Releasing him briefly, I drag my tongue from base to tip. His cock jerks, and he curses under his breath. I smile, kissing my way down to his balls and back. Slowly, so slowly, I seal my mouth to his skin and suck to the tip of his cock, teasing him. I push down onto his shaft an inch at a time, pulling back with each stroke and taking him further. Until he’s filling my mouth completely, cock bumping the back of my throat and I’m straining to contain him.
Pulling back, I dive back down onto him again. I take him almost completely, and he groans. Both of his hands wind into my hair and pull me firmly onto his cock. My lips touch the skin of his stomach and Kent curses again. His cock jumps in my throat, and I swallow him.
Kent thrusts his hips once, again, and a final time, crying out my name as he spills himself down my throat. He tastes of salt and something deeper. I want all of it. All of him. I hold myself hard against him, not releasing him until he’s finished and I’ve swallowed everything that he has to give.
When he looks down at me, his eyes are glazed with pleasure. He doesn’t seem remotely bothered by the fact that we had an audience. Hauling me upwards along his body, Kent pins me to the bedding and puts his lips to my skin. Finally, finally, he’s touching me.
A dam has been unleashed. Everything that has been held back is released, and I’m overwhelmed by it. Kent worships my body. Thoroughly. My breasts swell under his attention. The path he traces with his tongue leaves fire on my shuddering skin. By the time he’s between my legs I’m already half-way there.
Scratch that, I’m all the way there. The second his tongue touches my clit my orgasm hits. Deep, swirling, pleasure swells and pulls me under the wave of it. Kent covers me with his mouth, sucking relentlessly. It sends me over again, my body falling into the rhythm it now knows thanks to the past few days—coming over and over again. Nothing but a haze of delicious and sweet feelings roll through me until it’s over.
Kent is over me now, kissing me without reservation or shyness. Not caring at all that I’ve already been touched by another male tonight. I love him for that. I love when he helps me pull on my clothes because the temperature has dropped in the Kingdom of Stone and it’s too cold for me to sleep naked with him. I love when he wraps me in his arms and holds me close, tangling us together so we can fall asleep. Finally, together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
________
KARI
I open my eyes to white. Purely the color. I blink, trying to clear away whatever glare has blinded me, but there’s nothing. I’m colder than I remember being when I fell asleep, and I can feel that Kent’s arms are not around me anymore. I reach for him, but I can’t reach for him, because I can’t move.
I can’t move.
I can’t open my mouth to scream. Nothing in my body is responding, not even when I try to make any kind of sound. All that does is raise the taste of thick, burnt ash and rotting fruit, and bring back the memory of blooming pain. No. No. No.
My stomach spirals into sick dread. No. This can’t be happening. I was safe. I was safe. I was surrounded by protection. She can’t be here. This is a dream and I have to wake up. Now.
Please. I beg anyone, any God or Goddess who will listen. Get me out of here.
My vision suddenly clears, and I’m surrounded by white again but I can see now. The white is stone. It looks icy and menacing. I’m still in the Kingdom of Stone, but this is not a place I have seen before. I have no idea how far I have been taken. Do they know I am gone yet?
Oh my god, they won’t know where I am. I can see them now, realizing that I’m gone and what it must mean and it makes my chest ache. The strange, white stone landscape blurs with the tears in my eyes, and I blink them away, ignoring the grieving hole in my chest. I need to focus. I need to find a way back to them. It’s not fair. They’ve worked so hard to keep me alive. I can’t let it happen like this. I will not die here.
I can see enough to know that I’m floating, suspended in the air. I don’t feel weightless, but I’m not touching anything. In the absolute corners of my vision I can see two figures, cloaked and shrouded with outstretched hands. Flickers of magic fly out from them. They’re what’s keeping me afloat.
My heart stops when she steps into my line of vision. Her. The fae female who’s tried to kill me twice now. She looks almost the same as I remember. Long, pale blonde hair flows over her shoulders. Perfect features and dark eyes. She’s stunningly beautiful. Gone is the dark dress from when she first attacked me, replaces with simpler clothing, close to what I’m wearing.
