A Kingdom of Iron & Wine : New Adult Fantasy Romance (The Ironworld Series Book 1)

by Candace Osmond

  I’d never had a group of friends. Never had a large family. It had always just been Julie, Tess, and me all my life. I’d never had a need or even a second thought for anything more. But as I regarded the group of misfit Fae in front of me, I knew. There was no question in my mind.

  “I’m in.”

  ***

  I cupped my warm mug of tea to my chest as I stepped out into the crisp night air of the balcony. Cillian waited in one of the wooden lawn chairs, and I twirled inside at the sight of him. But I was determined to play it cool. I closed the patio door, muffling the sounds of the TV Julie and Tomas watched.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” I said and inhaled the steam that wafted up from my tea. My red wool sweater scratched the nylon of my black leggings, but I was grateful for its warmth against the Fall evening.

  Cillian leaned back in his chair and tucked his hands behind his head. “I figured you’d venture out here at some point.”

  “You know, we have this thing called a front door.” I didn’t bother to hide the cheeky grin as I sauntered closer, my knee rubbing against his. “And I also have a phone.”

  His hands immediately went to my leg, wrapping around the upper part. His fingertips caressed my inner thigh as he stared up at me.

  “Forgive me,” he said with a coy, raspy whisper and tugged me closer. “I’m old-fashioned.”

  An old-fashioned… vampire? Because I didn’t know of any men who just showed up on a second-story balcony.

  “You’re forgiven.”

  I stood between his legs until he pulled me down onto his lap–gently, mindful of my tea. I didn’t feel his body even move beneath my weight. It was like sitting on a rock that bent and molded to me.

  His thumb caressed my ear as the rest of his fingers wrapped around the back of my head. “I’ve missed you.” The words brushed over my lips before his mouth found mine in a kiss.

  “It’s only been a day,” I replied through a grin.

  Our foreheads touched. “Long enough.”

  Something silvery moved in the corner of my eye, and I shifted on Cillian’s lap to look up at the sky just as another one blazed by. A shooting star.

  “Make a wish,” I said with a content sigh and rested my head on his chest, still looking up at the sky.

  He said nothing, only held me tight.

  After a moment, he finally spoke. “You know, they meant something to my people. Shooting stars.” I loved how the vibration of every word hummed against me. “They were a symbol of hope and new beginnings.”

  I sat up and turned to him. “Tell me more. About your… people. Tell me where you came from. Your past.”

  Cillian flashed that white smile at me. But something like sadness glistened in his eyes. He moved part of my escaped ponytail behind my ear. “That would require telling you my age.”

  I set my mug down on the table next to us. “I want to know. I’m ready.”

  His hand found the hem of my sweater and slipped up my back. He traced a lazy circle over my skin. Then he took a long breath.

  “My sister and I were born in a village somewhere in Scandinavia before it was the region you know it to be today.”

  I picked through my brain for a map of the world. And I rifled through my thoughts for bits and pieces of what I knew. “So… Vikings?”

  Cillian seemed hesitant.

  “Older than Vikings?”

  “Not much older,” he replied, his face just inches from mine.

  I stared into those hypnotizing blue voids, and I saw it. The depths of his life. A pair of eyes that carried wisdom and experience and such a sizable chunk of time.

  I couldn’t look away. “How much older?”

  His whole body rose and fell beneath me with a heavy sigh. “Cellie and I will turn… four thousand years old next summer.”

  Those fingers stilled at my back. He waited, holding a breath, surely expecting me to run away screaming. But I just shifted closer and wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing my lips right up to his.

  “Are you scared?” he asked softly. “I’d understand if that’s too much. The age, the time–”

  “Tell me more,” I whispered against his mouth and placed a kiss there.

  He waited for my kiss to end. But his embrace tightened. As if he were afraid that I’d change my mind and go.

  “We grew up in a small village,” Cillian began. “We weren’t the nomadic Vikings you know of. We didn’t roam the seas, pillaging and conquering. We were a peaceful lot, for the most part. There were warriors, mostly for protection against other tribes. But there were also healers, mothers, fathers, teachers, cooks. And… witches.”

