He’s right. And I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do that again. That amount of anger and grief, it’s too much. “I don’t want to have to,” I say, shaking my head.
“Believe me,” Urien says. “We don’t want you to have to either.”
“But if your life is in danger,” Kent says softly. “Then that’s exactly what you do.”
Brae chuckles. “Though even before that you were holding your own. Once we teach you to fight, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
I let my head fall against Aeric’s chest. “Not today,” I say. “Please.”
“No, not today.”
The familiar exhaustion from the use of so much power sets in, and I nearly fall. It’s gotten much better, but that was more than I’ve ever used. Thankfully it’s only after I stop and breathe that the weakness seems to set in.
“Let’s get you back,” Verys says.
“Can you all stay?” I ask, hopefully.
There’s a pause. I don’t look up, I know they’re communicating silently. “Yes,” Kent answers. “We can stay.”
Which is how I end up back in the bedroom, my head pillowed on Aeric’s chest and my feet in Kent’s lap. Brae at my back and Urien close by. Verys observes, and smiles when I meet his eyes. He’s not bothered in the slightest, given how much time we’ve spent wrapped up in each other. And I want the rest of them too. But this exhaustion is deeper than I can fight, and I sink into sleep before I can beg for more.
CHAPTER TWENTY
________
URIEN
Placing a hand on Kari’s leg, I feel her vibrations to check for any kind of injury. I’ve done so several times since she fell asleep, and she’s fine. But another part of me can’t understand that. She exploded like a star, and even for a fae, that much power should have killed or left some kind of permanent damage.
Though we don’t know what kind of mark this will leave on her mind.
She has no idea how graceful she is. Watching her protect herself was what I hope watching her dance was like. Lithe and graceful and full of confident power. But after that…that was nothing like I’ve ever seen.
“Do we have a plan?” Verys asks softly.
Aeric nods, keeping his voice low. Kari is deeply asleep, and I don’t think that anything we do will wake her, but we’re all going to be careful anyway. “The beginnings of one. The Rialoir and Rialoia of the Crystal Court have once again agreed to help us.”
I already knew this. Aeric asked me to help approach them, as a Tiarne, which I was happy to do. I was more than a little surprised by their enthusiastic answer. “They’ve taken quite an interest in the human woman who’s bound to Allwyn. Especially given the revelation of our relationship. Plus, Kaya speaks highly of Kari, and she is a valued member of their Court.”
Verys crosses his arms. “How are they helping?”
“Location,” I answer before Aeric. “You already know, but there are locations in the Crystal Court which are very isolated. They have several estates throughout the land and have offered them as places to spring the trap.”
“They know there’s a chance that they’ll be destroyed?” Brae asks. He’s been out looking for more information about Ariana and isn’t quite up to speed.
“Yes,” I say, leaning back against the wall and crossing my arms to keep from checking Kari again. “They didn’t seem concerned. The idea that a fae would target anyone so blatantly—especially a human—is deeply offensive to them. They want to help.”
Kent clears his throat softly. “I’m aware that I don’t know everything about Fae politics. Why are we not asking the Rialoia of our own Court to help?”
I smile. I like that he’s referring to the Carnal Court as our Court. “Mostly timing,” I say. “You all had already secured the help and hospitality of the Crystal Court. They did not need to have the whole situation broken down for them. But there’s also the matter that we have brought danger into our Court and did not inform the Rialoia. I would much rather go to her and tell her that the threat has been neutralized than explain that we’re setting a trap for a very dangerous fae inside our borders. And lastly, for obvious reasons the Carnal Court is always more populated with visitors than other Courts. This way there’s less of a chance of any bystanders getting hurt. I don’t think Ariana would hesitate to use that to her advantage.”
“You’re definitely correct on that one,” Kent says.
Verys paces the length of the room and back. “Even with what we just saw, and the training we’ve done, is there any chance we’ll convince her not to offer herself as bait?”
“I wish,” I say. “But she has a point. Is there another way?”
“If there was another way, you’d be the one to find it,” Brae points out, slowly moving away from Kari so he can stand and stretch.
He’s right. I’m the diplomat, and not always by choice. We’ve all seen first-hand that violence leads to more violence. But in this case the fae we’re dealing with isn’t exactly going to sit down and have a heart to heart about what she wants. She’s going to keep coming at us until we do something. This is that something.
“My main concern is what happens after,” Verys says.
“After what?” Kent says.
“After we spring the trap. What’s our aim? To catch her, find out what she wants, and then let her go?”
I shake my head. “No. We’ll turn her over to the Crystal Court. The crimes she committed on their soil are more than enough to condemn her. And I daresay the Rialoia is eager to mete out justice, especially after hearing the full remainder of the story.”
“Maybe she’ll need a helping hand,” Aeric mutters, stroking his hand down Kari’s back.
Her hand is curled gently into his shirt, hair wildly spread and hiding her face. She’s sweet, even in sleep. “The only question is now, how do we lead Ariana where we want her to go?”
“I suspect that we already have,” Brae says.
Kent’s eyebrows rise to his hairline. “What?”
“The magic,” Verys says.
