by Elena Lawson
“I’m stronger,” he said, covering my hand with his own for but a moment before he left.
Alaric came to my side and watched Kade soar off into the distance until he was little more than a speck. “I vowed to protect you, Liana,” he whispered, pain underlining each of his words, “And whether you’re queen or not, I will uphold that vow. And so will they.”
I leaned into him, and he wrapped an arm around my waist, resting his head atop mine, “I won’t press you to flee, but I’m asking you to consider it. We could return… once you’ve developed your Grace and take back what belongs to you.”
I had considered it. The answer was no. If the person who intended to take the throne had hired the Fae who worked to assassinate me, what sort of hands would I be leaving my court in?
At that moment Thana burst into the room. There would be no hiding this incident, it seemed. The servants had loose lips, and the walls did indeed have ears.
“Thank the gods,” she exclaimed, rushing over to wrap me in a smothering embrace. My fractured ribs screamed in protest, but I bore the pain in silence. The healer could only do so much to repair them without depleting her Grace. Finn needed it more than I did. His kneecap was shattered, and his body bruised beyond recognition. The healer would remain throughout the rest of the night as I had ordered her to, using every ounce of her Grace until it fully recovered Finn.
“Thana, I’m alright, stop fussing.”
She pulled away from me, turning to Alaric, “Where are the other sentries?” she asked him.
“Kade went to find the Draconian who tried to take Liana. And Finn is recovering.”
“He’s alive?”
Alaric’s jaw tightened, “Yes.”
It was then I noticed Thana was fully dressed, her hair wound in a sleek knot at the base of her skull—not in her night clothes as she would have been if she’d only just awoken. “Where were you?” I asked her, unable to help myself.
Her lips parted, closed, and then parted again, “I was in my chambers,” she drawled, “I can’t believe I didn’t hear all the commotion when the attack happened. I must’ve been sound asleep,” she finished in a rush.
I wanted to believe her, truly, I did—but Thana was a terrible liar, and had a habit of talking alternatingly slow and then fast when she told a false truth. I said no more, keeping the observation to myself. She deserved her privacy as much as anyone.
“I’m going to go be with Finn,” I told Thana and Alaric, tired and confused and frustrated, wanting nothing more than to be alone with my thoughts, “Come and get me when Kade returns.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kade didn’t return until well after sunrise, but by then, Alaric was too relieved to see him swoop down onto the terrace to be angry. But I wasn’t, “He said be back before dawn, you inconsiderate oaf!” I had been staring at the terrace for hours, wringing the hem of my shirt until the threads frayed. I shoved him in the chest, hard, and he didn’t even have the decently to feign injury.
“Worried about me?” he asked with a cocky grin I’d have liked to slap right off his smug face.
“Find him?” Alaric asked, but it was obvious he hadn’t.
Kade shook his head, “I picked up his scent in the forest, but I lost it near the foothills of the pass.”
“The Wastes?”
“It’s the only place he’d have been going.”
Finn turned onto his side, wincing. He looked much better. Most of the color had returned to his face, and the bruising had faded. The healer needed to rest and replenish herself but would be back to finish mending his knee when she awoke. “There’s nothing out there,” Finn said, still groggy.
“That we know of,” I said, and the three males shared a thoughtful look.
Alaric’s eyes widened, “The Fae who have been going missing—their scents stopped at the same place, didn’t it?”
Kade nodded, a grave shadow passing over his features.
“Send Jarrod and Quill to check it out,” Alaric said to Kade with a dismissive wave of his hand. Jarrod and Quill were the other two sentries Alaric had chosen to join his retinue. I met them only for a moment before he sent them off to take over shadowing Edris and Selbi two days ago. Tiernan hadn’t accepted my offer of a personal guard, and said he’d be alright on his own.
“Into the Wastes?”
“That’s where the trail ended, isn’t it?” Alaric retorted, stating the obvious. Kade clenched his jaw, muttering something about a waste of time, but left the way he came in to fulfill his captain’s orders.
