Tiefling Boyfriend: Mercutio 8 (special preview)

Lena is gone, August is gone, Lynk is away, and I am still here. I know that it was my choice in all these absences, so beating myself up is easier. I don’t have a family, but by all accounts they were as close as I would ever come to such a thing.

I work, but it’s nothing like it used to be. If anything I’m even more crueler when I do. I’m more cutthroat with my methods, and I’m harsh on the courtiers who work under me. I don’t have August to cushion me and make me sweet, I don’t have Lena to keep me in line, I don’t have Lynk to bounce ideas with. 

I don’t regret sending them away, or at least, allowing them to go. August is doing what’s right, something I don’t think I’ve ever done. Lena is taking care of Valentine and the forthcoming baby, something I could never do. Then Lynk is busy preparing for said baby, keeping him away for long stretches of time. This is fine. I will be fine. One day it will all be worth it.

There comes an evening though where fine might no longer be okay. I am sitting alone in my chambers, as that’s really all I can do. I read over the diary that August left for me, daydreaming of the day we can be together again, when I feel a cold chill at the back of my neck. I look up, seeing the flames in the fireplace wither. As I sit alert in my seat a smooth hand wraps around my throat.

“My dear boy,” Fierna whispers to me. “I think we need to talk.”

I sit stiff in my seat, setting the diary between my thigh and the arm of my chair. “It has been awhile. Why come now of all times?”

Her hand tightens around my throat, choking me and throwing my head back against the chair. I look up at her, gazing into those ferocious things she calls eyes. She sneers at me, lip curled and eyebrow arched into a fine point. 

“You are my son, so I expect some youthful rebellion.” Her sharp fingers not only constrict on my throat, but dig into the flesh, causing a warm rush of blood down my neck, staining the white collar of his shirt. “But it has gotten to a point where I can no longer ignore the warning signs.” Keeping her hand on me she walks around the chair. “You do remember why you are here, correct?” She presses the heel of her palm into my throat and it feels as though I might throw up. “You belong to me, my son,” she whispers. “You are here because of me.”

I wrap my hand around her wrist and her skin feels lava hot. 

Her eyes look down at my fingers and then back at me. “I know what you are doing, so this is a warning to you.” More blood stains my shirt. “Stop this right now. Stop sowing your discontent and attempts at discord. Stop placing yourself on a pedestal that does not exist. You will live a lot longer.” She grins at me. “You’re lucky to be alive at all right now.”

My grip tightens on her wrist. If Lena were here, I am sure she would find a way to soothe the tension, to tell me that my mind was going crazy and I needed to let go. I’m sure if August were here, I would protecting him, and I would do anything to save him. If Lynk were here, he would have wine to distract her.

But none of them are here.

I push back, forcing Fierna against the fireplace. Her head cracks against the stone and she screams at me, lunging and forcing her hands around my throat. I kick her dead in the stomach and fire starts to flicker from my fingertips and palms. 

She looks up at me, chuckling as she wipes the corner of her mouth. “Do you honestly think you can take me, child? Who the hell do you think you are?”

I throw fire at her, which catches on the tapestry. She surges through the flames, coming at me with her own blaze. I dodge her and her fire goes up the ropes to the canopy of the bed. The room has become a tinderbox, but I don’t care. Someone is leaving this room dead, and it won’t be me.