hiss the guess, and his eyes sparkle. I’m right! Rurx half smiles as he slowly licks over his teeth, and I just glare at the way his tongue moves with precision, “Ana,” his voice drops to a knowing growl, his eyes hooded. Rurx hesitates suddenly, wondering how much he should tell me, as he points his finger at me, he looks me over, and finally utters, as if forcing the words out, “You are in trouble with us,” he murmurs the final warning, eyes downcast. At the end, Rurx looks me in the eye and then quickly turns and walks away. Out of the library. And directly out of sight. I just stare out at the empty air, in his abrupt absence. I don’t think Rurx was meant to tell me that.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 13 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV When Damion, Axe and Krystoph return with Damion Jnr. from the city streets, they come for me, but I’ve separated myself from my knights, and distanced myself from Rurx. I am in deep thought, so I go to the northern tower in the Cren. I walk up a hundred steps until I reach the dusty tower. When I enter, I lock the old and heavy door to secure the space for myself. I go to a dusty rotten chest, and I take out a diary from my brother Tristin. He was always writing down his thoughts in here. The tower was his space to brood. No one could come here. He was the eldest son, he would be King, so he liked his privacy to think, and this was his favourite spot. That was until… my father… and my three brothers… were taken into the Eye. Vanished. Quickly dead from the lost war against the Boned. I’m surprised to see his last entry was actually a day before the battle. He was happy and hopeful for the future. He was much better at seeing into the Ice than I was. He could see entire visions, while I only saw glimpses. To be fair he was trained all his life and I was still learning. I read his diary. I saw into the Ice. A river that never dried. A green that never died. I found Priscilla waiting for me, dressed in a silk gown.  This was an odd vision, but a sweet one. Priscilla was a young girl he had loved when they were just children and betrothed – until she died from illness at least a decade prior. I had only been a few years old myself. So what he described was utopia or plainly impossible if she was alive. He went on. Eli and Deren were playing chess, at peace, no longer fighting as there was nothing to quarrel over. Father was quiet, reading in the library, all his favourites. Anastasia was in the garden with highborn ladies, preparing for a wedding, I believe; but to whom I did not see. No one was enslaved. No one was seeking destruction. I was King, but I didn’t wear a crown. All evils were free, but quiet. Why? I fear, they were not hungry, but well fed. – Prince Tristin. I had been too upset to read his diary until now. It brings me some peace. Even though he’s dead. And so many others; gone too. Eventually, at some non-important time of the afternoon, Damion knocks at the door to the tower, but I grumble at him to leave me be. To my surprise he does leave, threatening to return at nightfall – before gallivanting away with Damion Jnr, soon threatening to teach him how to stab better. Hearing their banter made me smile, but hearing the quiet made me even more happy. It was time I had… time. To myself. I knew the Mal Princes, Soren and Fanguard, would be wanting to speak with me further about what action to take. But right now, as Ice Seer and Queen of the Cren, with my ring still safely adorned on my hand, I wait with Tristin’s diary in my hand. I read through it all, and it brings me further knowledge about how to see better into the Ice. Eventually the sun starts to set, I start to get hungry, and I find the courage to open the shutters, looking down to the half-vanished city. I expect to see dark clouds, but instead I see a clear sky – a never sight in the Cren. It was always cloudy. I don’t know if I had ever seen a cloudless sky before. And I hear… water… running…? It sounds like a river but I don’t know where it’s from. I look over the Cren, and it all looks the same… then I look behind me, at the glacier… and it looks different. It looks like its moving. Perfect rivers are sliding down the walls of the mountain made of ice. And the river is flooding out and circling the city. It’s not a normal event. Because with the river, strange sparkling mist flies out from the water, in clouds of silver and gold and pink and purple – it floats out and settles on the roof tops and muddy streets. Everywhere it touches, I see sprouts of green start to grow rapidly. I hear the ice sing as a large chunk of the glacier cracks open, and the Cren shifts beneath my feet as the architecture groans with the sudden earthquake. It all settles, and I’m fine – nothing collapses. I keep watching the glacier as strange magical light beams up through the cracks, up into the night, making it day. I can hear music from the glacier getting louder. It’s like a gate opening. And I can hear something else. Cheering…? Clapping? Excitement? From inside the glacier? It sounds like an audience to me. Something is happening and my heart is now racing. I turn back into the room of the tower, and I walk up to the door I locked earlier. When I open it, the staircase that was cold and grey is now covered in moss and little blue butterflies. I get down onto my knees and stare at the steps covered in nature and more bugs that appeared from nowhere. I reach a finger out to the butterfly closest to me, and it turns to me, flickering its wings as it jumps to my finger from the wall. It sits there, watching me, like it’s trusting me or something. “Where did you come from, tiny creature?” I whisper to it as I bring it closer to my face, lifting my hand. As I do, I feel warm sunlight shine across my back, and I turn around to see a warm breeze push into the green tower. Outside the shutters is a baby blue sky and a rising sun. I look back to my new friend and the butterfly flicks its wings open. I see a pattern I missed before. An eye. On the wings. The Eye. So I was… in the Eye? Or someone opened the Eye. Yes. That’s it. That someone being four-someones, namely, the Cren, my Crows – the Sorcerers and Princes of the Eye. I thought all manner of untold evil would spill from that gate once it opened, but all that’s happened is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams for this once ice-cloaked Kingdom. We had all grown up in the freezing cold. I had never known warmth by anything but the fire – or my Crows, pressing into me. I try to understand what I’m feeling. Because I know I’m feeling everything. Everything being a feeling of overwhelming excitement – and overwhelming confusion. Two feelings at the same time. I hear footsteps coming up the tower, and I scramble to my feet, backing up. I recognise that pace. “Damion?” I call out, wondering if it’s him. The foot paces certainly sound the same. A giant man, a shadow rounds the corner – The familiar Prince turns up the last few steps, and I see him entirely. Tristen. He’s wearing new armour, no injuries present, and his long ice-blonde hair is even braided down his back, as his purple eyes glint with a smile for me. “You found my diary,” Tristen drawls at me, like he never left. “You’re alive,” I whisper. As he climbs up the last few steps, I can’t contain myself as I barrel into him and we embrace – and he’s very, very real, “Is father okay? And the others? Are they –?” “Yes,” Tristen confirms it, “We went to the Eye and we won, Anastasia. We never lost, it just took some time.” “How?” I finally pry myself off him and skip back, wringing my hands together. “I was hoping you’d hold this side in-tact, which you did,” Tristen happily explains, “I had the power to open the Eye from the other side, and I did.” “What took you so long?” I whine a bit, I can’t help but be the bratty younger sister in this moment. I had the luxury to see his easy glare, so I was taking it. “Well, opening the gate involved a promise, and that promise was you, little sister,” Tristen sounds warm and excited telling me this regardless, he even winks, “You’ve been betrothed. You’re to be married.” “To whom?” I ask, shocked and slightly pale. “To the Dark Prince,” Tristen cocks a brow, and he slowly raises a finger, “There is a catch, but hear me out, Ana.” “My ears are pricked, big brother,” I squeak out, “The Dark Prince? Whom is that? And what is the catch, exactly?” Tristen is always a smooth talker, but he does awkwardly cough and clear his throat, banging on his chest with his fist as he avoids my eye and walks to the open shutters, looking over the paradise. “The Dark Prince is one of the Cren. You’re to marry Rurx. The catch is painless but you may faint hearing it – he needs your blood,” Tristen turns to me, “…he thinks you’ll like it…” “Okay, that’s enough information for now,” I laugh awkwardly, “Uh, Rurx… and not Damion? I thought you’d say –” “Damion is brutal but a warrior first and last. Rurx is the Shadow Prince and he wants you. He did ask you obey all his commands – as a good wife and Princess of the Ice, of course.” “It’s okay, you don’t have to convince me or overexplain. I know how it works and for what it is worth, Tristen, I do like Rurx,” I admit, forcing on a smile, “I will now think about what’s next, you should –” “I should make the rounds,” Tristen agrees, walking by me, “One last thing, Ana… if you have second thoughts, I’m afraid there is nothing we can do. We made a deal and often alliances rest on marriages holding up faithfully…” “Don’t you worry about me, big brother,” I swat him away, down the stairs, “Off you go. I’ll be down soon. I’m just going to – breathe a little bit…” I murmur as he nods and departs, walking quickly down the steps. Later, down the bend and somewhere near the bottom, he yells back up to me, “I’ll send the Dark Prince your way, shall I?” “Of course! Please do!” I yell out, all happy. On the inside, though… shit. I back up and lean on the windowsill, on jutting rocks that cut into my palm as I hold them too tightly. I just had a funny feeling… The Dark Prince Rurx… was not Rurx, my Crow. He was the monster-version. Wasn’t he? The one with the forked tongue. My last vision. The chains. The nipple clamps. The torture through sex. It was unfolding – and ironically – peace times were unfolding with it. Including the resurrection of my whole family. I should be happy, and I was. I just… had to give it up. My virginity. My purity right now was still mine, for now… I somehow had to find a way to keep my virginity exclusive to me. I had to delay them taking it. I was about to meet the Cren at their most powerful. My knights… they had monsters locked inside. With the Eye now wide open, opened by Tristen, the monsters within my Crows would be unleashed into this world. I saw it in the vision. They were hungry. And I was the apple.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 14 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV The Dark Prince, Rurx – comes to me, and I leave the door to the tower open. I wait while I get used to the warmth, and I strip most of my heavy dress from my body, until I’m only in the silky undergarments. It was genuinely too hot, I could feel my cheeks and arms going red with the change in weather. I sit on the once-rotten chess, now sparkling and new, as Rurx comes up the stairs. He’s dressed in a nice suit, as usual, but Rurx himself is different. Just not in the way I expected him to be different. He is exactly the same… but faded. I sit where I am, obviously perspiring through my winter-undergarments but focused on Rurx’ strange ailment. His eyes can’t help zoning in on my tits, hard nubs under the silk. I breathe out heavily as I look him over, my eyes seeing through him. He is transparent! “You’re not dead are you?” I ask low, “Hmm?” Rurx blinks softly and smiles as he looks down and deeply into my eyes. His hair still bouncing along his shoulders as he walks forward and stops in front of me, looking over me more closely as I continue to look up at him. “Not dead, princess – but I’m incomplete,” Rurx explains, “You heard the news?” “I am to marry the Dark Prince – that being you…” I whisper, “I didn’t think I’d ever marry such a low-born peasant,” I say it to shock him and it does the trick. Rurx looks positively peeved, his brows arching, “Now explain to me,” I add, “Why I can see, through, you?” “The Eye is merging with reality, you have to find my other half – and wake him up in the Eye,” Rurx explains in a low drawl, annoyed by my arrogance. “The side of you which is a monster?” I ask. “Yes,” Rurx nods, “We will become one being – and I will be able to shift at any time into the monster. On my command. And on your command,” Rurx drops down to one knee and scoops up my hand with the Ring of Cren, “This has a new purpose, when the worlds merge, you can call our daemons forth. At any time.” “So, I control your monsters – your daemon-halves?” I ask, suddenly regaining all my confidence, as I jump up off the chest and face him, standing before Rurx, tugging him up to stand with me. I try to place my hand on his chest. I am able to touch him but he feels weird, “Hmm,” I take my hand back, “I must… wake up your other half… how exactly?” “Just find him and speak to him. You must lead all our daemons out of the Eye, they can only pass through with an Ice Seer, marriage to mortality crosses boundaries and allows magic to merge in higher concentrations as well, bringing this world back to its old balance.” “That one of my ancestors, fought to keep separate,” I whisper, “Why would my family, release the magic?” “To come back to life… to keep their Kingdom – to bring back Priscilla. It all requires payment and tribute. To bring back the Vanished too. The price was you, the balance is only sustained through the marriage of female and daemon, but I assure you, we will fight to protect you,” Rurx means this serious, “By us I mean as your Crows. We can also hold the daemons at bay. They are not our friends. We use them as they use us. Remember, always, we’re on the same team. We want mortality protected. That’s one of the reasons we sought a bond with magic. In the Eye, we sacrificed a part of our selves, to become better weapons for our own kind. Damion, I, Krys and Axe… we have spent every moment fighting for your family to reign.” “And through this marriage bond, I am in charge?” I ask for clarity. “Of course you only care about that,” Rurx growls over me, “Now go to the Eye and wake my daemon up – and the others will wake with him.” “So you will be the one to be named Dark Prince,” I add, “Of course it’s you… ever so sly and quiet, Rurx, like Krys.” “You thought Damion would be the one, didn’t you?” Rurx asks, amused, “I saw how your eyes were swayed since he slaughtered that man and you saw guts and blood spilled for you in the snow. Damion’s way is far more grotesque when it comes to winning a woman’s affection.” “Mmhmm, well you win hearts just with perfect hair,” I growl back, glaring at his perfect curls, “It’s not fair.” “It’s not fair, it’s not fair… try that argument with my daemon and see what he does,” Rurx chuckles behind me as I waltz off to the stairs. “Where are the others?” “Helping direct the crowds of the Vanished back to their homes,” Rurx explains as he follows me from behind, “It’s almost a stampede out there. Everyone wants to be outside, looking at the beauty of green nature.” “I will do that soon too, on my own time,” I whisper that to myself, “I have other pressing matters,” I hold the ring over my finger, holding it close, “…at least my Crows are still my own guard, assigned to me.” “Possessive of us, Ana?” Rurx asks, delighted. “You’re mine to command,” I glare over my shoulder, and almost trip down the last few steps. My ankles twist at the wrong time and Rurx jumps down and practically scoops me up around the waist and places me back on my feet gently, saving me the embarrassment of a fall onto my elbows and face. However, as I’m now shoved up next to the wall, Rurx presses me against it, his translucent self, pushing up right behind me until I feel his crotch digging into my ass. Rurx breathes over my temple and ear, “In the marriage deal you serve our every desire. After we marry, your body is ours to fuck at our will. You will be completely subservient to me – and all of us. In return, you control the daemons.” “Why would I say no to something, I would be pleased to do,” I lift my chin and speak into the stones in front of my face, “Hmpfh. So don’t make it seem silly, Rurx.” “There is no end to it,” Rurx slides his cheek next to mine, as his hand moves over my silk, over my stomach and up to my breasts, playing with my hard right nipple between two pinched fingers, “Sex doesn’t satisfy daemons.” A warning. “So what does?” I whisper. “Pain,” Rurx kisses my ear and my cheek, and he lets me go. As he moves away from me, I feel breathless. And excited. I shouldn’t be excited but… oh. Bloody hell. I turn around and Rurx is standing back, looking over me with soft eyes, once again. “Trouble,” I whisper. You are in trouble with us. He said that. In the Library, under the Eye. Rurx tilts his head, feigning innocence. “You will fight the daemons as best as you can?” I ask for confirmation, a whispered, anxious plea for reassurance. “We enjoy it just as much as they do, but we’re aware they’re tendencies are… evil,” Rurx gives me that, “So we try… will try… to resist… that is all I can promise.” “If I turn the ring I can control them–” “You will have that right, but you don’t understand, princess. You won’t want to lock them away, after they poison your mind,” Rurx murmurs, “Like they’ve been to every bride before you… they’ll be sweeter than you can imagine. They are a lure.” “Sweet to their brides? Good. I think,” I blurt, clearly missing the point. “You clearly don’t understand what I mean…” Rurx leaves it at that, “But regardless of what you want, your fate is out of your hands now. You are the Peace.” “I like that,” I try to be brave, “What could be more of an honour? I am the Peace. And, not to mention, no man, no Crow, can fool I – Ice Seer Anastasia, well read, well read and well prepared for Dark Lords and monsters who think I’ll run screaming, watch me Rurx, I will be braver than Damion.” Rurx is speechless as I storm past him, fists closed, as I close my eyes for a moment and breathe in new courage. From the books I love so dearly. I will be the heroine. I will be strong. I will not be defeated. I will slay the monsters. I will not be slayed. I am the princess. And I will get my happy ending.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 15 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV The library is the same but the portal is open. In the middle where the Mother of Wrath stands, is a red light shining down on her from the Eye above. I stand under the light as advised by Rurx, and I end up ascending. On my way here to the library, I had seen my father and brothers in the throne room being welcomed back. They waved to me like they’d never left, and that was that. I guess it had only been a few days, so truly, I guess nothing had changed aside from the Cren looking flush with nature and sunlight like a fairy tale. I think of what I’m leaving, as I look down at the library beneath my floating feet, as I slowly reach the Eye above. It’s open and watery, a portal to the other side. I feel strange as I pass over to the Eye. I had borrowed Rurx’ robe before doing this part. I wrapped it around me and then off I went. I end up stepping out of the Eye onto the grey floor of the empty Library. There is no bed, the walls don’t bleed – but it’s also very empty. I leave the library’s room, and all I see is one steep staircase, leading into darkness. I hold the robe close as I descend the steps. It’s neither cold or warm, it’s removed from reality, feeling more like a daydream than a real place. At the bottom of the steps is a dungeon, or what looks to be one. Every cell has the iron bars ripped off or thrown aside. But as I walk down, I reach an arch without a door. Inside the dark and long cell, I see nothing but a stone slab and a corpse. Or what looks to be a corpse. Aside from the greys, I see the pale skin of the Dark Prince, as his tumbling brunette hair trails down the stone altar and across the stones beneath my feet. His chest doesn’t move, his eyes are shut, and he is motionless. Only a cloth placed over his you-know-what covers him. As I approach the other half of Rurx, my eyes adjust to the darkness and I see more stone altars further along the narrow room, showing more monsters laid out asleep. Damion is on his side, horns even longer than what I remember in the vision. His body is huge, his muscles always tense, even while asleep. The two horns are straight weapons, shiny in the nothing-light. Beyond him I see Krys as a phantom, his skin like smoke, constantly vaporising around him into tendrils all around. As I tip toe by, I can smell the tendrils and they’re like a pleasant cologne, an always changing scent from something amber-ish to a dark floral. I enjoy his smell. Last is Axe, his fingers covered in those straight ten-inch claws, not long nails, but actual claws. Like he has monster paws. It’s very strange, and he sleeps on his back like Rurx and Krys. At the end of the room I see a pile of rings and finger bones. A chopping block. An axe. And in the wall behind, I see daemon forms etched into the stone with red ruby eyes, grinning sharp teeth and with shapeless forms. The familiar forms behind me aren’t their true form, but a shared vessel with my Crows. They had made a bargain and joined. Mortal and monster. Good souls tainted with evil power. The gift was magic and strength and immortality. The price for my Crows, however, I did not know. Unless there was no price, and they simply earned their partnerships with the monsters in the Eye. The wall says C R E N. I look down at the pile of rings and I figure very quickly it’s some kind of bride-tribute. Hmm, yes, yes. Clearly their brides had to dispose of their rings here, when claiming the Cren’s hand in marriage. No matter what, I had to contribute and show my willingness to be the Peace. I had to make Tristen proud. I sigh quietly as I take off the Ring of Cren and drop it in the pile, turning around, ready to wake the Dark Prince with words. However, as I’m still hearing my ring twirl metallically on the stones, before it hits the surface, the daemons have half-risen. Ah – I freeze. Damion’s leg is off the altar, toes on the ground, after he’s turned and leant up on his elbow, about to stand, pausing when I’ve turned to face them all being very sneaky. Axe is closet to me, leaning back on two elbows, watching me closely. Krystoph is melting through the altar as he has turned toward me. Rurx is on his hands and knees, moving back, standing and looking at me as he steps off the altar. Their forms are strong, they don’t look indisposed in the slightest. They’re all just very, very awake and very aware of me. “W-Well… I guess…. you finally get to meet me,” I speak into the silence, “Rurx, take my hand and…” I look over them all and back to him. I’m looking for reassurance but Rurx is grinning and it’s not a nice grin. “Why did you do that, strange creature?” Rurx asks, not sounding like Rurx, rather, a complete stranger. His voice is a monstrous drawl of pleasure and a deeply curious nature. “Do what?” I whisper, utterly confused and disturbed as my betrothed walks toward me and stares down at the pile of rings, while snapping up my wrist quite roughly and holding my arm up between us. He glances at my ring finger. “Why did you do this,” Rurx hisses like a serpent and I see his forked tongue flick over his lips. “I figured it was a tribute, a symbol of peace,” I explain, “In return you shall be kind to me. I willingly sacrificed for you. To… to show, I accept the marriage deal. Right? Now what will you do for me?” I voice myself clearly, so I am not mistaken. Deals were made in the Eye all the time in history. How hard could it be? I was just making sure they knew my position. I was here willingly. That should make a difference, right? “Those rings were cut off from screaming brides,” the Dark Prince explains, openly, “… no one has dropped their ring… willingly… but I can trade you this, for your strange act – you can keep that pretty little finger,” Rurx’s forked tongue licks out and over my ring-finger and then he releases my forearm. I feel the blood drain from my face. I realise my mistake. Oh, no. I completely misread the situation. Even though I saw an axe, a chopping block – and the finger bones. Even though it was all there right in front of me. I over-assumed and over-complicated the very obvious and threw away the weapon that I was given to control the monsters. Why did I just… do that? I can’t believe my stupidity. I was so nervous, I completely overthought everything. I look down, as I feel my stomach turn, as I back up a few steps. The others say things to each other, but I’m drawn inwards, into my own mind of regrets. I look to the pile of rings and I see mine at my feet. “Don’t try it,” Rurx drawls into my ear, his voice sinking into my mind, “Or you’ll lose the whole hand.” I jerk away from the Dark Prince and turn, aiming to run. I can’t run quickly when I see Axe in my way. His claws are open, out and reaching for me. I scream as I spin around and move to the other side of his altar. I try running past Krys but end up running through him, feeling an ice cold rush down my spine as I slam into Damion’s chest last, his arms snapping around me in a bear hug, keeping me still against him. I try not to whimper, pursing my lips, barely holding it in as I look up and see his two straight fangs, long needles in his mouth, hanging past his lips, as he smiles down at me in his embrace. “Calm down, little one. We are yours… as you are ours.” His drawl is so similar to Damion, deep and heavy, it strangely reassures me. I nod and rest my forehead against his chest for a minute as I breathe heavily. I hold him with my hands, hugging him back quickly in a thank-you gesture. I feel his body stiffen as I hug him, and I quickly let go, looking up, scared I just won his disapproval. Damion is looking down at me with wide, curious red eyes and a tilt to his head, but I can see he doesn’t understand what that was. No bride gave up their ring – so stupidly. No bride embraced their monsters out of kindness – am I crazy? “The Eye,” I whisper it, getting out the words over my numb tongue. I pull out of his embrace, and because I don’t jerk too hard, he lets me go. As I walk away I feel a tension at my neck, and as I take another step, the robe unlatches and I turn just to see Damion has clutched the back of it and pulled it from me as I walked off. The heavy material falls to the floor and I’m left in my silky undergarments, covering my visibly naked skin under the thin shift. Damion’s eyes roll over me, as do the eyes of the other monster-groomsmen. They’re very still and not breathing in their assessment of me. It’s weirdly now, in this very moment, that I feel some bravery return to me. “We are to marry in my world, so come to me,” I speak as normally as possible, “Follow me.” I turn around, since they’re all as silent as stone, watching me move off. I move with clenched fists, making my way back to the library where I entered. I don’t look back once. Not once. Not out of fear, and not out of courage either. But just knowing they’re right behind me. And even though they are dead-silent, they’re following me to my world to unite with the Crows. Only then, will they be at full power, and will Peace be restored utmost in the Cren. I was just concerned about our future. Because I didn’t realise that brides were unwilling and they had to calm down their disgusted other-halves in marriage. They woke not from my words but from how I tossed the ring. I… just thought in that moment… being allied was better than being enemies. Surely, I couldn’t be the only bride to have approached them like that? Although they weren’t acting very accustomed to me. We reach the Eye, I stand at the edges of it, just staring into the portal as they approach my back. “Let’s be friends,” I say. I just hope they’re patient so I get used to the monster-stuff. Like claws. And horns. And needle fangs, forked tongues and ghost-skin. I feel large fingers teasing my hand, and I turn to see Rurx’ offered hand. I grasp it, smiling at him, “I was just scared before,” I tell him, and the others, “You’re very creepy.” Damion is on my other side, and I hear him chuckle deeply, while the others just stare. “I like this one, and her mind,” Damion drawls, “Will we be your friends when we bite you, princess, when I sink my fangs into your sweet p…?” he trails off as he presses his cruel, hungry and hard lips to my ear, a stamp of possession. I turn into Damion and his lips find mine, as I lean up into him, I kiss him back very gently, just curious myself. I feel a hand wrap around my throat and Rurx jerks me back into his chest, holding me away from Damion, who is lusting after me with burning eyes. “What was that for?” Damion growls at Rurx. “Wait for the ceremony,” Rurx warns him, “She’s playing you.” I was? Rurx turns me back to the portal, his hand still curled around mine. His hand slips from my neck, and he whispers into my ear last, “I don’t like you.” Hey! Rude – I can’t say it when he pushes me back into the portal. They jump in after me as I fall through. On the way down into the library, their spirit forms rush through the air like black thick smoke, and they dissipate through the library doors, in search of their other mortal halves. My Crows. I land on my own two feet, underneath the Mother of Wrath. When I turn and look up at her face and the blood red tears, I could almost swear the statue is smiling. Quietly amused.