Spells and Necromancy: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Unfortunate Magic Book 1)

by Candace Wondrak

  “Oh, Gods,” she muttered, unable to say anything else. Lena could hardly think as Tamlen moved his hips, rocking them back and forth. It was both too much and not enough. She wanted more, wanted him to go faster.

  And, as if he could hear her thoughts, Tamlen’s thrusts grew more frantic, quicker and harder. It did not take him long to shudder, moan and nearly collapse on top of her after the pleasure of release swept over him. “Shit,” he whispered into her ear, “that was too fast.” Tamlen pulled out, rolling beside her, breathing hard as he stared at the ceiling, sweat droplets on his forehead.

  Lena wasn’t quite finished. Her eyes met Vale’s as he took Tamlen’s place. He entered her easily, sliding inside effortlessly due to how wet she was with both her own juices and with Tamlen’s. Her hands held the sides of his face, and she gazed at his open mouth, listening to the ragged breaths that escaped his throat as he pounded into her. Her thumbs grazed his lips, lips that were still wet with spit and some of Tamlen’s fluid. She forced his head down to hers, their mouths locking on each other’s.

  A new, warm presence filled her chest—Tamlen had moved a hand to her breast, cupping it, toying with her nipple as she and Vale reached their climax. Her mouth opened the moment pleasure swept over her in a wave, an undeniable sensation of pure bliss. Her toes curled and her fingers grabbed the sheets. She could not keep her eyes open as a moan escaped her. Above her, Vale tensed, his seed spilling inside her just as Tamlen’s had. Once she was able to open her eyes, she looked from Vale—who still hung over her, still inside her—to Tamlen, who watched it all happen with keen interest. His hand, of course, was still on her breast.

  Tamlen pulled her face to his, kissing her as Vale withdrew, sitting back and catching his breath. “Wow” was all he could say, which made both Lena and Tamlen laugh, chuckling into their kiss.

  Wow didn’t even cut it. Wow was the biggest understatement of the year.

  Lena never imagined it would feel that good. On those nights she touched herself, she’d never got herself to that precipice before, never been able to fully let the pleasure take her over. These men. What were they doing to her? Or, perhaps she should ask what Hunger did to her? Inhibitions were around for a reason. She couldn’t tear off Vale and Tamlen’s clothes whenever she wanted to. Not in public, anyway.

  Tamlen held her against him, gently nudging Vale with his foot. “He’s good at what he does,” he whispered to her, kissing her forehead. “You should have him teach you. I’d love to have those pretty lips of yours around the tip of my—”

  Deciding Tamlen wasn’t going to get to have her all to himself, Vale moved to her other side, clinging to her back. He nuzzled into her neck as he cut in, “Or you could practice on me, if I’m going to be the one doing the instructing.”

  Holding back a laugh, she settled onto her back, tucked neatly between the two men. Horniness aside, embarrassment swept over her when she realized what they just did. Lena covered her face with her hands, muttering, “I can’t believe I just…that we—” She seemed to have trouble even saying it.

  Why didn’t she stop herself? Why didn’t she tell Tamlen and Vale to stop? Surely, whatever spirit Vale had with him couldn’t have touched her mind that much…and then she remembered her nightmare. The one with Bastian. Did that spirit, Hunger, cause her to dream those horrid thoughts? It made sense, considering how frisky she was with the two men on either side of her.

  But to raise Bastian and make love to him? No. That was simply wrong. There was no other way to look at it. Hunger would not make its claim on her, not again. Maybe where Tamlen and Vale were concerned, but not with Bastian.

  Lena had a most startling thought. Was Hunger the reason she read from the book? The Noresh book? She should not even have that tome in her possession; it shouldn’t have sat in the College library. It should’ve been burned years ago, when the edict against necromancy first came out.

  She couldn’t pretend to be high and mighty about necromancy now though, since she was technically a necromancer. Gods—and she just slept with her thralls. What if they didn’t want her, but she wordlessly commanded them to? What if she forced them to…

  That was an even worse thought.

