Dark Hunger

The whole month passed and everything went on pretty well. Daryn had come one more day when Caleb had organized competition camps for his people. Together the brothers had released the entire magic from the Amber Moonstone. 

Urhan had stayed very low throughout the time. Caleb had kept a tight vigil on him and his home, but everything looked very normal. 

Caleb's magic was so strong that he had cast it over the entire Ixoviya. If someone used their magic or cast spells, he used to come to know immediately. However, every evening he would be extremely drained of his powers. 

"You are not going to be of any use if you continue doing this," Elize scolded him the second time in the evening. A servant was massaging him with aroma oil that she had infused with her magic's heat. It warmed over his body and stayed a little heated to relax his strained muscles. She was watching from the past month as to how he was keeping a close watch on his people. 

Being new to the power, he just wanted to know how things worked. In the end, Caleb concluded that running a kingdom was akin to running a business empire except that he had a horde of sorcerers to deal with. But sorcerers were no better than humans in their daily lives. They suffered the same level of jealousy or anger and a plethora of other emotions. He was getting worried as to how they were using magic on ordinary squabbles and so he decided to lay rules on when people could use magic. And one of the most important rules was that no one could use their lethal magic to kill or potentially harm others. He recalled the laws in the human world and then used them as a guide to form more rules. 

"From tomorrow you will not be casting your magic over the entire kingdom," she said. "Your laws are doing great and I don't see any danger or crime in the kingdom." 

"But Lizzy—" he protested. He wasn't ready to leave his stronghold over the spells he had cast. 

"No!" she said loudly. "You will not be casting it again! Enough is enough." She looked at his pale face and purple circles beneath his eyes and cringed for the tenth time. Her heart plummeted to her stomach. 

Caleb sighed, too tired to argue with his wife and closed his eyes. The servant massaged his legs and his back with his skillful hands and soon he had gone into deep slumber. 

"You may leave now," Elize dismissed the servant. When she heard the soft click of the door getting closed behind her, she got up and covered him with a soft comforter. She placed a kiss on his head and he moaned in his sleep. Gods, how much she had come to love her man over this time. Both she and Caleb had gotten into the flow of taking care of Ixoviya as the new king and queen. It had its ups and downs, but as Caleb put it, "With my wife next to me, I can win the world!" A smile tugged her lips up. She slid right next to him and wrapped her arms around his naked torso. 

In the morning, Elize woke up with a wet dream of him between her thighs. She moaned and jerked wide awake when she found him right there. She propped herself on her elbows and watched him sucking her clit. He gazed at her and growled and Elize's hips bucked to his mouth almost involuntarily. She didn't remember when she was stripped out of her nightgown but when she turned her face, she found it heaped on the ground, ripped. She closed her eyes as he lowered himself to her core. He sucked it hard and opened it with his fingers to delve his tongue there. The sensation was so strong that she came with a stifled groan against her pillow. He got up, wiped his face and then wedged his thighs between hers. With one push he was inside her and then drove her like a piston. He came with a bellow to the ceiling. 

He slumped beside her with a smile on his lips. Having such amazing sex with his wife—Caleb had never thought he would be so happy ever again. Pia was just some fading memory which he never breached. 

Like the usual routine, the aura around him glowed as he started spreading his magic in his room. Just when the ripple was about to leave the room, Elize growled, "I asked you not to do it now!" 

"Lizzy, I need to know what is going on in my kingdom," he protested. 

"Stop being so interfering. Leave your people. Don't cast your magic over them every day. If you want, you should cast it randomly to check what is happening. Otherwise let them be." She turned towards him. She folded her elbow and propped her face over her palm. She trailed her hand over his chest and down to his navel involuntarily. "A king's business is not to interfere in the daily lives of his people." She ruffled his mussed hair on his head. Gods, he was so beautiful. 

Caleb's lips tugged up. She spoke like a queen. "Okay, love," he replied. "But I have a condition." 

She frowned. "Condition?" 

He nodded. "You have to kiss me every hour of the day." 

"What the hell?" 

"And if you miss even one hour by a few minutes, I will cast my magic over the kingdom." 

"That is— that is impossible, Caldy!" 

He shrugged. "That's for you to decide," he said nonchalantly.

That day Elize found herself running throughout Norhall Castle to place a kiss on her husband every damn hour. To teach him a lesson, she even barged in the throne hall. When Caleb saw her coming in, he barked at the guards to draw all the curtains to stop light from coming in. She walked in every shadow of each curtain as guards closed them one by one. As soon as she reached him, she climbed the dais, held him by his collar, and placed a sizzling kiss over his lips. She knew that in front of all the courtiers, he would be extremely embarrassed. She looked at the scandalized courtiers with a wide grin, and then at her husband as she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes.

Caleb was staring at her with… lust. She jerked her head back slightly and raised her eyebrow. She gasped when he cupped her face, pulled her towards him and then placed a searing kiss on her lips. Elize's head reeled when he left her. The man was shameless and his courtiers were giggling or snorting or laughing. She blushed like a thousand suns. He whispered, "Thanks love." Elize shook her head and then snapped her fingers. Red tendrils covered her in a swirl and she vanished from there, too embarrassed. The tables had turned and she had to think of a way to teach him a lesson again. 

Yet another month passed and Elize was sitting in her bedchamber, feeling the oppressed heat. She didn't know why, but over the past month, Ixoviya was facing drought-like heat. Earth was parched of water and whatever little clouds that came over it, rolled away with the winds. It was as if God was suddenly very angry with Ixoviya. On top of it, her lady servant was telling her about all the rumors that were being spread in the kingdom. They were saying that Ixoviya is facing so much heat only because they have an unholy queen between them. It was because a vampire was amongst them. 

"Hush Delia!" Elize said sharply. Her nonsense talk was adding to her irritation. 

Delia became quiet and started folding the clothes that Elize had spread over the bed. They were called for dinner at one of the courtiers' homes, a woman named Ivana. She was wondering what she should wear when sweat trickled from her forehead. She wanted to open all the curtains and let the breeze in, but she couldn't. Being a vampire, her skin was naturally cold, but the oppressive heat only made her sweat. She chose a pale pink silk gown and had asked Delia to fold all others. 

"Your Highness," said Delia as she hung her last gown in the wardrobe. "This is the first time Ixoviya has faced such heat. River tributaries have trickled to their lowest and many merchants who have groves are affected. Harvest is not as it should be. My family largely depends on it…" She became quiet. 

Elize narrowed her eyes. Was Delia blaming her? When she didn't answer, the servant left. Elize turned her attention back to her gown. 

--- 

He turned his head over his shoulders to glance at the woman who had come very late for the ritual they were performing. There were five men and a woman.. They were all at the west end of the kingdom, in one of the abandoned properties that flames had swallowed when Canton had tried to kill Caleb and Daryn.