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 16 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV When I leave the library, the ceremony has been prepared, the sun is setting and the castle is empty. What felt like minutes in the Eye has turned to a few extra hours out here. When I reach my room, I see a dress waiting for me on a coat rack. I pick up the white dress and the thin silver chains that run around the shoulders and dangle down my arms to the bracelets that lock around my wrists. I take it to my secret wardrobe to try it on, and it fits me perfectly. I don’t wear any undergarments this time. It’s too warm now anyway. I choose some silver slippers to match and then I quickly add some gold dust to my eyes. I feel like I’m ready. I didn’t want to overdo it, but I could feel time slipping away. I was the Peace. I had to marry the Dark Prince and satisfy the daemon’s lusts. That was my job now. At least I could look gorgeous while I did it! This feels right, even if it’s scary. I feel my heart racing with excitement as I run out of my room and down through the empty castle, until I reach the front steps to the Cren. Outside, I am bewildered by what I see. The whole city is lined up quietly under the sun set, waiting for me. I get emotional seeing the polite and eager crowd, and then I see my father waiting for me to my right. He’s dressed in all white himself, and he grins when he sees me. In front of everyone, I don’t care as I embrace him hard and then let go, slipping my hand into the crook of his arm as we start to walk into the city. “Where is the ceremony?” I ask him, “Is it a long walk?” “I am so proud of you, Anastasia. We are going to the beginning of the apple orchid, where you loved to ice skate on that small ‘lake’ – it’s not frozen anymore, now it’s like a big pond,” my father is so happy to say that, “We’ll have to build a bridge over it, won’t we?” “We must,” we leave the conversation there. As we walk together, I absorb the energy of the crowd. My father is a hero. And I feel just as special. There is intense hope in the air, like I’m the one to seal the evil out of their lives. The final puzzle piece to end our miserable mortal ways from the ice, now gifted this green paradise instead, with magic. It now all rests on my shoulders and I’m happy for it. I always wanted to help this Kingdom in some special way, and I never knew if I could being the youngest princess with three older brothers. Eventually I see the end of our long walk nearing. I see the apple trees, the green lush grass and sparkling pond. I see Rurx waiting for me, his eyes thankfully not red, although I notice Damion at his side with his horns straight, his red eyes focused right on me. Krys is standing on the left to Rurx, his mortal skin intact, although his eyes flow with tendrils of silver mist. Axe is out of that hood, wearing a suit like the others, his mouth curled up in a tiny smile for me, his Soul Swiping eyes watching me as I walk toward them – as my father lets me go early. I look back. I am perplexed as the King steps back into the crowd toward my other brothers, who are watching me part ways with Father, pride evident in their eyes. When I turn back to the groomsmen, I see the crowd also moving back, giving the Crows a wide berth. I approach my betrothed, unsure why everyone is moving backward. However, as I walk slowly, I think I figure it out. There is no holy person to unite us. It’s just Rurx waiting for me with his perfect locks flowing down his grey suit. He holds out a hand for me and I step up onto a flat stone by the pond, where he waits. “What do I do now?” I whisper it very quietly, very concerned for the fact I was not briefed on any of this. I was happy for it to be a surprise and now. I was happy to be the Peace. But why the unconventional ceremony? “Nothing,” Rurx tells me, while lifting my hand to his mouth and kissing the back of my knuckles, “You don’t have to do anything, Anastasia… just gaze up into my eyes.” So no kiss? Very unconventional. I blink and breathe, as I focus on his eyes and tilt my head up, watching as the dark brown orbs start to wrestle with the red – bursts of daemon light, the evil contained within, united with him and… angry at me? I don’t know why he’s angry at me. “Rurx, are you okay?” I can’t help but ask. Rurx closes his eyes as he fights the monster for me. The daemon is clawing to get out, a vicious thing, but Rurx tries to lock the monster in chains. Rurx stops breathing, his eyes still closed, he looks in pain, as I lean a bit closer, shuffling toward him. “I can’t…” Rurx whispers. “What?” I press my front to his, resting my hands on his chest, “What’s the matter, my Crow?” Rurx lets out a dark growl of frustration as he drops his head down to mine, breathing next to my temple, and I feel his hot breath warm my cheek, “I’m just… fucking… starving.” He growls low as he pulls back from me and lifts his head back up. Rurx’s eyes fall past my face, toward my neck. At that moment the light breeze pushes my silver hair off my neck and shoulders, showing more skin. My groom stares frozen, like a statue, as he stares right down at my pulse. “You said it won’t hurt me, I’ll enjoy it,” I say this rather unsure, as I repeat what Tristen told me. I’m fucking scared shitless by his look alone. I watch as Damion rounds my shoulder, reaching for my waist, he puts a hand on the small of my back. “Just in case you faint,” Damion hasn’t even bothered to keep in his monster, and he whispers the hissed ‘reassurance’ with a wicked smile. I look up at him briefly over my shoulder, as I respond, “Um. Thanks?” but as I do, Axe walks closer and picks up my wrist, and Krystoph sneaks a hand forward to pick up my other wrist, “Why so much help?” I ask, nervously, daring to look back at the crowd and then finally focusing back on Rurx. The silence in the air is putrid. They’re all waiting for something. Rurx stops being so stone-still and he suddenly smiles, his forked tongue flicking over his lips, as his eyes beam with a full ruby red. “The first time, Anastasia,” The Dark Prince explains to me now, drawling charismatically, “It hurts very bad – because I have to take your soul, eat it, and then gift it back to you – through a kiss. They’re waiting for your inevitable screams when I take your neck,” Rurx reaches for my throat and I jerk back. “Don’t hold me like I’m unwilling,” I hiss, and Rurx points up a finger that he presses under my chin, tilting my head up a little more for him to see more of my neck. Rurx nods to seemingly comply with me, moving closer to my cheek, as he moves his red eyes back on mine, “You are my slave now, Ice Seer. In return we will defend your Kingdom. This is my vow to you. Your pain for their Peace.” “My vow,” I speak before he can dive straight for my neck, “Is. Dark Prince. You will not break me the way you think you will. Ever. You’re a monster but I’m an Ice Seer. Anything you do to me, I will command it. Let’s begin. Drink my blood.” It takes all my courage to bring that confidence back out, but I manage it, and I sound sure of myself – when inside I’m not sure what I feel. Rurx pauses and looks to his brother, Krystoph, and then rolls his eyes to Axe and finally Damion, immediately scowling at Damion’s delighted smile. “She’s adorable,” Damion is eager, “Maybe you’ve met your match, Dark Prince.” “We’ll see,” Rurx stops scowling to look back at me, “Your body is ours to fuck, Ice Seer, you will serve, whether you think you command us or not,” he trails the finger under my chin, down the artery of my neck, his sharp claw causing a minimum amount of pain but just enough to make me whimper uncontrollably, and he didn’t even break the skin. Satisfied I started to tremble and made a noise at the same time, Rurx dives down. What I feel is his hidden serpent fangs as they dig in and curl through me, latching onto me as he bites my neck. More than pain, I feel like I’m going to die. I contort with the ritual as a prince and monster of the Eye drinks my blood. Then he finds my soul. And steals it.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 17 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I passed out at the ceremony. I have now been sleeping for a very, very long time. And when I wake up? I have sore gums. I feel warm all over, and I think it’s sunshine, until I open my eyes and I see where I am. I’m not living in paradise. I’m not in the Cren. I’m not near my family. I’m exactly where the vision said I’d be. In the Eye. Within moments I recognise that my wrists and ankles are strapped to the four corners of the giant bed set up for consummating my marriage to the Dark Prince. I look around the bare library, now a cell, with me as the sacrificial lamb. Not a loved wife, but a slave to the Daemons of the Cren who share the bodies of my noble Crows. The heat in the room comes from the monsters in the room. They’re around me, seemingly watching over me. Damion’s horns were poking my rib cage, a pain in my side as he sat on the ground and fell asleep with his cheek against the sheets, waiting for me to wake. Rurx is standing to my left, a mirage of shadow now showing his soft brown eyes – no longer red. He may be mortal right now. Krystoph paces the room. And as for Axe, he stands over a fire pit, his hood adorned, covering his face as the fire pit burns with ice-white licks of flame below him. I am still in my wedding dress, and when I open my mouth I scowl from the pain. “Is this how you treat your brides?” I ask Rurx, groaning out my complaint, “Tell me, what’s wrong with me – my teeth hurt.” “You are no longer an Ice Seer,” Rurx explains clearly, slowly getting down onto one knee by the bed. Damion wakes from his nap and I cry out as his horns poke my side a bit harder as he lifts his head. I glance to Damion’s red eyes and he is glad I’m awake but I see no sympathy for the fact his sharp horns left scratches. Although he does acknowledge it by looking at the ripped white material and then looking across to Rurx. “You’re one of us now,” Damion takes over from Rurx. A delighted drawl. “What does that mean, exactly?” I whisper, “And please, do you have something for the pain…?” Rurx swipes two things up from the floor. He brings a goblet to my mouth, and Damion slides a hand behind my head, helping me sip from the cup. I drink the liquid and it tastes like wine and honey. When I’m done, Damion lets my head rest back on the pillow. Now, Rurx holds up the mirror to show me my reflection. I look up at my pale face – and my stained lips. They look bright red. “Smile,” Damion whispers, trying not to grin too. I smile at the mirror, and my whole body jerks in shock at the two long fangs in my mouth. They’re covered in blood from the blood I just drank. Why did it taste like honey? I feel hurt emotion surge through me, I want to cry in shock, speechless – but the urge to cry turns to something else. A deep sadness. Because I don’t want to hurt anyone. But I crave more blood. I quickly close my eyes and turn my cheek, “Take away the mirror,” I whisper, “Please.” When I peek out of my eyes, Rurx has thankfully placed the mirror back under the bed. “You are the first Ice Seer we’ve turned successfully to the Eye,” Rurx explains, and I focus on him because he sounds human, my Crow – fighting back his monster even as we’re in the Eye. He’s doing it for me. To keep me calm. I do appreciate his effort. Rurx even reaches for my face and cups my cheek, leaning over me, his long tendrils of hair caress my face as he looks into my eyes, “…Anastasia… the Mal flows through your veins now. We took your soul, did some alchemy, it changed your bones, made your blood black, your hunger now a thirst… for what bones make… this is the price of pure magic. A gift. You are Queen of the Mal. But you will crave mortal blood… and mortals will keep their distance.” “Why – but why did you do this to me?” I whisper, “You made me a monster?” “Brides are temporary when we want to feast, but Queens are forever,” Rurx’s brown eyes flash to red, as he grimaces, closing his eyes and holding his breath for a moment. Finally he exhales deeply, opening his bright enflamed monster eyes. A sly, cruel grin now spreads across the Dark Prince’s sharp, handsome face. Damion’s fangs scrape over my wrist. I tug at the rope around my arm, and when I look over, I see Damion smiling over the pulse at my wrist, not biting, but teasing me with his huge needle fangs. He smirks at me, delighted I struggled. “I knew I’d reign with the sweetest brat – you don’t run, you don’t scream… you don’t deny us either,” Rurx drawls off, as I look back at his descending face, coming toward mine. He presses his lips to mine. I expect a ravishing, hard, horrible kiss to show how he’ll wish to have me at his complete mercy. But Rurx’ monster is more sly than that. His mouth barely brushes mine, and I open mine in response, as he gently, then firmly, moulds his lips against me in a shared kiss. It’s almost perfect, his sharp fangs tease my lips but don’t make me bleed. His mouth feels warm and reassuring. I enjoy it very much. As Rurx slowly pulls back, Damion moves up and his own mouth hovers by my temple, then my cheek, as he kisses my face, while looking down at my wandering eyes. “Why am I tied up?” I barely manage to gasp it, especially when Rurx’s fingers tease my collarbone, looking for the clasp at the side of my dress as they hover over me, ready to strip me, “Are you scared of me?” I ask Damion. Rurx slowly grins, Damion rests his cheek against mine, looking at me with a clear obsession. “Because, you slut,” Damion drawls demonically, “We’re going to torture you as you orgasm – over and over, and I want to suck the blood out of you as you cum, gag you when you squeal, watch you lose your stubborn mind, Anastasia… as we fuck… you’ll forget… all your senses… you’ll be free as we guide you through this journey of darkness.” “In other words. We’re going to have you, one by one, all hours of the night, screaming, begging, trembling underneath us… and occasionally we’ll feed you the blood you need – when you’ve earnt it,” Rurx’s fingers slip under the clasp of my dress, and Damion’s lips are centimetres from mine. Damion has moved back to look down at my lips and admire my fangs, carefully moving his sexy eyes over my worried features. Rurx has also paused. The heat of their gazes alone makes my skin feel like it’s on fire. “Unless you rather be alone?” Damion whispers right next to my lips, “….we’ll leave…?” They both don’t move any closer. The whole room is silent except for the crackling ice-fire. When I just breathe heavily and don’t say anything, Rurx starts to scowl, he takes his hand back from my side, “Fine –” he hisses. “Don’t,” I yell at Rurx in a panic, then I look away from the intensity of his eyes as I gaze up at the ceiling, whispering, as bravely as I can, “Don’t stop.” It was only worse torture when they delayed giving me what I’ve been secretly craving this whole time. “Mm,” Damion growls deeply, “Good little slut.” Damion moves right over me then, shoving his hand down my dress, feeling my breasts as he presses his mouth to mine, stealing my breath right out of me. Rurx doesn’t grab my clasp a second time though. This time I feel my dress lift in the middle, and then I hear it rip with a knife as it’s cut from me, right down the middle. I feel my dress pulled out and thrust aside, until my naked body remains. When Rurx is kissing my belly, I hear demonic growling from Axe. “I’m going to punish those bad tits, I want you obediently asking me for that, Anastasia,” Axe advises me as he approaches me now. “So do I,” Rurx couldn’t agree more, biting my left nipple and sucking on it, as I feel a cold rush between my legs. I feel airy lips suddenly kissing my clit. I can’t help but open my thighs even more as Krys kisses my pussy all over. Damion has moved from my mouth to my right nipple, sucking on that so Rurx doesn’t have all the fun. The monster’s heat across my nipples and clit has my body arching up repeatedly as I barely hold back a scream of pleasure. Their sharp fangs, bringing both sharp heat and sharp cold, feel dangerous – and I’m getting even wetter because of the risk. Axe walks closer, his hood still down over his bright poison-green eyes, but his hand is holding up a thin chain and two nipple clamps, for me to see. I arch my body up again but from fear, and Rurx and Damion nibble at me some more, while Krystoph starts to lick me right through my petals, moving so far down, he is boldly teasing my ass with his tongue. Prodding. No! I cry out from the shock and automatically squeeze my thighs over his head, so he moves back to my clit. Thank fuck. I wasn’t ready for butt stuff. “Beg,” Axe drawls, he also casually swings the clamps back and forth like a pendulum, his voice harsh with dark built up need to punish me, “Be a good slave to your monsters, beg and I’ll be nice about it.” I make a noise, half-a-moan, but I blush deeply, too embarrassed to actually ask for it. To voice it. I want to. Just too scared – Damion starts to bite my nipple a little harder, while Rurx pulls on mine with his teeth. I cry out, struggling under them as they apply just enough pressure to drive me crazy. Oh. If that is what it will feel like. Then – “Mmm, please put those clamps on my nipples,” my whisper is half a cry, as my whole body shivers and struggles to accept the pleasure while the ropes keep me in place to take it. “Tight,” Rurx lifts from my hard nipple and orders this of Axe, “I want her moving like this.” “I don’t even know if I can take it,” I beg Rurx, “Please don’t make it too tight.” Even Damion moves back at my terror, leaning back on his elbows to gaze down at me again as he then glances to Axe. “Tight, Axe,” Damion suggests, fighting back a smirk when he hears my gasp, “Then loosen them a little. But first test her tolerance for pain.” “Why show the beautiful cunt mercy? She’s ours to pleasure as we like,” Rurx growls to Damion alone, but I hear it. “Because… I love the bitch when she trusts us – I don’t want another Ice Queen. Let her love, let her be warm.Rurx, she’s one of us now anyway, accept it and don’t be a bitch about it,” Damion holds my eye steady, while insulting the Dark Prince. Rurx flicks his eyes to mine, while Axe opens up the nipple clamps. I can’t look. I just hold Rurx’s impatient eye, as he actually considers Damion’s words. “Mercy… for trust?” Rurx tastes the word, then saying, “In the Cren… we’ll be her Crows.” Even without the Ring? I don’t ask. But I raise both my brows. “You’ll do as I say?” I whisper, “In the Cren?” “…you like that don’t you,” Rurx hisses at me, like a snake, “But in the Eye…” “…you can do whatever you want to me,” I make the deal as I say it – believe it or not – totally sure of myself. I stop tensing so much, even as Axe pinches my nipple and pulls it up, preparing it, playing with it a bit first, while listening to our bargain. “Your slaves,” Damion murmurs, cocking a brow, “Down there. And here. You pay the price in return. Our cunt to fuck and drink.” “I am your slave, Damion,” I tell him what he wants to hear, and I say it with want and submission, “I will submit to my Crows in the Eye.” Because honestly… there was no one in the Eye to see it. And in the real world – they’d obey me. And in our bargain the power was balanced. Agreed upon. It couldn’t be any more perfect to guarantee Peace for everyone else. “I will drink from your sweet, sweet pussy,” Damion tells me straight, “I wasn’t kidding, princess.” “Do what you want Damion –” I try to be sexy. And then the first clamp goes on. Tight. I scream out, and Axe loosens it immediately. My whole body jumped. And I felt Krys’ laugh against my pussy, as he lifted my hips – and dug his tongue deep inside me, easing the pain by licking me deep – as Axe clamps on the second one. I watch this time, and as it goes on, it goes on tight as well. He loosens it, but I had been biting my lip so hard, it almost bleeds. Axe grabs the chain between the two clamps and brings it to my mouth, his cruel lips tugging up in the corners. “Bite on this, and anytime you want the pain – you pull it back,” Axe leaves it up to me, the chain now between my teeth, his fingers lightly running over my lips as his Soul Swiping eyes look down at me, “Understood?” he whispers. I nod a little, scared to jerk the chain. Rurx stands back now and when I look over at him, he is glaring at me for being too good, too obedient. Meanwhile, Damion is watching me from the floor, still resting on the side of the bed, just watching me with that obsessed monster focus. I wonder who will take my virginity – But literally just as I think that, Damion stops sitting – and he starts standing. I just happen to focus on his… Well – it’s hard not to, when he’s not wearing anything at all. He is very hard. And he’s not just a giant monster with huge muscles. Damion’s got a giant cock too, and a prideful smile as he rounds to the bottom of the bed, patiently waiting for Krys to move aside. I whimper at the thought of that huge dick fucking me. I flutter my eyes closed as I imagine it next, tugging back on the chain accidently, it hurts – but in a good way. I want to do it again. I moan through the chain, gasping – and I feel Axe’s fingers as he shoves them in my mouth, making me suck on them. I happily do. He pushes them far back, until I gag, and he keeps them deep. “Just wait until our cocks slide in to fill that pretty little throat up,” Axe threatens me, and I feel myself gush with how horny and hot I am at the thought of that too, “And you can’t breathe. So you choke us down until we pump every last drop into your stomach.” Nooo, no! I can’t wait. I can’t wait any longer. I start to struggle, kicking uselessly, flailing my arms. I want it now. I want to feel what it feels like. The darkest, monster pleasures.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 18 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I learn something very quickly about my Crows when they’re Monsters. They’re trying to tease me. They like to tease pain, and tease fear, and watch for terror… but they don’t actually want to hurt me. I deduce this from the way they worship me. I’m not just bound to them, my inner most desires are being kissed intimately and carefully by their actions and words. Even their so-called threats or names they give me, I feel it’s their cheeky playful side mixing with their monsters. They even made me a monster. They had never done that to any other bride before me! I lick on Axe’s fingers as he keeps them in my mouth, and he can’t keep himself from kissing my breasts softly, pulling at the clamps with small tugs on the chain between them. Rurx trails his long claw-like nails down the inside of my knee as Damion holds up my ankles, looking at my open pussy. They released my ankles from their bounds. Krystoph is kissing behind my other knee, as my hips rise up… and Damion leans down and over my body, his black long horns straight and sinister. He could probably stab someone with them. I’m sure he has. Although I don’t know why my mind even goes there. “Move, Axe,” Damion growls, a warning for his brother to get out of the way. Axe moves back, impatient but agreeing with a silent side-glare. Damion has quickly lifted my hips and lined our bodies up, his right-hand brushing over my forehead and moving any strands of hair out of the way. “You’re married to shadow magic now, Mal, Bone… and Cren…” Damion whispers over my mouth, looking deeply into my eyes. “What’s the Cren mean, exactly?” I whisper this as Damion’s cock slides across my wet pussy and he teases me with it at the entrance, rubbing in but not penetrating. With my political question, he looks into my eyes. Damion’s hand wraps around my neck and he holds me still as he slowly licks over his lips, pale with the need for blood. “Cren is Shift,” Damion explains anyway, “We shift from Crow to mortal… we deliver visions of power… and we rule Mal and Bone. The Cren are the Dark Overseers. But it’s all just fancy words, princess… simply this is our domain… and yours…” “…am I evil now?” I ask this with a lump in my throat. “Power invokes all kinds of impulses, all kinds of needs,” Damion explains this more carefully, tilting his head very far left, I feel like it’s both his deamon and his mortal self, explaining together, “…Damion wanted to be the best in battle… and I like blood…” he seems to think of both of them as separate entities. “How did he conquer you?” I ask, “A mere mortal, fighting a Dark Overseer?” “Your mortal Crows, earnt this power,” Damion’s fangs rub along my bottom lip, and I freeze still, not moving and not talking any more. Maybe that was his way of shutting me up, but I don’t want those needles to pierce me by accident. I just show him I understand with my widening eyes, “…females have power too…” Damion drawls with a slow smile, “You were turned because you earnt it. Your heart needs to be in the right place. Courage when faced with darkest night. You’re brave, Ana.” I let out a shaky breath, and Damion’s face moves up… as his cock starts to push in. I wrap my legs around his hips, and I lift my body to meet his. Yes. Damion keeps holding my neck in his large hand, squeezing gently, watching me flicker my eyes down to see his cock as it enters my body. All over, he is so hard and all of him is poised perfectly to fuck me, but he at least makes this first thrust very gentle. I feel his other hand press along my belly, feeling, as he fucks into me, nice and slow. I gasp as I feel my body open and accept him in. It’s a tight fit, but I love how it feels. As our bodies connected, a dark pulse had pushed out from the both of us. Magic smoke burst into the air all around, and quickly dissipates. It was like… magic or something. It even seems to surprise Damion, as he pauses completely, not just enjoying being inside me for the first time… but intensely curious by the magic that seeped into the air. He didn’t expect that. “That’s… interesting,” Rurx drawls carefully as he comes around from the bottom of the bed, leaning down to my level, I see he has pushed the monster back again, the mortal side of Rurx present and curious. As he kneels at the side of the bed, looking at me, Krystoph and Axe also come to the head of the bed, looking down at my face, while Damion holds my throat, and his cock stays deep and still, pulsing slowly inside me… as I capture all their stunned gazes. “What?” I whisper. “…that was an indication… that your blood is mixed…” Rurx murmurs quietly, for me and all of them, “Mal.” “Those Mal Princes,” Damion snaps out, “They are her half-brothers?” “Yes, half because she’s also Cren,” Rurx clarifies, looking at me and speaking to me, “You have Mal blood in you, your mother was not the mother you thought she was…” Something in the air told them this. “I don’t understand. I’m from the Court of Cren –” “Your father is,” Damion grins now, far too happy about this surprise, “But your mother was a whore from the Mal Kingdom. Only those whores have Mal poison in their blood.” I buck against him at the suggestion. “What’s your proof?” I hiss at Damion with my pussy furiously clenching around his cock, hoping to do his weapon harm. He fucks it into me in return and my breath flutters past my lips as Damion chokes me a little harder until I grimace, and he looks at my teeth. “That, proof,” Damion growls. “The fangs. That’s why she turned,” Krystoph murmurs also, “A Mal whore and a Cren princess. She is both.” “I am. Anastasia. Th-e. Ice Seer of. The Court of. Cr – ah!” I try to speak royally, but the words are knocked out of me by the pleasure surging through me as Damion starts to fuck me harder through my words. My own hips start to rise up, and I’m fucking him back as best as I can, as my eyes almost roll into the back of my head. The only reason I whimper out loud next is because I’m fighting just how badly I want to writhe and disappear into this owning. Fuck. Fuck. This is the best feeling in the world. Damion starts to fuck me deeper. I feel his hand on my stomach, feeling his cock, pushing up into my womb, digging as deep as he can go, stretching me so wide my blood sings his praises. Something inside me snaps and then something else floods through me. Some kind of impossible, never ending, perfect fire. More smoke flies around the room. Smoke or magic, I’m not sure. “Mm,” I moan out a little, “I. Hate. And l-love. Love thiissss…” I practically hiss the word from my lips, something I couldn’t control. I now do grimace and shut my eyes, while I feel Damion licking over my fangs. They’ve all gone very quiet. Maybe it’s because I’ve cum so quickly, and I can’t stop the feeling from pulsing through every inch of my body, it just doesn’t let up. I feel like I’m going to go crazy. “More,” I whisper, with my eyes closed, “More –!” I demand it! I hear Damion’s deep, wicked chuckle against my mouth, but I keep my eyes shut and I turn my face from his lips before he can dare to kiss me. He can just have my cheek. My Crow fucks me so perfectly hard I feel like I can’t track time as it passes by. His dick is so hot, deep and unrelenting as it tears at me, it’s truly the best pleasure I’ve ever experienced or ever could. It’s not fair. “Again,” Damion licks over my cheek, down to my ear, “One more time, Mal slave.” I scream from both my rage and my pleasure, but my body is what answers Damion. I wanted to resist. I didn’t want to just give in so easy. But my body squeezes and erupts in the darkness shared between us. I climax again, much harder. Damion finally pushes his cock in and stays in, letting my pussy hug him close, refusing to release him. He settles right there, comfortable, happy I obeyed. I breathe heavily when the fucking stops. I let the pleasure drown away my hurt mind. But I don’t open my eyes. I don’t want to. I don’t want to believe my whole life my father lied to me about who I was. I didn’t want to know it and I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I lie there, trembling all over from the experience and the pain of the new knowledge. I wasn’t who I thought I was… Damion moves off me. Maybe a minute passes where I lie there in complete silence, the strange warmth of the Eye, caresses me… but when I finally look…? Looking for a face. Or a set of eyes. I see nothing. My Crows are gone. The room is empty. And my wrists are still restrained. The clamps are still teasing me. My clit is still throbbing. I lie still, looking around, wondering where in the world did they go? What had changed between us? Was it the Mal blood they detected in me…? Of course it was. I wasn’t pure like they first thought. Like they wanted. So… my question is… what the hell was going to happen to me now?

