The Demon and the Emperor

By Yamila Abraham

"I must ask you--with greatest respect, Lord Demon..." The general looked up with eyes maddened by fury. "Why do you drape your arm around the Divine Emperor with such intimate familiarity?"

Rodukjo stared down his nose at the general. "Your emperor has but one thing of value to offer in exchange for my fealty. The pleasures of his body."

Newly crowned Emperor Dianese needs the power of the lascivious demon Rodukjo to solidify his authority. The mighty demon asks for a dear price in exchange for his aid, one Dianese has no choice but to accept.

The emperor expects a life of suffering at the hands of the demon, but as their partnership evolves something more profound develops.

A FULL-LENGTH novel presented in its entirety--not a series.

Intense erotica with elements of bdsm.

A fantasy realm more typical of anime than fairy tales.

The well earned HEA comes after numerous twists and turns!

The author's longest and most satisfying work to date.

Fans of Yamila Abraham's Vanquished Series will love this book!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yamila Abraham
• Release date: Nov 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311387202

Yamila Abraham

Yamila Abraham founded the publishing company Yaoi Press in 2004. Over the last decade she's overseen the publication 50 Boy's Love titles including graphic novels, comic books, novels, and art books. Abraham has successfully licensed Yaoi Press titles into several foreign languages.Abraham is a prolific writer with over a dozen graphic novel and novels in print with four different publishers. She wrote two of Yaoi Press' best selling series: Winter Demon and Dark Prince. She's written hundreds of novels, both yaoi and science fiction romance, that have been translated into foreign languages. Her first scholarly article on the topic of international BL was published by McFarland Press in 2010. Abraham currently works diligently on numerous illustrated ebooks through Yaoi Press' newest imprint, Yaoi Prose. Abraham has been a speaker or guest of honor at 150 anime fan conventions.

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The Demon and the Emperor

by

Yamila Abraham

Edited by Michelle Henson, Cover by Sara Naji

Copyright © 2015 Yamila Abraham. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. All characters depicted in this work are over 18 years old.

DEAR FRIENDS, please don’t share this ebook online!!! Piracy has absolutely devastated my ability to make a living. I beg you to please not post this or any of my works online. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me with a legal purchase!

***

Emperor Dianese exited his coach where the road ended in Farravie forest. He could hear the waterfall, though it was at least a mile off, as well as the trilling of cicadas. The forest had dense overgrowth that allowed only a few blades of sunlight to crack through. Dianese filled his lungs with a long draw, then exhaled with a slump of his shoulders. He hoisted a large leather satchel onto his shoulder. His attendant, Tessai, lunged for it in protest.

Let me carry that, Divine Emperor.

You're not coming with me.

Tessai eyes bulged. Though a sword cut had rendered him too lame for battle, he was still dense with muscle. His shoulders were broad enough to easily handle the bundle. On Dianese's delicate frame it looked as though he were an ant carrying twice his body weight.

Divine Emperor, you shouldn't go alone. There could be assassins.

Dianese ignored him to make his way through thickets that threatened to destroy the fine silk fabric of his robes.

Tessai stayed planted beside the coach behind him, as he would never disobey a command, yet still cried out to the young emperor.

Divine Emperor! Why will you not let me help you?

Dianese turned to meet his servant's eyes. I must do this alone. If I don't return in two hours time, you may come to look for me. But if you come sooner than that, Tessai, I will demand your suicide.

Tessai's eyes bulged once again. My Lord...

Dianese gave a gentle smile to ease the sting of his threat. I'll be fine, Tessai. He continued on until his servant was no longer in earshot.

His silk curl-toed shoes with ivory soles had no traction on wet leaves. Dianese had to scramble on hands and knees to get over even the shallowest gully. His burden made it feel as though a fire had been lit between his shoulder blades. Then he grew aware of his labored breathing, and how his sweat caused some of his feathery tresses of blue hair to stick to his forehead.

A toppled great oak offered a tempting place for him to rest in a clearing. Dianese didn't have to check his pocket watch to know he was already taking far too much time to reach the waterfall. If he rested then he risked coming back after dark. Even if he could find his way back to the road, their coach would likely fall prey to blockades on the way back to the city. He thought it fine to pay a few unscrupulous tolls, but Tessai would rather coat himself in their blood than suffer such disgrace. If one got the better of his attendant, then what would Dianese do? He could never make it back to the castle without a guardian. Even his mile-long trek with a bundle of bones was proving a greater challenge than he'd imagined.

The air became electrified with the cleansing aura a massive waterfall produced. Dianese came around two ancient trees broader than houses, and then spied the clearing. A roaring waterfall poured into a misty crater that led to the underworld. The spraying water had drowned any grass growing near the hole, leaving a bare circle of sodden peat.

Dianese ventured as near to the crater as he dared and let the bundle drop from his aching shoulders. He dropped as well, getting muck on the shimmering silk of his green dressing gown. For a while he could do nothing but gasp and wait for his pain to abate. Then he settled back on his bottom to behold the glistening water as it disappeared into the abyss.

He had to look wretched. He'd dressed for a royal ceremony, the kind he should have been carried to in a pristine litter so that his dainty feet never touched the ground. This was to give a good impression to the demon. He wanted to be sure he knew the highest manner of noble was summoning him. Lack of experience had caused him not to anticipate the rigors of his journey.

Dianese wished to wash his face, since his powder had certainly been ruined by sweat, but he dared not get near enough to the crater to scoop some falling water into his hands. He instead drew out a handkerchief and wiped his face clean. This renewed his confidence. Even without make-up he knew his face was incomparably beautiful.

