The Shard's Favor Ch. 001

"Me." The beautiful woman spoke simply, but a wicked smile curved across her ruby lips. "A night with the Living Shard and any one favor, to be granted without question or hesitation." She took a single step closer, placing one hand on my bare chest. "Are you ready, survivor?"

I could feel her palm warm against my skin, could smell her sweet scent in my nostrils. I was still confused, but I was also conflicted. The half of me ruled by my throbbing manhood wanted nothing more than to gather her up in my arms and forget everything for a few, simple moments. But then, in a flash, I realized that nothing could be quite so simple. It never is.

"And then?" I demanded quietly, a crawling sensation of numbing dread creeping down my spin. I suspected I knew the answer to this question, too.

The woman let her hand fall to her side, leaving a bloody handprint on my chest. "Death," she said, her smile fading as she gave me an inscrutable look. "No one but the Emperor touches the Living Shard and continues to live. Not even a survivor of the Trials."

My mind started to race. Death. I'd faced it before in the Pit, under the twin suns, with a blade in my hand. Now, I faced it in the words of a hot-as-hell goddess who was offering me what would probably be the best sex of my short life. I don't remember my past, I thought. But I doubt I've ever been more confused. Still, a sort of calm settled over me as I realized something. This is out of my control. No matter what I did, it seemed, I had always been fated for death. Thirty days of killing in the arena had done nothing more than delay the inevitable.

So I squared my shoulders and stared into the woman's starlit blue eyes with my own azure gaze. I saw that she was watching me carefully, and I realized she was craftier than her gorgeous exterior let on. "Then I'll take my prize," I told her.

I saw her eyes glint with satisfaction, and her smile was wide. She turned, and placed her bloody palm on a scanner in the wall beside us. The solitary door slid open with a barely audible swoosh and click.

The empress gave me a sultry look that made my cock even harder in my pants. "Then follow me."

Beyond the door there was only darkness, and I watched as the slim, white-clad form slunk lithely into it. Fuck it, I thought, and followed.

***

A white light clicked on overhead as we entered the room beyond the doorway, and in the smoothly spreading brightness I saw a more luxurious room than I could ever have imagined. In the center, a gigantic, fourposter bed dominated the space and beneath my feet I felt myself sinking into a thick, rich carpet.

The empress glanced over one shoulder and a girlish giggle escaped her sculpted lips as she saw me staring at the gold-plated bedposts, the floating grav-chairs and furnishings that were probably worth more than my life.

I must have looked quite a sight — a tall, muscular gladiator with blood dripping down his chest and fingertips, grime from the arena still clinging to his body, frozen and gaping like a fool. Get yourself together, I told myself sternly, clenching my jaw tightly shut.

"Wait here," the woman ordered, brushing one hand over the rich red sheets and patting the side of the bed. "I'll get something for your wounds."

I watched as her round, barely-covered ass swayed out of the room through a doorway in the far wall. Then, I obeyed, crossing to the bed and turning to sit as the door slid shut behind me with a soft whoosh. Feeling only a tiniest bit guilty as my sweat-, sand- and blood-stained body rested comfortably on the plush mattress, I looked around.

There were no windows, of course. We must have been deep within the palace at this point. The walls were all the same smooth white material as the hallways outside. I wondered for a moment if it was some sort of plastic. But for the opulent furnishings, the clean white room might almost have felt barren and sterile.

I heard the sound of cupboards being opened and closed, a soft curse in a feminine voice and then an "Aha!" of discovery. The scantily clad blonde returned, a small pile of supplies held to her voluptuous chest.

My eyes lit up at the prospect of relief and I suddenly grew aware of the fact that my arm and chest were still burning dully.

She crossed the room and sat beside me, laying down her load and spreading it across the silken red sheets. A bunch of tiny vials and circular containers, a roll of white gauze and several pads of linen. Taking a pad, she raised her hand and wiped at my chest to clean some of the blood.

I could tell she was trying to be gentle, but I hissed at the pain and had to force myself not to jump back. An urge in the back of my mind, the one that had ruled my body and kept me safe through a month of hardship, immediately decided I needed to kill her. Instead, I took a deep breath. "Don't you have something more..." I struggled for a moment. "Immediate?"

