The Fifth Beast (ManxMan Chinese/Celtic Fantasy Story)

Chapter 48

"Five hundred cumals is a ransom befitting a king, and it's still not enough for you?" Niall hissed, and his fingers sparkled with lightning. "We made a deal in front of my entire castle and a good half of your army! You can't just ask for more gold!"

"Who is talking about gold?" Fao's violet eyes lit up with a predatory light that had nothing to do with greed. "These trinkets are for the senior leaders and for the warriors, but I did not go on this campaign for gold." He beckoned Niall towards him with his fingers, and a gesture was awfully lewd, as if he was ordering a bed slave to come to bed.

"Not for gold? But surely not for the chance to f&ck an arrogant Sidhe!" Niall exploded with anger. "Only an idiot wouldn't guess that you've done what the art of war calls "battle reconnaissance"! Perhaps, without the permission of your senior leaders, because there is not nearly enough troops for the Yuizhen of the Kirinches! And with this gold, you plan to bribe your co-rulers so that they don't get angry with you for your reckless campaign and agree to a massive invasion of the blessed realm of Mag Tuired!"

Fao suddenly buried his face in his palm and laughed. Through bouts of laughter, he barely managed to speak. "You never cease to amaze me, Niall! Who would immediately blurt out to the enemy that they've unraveled his plans? However, you do it over and over again. Can't resist bragging about how smart you are?"

"How can I believe that you invaded my lands and laid siege to my castle just to spend the night with me!" Niall yelled and turned around, intending to run out of the tent fast like lightning, and not even using the lightning speed, just his anger and fury.

"Try to leave and I will f&ck you in front of my entire army," Fao said to his back, quietly, but with iron resolve.

"You promised not to harm me!"

"And I won't. You'll like it, I promise. I remember that in the role of Finn the slave you gave yourself to me with great pleasure, which was quite genuine."

In spite of himself, Niall felt a charge of excitement running through his body. Yes, that one night in Khanbaliq was hot, he reminisced about it more than once. His resolve to leave Fao's tent immediately waned a little.

"You don't understand!" he hissed in Fao's face, after coming close to him with lightning speed, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him. "My entire castle and all of your warriors know that I am right now in your tent! Do you have any idea what it would look like if I left it at dawn?"

Fao grinned lewdly, confirming that he had a pretty good idea, he even counted on it. How hard it was for Niall not to kiss that crooked mouth with a split lip!

"In three days," Niall said, panting. "In three days, come alone to Sliabh Mis Cromlech. I will meet you alone too. Then we will continue our conversation."

"Right here, right now," Faolan replied, his breathing not very even either. "Strip. And your braid, undo it. I've never seen you with your hair down."

Niall gasped and stepped back, so outrageous and barbaric the demand was. Even Queen Morrigan couldn't order an Elemental Lord to undo his braid. Even the most adored lover, the closest friend could not ask it. Appearing in front of someone with their hair down was worse than naked, especially since Tuatha Dé treated nudity very lightly. Even braiding one's hair was an intimate business that could only be entrusted to the most beloved servants and close friends.

And why would someone need to undo their hair before sex, it was uncomfortable! Cumal's luxurious flame-colored mane got in the way very often; when Cumal was on top, his hair tickled and got into Niall's eyes and mouth, and when Niall was on top, it could get under his knee or his elbow.

However, when Niall f&cked Fao in Da Derga Mansion, the barbarian's loose hair didn't get in the way... well, yes, the Kirinches' hair was straighter and thicker than the Tuaths', and at first the barbarian wore it in a ponytail tied with a cord...

Great Danu, this barbarian definitely knew his very own spell of lust! Whatever he said, Niall's mind was immediately flooded with lewd memories. And a fire in his loins was getting stronger with every passing moment. A few more moments like this, and Niall wouldn't want to leave.

"And if I don't?" he asked, straightening up, trying to sound haughty, contemptuous. Ah, the demons of Anghaine, why would he say 'if', he should've just plainly said 'no'! "Are you going to force me? Me, Lord of Lightning, Lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann?" His eyes blazed with white fire.

"I could threaten to cut off your braid again." Fao's smile was lazy and predatory at the same time. "But no, Lord of Lightning, I like you better this way, full of fire."

"Be careful not to burn yourself, barbarian!"

"This barbarian has tamed three beasts. Surely a Sidhe won't be particularly difficult to subdue."

Niall raised an eyebrow and spread his arms, silently inviting, "Come on, try!"

"There is one thing I wonder about, Niall Mac Nechtan. It just so happens that I know how much the returning of your braid had cost you. A few weeks in Daire Mac Cormac's bedroom? Serving him at feasts as a cupbearer? No one would've wished such a fate even on one's enemy! And I, the one who had cut off your braid and deprived you of magical power, got to spend only two nights with you. And you outright refuse me the third one."

Niall felt as if he had been dealt a blow under his ribcage that knocked all the air out of his lungs. He breathed in and out with difficulty, coping with the sudden dizziness and the feeling that the ground beneath his feet was tilting.

"You have spies in Ath Luain," he said in a strange, unfamiliar voice. "And in Sliabh Mis probably either, that's how you timed your attack after my return! Tomorrow — you hear me, tomorrow morning! — I will order to execute everyone who has Kirinch blood in them or even slightly resembles a Kirinch!"

"That's nonsense, Niall. All my spies are Tuaths, and most of them don't even know who they serve. That's a pretty common thing: one lord of the Tuatha Dé gathers information about another. And I pay them, as you might guess, with what is made in Mag Tuired, and not in the lands of the Kirinches. Isn't it the same with your spies in Khanbaliq?"

Niall hoped he hadn't blushed. None of the lords of the Tuatha Dé had spies in the North-Beyond-the-Shield. They drew all their news about Orda from rare reports from merchants and still rarer letters from Cumal Mac Ruadh. An unfortunate oversight, if you think about it.

"So you think you deserve more than the Keeper of the North, Lord of Forest Daire Mac Cormac?" Niall's every word oozed poison.

"More? No." Faolan Three Swords rose from his bed and stood face to face with Niall. He was only a bit shorter; Niall didn't even have to bend down to look into his eyes, as was the case with most mortals. "But I still can't forget, Niall Mac Nechtan, Lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann, how haughtily you behaved at Da Derga Mansion. Like I'm not even worthy to touch you. Like it's not befitting you to spread your legs for a man!"

Blinding fury, the fury of his magical element, flooded Niall.

"So that's what it was all about!" he rasped, barely able to speak from a monstrous mixture of lust, anger and hatred. "Only because I restrained myself, didn't let you... Mortal fool! Do you want to know what it's like to have the Lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann?"

Niall accelerated, stripped of his clothes. He fell on the bed, dragging the barbarian along with him, kissing him obliviously, passionately, furiously.