Chapter 353 A Different Kind of Prince
Apophis bared his fangs at the numerous naked men in the room, causing a multitude of them to step back in fear.
He filled his lungs with a very noxious poison, and let out a hissing exhale that filled the room with dark purple gas.
Even if the toys of Tiamat didn't breathe it in, Apophis' poison had long reached the point where it could enter through pores in the skin.
Meaning that as soon as they let it touch them, they were already as good as dead.
"W-What is this!?"
"M-Mistress, help!!"
"Gah, it burns!!"
Right before Tiamat's eyes, husbands that she'd personally collected and trained were melting down into goopy puddles; with a consistency like that of tar.
She was angry and wanted to stop this from happening, but the poison within the air was taking special care to avoid her.
She knew that if she touched it, she would have no better than they.
The poison was so terrible it wouldn't be a stretch to call it mythical.
Frustrated from the familiar feeling of inability to take action, Tiamat growled hard enough to crack her porcelain teeth as her hands started to course with yellow lightning.
"Why is this always happening to me... I just want to be left alone!!!"
Tiamat fired a bolt of yellow lightning from her hands directly into the chest of Apophis.
The imoogi prince was immediately sent flying through a nearby wall, and his body landed right underneath her kitchen island.
Looking down at the scorch marks in his chest, Apophis smirked as he felt a strange sense of amusement in his psyche.
'She's so fiery...it's so cute... she will make a very good wife.'
In a flash, Tiamat appeared in front of him with her body crackling with electricity and a raging look of hate on her face.
She grabbed the young man forcefully by the neck and held him up in the air above her head.
"All of you fucking princes are the same!! You think you all can do whatever the hell you like because your fathers are some kind of living gods! I'm so sick of every single one of you I could die!"
Now, Apophis was no longer smiling and instead he stared down at the woman holding him with a displeased expression.
Before he could say anything, Tiamat hurled his body through another concrete wall and sent him crashing into an indoor pool.
Menacingly, the dragoness stepped through the hole in the wall that was already closing and found Apophis climbing out of the pool, with dark purple scales starting to cover his face and arms.
"I've never found anything that you've done remotely upsetting, but I must confess that your remark has angered me just a bit.
But it's alright, relationships thrive on talking things like this out." Apophis said calmly.
"R-Relationship?!" Tiamat stammered.
The serpent finally stepped out of the water and let his soaking wet robe fall to the floor.
The sight of his chiseled and wet upper body fully exposed in front of her was certainly more stimulating than she would have liked to admit.
She had seen thousands of men's bodies, but the men of the Tathamet line seemed to have a particularly unfair and devastating level of attraction.
It made her even more upset, and she started to form the opinion that they thought they could do whatever they wanted just because they were pretty.
'I hate him!I hate him so-'
"Yes, a relationship." Apophis confirmed as he continued to walk towards her. "Do you think I go around killing random men to alleviate my boredom?
I did it because I want you, and I will not allow anyone else the grand honor of seeing your flesh."
"Y-You.."
Before Tiamat could react, Apophis ran at her with surprising speed and grabbed her directly by the wrist.
She started to pull away, only to realize that her body felt really heavy and she was having a hard time keeping herself upright.
"Sorry about this, but you didn't seem like you were going to listen to me without a little help."
Glancing down at her wrist, she could see where one of Apophis' claws had pierced into her body and was secreting a clear paralytic poison.
"Bastard..."
Tiamat's body dropped and Apophis caught her before lowering her gently onto the ground.
As the prince's body loomed over the former dragon lord, she felt the urge to cry stronger than she'd ever felt before.
She knew exactly what was about to happen to her, especially after hearing Apophis proclaim that he wanted her.
And now that she couldn't move, she had no way to stop him from taking what wanted and claiming her as his own.
Silently she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, not intending to give this young man the satisfaction of hearing her voice and gazing into her eyes.
She waited and waited for her nightmare to begin, but it seemed like he was intent on taking his sweet time.
"I'm... sorry. It seems that I have truly scared you."
Caught off guard by the pitiful tone of regret in the voice of her would be abuser, Tiamat opened her eyes and stared at the man above her strangely.
There, she found his extremely handsome and charming face contorted into an expression of shame.
"I... am not going to hurt you, Tiamat. Nor do I intend to ever force myself on you."
"Odd choice to use poison and paralyze me then." She fired back.
"You blew me through two walls and blasted me with lightning."
"You broke into my house and killed all of my husbands."
"I've already told you the reason for my actions, and I will not be apologizing for them. However, I would like to make up for this unpleasantness tonight. How do you feel about having dinner with me?"
