"I want to swallow you, have you melt into me and flow into my veins."
— Han Kang, The Vegetarian
Tama bounded down the stairs, squeezing Nami's hand. At the bottom, Luffy gazed back while Nami fought the sweat from breaking out over herself. She still had the journal on her as Robin had told her, but it seemed to burn a hole through her hidden pocket as she descended. When he smiled, she thought of the book and had to tell herself what she would have to do soon. If she could make sense of it. Robin had said it no longer made sense to their group any longer.
What chance would she have of discovering the secret? For now, before she could even crack it open though, she had dinner to attend.
Tama broke away from Nami to dash for Luffy who jumped in shock when she clutched one of his legs. The Lord Conqueror peered down before he smiled and patted her hair.
"I didn't know you were coming." He glanced at Nami, but his smile warmed. No admonishment here.
Her heart clenched.
Saw that stare.
The Lord Conqueror grinned. "You'll promise to be good then?"
Tama pouted. "Promises are for babies!"
He crouched to her height, and Tama gaped as he lifted a solitary finger. His pinky. "I make promises all the time. I'll be making a lot of promises tonight. And I'll keep making promises. I'll keep them safe and follow through too. It's what I do."
She bunched her cheeks, but Tama eventually nodded, though she stared at that finger still.
"Promise you'll be good?"
Nami tilted her head to see if she could read Tama's eyes, but she stuck her tiny pinky out to hook it around his larger digit. "I promise!"
The Lord Conqueror smiled. And Nami's heart ached. She touched where the book dug at her in her pocket deep in the laces and ruffles of her pale pink skirts and gray petticoats. As he rose, Tama made a fist in his trousers as if to follow him along like that. Nami took a deep breath and followed. If she was a little slower than them, it was to allow herself time to think about the delegation, of course. What could she talk to them about besides Tama or her life here? How her feet dragged. Because of the delegates, not the backs of her daughter walking beside a monster with a matching smile.
So while the servants set dinner, Nami settled Tama next to her, realizing with a little embarrassment that bringing Tama had moved the order down for the delegates, but she wasn't about to make her daughter leave now or move seats. Between courses, Tama would whisper to ask Nami about this or that dish, but otherwise kept rather quiet as she watched the adults. Across from Nami, Vivi had started with a glance and a blush at her before she seemed to steel herself for her conversation with the Lord Conqueror.
Nami cut her steak, sitting straighter than her corset helped her with. She raised a brow when she noticed the size of her and Vivi's steak compared to the rest. But it had to be the cut or something else she didn't understand.
She glanced at Luffy only to keep her face straight. Vivi's eyes kept darting to her. And the Lord Conqueror watched every bite like he ate with her rather than supped from his mug. Nami turned to help Tama slice her steak into smaller bites, knowing she just wanted to avoid his gaze. Which made paying attention near impossible.
"—windows? And how many?" The Lord Conqueror hummed in confusion, tilting his head.
"It usually means the building is larger the more windows there are, right? It only makes sense."
"Not the number of rooms? What about apartments?"
Tama smiled. "Do you want some more, Nami?"
She blinked, glancing at the offered bite of steak from her fork. "No, that's yours, Tama. I have my own."
"The Lord Conqueror said you need to eat more though," Tama said with a pout.
Nami glanced at her steak, her ear straining to catch up with their conversation. How was this about taxation? "I have a huge steak, see? I probably can't even eat it all." And forget about doing what he wants anyway. She knew why he wanted to stuff her regardless, and she wasn't about to get fat.
As she looked back though, Tama's frown told her that she didn't like that answer. Nami said, "Eat all of yours, and I'll eat all of mine, okay?"
"That's a bad habit to start," the Lord Conqueror said, and Nami gaped at him before she just turned away from him. She couldn't leave anyway — not without causing a commotion.
"Oh? Are we talking about eating habits now?" She eyed his mug, and he frowned before he raised it with a nod to a servant standing in the corner of the room. When he offered to fill it from a silver pitcher, however, Luffy shook his head. "Take it."
Nami turned away. It wasn't her concern. As the waiter left with the mug she knew was full of blood, Nami finished cutting the steak, and Tama looked between her and the Lord Conqueror.
