Lilith Shadowflame's Arc

Chapter 14 of 21

The villagers stayed on their knees. Damien sat on the edge of the bed with his color high and his mark burning bright under his shirt. Lilith felt her own power thinner than an hour ago. She needed a moment that belonged to her again, one the room would remember as hers, not his. She turned to the alcove behind the dais and lifted out the relic she had kept wrapped since her ascension. She carried it to the altar and set it down. The dark metal caught the torchlight. Purple stones woke inside it. The kneeling villagers looked up and did not move. Damien watched her hands. "Bring her," Lilith said. The succubus came forward without waiting for the collar to pull. She stopped at the foot of the bed. Her eyes went to the relic and stayed there. "Onto the bed," Lilith said. "On your back." The succubus climbed up between the ropes and the scattered toys. She lay down under the carved spires. Her horns pressed the pillow. Her hands stayed open at her sides. She had smiled at the floor an hour ago when Damien grew stronger. She did not smile now. Lilith picked up the relic and held it out to Damien. He stood. He took the other end. The metal ran hot between them at once, drawing on both marks together instead of one. "Together," she said, low enough that only he heard. "Into her. Not into me. Not into you." He understood. He always understood too fast now. They knelt over the succubus on the bed. Lilith set the point of the relic against the silver collar at the succubus's throat. Damien laid his hand over Lilith's. They pushed. The relic bit. The succubus arched once and did not cry out. Power moved. Lilith felt it leave the succubus in a long steady pull, thinner than shadowflame, older. It ran up the relic and split. Half sank into Damien's mark. Half sank into hers. Her knees stopped shaking. Her crown warmed on her hair. Beside her, Damien drew a breath that filled him to the shoulders. The succubus went quiet under them. Her eyes stayed open. The collar dulled from silver to lead. She would obey now without being told. There was not enough of her left to refuse. Below the dais, the twenty villagers pressed their foreheads to the stone. Shadowflame rolled out of the altar and along the floor in a low purple tide. It reached the kneelers and washed over their hands. Voices started, ragged, then together. Her name. Over and over. Lilith stood. Damien stood with her. His mark pulsed in time with hers again, matched, not larger. She had drawn them level in one stroke and spent the succubus to do it. The succubus lay still on the bed. Lilith had her balance back. She had also used up the servant who had carried her name down the mountain. But that is ok. In this moment of her and Damien coming together they created their future heir, bonded for eternity. Damien knew deep inside as his power grew in public she would rein supreme him the follower but behind closed doors with just Lilith and him his dominance would rein as they continued to create more heirs. And for that their love deepend.