by Meg Xuemei X
A few voices joined her pronouncement, then as one, they dropped to their knees.
As my magic probed them, it validated their sincerity. Some of them were my mother’s old supporters and had survived Tianna’s purge. Even as a dark Fae, my mother had always been kind. She would have ruled Sihde differently. She would never have ruled with terror and manipulation.
All Fae knew that Tianna had coveted the throne from the beginning. In order to ascend to power, she’d gotten rid of every royal family member standing in her way, including her own parents—the former king and queen.
Now I was the only one standing in her way. If it hadn’t been for the sacrifices of my mother, my aunt Aine, and their loyal guards, I wouldn’t have been here.
I’d avenge them all.
“Traitors shall be punished to death!” Tianna shouted, and her smoke and purple light blasted toward the Fae on my side. If her magic touched them, they would all die.
“You won’t!” I roared.
Elvey’s blue light lashed out to shield our people.
My White Light had become an extension of my will and surged to intercept the purple light that smelled so foul. It couldn’t be Fae magic.
The purple light bounced back when it met Elvey’s blue light and my White Light.
“They’re my court now,” I said. “I claim them as my people. I protect what’s mine. Attack them again at your own peril, Tianna.”
Zembyr and my guards drew their swords as one, as did my court.
They were ready to fight.
I raised a hand to stop them. “During the Challenge, you will not shed blood, unless it’s in self-defense. When I attend the court, you’ll join me. Other times, you’ll stay with my army camped in the realm.”
“Long live Queen Daisy and King Elvey,” they chanted, pounding their fists on their hearts.
“Long live Her Majesty Queen Tianna!” The other side roared, and they made more noise because of their larger numbers. If they weren’t loud enough, they might suffer Tianna’s punishment.
I dared to slip a glance at my dragon princes. My court had denounced them and elevated Elvey as their king.
My heart still ached and pined for my former mates, even though they had chosen to throw their lot in with my immortal enemy, even though they hadn’t helped when Tianna had shattered Elvey’s bones, even though they hadn’t cared or defended us when Tianna tried to hurt my people.
I held a slim hope that was fading every second. But I still waited for them to join me, join us. We could move past the wrong decision they’d made, and I would eventually find a way to lift the last piece of their curse and remove their masks. They didn’t have to stick with Tianna.
She was pure evil. She wouldn’t do good for them, and in the end, she’d only enslave them, like she was doing now.
But the dragon princes kept their stoic faces the entire time, not even bothering to spare me a glance.
My heart shattered all over again.
12
Elvey warded our side of the wing in the Red Palace and examined it daily. Rosalinda and Zembyr had the guards on the clock. We were living among the enemy, and every cautionary step was necessary. My magic would also alert me if any hostile force invaded our territory.
The night grew deep. In Elvey’s old chamber, it was just him and me.
I took in the room that was devoid of any personality. It had scarce furniture: a desk, a closet, and a bed that seemed no one had slept on for a while. Elvey had never seen Sihde as his home. He resented this place, having been a blood slave for centuries.
But now he was free, and he was with me.
Should I have a chance to rule in Sihde, I’d make sure to level the Red Palace. I would choose another high court and would make both Sihde and the Dragon Realm a home for him and for many others.
You’re my home, he said in my head. Yet he still didn’t come to me as I perched on the edge of the bed. His hot gaze locked with mine.
“You claimed me in your court,” he said, heat and tenderness in his blue eyes that were full of the mystery of the stars. I was falling into them.
I’d fallen into them a long time ago.
My heart fluttered, and I was afraid the tiny wings inside would carry it out of my body.
I raised an eyebrow, trying to maintain a cool manner. “You didn’t object,” I said. “You want to object now?”
A slow, sexy smile spread across his masculine beautiful face.
“You’d better make it in truth then,” he said, his voice rough with desire.
Fire sparked in my belly, spreading lower until it licked between my thighs.
Being with Elvey had a cost. He was a complicated man loaded with complications. But he saw me when no one else did. He’d seen me when I’d been the Fury beasts, when I was a dragon, and when I was Fae.
He’d been looking for me before I was even born.
I’d wanted him from the moment I’d set my sight on him. Now I would have him, but at a steely price—my other three mates.
No, it wasn’t because of Elvey that they’d chosen to leave me.
I shook my head. My heart was still broken, but—
Before I blinked, Elvey was on me in a flash. He pulled me up, crushing me against his hard chest, and his lips slanted onto mine.
He was gentle, and then he wasn’t. He’d been hungry for me for a millennium but had been denied every chance to be with me. And now his passion unleashed with a vengeance.
Its force was staggering. The demigod’s immense power infused into me. Powerful hybrid dragon and Fae or not, I wouldn’t have been able to take it if I weren’t his mate.
Already, my lips felt swollen, but I wouldn’t let him go.
My lips parted for him, and his tongue thrust in with pure male dominance and demand. Oh, Elvey knew how to demand and dominate.
But he didn’t just take as he ravished me; he let me taste a dream, burning stars and beyond. His scent of forest sunlight and faint pine covered me, trapping me in his blend of splendid illusion and harsh reality forever.
