by Evelyn Avery
Pushing his arms under my back, Vaughn lifted me as he rolled us over, so I rose to straddle him as he lay beneath me, his cock still buried in me. His hands slid down to my hips and stroked them gently as he made of point of relaxing against the mounded pillows. “Show me how you like it.”
I’d always felt awkward being on top, like the guy I was with would be disappointed in how fast I moved or how deep he could go. But there was no awkwardness with Vaughn as his fingers moved over the front of my body, pinching and teasing. I knew he wanted to watch me move, exploring my body as I did.
I leaned forward so that my hands rested against his chest as I ground down with my hips. From this angle, my clit rubbed against the rough hairs at the base of his dick whenever he bottomed out inside me. After only a few strokes, I spiraled higher towards climax.
“C’mon baby, let me watch you come.” His fingers dug into my hips hard enough to leave marks on the skin, and he pulled me down hard as he thrust with his hips, pounding into me. “I want to hear you moaning my name.”
I was already there by the time the words were out of his mouth. My back bowed as the force of my orgasm robbed me of the ability to speak. I couldn’t speak his name, only mouth it, as wave after wave crashed over me. It was only after I collapsed on top of him with my sweaty cheek pressed against his shoulder that I realized he was still rock hard inside of me.
He kissed me gently on the temple. “My turn.”
Before I could puzzle out what he meant, both of his arms wrapped around my back to hold me in place. Any desire to go slow had completely fled, and he pounded up into me with enough speed and force that I knew what I thought was torture before seemed more like nothing in comparison.
My nails dug into his biceps, scratching his skin, because my hands were the only part of my body not being held down by the steel bands of his arms. Even as overworked nerve endings screamed in protest, I felt myself climbing toward another peak. Seconds or minutes or more could pass as I stayed locked in the pleasurable spiral, time losing all meaning as he used me for his pleasure.
The thought that he was fucking me like this only for his own pleasure sent mine somehow surging even higher. I wanted to feel used, just a vessel that he could fill up and then empty out only to fill it all over again.
“Fuck, Izzy.” He groaned, gripping me so tightly, my spine squeezed in protest. “Hold on, baby. I’m coming.”
I had always been careful with guys in the past, so no one had ever come inside me before or even fucked me raw for that matter. But this was a dream world, the need for contraception didn’t exist if we didn’t want it to. The silken feel of him and the splash of fluid against my insides was wholly unique to me, and I would keep the memory of this seared into my mind for the rest of my days.
That memory would keep me moving forward when this dream collapsed. Because nothing had changed, we couldn’t stay here.
Vaughn eased out of me, smiling in apology as I winced at the slight pain between my legs. He hadn’t lied about his inability to be gentle, not that I regretted even a moment of it. I rolled my body slightly to the side, so my entire weight wasn’t on him, leaving my leg draped over his waist with my face pressed to the curve of his neck.
I tasted the salty tang of sweat on his skin as I murmured. “So, that was kind of amazing.”
“I guess you weren’t so bad yourself.” He grabbed my hand when I tried to pinch him. Bringing it to his lips, he gently kissed my wrist. “Seriously though, you’ve ruined me for anyone else.”
“Good.” I smiled against his skin, heart aching even as my soul rejoiced. Life offered so few truly perfect moments, but it was hard to appreciate this one when I knew what was coming next. “But we can’t stay here.”
His shoulders sagged as he sighed. “I know.”
I didn’t have to tell him that Chloe couldn’t be left to fend for herself or that every moment we spent here lessened our chances of ever getting back to the real world. Unlike me, Vaughn had a family who would be devastated if he disappeared without a trace. We owed it to the people we loved to fight instead of hiding in a pleasant dream.
Vaughn kissed me again before turning away and rolling off the bed. Even though I’d tried to convince him that we would meet again when I reached the Erlking’s castle, his lips tasted like a farewell. And not the kind that was only temporary. It made me wonder what the Erlking had done to rob him so completely of hope, but I didn’t think I wanted to know.
