“Too soon,” I said, even as my body reveled in the feel of his inside me.

“Never too soon,” he growled back.

I managed to shift myself away, and he slipped out of me. I grinned triumphantly, loving how I could prolong this and torment him. His erection was harder and bigger after being inside me, wet and slick from my body as my hand gripped him hard and began stroking back and forth. He groaned, arching his body up to reclaim what I’d taken away.

He seized me again, this time rolling me over onto my back so that I’d now have to fight the full strength of him. “You are so sexy,” he gasped, lowering his body to mine. The rough ground scratched my skin. “All day, I just think about fucking you.”

He thrust into me again, and I cried out so loudly, I wondered if someone from the castle would hear me and come running. If so, it probably wouldn’t be a big deal to them. With nothing to hold him back, Kiyo gave me his full force, pumping into me and driving deeper and deeper with each thrust. I was still burning and wet from where I’d touched myself, and with each stroke, he managed to heighten that pleasure, driving me increasingly wild.

The muscles in his body were strong and hard, working without rest as he moved furiously, his eyes burning into mine as he took me deeply and forcefully, letting the animal in him do what it wanted. I cried out again, exulting in the harshness mixed with ecstasy as I felt myself grow closer and closer to orgasm. I could see the clench of his jaw and tension within him as he tried to hold back.

“God, I want to come…” he managed through labored breathing. “Want to come in you so badly…” He was waiting, trying to hold out for me to come first.

I clenched my hands against his back, digging my nails into his skin. “Do it,” I hissed. “Come in me. Now…let me feel it….”

It was all he needed to tip him over. His mouth opened in something that was half-moan and half-roar. He still managed to keep moving in and out of me, but the movements were slower, more punctuated as he came and his body found release. At last, he shuddered and pulled out, only to then collapse on top of me. I wrapped my arms around him. Even without an orgasm, my body felt renewed and alive, burning with pleasure at the intensity of what we had just put our bodies through.

He rested his head on my chest, and I continued holding him, neither of us saying a word. At some point, I drifted to sleep like that, only to be woken up about an hour later. It took me a moment to figure out what had happened, until I felt a wet drop hit my face. Then another. Then another. I squirmed and sat up, wiping water out of my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” murmured Kiyo drowsily, stirring slightly.

I looked up into the sky, scattered with both stars and much-needed clouds.

“It’s raining.”

Kiyo was gone the next morning, as I’d suspected he would be. We’d stumbled inside to my little-used bedroom once it started raining, and his side of the bed was cold, telling me he’d left some time ago. I sighed, trying not to let the knowledge of him being with Maiwenn get me down, and headed out to see what was going on in Queen Eugenie’s domain.

The first thing I picked up on was that everyone was really excited that it had rained. We’d returned to normal sunny conditions this morning, but last night’s rain had brought the land to life. Cacti bloomed. The trees seemed stronger. And while there were no ostensible signs of excess water, I could sense it in the ground and even slightly in the air.

Had having sex caused it? Maybe. Maybe not. Regardless, I was pleased with my good deed. I made motions to leave, but Rurik stopped me.

“Don’t you want to question the prisoners?”

I paused. What I wanted was to go home, shower, and change into clean clothes. “Can’t you do that?” I asked.

He frowned. “Well, certainly, but…”

But it should be my job. That was the unspoken message. I suspected Aeson would have never done such a thing. He would have left it to thugs. I knew if I delegated it to Rurik, he’d do it without (much) complaint. There was something in his eyes, though, that told me he expected more of me than an ordinary monarch. I’d never expected to gain such regard from him-or to feel so uneasy about it. Rurik had pissed me off to no end in the past, but suddenly, I didn’t want to disappoint him.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

I’d interrogated plenty of monsters, gentry, and even humans in my day. But there was something weird about interrogating prisoners. It was strange enough to learn that I actually had a dungeon in the castle. There were even shackles on the wall, but thankfully, our two prisoners weren’t bound. They were a man and a woman, both ragged and sullen. He looked my age; she looked older.

I entered the bronze-barred cell, Rurik and another guard behind me. I crossed my arms over my chest and swallowed my misgivings. I was Eugenie Markham, badass shaman and slayer of Otherworldly miscreants. This was no different from any of my other jobs.

“Okay,” I told the prisoners, my voice harsh. “We can make this easy or hard. Answer my questions, and it’ll go a lot faster and smoother for all of us.”

The woman glared at me. “We don’t answer to you.”

“That’s the funny thing,” I said. “You do. You’re in my land. You’re under my rule, my jurisdiction.”

She spat on the ground. “You’re a usurper. You stole the land from Aeson.”

Considering the way power was always shifting in the Otherworld, I found that statement ludicrous. “Everyone’s a usurper here. And in case you haven’t heard, I didn’t steal the land from him so much as blow him up.”

Her face remained hard, but I saw the slightest flicker of fear in the guy’s face. I turned to him. “What about you? You going to be reasonable? Are you going to tell me where the girls you kidnapped are?”

He nervously glanced at his companion. She gave him a hard look, its message easily interpretable: Don’t talk.

I sighed. I didn’t want to resort to torture. All-powerful ruler or not, it was just an ugly thing I didn’t want to dirty my hands with. I had a feeling my iron athame pointed at their throats would go a long way to get them to communicate. Instead, I opted for another solution.

Producing my wand, I stepped away from the others and spoke the words to summon Volusian. The momentary cold descended upon us, and then the spirit stood before me. Rurik and the guard were growing accustomed to this, but the prisoners gasped.

“Volusian,” I said. “Got a task for you.”

“As my mistress commands.”

I gestured to the prisoners. “I need you to put muscle on them. Get them to talk.”

Volusian’s red eyes widened slightly, the closest he ever came to looking happy.

“But you can’t kill them,” I added hastily. “Or hurt them-much.”

The pseudo-happiness disappeared.

“Start with the guy,” I said.

Volusian sidled across the cell and was only reaching his hand out when the guy cracked. “Alright! Alright! I’ll talk,” he cried.

“Stop, Volusian.”

The spirit stepped back, his glum expression growing.

“I don’t know anything about girls disappearing,” the man said. “We aren’t taking them.”

“You’ve been preying on people,” I pointed out. “And girls have been vanishing near your base of operation. Seems kind of suspicious.”

He shook his head frantically, eyeing Volusian warily. “No, it’s not us.”

“Have you heard of them disappearing?”

“Yes. But it’s not us.” His words were adamant.

“Yeah, well, I find it hard to believe they’re all running off. If it’s not you, then who is it?”

“You’re a fool,” the woman snapped. “What would we do with a group of girls?”

“The same thing men usually use girls for,” I replied.