Urien’s magic is the only thing standing between me and death.
Kent stands and Aeric takes his place, plunging into me with one easy stroke. With it comes a pointed crack of power that tumbles through the rest of me, joins and forms under Urien’s hands, forcing the darkness back inch by painful inch. But the way Aeric feels is good. So good. Too good.
It echoes that night in the Crystal Court in my mind, the unyielding way he gave me what I needed and took what he wanted. Fingers dig into my hips to hold me still as he fucks me in a ruthless rhythm. Cool, spiced magic billows up from my core, soothing and caressing and sharpening.
Bright rage explodes behind my eyes, dark power fighting back with equal force. I try to hold back the scream, but I just sound strangled. Torture sings along my limbs, battling with that perfect heat building in my core. Pain and pleasure combining so I don’t know which is winning.
Kent appears by my side, and his mouth is on mine. He tastes like my sweetness and magic too, plunging into my mouth with his tongue. My moans are lost in him, but he doesn’t let go. Instead he pulls me deeper, kissing me until I no longer have the breath to cry out.
Teeth bite down on my nipples, one and then the other. Mouths sucking together. One is a slow and sweetly teasing, the other a frenzied onslaught. Both feel like their lips are on my clit, threading the pleasure out till it’s thin as a wire, one tiny breath is all it will take for me to fall off into the sea of heat below.
Aeric is the one who pushes me over. He leans forward, grinding down onto my clit, and the world lights up. Magic and pleasure spiral up my spine, twining outward into the cracks and crevices that I didn’t know could feel this good. My body jerks under all of their touch, craving more.
Heat spikes through me when Aeric comes with a shuddering breath. He sinks into me with a final thrust, spilling himself until he’s empty. His face has that light on it—I’m glowing again. So much magic. Pulling, twisting, forming a ball of light in the perfect center of me.
Urien’s hands leave my skin and for those few seconds he’s not touching me it’s perfect agony. Darkness explodes, eclipsing all light. And then his hands are on my thighs, magic flowing under his command as he enters me slowly. It’s a torturous journey; every inch is being like being impaled with exquisite fire.
I want to pull away. I can’t pull away. I want more.
When he’s buried inside me, as deep as he can go, he stops. He slides his hands up my ribs so they’re once again covering that place where the darkness gathers. I feel so bright, so drowned in magic and pleasure and pain that I’m paralyzed. But Urien isn’t. His palm is flat on my stomach. Meeting my gaze, his eyes reflecting the glow of my skin, he nods. “I’m sorry.”
He raises his hand, and the world dissolves into nothing but pain. No amount of pleasure or power can fix this. The roar in my ears covers the sound of my screaming. Hands, other hands, come down on mine. Arms wrap and hold me still. There are lips at my ears begging me to hold on and lips on my skin trying to soothe. Nothing helps.
Tendrils of crimson light float up from my skin towards Urien’s hand. They coat it like a glove. That thing inside of me grows smaller as he pulls it upwards and out of me. Moving his hips, he forces power into my body. Magic that speaks of winter nights and pillowed whispers. The first crunch of frost and the brightness of new stars.
And still he pulls, the crystal reforming in his palm bit by bit. Every second feels like claws buried in my gut. They pull me apart and shred me to ribbons. I watch that tiny, glowing thing reform in his hand, and I feel my body go still without my consent. I hear my breath stop and my heart skip a beat, and then two.
I feel myself on the edge of falling.
Urien wrenches his hand upward, and it’s gone, the crystal in his hand complete and no longer in me. I crash back into my body, residual pain coating my limbs. It’s not gone though, the curse. That comes next.
He tosses the crystal aside closes his eyes as he slams in to the hilt. My pleasure is free now, no longer tangled up in that twisted darkness. In what almost feels like rebellion, I come instantly, body quaking.
Magic of every kind is still sliding through me, circling inside, looping up and out and through. I don’t stop coming, splashes of pleasure washing over me. I think the world might be made of pleasure now. I can eat it and drink it and breathe it in. Bathe in it and drown in it and still live.
