Adnin's Beloved (A Taken by the Destroyer Ficlet)

For the most part, this story is sugary sweet. It's written from Adnin's POV and he is madly in love with Elisa. This is a short short story (a ficlet) and does contain spoilers for the series. You may not want to read it if you haven't read all three stories. There is also a slight spoiler for the Taken by the Enforcer series. This gives some insight into Adnin's thoughts during the Destroyer series, Enforcer series, and beyond.  

Trigger Warning: Extremely vague mention of attempted NonCon (at the prison) and Childbirth (a bit of blood)

Adnin’s Beloved (A Taken by the Destroyer Ficlet)

I had seen her countless times over the years, but three times always stood out in my mind.

The first was when we met. Everything in Adune Prison was ugly. The drab gray walls, the smell of death and bodily fluids, and the vileness of the other prisoners most of all. I had not expected to be there long, so I ignored it the best I could. I had already decided to destroy the prison planet and everything on it when I escaped.

But after a few weeks, the darkness and stench began to get to me. It was insidious, slithering into my mind to bring out the most primitive, monstrous parts of my race. I killed. Killing had never been a pleasure for me, not even the prison could change that, but the walls between my instincts and mind began to crumble. Everything was darkness and chaos. And then I saw her.

Elisa had been a small, timid thing. All wide, terrified eyes and the scent of desperation. But I could see it in her, the spark of life. It was banked by her fear and hopelessness, but it was a bright light in the darkness. The fact that she was stunningly beautiful was beside the point. I wanted to save her if I could. I needed to save her.

Somewhere along the way, my simple goal had become a desperate need to see her thrive. I wanted to escape, not for me, but for her. She made me feel. I had not often needed soft, gentle feelings in my long life, but I felt myself opening to her. This small, human female remade me with only a few words and soft touches. It was terrifying but worth it for the privilege of touching her.

And how much I yearned to touch her. She freely gave me what the vile creatures around us had wanted to take, and she did it fearlessly. Even then, she must have known I would destroy the universe and everyone in it to keep her safe. She had become everything to me.

The second time was the day we bonded. Elisa had insisted it was bad luck for me to see her the day of our bonding, which was a silly notion. I would never allow bad luck to befall her. But I followed her traditions, unable to deny her anything. I would have laid the universe at her feet, but she only wanted my heart.

Despite her insistence that she did not need anyone at the ceremony, I could not let her side of the bonding chamber remain empty. It would be a small hurt in her heart that I could not abide. Sending my Enforcer after the woman who had landed my beautiful Elisa in Adune was a tiny bit of revenge. Petty, maybe. After all, if the woman had not been a criminal with the same last name, I never would have met my beloved.

The knowledge did not soften my feelings toward her. But when I met up with my Enforcer, one of my most trusted friends, it was apparent he had mated with the woman. Multiple times. And his protectiveness over her was so shockingly familiar; I could not bring myself to despise her. But I did not have to like her.

When I said as much to my beloved, she gave me one of her patient smiles and kissed me in that sensitive place behind my ear. After a night in our large bed, I agreed to be kind at our bonding ceremony. Elisa had slipped out of bed before I woke up on the day of our bonding. I filled the morning with the tedious tasks required to lead my empire, but my mind was on Elisa.

Finally, I stood at the head of the bonding chamber, watching her walk toward me. In my mind, I saw her that first time. She had been terrified when she knelt before me, desperately asking for mercy she was unsure I possessed. Now, she owned all of me.

As I took her soft, delicate hands in mine and promised to love her for the rest of my long life, I knew I had never spoken truer words. I would outlive her, it was a fact of my species, but I would never stop loving her. When there was nothing but faded memories of her to keep me warm in my twilight years, I would still not be sorry to have met her. To have loved her.

And the third time I would always carry with me was the scene before me. My beautiful Queen, my Elisa, holding our newborn son and heir. When she went into labor, she insisted that her species was fully capable of giving birth unassisted. I was willing to entertain the notion until her first pained gasp. I summoned the healers immediately.

The birth had been painless from that point on, but I still hovered. I could see in her eyes that my pacing and growling at the healers amused her, but she said nothing. I was able to maintain my composure until I saw her blood. I, who had seen more carnage than most would ever witness, felt light-headed at the sight of my beloved bleeding.

The healers assured me it was customary for there to be some blood. Humans gave birth to live young, they said. But I would not believe it until Elisa echoed their words. It did little to calm me. My beloved eventually asked me to sit at her side and hold her hand. I was helpless to resist her, but I did send threatening looks at the healers any time she looked away.

But all of it had been worth it. My beloved lay in our bed with our son in her arms, and even though I knew humans could not glow, I swore she was. The bright sunlight from the overhead window caught on the white of her gown and our son’s swaddling. Elisa’s dark glossy curls fell over one shoulder as she quietly whispered to the baby in her arms.

Her opposite shoulder was bare, the gown tugged down to free her breast for our son. The healers told me to expect my son to want to feed the human way. He carried some of Elisa’s beautiful features, her dark skin and eyes, and he had not come from an egg as my people did. It was pleasing to think that our child would carry some of both of us.

As I watched these two people I loved more than life itself, I felt a strange feeling building in my chest and a burning in my eyes. Something escaped my right eye and ran down my cheek. I frowned and wiped at it. A tear? I had never cried in my life. Not as a child and certainly not as an adult. I had assumed I was unable.

“Adnin, love. Are you okay?”

I looked up to see Elisa watching me in concern. I gestured vaguely to my face as another tear escaped, and her eyes widened before they began to fill with tears.

“Is this…normal?” I asked, wiping impatiently at my face.

My beloved raised her hand in offering, and I crossed the room to clasp her hand in mine. Her watery eyes searched my face, but her smile was bright.

“You’re happy,” she whispered.

“I have been happy many times before,” I pointed out. Elisa made me happy every day.

“Maybe, this is more than just happy,” she said.

I looked down at the two of them, my two loves. My Queen and my son. My entire world was in the room with me. I weighed her words and nodded. The feeling that filled my chest with a sweet ache was more than simple happiness. It was complete and utter fulfillment. I smiled and let the tears fall as they may.

 

 Authors Note: This was really fun to write. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into Adnin and Elisa's life together. 😊😘