A mere kiss from him could undo me.
As I moaned, craving more, wanting more of him, all of him, he broke the kiss.
We panted hard with burning lust.
I stared at him, his eyes bright.
“Undress for me, woman,” he ordered.
He wanted to play slow and sensual when he’d kissed me like that?
I smirked, but I found that I wanted to undress for him. If he wanted slow burn, I would give him that, and we’d see who would burn up first.
I took time to remove my cape, tossing it to the floor. Then I bent forward to remove my boots, very slowly, wiggling my ass at Elvey. At some point, I believed that I swayed my hips like a horny maiden.
Cold air touched my bare skin before I reached for my other boot.
Every piece of my armor was gone—he’d used magic to strip me off in a blink of an eye— while I was still bent, my rear toward him.
I straightened and wheeled toward him, my face flaming.
Dark lust and amusement sparkled in his eyes. He trailed his intense gaze all over me, caressing every inch of my body without touching.
“It’s unfair,” I said. “You asked me to take off my clothes, and you just stripped me without warning. And you’re still fully dressed.”
“What about I let you strip me?” he said with a corporeal smile. “Will you still complain?”
I pouted. “I don’t know how to use magic to undress.”
“I’ll teach you. For now, you can probably help me with your hands. I like your hands.”
I stalked toward him, until we were mere inches apart. I pressed a hand on his chest through the fabric, his powerful heart beating rhythmically under my palm.
And my heart beat equally loud.
I started unbuttoning his shirt as I controlled my urge to rip it apart, so we could be skin to skin. I pulled it off his broad shoulders and pressed my palms against his hot,
bare torso.
He sucked in a sharp breath, and I could feel his pleasure.
My fingers traced his muscled chest down to the hard plane of his stomach, and all the way down to his waist.
He watched my every move, the heat in his eyes fueling my fire and my desire.
Swiftly, I unbuckled his belt and yanked open his fly.
I stretched myself against him, my mouth finding his as my hand slipped into his trousers and half wrapped around his hard cock.
Gods, it was so big that I might need two hands.
I had always thought Elvey was the patient one, for he’d waited for me for a millennium and endured things no one else could. But at this moment, he wasn’t patient. He didn’t wait for me to completely undress him.
A breeze passed by us, and then his clothes were all gone.
Our bare skin pressed against each other, mine soft and supple, his hard and muscled.
I moved my naked body against him, and my nipples hardened at the contact, shivering in want.
Elvey pulled away from my lips, lowering his mouth to my breast and capturing my nipple between his teeth. He started to suckle me greedily. A low moan escaped my throat, and I threw my head back as pleasure rippled through me. He sucked my tit so hard—almost brutally—I had to lace my hand in his hair to ground myself.
“My rosebuds. Mine,” he murmured as he suckled my other tit before tracing his lips down my body until they found my heated core.
He kissed it deeply, his tongue lapping and flicking my clit.
A hiss escaped me at the sensation. I jerked and moaned, my knees buckling as my fingers twisted his hair.
I begged for mercy. “Elvey!”
Here I was, bared before him, with not just my body, but my soul and my heart.
Take me, I said. I wasn’t patient anymore. I didn’t want slow burn or low burn. I wanted him to get his big cock inside me, penetrating me and filling me.
I wanted him to fuck me senseless.
But he pulled away again.
What was he waiting for? After all these centuries, he should no longer want to wait.
He gazed up at me, and I saw tears in his eyes.
“I never imagined I would have you and could be with you,” he said. “But you came for me and gave me back my freedom, my beloved.”
Emotion choked in my throat, and I couldn’t even utter a word. If only I could have come to him earlier.
Elvey’s mouth enveloped my pussy again, lapping at me like a starving man.
I shivered in pleasure and with burning need for him.
Elvey rose, swept me into his arms as if I were feather light, and carried me to the bed.
He laid me on the center of the sheet, and I watched him, waiting for his next move.
His gaze was full of desire and dark promise as it roved from my face all the way down, lingering on my breasts and my pussy the longest, then to my toes, inch by inch, before tracing back and staying at my pussy. I could feel it was slick and swollen with urgent want.
He placed his hands on my knees and parted my legs wide before he settled between my thighs.
“I won’t be gentle,” he warned. “I won’t stop. I have to fuck you hard. I’ve wanted to fuck you for ages. I’ve pictured this thousands of times. I’ve been desperately searching for you for centuries. Now you’ve finally returned to me. And you’re in my bed.”
He was my first destined mate.
He should have been mine centuries ago. We’d been robbed of our union for nearly a millennium because my evil aunt had done this to us. I wouldn’t allow her to take anything from us again.
“Take me. Fuck me hard,” I said. “Make up for the time we lost.”
“I’ll fuck you until you’re sore. Until you bear my mark.”
He intended to claim me.
I held my breath in anticipation, wondering how he would fuck me and how his first stoke would make me feel.
I brought my knees up, flaunting my bare pussy before him.
He could no longer hold it back, his gaze on me so intense as if he wanted to devour me.
His nostrils flared as the scent of my arousal hit his senses. His thumb swept my sensitive nub before it brushed open my folds. His fingers dipped at my slick entrance, and then plunged into me, stroking swiftly once, twice, before he pulled his hand away.