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 19 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV After an hour of being restrained to the bed, I’m released from the ropes and I return to my world, my reality… as a daemon. A vampire. And my daemons did not accompany me back. However, when I returned home, my Crows were present. Which means they had returned first. I could see them lingering around the library and the halls, staying away from me as I marched back to my bedroom chamber and slammed the door shut, locking it fast. It’s morning and I am very awake, but it’s for a different reason. I am now a monster. And my past is tainted with Mal blood. Tainted. Tainted. I was no longer just Anastasia, Princess of the Court of Cren. I was a bastard… a bastardess? Who knows. But I stay in my hidden wardrobe, sitting on the rug, staring at my reflection. White ice hair, wispy and shoulder length, blue ice eyes… pale, almost translucent skin. I look every part to be Cren born royalty. I wonder what features of my mother I did behold? But it’s not just my identity crisis plaguing me right now. Not only am I craving blood like crazy, but my Crows are avoiding me. I wonder if it’s because I am on longer the perfect Ice Seer, the perfect princess… rather, just a mistake. My father took me in out of pity, no doubt. My mother probably did die in childbirth. She was just a whore, rather than a queen. I get a fright when there is a knock at my wardrobe door a couple of hours later. Someone must have lock picked my chamber to get to my wardrobe. I glare at the shut door, asking, “Who is it?” “Me, miss.” Damion Jnr! “Damion,” I use a gentler tone, “What’s wrong?” “Your fathers and brothers want to see you.” “I’ll see them later, at dinner,” I dismiss the idea of confronting them now. I’m not ready. “May I speak with you, miss?” I can’t deny the young lad his request to talk. He is too sweet and too kind. I sigh as I stand up. I had adorned a black plain dress that floated to my ankles, but constricted around my waist and went as high as my neck. I open the door and Damion Jnr. is wearing a little uniform, grinning up at me. “You’ve made your way up the ranks quite quickly,” I congratulate him as I pat a hand over his shoulder, dusting off some lint, “Come with me, let’s sit.” I escort him out to the couches by the bookcase and the unlit fireplace. The Cren was too hot now, no more need for fires. As I take a seat, Damion Jnr. sits opposite me on the larger couch. “I am Damion’s squire, and now your King’s messenger too,” Damion Jnr grins, “I’m quick – I run quick, I know my way around the city like a hawk.” “Fantastic, I’m so proud of you,” I grin. “And I came here to thank you,” Damion Jnr. looks emotional, “My mother came back. Thanks to you. Peace has been restored. Everyone is back. The streets are filled with laughter. Sunshine. Green moss! I love how soft it is. Why aren’t you in the sunshine, princess?” “I… um…” I don’t know what to tell him, “I just have a lot to think about,” I murmur the truth, “What are my Crows doing?” “…they are wondering what you’re doing…?” Damion Jnr. says sheepishly while glancing to the door. “They’re right outside, aren’t they?” I ask with a false smile. “Maybe?” Damion Jnr. laughs nervously, “Shall I let them in?” “Hmm. You shall, and then you can go off and eat something, tell the chefs I said you can have extra dessert, whatever you want.” “I’ll take it home to my mother,” Damion Jnr. jumps up, saluting me. I laugh, he’s lifted my spirits just by his kiddish smile. So at ease with the world. If I’ve made him happy, I’m happy. I walk with him to the door, he opens it and springs out, running away. My Crows are no longer monsters during the daytime. They are dressed well, Damion is in a new cutting suit, it seems. Black on black. Axe even removed his robe and wears a matching suit, his green soul-swiping eyes are his main accessory on his hard face. Krystoph is in a flamboyant blue suit, sky blue, with black trims and new boots. Rurx lingers back with his perfect curls over a white suit, also with new shiny black boots. Without a word, my Crows file into the room, looking over my new outfit. I step back multiple paces and cross my arms over my chest. Damion, who has the loudest mouth of all, is dashingly handsome but his cutting eyes only skim over me as he walks left and stands with his feet apart, raising a brow at me. Why is he stand-offish? Axe pretends to look over the books, while side-eyeing me. Krys lingers by the door as he shuts it, and Rurx stands next to Damion, looking me over slowly. “Why the silence?” I bite out. “Told you she wasn’t in on it,” Damion’s eyes sparkle, he tilts his head, he seems pleased by whatever I’ve said or maybe it was the look in my eye. Rurx’s glare my way could kill. “What the hell did I do to you?” I snarl it, “What’s going on?” I’m not used to being this aggressive, but I loved them fawning over me, and right now? I felt like the enemy. “Are you disgusted that my mother was a whore?” I whisper my greatest insecurity. “She’s clean of conspiracy,” Krystoph says by the door, his eyes softening as well. “What conspiracy?” I hiss. “Your father,” Axe speaks by the bookcase, “…duped us…” “You were planned, Anastasia,” Damion explains, “To control us.” “Hmm?” “Ice Seer,” Rurx answers for me, “Mal intent. You turned. It was not our intent to make you a monster… it was the Kings plot.” “Ice Seers get ravaged, then they…” Damion chooses his words carefully, “Then the daemons tend to… suck the life out of them. The Cren daemons can’t do that to you now. You’re fortified with Mal magic from your mother. Your father made you to control the Cren. The Ring of Cren you sacrificed is moot.” I understand now. I lose my budding anger. But I still have questions. “How do I control you?” I ask, raising a brow. “Females… Mal females… who are married to monsters… well, they’re resistant to daemon persuasion, it’s that simple,” Rurx explains quietly, “You’re immune to our monster’s magic. Which means you’re more likely to…” “Disobey our monsters,” Damion smirks a little, “It’s alright, princess, we don’t mind – the monsters are not our friends.” “They’re your power,” I guess. “Correct,” Damion winks, finally approaching me. His hand caresses my waist, feeling along the black dress, “They’re scared of you.” “The monsters?” I whisper. “Not me,” Damion meets my eyes with his cutting gaze, “But yes, they are. They’ve retreated. We are your Crows.” “Where are the monsters?” I whisper. “They’ll come out,” Rurx steps to Damion’s other side, to also come closer to me, “When you call them.” “When I call them?” I ask, “So I can summon the Cren? Without the ring?” “Precisely,” Damion chuckles, looking at his Crows, “Look at our little grown up princess, so proud of her power to call on her monsters.” “Why wouldn’t I be proud?” I scoff haughtily. Rurx’s mouth even twitches up a bit as he reaches for my mouth, his thumb brushes over my bottom lip, pulling it down, checking out the fangs underneath. “When you call them, you’ll be at their mercy,” Rurx explains, “You’ve already experienced them. Now you know what they’re like. You understand, they’re not us? They are purely daemonic magical beings who like to devour their female company. Precisely your feminine energy, which is concentrated… in certain… areas…” Rurx brushes his thumb over my lip again, then boldly cups my breasts and thumbs my left nipple over the material, “Here,” and he drops his hand to between my legs, his thumb boldly pressing over my clit, “And here.” I purse my lips when Rurx touches me like that. He unhands me, far too patient as a human, but he does look amused by my reaction. I leaned into him, rubbing against his thumb for a moment. “Sex,” Damion says bluntly, “They drain you through sex.” “No shit,” I narrow my eyes at him and he starts to laugh. “I hate to break it to you, Anastasia… we still very much own that body of yours, we will touch you as we please,” Damion smirks when he sees my fury, “You were pledged to us.” “I’m married to you all, I know,” I say it, to own it, “I know it, I know, I know,” I turn around dramatically, hands out at my sides as I flounce my way toward the bed then around the chamber, “I know, okay? I understand. I’m married now. And you stuck your filthy cock in me last night. What a dismal experience that was,” I just try to rile him up. They always got their own way! Axe turns his full attention on me, looking shocked by my audacity to insult his brother. Even Krystoph raises a curious brow by my outburst. Damion bursts out laughing, deeply amused by my sudden fire, “You lying little cunt, you loved it,” he grins and I fight back a smile at his knowing. Oh yes, I did. “That’s called bait,” Rurx keeps his calm, glaring at Damion and then me, “It’s not going to happen, princess.” “What? You throwing me to the bed and ripping my clothes off to teach me another lesson I won’t ever forget?” I pretend to swoon right there, falling to the floor until I’m on my knees, “Oh, help, the daemons have me! Help!” I lower my hand from my forehead after the little performance and then I smirk up at my Crows. “Bait?” Axe bites out at Rurx, “That’s an invitation.” Rurx rolls his eyes, glaring back at Axe, “We fuck the princess on our terms, not hers.” “Don’t. Ever. Please. The. Whore,” Damion explains slowly for my curious eyes, “You’re the whore.” Poor choice in words. He realises too late and now I have my fun and smile wiped from my face. “Oh, you bastard,” I get to my feet, “If you want me, at any time, to please you four today, you can have me but I won’t move, or comply, or do anything to please you. I’ll just lie there, frozen like the ice. Have all the fun you want with me being the perfect silent whore while I refuse to return any movement, sound or acknowledgement. It’ll be like fucking an inanimate object.” “Ana,” Damion growls at me, “You’re being naughty now.” I storm past them, “I’m sick of you. I want my freedom to be free of you all from my sight! MOVE! I’m more than a place to sheath your shafts. Shaft them up each other for all I care.” I yell as I shove past Damion and Rurx, and then I order Krystoph to move with my finger. He hesitantly steps to the side, but they’re all glaring at me now. I grab the door-knob and I twist it. Before I leave, my Crow has a final word to say to me. “We’ve been lenient, you spoilt brat,” Damion snarls after me, a deep and simple warning comes next, “Once you have calmed down, you’ll apologise for your outburst. Or there will be consequences.” I feel a shiver run down my spine at that. I know I’m being emotional. I know I’m being stupid to some degree. But I’m just sick of feeling completely out of control of my own destiny. I leave, but I don’t talk back. I had to acknowledge the one major positive that was just revealed to me. I could summon the monsters at will. They were hiding from me until then. Which means if I never summoned them, I never had to see them again. And I could just keep my Crows. My Crows. My men. My arrogant, cruel, handsome, yet sometimes considerate, knights in black scarred armour. I wanted them. I wanted them. I just needed to find and drink some blood first. This hunger was driving me mad!

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 20 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV Queen of Cren! I hear a round of applause from the Court of Cren. It’s thunderous. Only minutes earlier, everything about my tantrum felt ridiculous. The moment I stormed from my bed chamber, I was silenced by the waiting women and children, lined up and well dressed by the stairs I had approached rapidly. I had slowed down to see them all smiling at me. Waiting for me? What the -? I had stopped in my tracks, and then they all started to walk with me, having no idea I was unaware of the occasion. I didn’t ask what was happening, but I followed, bluffing awareness. It wasn’t long before my Crows exited the room, trailing the group. Suddenly I knew why they were dressed well. It was an escort to see my father and brothers. No one has told me why that is the case though, not even Damion Jnr. I pretend to know what’s happening by keeping my head up, and I walk with everyone back to the throne room, where the Court of Cren is utterly packed to the brim. At my entry, every highborn man and his wife, no longer enslaved, stands and claps. My father is at the head, at his throne, he stands with a large goblet and yells, “Queen of Cren!” My senses burn, overwhelmed by the amount of noise and celebration I am receiving in a sudden burst from all around me. Through the air, no longer cold and chilling everyone to the bone, is a sense of warm hope. I see Tristin with his lover, Priscilla, at his side, dressed in a purple gown. Miracles everywhere, and everyone was pinning it on me? Eli and Deren used to hate each other but they stand shoulder to shoulder, grinning as I approach, dressed in purple tuxedos. I look over my shoulder as my Crows linger back by the walls as they let me approach the King to receive the news. Everyone goes quiet as I stand before my father, my eyes clearly full of questions. “Anastasia,” he says my name with love, “Queen of Cren. Remember all those books you used to read? Warriors and queens, married to the dark. Queen of the dark, or of the monsters. I am King of the people, the kingdom. But you are Queen of the Cren. You understand me, daughter?” I was not in charge of the land or the kingdom… just the monsters. I understand. He steps away from the throne to give me the goblet. I take it and I see it’s full of blood. “Where is this from?” I whisper. “Donated, as it will be every day, don’t worry, it’s willing, love – drink it and I’ll explain why.” I trust the confidence in my father’s voice. I down all the blood because my fangs are starting to stretch in my gums just at the smell of it. I drink it all quickly and it tastes like sweet honey. My blood feels satisfied after I hand him back the goblet. At least my underlying temper and impatience immediately subsides. I nearly jump out of my skin when a handkerchief wipes over my lips. Rurx had snuck up behind me and helped me clean my chin and face, just in case there was any left over. I give him a quick look of thanks and he remains stoic and quiet before my family. Rurx in his white suit, me in the black, it feels like we match anyway. So at least there is that. “What now?” I ask my father, nervous. With a gulp, the King coughs, fist thumping on his chest as he clears his voice to speak to the whole court. “This is unprecedented, but I am so proud to announce our new slayer of beasts and protector will be our beautiful Anastasia, who controls the Cren,” he touches my shoulder and asks me to spin to face everyone, “She holds the tether to our most powerful magic, harboured in our Crows. Our brave men, and one brave woman.” Everyone breaks out into applause again. I watch Damion, Axe and Krystoph come forward, standing before us, while Rurx slips an arm around my waist, holding me to him protectively – and proudly, I’m guessing. I did not expect this welcome back this morning. But some questions still remain. I watch as the Court starts to disperse amongst themselves, announcements over. Finger food and wine is handed around for an early celebration. “Your fate will not be in the Eye, daughter,” my father speaks to me privately, by my ear. I spin with Rurx back to the King, and I listen intently. The back of his old, weathered hand brushes my cheek affectionately, and then he quickly pulls his hand away as he also seems to let me go in that moment. Acknowledging I’m grown up, no longer a girl hidden away in the back rooms or in the recesses of the library. I am so astounded by everything I can’t even speak, I just watch on as I try not to cry. My brothers won’t say a word but they’re also proud. They were warriors, now I was also a part of their troop, our family, in charge of protecting everyone. “We shall start our hunt tonight,” Rurx suggests to my father. Wha–? The King nods solemnly, “Yes,” he agrees, “Instruct her. Protect her.” “Always,” Rurx nods, agreeing. “Well done, little sister,” Tristen winks at me. “Thank you, Ana,” Priscilla also speaks, “For your sacrifice.” I nod and then I immediately turn with Rurx as we walk from everyone and I move toward one of the servers, taking a wine glass by the stem. Rurx walks with me as I silently make my way through everyone with a small smile, feeling my gut roll with nerves. I find the stairs to ascend to the second level, where less people congregate. I move along the railing and see how many people are here down below. Too many. My Crows escort me, getting closer, Rurx staying right by me. I eventually walk toward a paining on the wall, of the city when it was once green, and is now green again. “What hunt?” I ask while looking at the paradise depicted in the painting. “The Eye was opened, all the monsters were released – for all this beauty, there is a price,” Rurx explains, “It’s alright, Anastasia, we will protect the city. You will be able to sense them. They come out at night. We will arm ourselves and kill the monsters we find. We’ve been doing it our whole lives. It’s our speciality. You’ll be coming with us.” “Okay… I’m not so surprised that I’ll spend my nights hunting monsters with you four, it makes sense, the Eye gifted us magic – and there’s a dark side,” I can accept that. “Precisely,” Rurx seems happy that I understand so quickly. “But one thing I don’t understand, is why the word sacrificed was used? What price am I paying exactly?” I keep looking at the painting, hoping I am not in over my head. “The burden of summoning the Cren, dealing with their daemonology – and the monsters you will attract. They will wish to kill you,” Rurx whispers in my ear, “The Cren will set them on you.” “Your monsters, who are Overseers of the Eye?” I ask, in a whisper, “They will send monsters after me?” “They can’t kill you, so they will send others to do it,” Rurx feels uncomfortable admitting this. My protectors, my Crows – were my knights, my shields, my swords. They also harboured daemons who would feed off me, if they could, but they can’t, so I’ll be a target of their monster followers? Lesser monsters. “There is a paradox here,” I turn from Rurx and face all my crows, “I can summon the Cren to protect me, to be used as a power, but they want their own monster followers to kill me?” “Daemonology is not precisely human,” Axes growls out, explaining for me, “The monsters wanted to kill us too, but now they’re our advantage in battle. They’ll send monsters after you, but they’ll kill those monsters too, if you summon them forward.” “Why would the Cren do that? Kill their own?” “Because you’ll be nice to them, won’t you,” Axe smiles, “Won’t you, Ice Seer?” “You speak of,” I tap my mouth with my fingers, “Having me, don’t you?” “They love fear more than anything,” Damion tells me straight, “Do we look afraid?” “No.” “Don’t be afraid,” Damion tells me straight, cocking a brow, “Understand?” I can see the pride in his eyes as he says that. I raise my chin. “I understand,” I agree. Rurx even smiles. Axe smiles so nicely he has to turn his back to me and watch over the crowd below. Krystoph approaches me, always together, always prim and proper and well groomed. He stands before me with his own wine glass, and he clinks it to the edge of mine, looking over me with soft, blue, careful eyes. “You must feel terrible,” Krystoph drawls politely, “Everyone and everything wants to fuck you.” I burst out laughing at that, and Krystoph grins, “That’s our brave princess. You should laugh more often, love. We’ll have a lot of fun slaying monsters together, you’ll get to see Damion slice some big mother fuckers straight in half,” I raise both my brows. “Ohh.” “Mmhm,” Krystoph also tries not to laugh, “Are you wet?” he asks more slyly, moving closer to my face, “You are naughty if the thought of blood makes you wet, Anastasia. Born a monster slayer. You should be proud of your mother.” I feel better with those words. Monster slayer. Monster controller. Mal women had some kind of hold over daemons. “I am proud,” I say with tears in my eyes, “Thank you, Krys.” He smiles so handsomely, “You’re welcome.” We drink our wine together, at the same time. “One more thing,” I tell all my Crows, “Before we go out tonight, I need to change outfits.” Damion rolls his eyes but doesn’t complain. Rurx seems to agree with the look on his face, Krystoph nods. Axe turns back around to me. “I can’t wait to see this,” Axe drawls, looking at me with a grim expectation. Tits out? Chains? Baring skin just enough to tease them into insanity? Oh, I’ll think of something fantastic. I have a few ideas in mind already. It would have to be a dress fit for a queen who slayed monsters.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 21 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV I prepare for the first night of official monster hunting with my Crows. To protect the Peace. We wait for nightfall, and by then I had a slightly obnoxious idea forming in mind. The idea of my Crows and their monsters specifically being scared of me? Had me feeling slightly… overconfident… and let’s just say I really wanted to test the waters. The depths of our bond in marriage. It starts with a reflection. My reflection. For the first time, I invite Damion, Rurx, Krystoph and Axe into my walk-in robe. They’ve dressed themselves into their warrior’s gear, out of their fancy suits. Adorned in black armour, shields on their arms and swords strapped to their hips and back. Krystoph and Rurx casually look through the dresses, one sword each swinging from their hips. Axe waits by the door, arms crossed, head hanging back up to look at the ceiling as he waits for me to get dressed. Axe has two daggers he plays with. Damion has two swords strapped to his back, they’re massive and thick. He stands behind me, looking me over with his sly, handsome eyes as he asks me, with his hands slipping below my robe which covers my naked skin, “Your costume for tonight, Anastatia?” Damion asks, “What will it be?” he raises a brow. “I want wings,” I whisper, “I want to fly.” Damion’s hands slide up both my breasts and then he pauses, to look at my reflection and my mischievous gaze. “Do not call them in advance,” Damion warns me once. My first mistake. I completely ignore him. “I’m married to the daemons, and they will come at my command – I demand the Cren return, release them,” I tell Damion haughtily, “I have an idea, okay?” Damion narrows his eyes, and then they flash red – as his horns start to sprout and grow straight and black, sharp and narrow. His needle fangs grow with his scowl, as they brush through my hair with his displeasure, “What?” he hisses. “Give me crow wings,” I demand. I had read about it. My father had equipped me with an arsenal of powerful princesses in fiction. I wanted to test the extent of my knowledge and power. I had a theory. To be one with monsters, I had a right to request favours off them. “Careful,” Damion’s daemon smirks as I turn toward him, not smiling. “Do as I say,” I change my tone, “You have me for eternity, and I demand your magic.” “Magic bleeds from Bone,” Damion growls deeper, “You understand the sacrifices?” No… but I was learning? “Why new sacrifices?” I whisper, “I thought there was magic on hand. You are Overseers of the Eye.” “The monsters we will send out to hunt you, sweetness, will be the Deliverers of Bone,” Damion grins, “Or anyone alone in the night can befall to them. You can have your wings. But you’ll let your Cren feed before we return to the Eye.” I look past him to the others, and I see the other daemons are back. Rurx is glaring into the line of costumes, not giving me his eye. Axe has stopped playing with his knives to lower them to his sides, still and focused on me. Krystoph’s phantom eyeballs bleed with the tendrils of phantom magic, white fire. “Fine then, if it’s to be so complex, keep your magic, I just wanted to test you anyway,” I shrug my shoulder and move around Damion, to place myself in between them all, “Why don’t you all choose my outfit?” Rurx finally turns to face me, his red eyes burning so bright, a red aura fills the small closet. Their heat is starting to make it feel like a sauna in here. “I called you strategically at nightfall, willingly calling you to me,” I explain to all of them, “Have you released your minions to hunt me yet?” “Not yet,” Damion whispers, and Rurx glares at him and then me. “Scaredy cats,” I whisper, grinning with my fangs, “I’m well fed, I had two goblets of volunteered red honey, mmm… yes, I’m not done with you, you can go now,” I step toward Rurx, and he