Beneath the arena, the handlers had had a device they called the Painbringer. It was a metallic wand with a pair of prongs at one end that they pressed to the edges of a wound and dragged along the length. It hurt like hell as it spat a blowtorch of flame that simultaneously cauterized and sealed up the injury, but it healed quick and all it left was a pale, jagged scar. In the last 30 days I had become the proud bearer of many such scars.

The empress shrugged, her slim hands raising and uncorking a vial, releasing a sweet, pleasant scent. She scooped out a yellow paste onto her red fingers, red with my blood, and stared into my face as she slowly spread it across the wound on my chest.

"Oh fuck..." I closed my eyes as her cool hands touched my body, the sensation of the salve immediately numbing the pain and replacing it with a dull glow. As my pain lessened, I suddenly had the opportunity to appreciate how close together we were sitting, her hand on my chest and her fantastic body just inches away from mine. I could smell her scent from earlier, the delicate and titillating perfume. And I could somehow sense her arousal, rising and matching mine. For the moment, however, she focused on wrapping gauze around and around my chest, sealing in the ointment with her eyes focused on the task.

I raised my arms, bulging with corded muscle, to let her slide the gauze over one shoulder and under the opposite arm. "Or do you just like playing nurse?" I continued, a smile edging my lips as blood dripped down my shoulder from the cut on my bicep.

Now, she flashed me a quick grin, eyes dancing brightly with mirth. "Maybe," she murmured.

Her starry blue eyes lit a fire in my belly, and I suddenly wanted to throw her down on the bed, rip off her flimsy white dress and fuck her into oblivion. Something inside of me growled with arousal, coming awake, sensing it was almost time.

"Do you have a name, gladiator?" her tone was playful as she bit her lip and let one finger slide down my chest suggestively. The cut ached slightly, but that was all. Not it just needed time to heal. "'Carnage' is a fine stage name to please the crowds, but hardly the right title for the lover of the Empress."

My voice was soft and rough as I answered. "No..." I could feel my body responding to her touch, tingling rays of electricity sparking from her fingers up my spine and down lower into my cock. The blood rushed below my waist, my length growing and pushing insistently against the thin fabric of the trousers they'd given me before transporting me here from the arena. But I frowned, suddenly, and then spoke. She could tell by my stillness that I had momentarily forgotten the playful foreplay between us. "Do you do this to all your gladiators?" My tone was blunt and harsh.

The woman gave me a confused look, her brow furrowing. I tried not to let myself be distracted by how her pursed lips begged to be kissed. "This?" she asked, gesturing vaguely at the bandages wrapping my body. Her eyes became sultry. Her hand dropped lower, stroking along my inner thigh and then outlining the bulge at the fork of my legs.

I shivered, a moan of lust dying in my throat as I struggled and shook my head stubbornly. "No." I raised my hand and poked myself in the temple. "This. Remove their memories so they have no idea who they are, where they are, or what the fuck is going on." I had to force myself not to raise my voice towards the end, a month of frustration bubbling up inside of me. I was finally in a position to get some answers, and I would get them.

The empress drew back slightly and looked at me, and I saw her expression as it shifted from confused to thoughtful. "No," she said after a moment of gazing searchingly into my eyes. "We don't."

What? "Then how—" I started to demand, but she held up a finger to my lips to halt my words.

"I don't know," she answered softly, and I could tell she was more than a little troubled. "Whatever happened to your memories, it was done before you arrived at the Trials."

Fuck! She didn't know anymore than I did. "Fuck..." I repeated aloud. I took a deep breath, then, and cleared my mind. I had lived and killed for a month without knowing my past. That problem could wait.

"Tell me more about this favor you owe me," I asked, deflecting my attention away from my issues and also away from my sensitive, engorged cock, mere inches away from the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.

The woman gazed into my eyes for a moment searchingly, then decided not to pursue the matter. "The Shard's favor is sacred," the woman told me, soft hands raising the cloth and beginning to wipe blood from the wound in my right arm where the shadowman's hand had sliced my skin like it was paper. "It is a pact that has been kept for centuries by my people. It's the reason that a thousand warriors enter themselves into the Trials once every decade."

