Seed, p.1
Seed, page 1
Seed
Destiny's Edge Book One
M. Bonneau
Copyright © 2024 by Robin Yokel/M. Bonneau.
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
This book contains language of a sexual nature. If you are under 18, please read something else. Thank you!
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Writing is the author’s livelihood. Please respect this and refrain from copying and redistributing this work without the author’s express permission. If you have any requests or questions about non-personal use of this work, please contact the author at mbonneau.com.
Cover design by Bookwyrm Covers. Cover art by @Amarnouille IG.
For all my fellow nerds and weirdos out there who have always dreamed of falling into a fantasy book or D&D game… and falling in love with a monster. I see you, and I know what's on your Kindle. ;)
Keep up the good work.
Contents
Author's Note
Content Warnings & Kinks
Name Pronunciation Guide
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29
30. Chapter 30
31. Chapter 31
32. Chapter 32
33. Chapter 33
34. Chapter 34
35. Chapter 35
Afterword
Also by M. Bonneau
About the author
Author's Note
This book has been a long time coming, and I am excited to finally share my fantasy romance/monster lover universe with you! There are many more orc and other "monster" romances to come in the Destiny's Edge universe, and I hope you fall in love with this world, as I have, and stick around for the rest of them!
This universe is "queer normative," meaning that queer identities are visible, expected, and accepted. You can expect to see LGBTQIA+ love stories in Destiny's Edge as well. The first will be "Love Song," a romance between a bisexual human and an orc (yes, it's Tamaka and Anslo's story! You'll get to know them in "Seed").
"Seed" has a lot of heavy content. It's not a dark romance, but the heroine suffers a great deal of abuse at the hands of the villain, who has also committed unspeakable war crimes against his enemies and his own people. The first third of the book contains many dark moments. Please see the content warnings list before reading and reach out to me on social media if you have any further concerns about any content you might encounter. I'm happy to answer any questions I can to make your reading experience comfortable.
If you finish "Seed" and want more from the main couple, they will be returning as minor characters in future books, and you can read exclusive bonus scenes/epilogues about them on my Patreon.
With no further ado, thank you for reading "Seed" and supporting an indie author! I am grateful for each and every one of you!
With love and gratitude,
M
Content Warnings & Kinks
General content warnings: torture/maiming, physical/mental abuse, starvation, rape, consensual simulated rape, racial/species prejudice (as political propaganda), killing/butchery of animals, general blood/gore.
Chapter Six contains a scene of consensual simulated rape between the hero and heroine. Chapter Seven contains a scene of non-consensual gang rape (not perpetrated by the hero). To skip this scene in Chapter Seven, stop reading at "Tanyth stepped inside, Dregu ducking through the doorway behind him." Skip over the following nine paragraphs, and pick up at, ""Enough!" Dregu shouted, his voice cutting through the hall."
I know that sexual assault is difficult content for many of us. Please protect your own mental health and peace while reading, and please remember that all healing journeys are unique and valid. The choices my characters make and the choices we (readers and writers) make as we heal from abuse may all be different, but regardless of our different choices and needs, we are all deserving of love, compassion, and the space to make decisions that we deem right for ourselves. No matter where you are on your healing journey, you have my love and support.
Kinks: size difference, simulated non-consent, primal (chasing and biting), switch vibes (masc leans dom, femme leans sub), pain kink, marking kink (bruises and bites), conqueror/captive dub-con roleplay, injury and care, aftercare, scar fetish, breeding kink (no pregnancy, but it's implied at the end of the book that pregnancy is imminent), praise, cum play, food play.
Name Pronunciation Guide
Dregu – DRAY goo
Tanyth – TAN ith
Bula – BOO la
Melori – meh LOH ree
Murzol – MER zul
Tamaka – tuh MAH kuh
Anslo – ANS loh
Sahginoth – SAG in oth
Gyrda – GER duh
Kaida – KAI duh
Vagar – VAY gar
Garek – GAIR ek
Renna – REN uh
Meleath – MEL ee ath
Erryl – AIR ill
Chapter one
The city was quiet, the wind blowing blood red leaves through the cobbled streets, whispering against shuttered windows and locked doors. If he didn't know better, Dregu would think the city was dead. Abandoned.
"No cheering welcome in the streets, eh?" Bula laughed darkly.
"You forget," Dregu muttered. "We are monsters."
Or at least that was how the elves of the Crimson Forest viewed them. Dregu and his warriors had all heard the stories spread by Tanyth, the Lord of the Crimson Forest elves, and the elvish army. Orcs were ruthless, bloodthirsty killers who crushed children under their massive feet and ravaged elvish women. They would not be satisfied until they had ground every last elf into the dirt.