I gasped at the loss, but before the protest had completely left my mouth, he plunged his cock into me with a single powerful thrust. He didn’t pause for a second but increased his pace, slamming into me quicker and harder.
He drove into me, pulled out to the tip, then plunged in even deeper.
I propelled my hips up to meet his every thrust, my breasts bouncing from the movement. I brought one of my hands up to tweak my nipple, the other gripping onto his well-muscled butt cheek, my nails digging into him.
He growled in approval, his passion burning brighter.
For a while, we fucked silently, our needs—raw, intense, brutal—overpowering everything and driving our thoughts out of our minds. His massive hard cock slid in and out of my slick and silky pussy, my walls clenching him with every thrust. He leaned his weight on his elbows, raised his torso, and watched himself fuck me.
I also watched his cock thrust in and out of me with such mighty force. My greedy, possessive pussy kept pulling him in. It never wanted to let him go. It would never let him escape. The visual added more excitement, and the sound of flesh slapping flesh mercilessly only stoked our fire to sky high.
Intense pleasure ignited my every cell. I’d never felt so alive.
He quickened pace, his thrusting speed blinding. He was claiming me.
Male carnal need twisted his handsome features.
Pure ecstasy swept over me.
I longed for him to claim me. I was his from the beginning.
I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist. If I could trap him, I would trap him forever, so he would never leave.
“You never need to worry about that,” he said. “I’ll never leave. Even if I have to for some reasons, I’ll always come back to you. I’ll come back and fuck this tight, hot pussy until it’s a hot mess. I want no other, only you.”
I bucked up my hips to answer him, my brutal strength matching his.
A beastly sound rumbled through his chest. I’d thought between us only I had a dragon beast inside me. It turned out he had his own wild beast lurking in him. It was primordial and beyond powerful, and it approved of our mating.
For a second, I wondered which beast would be more formidable, his or my dragon, if they ever encountered each other on the battlefield.
Elvey chuckled. “Mine is not as aggressive as your dragon. It doesn’t want to fight you. It only wants to fuck you into oblivion.”
And they say war doesn’t come to the bedroom?
It seemed our beasts also joined the fucking. Elvey’s thrust became more feverish, and I rolled my eyes back as pleasure rained down in me like fire from the sky. Mating frenzy burned through my veins. Only Elvey’s thrusting could relinquish the fever, but then it stoked the fire only higher and hotter.
His demigod magic came to play. It was rough and gentle at once as it slithered up my naked flesh. It licked and kissed me everywhere before focusing on brushing my plump clit.
I was in hell and heaven, and his magical fire engulfed me. I was ash and snowflake and star. I was free falling, drawn in by its gravity.
He continued pounding into me and I became weightless.
Raw, beautiful truth that had once hidden in his eyes opened up to me, and I read the wonder he would show me and me alone.
Even when the galaxies turned to dust, he would still be mine, and I his.
We’d be like this forever, with him claiming me, with his enormous hard cock thrusting into me in this glorious pace.
My pussy clenched his shaft in great need, relishing the feel of him filling and stretching me.
My orgasm was within reach, but Elvey used his magic to k
eep my climax at bay. Damn the demigod for taunting me like this.
He was set to torment me and to make me peak at the iceberg of what he’d endured for all centuries.
I didn’t exactly enjoy myself as Furies—a creature of nightmares.
“Please, Elvey,” I begged, breathless with my pending orgasm. It nearly reached its peak, but Elvey crushed the waves and made it tumble down, because he desired to prolong it. I let out a sequence of unintelligible words to show him how badly I need a release.
“End the torture,” I demanded.
“I endured a millennium of this torture,” he said, thrusting into my molten core and unleashing everything.
My heat and wetness exploded around his cock, and I arched my back off the bed as the waves of my orgasm tore through me. My body vibrated with the release, my skin heating, scorching under Elvey’s touch.
Elvey pumped his bountiful seed into my womb and roared in joy.
Our mating bond snapped in place, a thread linking us, glowing as brilliantly as starlight. Our eyes widened as we saw it. Elvey lowered his lips to mine, our kiss gentle and burning with awe. “We’re bonded for eternity, beloved.”
I threaded my fingers with his as he settled next to me, our bodies slick with sweat as I turned to rest my head on his broad chest.
The world’s troubles and burdens and war were no longer in my head. How light I felt! Elvey held me tightly to him, a silence promise that he would never let me go. I shut my eyes, a stupid, satisfied grin spreading on my lips.
Just then I felt a sharp tug.
It was the mating bond that tied me to my three other mates. Their raw need for me crashed into me like a dark ocean wave. My heart jerked, and I traced the bond all the way while it stayed open.
Blaze, Iokul, and Rai surrounded Tianna in her vast chamber. Rai brought a glass of wine to her red lips, Blaze fed her a string of grapes, and Iokul dedicated himself to her by painting her toenails.
The three of them competed to compliment her, just as they’d once done to me. Except with her, it was overkill. They acted as if she was their oxygen, and without her, they wouldn’t know how to fucking breathe.