by Bonnie Vanak
One could not win a philosophy argument with this ancient wizard, but the penalty for losing was very sweet.
Nearly as sweet as the view of him now. In navy swim trunks, his muscular torso bared, his shoulder-length hair gleaming blue-black in the sunshine, he sat in the chair beside her, reading a stack of papers. Once in a while he sighed and shook his head.
They had only ten days together and he still had his mind on the job? “I thought you were on vacation, wizard.”
He studied her through his mirrored sunglasses and she could see the reflection of her annoyed expression. Tristan set down the papers on the sand. A sudden breeze blew at them and the fairies tending to the bar flitted off, frantically trying to catch each one.
“I was catching up on routine reports. They can wait.”
Feeling a stab of guilt, she had been reading, after all, she smiled to make up for her bitchy look. Niki set down her novel. “The job never ends, does it?”
“No. But I wish to make you happy, my sweet. Tell me if anything I do displeases you. I wish to be your lover, more than that, I wish to be your friend again.”
Deeply touched by this flash of humility from the powerful Silver Wizard who could obliterate a city with the flick of his hand, she touched his hand. “I could use a friend. I don’t have girlfriends. I have only Nia.”
He swung his trim, muscled legs over the lounge chair, and sat facing her, bracing his hands on his knees. “Tell me about your childhood. What did you like to do together?”
Again, he touched her. Tristan could have diverted the conversation away from her sister, knowing the choice ahead of her.
Stay—and never see her family again.
Or see her family again—but never be with him.
For a few moments, she talked about how she and Nia learned to swim in the pond at dusk, guarded by their brothers and their father. At night when they grew older, when they could, they would shift together and run through the woods, twin wolves loping through shadowy glen and thick forest, as the silver moonlight lit their way.
“Then we’d return to my apartment, change in PJ’s and eat chocolate puff cereal while watching movies. Nia always preferred romantic comedies and I liked crime dramas, especially the parts where the CSI team analyzes the crime scene.”
“Ah, your love of science.” He removed his sunglasses and picked up her abandoned book. “Is this about the science of love?”
Grabbing the book back, she playfully swatted him with it. “It has great love scenes in it.”
A forest green fairy with midnight wings zipped over, bringing him an elegant silver and black envelope. He opened it.
Tristan handed her a black and silver invitation. “My people, the ones here, are giving a fairy ball tonight in your honor, to welcome you here.”
She read the delicate script. “I thought we couldn’t leave the bubble shield encasing your home territory because we’re mortal.”
“We can’t. They’re holding it at the ballroom of my mansion on the far reaches of my territory.”
She dropped the invitation into her violet and white striped beach bag. “You have a mansion?”
Tristan reached into the cooler at their feet and withdrew a shiny red apple. He bit into it, munched and held the fruit out to her. She sighed with pleasure as she sampled it. The fruit was sweeter here. Everything tasted amazing.
“A small one. Only one hundred rooms.”
“What?”
“You should see Gideon’s mansion. His is larger than the state of New York.”
“That’s a whole lot of cleaning staff,” she murmured.
“As you’ve seen, my sweet, my home is vast. I warded it with magick to enable you to have anything your heart desires, including a formal ball.” He leaned forward, his gaze twinkling. “I remember how well you enjoyed such gatherings in our past.”
“And how do you know what’s your territory and what infringes on another wizard’s?”
“I’m a wolf. I know every inch of what is mine.” He took the apple from her. Holding her gaze, he slowly licked the spot where her mouth had touched. “I enjoyed tasting you last night, my sweet. And perhaps after the ball, we shall enjoy a different sort of dessert.”
She flushed with sensual anticipation and sipped her rum runner. It wasn’t alcoholic, but tasted just as sweet. She didn’t need rum to get drunk here on Tir Na-nog. All she needed was to gaze at Tristan to feel intoxicated, all her inhibitions lowered.
But she couldn’t have him longer than their ten days together if she wanted to see her twin again. She felt stricken at the thought. He leaned forward.
