Chapter 52: Walk to your death
Stefan’s POV
[INCUBUS ASCENSION PATH]
**Development Arc I**: Presence
**Purpose**: An Incubus does not get pushed around. Where he stands, he establishes dominance.
**Mission**: Make the Queen order the soldiers to release you and walk to her instead.
**Reward**: +5 Authority, +5 MA, +100 EXP
**Penalty**: Host’s left testicle will rupture.
**Time Limit**: 00:00:30
"Wait, wait... What?"
I read that penalty twice, and both times my whole body went cold in a way the desert heat around me couldn’t touch.
"Rupture," I whispered, mostly to myself, mostly in horror. "You want to rupture my what?"
**00:00:25**
The countdown didn’t care about my feelings on the matter, same as always. My arms were still locked in the grip of two warriors dragging me forward step by step, closer to whatever fate the Queen had already decided for me, and every second I spent standing here in shock was a second closer to losing a very important, very personal piece of anatomy.
"Think. Think fast, Stefan Sinclair. You’ve talked your way out of angrier rooms than this one." I reminded myself.
**00:00:18**
I blinked hard, forcing my brain back online, and something clicked into place - the exact kind of gamble I used to make back on Earth when a mark started getting suspicious mid-con;
Confidence. Not defensiveness. Attack, don’t retreat.
I straightened my spine as much as the warriors’ grip allowed, lifted my chin, and locked my eyes directly onto the Queen’s.
Then I let out a laugh. A loud, easy, genuinely amused-sounding, like I didn’t have a single care in the world about the two warriors currently gripping my arms hard enough to bruise.
"Your Royal Majesty," I called out, my voice carrying clean across the courtyard, "I see you’re afraid I’ll reveal your secret."
The whole courtyard went still.
I glanced sideways and backwards to watch the shock ripple outward from where I stood - warriors’ heads lifting slightly despite their bows, a low murmur passing through the crowd of dancers still frozen mid-step, disbelief written plain across every face that a Bound, of all things, had just spoken back to their Queen in front of her entire court.
The Queen’s frown deepened, cutting sharp lines into that otherwise flawless face.
"What secret?" she demanded, and I caught it immediately - the way her voice dropped rude and clipped, sharp-edged in a way none of the warriors ever spoke to outsiders, even gentle underneath the rudeness somehow, like cruelty came naturally enough to her that she didn’t need to raise her voice to make it land.
**00:00:09**
I chuckled, unhurried, like I had all the time in the world instead of nine seconds standing between me and a very specific, very painful penalty.
"Let me walk to you myself," I said, easy, casual, "and I will tell you exactly what I know. Before you have me beheaded, of course. Seems only fair you hear it first."
The Queen didn’t hesitate. Not for a second.
"Let him walk to his death, then." she said, waving one elegant hand toward the warriors gripping my arms.
The system updated instantly.
[MISSION COMPLETE: Make the Queen order the soldiers to release you and walk to her instead.]
[REWARD ISSUED: +5 Authority, +5 MA, +100 EXP]
The grip on my arms vanished instantly, warriors stepping back in unison, and I let out a long, shaky breath, relief crashing through me hard enough that my knees nearly buckled with it.
One crisis down. I straightened my collar, rolled my shoulders back. About a hundred more probably still coming.
I walked forward anyway, cocky as I could manage, my chin up, every step deliberately slow, banking hard on whatever fifteen points of Charm the System had loaded into me by now to carry me the rest of the way across a courtyard full of women who’d just watched me talk back to their Queen and somehow not immediately die for it.
The distance between us felt longer than it had any right to be. I could feel every eye in that courtyard tracking my walk, warriors still frozen mid-bow, dancers still standing motionless in their thin, flowing gowns, silence pressing down heavier than the drums had a few minutes ago.
I reached the base of the steps where she stood and stopped, tilting my head up to meet her gaze properly for the first time since this whole disaster started.
Up close, she was worse. Better. Both.
That same overwhelming gorgeousness from a distance somehow sharpened at this range, every detail crisper - the exact shade of her eyes, the faint shimmer of gold dust along her collarbone, the way her lips curved even in irritation like she couldn’t help but look elegant no matter what expression she wore.
The Queen turned away from me first, addressing her people instead, her voice shifting into something warm and gracious, entirely different from the tone she had just used on me.
"Enjoy the celebration," she said to the courtyard at large, gesturing one graceful hand toward the dancers and the drums and the warriors still bowed low around us. "I will attend to this insolent Bound with a death wish myself."
Then, without even glancing back to check if I understood, she turned and started walking, her silk gown pooling and shifting behind her with every measured step.
"Follow me," she called out. And immediately, one of her bodyguards shoved me forward.
I blinked, genuinely caught off guard. I had been bracing for a public execution, a formal demand to explain myself in front of her entire court, maybe a blade at my throat right there on the steps. Not this. Not a private audience.
I swallowed hard and followed anyway, because what other option did I actually have at this point, watching the slow, lewd sway of her hips beneath that flowing silk with an attention I probably shouldn’t have been able to spare given the circumstances.
Behind me, I heard footsteps falling into formation - her four warriors, closing ranks silently at my back, escorting me deeper into the palace with the Queen leading the way and absolutely no room left to turn back now even if I wanted to.