Chapter 53: No, no, no!
Stefan’s POV
Once we moved past the courtyard proper, I finally got a real look at the inside of this place, and God, it made the outside look modest by comparison.
The hall stretched wide and open, more like an indoor courtyard than a hallway, ringed on all sides by tall archways leading off into rooms I couldn’t see the ends of.
There were golds everywhere - not just walls and pillars now, but furniture too, low seating carved from dark wood and inlaid with thin gold trim along every edge, tall vases standing in corners with gold leaves worked into the ceramic itself.
Even the ceiling wasn’t spared, thin gold veins running through painted patterns of vines and birds overhead, catching torchlight from below and throwing it back down in scattered flecks.
And there, off to one side, sat a fountain.
Water spilled from some kind of carved centerpiece at its heart, and even the water itself seemed to shimmer gold, catching light in a way that made no sense until I got close enough to see the fountain’s basin was lined, floor to rim, in hammered gold plating, turning every ripple into a small shifting coin of light.
I was still turning my head, trying to take in all of it at once, mouth probably hanging open like an idiot tourist, when the Queen stopped walking abruptly.
I hadn’t been able to stop my feet from moving forward when she turned around fast, faster than I expected from someone moving with that much practiced grace a minute ago, and her hand shot out and closed around my throat.
My whole body locked up in shock.
"Here we go again, Lord!" My breath seized.
Her fingers dug in with a strength that had absolutely no business coming from someone built like she was - such delicate wrists, soft curves, the kind of frame that should’ve struggled to grip a teacup properly, let alone choke a grown man off his feet.
Then, without a single word of warning, she threw me in the direction of the fountain.
My eyes widened in shock and horror and I knew I was going to fall really bad.
I hit water. Hard. It was deeper than I expected, deep enough that the impact drove me straight down, and I sank fast, my arms flailing, lungs already burning before I’d even processed what had just happened.
Gold light bent and warped above me through the surface, distant and rippling, and for one fearful, panicked second I thought this might actually be it. Death by ornamental fountain. Not exactly the ending I would have picked for myself.
Nah, I wasn’t going to die again. At least not now. Not at this period. So I fought for my life.
I kicked hard, breaking the surface with a gasp, water streaming off my face, coughing up whatever I’d swallowed on the way down.
The Queen stood at the fountain’s edge, watching me with an expression that had shifted entirely - gone was the cold fury from the courtyard, replaced now with something closer to genuine curiosity, her head tilted slightly as she studied me treading water like I was a specimen she hadn’t expected to survive her own experiment.
"What manner of alien are you that water does not claim you. Bounds drown immediately." She said almost to herself.
And that was when it actually landed - she had just tried to kill me. No warning, no formal threat, no drawn-out speech about my insolence. Just grabbed me and threw me in, testing whether I’d sink or surface like it cost her nothing either way.
Deadly. Terrifyingly, calmly deadly, wrapped up in soft skin and elegant silk that made you forget, right up until it was too late, exactly what kind of woman you were actually dealing with.
Careful, Stefan. Every word from here mattered. I told my brain.
I cleared my throat, treading water, forcing my voice into something steady despite my racing heart.
"Okay, your Royal Majesty, This isn’t exactly how you treat a well-meaning man who has come bearing benefits for you and your people," I said.
"Haven’t you noticed I’m not a Bound? Not from anywhere around here at all." I let a beat pass, watching her face. "If you knew what I could actually do, you’d be treating me like the guest I am."
The System chimed before she could respond.
[INCUBUS ASCENSION PATH]
**Development Arc I**: Presence
**Purpose**: An Incubus possesses authority.
**Mission**: Make the Queen get you out of the water and have you join the party.
**Reward**: +5 Authority, +5 MA, +100 EXP
**Penalty**: Host’s right testicle will rupture.
**Time Limit**: 00:10:00
I groaned out loud, right there treading water in front of a Queen who’d just tried to drown me.
"You’ve actually got a thing for my balls, don’t you," I muttered under my breath. "Of course I want out of the water. I didn’t need a countdown attached to that particular goal." I gnashed at the system notification.
Meanwhile, the time kept ticking;
**00:09:54**
The Queen, meanwhile, hadn’t reacted to a single word I’d said. Not one flicker of interest, not one crack in that cold, appraising stare. Whatever I’d offered, whatever benefits I claimed to bring - none of it had landed anywhere near her.
"If water does not sufficiently kill an insolent alien I’d rather not waste effort on, perhaps fire will." she said finally, her voice still coming out soft, still gentle in that unsettling way of hers.
**00:09:31**
My pulse spiked hard. Time to gamble everything I had left.
"Ask Belladonna," I said quickly, loud enough to cut clean through whatever she’d been about to say next. "Your General. The one you trusted enough to give a gift to. Ask her what I’ve done for her and her Flowers."
The Queen went still.
I pressed forward before she could recover.
"I rode her horse," I said. "There was something I did for her - something she was grateful for. Something she said you would reward me for yourself, once you heard it. And you’re not a woman who backs down on her word. Are you?"
**00:08:58**
The Queen blinked, slow, something calculating shifting behind those sharp eyes.
"Summon the General. Ask her yourself, before you decide fire is the answer." I added.
She said nothing.
The countdown kept bleeding away, seconds dropping fast, and just when I thought I’d miscalculated everything, gambled my whole body on a bluff that hadn’t landed hard enough -
The Queen reached down and grabbed me by the neck again, pulling me up out of the water in one smooth, terrifyingly effortless motion.
I gasped but despite dripping, soaked straight through, I was convinced this was it, that she’d decided to hear me out and somehow...
She started walking, dragging me along by the throat, straight toward something glowing orange and flickering in the distance across the hall.
A second fountain. Except this one wasn’t filled with water. It was the fire fountain.
No, no, no...