by Amy Sumida
“You can look over the bathroom later. There's something else I want you to see first.”
“Oh?”
Slate opened the last door in the right corner and revealed a stairway spiraling down. He led the way, the stairwell lights coming on as we descended. It went down far enough that I concluded that we passed the ground level of the Zone.
“This is the only entrance,” Slate murmured over his shoulder.
“To what?”
“Our private wonderland.” He grinned as he moved off the last step and helped me down into a small cavern.
Wider than it was tall, it had the shape of a clamshell with the far wall curving down. Stalactites hung from the ceiling and started to gleam as lights came on between them. To our right, there was a sitting area carved from stalagmites but that was all Slate had added to the cave. It didn't need anything else, not with most of the space taken up by water.
I gasped as I hurried toward the underground lake. The overhead lights illuminated the clear water all the way down to the smooth, gray bottom. Stalagmites broke the water's surface, creating grottoes with the overhanging stalactites. The scent of pure water with a hint of minerals filled my nose. Steam started to rise from the lake's surface, making it appear even more fantastical.
“I had a heating unit installed,” Slate said as he stepped up beside me. “I know it's not the ocean, but I thought it was perfect for us.”
I squealed as I cast off my clothing and ran into the water. Slate chuckled and undressed more slowly, taking our clothes over to the stone chairs while I dove in. When he finally joined me in the warm water, I swam over to him and wrapped myself around him.
“You like it?” He asked with a broad grin.
“I love it.” I sensuously slid my body along his. “You were right; it's perfect for us. Part you and part me.”
Slate covered my mouth with his as he pulled me closer. The muscles of his stomach clenched against me as something a bit lower hardened. I sighed into him and when I inhaled again, he fell backward into the water with me. Weightlessness took us. We floated in a cocoon where sound was literally dampened. It was as close to the cosmos as I could get now, and I was surprised to find that I was okay with that. I missed the divine connection of merging my essence with another but this—this erotic roll through water, this slide of skin against skin—was a different type of heaven. The cool wet around me countered the hot wet of Slate's tongue in my mouth and set things to clenching low in my body. I opened to him, and he came into me easily, sliding into place like puzzle pieces.
We broke the surface with twin cries of ecstasy. Slate slid into me steadily as I pulled him deeper with my thighs. And then we were back under, tumbling as if a crocodile had us in its jaws. Hurtling toward another kind of death. We finally found a solid place to lay within one of the grottoes, my back sliding onto the incline of a rock shelf. I set my feet on the thick columns of some stalactites as Slate grabbed the tips of the stalagmites behind me. Firmly leveraged, we pounded together with primal passion, water roiling around us and our cries sounding hollow within the stone teeth of our tiny cave. I clutched at the muscles of Slate's broad back, kissing his sharp jawline as he panted roughly over my cheek.
“I love you, Elaria,” Slate growled as he pulled back to stare at me. “I would build you a thousand palaces just to see you smile.”
“You don't need palaces to make me smile. All you need is this.” I brushed my lips across his. “You and me together. The most pitiful shack becomes a palace when you hold me.”
Slate made an amazed sound low in his chest as he shook his head. He looked as if he might say something sweet but then his expression twisted into a smirking grimace.
“Don't try to out-romanticize me, woman,” he growled in a teasing tone. “We both know that I love you more than you love me.”
“Oh, so it's a competition now?”
“Life is a competition.” Slate grinned and thrust deeper.
“But if you love me more, doesn't that mean that I've won?” I lifted a brow at him then slid off him and off the shelf entirely.
I dropped into the water beneath Slate and launched myself off the rock to shoot through the lake. I heard the hollow echoes of a gargoyle giving chase and put on more speed. I was raised near the water, Slate was raised underground, he didn't stand a chance. I made it to the stone bank then turned around to wait for him with my hands on my hips and a saucy look on my face.
“I win!” I declared.
Slate slid through the water with powerful strokes. I admired the muscles flexing in his arms as they sliced before him. He had a determined look on his face and a suppressed smile on his lips. Slate reached the bank and slowly started to rise from the water, shimmering liquid sliding off his body and slicking his dark hair back from his handsome face. Steam rose off his glistening skin and formed a mysterious haze pierced by his silver eyes. Slate's thick shoulders crested first then the curves of his chest appeared. Deeply blushing nipples dripped water down to the solid ripples of his belly. His waist fell into a sexy V, directing my gaze down and between his thighs. I barely noticed his impressive biceps or the twisted cords of his forearms. How could I when that turgid piece of flesh broke free of the lake's embrace to reach for me?
The breath was trapped in my throat, held down by dry constriction. I gasped for air as Slate stepped up the inclined shore and came toward me like a sea god braving land to claim his woman. The steam clung to him like I wanted to, trying to pull him back into the water. Then he was there, his arms around me and his wet lips lowering to mine.
