Shadow of the Abyss

To a God Damn Unawaked!"

"Mother…" Laros started.

Blood whipped over the curtains within his room as Maylar lashed out with another slap peeling flesh from his cheek. " You have the nerve to call me Mother?" Her palm reached down, taking hold of her spawn by the throat. Her fingers sank through flesh, drawing blood. "Answer me, you useless filth."

Laros shuddered, thralled by a sudd dread and the source of it before him. " Mommy… Mommy, I'm sorry! I…"

"Call me Mommy again, and I'll carve your fucking tongue out." Maylar snapped, inching her face closer, her once sublime features contorting into a feral rage. "Had I known you'd be so useless, I'd have tak the Duke's offer to fuck me: Perhaps his spawn would have be useful." She said, releasing Laros to his knees, sneering as he gasped for bitter air.

And she thought: How is this Gado's son? I thought him talted. He'd awaked days earlier than most. Possessed above-average skill with a blade. And yet he lost to a goddamn outsider. A commoner!

One not ev adept in our sword art. Pathetic. But it was bound to happ. Five sons, its only natural one is useless. News has already spread of this Altair. I need to—'

"I'll do better… Mother… I'll do better. Just please don't tell Father. Please. I'll train every day. I'll do anything. Please… Please for-for-forgive me.

" Laros whimpered, tears cascading over the swelling of his cheeks. He cried. Trembling uncontrollably. He dared not look up. Dared not meet his Mother's furious eye lest he be blinded like so many others.

He'd se it before: His Mother's rage that was akin to a demon. The vom she carried. It didn't matter who opposed her, be it those of higher rank or, god forbid, those of lower rank. Viscountess Maylar Aros's ruthlessness was said to be legdary.

"What are you? T? You ought to be old ough to be st to the Black Scourge." She added, finding amusemt in her worlds.

"Mother! You can't! I'm… I'm still… The viscount, son!" Laros shouted, finding courage at the mtion of the Black Scourge. "Mother, I can't go—"

"His Son!!" Maylar howled, striking her useless son across the room with a ruthless kick to the abdom, imprinting his small body into the wall. Mana flared off her being like a wild storm. As if a whirlwind had gathered a her, uprooting the various decor and bedding, she approached Laros, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

"I'd let all four thousand m of the Black Scourge fuck you like a rabid dog should you prove useless. That's how much you are worth to me right now. Nothing more than a common hole to be used for someone else's gain. Tomorrow, you will challge Altair. And if you fail…."She stopped herself, sucking in a large breath, as the ice within her violet eyes shimmered. " You are my son… that is clear.

But… should you fail me, should you disgrace House Aros. Your future will lie in the Black Scourge."

Storming out as blood pooled a Laros, Viscountess Maylar's cold voice echoed to the guard's station near the doorway, "Take Laros to the infirmary. Give him everything he needs. I want him at one hundred by morning." she ordered, making her way towards the Duke.

She knocked on his door, taking a few seconds to compose herself, and invited herself in to see him reviewing a few documts. "You wanted to see me, sire?"

The Duke frowned, shooting her a hard glance, noticing the blood over her palm. "He's merely t, Maylar." He whispered.

"You called me in here to talk about Laros?" Maylar asked, pulling out a handkerchief, and calmly cleansed herself of her wretched spawn.

"No," he muttered through a dark chuckle, putting aside any thoughts of Laros. "It's a go. We've t years to get the Emperor to op Earth's Borders. More specifically, we have t years to sure the GCA can acquire land."

Viscountess Maylar's brows sunk. "That's not a lot of time."

"I know. That's why I'm appointing you to head this deavor." The Duke said. "I don't know a more ruthless woman. One who knows how to get results. You play the game better than me."

She smirked. "Don't toy with me, Duke."

"But it's true. And it's better to have you on the inside than the outside." The Duke replied. " You and the Master of Swords. I need both of you. A sword and a shield."

A delightful grin arose and caught the Duke's eye. She approached him, taking a seat on his desk. "T years…huh." she looked at him. "The consequces of failure?"

"Death."

The coldness in the Duke's words did not escape, Maylars ears. Nor did the meaning behind it need to be explained. The Reverd Mother was preparing to d the House of Aros.

She grinned. "And the reward?"

"Exclusive access and rights within GCA. They've already granted temporary access to their cloning facilities. We've total control for the next t years." He explained, inhaling the sweet perfume of jasmine and rose, Maylar wore. He grinned, tracing his gaze over her ticing figure, which seemed to curve like that of a dragon. He eyed her skin-tight black dress, revealing her shoulders and back.

"There being gerous." Maylar continued, aware of his luscious stare. She said nothing of it. "How hard do you want me to lobby the nobles? If I'm to start, I might need the support of a few barons." she stared into his fathomless blue eyes, carrying a growing frustration.

Her smile deeped, and her legs parted over the table.

"Barons are those of the… lowest… level." He muttered, eyeing the dark-colored undergarmts beath Maylars dress, inching closer up her waist.

Her legs oped wider, just ough to give the Duke a better view… of the lingerie she'd prepared for him.

'M,' she derisively told herself, reaching betwe her legs to the throbbing heat below.

"Mayl—"

"Call me May… just for today." She told him in a whisper, so soft, The Duke felt his heart quick, and his cock throb

"... Gado… My brother..."

"Isn't here," she told him, taking hold of his large callus palm. They were the hands of a soldier. Of one who'd se war. Her gaze locked over his as she moved his hand further down towards the forbidd fruit belonging to his brother. "He's never here… Never."

Maylar sucked in a deep sinking breath, speaking through lies and truth, quivering as her cheeks grew flushed. "Your… already making me wet. What's wrong, my Duke… Am I too much for you?"

The Duke growled, rising from his seat with a burning heat tighting against his trousers. "Don't play with me, May."

"Th fuck me!" She told him, jerking him by the tie with a sse of authority."That's what you want, right? Do it. I'd heard you Aros m are a great fuck. But your brother was nothing but a disappointmt. Will you disappoint me too? Tear this goddamn dress off me.

And fuck me. Or are you not man ough?"

Flushed rage caught the Duke's eyes as he fell into a sea of Jasmine and Rose.