  A hand was placed on her stomach. Vale’s hand. He said, “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry,” Lena said, feeling the guilt sweep over her, much like the wild sex drive that suddenly grew in her body minutes ago. She wanted to cry. She didn’t want to force anyone to do anything they didn’t want to do. They weren’t her slaves. They were living, breathing humans with their own minds, their own thoughts and desires. How could she live with herself while knowing she took that away from them?

  “For what?” Tamlen prodded when she said nothing more. His fingers grabbed one of her hands, intertwining with hers.

  “I’m a terrible person,” she said. “A terrible, horrible person.”

  “And why would a lovely thing such as yourself think that?” Tamlen could lay on the charm anytime he wanted, couldn’t he?

  Lena sat up, pulling away from both men, drawing a sheet over her naked body. She shot them both incredulous looks, even though she kind of wanted to crawl beneath the bed and cry a little. Just a little. She was an adult. She had standards of behavior. Not having a threesome with her thralls was not one of them, apparently. “I made you…” Her voice left her, and all she could do was shrug.

  She felt horrible, truly. Downright awful and full of self-loathing.

  It didn’t take long for the two men to figure out what she meant. Tamlen said, “You think you forced us to crawl in bed with you?” A slow smile spread across his lips, his eyes wrinkling a bit, even around his scar. “Lena, love, master—whatever pet name you prefer—I can say with certainty that you did not command me to do any of that. I wanted to do it.”

  Vale nodded, though his tone was more serious as he said, “As did I.”

  “How can you be so certain? Don’t you remember the cave?” she asked, gripping the sheet tighter.

  “Yes, but there is a strange feeling that came over me when you commanded me to hop like a child,” Tamlen spoke slowly, glancing to Vale. “We couldn’t have told you no, couldn’t have stopped from doing it. But this—love, we both could’ve turned you down. Not that either of us wanted to.”

  “You didn’t force us to do anything,” Vale agreed.

  Lena looked at both men. They’d sat up the moment she’d moved away. Concern dotted their faces, as if they truly cared for her, like they wanted her to feel at ease. It was so very hard to separate the connection she felt with them now from the necromancer-thrall connection, and she still wondered if Hunger had touched her mind, if the spirit was the reason she felt so much desire toward the men.

  She…hoped that wasn’t the case. Lena wanted to desire them, not because Hunger lowered her inhibitions, but because she wanted to.

  Ingrid would definitely have to do a cleansing spell on her once they were back inside College grounds.

  “So,” Lena began, biting her bottom lip, hyper-aware that both men watched her heavily, their eyes falling as she did so. “What does this mean? What now? What are we?” She knew the guys had just woken up from an extremely long death slumber, and being connected and committed to the first woman they saw was probably not what they wanted. The mere idea of seeing them with other women hurt her more than she’d admit.

  Vale and Tamlen were slow to look at each other, like they were having a wordless conversation—one Lena would like to be privy to, considering.

  When neither of them spoke, she added, “It’s okay if you want to see other people.” A lie. No, it wasn’t. She didn’t want them to. Lena wanted them to herself, as conceited and selfish as it was. “If this was a one-time thing.”

  How ridiculous, truly. A woman did not have more than one lover. Multiple suitors if she was lucky or from a rich family, but a mage like her? A mage who couldn’t even pass her first apprenticeship exam because she refused to take it? Hav
ing two men to herself seemed impossible and improbable.

  It was wishful thinking on her part, Lena knew. Tamlen and Vale were two insanely attractive men. They were a bit older than her, more experienced in every way, not to mention the fact that they were recently risen from the dead. Surely, they wanted to stretch their wings, so to speak. What man wouldn’t? She couldn’t honestly hope that they would choose her over a whole city full of women that were as new to them as she was?

  Stupid.

  “Perhaps I speak for myself,” Tamlen said, crawling so that he was beside Lena at the foot of the bed, “but I would be more than happy to stay with you.” He went for her hand, and she was slow to give it to him. His skin was warm on hers. With her other hand, she still held up the sheet across her front.