“Right.” Brae leans closer to Kent so he doesn’t have to speak as loudly. “The magic that she let go…that was not just simple magic. A blast like that would have been felt Courts away. Ariana has her ear to the ground. She is looking for Kari. If she doesn’t know that we’re here already, then she will soon.”
Kent’s hands still. He’s been rubbing Kari’s ankles and feet slowly. But now he’s just looking at her. “Should we be getting ready to leave?”
“Soon,” I say. “But I think we’re all right for the night.”
Verys nods in agreement. “We’ll leave tomorrow, go home for a day. And when we go to the location we’ve chosen, we won’t use any decoys. Blast it from the rooftops that that’s where we’re going.”
“I don’t like it,” Kent says.
Aeric shakes his head and pulls Kari a little closer. “You and me both.”
“We don’t have a choice. Whatever she’s planning, we need to know why she’s coming after Kari so desperately. And if she’s going to go after anyone else. We can’t stop a plan that we don’t know is in motion. We need this.”
Brae rolls his eyes and chuckles, breaking the tension in the room. “We’re not at Court, Urien. You can relax.”
Verys smirks, and Kent covers his mouth with his hand. I sigh. I slip into the way I talk at Court a little too often. When you’re there you usually have to convince people who aren’t on your side to get on your side. And that sometimes means hammering a point home that they’re already familiar with. “All right, asshole,” I say. “I’m still right.”
“Yes you are,” Brae agrees. “Let’s just hope all of this goes to plan.”
I reach out to touch Kari one more time. Everything echoes just fine with my magic. She’s all right. Yes, this needs to go to plan. For all our sakes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
________
KARI
I’ve had this dream b
efore. Warmth in darkness and smooth touch. The echoes of unfamiliar magic. This time it’s different. I can move, just a little, and when I open my mouth I can hear my voice. Though the sound is muffled like I’m underwater. “Who are you?”
The echo comes back just like last time, only stronger now. “Who are you?”
Lips find mine in the darkness. A taste of salt and rock and wind before the sadness hits and he’s leaving. “Wait,” I say. But he’s already gone.
I wake with a start, but I’m not alone like I was the last time that I woke up from the dream. No, Aeric is holding me this time. And another body is pressed against my back—Urien.
“Good morning.” That’s Verys’s voice from where he sits across the room.
“Morning,” I whisper.
I should have known that even my quietest voice would be enough to wake the men next to me. Aeric groans with sleep, and rolls over me lazily. “It is morning. But I can think of a way to make it a truly good one.”
Oh. I don’t even have to tell him yes. He feels the way my breath hitches and the way I let my hips relax and legs slide apart. He chuckles. “I thought you might agree.”
“I do.”
Urien turns my face to his and kisses me, momentarily distracting me from the way Aeric is moving down my body with sinful intention. I keep my eyes open for a moment. Urien’s eyes are gold with silver flecks like stars, and up close they look like galaxies. They’re luminous set against the inky darkness of his skin, and I think I could just stare at them for a while.
But his tongue drifts along the seam of my lips and when I open for him he erases any thought of simply staring. He teases me with his own tongue in a way that foreshadows what’s about to happen down below, as Aeric’s hands deftly undo the buttons on my pants.
There’s a brush of cool mint and spices before his tongue touches me, but just barely. And Goddess he doesn’t even need his power to make every moment of this magic. I was already damp, but I grow wet under his tongue, and he groans, licking deeper and faster. Fuck.
The door opens, revealing Brae and Kent, who pause for a brief second before entering quickly and shutting the door. “If I’d known that Kari was an option, I would not have eaten breakfast.”
“Too bad,” Aeric says against my skin. “I thought of it first.”
“I’m pretty sure I did,” Brae says, laughing. “But Kari was still asleep.”
The thought of waking up with Brae’s clever tongue between my legs makes me shudder in anticipation and a new rush of wetness outwards. Aeric notices, and slowly seals his mouth over me while still meeting my eyes, showing me how much he likes my taste—so much that he’ll drink it. My voice is half a moan when I speak. “You all have my permission to wake me up with your mouth any time you like.”
The air in the room is suddenly charged with more sexual energy than it was before. “I’ll remember that,” Brae says softly.
Urien has lifted my shirt and bra, now teasing my nipples as Aeric teases my clit, and I can’t find the words to say anything else. Everything is bliss.
They take their time. Lazy and tantalizing. I’m on the slow part of the rollercoaster, being pulled up with agonizing slowness towards a drop that is going to steal my breath and probably make me scream. I reach for Aeric’s hair to pull him closer and this time he doesn’t grab my wrists. He lets me sink my fingers into it, hair so dark you can just barely see the green sheen of it in the early light. He lets me pull his mouth harder against my clit, asking wordlessly for him to send me over.
But he doesn’t right away. He builds. Sucks my clit between his lips and rolls it through before licking lower and plunging his tongue deep inside my pussy. It’s such an intimate feeling, and one that never fails to take me by surprise. I moan, but it’s caught by Urien’s lips as he kisses my mouth again.