  “Witches?” My brows raised.

  “Our mother was the high witch,” he continued. “With my sister under her wing. Until… a vampire rolled into our town.” I tensed, but Cillian held me close. “He killed so many in the dead of night. Cellie and I woke up to the sound of our mother’s scream and rushed over to her cabin, only to find his teeth clamped down on her neck. Cellie and I tried to fight him off. It worked, he let her go, and she scrambled away. But we weren’t so lucky. The vampire snapped our necks on the spot.”

  I pushed away from him. “What?” I wasn’t expecting that. I’d assumed… a vampire turned him and his sister. “So….” I blinked through the confusion. “How?”

  Cillian gave me a grave smile. “The village warriors managed to take down the vampire in the end. And our mother used its blood to perform some sort of spell–a ritual–to bring us back to life. Only….”

  “You came back as vampires.”

  He nodded, and I kissed the side of his mouth to assure him everything was fine. “But we’re slightly different from your average, heartless killer.”

  “Oh, God, please don’t tell me you drink animal blood and sparkle in the sun,” I gasped sarcastically.

  Cillian tipped his head back and let out a howl of laughter. All dread gone from the moment. He squeezed me in a crushing embrace and planted his mouth down on mine. A kiss that devoured.

  He pulled away, taking my breath with him. “No, I can spare you that.” He cleared his throat. “We don’t prey on people. I buy my blood from the Black Market.”

  “What about Celadine?”

  Nothing but love filled his gaze. Love for his sister, his twin, the one that’d been with him since day one. “Cellie’s special. Before she turned, she learned so much from our mother and quickly became a powerful witch. When she turned… she didn’t feel the desire for blood. I mean, she could drink it if she wanted to, and it would satiate her. But it’s energy she wants most. Creative energy is the best.”

  Realization swept over me. “The gallery.”

  “Yes, the gallery. The trove of talent that she curates there. She was even once in love with an artist.”

  “Really?” I asked, and Cillian nodded. “A human?”

  He nodded again. “His name was Derek, he was a tribal tattoo artist she’d met a few hundred years ago, and she loved him more than anything in the world.” He flashed a grin. “I mean, aside from yours truly.” I slapped at his chest. “But, when he died… his death consumed her, and, with the mental bond between us, I just couldn’t stand to be around her for decades. I’d only just come back a few weeks ago when I could feel her pain lessening. When I realized why it had been lessening, that she’d found something… someone to fill that void in her heart.”

  I gasped. “Wait, what? Me?”

  Cillian gripped my chin between his thumb and finger. “Yes, you. She adores you like a sister. She wants to teach you everything she knows. About art, about everything.”

  I thought then how one of my worries was that Cillian was immortal. He’d live forever, essentially, and I would just age and die. But now, I wasn’t so sure of my actual lifespan. If the Fae blood and abilities granted me a longer life or not. The last mortal Oracle lived hundreds of years. I stared at Cillian with a hopeful look. I wanted to live a longer life, to spend it with him. As c
razy as that sounded.

  But he deserved to know how dangerous it was to be with me.

  “Cillian.” The dread in my tone made him stiffen. “I–if we’re going to be together, it’s only fair for you to know everything about me first.”

  He visibly relaxed. Did he actually believe I’d scare that easily? His backstory was practically a bedtime lullaby compared to what now circled me. His large hands cupped my body in his arms and squeezed me tight.

  “A bit of sunshine and magic isn’t exactly alarming, Avery.” His fingertips dug into my behind. “It only makes you even more tempting.”

  Warmth pooled between my legs, and I squeezed them together as I traced his bottom lip with my thumb. “No.” I planted a kiss there. “Not that. I mean, it has to do with that, but the real danger is this hell fairy named Evaine. She’s an assassin that someone in Faerie hired to hunt me down.”

  Anger flared in his eyes, and a subtle growl rolled over somewhere deep inside of him as realization swept over his beautiful face. “The creature in the woods outside the gallery that night.”

  “How did you–”

  Cillian tapped his nose.