  “Me too,” Vale said. He moved to her other side, his hand on her back. His runic magic sent tingles across her flesh, invisible electric shocks dancing across her. “Even if Tamlen was once my enemy, it…matters not—”

  Tamlen smirked. “Because you like both the dick and the pussy, and in this arrangement, you get a set of amazing ones.” He chuckled when Vale tossed him a cold glare. “What? I only speak the truth.”

  She found herself laughing along with Tamlen. Hearing her laugh, Vale’s expression softened as he watched her. Lena moved her other hand, dropping the sheet, sitting there naked between two equally naked men, and she placed it on Vale’s knee. “So, it’s decided, then. We’re together?”

  Gods, even as she said it, it felt strange coming out of her mouth, as if it were too good to be true. And it was. Lena didn’t deserve to have either Tamlen or Vale as a lover. She never thought she’d even have one, at the rate her life went—but here she was, having her first kiss and losing her virginity all in the same day as her unfortunate and accidental necromancy.

  “I’d say so,” Tamlen muttered, lowering his face to the side of her neck that was closest to him. His lips grazed her skin, heating her up. He ran so warm, hot because of his fire magic. Fire was not Lena’s favorite element for a reason, but that would be another battle for a different day.

  As Tamlen nuzzled her, Vale nodded again. “Yes,” he told her. “I don’t want any other woman, only you.” He kissed her cheek, using the hand that was not resting on her back to turn her face, mouth locking on hers.

  Hearing their affirmations, feeling them both shower her with affection, it was almost too much. Lena smiled into Vale’s kiss as Tamlen’s hands started to roam across her body. If this was what her life would be like from now on, she was more than fine with it. In that instant, she couldn’t care less whether Hunger had its claws in her mind or not. This felt too good, too right to simply throw away because society might not approve.

  Two lovers. How would she break the news to Ingrid? Her friend was going to be jealous. Too bad, really. Because Tamlen and Vale were all hers. Lena wouldn’t let them go; she’d fight for them as long and as hard as she had to.

  Until then, though…there were other things that could occupy their time.

  Together, not only with a woman, but with his enemy of enemies, Tamlen. Valerius could hardly think as he kissed Lena. Tamlen’s revolt and ideologies were the reason he’d gotten the runes, the ultimate reason he’d joined the city guard. The strength of Tamlen’s revolt, and the mages he commanded, were the reason he’d accepted Hunger inside him. One inherently led to the other.

  How was Valerius supposed to know that Hunger would never leave him, even after he died? He didn’t have dealings with other spirits, but he could feel Hunger’s absence in his head and his heart. Still, the lust for pleasure remained rooted in him…though that was not why he wanted Lena so.

  Truly, he hadn’t a clue why he desired the woman so much. The mere fact that she was a woman should’ve been enough to turn him away, but it wasn’t. Her smile, the light in her peculiar eyes, how her attitude could change instantly; he found he adored it all. He adored her. Valerius had never adored a woman as much. Strange, for they’d only just met, but he was confident in his feelings for her, and judging from the way her body responded to his, she felt the same.

  He would fight for her. He’d do anything for her. He’d even kill for her.

  For a mage. A mage who could not control her own powers. A mage like that was ripe for the pickings in the eyes of Demons. It was a miracle Lena wasn’t already possessed. Then again, it seemed she hardly ever left her College, so perhaps the institution had more protections in place to keep its mages from the hungry fangs of Demons.

  Lena moaned softly into his mouth, the hand that had been on his knee moving to tangle in his hair, pulling and tugging gently. His dick immediately perked up. Midas had loved taking his mouth, and each time he did, his jeweled fingers would knot in his hair as he set the pace with his hips.

  Once upon a time, Valerius had been certain that he was in love with Midas, that he would do anything for his King and his lover—but that was a fool’s thought, for a King could never love a soldier, not really. After Valerius got his runes, Midas never touched him; only took him like a dog. And after he slew Tamlen Grey and ended the mage’s rebellion, Midas had congratulated him by poisoning him.

  No, his love for Midas was long past. Now, the only one in Valerius’s thoughts was Lena. And, of course, the other man in the bed—Tamlen Grey himself. The leader of the Grey Revolt, the man whom he had gotten the runes to fight, to stand on even ground against. The man whom he’d shoved a steel sword through after overpowering him with a bolt of lightning stronger than anyone had ever seen. The lightning had blasted the fire off his hands, stunning him momentarily, which had been all the time Valerius needed to stab him.

