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of you. I decided I should go check on the fields. I put work before
pleasure. It’s horrible. I’ll have to fight the instinct.”
“Well, I woke up knowing full well I had a lot to do this
morning,” Beck said, pulling Meg back into bed. Meg couldn’t help
but laugh as he pressed his lips to her neck. “And still, I couldn’t
force myself away from our very warm, very sexy little wife. I think
I’m going to enjoy having a piece of you inside me, brother.”
Cian rolled his eyes. “I’m glad for you. Unfortunately, I think the
piece I took of you got stuck up my ass. If the two of you are finished
fucking, I would like for you to join me outside. Something’s
happened.”
Beck went still. “What is it?”
“You’ll have to come outside to see,” Cian said solemnly. “I
really can’t describe it to you.”
Beck kissed her again and gently eased her off his lap. “Cover up,
love.”
He rolled out of bed and pulled on his trousers. He shoved his
shirt over his head and lastly, made sure his sword was secure across
his back. Meg just grabbed her robe. Cian led them out of the
bedroom, toward the door of the cottage.
“What on earth?” Meg asked as she was drawn into the living
area. The ivy she had woven around the doorway had invaded the
house. Thick vines of green had come in through the door and the
windows.
Cian grinned broadly. “You’re not on the Earth plane anymore,
lover. And here, things just got a little more complicated.”
Meg’s eyes grew round with wonder as she walked outside. The
marigolds she had planted in the flowerbeds at the front of the house
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had multiplied overnight. The blooms were huge and each petal
brimmed with life. Even the grass around the cottage seemed greener
and lusher than it had the previous day.
“Cian, what the hell happened here?” Beck asked.
Cian winked at Meg and let go of her hand. He pulled a large nut
seed out of his pocket and held it up for their inspection. “Well,
brother, I think I happened. You should probably stay back.”
Cian knelt down and shoved the seed into the ground. It was a
bare second before the dirt rumbled. Cian was forced to step back.
The tree shot up, fully formed from the seed Cian had planted. Meg
heard Beck curse under his breath.
“What does it mean?” Beck asked, his mouth hanging open. He
walked slowly around the new tree, inspecting it from all angles. Meg
did the same and was awed with the vitality of the thing. It was so
alive. The tree looked as though it had been there for ten or fifteen
years, not mere seconds.
“You know what it means,” Cian replied, looking more serious
than Meg remembered him ever being. “Look at the fields, brother.
Look at the fields, and tell me the legends were wrong.”
Meg turned with Beck and gasped as she took in the lush fields
that had replaced the struggling ones. Crops that shouldn’t be
harvested for a month were ripe and ready to be picked.
“Someone needs to explain this to me,” Meg said, since her
husbands seemed to be speaking their own language.
“It’s an old legend, Meg.” Beck bent over as he inspected a
particularly luscious strawberry plant. “Back in Tir na nÒg, the
legend had it that when royal symbiotic twins were born, if they found
the right bondmate, she would bring them into their true power.”
“So now Ci is some sort of agricultural deity?” Meg asked.
It was hard to believe the question came out of her mouth, but she
was starting to accept that things worked very differently in her new
home. She’d negotiated a trade deal with goblins just a few days ago.
Why couldn’t her new hubby become a god?
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“I’m a Green Man.” Cian spoke slowly, seeming to savor the
words. “All things green and vital answer to me.”
A wind suddenly whipped around Meg’s skirts. It was an odd
wind. It was strong and seemed happy to stay where it was. Meg
turned around and had to catch the hem of her skirts as the wind blew
from underneath and exposed her legs.
“What the hell?” Meg moved to Cian, who was laughing at the
wind’s antics.
“And I’m a Storm Lord,” Beck said. Wonder filled his voice as he
lifted a finger and the little wind calmed. It brushed gently against her
cheeks, as though giving her a kiss. “My power comes from the winds
and the rain. That’s amazing. I could call the rains if I wanted. I know
how to do it. It’s like the information has always been in my brain,
but now I can access it.”
Cian’s hand found hers. “That’s how I felt this morning.”
A thought occurred to Megan. “So you got the power to do cool
stuff with plants, and Beck can make it rain.”
“Lover, Beck can bring the power of a storm to our aid, and don’t
discount what I can do,” Cian warned her. “I can trap an army in the
vines and grass I can pull from the ground beneath us.”
“I get that,” Meg said with a frown on her face. “What I don’t get
is how this helps me. You two get superpowers, and I get what?”
Cian smiled broadly. “You have a power, Meggie. You have a
magical pussy. It was sleeping with you together that brought us into
our power. That vagina of yours is pure gold, lover.”