straightens, raising a brow. “The only part that scares us about you,” Rurx starts a wicked growl, smirking slow, “Is the Mal sweetness running through your veins. When females are bred from magic, it becomes solely their own. Not daemon. Not Mal. But unique to your soul… you asked for wings… is that what you desire, dearest? Attire fit for a monster Queen? How about this. I’ll gift you a dress befitting a whore to devils.” I start to open my mouth, to ask about it – but before I can speak, my robe slips from my shoulders as Krystoph takes it with his cool phantom hands. My naked body then appears to be layered with black swirling magic, leaving behind a dress made of crow feathers. It’s short, covering my tits to my ass. I also see a pendant appear on my neck, connected to a thin gold chain. The pendant is the Ring of Cren, returned to me. “Sweet shadows, gifted from us to you,” Rurx whispers, his red eyes delighted by my outfit, “How about another addition?” his hand reaches up and I feel a weight on my head. When I turn to the mirror, I see a black onyx crown, with four red gems embedded under four black, thin spikes. My skin is so pale, I really do look like a vampire as the black contrasts with my almost translucent skin. I walk to the mirror and I grin at myself to see my fangs, growing in my mouth. But overall, the outfit is… hot. I like it! “Shoes,” Damion makes some appear in his hand, two high heels with black dagger tips holding it up. Walking on knifes. Appropriate for the Queen of Cren? I slip them on, and then I twirl and face my scared daemons, holding my hands behind my back. It’s going well so far, right? I look to Axe, who is staring at the dress over my tits, clearly annoyed I’m no longer naked. “Anything else?” I whisper at Axe. He smirks and leans off the wall, waltzing toward me, he takes one dagger and places it in my palm, lifting my hand. “A weapon,” Axe slow blinks, “Daemons must feed,” he looks into my eyes, “So must you. What blood do you bring us?” “My own,” I turn from him to open my wardrobe, taking out a goblet, “I thought I’d share with you all,” I bring my wrist to my mouth and I bite my arm. I had been preparing to do this all day. I pierce the veins just deep enough. I hold out my arm and the black cursed blood as it fills the brass goblet. I watch the brass fill, and my daemons are obsessively focused on the wounds in my wrist, which seal over and heal by the time I’ve filled their goblet. I place the stem in Damion’s hand, “Drink,” I whisper the demand. I watch my first daemon drink my blood, his lips stained black as he hands the cup to Axe. Axe also takes his fill, licking his teeth and lips clean as he passes it to Krystoph. The phantom drinks almost all of it, and Rurx has to step forward to snatch it from his grasp. “The rest is mine,” Rurx’s snake tongue taste tests my offering, and his eyes almost roll back, before they roll forward, to focus back on me, and he drinks the last quarter, before dropping the goblet to the floor. “Instead of harvesting bone tonight… fuck me instead?” I suggest, sweetly and willing for a hard fuck. “We don’t allow such power,” Rurx responds coldly, “You think you can demand it of us?” “I can,” I answer in the affirmative. “You can,” Damion’s hand slips over my waist and my stomach, “But you’ll pay for the insolence of demanding off daemons.” “I demand the charge of insolence, and the punishment that goes with it,” I whisper my response, smirking as Damion pauses to smile against my temple, kissing me and holding me back against him. “Dirty princess,” Damion’s hands caress either side of my neck, reaching up under my hair, fluffing it out, “One more try… Dark Prince, what do you say…?” Damion glances to Rurx for his final decision. His eyes had been showing flashes of white, as if his daemon was so confused and enraged by my self-power, when their brides were always sacrificed, that I actually feel even more arrogant. Damion said to not show terror. No fear. That’s how the Crows conquered and then partnered with their daemons, to become immortal warriors. But I am no sweetheart. I am a monster equal to them now. Rurx looks around this enclosed but spacious wardrobe. “We soak it through until the blood rots the wood,” Rurx suggests to Axe, Krystoph and Damion. I don’t know what he means, but they nod and disappear. One second they are with me, and then they are shadows, shifting through and out of the room. I am left alone, and when I reach for the door, it’s open. I walk out into my bedroom, searching for them. As I move out, my gaze shifts. Everything blurs for a moment. Confusing me. The moment I’m out of the wardrobe and I had clicked the door shut behind me – I hear screaming from inside. I spin back to the door, feeling dizzy. I yank on the handle but it won’t open. But I hear daemons laughing. Cackling. It’s demonic, distorted by the power of the Eye. “What the hell are you doing in there?” I ask, “LET ME IN!” I shake the door, “Let me in, I demand you listen to me –!” What. Will. The. Price. Of. Peace. Be. Whispers. Single words. A soft raspy growl in my ear, behind me – not aloud but within my head. I turn slowly to see a huge grotesque beast of grey-greenish skin. A Giant cyclopes, with one massive eye, staring at me, red veins burst over the whites. The monster is stooped, his hands red, his fingernails filled with flesh and hair of another. “Delivered, Dark Prince,” the Cyclopes talks, he speaks over me, to the door, “Three more. Another three.” “Appreciated,” I hear Rurx and he sounds like a deranged, blood thirsty psychopath as he answers back, his tone screeching and scratching through he door, “Well done, Beroki, you may rest now.” I turn back to Beroki and he’s gone. I hear another set of men screaming, short lived before I hear gurgling, choking, drowning noises. My heart starts to race as I back up from the door. I only freeze when the noises abruptly stop… and then… underneath the door frame… dark red spurts and pools out quick, rushing toward me. What disturbs me more than anything is when I smell through my nose, the smell of sweetness is overwhelming – while the sight and sounds I heard were totally fucking sinister and depraved. I want to run but I’m so disgusted, I almost faint, and I stumble back into the window ledge behind me, as the blood flows left and right in rivers. I put a hand to my nose and my mouth, breathing through my hand, as I feel a tickle against my back. I almost scream, thinking something is behind me when I feel warmth and a heavy weight on my arms. When I turn I see huge black crow wings, bent and grazing over my shoulders, down my arms. They’ve sprouted from me, from my back. Warm. Huge. Powerful. Wings. “W-what…” what did I do? What did I request of daemons? I keep spinning, trying to see the wings better. I hear the wardrobe door creak open, and I look at the aftermath instead. Rurx is covered in blood, his sword dripping with gore as he smiles at me, “Gorgeous.” He speaks of the wings, but his boots depress into the carpet and it’s so soaked, that every part of the carpet and rug is ruined completely as blood pools everywhere. When I glance in behind him, Damion is chewing on a femur bone. Krystoph’s phantom is pulsing crimson. Axe is completely untouched, except his last dagger has a thin line of blood. On the floor, beneath their feet? Piles of white bones. And more piles of wet black sludge, mixing with the remaining… organs. It takes me awhile to see the colourlessness of my bedroom… the only thing that makes sense. When I called the Cren down. Somehow, at some point, their magic flipped the room. This was now inside the Eye. I cringe away from Rurx as he approaches me, sighing deeply as he puts a hand to my cheek only, as I fight to remember how to breathe. “The first night was bound to fail,” Rurx’s daemon reassures me with a distinct tone of cruelty, “Next time, don’t call us. Wait until we send them to you. So we can frighten you, sweetheart. That was fun, but not as fun as watching you fight to protect the innocent. You understand what you did, don’t you, princess?” he waits for me to process it, but he tells me anyway, “You sacrificed your own people to get a wish. You can wish for more, but it’ll require the delivery of the bones to make the Mal.” “It’s not my fault,” I beg him to take it back, meeting his eye and dropping my shaking head, “It’s not my fault. Please tell me, it’s not…” Rurx shakes his head. “Shh, it’s done – you wetted our appetite,” Rurx blinks slow, “You want a daemon’s advice? At least with sex it’s just you who suffers. Ask for this power again…” he motions to my wings, caressing the curve, “You now know the price. Six.” “Six souls?” I hiss, “You took six lives? To gift me these?” “That’s right,” Rurx grins, his eyes not red, but now an endless black pit. “Then leave me alone for six nights,” I hiss, “Bastard.” “Kiss me and it’s a deal,” Rurx’s snake tongue flickers out over pristine, silver-white teeth, like a viper, “Six nights of peace and six funerals for the fallen.” Fuck. Fine. One. Kiss. I look at his mouth and I lean up, closing my eyes and clenching my fists at my sides. My Dark Prince will get nothing but a cold, ice-kiss. Rurx’s warm hands caress both my cheeks and then… …warm – just warm lips, caress across my mouth. Human. Rurx my Crow. I flicker open my eyes as the colour has washed back into his face, the darkness pushed away… replaced by brown orbs. And? No more smell of blood. Rurx keeps holding my face up, my cheeks squished in his firm hands, as he shakes his head very slowly, reading my sad eyes. “Don’t… ever… do that again,” Rurx whispers, and I hear it… the trauma of what happened – it affected my Crows. They killed in wars, but they never killed for magic. They must have been present and aware of what the daemons were doing to those innocent souls as they became puddles of gore into the carpet of my wardrobe in the Eye. I pull back and I realise I still have my wings. They scare me, but as I wish them gone, they evaporate into mist, retracting to the Eye. Now hidden. I watch as Rurx releases my cheeks, he steps back, his armour clean, his sword clean… and behind me, I see Damion, Axe and Krystoph in the clean wardrobe. I am left naked, my outfit and crown evaporated too, including the heels. “I think I’m going to throw up,” I admit, feeling green, “I’m… I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.” I turn, thinking of running a bath. I don’t know if I can handle their harsh expressions again. “Anastasia,” Damion snaps my name as I take two steps into my bedroom. I turn with fright at the harsh tone. I clench my fists, as Damion leans out of the wardrobe, and then he steps out to face me, “That path is one life,” Damion lowers his tone, “We have fought our whole lives to expel that evil.” “I – I had no idea that if I asked for… for them… and the… wings… that…” I trail off with tears in my eyes, “That that would happen.” “You don’t need the extra fire power,” Damion shakes his head, speaking softly for once, keeping my attention, “You have our power, and I promise you, it is enough. You’re but a child compared to our lived experience in war against the monsters of the dark. You can’t handle the price of it. We’ve battled for this. We have the honour, the experience, the wisdom, the drive of men to protect our Kingdom. We know it was a mistake… but Ana… be careful when you seduce that darkness,” Damion really means it, “They’re not your friends.” “I know,” I nod, tears filling my eyes, “I know now. I’m so sorry.” Damion approaches me and wraps me up in a tight, incredibly hard hug. So tough, so comforting, my tears are expelled with his giant strength. I hold him back with my feeble vampire arms, as I rest my head against him. I had my instructions from my Crows. Call the daemons in battle against the monsters. They never said to call them earlier. I killed six people. From curiosity about daemonology. I should have listened, but I know better now. “Don’t let this steal your courage,” Damion warns me, “In a week’s time, it’ll be different.” “How?” Damion leans down to my ear, “I’ll train you up.” “You’ll train me to fight?” I whisper, “Really?” “You want to know some moves?” Damion sounds so sweet, so reassuring, like he knows how to fix this. I nod, “Then I got you.” “You do?” I hug him tighter. “We have a week to prepare you better, this transition to controlling the Cren was going to be dangerous – your father might have been a genius, in creating you… but I’m sorry it’ll be tough being wed to our monsters. Tolerating them. They will obsess over you, Ana. You must give them nothing.” “When you speak openly with me, and we plan together, I feel like I can do this, we can,” I add, “So, you’ll train me, for real?” “Yes,” Damion kisses my temple and my forehead, “You want a bath, princess?” I nod. “Let me go run it,” I suggest. Damion holds me a bit tighter, hesitating, “What?” I whisper. “A hundred each,” Damion whispers in my ear, then he lets me go. I walk backwards, and I see a haunted look in his eye. I turn and quickly make my way into the bathroom. A hundred each? What was he talking about? Why did I know almost immediately what he was talking about without context? It was the vulnerable note in his tone. Damion, Rurx, Krystoph and Axe. A hundred each. I wonder if that’s their price for power. For their immortality. I hate daemons. I hate what they’ve done to my men, even though I would have never met them, if they had lived mortal lives and died from old age centuries ago. And even so, the daemons were always fighting humanity, so my Crows went to the Eye. To the land of the Mal, Bone and Cren. To the land of the dead. For this power to protect us. It was almost the greatest bravery this world had ever seen. Considering their burden. Or it was simply the price of having a soul that could execute or save other souls. To master the greatest power, they had the greatest skill. I knew Damion was giving good advice, but the best advice I had ever heard since meeting him was what he just offered me. What he had offered Damion jnr first, simply for being a boy. At first, I had always been their whore. Literally a hole for their lusts over a pretty princess they were charged to protect. But now Damion was going to teach me to fight. I like this level of new respect. It might not change the world, but it would help me a little bit to deal with the daemons they conquered… who wanted to fucking kill me. Or drive me so mad – I couldn’t live with the consequences. Damion must have realised, I needed to learn to fight, just like they needed to learn, in order to live long and strong. It was the only way we’d all learn to face this situation, truly united and together. I had to become a Crow.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 22 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV 5 days later “Go again,” Damion says with his stoic manner, absolutely no sex, no flirting, and nothing but this disciplined approach when it came to Crow training. I am bruised and injured and sore and weak. He is insisting on this ridiculous game for the 100th time this week. The challenge was simple – do the impossible. I had to get past Damion, Rurx, Krystoph and Axe – four experienced Crows who worked as a team, who were all armed with wooden staffs. I had to run past them, move past them, get past them, somehow… to simply retrieve the bag of dirt Damion laid on a tree stump behind them in the lush gardens of the Cren. We had gathered a crowd during lunch hours, and everyone would gather to eat and watch as I attempted to move past my Crows. And I had one more aid beside the wooden staff. I had one side kick. Damion jnr. We were training together. We have already failed the first 19 attacks today, since dawn we’d been training till lunch, we would stop just before lunch – and then I’d be so fucking sore, I couldn’t even sleep without cramping and feeling my bones ache. Damion jnr. is in a world of hell too, he is right next to me, his hand shaking with the heavy adult sized wooden staff they gave him. I also have one, and it’s just as taxing on me despite being an adult and he a kid. Although I had learned how to grip it better and so had he. My Crows are arrogantly shirtless by the fifth day, not even breaking a sweat under the sun as they protect the bag of dirt I want so badly. “We can do this,” Damion jnr. repeats, time and time again, his teeth grit, “Ankles, knees, pain and pressure, we can do this, princess.” I grit my fangs, my body hungry for blood. The crowd for lunch just seems to be growing even more. I had started this task 5 days ago, thinking it would be literally impossible. Five days later? Nothing had changed, I was still facing an insurmountable force. How did I beat my own Crows? “We’re waiting, princess,” Damion swings around his staff, casually pacing to the left. Rurx looks sleepy, his eyes half closed, like he wouldn’t mind having a nap, as he leans on his staff, bored to tears. Krystoph is balancing his staff on his shoe. Axe is facing the other direction, picking his teeth, also bored. Damion is the one always focused on me, always staring, always willing me with his hard stare to beat them. “ARGH!” I scream at the top of my lungs, “This time!” I scream at Damion and I turn my back, after getting my Crows attention, they’ve woken up, focused again. Damion jnr. turns with me, leaning in, “Princess?” “To the blue thorns, around, can you take Axe?” I whisper. “I’ll try.” “He said we’ll win if either one of us touches the bag of dirt, it’s on you, I’ll do the rest,” I finish my consulting and I turn back to my Crows. “This time,” I repeat with a hiss. I run at Damion. He’s ready for my swing of the staff, but I see the gap in the middle, since they stand far apart, and it’s all I can hope to do. I thrust the staff back and throw it. I had thrown it at Damion’s face a few times and been pretty accurate, even though he could fend it off. I toss the spear between Krys and Rurx – toward the bag of dirt and the stump. I scream out in surprise when I hit the target! The staff slammed into the bag and thrust it off the stump. Damion, Krys and Rurx are stunned, and they’ve turned long enough that I grab Damion’s staff and I try to take it. I can’t, but he does look back down at my exhausted but excited expression as I pretend to wrestle his staff. Meanwhile, I had seen Damion jnr. walking to the left, sprinting when I screamed when the target was hit. I grin with purpose as I look with the rest of them, as we watch Axe try to stop Damion jnr, who was quick on his feet coming around the border of the garden. He tossed his own spear at Axe’s head, causing Axe to dodge, reach up and try and grab it mid-air. It was a habit of his we learned. As Axe jumps out of the way, Damion swiftly ran around him, rolling forward and diving for the bag of dirt which now lay on the grass, where jnr. could reach it off the centre. My favourite side kick slides through the grass and his palm slams over the bag. When jnr. screams with his triumph, so do the onlookers who were eating their lunch. They all stand up and start throwing their food in their air in surprise. I burst out laughing. I couldn’t blame them, we had been doing this for so long, every try was a spectacular fail. Every damn try. Not this time. Now Damion jnr. is shrieking with laughter as he jumps up with the prize, showing me. I am still holding onto Damion’s spear, as my whole body aches with relief. Damion’s black eyes are dazzled with pride as he swings back to me. “You both did it,” it’s all he says, blinking slow as Krystoph and Rurx come closer, beaming with pride. They put a hand on my shoulder each, squeezing. “Good throw,” Krystoph grins handsomely. Then we all turn to find Axe. He’s back there, he has lifted Damion jnr. up by the arm pits, swinging the 12 year old around. “YEAAAH BOY!” Axe yells his excitement with Damion jnr, who is still screaming his victory and raising both his fists in the air. “I DID IT!” Damion jnr. waves to his mother, who is nearby, eyes wide, “MUM! I DID IT!” Axe finally drops down jnr. and ruffles up his head of hair, “Go to your mother, kid.” I can hear the husky and teary tone. He hated Damion jnr. being around because it was a constant reminder of how he lost his own son and wife to a fire. I had noticed Axe getting more and more comfortable with Damion jnr. being involved in the training, even saying encouraging words the last few days especially. Just one liners… don’t quit… don’t cry, you can do it… just don’t give up. Those few words had meant the world to Damion jnr. who took Axe’s few and rare words seriously. Damion himself was aware of the bond forming between them, and he stayed out of it, knowing it was fate bringing Axe back what he lost. A chance for healing. It’s all very emotional, and I don’t want to cry when Axe looks at us silently watching him with happy smiles, but he isn’t embarrassed for once. His green Soul Swiping eyes, move to mine as he walks for us. He doesn’t hide the fact he has tears pooling at the corners. “Simple technique, but it worked,” Axe compliments me on arrival, “Lunch?” “I could swallow a horse,” I wipe my own tears from my eyes, “Although I guess it’ll be three goblets of blood this time. I’m famished.” “And then you need to rest,” Krystoph strokes a hand through my sweaty hair, pushing it behind my ear, “Crow.” “Am I really?” I lose my smile, as I ask it seriously, “Really… really?” I hold my breath as I look from his blue eyes, to a quietly proud Rurx, and a giant Damion, who would be the one to bestow such a title. “As long as you don’t die,” Damion drawls, “In battle. That’ll be a different story.” I nod. “Crow,” Rurx speaks anyway, nodding at me. “Crow,” Axe agrees, and I feel my heart bloom. “Almost,” Damion whispers, “You have to listen to me.” “And brave the daemons tomorrow night,” I add, fiercely defiant already, “Bring it on.” “I say tonight we celebrate her new title,” Axe suggests. “No sex for a week,” Krystoph strokes the back of his fingers repeatedly down my cheek, “We’ll take care of you.” “I know you will,” I turn to Krystoph, jumping forward and holding him in a tight hug. Rurx laughs handsomely and leans in to hug me from behind, kissing the back of my head. “Proud of you.” “Inside,” Damion snarls under his breath, as he moves closer, unable to get to me, “I’m hungry for you, Ana… I’ve been starving all week,” I hear the note of lust in his throat and I turn my head to give him a knowing look. “You better tie me up, I might hurt you with my new strength,” I tease him. “Tie you up?” Damion asks, leaning down to my level, “I was going to.” “Ooo,” my mouth tugs into a smile and Damion suddenly grabs my neck, turning me back to him before I snuggle into Krys, so we can kiss. I enjoy Damion’s mouth finally claiming mine all while being hugged by two more Crows, after resisting our chemistry all week. I even feel Axe’s sly hand, trailing down my waist, reaching up and feeling my breast under the loose shirt I had been wearing. I’m enjoying the touch, the closeness… until we hear the jeering on from the crowd. “Oh,” I squeak, suddenly remembering we have eyes on us. My Crows step back and I quickly run for the kitchens. I lead the way, and when I get to the door, jumping up the steps, I can see my brother, Tristan, standing just within, glowing with pride. I stop and turn to him. “I watched you and the kid take it,” Tristan adds, “You’re really becoming a warrior, little sister.” I nod and open my mouth to rant about it… until I see a darkness in his eyes, “Brother… is something wrong?” “Ana, I didn’t want to think anything of it,” Tristan’s usual grace and confidence sounds strained, and as he talks, my Crows appear behind me, shadowing me, listening intently, “Priscilla,” Tristan now speaks to us all, “She’s been missing since last night,” he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pink opal necklace. He gives it to me, “Found on the neck of the Mother of Wrath,” Tristan looks at me, mouth now in a grim, flat line, “…I believe she’s in the Eye…” I turn to Damion and Rurx, who are right behind me. “Do you know anything about this?” I ask. “No, nothing, we don’t speak to our daemons until they’re sharing our blood,” Damion answers honestly. “Is there a chance she entered herself?” Rurx asks seriously. “Priscilla was inspired by you, Ana, maybe there is a chance she entered the Eye willingly,” Tristan speaks lowly, “But… I’m not certain.” “I’ll go into the Eye tonight,” I promise him, “I’ll look around.” “I didn’t want to worry you, and I know you must be in pain, but I’m afraid she could be dead already,” Tristan’s eyes become dull with distress. He loved her with all his heart. I knew this would be killing him, not knowing where she was. I embrace him in another hug and when I pull back, I take the necklace from him. “You have my word,” I whisper, “I will find her. No matter where she is.” “With magic returned, so are curses and tricks,” Tristan adds, “Perhaps she was tempted by a dream, or a shadow.” “I’ll work it out, Tristan, now get some rest,” I move past him, “And come to me with any news, if you find out anything.” “I will…” Tristan watches me move off with my Crows. My strong, warrior prince brother suddenly seems not so overwhelmingly above me anymore. To me, my brothers were always out of reach. But I see how the centre of power has shifted, from eldest son, to Peace Overseer. Me. Queen of Cren. Everyone was relying on me. Six funerals were had for the fallen from last week that had been sacrificed for my wings in the Eye. No one had suspected it was my fault. Since the bodies were never found, they were just thought to have drowned in the new river rapids, where a few others had met the same fate from not knowing how to swim, after living a life walking on ice. So, I had avoided losing the trust of my Kingdom for now. But I knew how quickly I could fail if I didn’t control the Cren appropriately. Damion had been drilling it into me all week. I could not be more grateful. At the end of the day, it would come down to my choices as a Queen to Monsters. I had to make the right decisions. And every night they hunted me, I had to fight. That’s what Crows did. Our only job was to protect this realm from the monsters in the night. Tonight, I’d start again. And hopefully this time I got it right.