by WEST
A little laugh slipped from Cole’s mouth and he put a hand over his lips as Levi glared down at him. “Sorry,” he said with a shrug. “But she has a point.”
“That’s something coming from you,” Levi muttered. He blew out a breath and faced his mother again. “All right, we’ll talk. But I have to get my consort some clothes. We had to leave in rather a hurry. And he needs food too.” Levi gave Cole a disapproving look. “He’s even paler than usual.”
“Of course,” Fionna said. “I’ll have someone show you to your chamber and bring you what you need. Then we can have our talk. Avid,” she said, turning to her brother, “would you please attend us too? We’ll have need of your counsel.”
The wizard inclined his head and she gave him a brilliant smile, tucking her arm through his. “Please follow the servants, Leviathan. And whatever it is you may be thinking—I’m truly glad to see you again. You’re even more handsome than your father.”
She didn’t wait for Levi to reply, just took her brother’s arm and led him away. A servant appeared in front of them and motioned for them to follow him. Sweeping the blanket around him as best he could, Cole went along behind him with Levi’s hand comfortingly warm against his back.
****
“What do you think she wants to talk to you about?” Cole asked, finishing the last bite of beef and bread and drinking it down with the most delicious glass of milk he’d ever tasted.
“Better go easy on that stuff,” Levi said, watching him fondly. “It’s mostly cream.”
“So? It’s delicious. I usually don’t like milk all that much, but this is wonderful.” Cole poured himself another glass from the pitcher in front of him on the table and took a long draught. He rubbed a finger across his upper lip and smiled at Levi. The room was beginning to feel overly warm and he pushed the blanket off his shoulders. “Would you like some?”
Levi shook his head. “Only faeries get drunk off cream.”
“Drunk? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, did I forget to mention that? Faeries are quite…susceptible to cream. Even the smell of it intoxicates them. And the way you’re chugging that stuff down, you’ll be on the floor if you don’t watch it.”
Cole set the mug down on the table with a little thump. “Intoxicates them?” He narrowed his eyes at Levi. “Is that why you’re always wearing that cologne that smells like sugar and cream? To make me drunk?”
Levi’s smile grew broader. “I had to use whatever advantage I could against you or I wouldn’t have stood a chance. As it was, once I saw you I was only able to wait a couple of weeks until I had you in my bed.” He reached over and fingered one of the curls hanging over Cole’s forehead. “You have amazing powers of seduction, and you don’t even know it. It’s that ass, I think. Firm and round and just begging to be fucked. Irresistible, really.”
Cole batted his hand away and opened his mouth to blast him when the door opened to admit a servant. He was holding several garments in his arms and bowed to them as he entered. “Where should I put these, Your Highness?”
Levi waved a hand at the bed. “Over there is fine. Thank you.”
The servant crossed over to place the clothing on the bed and then turned back to Levi. “The queen said to tell you she is awaiting you in her chambers as soon as you’re ready, Highness.”
Levi stiffened. “Well, you can tell her that…”
Cole broke in. “Thank you. Tell her we’ll be right there.” The servant inclined his head and withdrew, leaving them alone again. Cole shook his head as he got up to cross over to the bed. “You need to watch your mouth. That’s your mother.” Levi snorted. “Nice of her to remember that after all this time.”
Cole picked up a pair of black tights off the bed and turned to Levi in horror. “You don’t expect me to wear these, I hope? Look at them! They don’t leave much to the imagination.”
“I think you’ll look quite nice in them. See, there’s a tunic to go over them.”
“Some tunic—it only goes to my waist.” He held it up to the light. “And you can see right through it!” He threw the clothing back down on the bed and folded his arms over his chest. “What’s the matter with you people? Is sex all you think about? I’m not wearing these.”
“Put them on, Elvie, and stop complaining. It’s what the faeries wear—no one will think you look anything but beautiful in them.”
“Damn it, I’ve told you not to call me that name.” He threw the tights at Levi and hit him in the face with them. “You wear it. I wouldn’t be caught dead in this shit.”
Levi grinned as he peeled the tights from his head. “If you wanted my help getting dressed, you only had to ask, sweetheart.” He threw himself at Cole and they landed on the bed with Cole writhing and struggling underneath him. An undignified wrestling match ensued, and Levi had managed to get one leg of the tights on Cole while biting his ass when someone standing by the door cleared his throat.
“Prince Leviathan…excuse me, please, sir, but the queen is most anxious to talk to you both. Might I tell her how long you’ll be?” The servant standing in the doorway must have already been ancient when the world was made. He was frail and stooped over and held himself upright with the help of a staff. The furious reply died on Levi’s lips as he saw the sweet smile on the wrinkled old face and the long white hair.
Levi sighed and let go of Cole, who scrambled to cover himself. “We’ll be right there.”
The elderly servant withdrew and Levi shook his head. “She did that on purpose. She knew I’d take the balls off anyone else who dared to disturb me when I was taking my leisure with my consort.”