The campaign of disinformation over the last few decades had proved effective in the elvish realm. Villages along the border had always been places of intermingling and intermarriage between elves and orcs, but Tanyth’s armies had massacred enough of those villages, blaming the atrocities on the orcish army, to terrify his people into a deep mistrust of all orcs.
Dregu could feel the eyes of countless elves on him, peering through the cracks in their windows and doors. He could feel the weight of their fear. He didn't blame them. They were victims of this war and of their lord, just as Dregu's people were. Tanyth had brutalized them all.
"I don't feel well," Bula said beside him, his most trusted general pressing a hand to her forehead dramatically. "What if I trip and stab him?" She pantomimed bowing and gutting the elvish lord, shrugging at Dregu with a wicked smile. "Oh dear. How unfortunate."
"You will not," Dregu snapped, biting back a smile. "You will behave."
The war between the Crimson Forest elves and the orcs of Seven Falls had begun before Dregu's birth, the former elvish king eager to conquer himself an empire. Dregu had lost his father to the fighting when he was nine. He had seen the endless war leech the life from his mother, streaking her hair with grey, bleeding her of her strength as it dragged on. She had abdicated her throne, exhausted by the weight of her duties, and in the years since Dregu had taken her crown, the war had bled the life from him as well.
He had seen towns and villages razed, farm fields muddy with the blood of fallen soldiers, had welcomed too many refugees into his capital city. The brief months of peace between skirmishes had come less and less frequently in the recent years. His people were desperate for peace.
Tanyth, lord of the elves, son of the king who had begun the war decades ago, was finally offering peace. It seemed the elves were as exhausted with the war as the orcs were. Tanyth had called for a truce and invited Dregu to peace talks in the Crimson Palace, and while Dregu did not entirely trust his enemy, he was here in elvish lands, ready to do what was best for his people.
He and a delegation of his most trusted warriors had been welcomed into the elves' capital city in eerie silence, the citizens hiding from them behind locked doors as if the orcs were here to slaughter rather than talk peace. A cohort of the elvish royal guard marched before them, escorting them to the Crimson Palace.
A door ahead of them opened slightly, a small face and long pointed ears peering around it. Dregu smiled at the curious elvish child before it was tugged back inside by a parent and the door slammed shut. He could hear Bula grinding her teeth beside him and he rested a hand on her arm. She was incapable of turning her back on any injustice, which was part of why he loved her like a sister.
“Don’t,” he cautioned. “We can’t fix everything today. We wait and see what Tanyth offers.”
&
"It's pretty," Bula grunted.
It was. It looked delicate from a distance, fragile. But appearances could be deceiving. Dregu raised an eyebrow at his mage, Murzol. The old orc pulled a pinch of green dust from one of the pouches at his waist and murmured a few words over it, blowing it into the wind.
"No traps," Murzol murmured. "No enchantments. Yet."
Dregu nodded as they neared the gates, the portcullis raising slowly at their approach. He did not fear much trickery from Tanyth. The elf had made enemies of all the neighboring kingdoms in his crusade to create an empire. If he assassinated the orcish delegation under a flag of truce, none of the other kingdoms would be willing to talk peace with him. He would find himself at war on too many fronts, besieged by humans, elves, and orcs on all sides. Tanyth was too smart to make such a mistake. At least, Dregu hoped he was.
The elvish guards led them into the palace courtyard and towards the great hall, the heavy oak doors swinging slowly open before them. The throne room beyond was tiled in shining white marble, arching windows framing the dais on which the lord sat in his gilded throne.
Elvish nobles lined the room. Dregu could hear their whispers of surprise as he strode down the length of the hall. He knew what he looked like to them: a common warrior and not a king. His boots were muddy, his kilt frayed, his chest bare. He wore no crown on his head, no jeweled rings on his fingers.
It was not his people's way to be so concerned with trifles and ornament. In his kingdom, he did not have a throne room or a throne. Amongst the orcs, kings did not rule by intimidation, but by service. He was no better than any of his people; he merely had more responsibility, and he did not seek to set himself apart.
He wore a golden hoop in one ear rather than a crown, and a flowing cloak of sky blue snow ape fur, the mark of orcish royalty. He needed nothing else to prove his worth to his people. It was his deeds that made him worthy, not his wealth.
The same could hardly be said for the lord before him.
Tanyth was dressed in pristine white robes, rubies and garnets sparkling in the intricate folds of the fabric. His long blond hair was pinned back with silver combs. Rings glittered on his fingers.
He smiled, his manner stiff. Dregu did not return the expression.
"Welcome, from one king to another," Tanyth announced. He did not stand, and Dregu heard Bula growl behind him at the insult.
Dregu inclined his head in a slight nod. Tanyth was not a king. Not yet. But it seemed he was the sort of petty power-hungry man who could not bear to be outranked in his own palace.
