"You ate my egg," the Bandit Queen smirked.

Her hand, which had been resting on his chest, slid lower. Her cold and smooth skin brushed over his torn shirt.

Leo tried to shrug, but it was difficult when hanging from the ceiling by those chains. He had still not been able to figure out what metal it was.

"Egg?" Leo asked, his face a picture of innocence, "Look at the time. I don't eat egg for dinner."

"Though I did have a lovely goat steak earlier. Maybe I can intrigue you with some of it."

Belladonna ignored his attempt deflection. She stepped closer so that he could smell the faint smell of hers. It felt like rose.

Her hand continued its descent, trailing over his stomach muscles, which tightened involuntarily under her touch. She stopped right at his navel.

She pressed her palm flat against his abdomen.

"It is here," she whispered, her eyes losing focus as she felt his warm skin, "I can feel the pulse."

Leo looked down at her hand on his stomach. He put on a horrified expression.

"Oh god," Leo gasped, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I am not ready to be a mother, Bandit Queen. I have my life, my career!"

"I can't have this child ruin my life."

Belladonna blinked. Her icy blue eyes snapped back to his face, taken aback by his absurdity.

"And you should really let me down," Leo continued, deadpan, "WE NEED TO TALK!"

Belladonna's lips twitched. A flicker of annoyance crossed her face, but it was mixed with something else. She was intrigued. Most men who have been in this room begged for mercy., crying their eyes out."

"But this one was cracking jokes."

"You have a sharp tongue, young man," she said. Her hand slid from his stomach up to his jaw, gripping it firmly. She forced his head back, exposing his throat, "I wonder if it screams as loudly as it jests."

"Only one way to find out," Leo winked, meeting her gaze, "But it usually ends up with the woman screaming my name. Want to give it a try?

Belladonna's eyes narrowed. She released his jaw and stepped back, pacing around him like a panther circling a trapped deer.

"You don't look like the religious type," she stated, looking at him critically, "Then why did the High Priest entrust the Black Sky to you? Why give a holy artefact to a commoner?"

"Remus and I are... business partners," Leo smiled, "He supplies the prayers, I supply the charm. It's a symbiotic relationship."

"And the Zarth envoy?" she narrowed her eyes, "I heard that Goat face gave you his tribe token? That one is no fool."

"You know a lot, Bandit Queen," Leo smirked, "As if you were there personally."

Belladonna stopped pacing. She sighed, a sound of elegant boredom. She realized he wasn't going to give her a straight answer.

She walked over to the long wooden table cluttered with tools. Her fingers danced over the rusted saws, the pliers, and the hooks. She picked up a long, curved flaying knife. The blade glinted in the light of the burning torch.

"You are entertaining, young man," she said, testing the edge of the blade with her thumb. A drop of blood welled up. She licked it off casually, "But I do not need your words. I need the Black Sky."

She turned back to him, the knife raised.

"Since it is inside you... I will simply cut it out."

Bane, still kneeling on the floor in a puddle of his own drool, moaned loudly. "Yes! Peel him! Open the present, Boss!"

Belladonna ignored her pet. She stepped toward Leo.

"I will peel back your ribs like a cage," she whispered, the knife hovering inches from Leo's chest. "I will reach inside and retrieve my prize. You won't mind if I spilled some blood, will you?"

But even with the knife pointing at him, Leo didn't panic. He watched the knife approach with a calm, almost bored expression.

"You could do that," Leo said, "But then you would lose everything."

Belladonna paused. The knife tip touched his skin, pricking it, "Finally scared?"

"Do you know the story of the Farmer and the Golden Goose?" Leo asked, shaking his head.

Belladonna frowned, "I do not care for peasant tales."

"Very noble for a bandit," Leo smirked, "But it's a classic from where I am. You should listen."

He cleared his throat.

"Once upon a time, there was a farmer. He had a magical goose. Every morning, the goose laid a solid gold egg. The farmer was rich. He had everything he wanted."

Leo looked at her.

"But he was greedy. He wasn't satisfied with one egg a day. He thought, 'If the goose makes gold, then it must be full of gold inside! If I cut it open, I can get all the eggs at once!'"

"Why wait every day?"

"So," Leo continued, his voice dropping, "He took a knife. Just like that one in your hand. And he killed the goose. He cut it open from neck to tail."

Belladonna waited, the knife still touching his skin, "And?"

"And guess what he found?" Leo asked.

"Gold?" Bane guessed from the floor.

"Guts," Leo said, looking at the Bandit Queen, "Just guts and blood and shit. No eggs. No gold."

"Because the magic wasn't inside the goose," Leo whispered, "The magic was the goose. Once the goose died, the magic died with it."

He nodded at his own chest.

"The Black Sky now is bonded with me, Bandit Queen. It's not sitting in my stomach like a swallowed coin. It's fused to my soul."

"If I die," Leo lied smoothly, watching her eyes widen, "The energy of the Black Sky destabilizes. It dissipates. Or worse... it explodes. You cut me open, and all you get is a dead body, a ruined artifact, and a crater where you are standing."

Belladonna stared at him. She looked at the knife in her hand.

She knew enough about artifacts to know he might be right. Soul-binding was rare, but with Calamity-class items, it was possible. If she killed the host, the parasite might die too.

She lowered the knife slowly.

She frowned, frustrated, "So I am stuck with you? I have to wait for you to... what? Pass it like a poop?"

"Ummm... Maybe," Leo grinned, "But I am your Golden Goose, Bandit Queen. If you want the gold, you have to keep the bird alive. You have to feed it. You have to make it happy."

"You are pushing your luck, pet," she hissed, stepping closer again. She grabbed his collar, and yanked him forward as far as the chains would allow, "I can keep you alive without making you happy. I can keep you in a box. I will feed you shit. And you will eat it with a smiling face."

"But you won't," Leo challenged her.

He used his Charisma. He tapped into the Draconic Bloodline, projecting an aura of dominance that clashed with hers.

"Because you can't risk it," Leo whispered, "You want it desperately. I can see it in your eyes."

He looked into her eyes, activating his knowledge of her Secret Masochist trait.

"You don't want a prisoner who begs," Leo said, "You want a challenge."

He sneered at her, looking down from his chains with the arrogance of a king on a throne.

"In fact," Leo said, his voice dropping to a low rumble, "If you desperately need that egg... You shouldn't be threatening me with a knife."

"You should be on your knees."

Belladonna's breath hitched. Her eyes flashed with a mix of shock and sudden, intense heat.

"You should be treating me like your esteemed guest," Leo continued, relentless, "You should be washing my feet. You should be waiting patiently for me to lay the egg for you."

"What do you want?" she demanded, her voice tight.

Leo smirked. His eyes dropped to her lips, painted crimson like fresh blood. Then lower, to the swell of her breasts pushed up by the black corset.

"Right now?" Leo whispered, "All I want is to feel your skin."

He looked at her hands, the hands that held the whip, the hands that had just threatened to flay him.

"I want to hold those hands," Leo said.

He looked at her with pure, unmasked lechery.

"I want you to take me down... and treat me like the King I am."

** ** ** ** **

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