"Eat until you're satisfied," Luffy said, and Tama beamed with a nod.
"Yeah!"
"There are more course to try."
Nami smiled, ignoring him as best she could. "If you're too full, do you want to share a plate with me from now on? You can take little bites of everything."
Tama glanced at him for some reason, and Nami pouted, but she nodded again. "Okay!"
Approval from the god, huh? But she couldn't be mad at Tama anyway. She wasn't the monster; he was.
The problem started when dessert came though.
As little treats made it to her place mat, the Lord Conqueror scooped one up to offer it to her lips. Across from her, Vivi's eyes widened, and Nami froze. At a little sound from Tama, Nami glanced at her only to stiffen when she realized Tama's eyes shone in excitement.
Swallowing nothing, Nami plucked the treat from his hands as her smile tightened. "I can eat on my own."
"Oh?" He pulled a pout, and she turned aside to take her bite.
She hardly tasted the cream inside before Tama slapped the table. "Nami! You're doing it wrong! You're s'posed to take a bite!"
"I don't have to if I don't want to," she said, the scorn perhaps too clear because Tama's eyes filled with tears.
"But the Lord Conqueror loves us!"
Nami's cheeks flushed, but she patted her head. "Tama, it's fine. I just don't like being fed like that."
She could feel the smarmy smile from him. "News to me."
Gritting her teeth, Nami nearly spun on him only to pause as Tama burst into a higher pitch of wails. Had she seen her expression? "No! No fighting!"
Her jaw dropped. "We're not fighting, Tama!"
He just laughed!
"You've been mad all day!" Nami's shoulders hunched as Tama slapped her skirts over and over. "Don't fight! I hate it!"
Mortified, Nami wrapped her arms around her, in part to stop the hitting, but also, she knew, to keep from turning to him. Even knowing it was part of the issue. Even though she didn't know what else to do.
I'm a terrible mother, she thought, gripping Tama so tight, feeling the stares on her. I can't even calm my little girl. Bellemere always knows what to do. I don't. I'm just—
"Dun fight! Dun leave me! No fightin'!"
Her grip tightened. Nami laid her head on Tama's, rocking her with a shushing sound. She had stopped hitting her finally, but now she was just all tears, blubbering into her bodice.
"We're not fighting," she lied. She had to bring Tama somewhere else now. Away from the delegates. They would get the wrong idea otherwise, and she couldn't risk ruining this … right? But what should she care if this delegation failed? It was all for his benefit anyway.
"Just attend the balls. The meetings. Go on to dinner tonight, and be the Lady Conqueror. Be the best Lady Conqueror you can be."
Nami cringed and pressed Tama tighter to her chest until warmth surrounded her. She gasped, but his arms engulfed them both. Heat rushed through her, and Luffy's cheek pressed against her neck while he stroked Tama's head.
"I won't leave you, Tama."
Tama peeked up, and Nami's heart lurched. The tears hadn't stopped, but she dared a smile. They were the words of her god after all. Nami could see how Tama clung to them.
After all, how could he leave her if he was immortal? No, not him. He could never die. He would just live forever unless she found something. Nami firmed her jaw, gazing at Tama. If she couldn't do anything, he would just murder more women and whisper into their ears how he loved them even as he sucked the life from their bodies. Just as he was doing to her.
"Me too!" Tama sniffled. "I won't leave you!"
Her eyes stung.
Luffy patted her head though. "You can't make that promise."
###
'The most common method of eliminating the creature appeared to be to decapitate and burn the body. With this completed, you will no longer have a monster since this is a reanimated corpse without even a body.'
Head tilting, Nami raised a brow before she turned to another page. She would take notes no matter what Robin seemed to suggest. She would just have to keep the notes on herself as well. How else would she make sense of this weird mangled mess of information? She turned to another page and read:
'Basking the monster in the sun should banish it from this mortal plane.'
Nami flipped to another passage, scratching her head.
'The objective should be for the creature to tread in the salt, causing the salt to adhere to his bare feet, allowing the Apostles of the Three Brothers to track the salty route back to the demon's tomb.'