I never entered myself, I thought silently, but kept quiet. That was a mystery to be solved at another time. I didn't say anything, enjoying the sensation as many days' worth of sweat, dust and blood was wiped from my skin. My handlers had washed me in the cells beneath the arena, but that had simply consisted of sixty freezing seconds under a drooping hose that blasted the grime from my body and left me clean enough to keep up appearances.

"We have gone to war," she continued. "We have settled massive debts. We have made entire clans extinct. All by the will of the survivor of the Trials."

I struggled to comprehend the magnitude of such a favor. It's not a favor, I thought grimly. It's a blank fucking check. I opened my mouth to speak but before I could the empress raised one slim finger to my lips for the second time. Her touch was soft, and it made me want to grab her wrist and pull her into a fierce kiss. But she spoke before I could act.

"There are only a few things that you cannot ask for."

Let me guess... I thought sarcastically, waiting.

"You cannot ask me to spare your life."

As expected.

"You cannot ask to become Emperor, the only man who may touch the Living Shard and survive."

What is this 'Living Shard' stuff? I resolved to ask this strange, alluring woman later.

"You cannot," she said finally, "ask for my life to be taken."

I thought for a moment, then sighed. "I'll decide later," I told her impatiently, reaching up and grasping her hand as it changed targets and wiped the final traces of blood and grunge from my jaw. I held it firmly and stared into her eyes, communicating my need. "For now, I want the other thing I've been promised."

A seductive, angelic smile suffused the delicate features of my captor. She bit her lip sensuously, staring into my eyes as she slid out of my grasp and stood up, gathering up her supplies and moving them to a gravi-disk hovering by the bedside.

I moved quickly, standing behind her and wrapping my arms around her body. I could hold back no longer, my lips lowering to kiss her neck with a fiery passion. The gorgeous woman melted into my chest, her ass firm and muscular yet pliable against my rock hard length as she ground back against me.

Fuck... I wanted the woman more than I'd ever wanted anything in my short span of memory. And possibly before that. Growling deep in my throat, I grasped her dress by the bottom hem and lifted it swiftly over her head, the empress raising her arms so that it slid free with almost no friction and her glorious tits bounced free. She wore no bra, and I hefted one globular mound of flesh in each hand, massaging them and feeling her erect nipples beneath my palms, each breast far more than a handful.

"Yes..." she murmured, leaning back against me and raising her hands to run them through my thick, jaggedly-cut hair. She turned, wrapping her hands around my neck and mashing her bare tits against my chest. Standing on the tips of her toes, she was able to reach my mouth and finally kiss me for the first time. She moaned as our lips met and seared into one another, and it was all I could do to keep control as her mouth parted and her tongue slipped out to dance with mine.

Fuck... My hands slid down her back and each one seized hold of a round, firm handful of ass. With barely noticeable effort, I lifted her up into the air, our mouths never ceasing to furiously move and plant kiss after panting kiss on one another, her lips moving from my mouth to my jawline to my forehead and back to my lips.

The busty blonde empress wrapped her toned thighs around my hips as I spun in place, then I lowered her swiftly down, covering her body with mine as we fell to the mattress. Pushing off, I knelt above her and frantically fumbled with my pants.

"Here, let me help you..." Licking her full lips hungrily, the alien princess sat up and undid my trousers, my cock springing free in all its glory.

I saw her eyes widen at my length and girth, and then they flicked up to meet my gaze.

"You're so big," she murmured, then leaned forward, her lips barely wrapping around the head of my thick member and her tongue flicking across the broad head to taste the precum that oozed from the tip. She sat back suddenly, her eyes widening with surprise. She swirled her tongue around in her mouth thoughtfully, then gave me a look of awe. "You taste good..." she muttered. "Sweet..."

Before I could respond, she dove forward once again and this time began at the base, licking all the way up my shaft as her hand firmly jacked me off.

Wow... I was in bliss, leaning back on my hands as she bathed my shaft with her tongue and then used the lubrication to slowly speed up the rhythm of her stroke.

"You like that?" she murmured, flashing starlight blue eyes up at me.

I just groaned in response, my head falling back as I felt a tingling pleasure run from the base of my thick cock to the tips of my pointed ears.