“How?” he asked, voice already expressionless. Already, it felt like he was withdrawing from what we had done, not just physically but emotionally too. As if he couldn’t stand to feel anymore and still go back to face what waited for him.
I only knew of one surefire way to end a dream, but he wasn’t going to like it.
We chose the sunken tub in a bathroom that only appeared when I willed it into existence. The fifties aesthetic was gone, and the bathroom looked high-class and expensive like something out of a day spa. Marble floors and countertops met walls painted a dull gold. The tub was deep enough for the water to come up to our necks, and I watched it fill with a resigned sigh.
Neither of us had bothered to get dressed since we would only wake up in our bodies just as we’d left them. Any clothing we wore here was already entirely imaginary.
There wasn’t any other way to escape a conscious dream. But everything about being here felt so real that I knew this would be incredibly unpleasant.
Dying usually was.
Vaughn paused at the edge of the tub and turned back to me. “Together?”
I took his offered hand with a tremulous smile, fighting back tears. “Of course.”
The water was pleasantly warm, although that did nothing to calm my nerves. As my body sank further under its surface, I wondered if the pain of drowning would be something I could imagine away. For obvious reasons, I doubted it. Nothing in the Underground ever came easy.
We held onto each other underwater. As my chest started to ache and I inhaled a burning lungful of water, it was only his hands on me that kept me from swimming to the surface. My vision faded in and out, but I kept my focus on him for as long as I could. It was all that made the terrible pain bearable.
The sadness on his face was the last thing I saw before everything went dark.
I came awake with a start, my arms and legs still gripping a solid form. But when my eyes blinked open, it was Puck’s surprised eyes staring back into mine.
My legs and arms were clamped around him while we laid in the small sleeping berth. My hands gripped his chest hard enough to leave little half-moon marks where my nails pressed into his flesh.
Puck made no move to untangle himself from me, but his face creased with concern. “Are you okay?”
“The fog . . .” I trailed off as I looked behind me to see that the fog had completely cleared. The boat had sailed on while we slept, and the spires of the Erlking’s castle rose high overhead as we coasted along the water toward a nearby harbor. “Did you dream?”
He shrugged, studying me with close attention. “Not that I can remember. I assume something happened to you.”
But I didn’t want to share what I had experienced, just in case it had been entirely in my head. How embarrassing would that be when I finally saw Vaughn again, and he had no knowledge of the hyper vivid sex dream I was thinking we had shared.
My gaze moved to the lariat tangled around our bodies. I had to unwind the end of it from around his neck so I could see the stones at the end. All of them had turned bright colors save for the last one
Only one hour left.
“Never mind, I think I’m just confused,” I said, rising from the wooden berth as my joints creaked in protest. Ratty blankets and rotten wood didn’t exactly make for a comfortable sleep surface. “We need to wake up the others. The boat will be docking soon, and we’re almost out of time.”
But he wasn’t going to let it go that easily. Puck followed me out of the berth but grabbed my h
and before I could scurry away and gently pulled me back. Concern filled his gaze, along with an intense curiosity that didn’t entirely make sense. “Tell me what you saw.”
I tried to pull away, but he was too strong. “A fantasy, that’s all. I really don’t want to talk about it.”
His brows knitted together. “Was it the Erlking?”
A blush brightened my cheeks, but at least I could tell him the truth. “It wasn’t. I swear it.”
“You were moaning. It sounding like please more or something like that.”
The blush on my cheeks was hot enough to burn. “I dreamed that I was at a feast with all my favorite foods. It’s been nearly half a day since I’ve eaten anything. I’m starving.”
To my relief, he didn’t ask any further questions. Even though some unidentified emotion passed over his face before he let me go. I had no idea what I might have told him if he’d demanded the entire truth.
