That was romantic, and not even a little murdery. But that didn’t change what had happened, the absolute madness of his past, and sort of present.
“I’m afraid of you.”
“Everybody is. My entire persona has been developed around the idea of being terrifying. But I can change for you. I want to change for you. And for my kingdom. It’s a mess.”
“Yes. It is. I could probably help you with that.”
“I am sure you could.”
She could feel the story wrapping around her, drawing to a conclusion, coming ever closer to happily ever after, but Konan’s redemption was incomplete. He said he’d changed, but it was easy to say you had changed. Actually changing was harder.
“You can’t just throw a hat out the window and make it all better. You scared me.”
“This is the part where I remind you that you shoved the hat on my head against my will,” he said. “I didn’t want to be infected with that cursed thing.”
“And this is the part where I remind you that you did a lot of murdering before you put the crown on. And kidnapping. And beating. And general… bad things.”
“My parents had been murdered. I was a new king. There were traitors in my midst, and I had to purge them. As for what I’ve done to you — I think you’ve deserved every bit of it.”
“That’s a lot of excuses, Konan. You terrorized your entire nation. You exiled your brother. I can’t help but think you might go mad the next time a bit of enchanted apparel comes your way. Just because a crown tells you to kill everyone, doesn’t mean you do it.”
Konan drew in a deep breath. “Thank you for the lecture, human. It’s much appreciated. Having destroyed the enchanted artifact which once anchored our entire civilization, I am glad I will not be without a voice telling me what to do constantly.”
He was sassy when he wanted to be.
“I’m just saying. You have a lot of sorries to say.”
“And I’m saying sorry to you first, human. Now, take the apology before I whip it into your ass.”
“You’re not familiar with sorries, are you. You have to wait for the other person to accept them. And…” she paused. “I still don’t know if I believe you.”
Konan took a deep breath, and to her surprise, tried again. He would never have tried again in the past. He would have growled and snarled and stamped and demanded she submit.
He took her hands in his and looked down into her eyes. “I am not a good man. I am not a man. I am a brutal alien king, and I have done awful things. But I love you, Elizabeth. I love you more than anything on this, or any other planet. You are the better part of me. You are the best part of me. For better or worse, you are a part of me. Nobody will ever be able to take you from me. And I want you by my side as I rebuild my world, and make amends for the sins I have committed, both those that were justified, and those that were not.”
“That’s a much, much better apology,” she smiled, happy tears forming in her eyes.
“Let me make it physical. Let me make it mean something.”
He took her in his arms and kissed her thoroughly. She no longer sensed the rage she had felt in him when they first met. It was gone, purged, replaced with the desire for better things, and the love they shared.
She kissed him back and spread her legs. This time she was not pinned or held. This time he propped her sore ass up on his large hands and held her over his cock as she clung to him, her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist.
The beast king fucked her long and slow, letting gravity feed her gently down on his cock before lifting her up to the tip and then letting her slide down again. There was nothing rushed or cruel about his lust, because it had been transformed into love. Real love. The kind that sacrifices. The kind that is patient. The kind that she needed more than anything.
Elizabeth didn’t need to see what he had done with the crown. She could feel what he had done with it. His surrender, his submission was evident in his kisses and in the way he handled her body, pleasuring her first, letting her use his rod as slowly as she wanted to.
It had never been this way between them before. A tectonic shift in energy, intention, and being had occurred. By discarding the crown, Konan had burned away much of what had made him so brutal and so cruel.
He had chosen her.
Over power.
Over evil.
Over the will of his ancestors.
Over destiny itself.