A Welcome Distraction

Nik hoped that Frida knocked herself unconscious again. If she had they could be waiting for some time. Luckily, she walked into the room before he had to decide if it was safer to bring Chloe with him into the experiment room or leave her to wait with the flesh-eating pixie. Frida smelled faintly of singed hair and her lab coat was missing, but other than that she appeared unhurt. Her chin length blue green curls, black leather pants, knee high black motorcycle boots, and fitted white button-down shirt all appeared undamaged.

"Oooooh she's lovely." Her deep blue eyes glittered dangerously. "Did you finally get me a humanoid test subject?"

"No, I did not, and I will not. This is Chloe Peters. She is a directoress of the Circle of Light and would be happy to explain how she managed to bring two gods through the barrier about ten years ago."

"I apologize directoress. Perhaps you could spare a human or a witch who isn't of any use to you? The more the merrier, but I would be eternally grateful for even one."

"Do you have a preference between witches or humans?" Chloe asked

"Witches would be more useful, but I could use as many of each as you can procure," Frida immediately replied.

Chloe nodded. "Depending on how events play out there may be a couple or many—I will send some in your direction if I can."

Nik sighed and shook his head. Clearly, he had just discovered the downside of introducing them. The last thing he needed was someone supplying live humanoids to be used for Frida's experiments. He honestly couldn't imagine a worse death. Perhaps some that were equal horrible, but none worse.

"Not a good plan," he said to Chloe. "Do you have any idea what you would be handing them over for?"

Chloe smiled and patted his cheek. "Don't worry, anyone I send would be getting worse treatment at my hands."

"Even if they deserve it, I forbid experiments on humans until or unless I approve it in advance," he said firmly to Frida. "And while Chloe doesn't have to obey me, you do."

"Yes, your highness," Frida said sarcastically.

She, Stormy, and Chloe all looked like he had canceled Christmas. It was a good thing that Chloe was typically busy in the political arena. If she and Frida put their heads together, he had a feeling that the results would be as horrifying as they were brilliant.

"Ladies, can we get to the spell?"

Chloe produced a copy of the circle, incantation, and a list of the research books she had relied onto create the spell. Frida's eyes lit up and she started firing off questions as fast as Chloe could answer them. It seemed unlikely that the spell would work for his purposes, but he was impressed that the young witch could hold her own with Frida, who had been an alchemist for at least two thousand years. He wished that Sylvia was there to share her research as well. Putting those three brains together could have been just what they needed for a breakthrough.

By the time they left Frida's lab Chloe's face was glowing with excitement. His hand was already in hers so that she could safely make it through Frida's wards, and he paused to draw that hand up to his lips. His eyes were an invitation for more once they returned to his room, provided she wanted more, at least.

Her response to his invitation was reaching up to force his lips down to hers, holding his head tightly in place as her tongue invaded his mouth. She broke the kiss to quickly ask if the room across the hall was safe for their use, and dragged him inside after he nodded.

"Take every bit of your clothing off, then on your knees," she commanded.

Chloe's tone left no room for argument. He felt compelled to walk towards her, shedding his clothes as he walked. She leaned against the wall with a bored look on her face as he walked towards her.

"Faster," she snapped.

Without thinking, he sped up. Normally he was too powerful for compulsion to have any effect on him, but it would have been a struggle to resist her. If he had any desire to, at least, and he didn't. He shed his last piece of clothing and her next command sent him onto his hands and knees in front of her, mere inches from what he wanted.

Clearly the room hadn't been cleaned recently, because sharp pieces of stone were digging into his knees and the palms of his hands. He looked up at Chloe and she smiled. She knew that groveling was causing those little pains and she enjoyed it.

He had plenty of experience playing these games with his former wife. She was both exceptionally skilled with compulsion and enjoyed making a king beg at her feet. In doing so, she was giving him a gift that no one else could. While she was in control, he didn't have to be. All he had to think about was taking orders, pleasing her, and hoping that he would do a good enough job to be allowed pleasure himself. But she had been gone more than fifty years now, and until today he had never found anyone strong enough to replace her.

