Chapter 1389: Spoils of the Strong

The Queen’s expression became radiant. She laughed softly, delighted, and deliberately arched her back so her breasts pressed more firmly against her Master’s thigh, the motion pushed them higher and together while she watched his eyes drop again.

"I knew it."

Phei narrowed his eyes. "I didn’t say anything."

"You didn’t need to."

She copied Sienna’s favorite weapon against him so perfectly that Phei almost felt betrayed by the universe.

The Queen leaned closer again until her lips hovered near his ear, her chest pressing deliberately against one of his thighs as she whispered, "I want to taste you too, Master, the way you desire yo taste me too."

Her breath warmed against his skin, and she stayed there long enough for him to feel the soft weight of her breasts shifting with every word, one hand sliding up into his hair to hold him close. She drew back only far enough to see his reaction, then gave another delighted little squeal when his eyes narrowed, her hips shifted as she knelt higher so the curve of her ass was more visible between his legs.

"Oh, you liked that."

"You are dangerously pleased with yourself."

"Yes."

Again, absolutely zero shame.

She closed her eyes and moved even closer, she pressed her cheek briefly against his, then breathed his scent in from the hollow beneath his jaw. Dragon Dominance naturally flowed deeper and heavier than before into her while the Aphrodisiac woven through his existence carried that strange sweetness capable of turning attraction into something much harder to ignore.

The Queen did not resist either one.

She actively welcomed them.

Her fingers then tightened lightly against his shirt while she inhaled slowly near his neck, and a visible shudder travelled through her from shoulders to thighs. She bit her lower lip, then rubbed her cheek against him with something almost feline and whispered:

"Gods..." Her free hand slid down her own body as she breathed in again; it lingered over the curve of her breast before it settled low on her stomach, and she squeezed her thighs together around nothing while another soft, pleased sound escaped her.

Phei glanced downward.

The Queen’s eyes remained closed. She nuzzled closer, and her lips brushed the side of his throat as she spoke.

"You can have me, Master— all of me!"

Her voice had changed; it had become lower and warmer without losing any of its shameless delight.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, her black gaze was heavy with open hunger, then she guided one of his hands from where it rested to the curve of her waist and pressed his palm against her so he could feel the warmth of her usually cold skin through the thinning Death Essence.

"I can feel something waking inside me when I’m this close to you."

Her hand slid from Phei’s chest to her own stomach while she breathed again, and another shiver went through her. She rocked lightly against his palm; her hips shifted in a slow, deliberate motion that made the essence cling and part around her thighs.

"Something hungry."

She opened her eyes fully and smiled with wicked certainty.

"Bestial!"

Phei watched the way she looked at him and immediately decided someone needed to introduce restraint back into the room.

He placed two fingers against her forehead.

The Queen blinked.

Phei pushed her back gently with his fingers.

She slid backward between his legs with an offended little noise, her Death Essence rippling around her body while Phei gave her a look. Even as she went, she kept her eyes on him, lips parted, and one hand trailed down his thigh as if reluctant to lose the contact.

"You’re ridiculously shameless."

The Queen’s surprise lasted only long enough for her mouth to curve again. She stayed on her knees between his legs, her hands on his thighs now, and she made no effort to put more distance between them.

"We barely know each other," Phei continued. "I’m your Master because I enslaved you after we were literally enemies. The first proper interaction we had involved you trying to destroy my soul, giving you the five dead World Transcendents and now this is basically our second real meeting and you’re kneeling between my legs telling me I smell delicious."

The Queen considered the accusation with impressive seriousness, and her fingers lightly stroked his thighs while she thought.

Then she smiled, she rose smoothly from her knees, and turned away from him, and the motion caused the black-violet Death Essence around her hips to billow outward before it settled once more.

She walked several steps, then slowly rotated as she spoke, her arms lifted slightly from her sides as though she had decided that if Phei wanted to complain about her body he could at least receive the full exhibition. The turn was slow enough that he watched the way her ass moved beneath the essence, the heavy sway of her breasts, the deliberate arch of her back as she displayed herself without a hint of self-consciousness.