As Aeric fucks me with his tongue, he drags his thumb over my clit in circles. Matching those circles inside me, and everything goes from being delicious to white hot bright. I’m shaking under his lips, trying to reach that moment where everything falls away. One tiny stroke of magic from his tongue, and I’m gone. I cry out into Urien’s mouth, and again as squeezes my nipples between his fingers, adding to everything falling into place and falling apart again.
A perfect, dizzying, spiral of power and pleasure.
I fall back into my body with one breath, and in the next I’m ready for more. Aeric could fuck me, and I’d be happy with that, but Kent steps up with a glint in his eyes. “Breakfast or not, I think I need a taste.”
His eyes light me on fire, and I’m wet all over again. Brae comes to my side and leans down, taking a kiss that’s less of a kiss and more of a statement of how deeply he wants and loves me.
Kent slides his hands up my clothed thighs, and I can feel his breath on my skin. I’m too lost in this kiss to realize what the sound is. And then I feel that the room has gone cold.
The door to the bedroom is standing open, Darran filling the frame with a face like thunder. His eyes take in the scene in front of him, and I’m so shocked that it takes me a moment to scramble to my senses and sit up, rearranging my clothing so I’m no longer exposed. This is not the Carnal Court, and we are not in public.
Darran’s gaze is fixed on Verys. “You dare to invade my home under false pretenses of hospitality and then invite strangers?”
All the oxygen in the room is gone, and I swear the temperature has dropped so quickly that I’m shivering. Or maybe that’s the adrenaline. My shield forms itself almost of it’s own will, and I move it out so that it’s also covering Verys. Like hell if Darran is going to lay a hand on him.
Verys knows what I’ve done, and he moves. Standing slowly, he deliberately steps outside the bound of my power. When I try to cover him with it again, his silvery power whips against mine sharply. A warning to stay back. And not protect him.
“My pretenses were not false. And I have not invited strangers. We share a mate. These are my brothers.”
The look of disgust on Darran’s face sends ice flooding through my veins. He looks at every one of the men and at me last. “I will not have this place turned into one of your Carnal whore houses. Bad enough that you’ve been fucking her like your life depended on it and degrading yourself by touching a human. This is beyond even what I imagined. It seems I was right about you, Verys.”
Fury, clear and perfect, rolls through my chest. I take a step forward because I am going to punch him in the fucking face, when Brae’s hand lands on my shoulder, gently pulling me back to his body. “Let him, Kari.” The words are so soft that I’m the only one that can hear them. Just a breath at my ear.
Verys has lived with this man’s hatred for more years than I can imagine. I don’t want him to anymore. But he doesn’t say anything immediately, just tilts his head slightly and examines the man who raised him.
Darran sneers. “Even after all this time, you’re exactly the same. Not worth anything.”
“I wonder what happened to the man who used to tell me that I was the most promising warrior he’d ever seen,” Verys says flatly.
“I never said that.”
“On the contrary,” Verys replies. “You said it nearly every day you saw me training. But that was when you thought I was your son. And no son of another man could be worth anything to you.”
Power is coalescing inside Darran because of his fury. His hands ball into fists and I can feel his rage seething from here. “You’re still a child, and one of betrayal. Nothing but a maerach.” He spits the word at Verys, and though I don’t know what it means, I can feel the hatred ringing through it. “It would have been better for Allwyn to strip you of your magic entirely and let you fade.”
Verys just sighs. “What you’re asking is to erase myself from existence because the world didn’t bend itself to your will, and I can’t do that. I can’t apologize for my existence either, though you know that I’ve tried. It’s not my fault that my mother found love, and it was not with you.
“We will leave immediately, because in spite of your treatment of her and me, I still love Siona. I do not want there to be any repercussions for her if you revoke her hospitality.” He takes a step forward then. “But make no mistake, Darran. If you insult my mate or my Court again, or if you attempt to harm Siona as retribution for my actions, you will be accountable to the Goddess. I will make sure of it.”
The low, calm tone of his words make them cut deeper. Darran stares at him, and the room feels breathless. I don’t think Verys has ever spoken to him this way before, and he was not expecting it. “Leave,” Verys says. “When you return home in one hour, we will be gone.”
Darran straightens and sends a final, poisonous glance throughout the room. “See that you are.” The door slams behind him as he leaves.
“Verys,” I say, stepping towards him.
He shakes his head. “Get her home. I must speak to Siona before I join you.”
I ignore his protest and wrap my arms around him. “I know that was difficult.”
“Yes,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “But it was necessary.” He leaves the room without fanfare, and it takes only a few moments to gather the things we’ve brought and step through a portal back home. Finally, even if just for a little while, I’m home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
________
VERYS
I find my mother in the kitchen, and she knows something is wrong immediately. “I have to leave.”
“Why?” Her eyes go wide. But when she sees my expression, “Darran.”
“He is gone for the moment, but he will not be pleased when he comes back. I told him what I truly thought of him. It wasn’t the easiest conversation.”
She chuckles. “No, I imagine not.”
“We’re leaving. Things are moving and we can’t stay, and I don’t want to make things worse.”
Euphoria: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 2) Page 15