A splash of cold water on her face was enough to wake Chloe, who shot up with a curse as she pushed sopping wet hair out of her eyes. Tamlin blinked a few times as I called his name, sliding from sleep into wakefulness in a way that seemed completely seamless.
Neither of them seemed to remember any impossible dreams or at least none they admitted to out loud. It made me wonder if the fog had only done its job on me, which was beyond strange. I’d watched tendrils of it snake up Chloe’s nostrils as she inhaled right before she collapsed. And Tamlin would have been hit with it at the same time I was.
Which meant the Erlking had only wanted me to dream, which made sense. And Vaughn, which didn’t make any sense at all.
But I pushed that aside as we made our way off the boat to the outskirts of the Erlking’s castle. All of us were awake and moving, right now, that was the only thing that mattered.
Vaughn was trapped somewhere inside those walls. And I would never get the chance to discover what we could be together if I didn’t save him. That was more important than any lingering embarrassment about a sex dream.
To my surprise, Chloe seemed almost chipper as she climbed off the boat. Clearly, the fog hadn’t brought her anything more than restful sleep.
“Let’s go kick some Erlking ass,” she cried, wrapping one arm around my shoulders as we started down the path. “That asshole won’t know what hit him.”
I couldn’t stop myself from leaning into her a little bit, if just because I needed someone to tell me that everything was going to work out. “I wish I had your confidence.”
“Girl, you are one of the most amazing people that I’ve ever met. If anyone can show this guy who’s boss, it’s you.”
My own arm came up to wrap around her waist, so we looked like we were about to start running a three-legged race. I felt like Dorothy setting off on the yellow brick road about to face down the wicked witch, but knowing she didn’t have to do it alone.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, because of the danger and all, but I am so glad you’re here,” I said, laughing even though I inexplicably wanted to cry. I knew this brief moment of happiness or camaraderie, or whatever you wanted to call it, wouldn’t last for very long. The next shoe to drop would be a boot to our necks. “Although I’ll probably regret saying that if we all die. I don’t think I could have gotten through some of this without you there.”
Chloe gave me a lopsided grin, but there was a note of wistfulness in her expression. “I’ve always been there for you, no reason to stop now.”
It was only after she said it that I realized it was true. For the longest time, I’d thought of her as just an extension of my guardian and chomped at the bit to elude the control they had over my life. Friendship had always been a foreign concept to me. The years that I should have spent as a young girl having birthday parties and sleepovers were spent institutionalized or under Greta’s watchful eye. It had taken months of wheedling to convince her that she could let me out of her sight long enough to go away for college. Chloe had been paid to make sure that I took my pills and didn’t spiral out of control, not to hang out or warn me when Greta went on the warpath. She’d acted like my friend before I realized that was the word for it.
Without thinking through the impulse for too long, I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you. For everything. When we get back, I’m going to talk to Greta about giving you a raise.”
“Oh, don’t do that. If she figures out we’re friends, then she’ll realize I’ve been withholding information, and she’ll sic somebody else on your tail,” Chloe replied with a laugh, letting me go. She seemed to think about it for a moment. “Although, you can upgrade our cable package with HBO if you really want to do me a favor.”
Of course. “You got it.”
But the pleasant feelings quickly turned to confusion when I saw what was waiting for us at the gates of the grand castle.
“Seriously? This is the last challenge.” Chloe pulled away from me to rush ahead. “I think the Erlking is losing his touch.”
Tamlin lengthened his stride to catch up with her. “Appearances can be deceiving. We should proceed with caution.”
But nothing ahead of us appeared to be at all foreboding. In fact, it was the exact opposite. We were surrounded by lush green grass, healthier than anything else I’d seen here. The grass was cut at alternating lengths in a square pattern, mimicking a chessboard. Full size chess pieces made of clear and frosted glass stood at the ready, set up perfectly for us to begin a game. It looked like something that I’d seen before at a local park meant for kids to play with, except those pieces had been made of plastic.