  My smile didn’t reach my eyes. “That’s why I wanted to keep my distance from you. To keep her away from you and Celadine. We don’t know who hired her or why, exactly. Just that she’s determined to lure me away to Faerie.” I shrugged inside my oversized sweater. “Now we’re thinking it’s something to do with the fact that I’m also some kind of mortal Seer.”

  Cillian’s face lit up with wonder. “An Oracle?”

  “You’ve heard of it?”

  His gaze turned distant for a moment. “Yeah, a long time ago. A mortal Oracle had escaped Faerie after the Great War, slipped away under the protection of the Therians, apparently.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “No one knows,” he replied. “My guess is he eventually died. Being mortal, I doubt his life was long.”

  I shook my head. “But it was. He’d lived for centuries before the war. In the Seelie King’s grasp.”

  “Oh, well, I’d say the Oracle probably died an unfortunate death then,” Cillian said gravely. “Ironworld is full of diabolical creatures. Something as rare as a Seer… I can just imagine what his blood went for on the Black Market alone.”

  I shivered, and Cillian shifted in the chair, suddenly realizing the weight of his words. His mouth gaped apologetically. “Avery, I didn’t mean–”

  “Yes, you did,” I told him. “And you’re right. Which is all the more reason to really consider whether it’s worth the risk of being with me.”

  Cillian’s hand wrapped around my back as the other slowly slid between my thighs. “Avery, it’s going to take a lot more than that to scare me off.”

  “You mean…” I hesitated a moment, carefully weighing my words. “Impending doom aside, don’t you prefer me to be…human? I mean, I am. Human–”

  His dark laughter rocked through me, and I melted in his arms as Cillian buried his face in my neck. “I’d take you in any form. But knowing you have Fae in your blood explains why my own sings around you.”

  “Yeah?” The word came out in a crackle.

  His skin brushed against my face as he slowly brought his lips to hover over mine. “Your very existence drives me mad. I don’t know whether I want to eat you or be inside you.”

  His words were like a dark promise that reached the farthest corner of every one of my nerves. A gasp froze in my mouth as his came down over mine and devoured. Slow, sensual, and claiming. His hand slid higher up my thigh but waited for silent permission. My choice. It’s always been my choice with Cillian.

  I slipped my hand over his and guided it closer. He was growing beneath me already, his impressive size pushing against my bottom. I gently moved over it, teasing, and Cillian let loose a deep growl that seemed to envelop me with desire.

  Noise from inside the apartment reminded me of where we were, and I glanced over my shoulder.

  “Do you want to go?” he rasped in my ear.

  A hot tremble rocked through me as his fingertips touched the apex of my thighs, taunting my opening through my leggings. I nodded.

  In a flash, Cillian was on his feet with me tucked tightly in his arms.

  “What are you–”

  We took off into the sky like a bolt and moved through the sky so fast I couldn’t even open my eyes. In a single breath, we landed on the rooftop terrace of Celadine’s Victorian mansion a few blocks away. Through a wall of glass patio doors, I could see a small apartment adorned in dark wood, stone, and leather textures. A bachelor pad. This must have been where he lived.

  He set me down but braced the space behind me with an outstretched arm. My head spun, but I focused on breathing.

  “That’s how you appeared in my aunt’s garden that night and then disappeared without a trace.” I stared up at him. Not a hair out of place. “You can fly?”

  “I can.” A chill crept over me as the cool night breeze tickled my skin. “So, what’ll it be?”

  He let silence hold the space between us as I digested the new fact and the question that meant so much more than a question. Cillian would never push me to accept him, would walk away if I met my limit of supernatural surprises. But as I let myself get lost in those pools of navy blue, I knew there was nothing he could do or say to turn me away. I only wanted more.

  “I figure my life is destined to implode at some point. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know.” A sigh jittered in my throat. “So, I may as well live my days as happily as I can.” I leaned into him and kissed his chin. “I’m yours, Cillian.”

  His whole body relaxed with a sigh and drew me in with both arms, crushing me to his iron chest. He tipped my face upward with a finger under my jaw. “And I’ve been irrevocably yours since the first moment I saw you.”