"I am not someone who fights fate simply because fate arrived in a form I did not expect. Yes, you are my Master. Yes, technically I am your slave. But I have absolutely no shame admitting I prefer belonging to you rather than those detestable families."

Her expression twisted with genuine disgust.

"And trust me, Master, the word detestable means something coming from a woman who finds genuine joy in raising dead and occasionally asking them questions afterward. Those families are extremely... well, unpleasant and they disgust me."

Phei chuckled.

The Queen’s mood brightened immediately again as she continued to stroll around the room, and she occasionally glanced back at him with a knowing smile whenever she caught his eyes on her hips or the way the Death Essence clung to her ass.

"Besides, I do not actually feel enslaved here. You never order me around. I can go wherever I want, speak to whoever I want, spend my days however I want and apparently even steal Sakura whenever I become bored."

Phei’s thoughts snagged.

’Sakura?’ His eyes narrowed faintly.

’Oh, so that was Consort’s real name.’

Interesting.

’Very interesting their relation has reached where she can tell someone her real name.’

The Queen apparently noticed nothing and continued with cheerful sincerity; one hand trailed along the back of a chair as she walked, and her hips still swayed. "The only things I cannot do are harm you, harm someone you love, betray you or knowingly disobey something you directly command. And even then, you have not actually commanded me to do anything unpleasant."

She turned back toward him and paused with her weight on one hip so the curve of her waist and the fullness of her chest were on full display.

"I do not sleep chained anymore. I am not fucking starved until my cultivation begins eating itself because some frightened old bastard thinks feeding a prisoner properly might make her dangerous. They are bastards, right Master?"

Her expression darkened for only a moment before excitement returned hard enough to erase it.

She stepped closer again, close enough that the edge of her Death Essence brushed his arm.

"And then you gave me five World Transcendents!"

Phei knew immediately which five she meant.

Cassian, Bromgar, the Ancient Naga, the Gorgon and the male Demon.

Five dead World Transcendents, each one transformed from the corpse of an enemy into an obscenely valuable addition to an Undead Queen’s collection.

Her hands came together beneath her chin, and she bounced lightly on her toes; the motion made her breasts giggle beneath the thinning essence while she beamed at him.

"Master, do you understand how wonderful that gift was?"

Phei laughed. "I saw your face."

"I nearly kissed you then."

"I would’ve killed you then."

"That would not have stopped me."

"I believe you."

The Queen giggled and resumed her pacing, though she stayed nearer now and circled close enough that he could smell the faint, cold sweetness of her Death Essence mixed with the warmer scent of her skin:

"Most importantly, Master, I understand there is no such thing as a free meal. If someone saves you, frees you and gives real freedom—and trust me this is heavens given what we used to live like— eventually they usually want something in return. Apparently being your slave is just the price of all this."

She gestured broadly toward the penthouse, then turned and walked back toward him, deliberately slow, and let him watch the way her thighs moved and the Death Essence parted around them.

"Would I prefer complete freedom? Obviously. But if you had simply released me somewhere after Anarctica, I probably would have ended up hunted again eventually."

She shrugged; the motion rolled her shoulders and made the essence slip lower across her chest for a moment before it darkened again.

"Beggars cannot be choosers."

Then she paused: "Is that correct?"

Phei stared at her.

"Sakura taught me."

Phei filed that information away very carefully for later.

The Queen tilted her head. "Ah, Earth has strange sayings."

"You learned that one correctly."

"Wonderful then!"

She looked genuinely pleased with herself before she continued, and she stepped between his legs once more but remained on her feet this time, close enough that her thighs nearly brushed his knees:

"And really, what more can I ask for? I attacked you. I served your enemies, whether I wanted to or not. I tried to kill you when attacked your soul because I thought I could escape afterward. Yet you still freed me from those beasts, gave me somewhere beautiful to stay, you let me do almost whatever I please and handed me five beings powerful enough to make most Necromancers worship the ground beneath my feet."

Her black eyes gleamed. She leaned forward slightly with her hands on his shoulders, and the position put her breasts almost level with his face, the Death Essence so thin across them that he could see the soft shape of her beneath it:

"I think I won."