Ki'tory watched as Oi-ju paced back and forth in the room. She approached him, her green eyes sharp with observation as her hand slipped on the bulge of his pants and he froze.
"Does it not work?" She asked, her voice laced with fear.
His eyes widened with shock as his pale skin reddened with embarrassment. "It does!"
Ki'tory pulled her hand away with relief.
Blessed be Muktury!
She wouldn't know what to do with herself if it didn't. Not after all these years of loving him and withholding herself according to the teachings of the oracle. Not after all those unclean and unspeakable dreams she had about her Oi-ju during her years of waiting, not after every practice she had done to prepare herself for tonight!
All those acrobatics maid Zuniga and Aytao had taken the pain to teach her with all those seedless male servants?!
It would have all been a waste!
Once again, blessed be Muktury!
"Then begin already." She dropped her garment to the ground, her dark skin naked and glowing a golden tone under the light of the palm oil-fueled lamps. Her black curly hair fell forward stopping right below her navel.
Oi-ju was pacing around again, looking at everything in the room but her.
"My love..." she whispered gently, her voice luring him to doom, and he cut her off before she would say anything more.
"I don't know how to."
"I told you to practice, Oi-ju! Didn't you?!"
He huffed, finally turning to her, his fingers combing through his red shoulder length, damp hair. "Well, a thousand courtesan is not the Princess of Yarma, the one I have guarded for a decade, loved for a decade, punished myself for loving because in what Kingdom could a royal knight ever be with the Princess he had sworn to guard? It feels like a dream. If this is not, then I am surprised I still have my head not yet sliced away by your father's angry sword. The whole of Yarma raised their brows to this. 14 kingdoms question it."
She chuckled, walked towards him and pressed a kiss to his lips.
He was right. Their relationship raised eyebrows but it wasn't like either of them was a Xoiq; a soulless, bloodthirsty dragon shifter from the other side of the realm. Now across all 14 kingdoms, that was forbidden. For that, even Muktury would intervene by casting upon the guilty nothing but painful death.
But they were not that.
They were just a Princess and a knight, and her Father had only given his consent because she had threatened to throw herself to the ground from the top of the Castle while Oi-ju had been locked up in the dungeon. Her mother had wept as she held her back, her twin younger sisters had held her father's feet and begged and her little brother to go didn't even understand anything had joined in the crying festival.
But still, it was nothing serious.
They were married now and that was all that mattered.
"Oi-ju," she said as she pulled away from him. "You know that I will do anything for you."
"As I will for you, Jibbuz Mie." He smiled and by Muktury, he was perfect; as perfect as he was when she first laid her eyes on him on her 13 birthday, when he had bowed to her and introduced himself to her as her royal bodyguard in training. He was only two years older than she was, yet manlier than most of his age. It was supposed to be but a childhood fancy but it grew beyond that to love, one that suffered for 10 years before it could truly be unveiled.
"So am I not enough for you? Is my approval not satisfactory? Do you need the whole Realm's too?"
He cupped her face in his hands, resting his forehead against hers. "You are enough for me. You are everything that I have ever desired, how can you not be?"
This time he kissed her with an insatiable hunger, his hands roaming her body with urgency. A groan rumbled in her chest and she fisted his hair, her free hand undoing his loose purple robe.
IT'S TIMEEEEE!
But then a scream cut across the night and before Ki'tory could even react, blood splattered on her face, Oi-ju's body fell limp to the floor, and in the grasp of her shaky fingers that had threaded into his hair, dangled his head.
She let go immediately.
Attack.
They were under attack.
Her family!
She tried to run but a large scaly hand went over her mouth, the metallic smell of blood rushed into her lungs, the sharp animalistic talons of her attacker digging into her neck and behind her ear, as a nose buried into the crook of her neck, and hot breath flamed her skin. She trashed around, her teeth struggling to cut into the hand of her attacker, as she fought to be free from its grip.
Oi-ju...
Her husband....
Oi-ju's body laid on the ground, blood spluttering from his bloodied neck, turning the blue rug crimson. His head kept rolling till it stopped, empty blue eyes and blood drenched hair.
Then a foot crashed down on it and beneath the boot was a yellow mush mixed with red.
She went numb immediately, her eyes trailing up to the beast responsible for this horror.
Serpent golden eyes, rough scaly skin like rocks melted unevenly together to conceal the lava beneath, blood dripped from its talons and its blade and like a bat, it had wings anchored behind it; shaped like a man but a monster still.
A Xoiq? How? Xoiqs couldn't fly to this part of the realm. The Akeng's sea would not let them!
How were they here?!
A devious smile crossed his lips, like he could smell her pain and grief, and he savoured it. "Qwahio shi?" (What is she?)
A language she couldn't understand. Tears streamed down her face, her body numb to all feelings as her gaze stayed fixated on what used to be Oi-ju; the only man she had ever loved.
"Oyak." (Tinted.)
"Asitis." (Useless). Disgust filled his eyes and he turned away. "Zet hir." (Kill her).