The Lion, the Witch, and the Werewolf

by Amy Sumida

  “Well, I asked him for magic first.” Lesya scrunched up her face petulantly.

  “I hadn't realized how much like you she is,” Arach murmured to me.

  “But she looks so much like Kirill,” I countered and then blinked as I realized it was similar to what Trevor and I had been saying about Vero. Perhaps I'll have more of an influence on my children than I thought.

  “Not entirely.” Arach pulled me against his side. “You are definitely there, A Thaisce.”

  “Thank you for what you said,” I told him. Then I went up on my toes to whisper into his ear, “I'm going to rock your world tonight.”

  “You do that every night.” Arach gave me a tender expression. “Even those nights when you are not with me. Perhaps even more so then.”

  “You just keep racking up the points, Dragon.” I kissed him passionately until I realized that things had gone quiet around us.

  I looked up and saw everyone watching us. Then my sons—the little ones—giggled and it set off everyone's laughter.

  “All right, yes, it's so funny when I kiss my husband.” I rolled my eyes. “Get into the carriages, you savages!”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Thankfully, Duchess Isleen was still running the castle staff so the arrival of our numerous guests went smoothly. Everyone got their own room except for Lesya, of course, who was rooming with her father. My husbands and boyfriend were going to back off while we were in Faerie and allow Arach to have his queen. It was an understanding that we'd agreed on years ago. Arach really got the best end of the Vervain arrangement, but my other men seemed okay with it. Although, after the incident with the Wolf, I might have to make sure about that. Not that there was much I could do to change things if they weren't. Arach needed his queen; period. The Fire Fey knew I had other husbands but they were a lot like Arach in their “don't ask, don't tell” attitude. Basically, they didn't want it shoved in their faces. Not that they were at all disapproving of my polygamy. Quite the opposite; the Fey believed it should be up to the individuals involved. That being said, there had never been a royal thruple.

  So, I'd be the Dragon Queen for my time in Faerie.

  We had arrived the day before the Twins' birthday so we could settle in before the big event. Arach had loads of activities planned for our guests; everything from hunting to touring Faerie on horseback (phooka-back actually) but all of those events were planned for the next day. Tonight, we were just having a relaxing feast.

  Sure. Relaxing.

  I glanced at Arach with a smirk as faerie acrobats twirled from the ground and into the air employing magic along with physical skill. This was just the latest round of entertainment. There had been musicians, storytellers, and even a play; all performed in the center of the dining hall as we feasted. Our sons couldn't be more delighted, especially since they had a table full of children sitting with them. Not only was Lesya there, but there were also Hunter (Roarke's son), the Phooka Pups, the Hidden-One kids, and Prince Morgan (King Guirmean's son). King Guirmean and Queen Nora of Water were already at Castle Aithinne when I'd arrived with my entourage. Arach had invited them to attend the festivities early; he and Guirmean were best buds.

  Guirmean and Nora were seated to my left while the children sat on Arach's right. Kirill took a seat on the far end to corral the children and prevent any mishaps. I gave him a little wave over the collection of kids, and he waved back. Hey, Kirill wanted a houseful of children; here was his chance to see what it would be like. He was smiling now, but I was curious to see what expression he'd be wearing at the end of the night.

  “It's a celebration, Vervain,” Arach said.

  “I know. I was just expecting it to start tomorrow.”

  “Your people have traveled from another realm to be here.” He shrugged. “I thought they deserved to be entertained upon arrival.”

  “You're a wonderful host, Dragon,” I said in my queen voice.

  “Thank you,” Arach replied as if he already knew it but confirmation was nice just the same. “Now that everyone's distracted, you will tell me why you have ghosts in your eyes.”

  “Ghosts?” I asked as my stomach clenched. “In my eyes? That sounds problematic.”

  Arach frowned as he searched for the correct phrase. “A haunted look?”

  “Ah, that. I should have known I wouldn't be able to keep it from you,” I muttered. There went holding it back until after the party.

  Arach frowned at me and then leaned over to speak to Guirmean, “Please excuse my wife and me; we have a personal matter to discuss. Isleen will see to your comfort.”

  “We're fine,” Guirmean assured him. “Completely comfortable. Please, don't concern yourself.”

  Arach nodded and stood. Despite Guirmean's protests, he waved Isleen over from where she sat at the end of the high table.

  “My King?” Isleen asked.

  “Please take care of our guests, Duchess,” Arach said. “I must speak to my wife.”

  “Of course.” Isleen nodded before heading back to her seat.

  “A Thaisce.” Arach held a hand down to me. “Your expression has told me that this conversation requires more privacy than I'd initially thought.”

  I sighed and took his hand. As we passed Kirill, I leaned down to whisper that we'd be back soon. He waved me off. The children were too distracted to be much trouble at the moment, and Isleen was there if he needed help.