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 23 ◉●•◦ Anastasia’s POV The pressure was on. I had the skills, fortitude and the backup to face the monsters of the night. I knew, with the help of Damion’s keen eye and constant discipline into making me a Crow – to listen to him. To not fall back on my status as princess or queen. It also built up more respect between us, them allowing me to join their circle. And still, I was married to Rurx… and technically – to all of them. So, for them to have the right to me, and to delay their lusts, just to train me all week – really changed my thinking about my Crows forever. They saw me as more. And I trusted them more. It was a bond, through time, despair and traversing the Eye, combating their demons, even lying with them. I was responsible for the balance of the realm now, and I took it as seriously as my men did. The way my father and brothers looked to me now, gave me pride… because I could see the pride in them for me. So, in all regards, I am now primed for tonight to come. To slay monsters and find Priscilla. So, why am I suddenly terrified? Scared. Eager to fight all week. Yet in the lead up to the sun setting, I am anxious and unsure. After a hearty lunch, I went to my room and napped for two hours, even Damion slept next to me, needing the rest, while Axe napped on the couch, and Rurx and Krystoph spoke with my father in the library to discuss Priscilla’s disappearance. After that much needed nap, I tip toed my way into my bathroom and ran the hot bath, adding bubbles and scents and anxiously brushing through my hair, over and over. Then I lay in the tub, as the sun sloped down the window pane, one minute after another. Soon. Soon the daemons would come. “Anastasia?” Damion drawls from my right, giving me a shock. I sit up, so lost in my thoughts I didn’t hear him walk over to the bathroom entrance. Although, he was bare foot so didn’t make a sound anyway. Shirtless, my Crow peeks into the bathroom to see what I’m up to. I tell him my immediate thought process. “Damion. My Crow. We didn’t even fuck like we were planning! We just napped! Now I’m scared I can’t face them again, I’m scared of the monsters – I wasn’t scared all week and now –” I blurt this all out with a numb tongue and an anxious blush. Damion halts my speech with a hand up in the air and a warm smile, just for me. “Princess, you’re not on the front line, we are and always will be your defenders,” Damion’s silent feet pad over to me, and I wearily watch the giant not make a sound, so in control of his whole physique. My eyes roll up from his feet and pants, over his hot, hard torso – all the way up to his deep brown eyes and black hair. Gosh, I wish he had fucked all my anxiety away. I was so wound up! Damion reaches into the bath and just takes my neck in his palm, “You won’t have to fight, with me by your side,” Damion’s voice drops – it’s lethal, primed for war and ready to slaughter. I choke a bit around his clenching hand and I scramble up out of the bath, until I’m grabbing the rim and then standing. He lifted me up so he could see me. Damion releases my neck and takes my wrist instead, while his other hand loosens his britches. I eye the bulge, that’s uncovered when he drops the material and kicks aside his pants. He tugs me toward him, and I leap out of the bath, slamming into his front with my eagerness. I bite my lip, “Finally.” “Down,” Damion’s one word has me obeying. Maybe it was the training, but I don’t mind his command so much anymore. I drop to my knees and I hug my cold breasts with my arms now that I’m still wet and fresh out of the bubbles. Damion walks behind me and drops down to his knees as well. His hands caress down my upper arms, and he takes my hands from my tits, folding my hands behind my back – he nudges me forward. I lean down and my tits push against the cold tiles, making me gasp while I stick out my ass, wiggling it back into him. “Alright, calm down,” Damion barely holds back a chuckle, while he casually keeps both my wrists crossed behind my back with one hand. His other hand feels over my ass cheek, just appreciating me, “We all expect a fuck tonight. Afterwards. But I’ll take you now as a reward for your good behaviour all week.” Now I do gasp with a complaint. “But I’m always good!” I whine and squeak as his cock dips through my wet, warm pussy – and then slides in with precision. I’m clenching so tight, but Damion’s putting his weight down, leaning over my back, pushing his hips into my ass – so my pussy has to open wide to accept him all in. I moan against the tiles, whispering to myself mostly, “Yes, yes, yes,” I try not to cum too quick, as Damion releases my wrists behind my back, after he sees my own hands crossing over to do the work for him – he grabs my hair instead, pulling my head up as he starts to fuck me at his leisure. “You will be good,” Damion corrects me, “You still serve this dick.” “Yes,” I cry it out in full agreement and without thinking. Damion laughs sharply and fucks me harder. I bite my lip so hard I bleed – refusing to moan or scream again. I had almost let out more cries of passion – but my Crow was enjoying it a little too much. So, I rather bleed. One sharp fang had cut my lip as I feel the droplets splash against the tiles, as Damion fucks me harder, his grip on my hair only becoming more firm. I start to fully surrender to the pleasure. I can’t hold it back. After a week of holding back. I climax severely, and Damion is just as antsy, as he finds his release at the same moment. Ah, fuck, fuck, fuck. The orgasm was swift but it shudders right through me, especially when my Crow settles his hips on my ass and lets me feel it all. Meanwhile, Damion’s not even breaking a sweat. His hand loosens from my strands and I lay my cheek on the tiles, getting my breath back before I turn to glare over my shoulder. He’s still on my ass, smiling at me, waiting for me to acknowledge it. “That’s enough now,” I use my high-handed tone, “Do as you’re told and… and…” “And…?” Damion requests I continue, but my tongue gets tied. “Just. Get off me, Crow,” I growl, changing it, since I couldn’t think of a different reason for him to move, “It’s done.” Damion rolls his eyes, “And I thought women wanted romance.” He helps me up, his hand around my waist, his dick still in me as he holds me back against his torso, but he doesn’t release me. He’s just feeling over my breasts and kneading them gently. His cock is still inside me, and turning hard again. Damion starts to rock into me, fucking me slow, while kissing down my ear, to my neck… one of his hands slides over my tummy, so gently. “Ooh, this is fine, actually keep going,” I change my tone once more, I sound all high-pitched and squeaky. I didn’t mean to, but his dick was hitting some kind of perfect spot, and I could feel my body riding back against him. My Crow holds me tight, while we fuck lazily, “Harder!” I demand. “We have time, princess,” Damion coos in my ear – sounding far too relaxed. And then we both hear my bedroom door slam open. Damion audibly growls, mixed with a groan, “Fucking…” he’s annoyed they returned so quick. He pushes me back down onto the ground. I flatten out on the floor as he rides low, snapping my arms up above my head to stop me squirming. “Be quiet,” Damion whispers over me, while we can hear Rurx and Krystoph speaking to Axe, having no idea we were in the next room fucking. Damion rides me hard and silent. His rough thrusts make my hips convulse as my pussy quivers in delight. I think I started to orgasm but it’s not immediate, it’s being ridden out. I struggle to fuck him back but his overall muscle weight and control of me is keeping me too still. I have to take it as he gives. Damion takes us both to our releases as quickly as he can. He also shudders when he comes with me in unison yet again, this time though, he pulls out and empties his seed all over my ass cheeks. He chuckles quietly, he can’t help himself – while I make a small gasp of protest. And now? Endless silence. A void of nothing, a loud question. From my bedchamber. Damion takes immediate action, scooping me up and tossing me in the bath, as he pulls on his pants and sits on a stool by the tub, just as Rurx, Krystoph and Axe appear in the doorway. They all have looks of suspicion, but there is no proof, and I’m slowly leaning down into the bubbles as they slosh right and left. Damion has one ankle crossed over his other knee. Anything wet in here just looks like a mess from the bath, like an overflow. I see Axe’s eyes narrowing on the floor, but when he looks at me and sees my wide-eyed innocent look – he has no time to comment. “Finish up soon, princess,” Rurx comments on the hunt, only, “We’re starting early.” “Oh? Great,” I blurt a little too quickly. “First signs?” Damion asks, curious. “Multiple fissures and cracks in the ground of a loft on the north-east side of the Cren, a farmer and his family reported it to the crown,” Rurx looks from Damion, to me, “We’ve got a head start this time.” “Well, what are we waiting for?” I raise up my fist, “Let’s kick some monster butt.” I must sound far too zealous and enthusiastic – because even my own tongue tastes bitter with the forced excitement. Trying to cover what we just did. Without them. Rurx just blinks at me, his perfect curls and long, lush hair, mocking me. Always mocking me. Krystoph pulls out his dagger for no reason and slides it back in his sheath, a couple of times. “Alright, slut, get out,” Damion jumps up and splashes the water at my face – the bubbles kiss my cheeks and I blink rapidly at Damion’s large grin and playful eyes. I narrow my own and I lunge up, trying to grab his arm and haul him into the bath, “You nasty, vile mouthed Crow!” I yelp out when he just hauls me out of the bath instead, immediately shoving me whilst still naked, into the fronts of Rurx, Krystoph and Axe. I prance around as they circle me, and I keep my hands up in surrender, “My outfit, I need my outfit,” I protest. Every gaze burns through my bare, dripping wet skin. Rurx makes a noise. A noise of need, as he stares at my bouncing tits. Damion’s hand brushes my waist and I freeze as he stops me twirling. “A kiss,” Krys asks of me politely, “Before we go?” I nod and I turn to him, but instead of leaning up, he leans down to me, his hand on my neck as he kisses my lips. I am just starting to enjoy it when he pulls back, and I stumble back into Damion, as he holds my ass. Did he get closer to me, or am I imagining things? Rurx’s eyes graze over my face, but he also leans down to me. Instead of kissing me, he asks over my lips, “Who does your pussy belong to?” a quiet drawl. “All of you,” I answer sweetly. Rurx smiles and kisses me in affirmation. Now he also turns me with Damion – into Axe. I watch as Axe brings the blade of one of his short swords out of its sheath. He holds the blade down, the handle upward, he brings it toward my thighs, and rubs it between… as he presses it between my legs. I hold my breath, my hands touch Axe’s shoulders, “What are you –” he answers when he slides the handle into my pussy… and he starts to fuck me with it. “Our pussy… relax into it, princess,” Axe smiles as he keeps fucking me with it, and I end up on my tip toes, feeling wonky. Krys, Damion and Rurx step in, their heat keeping me up, their hands on my hips and back and waist. “Ah, oh,” I gasp as I start to squeeze around it, “I – I…” Axe takes my hand, and brings it down to the handle. “Careful you don’t cut yourself,” Axe warns me, as he gives me the control. When his hand leaves mine, I start to fuck myself, closing my eyes – too embarrassed to see them all staring down at me. I push it deep, and I fuck myself fast, “Axe, oh fuck!” I bury my face into his robe as I climax on the handle of his short sword, keeping my thighs spread wide enough for safety. As I squeeze around it, Axe selfishly takes the handle from me. He slips it out of my dripping, throbbing pussy, and then sheaths his weapon back at his belt. I’m pulled off his chest and I open my eyes as I look around them. I’m scared they’ll make fun of me. But every Crow. Every one of them. They’re eyes are focused, sharp and in love. They don’t insult me. “What a perfect princess,” Krys blinks softly at me, pinching the tip of my nose, “Later we’ll all pleasure you, but now – get dressed, sweetheart.” I nod. I gulp. “Yes.” “Ana,” Damion bites my name, I turn to him, “Don’t be scared, now.” “I’m not,” I answer him, “You’re my Crows.” “You’re still in training, we’ll do most of the work,” Damion reassures me, “Most of all the time. Your own budding skills are last resort. Understand?” I nod. “We protect what’s precious,” Damion is dead serious, “You’re our wife.” I freeze. He really, really means it. I love the possession mixed with the pride and love for me. My eyes sparkle with the confidence he instils in me. They all do, with their words, their looks, their hands, their patience. Mm. They know how to make their Queen happy. Great. Now. I’m ready.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 24 ◉●•◦ Damion’s POV Arachnids. Furry little daemon helpers, with their bulky legs and smug red eyes and sharp, pointed fangs. Creepy, crawly, critters. Anastasia held a thin, spectacular sword with an ivory handle carved with crows. A gift from Axe, who had been secretly working on a new weapon for her slighter hand. With her strength increased from working with the heavy wooden staff all week, she was making quick work of the giant spider infestation at the farmer’s loft. Our princess was flying high and swooping low, skewering the quick, jumpy little things. Anastasia did not scream at the sight of them, she laughed as she cut them to pieces. I was helping, of course, as was Rurx, and Axe and Krystoph. We were making easy work of tonight’s monster hunt. I am pleased by her enthusiasm and very pleased she wasn’t scared of spiders. When we went into the Eye and defeated the Cren, absorbing their powers, we had to defeat their true forms. Giant arachnids. She called my daemon a vampire, it was cute how wrong she was. But I wasn’t really sure if Ana could handle the truth of the shape shifting Cren who she was now wedded to. They were never human, not even a little bit. She was lucky they could shape shift. I guess we were too. That’s why we called ourselves the Crows. Crows ate spiders, and we kept their evil spirits contained within. “Is that all?” Anastasia hollers at the cracks in the ground of the loft, “Oh, come on, I was just getting started!” she’s getting her first taste of blood lust. There was always deep satisfaction in monster hunting. After sheathing my two swords across my back, I walk into the loft, where Ana is covered in poison green spider blood, her sword glowing luminescent in the night with daemon guts. She watches the fissure in the Earth as it closes. “It’s done… the hunt is over,” I advise her, and Anastasia turns to me, about to protest until her powers diminish. The crow wings vanish from her back, the daemon crown, the Ring of Cren, the feather dress, the dagger heels. Her strength diminishes too, and now she drops the sword. Ana’s old clothes return, loose britches and an oversized shirt, covering her bound breasts. Which she insisted on to run after the monsters from the Eye. Breathing heavy, she continues to grin, “I had so much fun,” our princess is so damn cute. At my side, Rurx approaches after washing his hands at the nearest well. His black armour though, as all of ours is, is still very much covered in the green slime. Axe appears on the other end of the loft, hauling in a body of one of the bigger spiders. He tosses it down near Anastasia. “You know what’s next?” Axe asks, seriously. “No, what?” “We burn it all,” Axe motions to the corpse, “We pick up the pieces and throw them into a bon fire.” “Krystoph is building one in the pit with the farmer back here,” Rurx adds, still straight down to business. Now we all witness Anastasia’s grin wipe from her face. “We have to clean this up?” Anastasia suddenly adopts her Ice Seer tone, flashing her fangs in disappointment, “I thought… they would disappear… or smoke away or something…” “No, you have to collect all the daemon parts you cut up,” I speak up now, trying my best to keep in my need to tease her, oh fuck it, “I told you to keep the cuts clean, Ana – you didn’t have to go on swinging at them twenty times.” “You could have told me, Damion,” Ana huffs out a breath, “Now there’s all this mess and… argh, this is ridiculous!” her tone gets higher and higher. “…fuck me,” I barely keep in my need to burst out laughing as I turn to Rurx, letting him handle this one, “Keep the spoilt brat in line,” I whisper this, “She’s about to have a tantrum and I’m not cleaning her shit up for her.” Rurx just shakes his head and approaches our disappointed wife. Anastasia’s POV “It’s alright,” I hear Rurx approach, while Axe just looks me over real quick, wondering if I’m man enough to haul up my mess of spider parts all around me, scattered all around the barn. It was very, very, very fun. Hunting monsters. I didn’t even have to ask the Cren for assistance. Perhaps they assumed I’d be deathly afraid of spiders? I guess they found out wrong. “I am alright,” I hiss at Rurx, “No one said I… oh, never mind,” I was going to complain but instead I reach down to pick up a hairy spider limb and Rurx stops me. He catches my arm, keeping me upright as I turn to face him again. I’d been avoiding his eye. I was low-key scared I’d see the daemon. The red crimson monster who killed men without remorse. I’m relieved to see the human soul staring back at me. My man. My Crow. My husband too. “You found a Key, in all your butchery,” Rurx opens his freshly washed hands, to show me a Key he also washed clean of spider blood. It’s got a funny design, a thick round middle and a simple turning Eye, “This is proof they have Priscilla alive in the Dungeons of the Eye.” I take the key from Rurx, it’s heavy and solid. “Hmm… how did she… even end up there?” I wonder out loud, confused, “She must have entered the Eye willingly but, but why… I can’t work out why.” “It’s possible her mother was Mal, like yours. And the curiosity got the better of her,” Rurx explains something so simple, “Some of us, are attracted to darker powers. Perhaps she’s cursed… or perhaps she’s just stupid.” “Don’t call Priscilla stupid or Tristan will have your neck,” I growl at him, “And she was very nice to me growing up, we might not have been super close, but she wasn’t stupid. She was very smart. Very curious.” “Too curious perhaps, like you?” Rurx answers me seriously, but ends up smiling a little at the end, “Keep that… you can look for her tomorrow, Ana.” “Why not tonight?” I ask this hesitantly. I didn’t want to go into the Eye anyway. I was scared of the daemons. I wished to never see the Cren if I could help it. I didn’t trust myself. “You can’t face them unless you’re sure,” Rurx mirrors my thoughts, but speaks in a more gentle fashion, “You have to build that confidence back up… the less you waver before them, the safer you’ll be… the safer we all will.” “Can you hear what they think of me, when they take over?” I don’t know why I ask this. Maybe I’m just procrastinating the cleaning of the spider bits. But still… Rurx almost answers me, but then he doesn’t. Clearly some things were best kept secret or unknown. I just nod, agreeing with this silence as being the right response. “Don’t need them, only need my Crows,” I tell him, “I best get started on fixing up this mess before we go, or the farmer and his family won’t be too pleased with me… ha…” I awkwardly smile. I turn to clean. Rurx distracts me again. This time, however, his hand just slides through my hair – and he gently tugs on my ponytail. I turn to Rurx in a spin, but he’s already walking out of the loft. His hair is also tied back, the luscious brown locks flowing down to his waist. I think of his fingers stroking through my white, almost grey-silver strands. I smirk to myself, a light blush creeping up my neck. I knew what that meant. Clean up quick. You have one more duty to fulfil tonight. Our fun had only just begun.