Her head cocked to the other side. The Three Brothers? She drummed her fingers on the table, frowning in her confusion. Something about that tickled her mind, but she couldn't summon the thought from whatever recesses it had retreated. The rest was odder anyway. Whatever the Lord Conqueror was was a monster of course, but what about all the talk of corpses and tombs? One paragraph had even gone at length about letting a white horse loose into a graveyard or some such nonsense!
The book even claimed he slept in graves. Or coffins. Or abandoned mausoleums. No, it was his mausoleum, and the dirt of his grave had to be nearby or—
Nami shook her head. This was stupid. Who wrote this?
Except, multiple hands had written in this notebook. Robin said it had been passed down. Did they write any and all myths they could find about the creature? One passage even had a date from nigh-on four hundred years ago. And they thought any of this was accurate?
Most annoying of all were the words she had seen near the beginning of the book.
'The thing will die if stabbed through the heart.'
Thing. Creature.
Monster.
She closed the book and muttered. Skimming had brought her through everything that she could find that would pertain to death and killing. It seemed rather gruesome — like some antiquated fairy tale told in the dark only to scare children rather than to teach them anything. What would stuffing the head with garlic do?
How could a religious icon ward him away if he was supposed to be a god? Nami turned that over in her head. Was he really a god? He had killed something a thousand years ago, and that seemed to be the World Eater. A monster that made other monsters so it could take over the world. But he had stopped it. Yet he would be turned away from other religious symbols? Any search for wounding him brought up quick healing at least, but that was the most accurate thing she found besides the blood-sucking.
Nothing else made sense. Was she to assume it was all correct? But she didn't think she had the strength to overpower and decapitate him. She shivered at the thought, touching her own neck before she closed her eyes tight. The very idea of it made her grimace.
Even he couldn't come back from that, right? She supposed that made sense. But this wanted the body burned too. She wasn't certain that she would rule a prison cell if she was caught, and she couldn't reason out how to step away from such an encounter completely clean.
What were the odds that Luffy would just let her—
Her mind stopped, and she winced.
The Lord Conqueror.
She couldn't just think of him as a man anymore. That thing was a monster. Nami turned to another page near the beginning, sighing at the words that lazily stared back.
'May we, the Apostles of the Three Brothers, strike the beast down.'
That again.
Her fingers drummed on the page before she closed the book more carefully than before. She would have to ask Robin later when she got the chance. It still tickled a memory. Had she seen those words before perhaps?
The door to her office opened, and Nami peered up only to freeze at the sight of Luffy — the Lord Conqueror — in the doorway. He perked a brow, and she rose to come around the desk. She couldn't glance at the book. Didn't dare look down or hide it. That would only draw attention to it. Besides, his eyes were on her as ever.
"Was inviting Tama my punishment for leaving you earlier?" He smiled though, teasing.
She chewed her lip when she recalled his intense gaze before, but she shook her head. "She wanted to come."
The tantrum at the end of dinner had been forgiven easily enough, but Nami couldn't look back at anyone for too long lest she remember again. Tama had been sated, but clung to the Lord Conqueror on his lap while he smiled.
"Besides, I know you." She hesitated when she heard herself, but swallowed nothing and went on. "You'd have come begging for me to entertain you anyway." He smiled wider, slipping closer to grasp her hips. When he yanked her body to his, she shivered, but snorted. "See?"
"I'm not entertained yet though. What will you do for me? Dance naked?"
Nami huffed, but smiled. She couldn't help it.
I married a monster. The only one who would take me. And her chest warmed. Idiot.
His head tilted, eyes boring into her before he kissed her forehead. "Maybe you'll sit on my lap and read me a story?"
"It's supposed to be the other way around."
"Mm, but my mouth will be busy."
Nami darkened when she realized he was pressing her toward her desk. When her legs hit the side, she gasped, still not daring to look over her shoulder. If she did, she knew that notebook would sit in plain sight in the middle of her desk. At least it was closed and had no title.
"Then make your mouth busy for me," she whispered, and his eyebrows twitched up before he licked his lips.
"Oh?"
She blushed, but she couldn't look away when he leaned in, forehead against hers. This was nothing like earlier. Instead, something burned in his eyes rather than that void.
Nami swallowed nothing, and he grinned. "You're telling me what to do?"
She bit his lip, and he jerked before he growled, pressing her back onto the desk. Flushing, she pressed her hand on top of his head, and his eyes widened as she gave him a gentle push.