Slate paused with his face a breath above mine. “Who wins?”
“Oh, it's definitely me,” I whispered before I closed the distance between us.
Slate groaned into our kiss and lifted me off my feet. But it was only so he could lay me down on the smooth stone and spread my thighs around his waist. He sank into me again, and we both groaned with pleasure. I closed my eyes to enjoy it fully but as I spun upward toward passionate oblivion, a vision bloomed in my mind.
I gasped as I saw Slate drop to one knee before me with his smug smile on his face; the one that he used to hide his nervousness. Then he was standing in front of me, pledging the vows that we'd already made to each other but this time, our friends and families witnessed our commitment. And this time, I slid a gold band onto his hand. The vision tumbled forward; me sitting beside Slate in his box at the arena. The crowd cheering. Blood on the sand. It wasn't the usual sort of court and our thrones weren't set on a dais, but it was rulership. The King and Queen of the Underground, meting out justice together.
Appropriate, don't you think? Kyanite asked softly. For a spellsinger to rule an underworld?
Ky, have you shown me the future? I asked in awe.
You seemed to want a glimpse. But don't get too excited, it's only what you're headed toward in this moment. Things could change.
Still, it was beautiful. Thank you.
You're welcome.
But don't show me anymore, Kyanite. I don't want to know.
I know, my love. That's why I've never given you prophecies before. The future is best left alone. Too much knowledge of it can break it.
And I don't want to break my future, I said firmly and opened my eyes as Slate eased back and lifted himself above me. It's too precious to risk.
Leave the future to me and enjoy your present, Your Majesty.
I will, I promised.
And I would. I would enjoy every second I had with my boyfriend who would one day become my husband. Marriage to Slate would be wonderful, I was certain of it, but being his girlfriend had its perks too, and I had no intentions of missing a single moment.
“Thank you for our home.” I stroked Slate's face tenderly.
“I made you a palace,” he corrected me gently. “We'll make it a home together.”
As we kissed and ground our way to ecstasy, the image of Slate kneeling before me filled my mind. I may not want to know e
xactly what our future held, and I wouldn't let thoughts of it distract me from my present, but Kyanite was right; I did treasure that glimpse. I would remember it when things got rough. That no matter what hit us in our present, there was a future for us, and that was all I needed to know.
Keep reading for a sneak peek of the next book in the Spellsinger Series:
Doppelganger Dirge
Chapter One
“Wicked,” he whispered.
His body moved against mine; soft skin over hard muscles. His hands in my hair. On my breasts. Lower. He pulled my hips against his rising lust. My head rolled against silk, the scent of him filling my world as he filled my body.
“So wicked.” The words hot in my ear.
Kisses along my jaw. He lifted up as I slid my hands over his broad shoulders. Up his throat. Over his divine jaw. Into his glorious hair, sparkling like a star.
“Lucifer?” I went still. “What are you doing here?”
“I should have called you my wicked,” Lucifer growled and slid a hand around my throat. “Traitor. Murderer. Whore.”
Lucifer started to squeeze, and I bucked and kicked. He was still thrusting inside me, his pelvis grinding against my sex, and as I gasped for air, pleasure rose, giving credence to his accusations.
“No!” I shoved him off me. “I'm not a traitor or a whore. I was drugged when we were together. That wasn't my fault.”
“But you are a murderer.” Lucifer grinned and laid back on his lavish bed, crossing his arms behind his head and putting his beautiful body on display for me. “And you want to be my whore, don't you, my wicked?”
“No, I don't.” I tried to crawl off the bed but each movement only brought me closer to him until I was lying across his chest. “No!”
Lucifer laughed as he bucked up into me, his arms still behind his head; showing me that it was my choice. My fault.
“Wicked,” he said again in accusation.
“Fuck you!” I screamed.
Lucifer rolled me onto my back and started slamming into me wildly. “You feel it gathering. The pleasure. The heat. It's rising inside you.”
He ground his mouth over mine and shoved his tongue into my mouth. My body moved on its own, undulating up against him, thighs spreading wider. It was like being on Bliss again but this time, my mind was aware. Clear. I had no excuses. I was choosing Lucifer. My whole being rebelled but my body tensed on the cusp of release. I came, screaming into his mouth.
Lucifer lifted up and declared in a low, rumbling voice, “Something wicked comes.”
Wicked. She comes. Lucifer faded but the voice remained.
My love. Kyanite said gently.
So wicked.
Shut up! I'm trying to wake her up. Kyanite snapped.
She rises. Something wicked comes for you, Elaria.
I jolted up in bed, panting, gasping awake. The echoes of my nightmare chased me into consciousness. A cold sweat coated my skin, making me shiver in the breeze that came through Torin's balcony doors. I was naked in his bed, the Onyx King sprawled beside me. Seeing him calmed my racing heart, and I started to breathe easier.