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 25 ◉●•◦ I had imagined my Crows fucking me on my bed. Throwing me down and having their way with me. Instead, our Monster Hunt ends in the Cren’s Bath House. The soldiers throw up all their gear and then they bathe in a heated pool. It’s for men, but of course, I join them. This late at night, everyone is asleep or on sentry duty. No one is here except my Crows and I. We had done a lot, slaughtering spiders, burning their remains – we deserved a hot bath. I had already dipped into the hot spring, and then I wanted to try out the steam room. I had undressed a lot quicker than my Crows, so I was on my own for a short while and just enjoying the feeling of being able to get clean. I knew what was coming. I knew what they wanted. I was eager for it. The steam room has a slab of stone to sit. I sit in the fog for just a little while, surrounded by some overhanging vines. A garden blooms just outside a small window. I walk over to lean down and look through the slit to see the lush green had overtaken every cold house, transforming the look of a kingdom that was once just bones, to a paradise made in imagination. I never believed I’d ever live beyond snow blizzards and sitting in front of raging fires. To see so much green, beyond the fabric of my dresses, made my eyes swim with tears of happiness. To be able to hear the young crowd at night, laughing and dancing in the streets, sharing ale and breaking out in song – maybe the suffering I’d endure was truly all worth it. The first Monster Hunt had been fun. Slaying the spiders had been such an empowering experience. I can see why my Crows enjoy fighting and slaying beasts. “Anastasia,” I hear a whisper from Krystoph behind me. A phantom’s whisper. I turn around and I’m shocked to see Krys is now his daemon. I see the white flames curling out of his eyes, the tendrils of souls, “You were so cruel to our hearts,” Krystoph speaks as if offended or saddened, “Do you not wish for us anymore?” he watches me with eyes that bring the magic of the Eye. I notice it now, the way the world starts to shift from colour to grey. More shadows appear in the archway. Damion’s tall horns appear in shadows along the ground, before he himself appears and his red eyes burn. He takes a seat on the slab within the steam room, watching me. Rurx comes in next, his curls shining with the humidity, his crimson orbs enflamed with rejection. I did not call them. How on Earth did they appear? Axe is last to show, standing at the only exit. Is this it? Maybe they decided they wouldn’t tolerate me afterall. “A daemon slayer who enjoys our critters blood?” Rurx asks also, clearly furious. His stride is angry, his voice and even his expression is tense, his jaw hardened into a grit. They are the ones who sent the spiders to me, I don’t know why they’re angry! “I don’t understand what you want,” I hiss, “I did not request your assistance tonight – which means I owe you nothing.” “We haven’t consummated anything, Ana,” Rurx purrs with malevolence, eyes unblinking as he paces the steam room back and forth, “We haven’t even begun to master you. We’ve been sweetly waiting for you to come to us,” Rurx’s voice booms louder, “We sent out a call for you last night – and a completely separate woman walks into the Eye, you were meant to take the Key – and since she wandered where she should not, we compromised, with her subsequent hold in our dungeon, you were then meant to seek the lost lady, Ice Seer. Do you find us that distasteful that you would abandon her without seeking?” “There has been some kind of accident, I’m sure,” I cross my arms over my chest, my eyes running past Damion as he picks at his fangs, his eyes not leaving my legs – specially the in-between. I hate that it makes me feel warm, anticipating his mouth down – don’t get distracted. “Priscilla answered your call?” I stutter, “Why would she?” “Clearly Beroki’s bad eye brought him to the wrong lady,” Krystoph reasons. “Beroki is a Cyclopes, he only has one eye,” I snap, “Why would you give a bad-eyed one-eyed monster such a duty? If he can’t even see very well? Priscilla doesn’t look anything like me.” Now I notice Rurx’s cruel, amused smile. “He looks most human, compared to our other monstrous brethren, it was safer to send him,” Rurx explains coolly, “Now let me explain. We are here knowing this time, you earnt your freedom from being our little slave tonight. So I ask you a favour, Ana. A favour, nothing more.” My silence must worry them, I look between each one. Axe always looks the same, hardly a change, his Soul Swiping eyes only deepen with green poison as he takes a guess, “Scared of her new lusts, her new powers – scared, princess, of your love for it?” I gulp. Asking for wings had killed six men. Of course, I was scared. I was – I was embarrassed how I could be so stupid too. It seemed so obvious now, but I had been hopeful. Hopeful perhaps that they could be generous. Forgetting they are daemons only. “I was scared of you, not scared of my power!” I yell, hating the smile that had been growing on Axe’s face, “You’re nothing but bone collectors, enjoying human sacrifice. You. Scare. Me. Okay? Don’t get that mixed up.” “We only weave the magic in the Eye,” Rurx speaks gently at me, while I notice Krys take an offended step backward, now pacing in the opposite direction, “Magic comes from the magic of living. The only way to extract it is through bone. You are taking what bones secrete in your lust for blood,” Rurx nods to my mouth, my fangs, “A bride who is given the wine of life. You should be grateful for your peaceful blood letting peasants who do this for you. But as for us, you married us with passion – and now you hide,” Rurx sneers. I jerk with the sound of his combined snarl, with the rage on his face. Offense. He is offended too… isn’t he? “Who let you out?” I try to deflect the conversation a little, “My Crows – they let you takeover.” “Our promises have merit, we promised them no harm would come of you, only a reprimand and fair questions,” Rurx stops pacing, his hands clasped behind his back. They’re all naked and perfect. My men – but turned to the Eye, they are what my reality is. I close my eyes quickly. I try to think. Damion trained me for this. Maybe this was a test? Maybe this was to give me confidence? To show I could handle them, even when caught off guard. Warriors didn’t go into a fight, nor a war, knowing what was to come. They had to be prepared for the unpredictable, the unprecedented and the unknown. Damion’s words. “I am a Crow,” I whisper this, and then I calmly open my eyes. I can work this out! I briefly think of Damion jnr. His smile as he succeeded in that challenge with me, his mother’s pride. Teamwork. And? Courage. With my statement, the powerful Cren stop breathing. I may as well speak since they’re too offended or shocked too, “I have been an inhospitable Queen for you, my love,” I speak with a sultry promise for Rurx, with an edge of a challenge. I had been crossing my arms over my chest but I lower them to my sides, “Your hearts bleed for me?” I ask Krys, “Do your fangs ache for me too…? You want to bite me? You want to fuck me, don’t you?” I see they’re all hard as steel now, “Then, I’m… I’m truly sorry,” I put on a sickly sweet tone as I turn to the small window and I hold onto it, pretending to hide my face into the wall, showing them my ass, “You can have me if you want me,” I stand on my tiptoes and drop to the balls of my feet, my ass bounces and I hear a frustrated noise released from Damion. He was always the first to speak of his lusts. “Just a small taste will do,” Damion moves to stand. “Sit down, you greedy fool!” Rurx snarls at Damion, “This is my pussy by rite.” “Bullshit it’s just yours,” Axe stabs in from the entry, “She belongs to the Cren. We all have the rite.” “You can’t claim sovereignty over what we share,” Krystoph sounds so prim and proper as he also scolds Rurx. Rurx moves for me, his temper flaring for a different reason. I never thought they’d fight over me. “No,” Rurx’s tone drips with venom, “She’s mine tonight.” I hear the hatred mixed with the love and need of me. I lay my forehead on the stones, pursing my lips to hide my smile, pretending to cower. “Oh, Rurx, don’t be angry,” I whisper like I’m innocent, shifting my head, tilting it to the right, just a bit, so my hair falls off my neck, tempting the Dark Prince closer. Rurx slams into me, his body flush with mine, heating me up like I’m in a fever dream. I start to sweat as his hands rest on my hips and he looks over the side of my face, as I peek a look up at him. “Do you know what it feels like, to be bitten down there? As he sucks your pleasure and your blood from you, at the same time? Hmm? Have you thought about it every night in your dreams?” Rurx whispers over me and I blush – how did he know that’s what I dreamed about, “Because, princess,” Rurx answers me, his hands caressing down the outside of my legs, “They all do.” Every bride beforehand had craved this? I do wonder what it’s like then. I gasp as he takes me from the wall, spins me around and lifts me up. Rurx holds under my knees, his arm around my waist. He holds my legs back, my pussy open. Damion is already there, smirking at Rurx and looking at me. Like they were also in on it – a team effort. So they pretended to fight? I can’t think of their trickery now. Damion’s long needle like fangs, drip with clear venom. I squeeze and I feel my pussy drip too. “Oh, humans,” Damion stares right at my pussy as he drops to his knees, “Look at your pretty, swollen pussy,” he doesn’t even touch it. Krystoph and Axe saunter closer, as Damion kisses my pussy and I jerk back against Rurx. I gasp and pant. Can I do this? Can I actually do this? I close my eyes and lift my head back, turning it to the side. I will myself not to enjoy it. I didn’t want to – even though I imagined I would. I didn’t want them to prove how utterly deep my lusts had sunk to the bottom of the pits of romance. Instead of sweet romance, I wanted their teeth piercing my flesh. What type of girl even – Damion precisely, and slowly, bites into my pussy with his fangs. I immediately moan, I moan so loud I almost feel like it’s going to turn into a scream. Krystoph helps me by side stepping closer and putting his cool phantom hand over my mouth. My pussy squeezes continuously, leaking cream and a bit of blood. I don’t even cum, but I feel insanely close to it. I need his dick ramming into me. NOW. I yell against Krys’ hand, wanting to demand them all to fuck me. But apparently I don’t have to. Not when Damion takes his fangs from my flesh and I feel his smile against my pussy as he kisses and licks me. I start to whimper deep in my throat, Krys’ hand falls from my mouth, Rurx holds me still and open to Damion’s tongue. “What’s the matter, my love?” Rurx coos over me. “Please, please,” I gaze up at him adoringly, “Fuck me. Can you all fuck me, please?” Damion’s tongue moves into my pussy, feeling my walls squeeze around him, he tastes so much honey. I can’t stop feeling myself drip. What’s wrong with me? “It’s a potent aphrodisiac, so potent you may ask us to never stop,” Rurx pretends to sound concerned, his red orbs wide and focused with only a minuet level of mockery. “Please,” I whisper again, I don’t have it in my heart to demand it, only to beg, “Please, master. I want to serve.” Rurx’s eyes widen with pleasure, I feel his dick harden even more against my ass. “Look who’s learning to be obedient to her handlers?” Axe hisses with a handsome smile, “She’s beautiful, look at her skin go so pink everywhere.” “Thank me,” Damion growls in my pussy, kissing it and my clit as he kisses up my stomach, and then he stands over me, reaching for my throat and holding it gently in his grasp. This huge, powerful warrior, being so careful, but so possessive at the same time. I feel myself drip some more and Axe immediately drops down to get in before Krys. He moves between Damion and I to kiss and suck my pussy, while Damion hovers over my lips, his fangs bloody with me. “Thank you,” I obey, while I squirm and respond to Axe’s incessant licking through my aching pussy, not wasting a drop and making my body produce even more. “Then we’ll fuck you oh, so, sweetly,” Damion promises, kissing me while I hear a disapproving growl out of Rurx’s chest. “We will fuck our pussy, as you asked, my darling slave,” Rurx corrects him, while telling me, “…just maybe not so sweet as you think.”

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 26 ◉●•◦ Damion’s POV THAT’S ENOUGH! As Crows we work together. I wrench back my daemon by the horns, throwing him out of my body. Thrusting my human soul back into my flesh and bones. My horns recede and so does the daemon with the taste of Anastasia over his tongue. Rurx fights off the Dark Prince and he drops Anastasia to her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist, holding her back as her thighs glint with cream mixed with the beads of steam and sweat, all over her lovely soft skin. Krystoph’s phantom retreats, he runs a hand through his hair, fixing it back into place. Axe is between Ana’s legs, leaning back and placing a kiss to her mound, watching her shiver and tremble as he stands, now a man. Ana let my foul daemon bite into her pussy. I narrow my eyes at her flustered expression, as she sees the colour return into our space. No longer in the Eye – safely back in reality. “They took what you offered,” I scold our sweetheart, “Don’t offer them free pussy.” “I-I-I’m acquiring a debt, I was, for them, from them, to owe me, Damion, to owe me!” Ana lifts her pert chin, her voice stuttering, “A strategy.” Oh, she’s so fucking adorable. “Mmhm, a Crow’s move… cute,” I can’t help a small smile, as I reach for her neck and hold her pulse in my hand. I enjoy how it beats with shame. She’s worried. She needs our approval. I look at Rurx, who’s quiet as he regained control of his mind. The Dark Prince was the hardest to battle. Stubborn and vicious. “Hm,” Rurx half growls as he palms one of Ana’s tits for some stress relief, holding her back in a half hug from behind, “You whore… you’re to be punished for that – you need to learn to behave,” Rurx genuinely sounds annoyed at Ana’s promiscuous seduction of the daemons. The Cren were hers to play with, but we didn’t want her to enjoy them more than us. They were simple monsters. We were men. “I’ll make it up to you, my love,” Ana’s lip wobbles, “Shall we return to my bedchamber? Privacy. Just in case someone comes.” “We’ll guard, you punish,” I nod to Rurx, who nods at me. I stand back with my brother. Axe and I guard the entry to the steam room. It’s midnight so no one will come, but just in case, we’ll guard her body from other eyes. She was ours to look at – no one elses. Krystoph moves in to reassure Ana of what’s to come. “This is necessary for your learning,” Krys’ thumb brushes her lips, “You’ll find it pleasant – after the pain subsides. But we’ll enjoy it more, it’s true.” “What?” Ana whispers, “What are you going to do to me?” Rurx plays with her tits, pinching one and glaring at the other over her shoulder, his eyes haunted by whatever the Dark Prince had been thinking seconds before, “You’re going to ride me,” Rurx tells her, “And it’ll be in your ass. It’s time to learn to share every part of you.” “Naughty girl,” Krystoph pinches her chin, kisses her on the nose and her lips. Ana blinks like a confused little virgin. “O-oh,” Ana blurts, sweet while wanting it, her skin blushing red. “About time we taught her some manners,” Axe murmurs under his breath, rolling a pebble under his foot. “I would have started this training right away… if she wasn’t a spoilt princess,” I growl under my breath, “We’ve been far too lenient and shown too much patience for that brat.” “I can hear you, you know!” Ana gets angry with me, yelling my way. My heart warms as her voice echoes and I put my finger to my lips. “It’s one now, it’ll be two later,” I tell her the truth, and I watch her lips seal shut as Rurx leads her to the stone bench. He sits and guides her closer. Anastasia focuses on the task at hand. I focus on her face. Some women enjoyed it and some didn’t. I was curious what camp she’d fall into. Rurx would treat her kindly enough. Hopefully she loved having cock up her ass. More fun for all of us. Anastasia’s POV I can’t believe this is happening. They were my Cren. My Knights. My… oh, sigh. They were my Masters too. I knew this is how they wanted the dynamic. How they viewed me. Their entertainment. And I was ashamed to admit the thought of being the apple of their eye did turn me on. But – ha, well. Um. My thoughts scatter as Rurx guides me to the stone bench in the steam room. He sits and he turns me around. I stand still as he grabs both my ass cheeks and he spreads them. A blush runs up my neck, and then he spits on me! I put my hand to my mouth, keeping in a gasp. My eyes wide. He… on my ass… he really did that? So bold to do such a vulgar thing to me. Krystoph is opposite me, standing, watching my expressions. He lifts a brow as if to say, why the surprise, he owns you now? But that’s not all. Two of Rurx’s fingers slide through my pussy, and he rubs the free slippery cream all over my ass. At the end, he sticks a finger in and I squeak. “Oh, why is this necessary?” I snap out, and Rurx starts fingering me back and forth. I quickly purse my lips shut. If feels… Why… why did it… did it… um… “How does it feel?” Rurx asks with an edge of coolness. He’s not going to go easy on me. “Alright,” I whisper the admission. “Turn around then, straddle me,” Rurx lets me go. I turn to him quickly and he puts his hands on the bench, waiting to see if I’ll obey. I look at his wanting cock, covered in wet steam. Feeling naughty, I spit on it, for good measure. Since he spit on me. Well – it’s more drool. I watch my saliva drip and fall slide down his cock, “That won’t hurt,” Rurx murmurs approval, “Come closer. You’re doing this on your own. Show me how obedient you can be as my wife.” “Yes, sir,” I whisper it on impulse, and I hear Axe snort. I turn to glare at him as I’m half way on Rurx, one knee next to his thigh, “Don’t laugh at me.” “I think you’re gorgeous,” Axe speaks seriously, his Soul Swiping eyes look forlorn with passion. I blush and focus on Rurx and his stupidly perfect locks of hair. I focus on that, and his sharp jaw, the way his hair frames his face. The way he watches me and tries not to take over. I put my other leg over Rurx and I grab his cock, rubbing the head through my wet pussy. “A couple of bounces, to make you really wet?” I ask for permission. Rurx nods and watches me slide all the way down, bouncing up and down. I immediately gain a rhythm I enjoy, squeezing and throwing my head back. With a hiss, Rurx interrupts, “Okay, Ana, that’s enough. You’re not changing the punishment.” “Oo, sorry, sorry,” my voice is sickly sweet, I can’t keep a silly smirk off my lips as I finally lift my hips up and his cock slides out, covered in my honey. I push the shaft to my second hole. I try to push it in. I don’t think it’s going to enter. I struggle, although I try. Eventually his cock keeps slipping left and right, “Oh, sorry, I, um… can you do this bit?” I shyly look up at Rurx, who was brooding, watching me be clumsy. “Mmm,” Rurx sounds like a disapproving husband, and for some reason that makes my middle burn with anxious heat. I want him in my ass. Why? Why do I crave it? No harm in trying. Rurx helps me. He grabs his cock and pulls me closer. He lines us up and I hide my face in his neck… Rurx is confident as he firmly pushes his shaft into my ass. His cock is inside. I bite onto his skin, my fangs making indents – Rurx releases my hips and lets my own weight put me down further. I gasp as I drop onto his cock. I try to slow the descent but I only manage to pause after his cock is half way inside me. I freeze. Rurx harshly spanks my ass. With a growl in his throat, Rurx commands me, “Work, brat.” I whimper as I lift my hips up and I drop them. I move slow at first, and then I find my body curiously wanting to take him deeper, to feel what it’s like all the way inside. I almost get to the bottom, but I’m too tight and he’s so darn thick. I ride him in slow inches, up and down, so slowly I know he’ll be nothing but annoyed and disappointed. I lean back to show him my worry, and Rurx actually looks… pleased?! “Good job,” Rurx murmurs his approval. My heart warms. I gulp. “You take over,” I considered deeply whether or not to allow this. He could take me much rougher, harder and deeper. Out of my control, but I… I’m feeling awfully daemonic, maybe it’s the monster in me, “How can it be a punishment if I’m enjoying it and I can’t feel much pain?” I whisper this as I lean up closer and closer to his lips, wanting a kiss. My lips barely brush against his, when Rurx’s arm slithers around my waist. “Don’t complain until I’m done,” Rurx cocks a brow, and then he pushes my ass down and he thrusts up into me. The lock he has on my waist, coupled with the angle we’re at – he can fuck me as hard and fast as he likes. Rurx starts while he holds me nice and tight, close to his chest. His shaft splits me deeper. Testing me out. Once he’s slid his length all the way in, Rurx thrusts up into me, while he moves my hips. Hard and fast, he trains my ass without a shred of mercy. I gasp and pant – my eyes roll back into my head. The pain barely matches the extreme pleasure that flowers within. I feel myself reaching a climax within seconds. “R-Rurx, oh no!” I reach for his neck, holding him tight in a hug as I bury my head into his shoulders. I fight the urge to sink my fangs in. I want to, but I don’t want to do it without control – and right now, I’ve lost it. My body meets his with the same ferocity, until Rurx slams me down and his balls release his seed into my ass. His cock finds its home. My body is his perfect sheath. When we’re finished, even Rurx’s heartbeat is wild underneath my cheek. I get my breath back, my body trembling with the aftershocks of pleasure. My Crows? All my Crows are silent. I think they’re impressed? When I lift my head, I look at each one and I feel shy all over again. And then I say something, very fucking cheeky. I aim to tease them. But for some reason, it sounds far worse than I intend. “…hmm… but still… the daemons… they know how to fuck me so much better…” I whisper it, both sultry and mean. My Crows loved to tease me, so I guess it had just bottled up inside me, some kind of horrendous come back.  This was what it amounted to. This moment; insulting their ego and their cocks. Probably not my brightest moment, but it was as ice cold as I intended. The Ice Seer I knew how to be. I bite my bottom lip, smiling uncontrollably with my silly insult. It was mean. But it was hyper-exaggerated. I was being playful. They knew that, right?                              Rurx holds my chin and turns my face back around to his, he tilts up my head… …his eyes are dark, brooding… and offended. Deeply so. In fact, my husband is so offended he doesn’t say anything at all, he just looks at me. My Crows. They were first silenced by how impressed they were with how I managed the punishment. But then I… I said what I said. Damion, Axe and Krystoph had been floored that I dared go there. Rurx responds to me with that dark silence. And just one look. I know. I’m in deep, deep trouble now.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 27 ◉●•◦ We dress in some basic clean clothes and my Crows take me out onto the streets, until we find a cozy Inn. We’re not going back to the Cren until a bit later. The dangerous looks my Crows passed me in the steam room were quickly followed by all of them robustly laughing. It was slightly exaggerated, but I joined in and tried to keep my air of confidence. And then off we went, looking for a dance and some good music. Here we are, we found it. Past midnight, getting on, most people are already in bed, but in the Carnal Inn, a fire keeps the place warm as day, a bard plays a quiet song and the adults stay up to speak in quiet corners, or drink with their friends, or kiss their lovers. Damion, Rurx and Axe sit by the fire, drinking ale and pretending to like it. Krystoph took my hand and led me to the dance floor. When the bard sung a sad song, Krys placed a hand around my waist and swung me around close, elegant and smooth. I also had my share of ale and I can only smirk up at his crisp smile and curling white-blonde hair. I place a hand on his ear, touching his feather soft hair. “I didn’t know you could dance, Crow, I didn’t know you loved it,” I tell him. “Only with a woman like you,” Krystoph blinks softly, “You’re not so bad yourself, haven’t stepped on my toes yet.” “I had dancing lessons, in time with the beat, I have an air of grace, I’m not clumsy,” I say it all a little bit too fast, overstating the point, so I end up drawling, “Anyway… about before? Perhaps you’d like to enlighten me… did I say the wrong thing, did I secretly upset my Crows?” I whisper this in his ear, “I was joking about the daemons. I prefer men. Not monsters.” “As you should, the daemons are shapeshifters, their true form is rather… arachnid, hairy, spindly, fangs, eight red eyes each…” I pull back from Krys while still holding onto him, my eyes widening. “No,” I say in shock, “You’re joking.” “No,” Krys’ mouth curls up in the corner, “I would not lie to you.” “Spiders?” I whisper in a disgusted squeak, “The Cren are spiders?” “Giant,” Krys cocks a brow, “We couldn’t step on them when we first fought them in battle. We fashioned long swords, you can’t imagine how giant. Or maybe you can. Damion sometimes uses them. Axe made them especially for when we faced them for the first time.” “So the daemons I know, are really giant, disgusting spiders, who pretend to look like my Crows,” I must visibly look a shade of green right now, “My goodness, Krystoph – thank you for telling me. I won’t ever have to see that version of them, right?” “No,” Krys laughs and shakes his head, “They don’t want you too scared. And they can’t do much but spin you in a web and their fangs would kill you. Shapeshifting allows contact.” “Well, well… it’s a relief to know they don’t want to show me that side of them,” I say it until I realise with a grim frown… Priscilla is still in the Eye, in their dungeon, “Priscilla.” “Tomorrow is more appropriate, Ana,” Krys reassures me, “Not tonight while your strength is down. They won’t harm her. They won’t risk acquiring your hate. They want your affection.” “Hm…” I slowly shake my head, “I demand we train every day now, I don’t want a break from learning to fight. I refuse to summon the Cren if we are capable of fighting the Mal ourselves. We have each other.” “…you’ve come far since we first met, stronger, wiser… among other things,” Krystoph has high regard for me, I hear it. “I am grateful to hear nice words from you, it means a lot,” I kiss Krystoph quickly and lean back, my eyes heavy, “I’m oh so tired… I could fall asleep in your steady arms, my Crow.” “Already?” Krystoph seems far too awake, but I close my eyes and rest my cheek on his chest, feeling myself doze off as he swings me around and hoists me up in his arms. I didn’t think I could fall asleep so quickly, but I was exhausted. I am completely zapped of energy. I nap in my Crow’s arms, as they all escort me back to my bedchamber, back to my bed. No trouble comes. Although I fall asleep on Krystoph’s side, sharing the bed with him, while Rurx nuzzles into my hair, his arm around my waist. We fall asleep haphazardly and I