What the fuck?
Aoi gasped and looked up at Bergstrand, the question on his lips, but he didn’t speak it. Bergstrand had his back to him and had just thrown his robes onto the only chair in Aoi’s room.
“Go shower and join me in bed.”
What the hell is going on? Bergstrand had never stayed in his room. Beat him, whip him, and curse him to the under-realms, not the heavenly realms. But sleeping in a servant’s quarters was certainly beneath him. So why? Why now? Why is he not with th
Aoi lowered his head just as Bergstrand turned.
“Not leaving yet?” Bergstrand said. “I’m tired.”
“As you wish, my king.” Aoi stood, but before he could step toward his bathing chambers, Bergstrand grabbed his wrist and stopped him. Aoi didn’t turn around; his heart beat too fast, too loudly in his chest. He prayed to Lucifer that the king couldn’t hear it.
“Let this be the last night you cry for those Earth-realm dogs.”
So he knew, Aoi thought. He knew I cried at night. Did he hear my waking screams, my anguish, too? Did it please him?
He grabbed Aoi by the chin and turned his face. “From tonight on, you will be mine.”
Aoi’s breath hitched as fear crippled his heart. Did he mean...? He didn’t finish the thought when Bergstrand spoke.
“I’m a brute and a tyrant, but I will never take your chastity until you beg me. And mark my words, Aoi, you will beg me sweetly to fuck you, to mark you. And to breed you. And unlike the others, our child will live. I’ve waited years for you, and I can wait a little longer. Now go clean yourself. You smell of blood and tears. Not a scent I want on my consort any longer.”
“Yes, my king.”
Bergstrand released him, and Aoi rushed to his bathing chamber, locking the door behind him. He pressed his back against the cold wall and let out a shaky breath, praying to the gods who would hear his anguish.
“Why must I endure this? What must I do?” He looked out the large window, watching the stars, and the longing to fly away crept into his heart. His back itched and burned as it always did, and as always, he ignored it. His desire to fly away would never come true. He’d already tried, and Bergstrand caught him, clipped his wings in various ways, and caged him. He was truly cursed. Unlike all the other times when Parker had watched his back, protected him, and saved him, there was no one now. He was all alone. Maybe this was fate’s punishment for not believing that Parker was fated to be.
Aoi sighed, pushing it all aside; the self-pity moment could only last so long, or the king would start to question things. He took a few deep breaths, let them out slowly, and collected himself. He then bathed, neither rushing nor wasting time. He dressed in his usual tunic and hesitated for a few minutes before opening the door and leaving the bathing chamber. When he entered his bedroom, Bergstrand was already in bed, bare-chested, reading a book Aoi had never seen before. Aoi didn’t want to think about whether Bergstrand was naked anywhere else.