"Down, boy."
The book pushed into her back while his eyes met hers, wild with lust before he disappeared under her skirts. He parted drawers, and a hot mouth suctioned onto her. Nami gasped, tensing in her anticipation of his tongue as it slipped out in a circle over her entrance. Nami tried not to think about the book for now. She kept it safe by not even trying to wrangle with it, but the journal dug into her in reminder.
When his tongue slurped inside, Nami cried out, clenching around it until he pulled out with a chuckle. "Luffy!"
"What are you so tight for? It's almost like my hand's around your throat again."
Her eyes bulged until he delved back inside. And the dangerous book prodded deeper into her back. As his tongue laved circles within, Nami braced her feet against the desk, aching when she tried to press back against his face. He moaned, and his breath hit her soaked folds. Luffy — the Lord Conqueror rubbed his nose against her clit in a teasing nudge, and she whimpered. After this morning, after he had coupled with her so much—!
She thought she had stamped it all down and away. Now she had a possible route to killing him, but her body! Her damned body just wanted him to bury his cock back inside! Sore, trembling, exhausted, Nami panted.
"Luffy," she cursed, a chill of delight in her making her tighten again.
"You're so naughty. Should I be naughty too?"
How could he think that this wasn't naughty!? Nami's head flopped back, moaning as his fingers thrust into her. Her hips rocked for him, and she gritted her teeth. His tongue danced around her clitoris though in a tease.
Nami felt for his head under her skirts, shaking when he chuckled. "You want me here still? Wicked little woman."
She shuddered, panting before she arched to his face. "If I'm wicked, what are you? I should be cumming on your tongue already, lazy boy."
His hands gripped her ass, and Nami swallowed dryly until he speared her with his tongue. She tried to find purchase in his hair under all the fabric, but only yanked on the back of his head, pushing him to thrust deeper. His moans around her had her hips bucking until she realized the book was slipping out from under her. With a gasp, she tightened, and he chuckled, air hitting her clit, tongue curling inside. Her eyes bulged, her free hand scratching around the book before she tensed and sobbed. A hard throb started as he sucked, raking her into ecstasy on his lips and tongue before she fell into a puddle of her own lust and sweat.
As he came out of her skirts, Nami twisted to lie on the book more. She hadn't been able to move it. And if she did anything with it, wouldn't he become suspicious? When she looked down though, he smiled as he pushed her skirts up and out of his way.
"On your side? I can take care of you like that." Nami trembled as he pulled her hips to the edge of the desk, licking his lips. "Though I want to know why you were so upset with me."
She gaped. "Me? What about you?"
His brows rose before he tilted his head. "I was upset?"
Nami twitched and grasped his lapel. His eyes widened as she yanked him closer, but she pursed her lips. "That — you can't just say that after you stared at me as if I was a slab of meat!"
He smiled. "I'm not doing that now?"
Her jaw dropped, and she smacked his chest. "You're just being a pervert again!"
When he caught her hand, leaning over her, his other hand worked at his trousers with a hum. "Did I scare you? I was just wondering how your studying was going."
"My—?" Nami froze, gaping until she shivered as his cock slipped into her drawers. Her lips parted to his cockhead, and her chest heaved.
"Is that why you're so tight? Maybe you'll get so tight that you choke my cock?"
She sighed as he pressed inside, and her face burned as her immediate reaction was to squeeze around his thrust. He moaned, releasing her wrist to grasp her waist to control the slams inside. Writhing, she caught hold of his lapel again, crying out as she tried bracing herself, stunned when he came closer. The Lord Conqueror licked his lips, and she caught her head from dropping back to offer her throat. What was the point in fighting? The book dug into her side now.
Nami tightened when he drew closer with every thrust until his lips whispered to hers, "Can I make you tighter? Don't you know how good you feel like this? My wicked assassin in wedding reds."
His hand coiled around her throat, and Nami panted even though he never squeezed. Lips curling back, his fangs descended, and she gritted her teeth, aghast with herself as her body clutched around him. Did he grow larger too? She couldn't tell. Nami trembled as he slammed her into the journal. Her hips went numb except for what he did inside.