  But that was the past. His hatred for Tamlen had to stay in the past if he wanted this second life to work out.

  Valerius also knew that they couldn’t spend their lives in this small inn room, but they could deal with that later. Right now, he wanted to drink in his new companions, his new lovers. Right now he just wanted their hands all over him.

  Tamlen was behind Lena, kissing the back of her neck, arms around her body, holding her back to his chest as he massaged her breasts. Until today, breasts never did anything for Valerius, but watching her nipples perk up at Tamlen’s touch made him grow even harder.

  As she and Valerius kissed, with one hand tugging on his hair, her other traveled downward, gripping his shaft hard. He tensed at the sensation of her small, soft hand around him. It was a new feeling for him, one that he was not used to after being with so many men, like she’d been when he was inside of her for that short time. His balls trembled as her hand stroked him. He had his release not that long ago, and he was already preparing for another. This relationship was going to wear him out, if day one was any indication.

  Lena withdrew her mouth from his, leaning back onto Tamlen’s wide, strong chest. Tamlen still toyed with her hard nipples, but his attention was now divided between her left nipple and the pink folds of skin between her legs. Her hand fell off Valerius’s dick as Tamlen started to stroke her most private part, his thick finger gliding around the wet folds like an expert. She gave a deep-throated moan as her eyes closed, head lolling back onto his shoulder.

  As Valerius watched Tamlen play with her, Tamlen spoke, his voice husky in all the right ways, “I’ll have to teach you how to love a woman, Vale. First lesson, the more she wants you, the wetter she’ll be. If you jump the horse and head straight down here—” Two of his fingers surrounded a small lump of pink flesh, squeezing together, the mound between them.

  Lena’s hips thrusted once as a result, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. The woman had a habit of doing that; it drove Valerius crazy.

  “—you’ll want to wet your fingers, first,” Tamlen went on, bringing the hand that had been tweaking her nipple to his mouth, inserting two fingers. He slowly dragged them out, staring at Vale as he did so. Vale couldn’t stop imagining his cock in that mouth instead of those fingers.

  Moving his wet f
ingers to the folds, Tamlen forced Lena’s legs open wider, her feet wrapped around his legs to give Vale a better view. “It always feels better when it’s wet,” he said, running the new, saliva-covered fingers around that same mound of flesh. “Pay special attention to this,” he referenced the small bump. “Be soft, but firm. Make her grind against you.” Lena arched her back, rubbing herself against both his hands. “This isn’t a cock. You can’t treat them the same.” He kissed her neck once before adding, “And, of course, if you want to play with her even more, you can always do this.”

  Vale watched as Tamlen slid two fingers into the closest hole. He went to hold onto his dick, rubbing it slowly as Tamlen’s fingers went in and out of her. The smell of sex permeated the air, and he loved it. He found he also loved the slick, wet noises that came from Lena’s hole…her vagina. He’d have to get used to thinking about a woman like that—for it’d been a long while since he had any sort of interest in a woman—but with the level of pleasure he felt just watching Tamlen touch her, Vale knew he wouldn’t have a problem with it.

  “Her pussy is so wet,” Tamlen murmured. Lena’s hips started moving with his fingers, and as he finger-fucked her, his other hand kept rubbing around the mound of flesh near it—her clit. Never had Vale ever had to use such words, until now. “Come on, Vale, unless you’re content with rubbing one out while you watch.”

  Lena’s eyes peeked open, eyelids heavy. She held out a hand to him, wanting him to touch her as well, even though Tamlen’s fingers were still inside her.

  Vale slowly released his own cock, moving closer to both Lena and Tamlen. Heat burned in his stomach—he was close to orgasming, but he’d hold off and pleasure Lena. She was immaculate; she deserved the attention on her.

  “Good,” Tamlen teased, removing his fingers from her and going back to cup each breast. “I thought you’d leave me to do all the work.” Lena turned her head to the side, kissing him deeply.