“I met him when Leonardo came to visit months ago. I found them both equally boorish.”
“I heard what he said,” Dax said. “When he circled us to reach you.”
“Which part?” I asked.
“All of it,” Liam said. “You must swear that you’ll never surrender to protect us.”
“I wasn’t going to surrender, Liam.”
“Only because we were holding our own today—yeah, I heard you—but if we weren’t, I want you to promise you won’t strike some sort of bargain to save us.”
I wasn’t sure I could do that, and I refused to lie. “You never answered my question,” I said. “How did Trevor and his men find us?”
The look he gave me suggested he knew exactly what I’d done. “They must have reached Elena’s grandmother’s and realized we weren’t headed that way.” He pointed to the road and the footprints leading down the mountain. “They came from the south, which is what I would have done—reached the destination I suspected, then backtracked hoping to intercept.”
“So do you think he knows we’re going to the temple?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Liam said.
“I think we should assume that’s what he’s thinking,” Dax said. “Which makes the rest of our journey difficult.”
The grave expression on Liam’s face confirmed it. “Let’s get going. If the weather lets up, we might be able to make up time from yesterday and reach the temple in two days.”
We started down the hill, and Liam said, “Dax, ride behind with me. Matthew, you take the lead, and Tobias and Finn, you ride next to her.”
They all acknowledged his orders, and we set out. I knew what Liam and Dax were discussing, and it partially infuriated me. I was part of this too—apparently, I was the main part, the mother of magic’s rebirth—so I deserved to know what they were saying, but the humiliated part of me said to let it go.
For all I knew, Dax was giving him a report on my performance, and I definitely didn’t want to hear that.
But that was foolishness on my part, and I knew it. Dax and Liam would discuss the situation with the utmost respect. I just wasn’t sure I could handle them discussing how I made them stronger.
The day dragged on, and a few times Dax tried to create a glowing orb on his palm like I had done, but each failed attempt frustrated him more than the last. After Dax’s failed attempts, my guards encouraged me to create another one, but I came up with plenty of excuses as to why I couldn’t—I was afraid I’d hurt or spook my horse or the others, I might hurt one of them, or I might hurt myself. Ultimately though, I was most afraid of how powerful I might actually be. I suspected this was only the very tip of it, especially since I’d only been with two of them—what could I do if I connected with all five? I could also tell that using the energy depleted it, and I felt lethargic, like I was getting sick, though it wasn’t as bad as last time.
What good was magic if it hurt me to use it? What if my purpose was to stoke it back to life and sacrifice myself to keep it going?
I kept my achiness and my thoughts to myself. No sense worrying the others.
We stopped just before midday, although it was hard to tell with the dense cloud cover. I needed a break to relieve myself and to stretch my legs. Finn and Tobias followed me into the woods, standing only a few feet away on the other side of an evergreen bush.
“How am I supposed to pee when you both can hear me?” I asked, squatting over the snow. My legs were so rubbery I was worried about losing balance and sitting my bare butt in the snow.
“How about I pee with you,” Tobias teased. “The sound of mine will drown yours out.”
“Stop talking about peeing and just do it already,” Finn said, sounding short.
“Or you could join us,” I said. “Or sing to drown it out.”
“I’m not singing while you pee.”
I closed my eyes and grief washed through me. Finn was beginning to hate me. “Just go, Finn. Tobias is fine on his own.
“Elena . . .” I heard the regret in my name, but I heard the resentment too. “Liam gave orders—”
“I am your princess . . .” I said, mustering all the authority I could, though the way my voice broke didn’t help. “Just go.”
I knew he’d obeyed me when I heard his boots crunching in the snow.
I was starting to think I would have to let him go for good.
13
We found another house to stay in, or rather multiple houses, but this time they were occupied. The houses were inhabited by a couple with younger children and two married children who lived on the property with them. I asked Matthew how they supported themselves with no room for crops and so far from any town, and he gave me a vague answer about mining and goats.
Liam worked out an arrangement to rent the larger house with a hot meal prepared by the mistress. I was worried about taking their home and their food, but Tobias reassured me that Liam had paid them the equivalent of one month’s wages and that the owners were thrilled.
My guards had been watching me closely throughout the day, looking for signs that I was ill. I’d hidden most of my symptoms, but by the end of the day, I was starting to feel worse, and I was struggling to appear normal.
Tobias stuck to my side and started to pick up on my quietness. While my magic recognized I was near him, I didn’t feel the urge to jump him. It was like my magic knew he was near but was too tired to put in the effort.
Liam had told the couple that Tobias and I were married, so as soon as we finished our stew, Tobias excused us to go up to bed. He clasped our hands and led me to a bedroom in the back of the house, shutting the door behind us.
I was nervous for a host of reasons. First, everyone was still in the common room and could possibly hear us. Second, this was my third man in three nights, which everyone knew was wrong. But third, Finn had made me begin to question why my guards were doing this. I knew they would lay their lives down for me, and Matthew and Dax and even Liam had said they loved me, but what about Tobias and Finn? Tobias had hinted at it the night before, but what if he’d said that to make me feel better about the whole thing? And what did I do about Finn?