  Arach took me through the kitchens; causing a bit of a stir among our busy faeries but it was the fastest way out of the castle without having to go through the hall. The kitchens had a private exit on the kingdom side of the mountain that led into the kitchen gardens where vegetables, fruit, and herbs grew. They were the only cultivated gardens we had and were encircled by a stone wall; a natural extension of the mountain that Castle Aithinne had been carved from. The gardens needed to provide for hundreds of faeries and so were appropriately massive. They contained an orchard of fruit trees, tidy rows of vegetables spotted with bushes of herbs, and stone paths that led between them all. They spread along the mountain all the way to the border to the Air Kingdom, where the heat of Fire mixed with the cool currents of Air and created tropical conditions which helped the produce grow. Location is everything.

  Arach led me through the rows of vegetables and into the orchard at the far end. The trees muted the sound of revelry, replacing it with the soft rustling of their barren branches, just starting to bud. The warm, moist air encouraged growth to sprout sooner than in most parts of Faerie. My skin felt silken with heat and humidity, sensitized to Arach's touch.

  “Tell me,” Arach said simply as he stroked my cheek.

  I did. I told him all of it. From the Mirror to the death of its prisoner. His expression hardened but he stayed silent through it all. I watched his chest rise and fall with his furious breaths, and my heart sped up. Finally, when I'd finished, Arach closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Why didn't you mirror me?” He asked.

  “To tell you about things you couldn't do anything about?” I countered. “No; I didn't want to do that to you.”

  “I have a right to know these things, Vervain,” Arach snarled. “We've talked about this, and you agreed that you'd tell me.”

  “I agreed to tell you when I was going to war,” I corrected. “There was no war. As far as me going into the Mirror, there was nothing to be done while I was inside, and once I was out, it was over.”

  “One of the others should have mirrored me,” he said in a low, dangerous voice. “And it wasn't over; you were taken again.”

  “Arach, you were planning this party,” I said softly. “It was a happy time for you. I didn't want to ruin it with things like that.”

  “You mean things like my wife being trapped in a mirror?” Arach growled as he pushed me up against the trunk of a tree. “Did it not occur to you that a faerie king, one who you contact through mirrors, might have some knowledge on how to free you from one?”

  I gaped at
him; both at his treatment of me and his words. “Could you have?”

  “I don't know, but that's not the point,” Arach snapped. “I could have tried. I could have searched for a spell or consulted other monarchs. I could have helped, Vervain!”

  “I don't think you could have, Arach,” I said calmly. “The Fates said it was meant to be. I was supposed to end up in that mirror and free Narcissus, and Qaus was supposed to come and kill him.”

  “Well, if a trinity of gods says it's so, then it must be,” he sneered.

  “Arach,” I whispered in shock.

  “No!” He pushed his body against mine. “No more keeping me in the dark, wife. You will tell me what's happening from henceforward.”

  “Okay.”

  I barely had time to get the word out before Arach's mouth covered mine, his sharp teeth cutting my lip so he could suck at my blood. I tried to pull away from him; I didn't want him to see what I'd been through with Narcissus, and my blood would show him everything. But Arach held my head firmly between his hands and savaged my mouth; growling deep in his throat as he experienced my recent memories.

  “Fire and fury, Vervain!” Arach roared as he pulled away from me. “Even now, you hold back. You didn't tell me he tried to rape you.”

  “I'm sorry,” I whispered.

  Arach roared, grabbed the nearest trunk and uprooted a tree; a whole tree. He tossed it aside and roared again. His face shifted into sharper angles and scales spread down his cheeks. Arach's sulfurous eyes brightened to sharp lemon and started to glow. Claws erupted from his fingers and he bent double as his breath sawed out of him.

  “Okay, Dragon, you win,” I said gently as I laid a hand on his shoulder. “I'll tell you everything from now on, even if it's hurtful.”

  Arach glanced up at me and a low growl left his lips before he spoke, “Swear it.”

  “I swear it,” I repeated.

  I started stroking Arach's face tenderly, easing him back from the edge of his beast. He closed his eyes and his breathing started to slow. I pulled him upright and spread my hands down his throat and then over his chest. Arach's shoulders dropped with a ragged breath, and he opened his eyes.

  But there was still heat in his stare.

  I knew what Arach needed; the one thing that would bring him down. I just hoped the orchard survived it.

  I undid the lacing at the front of my dress and let it slip down my body to puddle on the grass. Arach's stare shivered a second before he reached for me. Our joining was rough and wild, but that's exactly what I had expected. I even craved it. My other men had been so careful with me after I'd come back from Narcissus' territory. They must have sensed the wounds in my mind that struggled to heal; the images I couldn't yet banish. And they had been so gentle with me that it was ironically driving me mad. I wanted this; this primal reminder of strength and life. I wanted Arach.