Meg gave Cian a playful shove and rolled her eyes while he and
his brother had a good laugh.
“Don’t go expecting to use it on anyone else,” Beck said as
though the thought had suddenly occurred to him. “That only works
on the two of us.”
Meg walked up to him and gave him a saucy smile. “Yes, Beck, I
was planning on opening up shop. I was going to hang a sign on the
cottage door and charge for it.”
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Beck’s eyes narrowed. He exchanged a glance with his brother.
“This is that sarcasm thing she warned me about, right?”
Cian leaned in for a kiss from his wife. It was swift and sweet.
“That it is, brother. Our sweet Meg is very good at sarcasm. I don’t
think we have to worry about her with other men. Now that you’ve let
yourself off the leash, I suspect you’ll be between her legs three times
a day. Try to remember I need her, too.”
Beck stole a kiss as well, though his was neither quick nor sweet.
His tongue plundered like the pirate he was. When he let her go, Meg
held on to his arm to steady herself. “I promise nothing, Ci. And you
seriously underestimate me if you think it’s only going to be three
times a day.”
The downside to having two husbands suddenly became very
obvious to Meg. “Let’s talk about this, boys.”
Whatever else she had to say was lost as two of the villagers were
riding up to the cottage. They rode swiftly, each man leaning forward
in the saddle with great determination. The very air around her
became tense. Beck reached for the sword on his back. It was in his
&nb
sp; hand as they made their way back to the cottage.
“Your Highnesses,” one of the young men called out. Both of the
men dismounted and made courtly bows.
“Niall, Eiric,” Cian greeted the men. “What has happened?”
“’Tis the miller’s daughter,” the one Meg thought was Niall said.
There were tears in his eyes.
“Bri?” Meg asked, feeling her stomach clench. She was a sweet
girl of barely sixteen years. Meg had spent an afternoon with the girl
and her parents. What had happened to her?
“Yes, ma’am,” Eiric confirmed. “There’s been an accident. Her
father begs Your Highnesses to come and figure out what has
happened to his daughter.”
“How bad is it?” Beck asked the men.
“’Tis bad, Your Highness,” Niall replied. “Very bad. The miller
needs his Kings.”
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Cian and Beck shared a look between them.
“One of us should go and one should stay here with Meg until we
determine if it’s safe,” Beck said.
“The women have gathered at the miller’s house,” Eiric offered.
“Bri’s mother is very distraught. The queen would be very welcome
there.”
“Assign a guard to the house,” Cian ordered.
“At least three,” Beck added.
Beck turned to her, but Meg knew her duty. “Don’t worry about it.
I’ll get dressed and go to Bri’s mother. Niall can take me. You and Ci
go and find out what’s going on.”
Beck sighed and leaned down for a kiss. “Stay safe, wife.”
Meg held Beck’s hand as she reached up to kiss Cian. It felt so
right when the three of them were physically connected. “You two do
the same. Come and get me when you’re done.”
Beck whistled, and Sweeney appeared from the fields where he
tended to run free during the day. As her husbands followed Eiric,
Meg raced into the cottage, promising Niall she would be swift.
Meg quickly changed into soft brown trousers and a linen shirt.
She shoved her boots on and laced up the black vest that completed
the outfit. She had a more formal dress, but she wanted to be prepared
to work if she had to.
Meg grabbed her satchel and draped it across her shoulder so it
hung over her torso and rested against the opposite hip. She made sure
she had the small medicinal kit Flanna had taught her to use. Just as
she was going back out the door, the vampire computer caught her
eye. She picked it up and slipped it into the satchel. It couldn’t hurt. If nothing else, it played movies from the Vampire plane. Perhaps a
movie would entertain the children.
“I’m ready, Niall,” she called out as she walked through the door.
“Niall?”
He was on the ground, his head at the oddest angle. Meg tried to
get to Niall, but before she could reach the young man, a hand
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grabbed her arm. Ice seemed to flow up her skin, causing her to
shiver.
“Not so fast, Your Highness,” a deep voice said.
Meg’s stomach turned as she looked up into red eyes. They
smoldered from a cadaverous face. Meg remembered that face. It
haunted her dreams. The Planeswalker’s skin was taut across his
sharp bones like a corset that had been pulled far past its wearer’s
comfort.
“What do you want?” Meg asked, forcing herself to breathe
deeply.
There was no point in struggling. She could feel the strength in the
demon’s claws. At this point, the wicked talons the demon possessed
were merely brushing against her skin. Meg had no doubt they would
sink into her flesh if she gave him the slightest provocation.
“What do I want? Oh, so many things, Your Highness,” the
demon said with a rueful sigh.
