Daemon opened the door to Lucinda's bedroom and held the door open for her, his eyes starting to glaze over with the familiar rage of a Warlord Prince. Lucinda obligingly went through the door and moved quickly towards her bed in order to put some distance between them. A Warlord Prince who was enraged by being forced to serve in bed did not need a female close to him.

When Lucinda reached the edge of her bed and turned back bravely towards a Queen's familiar challenge: calming a male who has been incited to the point where all he could comprehend was violence. She had been taught how to deal with males in just this state of fury and confusion. She did not doubt her ability to, eventually, calm him.

Daemon, however, met her attempt at a kind look with the full force of his sexual heat. Lucinda's knees buckled and dropped her unceremoniously onto the bed. Her face flushed and her body began to warm. Daemon was not going to waste anytime.


As Lucinda watched the Sadist, for he clearly was that now, stalk towards her slowly with a wickedly seductive smile on his face, she marveled at her body's reaction to him. She had never been so drawn to any of her lovers and it was beginning to get frightening.

Lucinda was a younger queen who had only had a court for 5 years. Since her parents had died, when she had become old enough, her uncle had found a male who was a friend of the family to see her through her virgin night. Once she set up her court shortly after, her Uncle had become her Steward. Her Uncle had tried as much as possible to fill her Court with males who were the least damaged by abusive Queens in order for her to learn how a good Court should function before taking on more challenging males. It was also his hope that she would be able to avoid unwanted attention from other Queens by taking on the younger, and therefore less damaged, males making her Court weaker at first. By the time, her Opal jewel became a threat to them, she would have a mature Court and enough experience with Craft to hold her ground. At least that had been the idea.

The green jeweled Warlord Prince who had seen her through her virgin night had become her Consort in the forming of her first Court. He was a good deal older than her and his position in her bed had been a duty, but not an unpleasant one. Her Uncle had wanted to ensure that she had a Consort who could be trusted with her instruction in the bedroom. She was being groomed to be a good Queen and they didn't need some young buck giving her any reason to see the subjugation of males as an attractive path. She really wasn't the kind of woman that would naturally see the value in Dorothea's ways but those that loved her hadn't wanted to take any changes and she had understood that.

Besides, Roland had been a good lover…more than good. They had had some good times together and he had taught her the subtle and not so subtle arts of the bedroom. Not to mention how to deal with a Warlord Prince who, despite not being your husband, starts to see your body as his territory in ways that the other males in the First Circle don't.

But Roland had moved on to a higher level Court elsewhere. His contract had only been for 2 years and his unique skills had been needed elsewhere by other good people looking to preserve what Protocol they could.

Lucinda had promoted one of her First Circle males to First Escort, but had not yet taken on a new Consort. She wanted her next Consort to hopefully be the man who would eventually become her husband, so she satisfied her needs with whatever male was willing and available at the time. This was not unheard of, but it needed to be carefully handled to avoid hurt feelings and challenges. She had been managing it pretty well for the last three years and she felt that it gave her the unique opportunity of getting to know those men who chose to serve her in bed as well as in Court on a very different level. Of course, it had also increased the amount of petting and cooing she ended up doing because once a male shared your bed, he could get very insistent about how he should be comforted when they were alone…and sometimes even when they had an audience. But she didn't mind touching them, stroking an arm or rubbing a back. It worked like a charm...who was she to argue with that?


Trying to shake off the tendrils of seduction that were closing in around her, Lucinda put on her most comforting smile and did what she always did. She held out her arms, like a mother inviting a child into a big bear hug, and said, "It's okay. Nothing bad is going to happen to you."

This invitation, the words varying depending on the situation, generally would have caused even the most infuriated of her males to practically scurry over to her and find their favorite spot on her neck. Once he had sniffed the intoxicating and calming sent of his beloved Queen the relaxation would start and eventually his head would clear enough to listen to reason. It didn't always stop the yelling and stomping and threatening, but it was only a gentle tug on the leash.

Daemon's reaction was different.

Daemon's glazed look flickered only for a second and then he was standing over her as she sat on the bed. He smiled and leaning forward he grabbed her wrists. Then putting his lips close her ear, he purred, "I know."

Daemon's soft and gentle tendrils of seduction, meant to distract, now became strong cords of raw sexuality and tightened suddenly around her. Lucinda's eyes widened and she took a sharp breath. Her mouth was dry and she let out an uncontrolled whimper of need. Daemon chuckled softly and pushed her back on to the bed. He used Craft to hold her there even though she did not struggle. Standing up to his full height, he casually stripped off his jacket and shirt as she watched. He laughed at her again as she strained in vain against the power that was holding her down.

"Not yet, darling, not yet," he crooned knowing how much she wanted to touch him, "Why don't we start with you first."

But Lucinda already knew that he would never let her touch him. She could hear the contempt in his voice and she could understand that he might not be able to welcome a kind touch. She wouldn't ask that of him again because….

Lucinda shuddered at the first brush of hands against her body and all thought left her head. She closed her eyes and became a vessel for sensation. Hands slipped under her top and over her breasts as another finger trailed down her belly to tease at the top edge of her skirt. Lucinda moaned. In response, mouths materialized and joined in: mouths and licked and sucked and demanded attention. Lucinda moaned again and arched her back, giving the demanded attention to as many of the hands and mouths as she could.

When her body began to relax into the pleasure a white hot slash of pain ripped though her body so fast that she couldn't identify where it had come from. The sensation had started as a strange kind of pleasure and only after she had surrendered to it had it unleashed its claws and ripped at her. She had had no defense against the pain and it had rolled through her body as intimately as the pleasure had.

Lucinda opened her questioning eyes to see Daemon still standing over her with a cunning smile now gracing his beautiful features.

"It's okay," he purred, echoing her words, only his voice was filled with condescension and hatred.

As Lucinda looked into his eyes, she knew that now, finally, the game had begun. Her torment had started. Even as she closed her eyes and shuddered when the hands and mouths began to pleasure her again, even as she called out to him with a throaty moan, she knew the pain would come again and that she would accept it again. For the pleasure he was giving her, she would suffer. She would writhe for him, she would make humiliating entreaties, and she would pay whatever price he required. There had been no mercy in his eyes and she expected none.

But somewhere in Lucinda's mind, she felt a flood of sadness overtake her. How much pain must Daemon have felt to be able to take such delight in her own pain? How much humiliation had he experienced to make this torture satisfy him?

Lucinda opened her sorrowful eyes to look at Daemon one last time before she completely abandoned herself to his punishment. She didn't deserve this but if he needed it then he could take his revenge on her because she knew all to well what might happen to him if he lost control in a more public manner.

Then all of the hands and mouths and…other things that had joined in her torment suddenly stopped. The satisfied look left Daemon's face and he inspected her almost viscously with hard, uncompromising eyes. Unexpectedly, his eyes widened, he took several steps back from her, and then he collapsed on his knees to the floor.


Please review!

I have now read the Shadow Queen and would like to discuss it if anyone is interested. I have started a new topic in one of the Black Jewels Trilogy forums. I will be posting my initial thoughts on the book soon, but I would like to hear other people's thoughts. Especially since we who read and write Fanfiction think about the world in a different way than the casual reader.