"Greetings, Lord Tanyth," Dregu answered, biting back a smile when the elf's lip twitched at the correction of his title. "May this meeting be the beginning of a friendship between us."
"Indeed." Tanyth nodded solemnly. "For as long as I can remember, the Crimson Forest and the Kingdom of Seven Falls have been enemies." He stood, sweeping his trailing robes behind him as he stepped to the edge of the dais. "My people," he addressed the elvish nobles. "We are honored tonight to welcome King Dregu amongst us, to offer him the hospitality elves are so famous for, and to make of him a friend and ally." The elves muttered amongst themselves, sounding anything but hospitable, but Tanyth continued undisturbed. "It has not been since the time of my father, King Halamar the strong, slayer of his enemies, exalted sovereign and beloved lord, that we welcomed outsiders amongst us. And now, we gather to forge an alliance that will strengthen our two nations."
It was a pretty speech. Dregu raised an eyebrow. He doubted Tanyth meant any of it, but the elf expected him to play his part, so he would, for the moment.
"For too long, war has divided us," he answered Tanyth. "May tonight be the beginning of peace for our people."
Tanyth smiled at him again and Dregu ground his teeth at the patronizing glint in the elf's eyes. "Too long, indeed," the lord murmured. "But we will have no business tonight!" he announced, spreading his arms magnanimously. "You've journeyed far. We must have refreshment and entertainment to welcome you properly."
He clapped his hands at a group of retainers and they hurried out of the throne room as he strode down from the raised dais. He was a tall elf, but standing before Dregu, he barely came to the orc's chin. No wonder he preferred to stay up on his throne where he could feel superior.
"We are gratified to accept your hospitality. It is legendary," Dregu said, hating the empty, diplomatic words. If it were up to him, they would not linger with niceties like feasts. They were here to end a war, not to lounge in the elven palace for days or weeks on end while Tanyth postured and negotiated and Dregu's patience wore thinner and thinner.
But that's what they would do, because Tanyth wouldn't give up everything Dregu wanted easily. To recover the orcish lands taken in the constant conflicts, he'd play Tanyth's games as long as he had to.
"Let us adjourn to the conservatory," the lord said. More attendants hurried ahead of him to open doors as he led them through the palace.
The conservatory was an enormous glass-domed room, the perimeter planted with flowers and sweet-smelling herbs. Vines climbed the walls towards the opening in the ceiling where sunlight filtered through. Terraced gardens sank towards the center of the room, the floor in the middle tiled with gleaming white marble like the rest of the palace. Tanyth led them down to the lowest level where tables had been set up in a wide circle around the middle of the room, piled high with food and drink. His own nobles had already been seated, and attendants showed the orcish delegation to their seats.
"He's separated us," Bula murmured behind Dregu. "Gods forbid we sit too near and contaminate one of them." Indeed, the elves and orcs were seated on opposite sides of the room.
"Hush," Dregu grunted. "You'll get us in trouble. Keep your mouths shut except for eating."
At the head table, however, Tanyth and Dregu were seated side-by-side. As he took his seat, the orc stifled a laugh. Tanyth's seat was raised higher than Dregu's, yet their heads were still level. The elf would have to sit on cushions to tower over him here.
Dregu unclasped his thick cape and removed the scabbard from his back. He laid it on the table beside him, the hilt of his sword gleaming. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Tanyth's lips thinned, his hand tightening on the stem of his goblet. Tanyth could play all the games he wanted. Dregu could play games of his own, and he was not about to let the elf forget that he was here as king and chief warrior of his own people, his title more exalted than Tanyth's and his power no less formidable. He was not one of the selfish lord's little minions to be toyed with at Tanyth's pleasure.
Tanyth recovered quickly, snapping his fingers. The light sound of harp music floated down to the sunken center of the garden from a hidden stage across the room. Tanyth stood, raising his goblet.
"On behalf of my people, I thank the orcish delegation for attending on us." He smiled at his guests. "We have prepared a selection of elvish delicacies we hope will meet with your approval. But first," he turned to Dregu, "a toast to your king. I have rarely faced such a worthy enemy on the battlefield." He drained his goblet, and the rest of the company followed his example. Dregu acknowledged the compliment with a nod. Tanyth sat back down, leaning close to his dining companion. "I hope you prove slightly less formidable at the negotiating table," he murmured. Dregu forced a smile.
Tanyth speared a perfectly square cube of squash with a thin silver fork and brought it to his mouth. "I expected you to bring more warriors," he said.
Dregu had brought thirty of his most trusted warriors and councilors to the meeting. There were another fifty more camped in the woods a day from the elvish palace. He wondered if Tanyth knew about them. His warriors were as good at concealing themselves as the lord's scouts were at their job. If Tanyth knew, he likely would not let on until it benefited him to divulge the information.