He towered over Meg at roughly seven feet. His body was long
and thin to the point of emaciation. He stared down at her. Those eyes
were pitiless pools regarding her with curiosity. Meg didn’t know that
she wanted a demon curious about her. “You really are their queen,
you know. Even the hag has figured that out. Tell me something, have
the twins come into their magic, yet? I rather think so. I can smell the
power in this place now.”
“Why don’t you ask my husbands?” Meg tried. She knew it
wouldn’t work. Niall was dead not three feet away. The Planeswalker
hadn’t come to request an audience.
The demon chuckled. “I think not. I have a contract, you see.
Someone is paying me to take you off the plane. Odd, isn’t it? You’re
just a little cash cow, sweetheart. I made money stealing you from
your plane, and now I make money taking you back. The village hag
is paying me handsomely to get rid of you. She wanted me to kill you,
but I told her she didn’t have enough to pay for that. I will have to
stay away from this plane for a while as it is. If I killed you, I suspect
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the warrior half might never stop hunting me. I gave the hag a spell to
take care of him, but I don’t trust her to get it right. I can’t have the warrior pursuing me.”
“The intellectual half wouldn’t be too happy, either,” Meg
commented. She was trying not to think about the hag the demon
mentioned. It was impossible. Someone in the village wanted to hurt
Beck and Ci. She started to panic. They were in the village right now.
What if Bri’s accident had really been a trap? “I don’t want to go
back.”
A sly smile split the demon’s face. He showed jagged, sharp teeth.
“Of course you don’t, dear. You’re a pathetic little nothing on your
plane. Here, you’re a queen.” He shrugged. “It’s kind of a crappy
kingdom, though. At least on the Earth plane you’ll have running
water. Look at it that way, dear.”
“No,” Meg said, pulling her courage around her. “I won’t go.”
“You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?” the demon asked. “Oh,
well, we can do it the hard way, then.”
As the demon brought his fist down on Meg’s head, she wished
she’d been smart enough to lie.
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Chapter Twenty
“Get moving, you bum,” someone muttered as Meg stirred awake.
She held her head. It was pounding as she pushed the newspaper
off her body. Someone had covered her with it. As her eyes came into
focus, she stared up. It was night, but she could barely see the stars.
There was too much smog and too much light. The stars were so
bright outside the cottage. Where was she? Only a few nights before,
she and Cian had lain out in the grass, watching the stars and talking.
Cian had told her his people’s stories for the constellations, and
they’d made love on an old quilt beneath the nighttime sky. She
couldn’t even see the stars now.
“Cian,” Meg said, suddenly sitting straight up. It did nothing for
her headache. “Beck.” His name came out as a whisper.
“Miss, is there something we can help you with?” The question
came from a middle-aged woman who stood at the end of an alley
beside a well-dressed man. They stared down the short street where
Meg had been lying against a huge metal dumpster. The smell was
making her sick.
“Where am I?” Meg asked.
“How much have you had to drink, Miss?” the man asked. The
woman elbowed him and sent him a dirty look. He sighed and
answered Meg. “You’re in Fort Worth, Texas. You’re not far from
Sundance Square. Did you get lost?”
Oh, boy, had she gotten lost. The trouble was she needed to get
lost again.
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“Did you see a big guy walk by? You couldn’t miss him. He’s
really tall.” Meg struggled to her feet. She stretched her stiff limbs
and wondered how long she’d been out.
“I haven’t seen anyone really tall,” the woman replied, shaking
her head. “Do you need a homeless shelter? There’s a very nice one
on Cypress Street.”
“I don’t need a homeless shelter,” Meg said between clenched
teeth. “I need a Planeswalker demon.”
The man took the woman by the hand and forced her away. Meg
sighed. She would have to watch her mouth on this plane. She walked
out of the alley. It was half a block to the beginnings of Sundance. It
seemed like she was moving through a dream. It was all familiar, but
no longer hers.
Or was it? She looked at herself in the window of a restaurant.
She was wearing brown pants, a white shirt and a black vest. She had
on boots. It was what she had put on to go see the Miller’s wife. She
wasn’t crazy. She had really gone to another plane and married two
beautiful men. They needed her. Tears welled in her eyes.
What would happen to them? What happened when the bond was
formed and then shut off? And the demon had said there was a hag
after them. How was she going to get home?
Meg was pulled from her panic as she was jostled by a passerby.
The sidewalks were crowded. Meg found herself pulled along with
the throng. It was a mix of teens going to the movies, adults out on
dates, families seeing the sights, and singles looking for the clubs and
bars that dotted the square. They all had one thing in common. Not a
one of them would believe she was the queen of another plane with