“You look distressed. Do you wish to attend this ball? If you do not, let me know.”
“I’m fine and the ball sounds lovely. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to attend a formal gala and wear a long gown and pretty shoes.”
“I want to know what makes you happy, Nikita.” A shadow crossed his face. “We have so little time together here, I want to make it as special as possible.”
Her throat tightened. “You’ve already made it very special.”
For a moment they gazed at each other, and in his dark eyes she saw shadows of the past that still lingered. Niki wished she could erase that pain, those memories.
Sex drove them away. She kissed him, feeling his mouth move under hers. Then he drew back and beckoned to the fairies. A rainbow-colored fairy zipped over to him and hovered.
“My lady Nikita and I wish to be alone.”
Nodding her tiny head, the fairy zipped away. Dozens of fairies left the Tiki Bar, darting away on gossamer wings.
Tristan stood and tugged at her hand. He led her over to the thick blanket on the sand where they had stretched out earlier after swimming.
His gaze burned as he tugged her down and kissed her, running his long fingers through her hair. Beneath the bikini bra, her nipples hardened.
He kept kissing her, and then with his right hand, skimmed the bare flesh of her belly until reaching her bikini bottom.
Suddenly shy, she looked around. “Tristan…”
“Hush. It’s all right.”
Tristan pulled aside the fabric and slid his fingers lightly across her sex. Niki moaned as he stroked in long, teasing caresses.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured.
The exquisite friction of his hand against her soft, moist cleft made her body tense with anticipation. He increased the rhythm.
Niki pumped her hips upward, desperate for release. She stared up at him, his mouth curling into a tender, yet very male smile.
“I need you.” She took in a deep breath. “Tristan…”
“No.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “This is only for you. My pleasure can wait.”
Crying out as orgasm seized her, she arched upward as he caught her mouth in a tender kiss.
Tristan kept kissing her as he withdrew his hand. He pulled away, his gaze dark, his look intent.
“I love watching you come,” he said softly. “Your eyelids growing heavy and your sweet little mouth panting, and that flush upon your soft skin.”
Nerve endings still pulsing with pleasure, she glanced at the impressive tent in his swim trunks. “It was rather one-sided.”
His gaze gleamed. “I am saving my strength for later. Sometimes the anticipation of a moment is almost as sweet as the moment itself.”
“Then you’ll need a cold hosing in the ocean to tame that monster.”
He looked down at his erection and gave a dramatic sigh. “It is most eager to be with you again, and does not like the word ‘no.’ I shall have to douse it a while.”
Standing, he tugged her upright and ran toward the water. She followed him into the ocean, laughing as he splashed her. Being here with this wizard made all her dreams come true. Each moment rolled into the other with blazing swiftness, until the joy inside her made her feel full to bursting.
But what of her twin? To never see her again? And now that she was fina
lly freed from that basement, and could walk in the open among her pack, what of them? To never run free and wild as wolf with the pack, but remain here on Tir Na-nog.
A prison is still a prison, even if it is lovely.
Niki would not think of that today. I’ll think of that tomorrow. Shades of Scarlett O’Hara and Gone with the Wind.
For tomorrow, even here in the sweetness of the heavenly afterworld, would come soon enough.
Fairy dust glittered in the air as their coach pulled up into the drive of Tristan’s white-columned mansion. The black and silver coach, pulled by four flying silver unicorns, had sailed through the air from the cottage in the woods, over glen and glade. Nikita had hung out the window, staring below at silver trees shimmering in the moonlight, and the green, blue and yellow lanterns hanging from each limb to light the way as a mark of honoring them as Tristan rested a possessive hand on her thigh.
A silver-haired Fae in a black and silver uniform opened their coach door and helped her descend. Sounds of violin, cello, harp and flute filled the air and lights blazed inside the mansion.
Tristan climbed down from the coach and thanked the Fae, and then took her hand. “Everyone is inside, waiting for us.”