What was supposed to be scary about that?
I turned to Puck, who was hanging back on the very edge of the grass. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “I’ve already accepted that we’re all going to die, so I’m the wrong person to ask. Tamlin is right, though. We should be careful. The Erlking always has a trick up his sleeve.”
“He has to keep his tricks up his sleeve because there’s no room in those tight ass pants.”
But Puck didn’t laugh at the joke, surprising me. Not because what I said was particularly funny, but because he’d been bopping around since the beginning, always the source of levity. But now he seemed deathly serious, his face practically a mask. It was as if finally arriving at the Erlking’s castle had drained all of the joy from him.
“Are you okay?” I murmured, only loud enough for him to hear.
“Do you know the last thing the Erlking ever said to me?” he asked, voice almost conversational despite the obvious fear in his eyes. “Precisely what he would do to me if he ever saw me again. I’ll spare you the details, but it wasn’t family-friendly.”
It made sense that he would be afraid. The Erlking ruled this realm, altered it to fit his whims, and exerted complete control. It was no wonder that I’d stumbled on Puck along the outskirts, as far from the castle as it was possible to get. “You don’t have to come with us. That was never our deal.”
His smile was sad. “And let you face him on your own? It would be better to die than to live with myself if the worst happened.”
“Do you want to tell me more about what happened?”
“You’ll find in this place that most of us do very little of what we want, but I’ll tell you if you’d like to hear it.” He stared at me for a long moment, amethyst eyes glowing like jewels even as I tried and failed to read the emotion hidden in them. “Until I failed him, I was the jester of the Erlking’s court for longer than can be calculated with time. The Underground has not always been the ruin that you see now. Before, it teemed with life, from the lowliest goblins that served as footmen in the castle to the highborn elves who made up his court. Nymphs swam in the waters that border the land, and selkies would slip their skin to bask on its shores. This is a place created by mortal dreams, with every creature born of human imagination residing within it.”
The setting sun had turned a bloody red on the horizon. Despite the chessboard colored like Easter
grass with its crystal pieces glinting in the light, I felt a stab of ominous premonition. I didn’t need a crystal ball to know that something terrible was about to happen.
“How did things change?” I asked, knowing I shouldn’t. “Why did you end up in exile?”
“The Erlking treated every subject in his kingdom with respect, even with grace. All, save one. This poor creature became the victim of all his cruelest impulses. Even I, as his court jester, never endured anything like what he would visit on this one. I told you they were a prisoner before, but that wasn’t the entire truth.” Puck looked away so that I couldn’t see his expression. But I could see the tension singing through his body. “His most prized possession, the Erlking would claim despite all evidence to the contrary. Torture was the only word for what he would do. You might wonder why I did nothing to stop the abuse, why none of us did, but you can’t possibly understand what it was like to serve him. I will always regret not doing something to stop it, especially when I knew that what I saw wasn’t the worst of it.”
“What did you see?”
He shook his head, expression bleak. “I won’t speak of it, not so close to the castle.”
I swallowed hard, fighting the wave of fear washing over me. “You still haven’t explained why you were exiled.”
“His precious whipping toy escaped or was stolen. It’s difficult to say which. When the Erlking asked me what I had seen, I lied and sent him searching in the opposite direction. He has never forgiven me, and I was lucky to survive his wrath with my life.” Puck’s face was as closed off as I’d ever seen it, not revealing even the barest hint of emotion. His eyes had darkened to a violet that appeared nearly black. “It was only later that I found out the Erlking had not lost only his toy, but the keys to his very kingdom. The land has been slowly dying ever since.”
I hated how desperately I wanted to ask him more, especially when I could see the poorly disguised pain in his numb expression. In all the stories I’d ever read, the Erlking would steal children or young women and hold them captive in his realm. I could only assume the toy he referred to had to be one of those. “Did the Erlking ever get it, or them, back?”