“I never thanked you,” Finn said when I sat beside him on the bed. He had the covers pulled back, revealing his bare chest. Now free of bruises, the tan skin shone in the light of the rising sun, playing with the contours of his dormant muscle. “I don’t know how you managed to pull me out of the water, but you did. I owe you a debt.”
My eyes pricked at the sentiment in his voice, “You owe me nothing,” I told him, wrapping my hand around one of his, still icy cold, but whether from the ordeal with the water, or from his Grace, I wasn’t sure. “And it wasn’t only me who saved you. Kade is the one you should thank, and the wraiths helped too.”
“Wraiths?” Alaric asked, cocking his head, his brows pulled together. Finn held the same confused stare.
My lips pursed, “I don’t understand it. They tried to drown me only weeks ago, but they were there last night, below the water. They pushed Finn into my arms. I may not have been able to grab hold of him if they hadn’t helped. We owe them our thanks.”
Finn blew out a breath, “I never liked those creatures. And I liked them even less when I heard about the incident you had at sea… But if you think I owe them my thanks, I’ll give credit where its due. I’ll leave them an offering.” Wraiths were known to horde pearl and gemstones. It was said in their domain at the deepest part of the sea, was a treasure trove large enough to rival the one in my own palace.
I pulled a necklace of black pearl and silver from a long drawer in my dressing table and handed it to Finn. “Give them this,” I told him.
He twirled the strand of pearls between his fingers, each one shining with deepest blue and purple when they caught the light just right. He chuckled, “I was thinking one pearl would be sufficient.”
“Your life is worth more than all the pearls in this palace, Finn. It’s a trinket. You know how I loathe jewelry, anyway.”
Alaric stood at the foot of the bed, shaking his head, “Something doesn’t add up. The wraiths wouldn’t try to harm you and then help you.”
He was right, and I remembered how they dragged me under the water and surrounded me. But they didn’t hurt me, and they could’ve. I remembered their raspy song slicing through my oxygen-deprived mind. Come with us, they had said. But where they had wanted to take me, I wasn’t sure.
“I’m not convinced they were trying to harm me,” I told Alaric, trying to recall all the details of my encounter with the creatures. “They wanted me to come with them—I think.”
“Go with them where?” Finn asked.
“I don’t know.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Finn was back on his feet by mid-afternoon, with only a slight limp as proof of what had occurred the night before. He was the only one who agreed with me about thanking Tiernan for the role he played in helping us.
We found him in the library, intently reading a tattered scroll. “Your Majesty,” he said, rising from his seat, “Are you well?”
“I am,” I breathed, “Thanks to you.”
Tiernan straightened his jacket, and I noticed he no longer wore the colors of his own court but was dressed in the traditional Night Court colors of deepest blue, white, and starlight silver. They suited him. “When Arrow woke me, I knew something was wrong. And then when I looked outside I saw Finn fall,” he said, regarding the Draconian, “Glad to see you’re both well.”
“Arrow?”
“My falcon. He seems to be looking out for you,” Tiern
an said with a nod of his head to the bird now perched in the windowsill.
“Did you know Tiernan was a sentry in the Day Court’s Royal Guard?” Finn asked me.
“You never told me that.” I said to Tiernan. I had assumed like most nobles Graced with an earth-based ability he would’ve overseen the royal gardens or held a large parcel of land which could supply his court with wheat—or given his love for wine, perhaps grapes.
His lips curved up in a devious smile, “You never asked, majesty.”
The information had my head filling with absurd ideas. A Day Court emissary, and previous protector of the Queen of Day, could never be part of my own Royal Guard, could they?
Don’t be ridiculous, Liana. He wouldn’t ever agree to that. He’d have to relinquish all ties to his home court for it to be possible. Maybe it was silly to even think such a thing. I’d only known him for little over a week… but in that time he’d shown strength, restraint, and had proved his trustworthiness. I could count the people I trusted at court on one hand, and Tiernan, whether or not he knew it, was one of them.