The pale sheet was bunched around his hips, giving me a breathtaking view of his tight stomach and chiseled chest. Torin got his thick build from his witch blood but his stunning face was all Shining One. As in Fey. His high cheekbones, sharp jawline, sensual lips, and regal nose were all faerie traits; ethereal and alien. Sublimely beautiful. Although, there was a ruggedness to Torin that seeped through that beauty. A strength that shone through him. And that strength comforted me even when he wasn't awake.
I stroked a lock of silken ebony hair away from his face and sighed. My nightmare was starting to fade in the way of dreams.
My love, that was no nightmare.
“Kyanite?” I whispered, suddenly remembering the strange conversation between him and... “Who was that speaking in my head. It wasn't RS.”
You're damn straight it wasn't me, RS huffed.
Yes, I hear voices. Two, to be exact. One is of my jewel, Kyanite. I'm not a shining one, but I have a sliver of kyanite in my throat, a gift from the Witch Relic I once wielded to save the Realms. That sliver gave me the ability to connect with Kyanite and become a Shining One queen.
Then there's the Rooster Spell, RS for short. She was once inside an evil witch who had done bad things to my family. I killed him, and he cast the spell on me as his last act of vengeance. At first, things were rough with her, but we had changed each other. She had once required multiple sex partners to fuel her. She still does, but that need is now about love, not just lust. She had turned me into a polyamorous woman with four husbands, a mate, and a boyfriend. But in return, she gave us all strength and united us. She could also speak into our minds.
We had an invader, El, RS said.
“An invader?” I eased out of bed and slipped into a robe.
I had gone to the Onyx Kingdom to spend time with Torin. We'd been spending so much time in Kyanite lately that I thought it would be nice for me to go to his castle every now and then. Torin's blatantly masculine bedroom reminded me of my first visit to Tír na nÓg when I had been hired to kill him. I smiled softly as I remembered the way he had looked, sitting on his throne as he listened to me sing. He'd been so brutally handsome and so fucking terrifying when I realized that he was draining my magic.
All Shining Ones are born with a bond to a gemstone. The more powerful they are, the further away they can be from their stone and still access its magic. Kings and Queens can connect with the jewel anywhere while the lowest ranking shining one has to physically touch their gem to use its magic. Torin's aligned stone is onyx, and he had used its power to ground energy to drain my magic and effectively cripple me. He could also use onyx to protect himself and others, to focus himself, bring stability, and clear his mind.
And give prophecy, Kyanite added to my thoughts.
“What?” I paused halfway out onto the balcony.
I'm not the only stone of prophecy, Kyanite said. Onyx has the ability as well.
Yeah, and that stodgy stone butted into your brain, RS added.
“He butted into my brain?” I stepped out onto the balcony and closed the doors behind me.
Dawn had lit the sky to deep lavender and crimson, but I ignored the colors of Tír na nÓg and focused on the spell and stone in my head.
He's had a vision, Kyanite explained. A vision similar to mine.
“What vision?”
Don't you remember? RS huffed. He told you that something wicked is rising. Something that will set its sights on you.
“Something wicked,” I whispered as the nightmare bloomed fresh in my mind again.
That was our Prophecy, Kyanite explained. We gave you a vision.
Just put your damn hand on the wall, El, RS said.
I looked at the onyx wall and swallowed past a dry lump in my throat. Slowly, I lifted my hand and set it on the stone.
Elaria, wife of my king, you must beware, the deep rumbling voice of Onyx immediately sounded inside my brain.
“Beware of what?” I asked. “I told Kyanite that I wouldn't worry my men with his warning until he knew what was coming for me. Do you know what it is?”
Only that it starts with the God of the Angels. We've shown you all we can.
“Lucifer is behind this?” I asked in shock.
Not exactly, Kyanite said. He is a path to you.
What the fuck does that mean? RS snapped.
“What she said.”
He's a way for this wicked thing to reach you, Kyanite said.
The Morning Star will shine his light upon the wicked, Onyx intoned.
“Oh, I remember your prophecies now,” I grumbled. “They're more like riddles.”
He isn't your stone, my love, Kyanite said gently. It's a miracle that you can hear him at all.
“A miracle,” I mused. “Lucifer said I would do miraculous things.”
Yeah, yeah, RS griped. Praise yourself later. Righ
t now, you need to focus on the wicked thing coming your way.
“Something wicked this way comes,” Torin announced as he stepped onto the balcony.
I flinched. “Onyx told you?”
“You should have told me, little bird.” Torin pulled me into his arms and laid his forehead against mine.
“I know, but there's nothing to be done until we know who this wicked person is.”
“We can prepare.” He pulled back to look at me grimly. “We need to tell the others.”