AN: OMG! I did it! The 69th Holly Black fic! YES! XDD

Soo...I've been thinking about this for awhile actually. What if Neph had been King long enough to do some REAL damage? Well, here's the answer...(is slightly obsessed with him, but doesn't care)

"Begin."

The new King of the Unseelie Court watched, delighted, as his new plaything wavered in indecision. Surely he wasn't going to kill her quickly. That would be so boring that he'd have to end up whipping the knight with something a bit more interesting than an ordinary whip, wouldn't he?

He had started to raise the goblet of wine to his lips when he heard Corny speak.

"Uh, I don't think you want to drink that."

"What?"

"Somebody dropped something in it before it was given to you. Didn"t you see that?"

Nephamael tossed out the wine and watched it soak into the dirt. Tiny iron tacks littered the ground. He wondered how his new pet could be so observant.

"It seems someone has tried to poison me already. Imagine that." He sounded more amused than he should have been at this near-miss.

What? What was the girl doing? She was saying something...ordering Roiben to stop, perhaps?

"No," he snapped, "Don't listen to that girl. You will obey only me. No one else. In fact, kill her now."

He watched as the knife slashed across her throat, sending blood splattering up into the air. Nephamael couldn't stop laughing. Maybe this wasn't so boring after all. A sob choked from Roiben.

"Come here, now that you are completely miserable. What I can torment you with next?" Roiben's eyes shined with hatred so pure one could almost see it, shimmering in the air like heat. He was dripping in the pixie's blood.

"Closer," Nephamael said softly, leaning forward and brushing back a strand of hair from Roiben's face. Roiben shivered, but couldn't pull away. Nephamael closed the remaining space between them and kissed him, sliding his tongue into Roiben's mouth. Roiben attempted to pull away, but Nephamael's hand held the back of Roiben's skull, forcing him into the kiss. Nephamael kissed him roughly for awhile, then pulled away and pushed Roiben off the dais, sending him stumbling back.

"Mmm, now that I've had a taste of that, I think I might be coming back for more, soon enough, wouldn't you say?" He licked his lips, looking at Roiben like a cat might to its prey. A few courtiers snickered. Roiben spat at the King's feet.

"Oh? You want to be whipped again? Fine, if you insist." He sighed and rolled his eyes, then nodded to the goblins who had been whipping Roiben before. "I know you can flay more skin off his back than that."

He smirked and turned to Corny, whom he had neglected for a moment in all the excitement going on. He was staring blankly off into the brugh, not really watching anything. He seemed to have forgotten where he was.

Nephamael was distracted yet again by the rare cry of pain that escaped from Roiben. He was bleeding quite profusely now, from the long, deep gashes that had been opened in his back by the cat-'o-nine-tails they had begun to use on him. Nephamael noticed with delight that there were iron nails tied to the multiple ends, and that they were surely slicing plenty of skin from Roiben's back. He couldn't keep himself from laughing. He resisted the urge to call them to a halt simply so he could lick the blood from his victim.

"Oh, Roiben. If only you hadn't gotten yourself into this mess. If only you'd had the sense to stay away from Silarial--"

Silarial? Oh look, there she was now, sweeping into the court, and all her courtiers with her.

"Nephamael. Things have gone well for you, I see?"

He smirked. "More than well. Look at how I've got your Roiben just begging for another kiss from me. Look at that!" Another raw scream of pain tore from Roiben.

"My Roiben? I believe you have outstepped your bounds, Nephamael."

Nephamael's face relaxed into a cooler expression, and he attempted to give her an innocent look. But there was really no way for those startling, vicious eyes to look innocent. "Well? If he means nothing to you..." He turned to Roiben. "I just might have to kill him. It would be such a pity, though. But since you really don't seem to care..."

"No," she snapped sharply. Nephamael laughed. "You will cease tormenting him, before you damage him beyond repair. You will give me the throne."

"I will do no such thing," he protested. "You don't have my name, remember? Now..." He called off the goblins whipping Roiben, who sank to the floor with a whimper of pain. "Come here, Roiben."

"What are you doing? This was not part of the plan." She was careful to speak quietly enough that none of the other courtiers would hear her, but sharply enough to try to threaten Nephamael somehow. But that really wasn't working.

Roiben rose to his feet shakily, blood running in streaks down his body, more his than the girl's now.
He made his way unsteadily to Nephamael, who winked at Silarial and gave him a brief, but showy kiss.

"You see, Silarial," he started, stroking Roiben's cheek lightly, "I have his name. He'll do whatever I want. And no, you can't control him anymore, either. I have ordered him to ignore anyone else. To put it simply, you failed. You were extremely stupid to trust me. Things are not going well for you. But they are going very well for me."

He turned to Roiben, then back to Silarial, then to Roiben again.. "Kill her," he ordered bluntly.

Silarial stumbled back from them, ordered her knights to come after him. Roiben drew his sword and came toward her slowly, his eyes pleading for her successful escape. "Kill her! Now!" Nephamael snapped, sick of all Roiben's stalling. Silarial's knights were barely being kept at bay by what few he had left. He had evaded one death attempt tonight, and he was not about to fall by another one.

Roiben rushed forward and thrust his sword through Silarial's throat before he could even think about what he was doing. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but blood simply rushed out, a bright contrast to her pale clothing and the paler skin it encased. Roiben closed his eyes and jerked the sword out, listening to the thud as her body hit the ground. Several creatures rushed forward to devour the heart while it was still fresh.

Nephamael breathed an audible sigh of relief. He wasn't going to die tonight.