“Have you decided how long you’ll be staying at court?”
He looked up at me through long lashes, his glinting green eyes flashing, “As long as you’ll have me,” he answered, his words taking on a double meaning, making my body quiver.
I met his fierce stare with one of my own, taking a steadying breath, “Then you may call me Liana from now on, as a friend would.”
He licked his lips, and I felt Finn tense at my side, “Then I will endeavour to be your very best friend… Liana.”
Finn and I arrived in my chambers that evening to find Kade sprawled on my settee, asleep. His top half resting on the cushion, and his legs dangling to floor. The settee no where near large enough to hold his full massive form.
Funny, he looked so innocent in sleep.
After the healer finished her work on Finn’s knee and completed the healing on my ribs, he had escorted me around the palace. I stopped to talk to nobles, and other dignitaries, offering my sincere worry and condolences to Silas on the disappearance of his sister, and my wishes for her safe return.
Alaric—and Thana, thought it was of utmost importance to make myself present in the daily goings on of my court. To remind them I was their queen, and that I had no intentions of going anywhere. After hours spent placating nobles, and repeatedly lying about the great progress I was making in coaxing my Grace into developing, I was exhausted.
The stress was mounting, and if I had to see one more sour-faced noble, I would explode.
“Wake up,” Finn chastised his brother, shoving him.
With a groan, Kade stretched out, his densely corded muscles flexing with the movement. He reached up to work a kink out of his neck, “What’s wrong?” he asked me, his eyes squinting against the bright orange flare of sunset.
“Nothing,” I replied, the frustration all but vanishing at the sight of an adorable, sleepy Kade. I snuggled onto the settee next to him and he wrapped an arm around me. I nuzzled into his neck, relishing in the soothing warmth and spicy scent I found there.
He hissed, “Careful, Liana. It’s hard enough to contain myself without the feel of your breath on my neck.”
Finn sat on the opposite side of me, his gaze faraway and his jaw clenched.
“What are you thinking?” I asked him in a whisper, reaching from the warmth of Kade to place a hand on his bare shoulder, shivering at the soft chill of his flesh.
He turned hostile eyes on me, but when he spoke, his voice was gentle, “You want him, don’t you?”
“Want who?” I asked, not understanding his meaning.
Finn raised a dubious brow at me, “The emissary. I could smell the desire on you in the library.”
I didn’t know desire had a smell. But to someone who was part dragon, I supposed it could.
Kade tightened his arms around my waist, maneuvering his hips to press me into his groin. I gasped. “Is that so,” he crooned, making my body tremble against him.
“No,” I squeaked out, my voice taking on a husky tone.
Finn pulled my legs onto his lap, lazily stroking the skin around my ankles. I shivered. “Don’t lie,” he growled, and the sound reverberated in my chest.
Kade ground his hips, and I could feel the hardness of him against me. My breath came in hitched gasps, “A little competition never hurt anybody,” the Draconian growled, lifting me in one swift motion. “But I never lose.”
He dropped me into the waiting arms of Finn, who pulled me into his chest. His words were a whisper against my neck, “Is this what you want?” he asked, his teeth grazing my neck, sending a ripple of pleasure coursing through me.
A moan tumbled from my lips, and Kade growled in response, kneeling before me on the carpet.
Finn’s deft fingers stroked the sides of my bodice.
We can’t do this. Alaric—something about Alaric… He would be angry… “Alaric—” I started, trying to shift away from Finn, but he gripped my waist tighter.
“Alaric,” Kade said through gritted teeth, “Only said we couldn’t have you. He said nothing about touching you.”
I watched as the Draconian licked his lips, his coal-black wings shivering, and his eyes glowing. He grasped the hem of my gown and reached a hand underneath to stroke the skin on the inside of my thigh.
