Shadow of the Abyss

Chapter 405 Abyssal Training II

"he is fine, father," tasha was saying in a serine voice on one knee. her head bowed before the baleful throne. "i was a bit startled when he asked me my true name. but i am prepared to give it to him. he is my master."

gremory smiled in satisfaction. "child, you might be one of my greatest pieces of the current era. a shame i must give you away."

"i am happy, father."

"i would bet. altair seems to like you. does he love you?"

tasha smiled mirthlessly. she wondered if that would ever be the case. or would he see her for what she was? "one cannot love a whore, father."

"you underestimate yourself and overestimate men. it's the whore that'll catch his eye, but it's a woman that'll keep his heart. you have both qualities but have only used one. keep at it. though think quickly less you are forgotten." gremory explained. and shifted the topic.

" tell me about the boy's father. what do you know?"

"he is keeping me from him. but i heard medusa—"

"the snake girl. the one you said was raped by aries and discarded by athena."

tasha continued as seamlessly as if she hadn't been interrupted. "—yes, that's the one, father. she let slip the name zariel. my master seems to know. intently at that."

"the silver devil would not dare break his oath to aurelia. the man fathered two children. and even i know better than to approach them."

"is the silver devil so dangerous? i—"

"you forget who he married. aurelia is stronger, if not equal to the silver devil. i dare not challenge her. especially if seraphine is used."

there had been much about a nephilim ability that no one understood. much aurelia had hidden away from other nephilim as progenitor. seraphine had been one.

it was a power that simply should not exist that forced the council of omnis' hand.

"she is protective of her young ones. so protective i fear my brother mephisto must plan around them to keep them alive in his little schemes."

only gremory spoke so casually about mephisto. dearing to speak his name as if his schemes didn't control the myriad heavens themselves. even when she had been promised to astaroth, tasha had never heard him mention the name mephisto, even when the topic of the eighth infernal monarch was brought up.

but gremory often cursed his name as if he would do her nothing. and he hadn't.

"i want nothing to do with the silver devil or aurelia morningstar or any bloody snow. they're too chaotic."

"altair blackwood appears to be something more than what i could ever perceive until i meet him. here me, ashara! on your back or knees, you will rise and beg your master for a meeting with me. you will tell him to bring his father. i decree it. now go!"

****

when ashara opened her eyes, heat-like liquid fire filled her being, shivering through the tips of her toes and shaking as if convulsing. her back arched, and her moan seemed to strike at the moon of almore.

try as she wanted, she couldn't stop the elation, the pure raw ecstasy, from bending her to its will. she was a slave to its touch. a slave to sanguine lust. a slave to altair blackwood.

slumped over the dirt, he pulled her face up and savored her lips and tongue, letting her fall.

"only you seem capable of turning my cock limp." he said beside her ears.

ashara drooled unceremoniously, so high on endorphins and other hormones she didn't know up from down. she only wanted more, yet her voice became not her own, and her movements not fully hers.

"i have a decree from her majesty, gremory; the court of the prime devils seeks an audience. you are to bring your guardian. your father. and—"

he slapped her. the sting, nocking the words from her mouth. and he spoke in a tone that sent shivers down her spine, a familiar tone that had goosebumps prickling her skin.

"perhaps we have been too merciful?" the vale king said the cruel smile she longed for now present.

she gulped, but when she opened her mouth to speak, he slapped her again.

"you disrespect me, tasha." fingers curled to tangle through her hair as he dragged her towards the river.

a few were already there, nameless men and women cultivating over the firewood. he paid them no mind, paid them not so much as a glance, as he dumped her head into the water, his hot lance, not finding the hole he had laid claim to countless times but another. one he had not.

ashara cried out in the waters, kicking and screaming, the bonds of her blood making it so she was no more than a common mortal girl. the icy waters filled her throat, filled her lungs, burning them, while she tried bracing herself. yet the panic, she could not understand herself, held her by the reins. altair held her by the reins as if she was a common bitch, and forced his way in.

the world brightened, brightened to that of the sun as he pulled her out of the icy waters to breathe, yet no air filled her lungs, only the sweet elation of sanguine lust. the blood laws that bound her shattered as a cry that could reach every nook and cranny of the realm thundered like a whip.

trees snapped like twigs to dust for nearly a hundred miles, men, women, and children sharing the same fate, exploding in a fine mist.

"do you like your punishment!" he asked, beside her ear. his voice was like the smoothest silk, yet cold like the isles of sylvorlum.

a devil of lust in the truest scent, ashara's tongue lulled out. she could feel the band of the incubus taking her, could feel something chipping away at her soul, but embraced it all.

"yes!!!! punishment me more!"

altair grinned, dunking her head back into the water. "a fine wench indeed. this is why you are the best, tasha. this is why."