She stares me in that way that I remember, looking down at me with mild curiosity. Her head tilts to the side as she studies me, barely a flicker in her expression as she studies me.
“So strange, that a human would cause so much trouble,” she says softly. “You have enough magic to steal, but certainly aren’t worth the protection of three fae warriors. So what is it that I have failed to notice about you?”
I still can’t move, but this time, when I try to speak, I can. Barely. My voice is low and raspy, like it’s being forced through whatever magic is binding me. “You wanted to steal my magic?”
A condescending smile, just for a moment. “I imagine that at this point you are wondering who I am.”
I am, but I don’t say anything. She probably won’t answer any questions that I ask, regardless.
“My name is Ariana,” she continues, looking down at me. “But that is all you shall ever know.”
“Please, just tell me why?” I’m desperate.
She reaches out and traces a finger down my cheek. “You are so interesting. It’s a pity I cannot afford to indulge my curiosity.”
“Tell me why,” I say again.
“You are rare.” Her gaze runs down my body in an appraising way, all the way to my feet and circling back to meet my eyes. “Humans who are born with magic. So old, so diluted. So different from Allwyn’s magic. And I have need of it.”
It’s both relieving and horrifying to know that it has nothing to do with me. There’s nothing I could have done to prevent this. It’s just a quirk, handed down from however many generations ago that a fae was in my family line.
But even though there’s nothing I could have done to stop it, there’s nothing I did to attract it either. Which is just so monumentally unfair. It was random. Could have been anyone. Might have already been. “Were there others?”
“Yes,” she says, her eyes devoid of emotion. “Do you find that comforting?”
I shudder in spite of the magic paralyzing me. “No.”
She raises her hand, examining a blood-red crystal in her fingers. It glows like a coal, and I already know that it’s infused with the same magic I’ve been feeling all this time, the curse she cast that’s been slowly killing me. That wasn’t meant to last this long at all. “Of all of them, know that you lasted the longest. That alone makes you different.” A twitch of her lips. “I know how much humans desire to be different.”
Suddenly the magic that’s holding me tightens, constricting to the point of pain and I can’t breathe. Her fingers wrap around my jaw, forcing it open with one hand while she drops the crystal into my mouth with the other. She shoves it towards my throat, and I retch, whole body stinging with the pressure of magic and pain of invasion.
Forcing my mouth closed, one hand wraps over my nose and mouth, cutting off all possibility of breath. “Swallow it.”
I shake my head the fraction of an inch it will move. I try to make myself react. To spit. To force this piece of stone away from me, but I can’t. Nothing works. Except I can breathe, if she’d let me. And swallow.
The crystal’s magic is already burning, seeping into the skin of my mouth and spreading pain outward and down to the rest of me. I won’t. I won’t do it. But I’m quickly running out or air, and the minute I try to take a breath I know what’s going to happen. I won’t die like this. I can’t die like this. Not alone.
Tears rush to my eyes again, spilling over and down my
skin. I see Ariana look at them, and she doesn’t react. I knew, deep down, that she wouldn’t react. But it hurts anyway. She sees me as nothing. As less than nothing. She’s going to dump my body for them to find like I’ve never existed.
Oh my god, I’m never going to see them again. A new wave of tears flows and pain rips through my chest. They mean something to me. Every one of them. More than the sex and the fact that they saved my life. Something has been pulling us together them and it’s shattering. I’ve never felt so broken.
I’m out of air, but I don’t breathe. I hold on until I’m dizzy with the lack of it. If this bitch wants to kill me, I’m not going to make it easy. She’s still watching me, and she smiles, just a little. Like she knows I’m determined to fight with whatever I’ve got.
