Jiltia slipped behind Dink while he remained immobile, wrapping him in her draping wings. Her hand seductively glided over his muscur shoulders and down his chest, taking hold of his eager manhood. He allowed her touch to caress him for a moment before shrugging off her embrace and stepping out of reach, turning to face her.

  “So, you live Succubus,” Dink simply stated, his demeanour cold and unreadable.

  “But of course, how else would one construct such a beautiful cocoon? I willingly gift you my heart at my master’s behest, Sword Saint,” Jiltia replied, clutching her fists to her chest, and strategically pressing them together for the most visual impact. Her cwed and armoured feet ccked on the crystalline floor, hypnotically swaying her hips to approach Dink a second time. “Do not shy from me, my pet. I quickly grow bored in this lonesome pce. I can no longer resist your reticent company.”

  “I am no pet of yours, harlot. Fair warning, my mind is clear and no longer tempted by my flesh. A funny thing that, a Succubus gmour holds no more sway over a Goblin than any ordinary woman. Just another body to plough. Admittedly, you were fun to py with and I may partake in the future. But it will be on my terms!” Dink decred, suddenly lunging forward to grip the woman’s delicate neck. Jiltia flinched but didn’t resist, only allowing her forked tongue to flick out and wet her plump lips before leaning into his grip with a tantalizing gasp. “You have two choices on how we proceed. One, I end your infernal existence once and for all. Or alternatively, I spare your life and you swear yourself to speak true and answer me on how to escape this prison.”

  “Keke, naive warrior, this is not a cage. Although a specimen of your calibre would make a novel dispy for even the most discerning collector, the Soulweaver pced you here with your highest interest in mind. Your mortal consciousness would be driven mad by the sensations of worms feasting upon your decayed flesh or the host of other delicious tortures that accompany being trapped inside a broken corpse,” Jiltia breathed, reaching up to lightly trace a demonic finger over his tight grip. Her words took Dink by surprise and he released her throat.

  Jackin sequestered me here to prevent my mind from falling apart? Interesting to learn, maybe he was being genuine when revealing his pn to combat the sleeping Primordial gods here on the mortal pne.

  “If that’s true, I shouldn’t remain trapped now that my flesh has recovered,” Dink observed.

  “You are correct. Only your ignorance holds you captive here. Think of where the Soulweaver pced my demonheart, it’s important. Not within your flesh, rendering his mercy worthless but within your bde. Your body, grotesque as it may be, is still dragonkin and bloodline pure. How does a Dragon stow its weapons?” Jiltia cooed. A smile of satisfaction gradually formed as understanding slowly dawned on Dink’s face. “Good, you are not stupid. I would be disappointed to share my heart with a fool. Use me to sheath your bde…”

  Bastard bloodlines were created to be biological weapons during the Draconic Dividing. Dragons can meld or part with their specialised physical traits the way a man picks up or discards a sword. The sonic bone is such a tool unique to Wurms, a Draconic subspecies. Whatever the Hags did to me also transformed me into Dragonkin.

  “Heh, those words from the lips of a Succubus could hold a very different meaning. I’m baffled that the thought of merging with the Wurm’s sonic rod only occurred to me after your prompting,” Dink praised with a smirk.

  “I merely offered a suggestion. I live to serve your every pleasure,” Jiltia seductively replied. A predatory glint entered her eye as she appraised him, her true thoughts veiled behind an ingratiating smile.

  “Do not seek to fool me, woman. After experiencing many long centuries of life, I can read your intent like an open book. Jackin discarded you without a second thought and now you hope to deceive me into believing it was voluntary to let my guard down. It’s a wasted effort to attempt to take advantage of me. It’s a mistake I only needed to learn once in bargaining with Hags,” Dink muttered with a lecherous grin, his own predatory gaze taking her aback. Dink’s eyes drank in the naked sight of her captivating curves accentuated by the delicate golden chain encircling her supernaturally slender waist. “So long as you remain useful, we can be the best of friends. A demonheart? I have yet to discover the limits of its potential but it’s something many seem to crave.”

  Dink referred to the Vampire fledgeling that had attempted to snatch it from him the night before. It had learned the hard way, even mindless, Dink was a difficult foe to overcome. He focused his desire into a sharp bde of intent, driving it deep into the recesses of his immobile form clutched in the Harpy’s cws outside the walls of the demonheart gem.

  “Sheath your sword!"

  The command echoed through the vast crystalline prison and its effect was immediate. Dink’s arm moved of its own accord, lifting the dragon bone sword to his back. Inexplicably, the flesh of his spine parted to swallow the shaped sonic rod into his muscur back. Despite being taller than his body, the weapon rippled and liquified, effortlessly blending with his spine and encasing his torso in an armoured exoskeleton hidden just beneath the surface of his skin, detectible only by the subtle bumps raised under the surface.

  The carved Draconic runes along the bde settled into pce upon his formerly unblemished skin, unlocking his Attuned potential once more. The hilt exposed above his shoulder divided into segments and yered itself against his neck. The moment the demonheart gem made contact with the base of Dink’s skull, the walls of his confinement exploded around him, hurtling his consciousness back into his welcoming flesh.

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