Dark Lord (3 page)

“There is no clasp.
You’ll have to do it with your mind.”

How was he supposed to do such a thing with his mind?
He didn’t have that ability.
“I cannot.
We’ll have to take you to the village and have one of the blacksmiths cut it.”

“I’m not going to a human village.
Do it with your mind and do it quickly, before the others wake.”

He didn’t know how to help her
.
“Who are you?”

She looked at him with suspicion and her manner was guarded.
“
Helsina
.
Hurry, before it is too late.”

He glanced at Sebastian, who had secured the two hybrids with rope
, then returned his gaze to
Helsina
.
“
There is no rush.”

Sebastian walked toward them and gave the female a hostile look.
“Her collar stays.
It is what hampers her abilities, does it not?”

Helsina
stared at Sebastian in defiance.
“Yes, but without my abilities, I cannot get home.
I would be stranded in this forsaken land.”

“You are not going home.
You’ll have a nice place prepared for you in my dungeon.
A hybrid hostage may come in handy,” Sebastian said.

“You will not take me hostage.
I will not trade one jailer for another.
Try it and I will kill you both.”

Sebastian ignored her warning and
captured her in his arms.
While she struggled, he bound her with rope until her mobility was completely hampered.

Dev
walked closer to his friend and tried to reason with him.
Taking a captive could bring unforeseen consequences and result in undesired complications.
“Let the lady go, Sebastian.
It is clear that the hybrids were holding her against her will.”

“I know what I’m doing, Dev.
She is no innocent victim.
She is the enemy.
In time, there may be a need to exchange hostages to free some of our own people.”

She was the enemy because she was a hybrid.
He was a hybrid also, so would Sebastian one day view him as his enemy?
He hoped not.
He turned behind him as he heard a sound.
One of the hybrids had somehow escaped from his rope bindings and had grabbed his unconscious companion.
He stood upright with the other hybrid in his arms and he glanced at
Helsina
.
Dev
pulled the shiny green weapon out of his cloak and aimed it at the male.

The hybrid stilled as he noticed the weapon aimed at his chest.
“I have to leave you here,
Helsina
.
You’re not worth the trouble to rescue.
It won’t be too hard to find your replacement.”

In a flash, the two male hybrids had vanished.
Dev
assumed they had transported to
Asstrumnia
and he wondered if he would ever develop the ability to transport.
It would be a nice skill to possess.
He turned toward the female and studied her.
She was tall, thin, and dark haired.
They shared the same unusual coloring, which made him uncomfortable.
If people saw the hybrid captive and then looked upon his face, they would start making the comparisons.
People would talk and whisper of his hybrid heritage.
Eventually, the gossip would spread to the palace and his mother would take some sort of action to quell it.
What she would do exactly, he didn’t know, but it
wouldn’t be good for him.
Perhaps he would be forced to wear one of Nefertiti’s hideous golden wigs to hide his own dark locks, which he would not be able to bring himself to do.
He looked again at Sebastian.
“For my sake, let her go.
Keeping her will stir talk of hybrids, talk that will
not be good for me
.”

“I understand your
concern,
Dev.
Everyone at Pembroke is discreet.
None of thi
s will affect you in any way.
It is bad enough that the other two got away.
They’ll be back and we need to be prepared.
In order to do that, we need to learn more about the hybrids.
We cannot rely strictly on ancient textbooks.
Look at how much you have learned from this little encounter.
The archives did not mention this biting business.
We still have much to learn
.
W
e should start by finding out more about that weapon in your hand.
Let me look at that thing for a minute.”
He took the green object in his hand and examined it before turning toward the woman.
“What is this?”

Helsina
continued to eye Sebastian with distrust.
“Agree to let me go and I’ll tell you whatever you wish to know.”

“That isn’t going to happen.
Answer my questions and I’ll grant you a reward, but it will not be your freedom.”

“Will you reward me for every answer?”