His sensual gaze caressed her like a stroke of silk. “You look lovely.”
She twirled. The amethyst gown embroidered with silver stars came to a low V in the bodice and had capped sleeves edged with silver thread. Her matching high heels had diamond buckles and swirls of diamonds in the back, and felt like down upon her feet.
But Tristan took her breath away. In a black silk tuxedo and white shirt with tiny silver buttons, he looked dashing and sexy. Lifting her hand to his mouth, he kissed it.
“Shall we, my lady?”
As they entered the mansion, a footman clad in black and silver opened the door for them. He had short, stubby arms. Nikita thanked him and he nodded and flashed a huge smile.
“Welcome, my lady Nikita,” he uttered in a deep growl. “We have waited many long years for your visit.”
And then she did a double take as she gave him a second glance.
His yellow eyes were reptilian slits and his mouth filled with short, pointed rows of teeth.
As they cleared the door and entered the vestibule, she asked Tristan. “Is that a dinosaur?”
“Saul, a T-Rex shifter, who reduced his true form in order to serve as footman,” he murmured, taking her gloved hand. “He is one of the few of his kind here, so I gave him a permanent job at my mansion, where he could mingle with others and feel accepted. This is the eternal land of youth and beauty, and we shifters have been around for a very long time.”
“No wonder you worried about me reading dino porn. You worried the competition had a head start on your seduction games,” she whispered back, grinning.
Tristan threw back his head and laughed. He squeezed her hand tight.
Then they were entering the grand ballroom, standing atop a sweep of stairs with a polished silver banister lined with green vines, and violet and silver roses. Two fairies, their translucent wings beating the air, hovered on either side of them. Then their bare feet touched the marble floor and they transformed into human form, standing about five feet tall.
One black-haired with lovely sloe violet eyes, and one golden-haired with green eyes. Both wore pink tulle dresses with garlands of pink roses.
The dark-haired fairy turned to her and curtseyed. “Welcome, my lady Nikita. And Tristan. We are most honored to host this ball for you. I am Genita.” She handed Niki a silver rose.
It smelled as fragrant as a cup of her favorite cinnamon tea on a cold winter’s night. Niki thanked her.
The golden-haired fairy curtseyed as well. “I am Belleora, my lady. Welcome. We are so pleased you could join us.”
Belleora handed her a violet rose and Nikita thanked her. The aroma of bacon wafted from the rose. As she blinked in startled amazement, Tristan laughed and the fairies smiled.
“You are Lupine, my lady,” Belleora trilled. “A rose that smells of your favorite food can smell no sweeter.”
“Now, my sweet, open your palms and let the roses rest there,” he instructed.
She did and with a shimmer of iridescent sparks, they transformed into dragonflies, which flew off in a blaze of glitter. Niki laughed. “It’s lovely! Thank you,” she told the fairies.
A seven-foot tall majordomo in silver and black livery stood at the top of the stairs. “My lords, ladies and gentle folk, and folk of fang and claw, I bid you to welcome our honored guests, Tristan, the Silver Wizard, and his lovely lady Nikita!”
Guests waiting below broke into loud applause.
The majordomo suddenly shifted into a silver dragon the size of a small car. He breathed and instead of flames roaring from his mouth, fairy dust blew over the crowd below. Then the dragon beat his wings and flew, circling above the crowd, nearly touching the domed ceiling. He did a series of acrobatic flips and twists in the air, drawing gasps of wonder from the crowd.
Taking her hand, Tristan escorted her down the steps. As her feet touched each stair, it lit up with an ethereal blue light and played a musical note.
“Cedric is an ancient, a dragon from before even my time,” he told her. “He does everything in a theatrical fashion.”
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the crowd lined up on either side. Round tables covered with lavender and silver linens dotted the ballroom, and the dance floor looked to be made from parquet. Upon a raised dais, a twenty-piece orchestra of pointy-nosed goblins clad in tux and tail played.