Air. I need it. Crave it. There are spots in my vision. The world is dark and spinning. I don’t have a choice but to take a breath. But I can’t. Her hand is sealed over my nose and mouth, blocking it. There’s more than a hand there—there’s power. Cutting me off from every supply. My body is convulsing, begging for anything even though there’s nothing to take. I inhale anyway—or try—gulping empty atmosphere trying to stay alive.
I realize my mistake too late when the crystal slips down my throat, burning its way through my chest and deep down. It’s lodged there, churning fire and spitting pain like I’ve swallowed lit gasoline.
Her hand leaves and air flies into my lungs so fast it makes me choke. Light and color come back, and so does the pain that was dimmed by my dying. It’s never felt like this before. Pure. Acute. Distilled.
And then she puts her hand on my chest, and everything explodes. My vision fades to white, and I recall this sensation with shocking clarity. I’m back on the sidewalk in New York, and my life is being pulled away. I feel it moving inside me, gladly running to her as she calls it. This time there’s no coming back.
There’s a sound, like slithering. Slow and steady and shivering. I can smell the burning of orange peels, and I remember what this looks like. Her crimson magic stealing the colors of my soul, even though I can’t see it.
And of course, there’s the pain. She’s ripping me to bits, methodically separating my soul from my bones. I’m being ground to dust and blown away. The white behind my eyes is fading to gray. She’s lit me on fire, hasn’t she? She must have, if I feel this way.
I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to burn alive. What it would be like to be one of those martyrs burned at the stake. Now I understand.
I would have chosen any other way to go, but under the circumstances…
dissolving…
seems like
a mercy
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
________
KENT
I reach for Kari and feel nothing. She must have shifted away in the night. I reach further, but there’s still nothing. Cracking open one eye, she’s not lying next to me anymore. It’s possible that she just stepped away to relieve herself, but the bedding beside me is stone cold.
I’m fully awake now, scanning the camp. Aeric is nowhere, but Brae and Verys are sleeping by the low fire. “Kari,” I say, at a normal volume. If she’s around the corner, I don’t want to panic. But there’s something inside me that tells me she’s not close, and there’s no answer.
“Brae, Verys,” I say louder. Their eyes open, and then like I did, they shift instantly into alertness.
“Where is she?” Brae asks.
I swallow. “I don’t know.”
I’ve never seen anyone move so fast. They’re on their feet in seconds, buckling on the weapons they carry with them and are sprinting out of the camp. I’m with them too. “Kari!” I shout it as loud as I can in case she’s somewhere close. I want to be wrong. Please let me be wrong.
I’m not wrong.
Outside the circle of our camp is a crumpled body. Aeric. He’s unconscious and bleeding from a wound in his side, but he’s still breathing.
My entire body goes cold. She was taken while she was right next to me. I didn’t hear anything, didn’t even wake. Fuck. How could this have happened? Fierce, nauseating terror grips me, and I have to breathe. Shove it down. Fear isn’t going to get her back.
But I know it’s not going away. I love Kari. She’s it for me. It’s the end of the story. It doesn’t matter if I’m sharing her with ten men; she will always be the love of my life. I can’t lose her. Not now.
Brae places his hand over Aeric’s wound and it seals together. It’s not fully healed, but enough to stop the damage. Aeric jerks like he’s been electrocuted, thrashing before he comes awake coughing. “Aeric,” Brae says. “What happened?”
He’s still coughing, but he sits up. “I didn’t see anything. One blast. Came out of nowhere, and I was down.” He spits onto the ground. “Dark magic. I’ve never felt anything like that before. Except in New York.”
“Can you move?”
Aeric stands, wincing. “Like hell are you going without me. I’m fine.”
“Give me a weapon,” I say. The three of them turn to me in unison, like they forgot I was there for a moment.
Verys looks at me. “Maybe you should hang back. This isn’t something you’ve dealt with.” That’s code for ‘you’ll be in the way.’ I’m not having that right now.
“I’ve killed fae before,” I say flatly.