Sebastian studied her carefully.
“Yes, but it will be up to my discretion.
I will not be
the brutal jailer you had before.
I will treat you much more gently, unless you prove to be untrustworthy and treacherous.”

“And after you are done with me, will you kill me?”

“I will not kill you, but your life will be in the Countess’s hands, not mine.
You must treat Amalie with the utmost respect at all times and do not make her angry.”

His responses to her questions did not appear to alleviate her anxiety.
She glanced at the object in Sebastian’s hands.
“That is a
laser gun.
You must be careful with it or you could turn us all to ash.”

“You will show me how to use this gun, but not now.
I do
n’
t trust you not to advise me poorly
and I do not wish to be made into an ash
pile.
”

Devereux followed Sebastian, who forced
Helsina
to walk through the woods at a rapid pace.
They stopped at the
Pembroke
gates.

“The next time you visit, I shall have much to tell you.
This lady will be certain to expand our knowledge of the hybrid race,” Sebastian said.

The woman looked at
Dev
with a look of betrayal on her face.
“You do not have to allow this to happen.
You are a hybrid yourself.
Can you not be moved to set me free?”

He couldn’t intervene without risking Sebastian’s friendship
and he wasn’t sure they should release the female.
He was filled
with curiosity about
Asstrumnia
, and if the archives were missing pertinent information about the
Asstrum
race, this hybrid female was his only way of obtaining it.
He desired knowledge
to such a degree that the loss of one woman’s freedom appeared to be a justifiable casualty.
They had liberated her from the true monsters holding her captive, yet her complete freedom would come with a price.
Assisting them would be a far easier task than acting as a research assistant to two hybrid psychopaths.
“We have need of an advisor of sorts on matters pertaining to hybrids.
You will be a guest at Pembroke for the time being.
Cooperate and you will not be harmed.”

“You betray your own kind,”
Helsina
softly uttered.

Devereux looked at her sharply.
“I am
Flourdan
and I betray no one.”
He felt uncomfortable at the look of disappointment in
Helsina’s
eyes.
The female was playing on his sympathies so he would help gain her
release.
He wasn’t falling for her tricks.
Regardless of his DNA, he wasn’t allied with the hybrids and he owed them no loyalties.
He said his farewell to Sebastian and headed toward Avenal.
Sneaking back inside would be easy, since h
e had bribed some of the eunuch guards so he could come and go as he pleased from the harem.
He never abided by the stupid curfews
that were set for the harem lords
.

Chapter
2
:
The Most Ultimate Pleasure

Briella
was worried about
Triniti
.
Her friend had been escorted to the East Tower after the Countess had accused her of providing “improper instruction.”
It wasn’t
Triniti’s
fault that Nefertiti had strangled her concubine to death during bondage sex.
Triniti
had never claimed to
be an expert on erotic matters.
Her job as an advisor was to address
important social and political issues affecting
Flourdans
; instead, she had been forced to
brainstorm ideas
to help
that bitch achieve orgasm
.
A
lengthy
meeting with the top advisors
had been devoted to solving Nefertiti’s sexual issues.
How inappropriate!
Triniti
had only done what had been asked of her – explore new methods of enhancing sexual pleasure.
She had supplied a complete information packet with pictures, diagrams, and instructions regarding how to engage in BDSM
.
Triniti
had shown
Briella
some of the materials in the packet and they
had both laughed about it, thinking that it was hilarious that Nefertiti was
having
to resort to such drastic measures to find satisfaction.
As far as
Briella
knew, all of the materials supplied had been legitimate.
Triniti
had collected most of it from books and encyclopedias found in the Avenal archives.
They had thought of adding a few additional items to the packet as a joke, just to see if Nefertiti would make an even greater fool of herself.
In the end, t
hey had resisted the urge to engage in any pranks.
Now the concubine
Ericio
was dead, strangled during a bout of bondage sex.
Nefertiti must not have paid enough attention to the instructions laid out in the information packet, but
Triniti
was not to blame for the Countess’s inept bungling of the situation.