“Goblins are notoriously lazy, but here they produce the sweetest music,” he said.
He gazed at her, his face expressive with both desire and concern. “As the guests of honor, we are expected to open the ball with the first dance.”
Aware of the curious gazes of the Fae, and shifters, she felt her stomach tighten. So many eyes upon her, the one who had never even gone to a formal dance.
“I don’t suppose they would be content with something I saw on Dancing with the Stars?”
He offered a tender smile. “I will lead, if you will, my sweet, and your steps will never falter.”
She had trusted him to bring her this far. Why not continue the journey?
At her nod, he slid one muscled arm around her waist, the other clasping her raised hand. A waltz. She had seen this enough times in movies. She could do this.
As Tristan swept them around the ballroom, she fell into his steps, her feet not tripping, and she laughed for the sheer enjoyment of the moment. At last, she danced in an opulent ballroom and wore a lovely gown, with starlight shining down upon them as they danced.
In his arms, she felt so secure and safe and cherished.
I could stay here forever.
You cannot, unless you never wish to see your twin again.
The thought cut through her joy like a knife slicing through butter. She pushed it away, determined to make the most of this, her first dance with Tristan.
He leaned closer and whispered into her ear. “I shall enjoy a different dance with you later, my lady.”
Heat suffused her skin. Fingers tightening on his firm, muscled shoulder, she let him sweep her away, just as he’d swept her away at the ranch, swept her into a new and strange and exciting world.
Applause sounded as they finished their dance. She curtseyed and Tristan bowed. The T-Rex shifter who had acted as footman at the door called out, “Well done!”
Silence draped the ballroom, and she saw the slight disapproval on the faces of other guests. Some Fae protocol broken?
The hell with that. This was her dream, and in her dreams, everyone, even lizard shifters, were treated with utter respect.
Nikita left Tristan and went to Saul. She took his tiny, clawed hand and curtseyed to him. “Thank you, for making me feel welcome.”
She kissed his cheek.
Saul went beet red and then another round of applause broke out in the ballroom.
>
When she rejoined Tristan at their table, he leaned back, his eyes focused only on her. As if they were not among more than a thousand guests in his enormous ballroom.
He leaned forward and covered her palm with his. “Thank you for acknowledging him, Nikita. Saul has often felt left out at affairs like this. His upbringing was rather…crude.”
“No one should feel left out.” She remembered the loneliness in the basement when her twin, as pack leader, went running with the others and she was forced to remain behind.
Tristan stroked her fingers in a slow caress. “You always did treat all with fairness and diplomacy. From the simplest peasant ogre to the highborn, you looked upon them equally.”
As dancers took to the floor and swirled around them, she noticed Fae with silver hair and Lupines who looked half-human, half-wolf milling about the guests and asked him about them.
“Everyone takes the form that pleases them when they wish. Here, one does not worry about shifting accidentally in front of Skins. Only in the Midnight Kingdom can shifters assume their true form and mill about freely from city to city,” he said.
She’d heard of vague tales of such a kingdom, where Dark Fae and shifters co-mingled, and their magick was most powerful, and dangerous.
“I thought that place was legend,” she remarked.
“It is truth.” Tristan nodded as a blue fairy in shimmering tulle flitted by and trilled a greeting.
Another fairy flitted over, offering them a silver tray loaded with delicacies. She selected a sea scallop wrapped in bacon and bit into it with a sigh of pleasure. As she ate, several Others came to their table to greet them.
Tristan greeted each one with warmth, spending several minutes inquiring about them, his concern obvious. Yet even in mortal form she felt the aura of his power ringing him like a lighthouse beacon, where the others were pale moonlight in comparison.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a tall, bearded man clad in a blue velvet tunic, cobalt leggings and doeskin boots. He stood on the sidelines of the ballroom, looking at the scene with brooding eyes.
“Drust,” she said, touching Tristan’s arm. “I’m going to ask him to dance. He looks so lonely.”