“Your leisure!” Cole jumped to his feet and pulled on the hated tights and flimsy tunic. “More like you were busy mauling me. If this is what I can expect from being your consort…”
Levi reached for him and pulled him down on his lap before kissing him thoroughly. When Cole was finally quiet in his arms, he smiled down at him. “That’s what you can expect, sweetheart. Now move your ass,” he said, slapping the body part in question. “The queen wants to see us.”
****
Levi followed Cole and the elderly servant down a long hallway toward the queen’s chambers. He could hardly concentrate on the luxury surrounding him for watching Cole’s ass in those tights and wondering how long it would be before he could get Cole back to their room so he could take them back off him.
Self-consciously, Cole pulled at them and tugged down on the tunic. Levi thought he might quite like the faery garments on Cole except for the fact that the mouth of every guard they passed on the way fell open as they looked at him and their eyes glazed over with lust. No, he’d wind up killing every man who looked at him like that and that would just cause unnecessary problems. Better to put him in long, full robes so that nobody got to enjoy his beauty but Levi himself. Maybe a veil too.
The old servant brought them to a big door at the end of the corridor and opened it for them. As they walked in, Levi saw his mother and his uncle sitting at a table on the side of the room. He took Cole’s arm and walked over to join them.
“Leviathan, thank you for coming,” Fionna said softly. She poured them both a glass—wine for Levi and cream for Cole. Levi hid a smile as Cole pushed the cream gently away from him.
“I need to see my father. Is there any word about him yet?”
Fionna shook her head, her dark eyes filled with tears. “No. The doctors and the wizards are working on him, but he’s still not awake. Your brothers are with him.”
“As I need to be.”
“You can’t help him now, Levi, and I have need of your counsel. If Marek is allowed to stay on the high king’s throne, it will mean disaster for all of us, but particularly the human realm. You know that.”
“Yes, of course. Marek’s made too many promises to the goblins and the elves. “
“Promises he’ll eventually have to keep. At first, Marek will be preoccupied with
eliminating the competition. He thinks that means you and your brothers. And of course, Prince Elvie, the true faery king. We’re pretty sure Marek thinks Egill is dead. We have to encourage that line of thought and keep his recovery a secret.”
“If he recovers…” Levi said grimly.
“He will recover,” Fionna said fiercely. “I know Egill. He would never leave me.”
“Leave you? You left him some thirty years ago, remember? You haven’t seen each other in years.”
Queen Fionna drew herself up regally. “We are immortals, Levi. Thirty years is not such a long time to us. And though your father and I might not see eye to eye on things, he knows I love him desperately. As he loves me.”
“You have a strange way of showing it,” Levi muttered, taking a long sip of his wine and slamming the mug back on the table.
“We understand one another. I first met your father when he came to the high king’s throne. He demanded a tribute not just from the human realm, but from each of his domains. I was that tribute from the Sidhe.”
“You?”
“Yes. I was the daughter of the king, after all. My brother was on his way to becoming a powerful wizard, and his studies were important. I was the logical choice.”
Cole had settled back in his chair and was watching the exchange between them with fascination. Levi put an arm around the back of his chair. “And you hated him for taking you, I suppose?”
“On the contrary. We fell in love the first time we saw each other. But your father had other consorts and though he assured me he loved me best of all, he wasn’t faithful to me. When I became pregnant with you, things improved, but once you were born, things went back to the way they were. When my father was killed in a hunting accident, I decided I had a duty to go home and take the throne of my people. We fought about it bitterly. He even tried to lock me away for a time—in the end I escaped and went back home to the Sidhe. I left him his beloved son, even though it almost killed me.”
Levi stared moodily down into his cup. “This is all ancient history and beside the point. You said you wanted my counsel.”
“Yes, of course. We need to talk about raising an army to defeat Marek. With you at its head, Levi, and your prince at your side.”
Levi felt fury bubbling up inside him at the idea of exposing Cole to such danger. “Leave him out of this.”
Fionna put a soft hand over his. “He can’t be left out of this, son. He might be the key to it all. Once the faery tribes learn who he is, they will rally to our side. The faeries and the demons are the most powerful and the largest of the domains. If we stand together…”
“I said no, damn it.” Levi jerked his hand away. “I won’t expose my consort to this kind of danger. I can defeat Marek without the help of the damn faeries.”
“Wait a minute,” Cole said, speaking up for the first time. “I’m sitting right here. Don’t discuss me as if I were a piece of furniture. And your so-called consort is one of those damn faeries you’re talking about,” he said. “Not to mention your own mother, so show a little respect.”
Cole reached across the table to touch Fionna’s hand. “I’ll help any way I can, Your Majesty, but I’m not interested in becoming any kind of king.”
Fionna leaned toward him urgently. “Once we are successful in ridding ourselves of Marek, you can do whatever you like, Prince Elvie. You can abdicate if you like and even go back to the human realm if you wish.” She ignored the alarming growl that came from Levi and squeezed Cole’s hand. “In the meantime, we need you to help us save our world and the mortal world from Marek and his armies. Can we count on you to help us?”