wake up bleary eyed, to the sun shining in through the stained glass. I’m awake. I maybe slept 3 hours. They had been waking me up early all week for training, and my body had gotten used to it. Looks like I wasn’t the only one tired from last night, because for once I wake up first. I feel Rurx’s chest is warm against my spine, his lips across my shoulder as he breathes deep, his lungs strong, breathing slow. Krystoph is buried in my chest, between my breasts, my hands in his hair. He drools into the sheets while I look across the bedchamber and I see Damion passed out on the couch and Axe asleep on the floor by the fire, a cushion for a pillow, a small lap blanket for warmth. As I shift to my side, I have to pull Krys’ face off my tits and I feel Rurx becoming restless behind me, suddenly waking. He kisses my shoulder and holds me a little firmer. He makes a low grumbly noise and rolls back onto the sheets, taking me with him. I turn into Rurx’s front, his hair is actually a tad messy for once, although I’m sure mine looks like a wisped up rat’s nest. I smile a bit and faceplant into his chest, “… ‘ood ‘ornin’…” good morning, I murmur quietly, “…o…” Crow. “Sleep more,” Rurx commands me, lowering his tone a bit, “…it’s a day off…” “Mm?” I lean against him as he pulls me into his side, up a bit higher, resting his chin on my temple, his hand squeezing my waist, running down to my thigh and back up again. “…you did well… today you’re bedbound…” Rurx speaks lazily and sleepily, but also with hidden intent. I slide my cheek along his hard shoulder, catching his eye, “What?” I whisper. “Hm?” “What do you mean, I’m bedbound today?” I whisper even quieter. Rurx manages a devilish smirk. “Never you mind, just go back to sleep,” Rurx lowers his tone, it’s non-negotiable. I huff out a breath and try to relax. It’s not too hard with Rurx’s hypnotic hand rubbing up and down my side slowly. Krys uses some lucidity to move closer to me, putting a hand over me and palming my breasts, his other hand slides over my waist and down between my legs, cupping my pussy. Krystoph falls back asleep with a finger on my clit. I slowly glare up at Rurx without a word. My glare, however, quickly turns to submission when his hard gaze is returned a thousand fold and it reminds me a bit of his anger last night. When I was joking how they couldn’t satisfy me as well as the daemons. Who were arachnids and I didn’t even know. So gross. But if it was the truth, Krystoph telling me that had pushed me closer to them. My Crows. My men. Not my daemons. “I’m sorry for what I said,” I try the other route, an apology, “Last night,” I circle a finger over Rurx’s chest, “Sorry I was so silly. And a bad wife. I have a bad mouth. Probably my Mal blood.” “It’s alright,” Rurx continues to rub my hip, slowly, “You’ll behave today.” “Oh, I will?” I don’t know why it has to sound so much more sassy than I intend it too. Or maybe it’s just my brain catching up with my tongue two seconds later but the words are already out. “Mm,” Rurx makes a purely masculine noise. A warning. A promise. Oh, no. “You’re going to all play with me today, aren’t you?” I ask a little louder, staying still against him as I feel my own flesh heat up some more. With anticipation. Excitement– “Mm,” Rurx makes the same noise, but he delights me with some more effort when he leans down and bites my ear, “Sleep,” an equally tough and bitten command, “You’ll wake busy and you’ll be busy till nightfall. Anastasia. Rest while you can. Believe me. You’ll need it.” “I’m still a princess,” I murmur, so quiet it’s barely audible, as I tap my fingers against him. “You’re a wife, and my god, a terrible one,” Rurx snarls this for me alone, trying not to wake his brothers in arms, “You’re a good princess. You’re a good fighter. You’re a total nuisance when you’re naked. Today you’ll be bound, quiet and still. Our word will be your command. You will respect your men. Sleep with those words in mind. Until they sink in.” “Mmk,” one other noise and I sound like a complete brat, “I’ll try. I swear it.” “I’m still tired, Ana, would you please go back to sleep?” Rurx growls from his chest. I relax myself and start to doze off. I guess I can sleep for a bit longer and Rurx finally rewards me for my compliance, “Good,” he murmurs, at peace, “You won’t regret us, princess, I promise… you’re safe with us,” Rurx moves closer one more time, leaning down, but instead of biting my ear, he kisses it softly, “…you are cherished… I love you like light itself… now sleep… sh, now.” Like a spell charged with nothing but a plain and honest truth; I’m asleep. Because with those sweet last words; I’m at peace. My Crows and I. They’re not my tormentors. They’re my friends. My lovers. My protectors. With them, I can face the grey of the Eye. Tonight, I’d be ready to retrieve a different princess, my brother’s princess, from the horrors within that realm. How hard can it be? Thwarting daemons. When I had love on my side from the men who defeated those hairy, daemonic fuckers. My loves. My knights. And I’d have them all day today, worshipping me, worshipping them. I simply cannot wait. I used to be so intimidated by them. Now, I feel like I make their match.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 28 ◉●•◦ I sleep again, wedged between Rurx and Krys. But not for long. They’re out longer than me. I slip from between them and I grab a grey day dress from the wardrobe, tiptoeing out of my bedroom and spending a couple of hours that morning in the library. I sit beneath the Mother of Wrath, reading through one of my favourite romance novels. A Vampire on the verge of death, desperate for blood, fresh out of the grave, is saved by a lone female peasant. She hates seeing wounded men, and she doesn’t care he is a daemon. She saves the tortured man, tortured by thirst. He leaves, scared by his new power, only to return to save the same girl from a nasty fate, where she was accused of stealing from the King of Guardian. The vampire, however, was a fallen prince and the King’s lost son, and he saves her from her planned execution. The vampire prince can’t ascend to the mortal throne, and the mortal peasant can’t ascend to queen. So, the prince gives up his prestige of living in the palace, to living in a village with his mortal sweet girl. She saves him, he saves her, they give up everything associated with power to choose peace and love, a basic life, no more expectations beyond contributing to the village and helping their neighbours. I like this particular story because they don’t end up ruling the realm, but choosing nothing, nothing but each other. Power doesn’t win. Nor material desires. Only the need for both characters to keep being around each other. True love. A tale of the truest kind – “Reading all morning, princess Anastasia?” I hear a familiar curt voice and look up to see a flash of strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes, more green than before, now focused on me sitting at the base of the statue. Soren is here with his brother Fanguard, dressed in their purple royal garb. The Mal Princes are still in the Cren, I had completely forgot about the fact they came here, scared of the power of evil and magic being released into the realm. “Yes,” I close the book and I hold it on my lap as they hold books of their own, about the history of wars across the land, “You’re still here? You know the realm will be protected by my Crows and I, as we slaughter the born in evil to protect the realm?” “We stayed awhile longer because Damion asked about our Mal blood,” Soren explains, “Seems to think you have Mal in you.” “Well,” I blush at the thought, “I might,” I murmur quietly, “You stayed for that reason?” “We wanted to thank you for welcoming us,” Fanguard mentions, “And also, a proposition,” he looks at Soren, and Soren looks at Fanguard. “You say it,” Soren grits his teeth. “You’re symbolically attached in a Mal made bond to the Cren,” Fanguard mentions, “We’re experts in Mal, though you may not know how. You’d best be married to Mal, allying our kingdoms.” “I’m married to the Dark Overseers of the Eye,” I tell them carefully, “I can’t marry anyone else.” “But we offer a political alliance in reality… you are yourself, turned to Monster,” Fanguard mentions. “So why ask for my hand?” “Come with us to Mal,” Soren mentions, “Before you decide. Come to our land. Look around, take in the difference. This place is devoid of practices in the Clandestine. We have secrets you’d find useful to your quest in quelling evil from flooding both our lands.” “…but… all I know is Mal women are stereotyped as… promiscuous,” I finally stand up, smoothing out my dress, “I will not come with you to your home, I thank you for the offer but I live here, and I protect the realm from the Eye, I need access to it at all times. I need to find ways to subdue my daemon husbands, I need to train with my Crows. I am very busy. I don’t have time to be a princess anymore. One moon prior, I would have seriously considered the offer. You are too late.” “Do you know how to write the Maleficent alphabet?” Soren changes the subject, “Spell language.” “Never heard of it,” I speak uncomfortably. “It’s Mal secret,” Soren lowers his tone, “You’d be a fine Queen Anastasia – and now we know you have Mal in you, you’re capable of spanning your rule to two Kingdoms. We are connected to all things Mal.” “Mal magic is abhorred across the realm,” I whisper, “I don’t need to become an expert in blood magics. It’s not in my interest. You can delve in it all you want, you were born in it.” “You don’t see your advantage, you don’t need to crack bones and bleed the poor, you simply drink the blood your loyal peasants give to you, but if you say the words we know, you’ll also be a witch,” Fanguard broaches this topic without hesitation, which I find offensive. “I don’t want to be a witch,” I hiss, “How dare you suggest this – I am loyal to the Cren. You were welcome here in time of crisis. When we were all at threat. I have never agreed with your Kingdom’s policy in making witches and warlocks common amongst innocent mortals, a kingdom full of mischief where the tricksters evade law and justice, I will not participate in trickery or cheating. I am already ashamed to have Mal in my blood.” “…because the monsters are seduced by you?” Fanguard asks, laughing haughtily, “It’s your advantage.” “It’s none of your business.” “Think of our words as friendly,” Soren hesitates in touching me, but decides a hold on my shoulder is necessary to keep me there before I barge past them both, “I will teach you the letters if you wish it. We’re returning to our Kingdom in a few days, but we’ll wait for your answer until then. If you don’t want to adventure across into our Kingdom, we will not bother you again.” I see Soren is serious, his scarred lip is not curling into a smile. His offer is valid. Fanguard can’t keep the silly look off his face, his hand covered in the gold rings, reaches up, as he takes a black handkerchief out of his breast pocket. He tucks it into my hand, which I have not offered out in any way. “Thanks?” I respond, sour and sassy, “Now step out of my space.” With my ice cool response, I notice a small smile on Soren’s lips, only for a moment. Probably since I scolded Fanguard more. I now walk past them both. “What if I told you, you’re a Fire Seer now?” I had been stalking away with a quick swiftness when Fanguard opened his gob one more time. I halt. I turn around and see Soren giving a nasty side eye to his older brother, before looking at me, worried that it comes across as manipulation. That they want a Seer, not a Queen. Seeing the future was an invaluable weapon. If I gallivanted into their lands, and it was all a trick, they could make me a hostage, force me to see the future, controlling me with Mal warlock wizardry. Princes had the most intense training in such arts. Clandestine. Secret. Bad, bloody power. There was a reason Mal was a small Kingdom, and not flourishing like the Cren. We were the ones to seal the Eye and protect everyone with Ice Seers. It was the failing of that shield, with the destructive Bone army, that reversed the seal on the Eye, opening the realms to danger once again. But with my decisions, as the Dark Overlords’ literal bond to the realm, my arachnid husbands were mine to tame. Every decision I made, could have huge consequences for everyone. I couldn’t just forget my vow to protect the Cren. “Nice try,” I drawl at Fanguard, “But I will not be your puppet.” I turn and I hear Soren sneering at his brother, in a language I do not understand. However, I can’t help but feel bad for his younger brother. I stop hesitantly one more time. “Soren, if you wish to speak to me without your brother, walk with me now,” I call to him, since I feel he may impart a more convincing argument. Fanguard looks taken aback, but he shuts his mouth and broods by the statue, as Soren holds the handle of his sword at his hip, walking for me. We walk together toward the balconies of the library for some fresh air. I lead the way. “Tell me why I’d fit in there?” I ask, curious to know. “There are half breed creatures, half bad, half good, like yourself, we have vampires, werewolves, all half bad, half good, men and women. You are not the only vampire, you have many brethren. They struggle with their darkness, just like you,” Soren sounds sombre and empathetic to their plight. “Are you half anything bad?” I ask him. “No,” Soren shakes his head, “Royal blood controls Mal, we do not become it. We’re High Priests of Clandestine. Ignore my brother, he is an arrogant fool. He’s never bothered with the learning beyond the basics. He is more concerned with the fucking of the pretty daemon girls. There’s more to life than endless sex. You can imagine the supply,” I’m impressed by Soren’s lean to intellect, over barbaric, base desires. My Crows weren’t so good at that themselves. Sex obsessed. Not that I was much better. But still, Soren’s outlook is refreshing. We stop by a balcony railing, and I lean back on it as I smile up at Soren, who’s looking more relaxed now without Fanguard hovering over him. Fanguard was older, taller and more broad, but Soren was slightly shorter, with a more agile look about him. He’s still taller than me. But he’s clean and well dressed without too much gold. He reminded me of one of my Crows. “You wouldn’t happen to know Krys personally?” I ask, carefully, now that I can see Soren’s features without the hard crease of annoyance. “Krystoph,” Soren uses his full name, “Mal born from his look – I do not know him.” “So he’s from the Mal Kingdom?” I ponder this, tapping my fingers along my chin, “Hmm… and what your brother said before, you seemed quite angry he told me I could be a Fire Seer?” “He shouldn’t have said that,” Soren explains, “I did not want to offend you.” “Because I was an Ice Seer?” I ask, smiling at the thought of it, “I feel no loyalty to the Ice, I’m glad the glacier has melted.” “Do your Crows satisfy you?” Soren’s question catches me off guard, “I’ve seen them. Formidable men. They are not born from any special class. They’re just lowborn warriors who grew their power through teamwork. What they’ve achieved is great, but they do act lowborn.” “They can,” I agree with this awkwardly, “I know they’re not from prestigious families.” “Your children will have problems, Ana,” Soren speaks too plain, with no expression of sympathy for them, or me, “You need to have legitimate children.” “…you’ve said more than enough now,” I take a step back from him, “My Crows are waiting for me.” “I mean no offense,” Soren speaks with no remorse for insulting my Crows, “If you change your mind and you decide to look through our lands, you can visit with them, princess, be my guest. They are no threat to me,” he moves off now, not in the mood to negotiate. Soren moves off into the library, and I watch as Fanguard comes out briefly, and he swoops low to my ear, to speak a few words, “The handkerchief is for Priscilla, that poor girl, free her with it.” Fanguard turns on his heel to follow Soren. Though they do not like one another, they are still close brothers in some regards. I now look at the handkerchief in my hand. With their spider emblem, it’s stitched into one corner with black silk over the black material… and I see writing across the material. In the sun, it glitters. I can’t recognise the symbols, I can’t read the Clandestine. It’s magic. A taste of what they have to offer. I’d be a fool to throw it aside. Tristen would be angry if I threw away anything that could help me free his love tonight from the dungeons of the Eye. I get swept away into my thoughts and I do not hear Axe approaching me a minute after the Princes of Mal are gone. He speaks behind me, “What did they want?” Axe sounds both angry and on edge, with a hint of insecurity. I shake myself out of my thoughts, as I turn to my Crow, “Help for Priscilla,” a white lie, I hold up the handkerchief to show Axe as I hurriedly step into his front, leaning a hand on his shift. He just woke up and he isn’t wearing armour or his robes. With the change in weather, this light clothing is more appropriate anyway. “Is that why they whisper into your ears?” Axe looks down his nose at me, “Hm?” “They’re Princes, of course they flirt with Princesses,” I roll my eyes, “It’s no worry to you, my dear Crow.” “Best not be, wouldn’t want to be starting wars over one pussy,” Axe says it in such a way, that I mistakenly laugh, only to cut off my own sound to realise how serious he is being. “Oh, you’re… not joking,” I change my tune, “…you’re saying you’d kill them if they wanted to steal me away?” I’m morbidly curious for the answer. Axe’s slow, lethal smirk and a flash of his Soul Swiping eyes is all I get, “Well. No need to fret, my dearest blacksmith. Besides, I believe I’m bedbound today,” I whisper instead, “I ran away to the library, I’m very naughty, my Crow. You know I’m seduced by fantasy. I am planning my next outfit, I take the stories I read as inspiration.” “Mm… I know,” I can hear that Axe doesn’t believe me for a second about the princes specifically, “I guess we’ll have to torture you for the information, since you hide it behind those sapphire eyes that do not lie.” “I am not lying,” I both gasp and gawk as Axe slips an arm around my shoulders, and walks me back to the bedroom at a leisurely pace, a knowing smile on his face. “You think I don’t understand women?” Axe asks, “You’ll admit the transgression, then you’ll take the punishment. You know your tits are mine to punish.” “Don’t speak with such vulgar things out here,” I growl, “People may hear.” “Just know. Ana. Wherever you go, princess… we go,” Axe leans closer to me, smelling my hair and kissing my temple, “We follow.” “…is that a threat?” I growl out, “Why would I go anywhere without my Crows, anyway?” “It doesn’t matter. Wherever you go,” Axe repeats himself, “We follow.” “I heard you the first time.” “Did you, though?” Axe holds back a sharp laugh, but he is not amused. “I don’t want a war,” I get snappish, “I’m becoming rather thirsty, I need blood.” Axe and I reach my slightly ajar bedroom door. I am slightly hesitant, as I try to compose myself first, running a hand through my hair and licking my lips. “Nervous?” Axe drawls. “Priscilla,” I whisper, “Thinking of saving her.” Axe opens the door and ushers me inside a bit rough, “Don’t lie to me. You’re nervous because you’re bad at twisting truths.” I stumble in and stop with my arms crossed over my chest. Damion, Rurx and Krystoph are lounging on the bed, with breakfast trays on their shorts, as they eat fancy cakes and scones with butter, clinking tea cups. With Axe’s voiced protest, they turn to see me looking feral and annoyed, while Damion raises a brow. “What have you done now, princess?” Damion sips from a ridiculous tea cup, too small for his large hands, “Looking a little ratty.” “I do deserve some privacy, a respect that is for all men, yet with me, you need to know, you must know every word spoken around me,” I growl at Damion and I turn to glare at Axe, who is hovering near me, looking me up and down, his hands reaching for my waist and my dress, “What are you…?” I whisper off breathlessly as he carefully rides up my dress, exposing my bare ass – only to give me a quick hard spank forward. I leap forward, squeaking, and Damion, Krys and Rurx enjoy the little skip and jump I just performed for Axe’s rough hand. “Apologise,” Axe wanders around me, circling me. “What did she do?” Damion asks Axe instead, “Brother?” “I was reading a book,” I tell them all, “Then I was approached by Soren and Fanguard, and we spoke briefly.” “About what?” Axe asks again, happy I admitted some of it. But now I keep my lips firmly shut and carefully eye Axe as he rounds me. “None. Of. Your. Business,” I answer on each of his steps closer to me. Axe stops in front of me until we’re half flush, and he can step around me at a moment’s notice. But he pauses, watching my eyes skitter back and forth across his own, waiting for his reaction. “Say it,” Axe speaks with a poison, but his mouth holds back a curling smile, “Or you get taken on the floor.” “I’d enjoy that,” I smirk back at him, hoping this is a chance to change the subject. “Mm, but would you?” Axe pretends to threaten me, side stepping to my back, standing behind me as I stand stock still, head held up high, back straight. “It’s alright,” Damion drawls, with a dark look in his eyes, “Your silence is enough motivation. The Princes die at midnight, when I release the daemon.” No – what?! “No, why?” I break my composure, my arms dropping to my sides. “No one touches you,” Damion looks grim, “No one.” “They did not. They simply offered to marry me,” I say the truth. Rurx is so furious and shocked that he spits out his tea all over Krys, who wipes up the mess with a napkin, glaring at Rurx… now all three of them are silently glaring at me. “…and what did you say to them?” Axe finally asks me and I jump an inch into the air, forgetting he was standing right behind me. Damn interrogating Crows. “I said what I said,” I answer, now suddenly feeling absolutely stubborn, refusing to answer them. “She said what she said,” Axe repeats me, barely holding back a chuckle, “This princess…” his hand softly glides through the back of my hair, making neat of the wispy pile of silver and black strands, “…we finally get to the truth… you think you’re above us?” I hate the way he’s asked it. They’re all looking angry now. “You’ve always served me,” I answer, “You are my Crows. Even your daemons serve me. Yes, I perform my duty as a wife. But. Nothing has changed the fact you are my Knights. My Crows. Mine. In service of the Cren’s Royal family. As you always have been.” “…mm,” Axe tries to understand, “We mean nothing, do we? Swords and cocks. That’s what you see in us – is that all?” “Look who’s talking. You only see my tits and pussy,” I spin to Axe, pointing at his chest, “You only see me as a woman to ravage. And a Crow just this week.” Axe breaks his composure, his green eyes now filled with a fury of ego and pain. “You are not a Crow!” Axe snarls, and I stumble back a step, keeping my finger to myself before he bites it off, “Crows are loyal… you are not so, which makes you…  nothing but a whore.” I knew Axe had a temper, but every word cuts straight to my soul because he means it. I did not deserve this! No matter how jealous and possessive they were. That was too much. I feel tears drown my eyes, his snarl feels like a slap to the face. I can’t keep my head up. Overcome by tears, I run for the door and I wrench it open, running down the hall. “Ana! Wait!” I hear Damion yell after me immediately, and he at least sounds pissed at Axe, snarling at him behind my back, “You idiot! She’s fragile!” But I don’t want to stop and face that man again. They were meant to protect me, not slander me. Yes, I was a princess and so I would get offered hands. It did not make me the slut. What the fuck kind of backwards bullshit logic was that? Axe just hates and distrusts everyone except his Crow brothers. And I? He said it like I’d never become it. I am not a Crow. I am just a woman. And he made me feel fucking worthless. I know I am overcome with emotion right now, but I feel hatred pooling in my heart for Axe. All I want to do is run. Run far away. To anywhere but near the Knights who would follow me, but I was done being a ragdoll toy between them. But Soren wasn’t wrong – they weren’t anything special. They were rough battle worn men. And they were good at blood and strategy and conquering. And they made a damn job out of conquering me every damn day – they knew nothing else. It used to be so much fun. Now I just want to scream.