I tipped my head back, my back arching at the wave of heat licking up my body. Finn swallowed my moan, claimed my mouth with his own. His kiss was all-consuming, filled with so much passion it settled over my heart with something more like pain. His hands on my waist tightened, gripping and releasing, strong. He tore the corset in half with one great pull, baring my breasts to the cool air. I felt his excitement in the hardening of his cock against my back.
He released my mouth, groaning at the sight of me. His hands cupped my breasts, fingers tracing wide circles around my nipples, the circles growing ever smaller until I couldn’t stand the need pulsing through me with each hard beat of my pulse.
Kade’s hand moved ever higher, until his knuckles grazed the dampened fabric of my undergarments. Those too were torn from me. Kade teased the skin around my sex, and my body convulsed. “You belong to us,” he roared, “And no other.”
I nodded vehemently, my hips trying to push against his hand—my body pleading, no, begging for release.
“Say it.” Kade commanded, his index finger pressing against my opening.
Finn lightly flicked my nipple, and I heaved, “Yes,” I managed, “I belong to you.”
Kade plunged his fingers inside me, easing them in and out, his thumb circling the sensitive skin of my clit. He set a rhythm that had me on the cusp of release but slowed each time I was close to reaching it—teasing me. Finn groped my breasts, matching his twin’s pace with each stroke, brushing my nipples with each pass of his rough hands.
My body writhed. Hips moving in tandem with each thrust of Kade’s fingers. I was drunk with desire—aching with the innate need to find my release.
A whimper broke free from my chest, “Please,” I urged them between pants, but Finn’s lips came down on mine again, muffling my plea. His teeth skimmed my lower lip and stars danced along the edges of my vision.
Kade pushed harder, deeper inside me. Faster. And then faster still. His touch heating as he activated his Grace. The inferno coiled up from within me. My head fell back, and I cried out. My entire body tightened. The flash of ecstasy tore through me, my every cell screaming yes, yes—as I finally fell over the edge.
Chapter Twenty-Three
My sleep was deep and dreamless that night, the best I’d had since leaving the Isle of Mist. The path of the sun told me it was long past morning, and I sighed, sinking deeper into the covers.
“About time you woke up,” Kade said, grinning from ear to ear, jumping onto the bed, “Thought we might’ve done some irreparable damage.”
Oh, you did damage alright… I could still feel the ghost of their hands, and my stomach
tightened at the memory.
“Stop biting your lip,” Finn said, eyes darkening, “Or I’ll ruin your nightclothes too.”
“What did you just say?” Alaric asked Finn, entering my bedchamber without knocking, as usual.
Finn schooled his face into a look of professional indifference, “Nothing.” He said plainly.
“Better be nothing.”
Since the two Draconian’s had been with me all night, I supposed it was Alaric who would guard me through the day. The feeling of disappointment surprised me. Only days ago, I wanted to spend all my time with him, now the sight of him frustrated me to no end.
“That’s our cue,” Kade said, launching himself from the bed, but not before giving me a wink and one of his trademark grins, “See you tonight.”
Finn followed his brother from the room, cutting a sly glance my way before he closed the door behind them.
Alaric ran a hand through his hair, “They’re setting up the table for lunch,” he said, never once meeting my eyes, “Are you hungry?”
Once I thought about it, I was ravenous—and couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten a proper meal. I nodded, stepping from the bed to gather the airy lavender gown someone had set out next to the dressing table. A thought crossed my mind, and a sneaky grin tugged at my lips.
I stripped off my night clothes, letting them fall into a pile around my ankles. I delighted in the sound of Alaric’s sharp intake of breath. If he wouldn’t agree to what I had offered him—and his sentries, then he would be made to see what he was missing. With my eyes downcast, I took my time dressing, with slow, purposeful movements.
Once I had finished, pulling on a pair of sand-colored heels, I peeked up at him from beneath my lashes.
His eyes met mine, and I could see the beast in him, longing to be free. His hands twitched at his side, “So cruel,” he breathed.