They’re all staring at me still, and the energy shifts with the new information. I have killed fae before, and no, I’m not going to tell them about it. Aeric steps forward and unsheathes a wicked-looking knife from his belt and hands it to me. “Let’s go.”
We take nothing with us but the essentials. We can always come back once we find her. Or—
I stop the thought in its tracks. We are going to find her. Alive.
Verys takes the lead, and the other two allow it. I don’t question it, assuming that he some sort of tracking skill that will help us. I keep looking around for any sign of her, but we’re in a place with no brush. No plant-life or dirt. Nothing that I would normally use to track someone.
But Verys walks without hesitation. And then he stops, tilts his head. I can see from here that his eyes are closed, like he’s listening to something. “There.” His eyes snap open, and he points to the left. All of us start to sprint. There’s no time and we all know it, but we can’t say it out loud.
I feel the desperation in my companions and it is equal to mine. We won’t lose her. We can’t.
The scenery changes as we run. The color vanishes out of the landscape, fading into paler stone. The formations that once had vibrant streaks of purples, blues, and yellows are now entirely white. Were it not for the violet sky I would think we were in Antarctica. There’s a small breeze whistling through the stones, and the cold scent of dust and emptiness.
Suddenly I’m running alone. All three fae stand frozen behind me, Brae falling to his knees and vomiting. Aeric is heaving in breaths and looks positively ill, and Verys is stock still, eyes like fire with a gaze on the horizon.
“What is it?”
“Black magic,” Brae grits out. “Bad.”
Verys locks eyes with me. “But we know exactly where she is.”
There is nothing else to be said. Brae shoves himself up from the ground, and we’re running now with Verys leading the way. Spires of white stone rise up around us like fangs, stark and sinister.
Anxiety churns in my gut. We’re close now. Please, please let her be alive.
There’s a cluster of rock formations up ahead and the fae next to me speed up. I can’t keep up with them, but I push myself as hard as my body can go. They make it first, disappearing behind the rocks. I’m seconds behind them, and I see them clearing the area behind the stones, searching for enemies.
And then I see Kari.
What’s left of her.
Red, curling magic writhes in serpentine shapes over her body. Her skin has gone flat and white, along with her hair. The life has been leeched out of her. I fall to my knees b
eside her, gather her up into my arms without a thought. Her skin is cold like the stone beneath her.
My stomach plummets into despair. No. No. But there, just the tiniest shift in her chest. A breath? “Kari.” I whisper to her, even though my voice breaks. “Kari, please. Don’t let go. Come back.”
Terror as sheer as a cliff drives through me. If she’s alive, there’s a chance. But we might be too late. And I can do nothing.
Then Brae is there with me, banishing this magic with a blast of his own. His hands cup Kari’s face, and he places his forehead against hers.
The words are like rocks in my mouth, but I have to know. “Is she gone?”
“Almost.”
Light pours from his hands into Kari’s chest, bright as the sun. He doesn’t hold back. And I hold on to her. I don’t want to let go. This tiny hope is all I have right now. Kari is the center of everything, and I don’t know what to do if she doesn’t come back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
________
KARI
“Kari.”
The voice sounds very far away. It caresses my mind like a whisper.
“Kari, please. Don’t let go. Come back.” Words slither softly in the darkness. I’m blind, but I can sense the empty expanse around me. This doesn’t make me afraid, even though I’m standing on the edge of a cliff. No, the fall will be invigorating. This blackness is comforting. There’s nothing to fear here. Why would I leave?
“Is she gone?” the whispers sound anguished. I used to know what that means. A flicker of something deep inside—something I should remember but do not.
“Almost.”
But I’m not gone. I’m right here. Who are these whispers?
Light as bright as the sun burns through the darkness. Pain and brilliance and life. My soul climbs out of the darkness and back into my body. But I don’t want it. There’s nothing but pain. I open my eyes to violet sky. Faces float over mine, and the first breath I take is like inhaling an inferno. Every cell craves more oxygen and there’s not enough. My own body is fighting itself for air.
Fevered: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 1) Page 13