  My hands slipped beneath his shirt and grazed the soft, toned muscles of his back. “Then prove it.”

  With a coy smile and a hungry look in his eyes, Cillian lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me with ease toward the door, and the apartment moved in a blur at the edges of my vision before I felt the soft cradle of a bed beneath me. Black silk sheets surrounded us. The scent of leather and fresh soap filled my nose, mixed with the cool scent that always seemed to waft from Cillian’s skin.

  He stood at the foot of the bed where my legs dangled, and our gazes locked as he slowly removed my leggings and wool socks. I sat up and slipped off my sweater to reveal the olive-green lace bra I wore. My eyes dipped to where the crotch of his black jeans bulged, and I sucked in a quick breath as Cillian undressed in front of me.

  If I thought he was beautiful before, it was nothing compared to the god that now stood before me. Cillian was a sight to behold. A looming expanse of moon-kissed skin over lithely moving muscles. I tried not to look but failed, and my throat went dry at the size of him.

  “Holy shit.” I wasn’t sure if it was thought or whisper, but his crooked smile told me the answer.

  My bent knees trembled as he lowered himself onto the bed and removed my underwear in one swift movement. His nose touched my thigh and ran the length of it with an inhale that sent goosebumps racing over me. I tipped my head back the second his cool breath touched my most sensitive spot–arched my hips as his warm tongue slowly caressed it.

  “Cillian….” I dug my fingers deep into his black hair. Pulled at its roots.

  But he continued, and a guttural moan escaped as a shutter raked through me. Finally, he raised his head, his expression wild as he dipped his mouth to my breasts and tore down the straps to free them. I cried out again when his hand moved between my legs and picked up where his mouth had left off.

  “I’d never let anything happen to you,” he said in a breath against my sternum, making my nipples harden. I tipped my chin down, and he stared up at me while my body moved ever so slightly with his hand. “You don’t have to be afraid of Evaine. She won’t get past m
e.”

  An unexpected dose of brazenness flooded me, and I tightened my legs around him as I flipped us over. A ball of sunshine formed in my palm, but Cillian didn’t flinch. Trust. That was trust that he showed… that I felt.

  “I’m not afraid of her,” I said. Surprised at my own declaration. But it was true.

  I formed the light into a blade, reigning in the outer glow until it was a solid ember, and held it as close to his neck as I could. Cillian didn’t blink as he stared into my eyes.

  He leaned forward just a hair. “Then I’ll fight by your side.” A grin tugged at his parted mouth. “You, gorgeous, spiteful, delicious creature.”

  I kept the blade at his neck as I lifted myself onto the tip of him. He sucked in a sharp inhale. My back arched as Cillian’s hand cupped both my breasts and slowly rolled my nipples between his fingertips. Waiting for me to proceed. Going at my pace. It made me want to drive the length of him into me, but I knew I’d regret it. This was going to take a moment.

  Slowly, inch by inch, I lowered myself down over him. Down, down, until he filled me, and I braced my hands on his hard chest. My fingertips dug into his flesh as I rolled my hips and a curse seethed through his teeth.

  “Fuck, Avery.” He gripped my sides.

  Wetness dripped down over him, allowing me to quicken the pace, to take it when his body began to move with mine. Driving himself further into me. Unintelligible sounds erupted from me in a stream of moans. Every inch of my body burned with the building of my climax, and I felt its twin rushing through Cillian as his whole body tensed and his hands tightened on my upper thighs to the point where I knew there’d be bruises there tomorrow.

  I soaked up the energy and released it. And, as we rode that seemingly never-ending high together, I could only think of one thing. Whatever was waiting for me, whatever sinister creatures lurked in the shadows, I could face it all. Tomorrow.

  With Cillian by my side.

  Epilogue

  The tendrils of a dream held me in place as I stared down at a room in a dimly lit castle. Walls of stone and floors of rustic boards. A man sat in a throne-like black wingback chair, draped to one side of it in boredom. Snow white hair fell to his shoulders. And through it…pointed ears. He was no man.