The King's Gamma (#Wattys2024)

Forty six

Lightning streaked after me again as I moved, my body slowly losing shape in their eyes, my movements too fast. I had Ansel by the throat, his body lifted from the ground as he dangled from my hand.

My fury was evident in my face, the fear evident in his. I continued to choke him, my mind blanked out, drowning out the world. 

"How interesting you've become, Marcenia."

I froze, dropping the man before me. The voice sent chills down my back.

"Multidimensional travelling. At your age. Truly remarkable. I'm starting to understand Gaelik's incessant interest in you."

"Gem." I confirmed as I turned around.

"It seems your strength has increased too. Weaker body, stronger soul. Have you been feeding on these little things?"

"What are you doing here?"

It was only as I turned to face him fully that I realised that the others were completely frozen in place, their bodies halted by Gem's sheer overwhelming power as he stood there in his half-beast form, with fox ears sticking out from his head, eight tails swaying behind him, his canines visible as he smiled.

"Why are you here, Gem? Where's that black-bearded bastard?"

"Gaelik? Oh, he's here and there. You know, ruling and sulking, sulking and ruling." His eyes flashed red for a moment. "My-my, you attract the same sorts no matter where you go, Marcenia. Are you with your mate, in this realm?" He asked as he eyed the tall male that I felt the twisted connection to for a second before his eyes flashed to Felix and Helia. "Seems no matter the time nor the realm, the warlock has a deep-seated love for you. A shame. Such talent wasted on a female that would never be interested. Or perhaps..." he looked to my shoulder for a moment before he eyed Prince Dusk with keen interest.

"Ho-ho, what a turn of events that is."

I felt the pressure increase as he let his power free.

"Do you honestly think that you have any right to Marcenia when you're this weak?" He clicked his tongue. "A human and a dragon. Well now. And I thought your parents were a strange match."

"Why are you here, Gem?" I asked again.

"So persistent. I came bearing a gift. Well, two gifts. Your life in this world interests me. I'd like to see it play out. I will not inform Gaelik where you are, yet. And you can refrain from marrying that demon prince. He took quite an interest when he saw you. We've had trouble keeping the dragons and demons from killing each other over you."

"How does that have anything to do with me? I have no interest in any of them."

"Oh, but you have no choice in the matter. Heh-heh."

"My god you're creepy when Gaelik's not around."

"Heh-heh." He cackled again. He truly sounded like a fox. "Only because Gaelik is such a stickler. I have to behave when he's around. My second gift is this."

He took my hand and placed a small pearl-sized orb on it. "Your time here is running shorter and shorter. Break this when you truly need it."

"What is it?"

"You'll see."

He disappeared in the blink of an eye and those around me suddenly came to life.

"What kind of beast was that?" Asked Marcellus as he moved towards me. "I couldn't move at all."

"Beast?" I found myself asking.

"Yes, beast. The big fox. I've never seen anything like it..."

"That was not a beast. His name is Gem. He's what's known as a Kitsune in the world I come from."

"Kits... Kit... A what?"

"A fox demon." I clarified. "Likely you only saw his beast form because you're inherently and entirely human."

"How were you able to move under that  amount of pressure?"

"Pressure? I didn't feel it. Then again, I've known Gem and those on an equal footing to him in regard to power for many years. You could say I'm used to them."

"This Gem... He's a man?" I turned to find Prince Dusk standing closer, his face pulled into an intensely concentrated expression, a slight frown on top of his brow.

"Yes. He's male."

A fluctuation in his aura occurred. I watched him for a moment longer, resisting the urge to read him. The simple fact was that I didn't wish to read him. I wanted him to reveal all on his own.

"And you've spent time with this fox?" He asked again. His frown deepened.

My curiosity grew, I could feel my eyes react to the need to know why he was suddenly talkative. I blinked, withdrawing the power from my eyes and took a step closer to the man of interest.

"Yes, we've spent some time together. He helped train me for the better part of over two hundred years."

The frown deepened intensely. I took a step closer to him, marvelling at his expression. His usually stoic face was twisted in a pained expression.

"What did he give you? Was it a betrothal gift?"

It clicked a moment later. Not being used to having to guess someone's emotion had a delayed response from myself. Is the prince jealous?

"It was a gift, yes." I intentionally said so, leaving out the word betrothal to see if he would catch on.

I was grabbed and pressed against him a moment later.

"You're not allowed to take gifts from others. You belong to me. Only my gifts are to be received by you."

My face pressed against his chest, his arms enveloping me fully, leaving no room for escape.

Oh? How cute. I heard my wolf say as she watched from the back of our shared consciousness.

I encircled him with my own arms, looking up into his eyes, a smirk playing on my lips. He looked down at me, almost pouting. I considered my next action for a short moment before I did it. I pushed my own body that was just a bit shorter than his own up and pressed my lips to his own. I felt his body freeze in response, his eyes widened and his face reddening.

I had wanted to pull away when he held onto me, pressing his lips back onto my own, his lips ravaging my own with a passion and obvious unpracticed movements. The feeling that overcame me could only be described as a drunken stupor, robbing me of all other senses as I focused on him, responding to him as he held me. My body, too, reacted.

His touch brought my body absolute pleasure, leaving streaks of fire in its wake. And before he could realise it my powers teleported us to my bed chambers.