Tobias tugged me toward the bed, then pulled me down beside him and wrapped his arm around my back.
“It’s been a rough week, huh?” he asked in a teasing tone.
I looked up at him and grinned. “A little bit.”
“I know what you did this morning hurt you somehow,” he said. “Even though you’ve done a good job of hiding it on the outside.”
My brow lifted.
He smiled and brushed a strand of hair from my face. “You forget that Matthew and Dax have a connection to you now. They know you’re not well.”
“And we both know how to make me well,” I said with more bitterness than I’d intended. The magic in me rebelled, but I’d realized that once my magic was dulled by illness, it lost its control over me, other than the ability to kill me. So I guessed it controlled me either way.
Tobias pulled me close and snuggled me into his side. “I love you, Elena. I would do anything to help you. I’m grateful for the chance to be with you.”
“Even if you have to share me?” I asked incredulously.
“I want to love you, Elena, any way I can.”
“Don’t you resent it?”
“They are like my brothers. We share everything else. I never thought this could work, but I see that it can.” He put his finger under my chin and lifted it to search my eyes. “So now we know what I want. What do you want, Elena?”
“I . . .”
“Not what you think you should want,” he said gently. “What your heart wants.”
Looking into his loving eyes, I knew what I wanted, and the magic in me tried to spring to life but failed. “Doesn’t it hurt you that I want the others too?”
He smiled and his eyes lit up with the merriment I was used to seeing there. “No. I love that you are so cherished and protected.”
I lifted
my hand to his face and stroked his cheek. He hadn’t shaved for several days, and the stumble scratched my fingertips.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he said. “What do you want?”
“I want you, Tobias,” I whispered, running my fingertip over his bottom lip.
His kissed my finger, and a spark shot through me, reviving my magic a tiny bit. Reaching for my hand, he sucked my finger into his mouth, sucking and licking the tip at the same time.
A bolt of need shot to my core, and my magic revived even more.
Tobias began to kiss my palm, then traced the lines with his tongue. “This is your love line. It says you have five great loves.”
I closed my eyes as his mouth brought my body to life.
“Are you a fortune teller?” I asked in a breathy voice.
He reached for the back of my head and pulled my face inches from his. “My grandmother was. She told me that I would find a love that would consume me with a force I didn’t understand. She said it would be an epic love, and like all epic loves, there would be many hardships.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I shook my head. “I don’t want to bring you hardships. I don’t want to bring any of you hardships.”
“And we would do anything to spare you your own hardship, my love, but this is our path. My brothers and I cannot change it. That was Liam’s goal when he first started this journey—to save you from this trial, but he’s come to realize it’s bigger than all of us. That we are on the cusp of history, and we have our parts to play.”
“You make it sound so calculated.”
“Do I?” he asked in surprise. Then he kissed me, a lingering kiss that made me relax and feel on edge at the same time. His mouth and tongue worked a magic that had nothing to do with the energy in either one of us, yet was magical all the same. When he lifted his head, he smiled. “Does that feel calculated? Or does it feel like love?”
“But—”
He kissed me again, with more fervor this time, feeding the energy in my chest until it was full enough to roar to life. It could feel the dormant magic in Tobias, and it was hungry for it. I grabbed the back of his neck and held on, the energy in me desperate, terrified that he would stop.
But Tobias showed no sign of stopping. A hand slid down my back until it found the curve of my butt. Then he slid me sideways across his lap so that I straddled him. I wrapped both arms around his neck, resting them on his shoulders.
“There’s a lot of fabric in the way,” I murmured against his lips.
He settled me over the bulge in his pants. “Let me kiss you first.”
His mouth covered mine again. One of his hands pressed against the small of my back, while his other hand rested on my waist, then slowly slid up to my breast.
I gasped as his hand squeezed my breast and his thumb found my nipple, but his mouth captured the sound. His erection pressed against my core, and another surge of need rushed through me.
I squirmed against him, which made his kiss more demanding, and his fingers dug into my hip.
“I want to see you,” I said, reaching for his shirt. “I want to see you and taste you.” I tugged it free from his pants, and he lifted his arms as I pulled it over his head. I rested my hands on his shoulders, letting them glide down his muscular arms. “You’re beautiful.”
And he was. While Matthew was like a mountain, and Dax was a smaller version, Tobias was leaner but just as powerful. I pressed a kiss to his shoulder, then worked my way over his chest to the base of his neck.
“This isn’t fair,” he teased, his voice rich with mischief. “If you get to see and taste me, then I want to see and taste you too.”
I kissed my way up his neck and to his chin. “Then undress me.”
He kissed me again with more passion than before. His hand fumbled with the lacings at my side for a few seconds. Then he pulled back and cursed under his breath. “I’m tempted to rip this off you.”
“Don’t you dare. I don’t have anything else warm to wear.” I reached over and untied the strings and began to work them loose.
Tobias pushed my hands away and jerked on the strings, working the dress loose enough for him to pull it over my head. “You wear too many clothes,” he said once he’d pulled the yards of fabric over my head.
I laughed. “Usually I step into it. And this dress isn’t even mine. Mine have so much more. But we can get Christa to undress me first.”