She squealed, eyes tearing even as she tried to chant in her mind.
This was why.
Those fangs were why.
He licked one before he growled, a husky, guttural sound in the back of his throat.
This monster was slowly murdering her.
Her breath hitched, and Nami ached when his tongue glided over her lips.
This was why.
Pulling on his lapel, Nami moaned as their lips crashed together, molding as one while her leg coiled around his waist. When she bit his tongue, his hips quickened, and her form melted into his with a cry.
The sticky mess as he pulled out, as her body arched as she moaned from the glide, dripped into her lacy underthings. Nami collapsed over the book only to whimper as he stroked her asscheek through her drawers. He leaned over her from behind as she lifted herself higher on her toes. But now the book was safe against her stomach. Nami shuddered as he thrust back inside.
She tilted her head, moaning as he ravished her. "Bite … bite me, Luffy …" I can't take it any longer! If this doesn't stop soon, I'll be his slave!
"I'd love that." His breath grazed her neck, but she quivered with his lips too far even for a nip. "But I want you to live a long time."
Liar!
"If I bite you now, you might do worse than faint, Nami." She shuddered, her eyes widening as she clutched to her neck. He grunted over her with a sigh. "You finally relaxed."
Nami laid her forehead on the desk, panting when he moved again.
Except, this hardly felt like the half of her reasons. Her body ached all over again, remembering its soreness — but that ache conjoined into ecstasy.
She wanted her family to be happy and safe, but weren't they now? Here in this place with her? Nami even had Tama now. She was starting to love her just as much as her own mother and sister. What was some blood — her life — in view of all that?
But couldn't she stay too?
Nami's eyes clenched shut, bucking back in earnest.
"So sweet, my sweet wicked woman." He purred in her ear while his fingers trailed over her throat. Her squeeze around him had him groaning. "I can't wait to feed again … You make me so hungry, Nami. It has to be …"
When she turned her head, sweating under him, the Lord Conqueror ground his fangs, eyes shut tight with a yearning that poured through his face even then.
This was why.
She reached back, moaning as she stroked his cheek, and his eyes sprung open, drowning her in their lust before he kissed her. When she slipped her tongue with his, she searched for those fangs. For the lie. But he had retracted them again. However, he had just told her after all that he would devour her again. The Lord Conqueror would never stop.
Coward, she thought, but she wondered who it was for. Him for not just doing the deed? Or herself for holding onto him so tightly that she didn't think she could take it any longer?
As her eyes shut, she sobbed to his lips, fingers making fists in his hair as a foot slipped from her shoe. For a few moments, she drowned in the ache inside, holding her breath until she sagged onto the desk, only his hips keeping her from collapsing to the carpet.
"You are always amazing," he whispered, and Nami shivered. "You know, I wasn't able to give you a present this morning since I was taking care of you."
She frowned softly before she peeked back at him over her shoulder. As he straightened with a smile, he combed his hair with his fingers, a slick of sweat sticking it back. Nami flushed, but held his gaze as he withdrew from her. She could almost ignore the shudder that went through her form. Sometimes, that was her only defiance, but he never seemed to see it that way.
"Present …?" She had been wondering about the sporadic gifts that he sent to her apartments.
"For the meal. How about you pick this time? What do you want?"
Her eyes widened, and her lips parted, going dry before she wetted them with her tongue. "Anything?"
He snickered. "Oh? Mm, sure. Anything."
Nami stared, eyes widening. Could she leave? Yet a ridiculous thought passed through her too, and Nami touched his hand still on her waist. Her breath grew ragged as she reached further, his fingers threading with hers as his brow furrowed. They touched her belly, and she closed her eyes, imagining the life that might never be.
This was why.
When she opened her eyes again, something like trepidation touched his black eyes, but he didn't look away. Taking a deep breath, she turned over, ignoring the journal. If his eyes twitched toward it, that didn't matter because she said:
"Give me what goes through the heart."
For a wonder, no rage twisted his face. His head tilted with that same smile though he considered her with what she could only think was a twinkle.
"I'll send for it. Just for you." The Lord Conqueror leaned over her. If the book pressed into her back again, she didn't feel it as his hands cupped her cheeks, and his lips ghosted hers in a whisper, "Only you."