He forced himself to his feet to dump out the bones: a gozz-hound's tooth, the leg bone of a giant tortoise, the lower jaw of a giant, the finger of a tangador bat, and, wrapped in cloth, the skull of a virgin queen whose eye sockets had been filled with jewels.

Each relic brought him back to the time and place when his father had obtained them. Two thousand brave men had died to battle the gozz-hound. Not a one of them understood what their sacrifice was for, or why they hassled the reclusive beast who was a threat to no one. Then the tortoise, so beautiful a creature and over 1,000 years old. None understood why the former emperor Ryuinto had ordered that its species be made extinct. The giant was simply a man who had grown to gargantuan proportions due to reasons of ill health. No one claimed he was cursed, as they might have done with someone who was less well-liked. He had a wife and a large brood of children who all relied on his income as a carnival sideshow act. He'd committed no crime, yet was still slaughtered at the whim of Ryuinto. The final relic had to be obtained through war, two hideous years of it. Fanterah suffered famine and poverty at levels they'd never known before, and a generation of children would now be reared without fathers. Their enemy had been a valued trading partner who'd never crossed them. Emperor Ryuinto first killed the king and then his only daughter, who'd become queen at the age of 13 after her father's death.

Dianese scattered the bones around the perimeter of a circle large enough for him to sit in. He took his place, and then felt a cold in his middle so profound he hugged his arms close to his body to warm himself.

Dianese's lower lip trembled. He swallowed, closed his eyes, and whispered a soft oath.

You must. You must. It's all that matters. You must, Dianese.

He gave a deep sigh to still his rioting nerves, then bowed as low as an envoy from a lessor country might bow to him. His forehead rested on his hands, which rested on the earth.

Come forth, Rodukjo. His voice was weak even in his own ears. He cleared his throat. Come forth, Rodukjo. It is the Divine Emperor Dianese Diancanchi who summons you.

I'm here.

Dianese's pulse thundered in his temples. He'd not only heard the deep voice, but now sensed an encompassing presence mere feet from him.

He lifted his head slowly. Seated on folded legs outside his circle of bones was a demon twice the size of his large attendant Tessai. His flesh, mostly bare, was intricately colored in red and yellow. Red on the rounds of his massive shoulders, and carving accents over the rippling muscles of his arms. Yellow on his bare chest and bulging abdominal muscles, though surrounded by red on his flanks. His face had red markings over yellow skin in an aesthetic manner. Dianese was at once reminded of the masks used in battle hundreds of years ago. He now beheld the demon these soldiers sought to imitate to add to their fearsomeness. While those masks were grotesque, the source was indelibly regal. His red and yellow face was handsomely boned with a broad masculine chin and enticing full lips. His eyes, though pure white and without pupils, bespoke both confidence and serenity.

Dianese felt emboldened by what he sensed in the demon's eyes. He sat up in full to continue his examination. Rodukjo had a long mane of thick black hair. On the top of his scalp were six horns, two of gold in the up-curling shape of a bull's, two in silver, in the shape of a ram's, and two coming from the peaks of his hairline, short and black like onyx. The demon's feet were bare, revealing toes tipped with sharp black claws. His hands rested on his lap and were also accented with fearsome black claws. He wore metal gauntlets on his forearms and similar guards on his calves. Besides this, his only garment was a skirt of brown leather with tassels of softer leather dangling before it from a braided belt.

How pretty you are, Rodukjo said.

Dianese fixed his gaze back on the demon's eyes. There was now the touch of a smile at the corners of the demon's lips.

I thank you, Dianese said, forcing the words past a building lump in his throat.

Speak, Divine Emperor who has summoned me. Dianese glimpsed the demon's sharp white teeth as he spoke. I'm so eager to hear what you have to say.

Dianese nodded. Honorable demon, unimaginable efforts were taken to procure these gifts I've laid about me.

I have no interest in any of that garbage. Why would your father kill the last giant tortoise in existence?

Dianese's heart resumed its thunderous beats.

And you bring me the skull of a virgin instead of the virgin herself? That sickens me.

I don't understand. He gazed at the hard-fought treasures about him. My father was convinced these items had merit for you.

The fool probably spoke to a witch who sent him on an impossible quest rather than admit her ignorance.

Dianese's stomach squeezed. He recalled the conversation about a witch his father had consulted shortly before adopting him.

I beg you to forgive my ignorance, honorable demon.

Call me Rodukjo.

Dianese bowed his head in consent. There's more on offer than these regrettable items, Rodukjo. We purchased twenty of the finest courtesans from nineteen brothels in seven regions.

I most recently aided a warlord who granted me sixty courtesans.

Dianese believed the ground was spinning. He realized it was only an illusion caused by the churning waterfall in his peripheral vision--as well as his collapsing situation.

I could provide you with a hundred.

Rodukjo smirked. Ah. But then they would not be the finest.

Dianese mouth was growing dry. He sealed his lips and tried to draw up some spittle.

Never mind the courtesans, sweet emperor. Twenty, sixty, or a hundred--it matters not. My appetites could be sated with but a single bride. It's your kind who deems me a glutton.

Dianese's voice lowered to scarcely above a whisper. Forgive me for my ignorance once again.

You're more ignorant than you know. I desire no courtesans. If I were to grant you aid it would be for you, Dianese. You, personally, grant me compelling enough a reason.

Tell me what you wish, Rodukjo.

I have told you.

Dianese lowered his gaze. Then I don't understand.

First I'll take your body.

Dianese looked back at him.

I've been a glutton on these courtesans, as I said. My palate can endure no more rich desserts. I desire the finer meat of a half-fey emperor.

Dianese felt a terrifying pang within him, as though frozen metal were pressed