My captor slurped one more lick up my length and then slipped her mouth over the wide helmet, sinking down several inches and gagging softly as my manhood hit the back of her throat. She bobbed up and down several times, getting a feel for my size, and then a small tremble ran through her body and she took me deeper.

Ohshit ohshit ohshit... My thought cycle ran on loop in my head. Grabbing up her thick blonde main in a ponytail at the back of her head I slowly began to control her pace, forcing her to take me deeper with each downward motion.

She was breathing heavily, her breasts heaving. I felt her saliva running down the sides of my shaft and getting worked up and down by her hand until my entire cock was dripping wet from her mouth.

Fuck that's good. I sighed, and she moaned in response, the vibrations of the lustful sound traveling up my member and trembling through my body.

I need more, I realized. I pulled out of her mouth suddenly, leaving her panting and shocked with a glazed look in her eye. Before she could say anything I had tipped her over onto her back and was holding her body down with one hand. Kneeling between her legs, I was poised to split her in half with my cock.

"Wait.."

I froze as the curvy goddess trailed one finger down her tanned skin, gliding seductively between her round, heaving breasts and down her smooth stomach. "Before we begin...I have a favor for you as well."

I swear my mouth was watering with desire as I stared at her luscious body, and my cock was so hard it was ready to explode. "What?" I asked, forcing myself to concentrate. Control.

The empress grinned lasciviously up at me, then flicked her gaze sideways, drawing my eyes to another door on the far side of the room. "Go through that door. Find one thing in the room beyond that you want to use on me... And you shall." Her blue eyes were shining bright with an inner fire, and I could tell she wanted me as much as I wanted her. "Even I don't know what all of it does," she added with a wink.

A kinky one, I thought, shivering with desire as I contemplated the glorious, nude body laying in bed. I could tell she enjoyed teasing me, knowing how much my body yearned to pin her down and pound her into submission, and I was loathe to leave her untouched. But... I held myself in check for the moment. I wondered, for an instant, how many times she'd made this offer before. Still... Fuck it. I only had one night. Might as well get my money's worth.

I swung off of the bed, my cock swinging from side to side and my heavy balls dangling like cannonballs beneath it. Crossing to the door, I placed my hand on the scanner and it slid open. I glanced over my shoulder. In bed, the gorgeous bombshell watched me with hooded eyes.

I'm going to fuck her until she can't walk for a week, I promised myself. Then, I squared my shoulders and prepared to enter the empress' sex dungeon.

***

Oh, shit... The room beyond the door was like an interstellar antique shop warpcrossed with a debased sex factory. It was long and wide, with shelf after shelf of sex toys, xeno hardware and objects whose purpose I couldn't even begin to grasp.

I walked slowly down one aisle, glancing from side to side. Unlike the young, beautiful woman I had just left in the bed behind me, this room felt aged and full of dust. Sextoys and paraphernalia cluttered the walls and shelves on all sides, and I was overwhelmed at the pure mass of it all.

I wouldn't even know how to use any of this stuff, I realized, and my cock agreed. Just go back, my smaller head told me. You're wasting time you could spend with the only woman you'll ever remember. I turned to go back, determined not to let my conquest of the empress be forestalled any longer. Then, something flashed in the corner of my eye. I turned, peering into the semidarkness at the object, which sat nestled between a cat-o-nine-tails and a long, thin wooden paddle.

The bondage corner? I wondered.

It was a slim collar, made of some silvery grey alloy. The thing looked broken, cracked in half down the middle so that all that remained was a silver disk at the front, presumably to hold a jewel or amulet, and one half of the ring that went around the neck. I furrowed my brow, wondering what had sparked my notice, and then I saw something. What I had thought was the setting for a jewel was actually something else. I leaned in, looking more closely. Suddenly, it flashed again, and in that instant something in my mind was jarred into place. For a single instant, the glyph at the front of the collar flashed white hot in my memory and seared a single word into my mind.

Obedience.

Almost in a trance, I picked up the collar and walked out of the room. What are you doing? I tried to ask myself, but it was almost as though my legs were moving without my control. Whatever had jarred my memory had momentarily hijacked my body as well, and my arms and legs moved as though reenacting some scene from the past.