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 29 ◉●•◦ I know Damion on my butt will mean I won’t get far if I run in a straight line, so I use my knowledge of the Cren to hide from him. I slip into an alcove behind a large statue. This one is in the scribe’s corridor. I rarely came down this part as it was mostly legal matters. Damion passes by calling for my name, but he only lingers in the hall down here for a moment before continuing down the stairs for the kitchen. I feel bad in the sense that I knew he seemed genuine in wanting to halt me and assure me that Axe was just an ill-tempered fool. But right now, I am weak with the need from blood and the combined ache in my chest. Insults could be passed around so easily. And my Crows loved to tease and bully me at times and I loved to tease them right back. However, I thought from the training in how to become a Crow, we had mostly moved past the divide between them and I. Their number one priority was defending the realm and being warriors. Even though I fancied being a warrior too – I was also a woman. And what Soren and Fanguard confronted me about sent me into a bit of an internal crisis. Who would I marry? Politically? I thought marrying the Cren was a bond of loyalty in the Eye – but I assumed it extended into reality. My Crows were my husbands, but if Soren and Fanguard dismissed them so easily, did others too? What was my Father saying, as King, was he saying I was still available to marry? I have not noticed this statue before but it reminds me of the Mother of Wrath, but different in appearance. This female statue has no weapon, and no tears, instead, she’s dancing with a snake wound around her arms and shoulders. I sit behind it and look up at the sculpture. I had read a story about the Snake Dancer. Maybe she was the inspiration behind it. The story is vague in my mind since I read it long ago, but I do remember the snake was her companion, her best friend. While it brought her peace, it also meant she was shunned by everyone. Everyone was scared of the snake, even though she was delicate and small and harmless. A small, quiet spoken and elegant dancer. She’s looking over her shoulder in the pose of her dance, and the snake is wound around the wrist, looking down at me. The only thing I can understand from that story is the juxtaposition of what it means to be female. Soft and quiet. Alluring to scary creatures. Shunned not for being the female things, but for what we attracted. The power we held. Axe shunned me because I attracted the attention of Soren and Fanguard. Soren and Fanguard were weary regardless because I attracted Crows and Daemons. I was somehow the villain. It wasn’t fair. I was just a princess trying to survive as best as I could with no mother and no sisters! I’m guessing the sweet quiet dancer lived a life of solitude while basking in her own power with her one creepy reptilian eyed companion. I glance around the statue and I see the expression of the dancer. She’s smiling, eyes downcast on the snake. I hear a door creak open and some scribes walk out, so I hide back around the statue, kneeling down, I notice a carving on the back of the foundation stone. An eye with eight legs for eyelashes. I hold out the handkerchief and I touch the marking. Is this a gate to the Eye? A backwards entry? As I think it, the statue whispers into my head, a feminine confirmation… yessss. “Take me to the Eye,” I whisper, and then I close my eyes and open them when I feel a shift in the air. Grey overtones. A warmth of a dream. I’m not in the scribe’s hall, I’m in a dark, rank, spider webbed place. The statue is still above me, but she’s dancing in a different position. She’s holding the snake above her head, on one set of tip toes while the snake winds back down around her arm. The statue is dark and covered in small spiders down here. I go to slip out of the statue, to find Priscillia on my own. I don’t move more than an inch around it when I spot one huge hairy white spider with red eyes, looking into a spidery cell. One of the Cren. In Arachnid form. I freeze and don’t breathe as I see the edge of a pink dress trailing along the cell floor. I pray as the spider reaches out a leg, that I’m not about to see her corpse get dragged out. I’m frozen as I watch Priscilla step forward with something in her hand, speaking to the spider as it’s curious about what’s in her hand. It looks like a little… rat? It’s injured, and has a pink scrap of material around it’s leg. “You should take better care of your friends in the Eye,” Priscilla scolds the giant spider, “See? He broke his little leg scampering down here… no, I don’t need anything. I don’t seem to have an appetite down here. I’m happy to wait for my lover to come get me, please stop fussing,” Priscilla sighs as if she’s hearing thoughts from the concerned spider, “I guess… I’m bored… perhaps you can give me a book to read? Yes, I know the Maleficent Alphabet. If that’s all you have, I’ll take it… no…” Priscilla laughs, “I’m not a witch – I’m just educated. Thank you for checking on me, anyway. I’ll look after the baby rat – don’t worry about me.” The spider eventually turns and I hide, peaking around the side of the statue, I see the hairy legs of the spider as it scampers up the steps. I physically recoil, but I make sure I don’t make a noise just yet. Priscilla is not left alone for long. Soon the cyclops comes walking down with a lantern. Beroki was his name. He sits outside the dungeon cell and asks if Priscilla is lonely. She murmurs quietly back and I can’t really hear. “Would you like a book on torture, or magnificent forms of death?” Beroki scratches his head, “Or… we have books about manifesting terrible critters to perform weaving work? You could fashion yourself a dress.” “I would like a new dress, if you can read the title of the book with your bad eye, I’d appreciate the read,” Priscilla sends Beroki on his way. After a few minutes, there’s nothing but silence and I’m confident no more arachnid Overseers are coming to check on Priscilla for a while. I run over quickly with the handkerchief and when I reach the bars of her dungeon – which are crooked and rather open, allowing her to leave whenever she likes, Prisicilla is nursing the baby rat in her palm, rocking it to sleep. She looks up with a shock at my appearance. “Hello,” I whisper with my finger to my lips, speaking as quietly as possible. I duck through the bars and I hold out the handkerchief, “You can read the Clandestine? There is a spell on this to help you escape… also I’m sorry… that I didn’t come sooner,” I apologise at the end, “…you’re okay?” “It’s been an adventure,” Priscilla whispers back, eyes wide with relief that someone had finally come to free her. “They treated you okay?” I ask, pretending I didn’t witness their fretting nature around the only moral stuck in the Eye. “Yes. I won’t leave just yet, Ana. I don’t want to wake the baby rat… as for the Cren, they are friendly to females…” Priscilla seems confident in this, and I notice her body is unmarked by bites or bruises, so I know they truly let her be. “They were meant to put a charm on me so they won’t harm you for being tricked instead,” I’m happy when she takes the handkerchief, and I stand back in the cell, “I can’t stay for long – but I’m thinking you should use that at night. There’s also a portal behind the statue at the end, to the right – I snuck in here.” “I’ll use it after I know this little one can walk. How is Tristen?” Priscilla frowns, “I know he’ll be beside himself.” “He is,” I nod, “But he trusts me to free you.” “Thank you for the key out of here,” Priscilla quickly interjects before I run out, “Ana…” “Yes?” I turn back to her with a nod, “I can’t stay too long, or they’ll sense me.” “The Cren,” Priscilla wants to tell me this, “They whisper about you all the time, they’re so in love it’s quite the spell. As far as I know, it’s your Mal blood. They are in awe of you.” “The Mal in me, it’s detested in our world,” I grimace, “But I guess with them it’s an advantage.” “I don’t know if you have to try so hard,” Priscilla speaks this with full confidence, “Don’t fight it if they’re not fighting you.” “They send me little monsters to kill,” I open my hand, “…little monsters that want to kill me. The Cren want my head. Funny way to show love.” “Maybe you should try to pet them?” Priscilla asks, “The little monsters they send after you.” “Pet them?” I ask with a monotone, “I…” “The first time I saw the spiders I screamed so loud they left me alone for a day and night, but eventually I whispered for them to come back – I was going a bit nuts alone in here… and they did return… and they were pleasant,” Priscilla shrugs a shoulder, “You should test your word. You’re a Monster Queen. The little monsters have to listen to you,” I take in the advice with a heavy silence, because it feels like the right answer, “Go,” Priscilla mouths the word, as if she senses Beroki’s return. I duck out of her corner and run back to the statue. I swear the Snake Dancer looked at me and smiled sweetly. I don’t have time for a chat now, unfortunately. I hide behind her and put my hand on the eye with legs. Huh. Okay. This little trip wasn’t such a waste. I wasn’t exactly a victim to the Cren – as the Crows had made me believe at times. Perhaps I was a force. A Mal force. “Monster tamer?” I whisper to the statue before I go. Yesss. She sounds so happy answering this. “I wish to go back home,” I whisper. I close my eyes and the magic whirls around me, taking me back to daylight. I open my eyes, and I’ve returned without detection. I swivel around the statue and I head back to my bedroom. My Crows are gone but little Damion is sitting at my door, eating a cookie. “Hey, Ana!” he jumps to his feet with a grin, “I was stationed here in case you came back up.” “Where are the Crows, Damion?” I ask, knowing they’re running around looking for me. Damion jnr offers me half of his cookie and I take it, the small act of generosity making me beam with a smile as we turn and walk together. “The Crows were armoured up and skipping as they put their boots on, they are in love with you, princess,” Damion jnr speaks dramatically, like a story teller, “I saw Axe crying –” “No,” I gawk. “I swear it, tears running down his asshole face, red eyes and all,” Damion jnr is both amazed and confused, “Kept saying ‘fuck, fuck!’ I think they thought you were taking a horse to ride out.” “They thought I was running away?” I almost choke on the cookie, “They’re probably riding out for me.” “I’d say so, they’ll be back soon, because I’m going to light a fire in the tower, the smoke will bring them back,” Damion jnr directs me to the stairs and we go up to the tower together. I see a pile of neat dry wood Damion stacked up already. Damion lights it with flint and steel and we both watch the wood burn. “I need to run some errands,” Damion jnr looks anxious to get moving, a busy little squire, “Do you need anything?” “No, go on,” I hold open the door for him and he runs off. I turn back to the fire and I see the flames are moving out in a strange aura. Fire Seer, huh? I get closer to the wood pile and I kneel beside it, as I just look into the flames and wait. The fire shows me what’s coming. It’s actually working – and it doesn’t require much effort. I use the same technique as I did with the Ice, but instead of touching the fire, I just let the warmth take me into a vision. I close my eyes and the image becomes a lot clearer. Well… murky around the edges, aside from the central image. I see the back of a gothic throne. The tips of a crown. The silence is deafening. I swivel around the throne, and to do that, I have to stand and pivot around the fire with my eyes closed – safe to say, I move carefully, without opening my eyes, because I don’t want to break the vision. When I reach the side, I see a King’s profile, as he reclines on the throne, with a snake tattoo over his eye and brow. The snake’s mouth is open, fangs dripping as it looks like it’s going to swallow his eye – but it’s just a tattoo. The King turns his head and looks right at me, with bright and violet eyes, tinged with green. “Who are you?” I ask the apparition. He’s no one I’ve ever met. “Princess of the Cren… I released the Mal,” he welcomes and answers me at the same time, with a calm sort of violence about him – I bet he is a warrior, “…and the Bone…” I blink. No one really knew why the Boned people had overrun the land, killing us all. “…you’re a King… of… what? Are you… Soren and Fanguard’s father?” with my question, he just smiles wickedly with no direct answer for my question, “King of Mal?” I ask instead. “The King, Anastasia,” he blinks once. “Of?” I really want clarity, I want to know why he’s in my vision. “The King,” he repeats again, “And if you’re smart – you’ll bow and be my Queen.” “But. What are you?” I ask, “A daemon… and what kind?” The King stands up, “I’m a Daemon Slayer. Like your Crows,” he steps toward me, as if he might reach out and touch me. I dance back and keep walking around the throne, he’s giant like Damion, and quick too, I stumble back awkwardly, “…you might want to open your eyes… you’re on Fire.” I feel it burning my feet just as he says that and I jolt back to reality, after stepping through the fire – I scream as I thrust the dress off my body and stamp out the flames. I turn back to the fire. The King. He’s still looking at me – and I’m now naked. “Careful, my Queen.” He was definitely bred in the Mal. Something about his aura was menacing. His voice tapers off into the air, and his portrait disappears in the flames. I notice at the last minute, he has blonde hair – like Soren and Fanguard. But I don’t think he is their father. I pick up my dress now that the fire has been extinguished. The edges are frayed and the grey is a bit shorter, but it’s still wearable. I shake it out and slip it back on. I don’t really know if the Fire took me to the future… or the present. It kind of felt like the present. I can’t tell. But that King looked awfully relaxed, yet determined. I wonder about Soren and Fanguard running from him. Was he their father? He looked too young. Was he a rival? Did he chase them out of their Mal Court? Who was he? Whoever he was. He seemed to think he ruled it all. Which means I have to tell my father – we have a problem in the Cren. Was that a war declaration? Asking me to bow to him? It seemed a valid warning enough, calling me his Queen – the kind you attain through conquering a land and taking the women as war trophies. I guess baby Daemon monsters crawling out of the cracks in the earth weren’t our only problems up above. Rival kingdoms were on the rise. There was no more time for fun and games. I think of Damion jnr. being sent to war. Or my Cren Overlords being targeted for slaughter by a Daemon Slayer. I won’t have it. We had to settle this peacefully if we could. If we could. But how?

◦•●◉ RING OF CREN Chapter 30 ◉●•◦ I have come to my father in the throne room, he is currently sitting with Tristen who is helping to hold counsel, while Deren and Eli are not present and are probably playing chess elsewhere. I have told the King about my vision, seeking advice. He already knows whom I saw in the fire. “My daughter. You saw Mirat in the fire, he is the Mal’s Daemon Slayer,” my father explains, with Tristen looking pale at the mention of his name, “He is very meticulous in planning. He is ageless like the Crows, but to embody Maleficence…” “Evil intentions must flow through you,” Tristen murmurs, his eyes dark as he finishes the sentence, “You must sacrifice the good full-blood mortals to Maleficence. You must break half their bones, steal one eye, drain half their blood – for the Mal spirit to be awakened, then supernatural beings are born, mortals become beasts. The Ring of Mal stays on the hand of the King. When the Ring is turned, when the Maleficence is released, it’s a plague on the people. Hunger and lust is released at once. Mortals become targets of the attacks by the half-beasts. The Mal is full of vampires, werewolves, deformed witches and lame warlocks. You can be sure they are beasts when you hold up fire, one eye will be charged with purple and green fire. The colours of the Mal Kingdom are royal purple tinged with green. Soren and Fanguard were both born into royalty and royal Mal blood is immune from supernatural magic. That is why their family has always ruled. They are not Beasts. They are resistant and must protect their citizens. Clearly, their King has been replaced by Mirat.” “Mirat had purple and green eyes in the vision, both eyes, but he claimed to be full mortal,” I add, “What does that mean?” “The Mal spirit resides in him, sharing his body,” Tristen explains, knowledgeable about the lore with all the books he has read and studied. “And what is the Mal?” I ask. “The Snake Dancer,” Tristen surprises me with this, “She’s a young child, with a pet snake. She is Maleficence.” “I thought she was a grown woman in the story?” I ask, “Although my memory has patches, I don’t remember. I read it long ago.” “There are romanticised scripts about her, but the true Mal is just a child,” Tristen is sure, “And she is pure evil.” For some reason this strange twist doesn’t sit right with me. For now, I just nod. “Before you go, Ana,” my father rises from his throne, “Soren and Fanguard approached me with their offer for your hand. They want you to see the Mal Kingdom for yourself. My advice is simple – whatever you decide, daughter – bring your Crows with you, always, they are your protection,” my father places his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze, then pulling me in for a tight hug – almost as if he’s saying goodbye. Like he knows I’ll choose to venture into the Mal Kingdom. I had not made my mind, but for now I turn, and when I do – the throne room is silenced by the arrival of my Crows. They’re all sweating and flushed with running back here, boots tracking dirt, their hands on their belts as they glare at me. “Ana,” Damion snaps my name, “What the fuck – where –?” “I was here the whole time, silly Crows,” I roll my eyes and laugh – and the Highborn in the Court laugh too at the high energy of my Knights. Krystoph shakes his head, narrowing his eyes. His appearance is ruffled for once and it amuses me. Rurx is silent and just staring at me in disbelief, but soon he’s glaring at Damion, who clearly led the charge out of the Kingdom for no reason. Axe… he is lingering behind the three, he looks at me with a clenched jaw, looking guilty, knowing he caused this drama in the first place. As I’m approaching them, a servant runs forward with a goblet of blood and I take it and drink it immediately. It calms me and I wipe my lips clean as I turn to leave the room, “Come with me, Crows,” I call to them as if it’s no big deal that their was a massive misunderstanding. Damion, Rurx, Krys and Axe follow begrudgingly. I move up the steps and move back to my bedroom where I open the door and stand back, ushering them in. “You look like you’ve been things and heard things of interest,” Rurx speaks to me as he passes by, “Care to share your morning?” “One moment, Rurx,” I delay him his answer as I put out a hand and stop Axe from entering the bedroom. I step in front of him and push him out, “You can stay on guard out here,” I scold him as I step back and slam the door on his shocked face, “You rude, horrible Crow! This is your punishment! How dare you disrespect your Queen and call me a whore! Learn how to apologise and I better believe it when you say it!!!” I yell it through the door. I lock it with the latch. I turn and see my Crows standing not far off, not wanting to sit, clearly uptight, still. “Oh, for fucks sake,” I sigh, “Get that worried look off your faces! I’m not marrying Fanguard or Soren.” “You could have… said that. Earlier. Ana,” Damion’s tone is quiet but clipped, as he barely reigns in his temper. “It’s been a busy morning, busier than your egos and your cocks – beautiful they may be,” I wiggle my finger, “I’ve been in the Eye. I’ve prepped Priscilla for a grand escape. I’ve seen one of the Cren in their true form. I’ve even practiced my new Fire Seer ability and I foresaw a Daemon Slayer called Mirat – who calls himself King, and I, his Queen,” I say it all with emphasis, my hands flying through the air with each word, “I am so very important – and you lot are silly brutes who have one job – protecting me. Not running after shadows. I was here. The whole time. I simply did not APPRECIATE BEING CALLED A WHORE,” I scream over my shoulder. “…sorry…” I hear a mumble through the wood. Damion opens his mouth and I hold up a hand. “Wait,” I mouth at my three Crows as I turn to the door, “What was that?” I ask Axe. “I’m sorry… my Queen.” I sigh, Axe kind of sounded cute saying that. It sounded sincere to me. I fiddle with the latch and open the door. Axe’s pale cheeks are red with embarrassment as he stalks in past me, standing next to Damion and truly looking like a younger brother in this moment, as he looks to Damion for protection. “Better,” I shut the door and lean back against it, “I was also set on fire,” I pat down the holes across my dress, “But it kind of looks like a fashion statement – also, did you know the Mal is a child with a pet snake? She’s called the Snake Dancer,” my brow twitches up. After all this speech, my Crows are silent. And they’re looking kind of angry. But not necessarily at me. But for another reason. They are horny. Well… well… well… heh. “I can tell you’re all listening to me very hard,” I whisper, smirking a little at their quiet and focused expressions, “…you can take off your clothes now…” I watch them all start to strip simultaneously. Funnily enough, Axe is quickest in his approach. When he’s thrown off his armour and robes and boots and weapons, he walks to me naked – his green eyes stabbing through mine as he clasps my chin. “What do you want?” I lift my head and lick over my fangs, “Crow.” “Get down on your knees,” Axe whispers it, “I’ll make it up to you.” Oh, he’s being sarcastic. But he’s being so nice about wanting me to suck his cock. I slowly slide down the door until my knees touch the ground. I’m face to face with his erect weapon as he holds it and presses the tip to my lips. I look up and hold his Soul Swiping eyes as I stick out my tongue and open my mouth. Axe takes me. He begins to face fuck me gently, a hand on the back of my head – his cock hitting the back of my throat as I suck him in. When I bob my head back and forth, I’m starting to drool all over him, loving the taste of him. Axe starts to move closer, his hand helping me go down further. I gag just a bit, but I’m enjoying it too much to stop. Soon his dick is stretching down into my throat, and Axe is using my whole mouth to suck his shaft, tip to balls. He paces it well, while making me choke at the right times, and then letting me breathe. “Even if you marry a foreign prince,” Axe drawls over me, as he deep throats me a little harder, “You’ll always be my woman.” “Ours… you prick,” I can hear Damion mumbling a growl as the other Crows wait their turn, “Hurry up.” Axe tightens his grip on the back of my head and pushes his hips forward, until his balls are pressed against my chin and his dick is pulsing over my tongue, down my throat. I swallow every bit of his seed, moaning as he pulls out. Every second of sucking his dick just now – was perfect daemonic fun. I enjoyed every moment. Axe waits for me to suckle on the head of his cock, to clean out and swallow any other drops I missed. When I’m done with a kiss on it, he’s happy, stepping to the side. Tension gone. I blink multiple times as I see Damion, Rurx and Krystoph – holding their erect shafts. Three more. Yay! “Crawl to the bed,” Damion murmurs, barely holding back an animalistic growl. I lean forward onto my hands and I start to crawl, while I lick my lips, “You are so fucking perfect.” “She’s not a whore… she’s a Daemon,” Rurx’s eyes flash a glowing devil-red for a split second, and I know the Dark Prince is content in not taking over, but simply watching from inside the mortal body as my Crows prepare to fuck me. “Stick that ass up, honey,” Krystoph lightly taps my butt with his foot as I crawl on by, eyeing the bed, I start to crawl faster. I don’t want to delay this. I had been waiting too long. I barely reach the bed, reaching for the frame – and they swiftly take over – my knights shadowing my movements. Rurx and Krys take a hold of my arms and help lift me up and throw me onto the sheets. Krystoph climbs over my ass, his dick sliding into my pussy, while I watch Damion roll onto the bed, grabbing me and lifting me up, settling me down over his cock – he slides in next to Krystoph and they immediately start fucking my pussy together. Damion’s arm clamps around my waist, holding me close. Krystoph has to drop lower, leaning over me as he fucks my pussy in synchronisation with Damion. My two Crows stretch me out together, while I gasp continuously, my hands grasping for something to hold onto. I grab the sheets and Damion’s arm, my cheek pressed against his torso, to the side. “Oh, oh gosh!” I squeak out as they flatten me between them. They’re heavy and I feel completely controlled by them now. I feel Damion’s right hand slide over my ass, clenching my butt cheek. “Cum hard, brat,” Damion commands me with a snappy tongue, smacking my ass. I squeeze and cry out as Krystoph grabs my hair and pulls on it, lifting my head for Damion to see my expression as they speed up the pace. “Y-you animals,” I accuse them as I have to come to terms with Damion’s relaxed, cruel smile. So loving of my position between them, “You’re m-men but y-you fuck like animals.” Damion releases my waist to be able to grab my other butt cheek. He squeezes my ass in his large hands, kneading my cheeks – making me moan again. His possessive hold and squeezing fingers, combined with their dicks pumping in and out of me – send me over. “I-I’m going to…” I cry out as I orgasm between them fucking me and Damion’s large palms, claiming my cheeks, even now, still kneading into them, massaging my ass. I keep swinging my hips back and forward, my hands now pressed to Damion’s chest, as I lift up a bit and get a better position to move between them, “Yes, yes, yes,” I whisper with my eyes closed. “Move aside,” Rurx makes Krystoph get out of the way, his hard cock slipping from my pussy. Suddenly I have Rurx’s smooth, cooler skin, replacing Krystoph. Rurx’s cock fits snugly next to Damion – who also hasn’t cum yet, but is enjoying my desperately warm and tight pussy, as it clenches over and over my Crows. I bite my lip and open my eyes as Rurx starts to slam home, knocking the breath out of me when he lies on top of me, grabbing the nape of my neck and holding me down on Damion. They both decide together to roll to the side and suddenly they’re pressing me between them, until I’m fever hot. Damion lifts my jelly leg and fucks me from the front, while Rurx licks my neck, and kisses my ear, groaning his pleasure while stretching my pussy and grabbing my tits. Damion’s hands are still on my ass, refusing to let go as he holds me tight against him. “You little cock slave,” Damion grunts over me, “You owe us so much more of this.” My answer is an affirmative and loud cry of pleasure between them, as they grasp and knead my body, all while killing my pussy. “I’m bad,” I whisper out, panting, “So bad and terrible – I want this all the time!” Rurx smiles against my ear, “It’s a promise,” he licks into my ear, “Just ask – we’ll deliver.” “Yes, yes, yes!” I cry out again, and Damion literally bursts out laughing at my enthusiasm. I shut up and blush bright red, and he just releases my butt to hold my throat and lift my face, looking down at my expression while he keeps my pussy working. “Don’t stop,” Damion drawls happily, “Keep crying out for your Crows.” “…but I…” I whisper my sudden shyness from his laugh before, but then they both start to ram into me. My next orgasm is abrupt. It explodes from their rough thrusts, and I scream out with the rising pleasure. They hold me so tight between them – Damion squeezes my throat as I shudder from the second climax. They both slam home and unload together. I feel their dicks side by side, pulsing into me, filling my womb. “Such a good girl,” Rurx compliments me while I’m without my breathe, panting even though they’ve stopped while still squishing me between them. Damion decides to reassure me too, “You’ll get used to it, Ana. Don’t worry.” “Mm,” I moan and bite my lip, “…let’s do it again…” I whisper in excitement, “I want you all to fuck me as much as possible today. Because we’ll be very busy in two days time.” “Mm?” Damion rumbles the question, “…doing what, princess?” “We’re going on an adventure,” I look between them, “To the Mal Kingdom.” “Oh, are we?” Damion blinks slow, staring down at me through a half-hooded stare, “Elaborate.” “I’m going to stop a war,” I grin, “With the Cren.” “Hmmm,” Damion growls over me, frowning but listening. Rurx presses his cheek next to mine, while his finger circles my right nipple, and he pinches it lightly, thinking deeply to himself. “You’re taking the Cren into enemy territory?” Rurx whispers in my ear. “Precisely,” I whisper back. The Daemons inside my Crows were my weapon. I was going to use them. – The End. Please rate/review ‘Ring of Cren’ on Inkitt here xo I will be working on a sequel called Ring of Mal via my patreon for 1 month before I start to release it across my free platforms (Inkitt, Radish and Wattpad)

Also, before you go, I have 2 covers I really love for the sequel, what cover do you prefer? leave a comment and Let me know via my patreon post about Ring of Cren.

Cover 1:

Cover 2:

I used an AI generator to make art of Anastasia 🙂

Rate/review ‘Ring of Cren’ on Inkitt here xo

@authorcswallow

#booktok Ring of Cren, by C. Swallow 🫶 MOOD BOARD! 🌙 🔮 🖤 FREE DARK ROMANCE, updated Wednesdays 👑🖤💅 inkitt.com/csw1995 #bookworm #spicyreads #spicyreads🌶️🔥 #darkromance #romancebooks #romancereader

♬ night vibe – skyfall beats