He grinned. “And deny myself the pleasure of unwrapping my gift. I don’t think so.” His gaze dropped to my breasts. They were covered by my shift, but my hard nipples strained against the fabric. “And there’s so much more to go.”
His hand reached under the front slit in my shift, making quick work of unfastening my breeches. I rose from his lap when he started to guide my breeches over my hips and down my thighs. He tugged them over my knees and let them fall on the floor.
The adoration in his eyes fed my soul, but it fed my magic too. The magic sent out tendrils as it tried to find a way to reach the energy in Tobias.
He slipped his hands between the cut in my shift and rested them on my bare outer thighs, slowly sliding up to my hips.
“Your skin is like silk,” he murmured, then lowered his face and drew my nipple into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue over the fabric.
I moaned a sound that erupted from my core and carried a need that was deeper than me.
This thing inside me was a living entity, and the more I opened it, the more I realized it was older than time.
And it needed so much more.
Tobias pulled the shift over my head, leaving me naked and straddling his pants-covered legs. He lifted me up and turned me around, laying me on the bed. He stood and watched me with a hungry look as he worked his pants loose and let them drop to the floor.
“I want you, Elena.”
“I want you too.”
“But we can’t . . .” he said as he crawled onto the bed and lay next to my right side.
“I have to remain a virgin,” I sighed, and the magic in me protested. “Why?”
“Liam wants to wait, at least until we’ve met with the priestess. We still don’t know how important your virginity is for this magic stuff.” He sucked my earlobe into his mouth and lightly bit it.
I jolted as though lightning ran through me, making me want more, so much more. “But you’re all giving me orgasms, so isn’t that the same?”
“Not exactly.” He kissed his way down my neck, raking his teeth over the tender flesh. “But let’s see if I can make you feel good.”
I closed my eyes and fell into the moment. The hairs on my arms stood on end as he kissed his way to my breast, then sucked my nipple into his mouth and raked his teeth over the tender tip.
I cried out as my back arched up, but he put his hand on my stomach and pushed me back down on the bed as he continued his exquisite torture.
“Does this feel good, Elena?” he asked as he kissed his way to my other breast.
“Yes.” My voice sounded as tightly strung as I felt.
He chuckled, and the vibration against my bare skin sent a shiver down my spine.
“I want to taste you too,” I said.
He lifted his head and looked up at me, his eyes giving me permission to do what I wanted.
I pulled his face up to mine and kissed him, hard and demanding, as I pushed him to his back.
He rolled over, grinning as I straddled his waist. “You’ve got me now, Your Royal Highness. What do you plan to do?”
“Actions speak louder than words,” I said, kissing him again. Then I sat back up and ran my hands over his bare chest. He lifted both of his hands to mine, brushing both nipples at the same time. I arched my back and closed my eyes, letting the energy in my chest expand and search for Tobias, like two lost lovers.
I realized that they were. The energy inside my guards were five lovers to the magic itself.
I lowered my face to his chest, kissing my way to his breast and nip
ping his nipple. His body stiffened, and he grabbed my arms, holding me back.
“You want to be inside me,” I said. I lifted on my knees and kissed the line down his abdomen, between the ridges of his muscles. “We can make that happen.” Even as I said the words, my core ached for something I didn’t understand. I ached to be whole.
I shimmied down his body as I continued kissing my way to his erection. It jutted from his body, and I lightly kissed the tip.
“By the gods, Elena,” he forced out. “You are driving me insane.”
“Does it feel good, Tobias?” I asked.
I took his grunt as a yes.
I licked the tip next, tasting the drop of moisture, then sucking the head into my mouth. Tobias’s body tightened again, and I took more of him inside my mouth as I cupped his balls in my hand and lightly squeezed.
“Elena, I’m going to come, and I haven’t even touched you yet.” He sat up with me straddling his lap while he kissed me, his tongue tangling with mine as his arms wrapped around my back, pressing my breasts against his chest.
I grabbed his face between both hands as I kissed him back, aware of how close his erection was to the opening inside me. I wiggled and he went stock-still.
“You are pushing the bounds of my restraints, Elena,” he grunted, but he didn’t move.
“I thought you were going to touch me,” I said. “If you’re not, then I want to taste you again.”
He groaned and then grabbed my arms and pulled me back. “Turn around.”
I blinked in confusion “What?”
“Turn around and face away from me,” he said. Then he lifted me up, and I did as he asked, confused about what he planned to do, but I trusted him.
He tugged me down so my inner thighs were resting on his, his erection pressed between my butt crack and into my back. He swept my hair over my shoulder and kissed my shoulder blade, then worked his way to the center of my back. He grabbed my hips and shifted me to my knees; then as he lay back down on the bed, he pulled me backward onto all fours, with my knees straddling him mid-chest and my palms resting on the bed by his thighs.
It was then I realized his erection was within reach of my mouth with only a short scoot backwards. I started to move but Tobias held me firmly in place as he kissed my butt cheek, then raked it with his teeth, then nipped. A tiny bit of pain shot through me, but I throbbed between my legs.
Heiress of Light: Magic Reborn (Reverse Harem) Page 17