The Clash Of Drakkon: Book Four Of The Drakkon Series

Chapter Fourteen

Nasir Naseem

Servant to the King of the Nisha Empire

"HOW COULD YOU!" I dodge the glass thrown at my head, enough for it not to hit me, but not enough for him to notice, he would not be pleased if he realized I dodged it, after all that was showing fear of being hit and Nisha didn't feel fear, we caused it.

"My apologies my king, there were aspects that affected King Aldrich that we had not anticipated." I don't flinch when a decanter of alcohol explodes on the wall beside me. Nor do I show any response to the stinging cuts the alcohol-soaked glass leave on my face.

"Aspects you had not anticipated? That is unacceptable! She was perfect! She is my future Queen and you almost let her be destroyed! Enough of this, I will wait for her no longer! Send men to fetch her immediately!" In my head his words caused me to flinch, because I knew he would not like what I had to say.

"But sir, we have no agents in the Morgase Empire, they can detect the ones we control, we won't be able to get close to her." His eyes go black in rage, as I had anticipated, he never did like it when things didn't go his way.

My head moves to the side though I express no fear or pain as the blood drips from the fresh claw marks across my face, I simply turn my head back and stare at him plainly, emotionlessly, without fear. "Excuses! I do not care what you have to do, who you have to buy off, I want her here, in front of me before the week's end, or you will be getting a replacement because you have failed me once too many." The King did not tolerate failure, if I failed to capture her, he would kill me, and mere minutes later, a replacement would be found and promoted, and their first act would be to dispose of my body, just as I had done when I got this position, as many had done before me.

"Of course, your majesty. It is my fault for not thinking, it will be done before the week ends." I bow my head, not daring to leave before he gives me permission, many had made that mistake before and they never lived past it.

"Leave! Do not come back here before you have good news for me!" Which meant I had hours at most, because he would expect some type of plan to be in motion by the time he was done with his latest meal, I spare the girl lying catatonically on the floor beside his throne no mind.

She would be dead soon, besides after the first bite, the venom would ensure she never wanted to leave, as was the benefit of our species, the ability to make our prey want to stay with us, the ability to still make them fear their death while craving our presence at the same time, it gave the blood a delightful taste.

Nisha fed on fear and in our empire there was plenty of that, the multitude of slaves ensured every Nisha received a steady supply, the King of course got the best and most, he didn't merely feed to satisfy his hunger, he overindulged to have more power, when we had fear in excess taken from other people, we had a remarkable little ability, the ability to cause hallucinations, illusions that made our prey fear us more, thus giving us more power.

It was a wonderful little cycle and no one in the empire had more power than the king, where my power only darkened my fingers until the second knuckle, the King had the black power of fear trailing up past his elbows, and as the years went by, as he conquered more kingdoms, his power only grew.

I would do whatever it took to please my king, because I knew if I didn't, he would kill me, and nothing motivated a Nisha more than fear, the desire to consume and cause it, as well as when it was our own. The King knew I feared him, but he found it acceptable because it added to his strength, it was only if I let my fear sway my behaviour and ability to do my job that he had issues with. We could feed from fear emotionally felt like the Morgasians or we could feed off the fear in the blood, which was stronger and much more satisfying, like the Drakkonians, we were the perfect predators, nothing and no one could stand in our way.

Alessandra Drakkon would be captured by the week's end, the King may believe she was his perfect match, but I knew better, had served him for longer than most, he would grow tired of her, and then kill her like all the rest, before beginning his search for a Queen again. Another kingdom conquered and discarded after we had taken our fill of it, taken their fear from them. It was too bad my King didn't realize that his perfect match was lying in wait here among his own people, the female Nisha while weaker than the males in our species were just as deadly, just as cruel, maybe even more so in some cases. The King wanted a Queen who wanted to cause pain, one who wanted to cause fear and death, one who loved destruction just as much as he did, he wanted a Queen who didn't fear him and yet I knew he would never let someone who didn't fear him live.

That was the issue, why he hadn't realized a female Nisha was the Queen he was looking for, because the only person we as a species feared, was our King. Because we all knew none of us were strong enough to beat him, and if he wanted to kill us, he would, without hesitation, he had no loyalty to us, cared nothing for our lives, and yet we knew we would be nothing without him, which was why we served him faithfully even if he was crazy and irrational.

Before he became King, we had been weak, only feeding enough to satisfy our hunger, outcast by all, we never knew that overindulgence led to abilities, abilities that would make us stronger, faster, crueler, we would never serve another, because under this King we had never been stronger, no one else among us would be able to decimate entire empires like he did. So, I would get Alessandra for him, no matter what had to be done, because I served him faithfully and he gave me wonderful slaves to feed on, to increase my strength, it is too bad really, from what I had seen of the darling Alessandra, her fear would taste so wonderful.

Licking the blood of her enemies off her skin would probably be the closest I would get to tasting her fear, the King never shared his prospective Queens, though maybe I would be able to have some of the lingering fear in her blood after he killed her, he would expect me to dispose of her body after all, he would never know if I had a little taste. It wouldn't be long, prospective Queen's didn't last very long, the longest one had been here about a month, I can't imagine this Queen would prove any different, I would get to satisfy my cravings in no time at all.