Page 74 of Darkest Desire
But as he reached up to unfasten her non-con manacles from the X shaped cross, Thruck spoke in his ear.
“And just where exactly do you think you’re going?”
Sirex turned to face the huge Trollox.
“I pierced my woman’s nipples, just as you required. Now I’m taking her and leaving this fucking place!”
“I don’t think so.” The sane head smirked at him. “You see, the penalty for trying to see the Shining One without our personal permission is death. So while you may leave, your woman must stay here and pay the price.”
“What?” Sired glared at him as the Rage returned in full force. “You fucker!” he growled. “You don’t really think I’d leave Phoebe here, do you? I ought to fucking kill you for even suggesting it!”
The Trollox’s sane head glared at him.
“How dare you speak to us in that way in our own palace?” it snapped. “Now your life is forfeited too! Tell us, Sirex—how do you wish to die? Shall we kill you first? Or perhaps it would be better to chain you to a cross of your own and let you watch while we fuck your female to death before you meet your end!”
Sirex got ready for what he knew was going to be his last battle. He stopped fighting the Rage and let it race through him instead.
“All right, come on then,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, menacing growl. “Come and see what I’ve got for you.” And he bared his fangs at the huge Trollox, fully prepared to rip out both throats if he had to.
Thruck’s sane head glared down at him. Sirex thought it was about to say something when suddenly the mad head began to speak in its low, grinding voice.
“Both ye and me will no longer be. Our time is up—the boy is free.”
“Boy? What boy?” the sane head demanded. “What?—?”
“Trollox! Step forth!” a voice demanded.
All heads turned to the door of the Grand Salon. Standing there was a young male of around nineteen or twenty cycles old, though it was difficult to guess his age with accuracy since he had a blond beard that hung down to his chest in golden curls. He had silver skin that was glowing in the reddish light of the Grand Salon and he was wearing a rumpled nightshirt and holding something in his hand. To Sirex, it looked like just the handle of a sword but there was no blade that he could see, just a series of buttons on the end of the hilt.
“Your Majesty?” Thruck’s sane head looked worried at first. Then the anxiety smoothed out and a broad smile took its place on the Trollox’s face. “How good to see you up and doing well again!” he exclaimed, holding out his arms, as though to embrace the young male. “We were so worried for you but look at how good you look!”
“Yes, I’m doing much better now that I no longer have a bag of aging serum dripping into my arm, draining my health and youth,” the male said sarcastically. “And now that I’m no longer tied up in my own bed!”
“What? Who did these things to you? Was it the nurse?” Thruck gestured at an older woman with gray hair and a long nose who was standing to one side. “As your Royal Advisor I shall have her put to death at once!”
“You’re no longer my Royal Advisor. You are relieved of duty.” The Emperor—for that must be who the young male was, Sirex thought—stepped forward towards the Trollox. “Just as you’re shortly to be relieved of both your heads,” he added.
“What? Your Majesty, you must have had a bad dream!” Thruck’s sane head protested. “Surely you’re mistaken! You can’t?—”
“Oh, yes I can!” The Emperor pressed one of the buttons on the sword hilt he held in his hand and a pale, blue-white flame suddenly shot out of it. The flame was so tall it reached to the vaulted second story ceiling. A light so intense it was blinding, suddenly illuminated everything.
There were gasps and moans from some of the males in the room and many of them started running for the doors of the Grand Salon. Clearly they wanted to get out while they still could.
“The Shining One! It’s the Shining One!” people were murmuring.
“Yes, it is your Emperor, the Shining One—I have returned!” the Emperor shouted. He pressed another button on the flaming sword’s hilt and the flame shortened until it was only a little longer than a man’s arm, though it was still so bright it hurt to look at. Then he started walking towards Thruck.
“Your Majesty, pause…reflect!” the sane head begged. “You must understand…”
“I understand you tried to steal my throne from me!” the Emperor growled. “And I further understand that now you’re going to pay for it! Tell me, Trollox, which head to you wish to lose first?”
“Neither! Please, your Majesty! Please!” Thruck whined. He fell to his knees, his hands clasped together in a gesture of pleading. “Everything we did was for your own good!”
“Lies! I’ve had enough of your damn lies, Trollox!”
Bridging the gap between them, the Emperor drew back and swung the flaming sword in a deadly arc. It cut through both of Thruck’s thick necks like butter. First the sane head and then the mad one fell from the Trollox’s shoulders and rolled on the gleaming glass floor. The mouth of the sane head was still moving, as though trying to explain why killing him was a bad idea. On the crazy head, the third eye had popped open and was staring around the room.
Slowly the enormous body of the Trollox toppled over. The flaming sword had mostly cauterized the wounds as it made them, but there were a few trickles of black blood seeping from the two neck stumps. It pooled on the floor like a puddle of tar as the huge body twitched and jerked and then, finally, was still.