After this many years, the promise of his favorite game and the recent memory of how good it felt to be buried inside of her had already made him painfully hard. As if reading his mind, she shook her head firmly. He had no doubt she would make him wait an eternity before she allowed him inside her, if she did at all. Instead she slowly lifted up the skirt of her long dress, draping it over one of her arms to keep it from falling back down. She wasn't wearing any panties, so Nik on his hands and knees mere inches away from tasting her. She moved her free hand between her legs, letting out a little moan as she entered herself with two of her fingers.

"Please," he begged in a hoarse voice.

When she pulled them out she forced them into Nik's mouth. He eagerly licked her fingers clean. That small taste just made him want her even more.

"I love that look on a man's face," Chloe said. "Naked desire and perfect obedience—hope that I will give you what you desire, mingled with fear that I could walk out of the room without giving you anything."

She reached down and pulled hard on his hair to force his face between her legs. Still he didn't move until given permission.

"You may," she said mildly.

She was already wet, and when she came he had to lick off the moisture soaking her thighs. Once she was clean he pulled back a little and looked up at her. On his hands and knees, he could keep making her come over and over, but he could make her come harder if his tongue could reach every inch of her velvety folds.

"Please," he said, looking at the ground in submission.

With her hand under his chin she jerked his head up to see her face and nodded slightly. He was filled with gratitude and moved quickly to slide her up the wall, resting her legs on his shoulders. She crossed her knees behind his head, holding him so close that he was buried in her sweetness so deeply he could barely breathe.

He had no thought in his mind other than her directive to use his mouth, tongue, hands, and magic to give her as much pleasure as he possibly could. He couldn't get enough the sound of her moans and screams and how her slick body tightening around his fingers. He was disappointed when she finally released his head from the grip of her legs and roughly pushed his face back.

"Bedroom," she said firmly. "I won't tolerate rocks digging into my knees."

She made him put her down, then motioned him to crawl on his hands and knees through the portal she made back to his bedroom. She ordered him onto his back and climbed on top of him, gripping his hardness so tightly it hurt. His response was a yell of pleasure as she remained poised above him, close enough that he was just barely touching her, a hair from being inside her.

"Beg," she said, then continued. "Louder."

She hadn't put up any kind of barrier to contain the sound or ordered him to. She wanted his guards and anyone else nearby to hear their king worshiping at the altar of her beauty and power. Her hand moved up and down his shaft, still painfully tight as he begged. She must have sensed that he was in danger of exploding.

"You will not come until I give you permission," she commanded sharply. "And you will only touch me as I order you to."

He felt a sharp pain shoot through his abdomen as his balls tightened in response. Her compulsion was so effective that his body would follow her order. He wouldn't come until she gave him permission no matter how painful it became. She forced his hands up her body to tease her nipples.

Then she lowered herself onto him, barely allowing him to touch her opening before moving up again. She eased herself onto him again, sliding herself down just a hair further before pulling up. She played that game for so long, sliding him progressively a little further inside her before moving up again as he begged progressively louder and louder.

By the time he was half buried inside of her he was hoarse from begging so loudly for so long. He was so mindless with need that he would have given anything to that she wouldn't stop. Unlike him, Chloe was still perfectly in control, not speeding up in the least even when her waves of pleasure peaked so intensely that she was screaming in pleasure as her body tightened around him.

By the time he was fully buried inside her every muscle in his body was tight from holding back. He may not be able to come, but the strain on his body was pushing him to lose control of his power instead. He was immune to the heat, but no doubt flames were licking at Chloe's skin. She motioned for him to put his hands above his head, then leaned forward to pull his hair hard.

"Make me come with you," she ordered him.

"Do you wish to share my pleasure and I yours?" he whispered.