Levi felt Cole’s gaze on him and he looked up into those incredible green eyes. “If Levi is by my side. I don’t think I can defy him like you did Egill so long ago. I think I need him too much.” He took Levi’s unresisting hand in his and kissed the back of it tenderly before looking back up at him. “What do you say, Levi? Want to save the world with me?”
A warm glow suffused Levi’s chest. He’d fallen desperately in love with Cole over the last couple of weeks, and he wasn’t even quite sure when it had happened. He only knew that the thought of anything happening to him was like a knife twisting in his chest. He took Cole’s hand in his and took a deep breath. “When do we start?”
Epilogue
“Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.”
—Kubla Khan, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“There are still so many questions I don’t know the answer to,” Cole said, his voice thick with sleep and too much cream. They had sat for hours talking with the queen and her brother making plans to announce Elvie’s return to the Faery Domain. Once the announcement was made, they could begin to raise their army and plan their next move. “Like who stole me in the first place and why? Was it to protect me or to get rid of me?”
“We’ll find the answers to all of it, don’t worry. Personally, I think I have an idea.”
“You do?” Cole turned on his side toward Levi in bed, his remarkable eyes heavy lidded and tired, but still so beautiful it made Levi’s heart thump in his chest. Cole licked his lips and as the tip of his pink tongue swept over them, Levi’s cock began to lazily fill again, apparently going for some kind of record. He had fucked Cole in every position either of them could think of after they got back to their chamber, and he wasn’t sure if he had the strength for any more tonight. Tell that to his cock.
“I think it was your uncle Lariol.”
“What?” Cole sat up abruptly, his mouth falling open. “The one I saw in the image in the dead man’s eyes? What on earth are you talking about?”
“It’s just a theory. But who else could have cast such powerful spells on you to glamour you and hide you from detection in the Vargr Realm? Lariol is one of the most powerful wizards in the Realm, if not the most powerful. He was your mother’s only brother, you know. After your mother’s death, it could be that he got wind of a plot against you. He could have taken you to save you.”
“But why? If he was so devoted to my mother, then why not expose the plot and accuse the murderers?”
Levi shrugged. “Lariol is very ambitious. It’s one reason he aligned himself with Marek. Perhaps it suited his purposes to have Melisande marry and then kill your father. After all, with your father out of the way, you were the successor to the throne—and he was your only living relative.”
Cole drew his eyebrows together in a frown. Levi knew he had it bad when he found even these little frowns charming. He kissed the furrow between Cole’s brows and Cole pushed him away. “Will you quit it? I’m trying to ask you a question here.”
“All right, sweeting, go ahead.”
Cole snorted. “Sweeting? Really? Okay, so how would that benefit Lariol—him being my only living relative and all?”
“You’re the true king. If something were to happen to you…”
“Then he would inherit the throne,” Cole said softly. “If he could get Marek out of the way.”
“Mm-hm.” Levi stretched out on his back and put his arms behind his head. “If I were old Marek, I think I’d sleep with one eye open from now on. Faeries can be awfully treacherous.”
“Oh really?” Cole sat up and threw the covers off the bed. He swung his feet over the side and climbed out of the bed. “Maybe I should sleep on the sofa for the rest of the night, then. Me being so treacherous and all.” He started to stalk off, and Levi reached behind him to the bedside table where they’d been enjoying a little bedtime snack earlier. He grabbed a handful of sugar from the bowl beside him and tossed it on the floor in front of Cole.
With a soft little cry, Cole fell to his feet and began picking up each grain, counting as he went. “What-what did you do?” he cried, looking up at Levi.
The half-demon leaped out of bed and fell do
wn beside him, pulling his hands away from the sugar and kissing his lips. He stood up and took Cole with him, tossing him back on the bed.
“But-but the sugar…”
“I’ll clean it up in a minute, sweetheart. I’m sorry. That was a dirty trick. That’s one more thing about faeries, you see. If you throw down salt or sugar in front of them, they have to stop and count each grain. A handy trick I had up my sleeve in case you ever tried to leave me.”
Cole punched him in the chest as hard as he could, though his fist bounced off the hard muscles with little effect. “How many more of those tricks do you have up your sleeve?”
“Only one. I know that faeries can’t tell a lie. So do you love me, Prince Elvie? Because I love you more than I can say.”
Cole glared at him for a long moment and then sighed. “Yes, damn it. I love you too.” He pointed a finger at him. “But you need to stop all these tricks.”
Levi took him down to the bed and covered his face with kisses. “No more tricks, Prince Elvie. From now on, only treats.”
The End
WRAITH Continues in RT Lucas and LJ Halkett’s
STRANGER THAN FICTION
Maddy Scott lives a happy but quiet life, living alone with her cat and writing bestselling supernatural novels in her spare time. Her inspiration comes from the dreams that she has had since childhood. Dreams that are so vivid and detailed that it’s almost as though the world she creates is a real place.
WRAITH hunter Storm Alaziel has been sent from Vargr to the human world to detain and bring back Maddy Scott, enemy of the Realm. When he meets his target, the heart of the hardened operative starts to melt, and as events unfold it makes him start to doubt his values and loyalty.