Urien leans over me, pressing a kiss to my stomach while he works towards his own climax. He shudders with it, heat easing through me and showering me with new pleasure. I could stay like this, I think. Caught in an endless loop of orgasms and magic.
All the power in me draws towards my center, packing together, focusing where he kisses my skin. It becomes so dense that it’s heavy, weighing me down. I’m glowing so brightly that I’m throwing shadows on the walls. The ball of magic sinks down through me, finding a place I hadn’t noticed. That place that’s slowly draining me away. Power fills it up and makes it whole again.
I can feel it try to fight back, to take all the magic that’s being shoved into it and spirit it away, but there’s too much in me now. And with a tiny tremor, that thread snaps.
Leftover magic ricochets around inside me, and I can’t see anything but the bright aftermath. The only thought I have as my body sinks into white oblivion is finally.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
________
KARI
I come to consciousness so slowly that my first real thought is wondering if I’ve been drugged. But no, my mind isn’t that cloudy. It just feels like my body hasn’t truly rested in weeks, and it finally had the chance—which is true. Even now, I think that if I let myself, I could just fade back down into sleep again.
Instead, I open my eyes.
I’m not in a familiar place. This room is beautiful, from what I can see. Pale, warm walls rise into open archways that look out over a garden that’s a tangled, gorgeous mess. The trickling of water can be heard somewhere close.
The kind of light bouncing around the room is bright and clear like morning, and this bed might be the softest thing I’ve felt in my life.
My next realization is that there’s no pain. I don’t hurt anywhere. Well, that’s not exactly true, since I ache between my legs, undoubtedly from the frantic amount of sex and magic. But there’s no magical pain. I don’t have the awareness of being drained every second. The relief is so strong that my eyes blur for a second with tears before I blink them away.
I take a deep breath, enjoying the sensation of being able to do that without cringing. There’s a weight when I take that breath though. And a very large, male arm attached to that weight, draped across my naked waist, hand spread across my stomach either to feel my breath or to stake a claim. Either could be true with these men. Slowly, still marveling that I can move so freely, I turn over to see which male is in this bed with me.
My body is still weak, but at least this kind of weakness I know I can come back from. I’ve recovered from injuries before. Sure, I haven’t come back from not one but two near-death experiences. But it can’t be that different, right?
I complete my turn and find myself face to face with Brae. His eyes are closed, breath even in his sleep. I realize that this is the first time I’ve seen any of them sleep. They only slept when we stopped, and often I was sleeping then too. He’s not wearing a shirt, and I savor the chance to drink him in. Skin that’s golden tan and smooth. Muscles that flow from one to the other. They’ve been so busy giving me pleasure and making sure I’m still alive that I haven’t had the chance to explore them. Not that I haven’t wanted to.
Reaching out, I press my palm to his chest, feeling the warmth of him and his heartbeat under my hand. Brae jumps, waking at my touch. It takes him a second to realize that I’m staring at him—touching him—and he comes to alertness in an instant, nearly jumping off the bed. “You’re awake. Let me get Urien.”
“Wait,” I say, halting his movement. “Just stay
for a second. Please.” I want to know about the others, but I also don’t want to move. For a few minutes, I want this to be just ours.
He lays back down next to me, not replacing his arm on my waist until I put his hand there. But as soon as he touches my skin, his hand slides up my spine, drawing me close to his body. Oh, I’m so tired I could fall asleep again right now. He’s so warm that it’s making me drowsy. But I have questions.
“How long?”
“A couple of days. We’ve taken turns staying with you, to make sure you didn’t wake up alone.”
I press my forehead into his chest. “I feel like I got hit by a truck.”
“I’m not surprised.” There’s amusement in his voice.
“What happened?”
His hand slides up and down my back, drawing soothing circles. “As far as we know, it’s gone. After Urien broke the connection and you’d passed out, we…destroyed that crystal.”
The hesitation there tells me there’s more to the story, but at least that’s gone. “Good.”
He laughs softly, but it fades. His lips press against my temple, and his voice is full of emotion. “We were afraid that you wouldn’t wake up.”