She nodded sharply, and he wasted no time complying. The mingled pleasure of both his climax and Chloe's roared through him all at once, his body exploding and coming together only to explode all over again in wave after wave.

He was hypnotized by Chloe moving on top of him. She was a mess, her blonde hair tangled and falling over her flushed cheeks, dark make-up smudged under her violet eyes. She was still so beautiful that he couldn't understand how Mimir could resist her charms for a full minute, much less for years.

Nik was watching her face carefully for another reason as well. Even as powerful she was, her body wasn't intended to handle that much pleasure. Her eyes rolled back, and she went limp a moment later. Once she lost consciousness he was abruptly released from her compulsion, just in time to gently guided her body to rest on his broad chest.

Her body had been pushed past its limits, so she would need time to recover. That left him alone other than the soft sound of her breath as she slept and his own miserable thoughts. The woman sleeping on his chest was exactly the woman he had imagined for himself: beautiful, brilliant, and powerful enough to make even him grovel in her wake. She was powerful enough that he didn't need to fear for her safety and politically savvy enough to become a powerful queen.

No matter how perfect Chloe was, he wanted to be watching Sylvia sleep, feeling her soft warmth against his skin.

"You know, you think really loud," Chloe muttered, then continued in a gentle voice. "Maybe in another life. But in this one, we both know what we want. And me—I know he loves me. All it would take is one command. I could make him be with me." He could feel her tears on his chest. "But I would know that he didn't want to be with me, that when we made love I was forcing, no, raping him."

Nik smoothed her tangled hair out of her face, then squeezed her tightly.

"I could do the same. If I took her as mine, who would be powerful enough to stop me? I could compel her to love me, but even then, I would be her jailer, not her love. Obsession can be manipulated with magic, but love has to be freely given to be real." Chloe nodded, and Nik continued. "And for now, I am happy to be your comfort as well as your ally. You rule me better than I could ever have imagined. And honestly, I don't know how that man resists you. Is he impotent?"

Chloe laughed long and hard at that, then pushed herself up, still straddling his body and making no effort to get off of him. Her smile was big enough to show her dimples and only a little sadness remained in her eyes.

"Definitely not impotent. Just afraid of something and so irrationally stubborn that he won't even explain why he keeps pushing me away." She kissed Nik softly on the lips. "Not only allies, but friends and lovers—this has turned out better than I dared to hope." She rolled onto her back, pulling him on top of her. "Now you can make me scream again."

Nik smiled. "As my—."

Before he could finish, he was drowned out by a loud banging on the door, and responded in a rumbling voice that shook the door.

"Not a good time," he thundered.

"I know," the captain of his guard yelled through the door. "But you wanted to know immediately if your—if that woman you asked me to look after is in trouble. And in a couple hours she will be—will be in serious trouble, that is."

Nik froze, but Chloe didn't. She pushed him off of her and scrambled out of the bed, quickly retrieving her clothes from the floor to get dressed.

"And there's more," the captain continued. "But can I come in? I don't wish to shout sensitive information through the door.

"Fine. And you can speak freely in front of the directoress."

Nik looked over at Chloe, and she was disheveled but fully dressed. He didn't worry about any of his people seeing him naked. In their culture that was entirely normal. The captain entered the room and quickly closed the door behind him.

"One of our spies found out that the Mages Guild will be attempting to take your future bride into custody tonight, direct orders from the Grand Meister. They intend to try her for a murder." Chloe paused. "And you're not surprised."

Nik sighed. "No, I'm not. Can you stop this?"

"No, and you don't want me to," she said with a grin. "This is what I've been waiting for, an excuse to challenge the Matriarch for her office. And playing the night in shining armor should earn you some bonus points with your lovely succubus."

"What is your plan?"

Nik pulled his clothes on as she spoke. By the time she had finished, Nik had to admit that her plan was perfect. If everything played out as expected, within a week Chloe would be the precept and Sylvia would be his queen.