"Are you... asking me on a date?" Tiamat asked in disbelief.
"Pretty and smart. I've found myself quite a catch."
"W-Wait a minute!" Tiamat yelled with a red face. "Why would you ask me on a date?! If you wanted to sleep with me then we could have just-"
"I don't just want to just sleep with you though? I've learned that things of that nature feel much better when there's actual emotions between those involved."
Letting out a scoff, the lightning dragon rolled her eyes as she remained glued to the floor.
"What a joke.. speaking of romance after you've committed a massacre in my home is utterly insane."
"Is it..? My family tends to be quite a bit more passionate than others, so I suppose I do not really have a good gauge of these things." He admitted.
"...Why are you doing this, little prince?" Tiamat asked quietly. "You do not know me well enough to go to these extremes."
Apophis' eyes became tender as he stared down at the beautiful dragoness.
"I do not, but... there is something about you that makes me want to go to such lengths. I'd like to figure out what it is."
"What if I should say no to your proposal?"
Apophis' eyes became complicated for a moment and he placed a hand on Tiamat's smooth cheek, causing her to show a small blush as a result.
"I don't want you to think I'm like these 'other' princes that you spoke of. If you tell me honestly that you have no wish to see me, I will not pester you further."
"..." Tiamat carefully examined Apophis' face for any sign of falsehood, but she found none present no matter how hard she searched.
A million thoughts passed through her mind in a singe second, and she immediately knew what her answer had to be.
"No. Piss off, little prince."
"Sorry, you'll have to try again."
"You just said you'll leave me alone if I answer you!"
"Yes, but I also said that you had to be honest, did I not? I can tell by your hesitation that you're not voicing your true thoughts on the matter, so I am here to stay."
"You're insane!"
"I thought we'd already established that. Is there somewhere that you would like to go for dinner?"
"GAHHH!!"
Tiamat let out a cry of frustration as she wondered just how long this venom was going to circulate in her veins.
Even though she tried not to, her eyes could not help but wander towards the young man looming over her.
The way he looked at her with such unrivaled tenderness and care... it made her feel uneasy.
"Hey... how old are you, little prince?" She finally asked.
"...17." (1)
"As I thought... you are too young to be with someone like me. You should stick with pretty and innocent girls like the one you already have."
"And what exactly is 'someone like you' ?" Apophis questioned.
Annoyed and hurt, Tiamat gritted her teeth and spat out words like venom.
"You dolt, can't you see? I'm damaged. Dirty. You are too young to waste your life trying to pick up the pieces of something that you didn't break, so just do yourself a favor and stop trying to get close to me!"
Even though it'd been years sense Tiamat cried in front of anyone, a single tear slid from her eye as she lie on the ground begging the young man above her to leave.
But Apophis had never been easily deterred, and he would not allow this gorgeous woman to get away from him.
Especially not when she so clearly needed help and for someone to genuinely care about her.
"I'm a bit hurt, I wasn't expecting you to think so little of me." He said.
"What?! It's not about-"
"You think me one of those childish princes with no concept of the meaning of life or it's effect on others? We all come a bit damaged after a while, but so what?
I'm telling you that I want to love you in spite of things that have hurt you. Because at the end of the day, what we make of us is in the hands of you and I, no one else."
Whether I am 17 or 17,000, it makes no difference. I will bear the burden that comes with loving you because I believe you to be more than worth any initial struggle, and I will allow no one, not even you, to tell me that it is not my responsibility.
Do not push me away, let me care for you, and let me protect you so that no one might lay their hands on you ever again."
As if blow after blow was being rained on her, Tiamat felt as if every word out of Apophis' mouth was specifically designed to break down the walls she was trying to encase herself behind.
Why was he saying all of these things to her??
This brat who hadn't even lived to see his first 100 years was staring into her eyes unflinchingly, speaking words that carried such immense burden and yet he was not flinching under the pressure.
"Why are you so adamant...? Is it because you find me pretty...?" She asked in a hoarse voice.
Apophis shook his head as he lowered his head down towards Tiamat.
"No, because I care about what happened to you. And as I've told you I will ever let another man so much as breathe around you ever again."
When he lowered his lips onto hers, he gave her no more than a small peck.
It was just intended to be a tender gesture; one to let her know that he cared about her without overwhelming her.
When Apophis started to pull away, his weak paralysis venom had finally worn off.
Tiamat grabbed him by the face and pulled her lips back onto hers, kissing him much more desperately without ever intending to let him go.
'What an idiotic prince you are… if you say things like that you make me want to believe in you.'
—————————
If you haven't already please go checkout my new novel The Fallen Vampire I will be releasing five new chapters tonight!
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om