  Arach bent me over, and I grabbed the tree in front of me for support. He didn't bother to undress, he was too far beyond that. Arach simply pulled his cock free and slid it into me until his hips met my ass. We both cried out with the near-therapeutic pleasure of it, and then Arach started a wild tempo; a thrashing thrusting that jostled my breasts and my bracing tree as well. The slick sound of sex echoed around us, giving proof to my rising desire. That drove Arach even more wild, and he bent over my body to fill his hands with my breasts as he slammed home with a dragon's strength and speed.

  “A Thaisce,” he growled into my ear. “I love you more than life.”

  “I know, Dragon,” I growled back. “I love you too.”

  Arach pushed me forward until I went upright, my arms hugging the tree trunk, and then he lifted one of my legs and hooked it over his arm. It brought him closer to me; his sex going even deeper. I screamed with rapture. So perfect; the brutal barbarism of it full of love and a fair amount of rage. It leeched the fury from my own heart and rattled the darkness in my mind until the broken pieces—the ones that had threatened my sanity—came loose and fell away.

  “I should have been the man to tear apart that monster,” Arach snarled. “You will not stop me from seeking vengeance again, wife. Blood and bones are mine to claim as leader of the Wild Hunt.”

  “I already said I'd clue you in,” I snapped. “Don't press your luck, Dragon. You're starting to piss me off!”

  Arach started laughing as he continued to piston into me, and I smiled against the smooth bark of the orange tree. Perhaps I'd bring him out there again in the Spring when the orange blossoms perfumed the air. That would be magnificent.

  My dragon pulled out and turned me around to shove my back against the trunk while he lifted both of my legs around his waist. Then he kissed me sweetly as he slowed his thrusting to a deep grind. When he eased out of our kiss, it was only far enough to lay his forehead against mine.

  “You always know just how to soothe me,” Arach whispered. “And just how to make things perfect between us again.”

  “Is that what we are? Perfect?” I whispered back.

  “Doesn't this feel perfect to you?”

  “So perfect that I never want it to stop.”

  “Well, you did say you were going to rock my world tonight,” he reminded me.

  “Perhaps we should get back to our guests and finish the feast first.”

  “I need a few minutes more, A Thaisce.” Arach punctuated his words with a deep thrust that he kept inside me. “I want to feel you clenching around me as you come. And the kitchen staff need to hear you scream for me again.”

  “What?” I glanced over my shoulder, through the shadows of the orchard and toward the kitchen door.

  A group of fairies stood in the open doorway staring into the garden with concerned expressions. We were too far away for them to see us, but voices carry in the night, and they had definitely heard us. If nothing else, the crashing of the pear tree would have alarmed them.

  Arach chuckled. “I think I drew their attention with my roaring. We really should let them know everything is all right.”

  “You mean, we really should let them know that their king is an amazing lover.” I smirked at him.

  “Your words, not mine,” he said before he dipped his head and silenced the rest of my protests.

  Silenced until I screamed for him, that is.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  The next day, the other royals of Faerie arrived, including the High King and Queen and their son, High Prince Lugh. The Prince was dating Isleen and immediately gravitated toward her after greeting us. The rest of the royals were shown to their rooms to freshen up before the activities began.

  First came the hunt, and it wasn't at all what I'd expected. Instead of an animal, we rode through the Forgetful Forest in pursuit of a golden apple. The Fey considered apples to be sacred fruit, and Arach had fashioned one from solid gold and then enchanted it. He hung his masterpiece in an apple tree in the Forgetful Forest and challenged our guests to bring it down with their arrows. The task would have been easy for anyone competent with a bow, except for the apple's enchantment. Once it was spotted, it remained for only a few moments before it would disappear to take up residence in another tree. The goal was to shoot it from its branch before it made a run for it.

  I had more fun than I've had in ages. Outside of the bedroom, at least. Thirty minutes into the hunt, laughter rang through the Forgetful as our guests entertained each other with their magical and physical antics. They climbed trees and crept through the undergrowth like predators, trying to sneak up on the golden apple. The hunt became about more than treasure, it was the win they were after; the pride of being the smartest, quickest faeries in the forest.

  The prize was finally brought down by the Earth Queen and her deadly aim. Her husband kissed her soundly for her triumph, and she proudly held the golden apple above head as she galloped back to the castle with the rest of our company cheering.

  We provided other activities for the children as well. They had their own apple hunt, but it was a bit eas
ier than ours and didn't involve weapons. We held it in the Weeping Woods inside the borders of our kingdom instead of in the more dangerous Forgetful Forest. Not that any of those kids were defenseless; they came equipped with their own weapons. The Hidden-Ones kids alone could have probably have defended themselves and the others as well as a full-grown Sidhe.

  Later that afternoon, the adults gathered under a massive pavilion behind Castle Aithinne, in the Fire Kingdom, and watched the children play as we lounged about and enjoyed refreshments. That's when Arach announced the second game. Thankfully, it wasn't as strenuous as the first. What it was, was brilliant. It forced people to socialize. Not that faeries were antisocial, but there had been some strain between the kingdoms that was still in the process of being repaired. His game would help form some good memories between us.