“What? Why?”
“Anything can happen with black magic,” he says. “What if the curse was meant to kill you once the connection severed? Or trapped you inside yourself?”
“I’m glad that I didn’t know those things were an option,” I say, voice muffled because I’ve tucked my face into his neck. No doubt they didn’t tell me because I was already frightened and dying. But it would have been nice to know that it could have been the last time ever seeing them. “Don’t hide anything else from me. Please.”
“I won’t. But there are some things we’ve agreed to tell you together.”
That’s fine. I don’t care about that. They can talk to me together all they like as long as there aren’t any secrets. I’ve had enough of not knowing things. There are still too many things I don’t know about Ariana and why she’s doing this for me to accept not knowing.
“Anything else you need to tell me?”
He nods slowly, and I find myself getting lost in warm green eyes. “Magic like that—black magic—always has a cost.”
Fear grips me. “Please tell me everyone is all right.”
He smiles, like he’s happy that’s my first thought. “Everyone is fine. But you are different.” Grasping my hand, he places it on his chest where I had it when I woke up.
This time I look at my hand, and he’s right. It’s paler than it should be. I’ve always been fair, but my skin is white. “It started when we brought you back the first time,” he says. “When we found you, you were like this. We thought it would go back once we finished the ritual, but it didn’t.” He pulls a lock of my hair forward, and it’s white too. Pale, shimmering softly like tinsel. The memory of color.
“Oh,” I say. I should be happy that it wasn’t something worse—that the cost wasn’t someone’s life or senses. But still, there’s a pang in my gut. I loved my hair. Being a natural redhead of that shade isn’t common. I’d never dyed it. But I’m still grateful. If this has to be the cost, I can live with it. I’ll get used to it.
Brae searches my face, seeing if I’m okay. I try to smile, and feel stupid for caring that much. I’ll be fine. I will. But the smile doesn’t quite make it to my face. He senses it and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
I’m very naked, and he’s halfway there, and it’s suddenly all I think about. But I’m fixed. There’s no reason now, and I can’t bear any kisses out of pity. I refuse to assume anything. I pull back, “I’m going to miss that.”
“Miss what?”
“I’m not dying,” I say. “You don’t have a reason to have sex with me anymore. I’ll miss it. It was fun.” All consuming. Everything I’ve ever wanted. Something I’m not sure how I’ll ever live without.
He laughs softly, but this laugh is deep and sexy. “Kari, why would any of us stop that?” His lips brush mine again, barely a caress. “Did you think that was the only reason?”
“I hoped that it wasn’t,” I admit.
“It’s not. More than you could ever know.”
I frown. “What does that mean?”
Brae shakes his head, though his eyes are filled with fire. “This is one of the things we agree to tell you together.”
Pressing up against him, I feel how hard he is. I move my hips against his cock, and he stiffens. “Or you could tell me now.”
There’s a slow smile. “I like you when you’re not dying.”
“I can show you how much you’ll like me,” I say.
He rolls over me faster than I can blink, weight pinning me to the bed. I’m too weak to resist him—not that I would want to. His lips drag across my collarbone before he speaks. “Or I can go get Urien so he can make sure you’re all right, and you’ll find out everything.”
I sigh, “Fine.”
He chuckles, brushing my ear with his lips. “I’m more than happy to continue this later.”
“Promise?”
“I do,” he says as he stands off the bed. His words hang in the air, nearly tangible. He disappears, and it’s barely two minutes later that I hear footsteps. Urien leads the way into the room, followed quickly by Brae. No one else, yet.
Urien looks up and down my body, and I blush even though the gaze is clinical. I can blush now, without pain. Thank you, I say to the Goddess in my mind. And out loud, I say, “Thank you. For what you did.”
He kneels beside the bed. “It was my pleasure, Kari.” Just like in the temple, he places his hands on my chest and stomach. His magic is so distinct and so clear as it washes through me. Cold winter nights with stars above. Wind and the northern lights. He wields it with precision, searching through me for any signs or remnants of what she did.
I don’t feel anything but him. There’s no resistance and no agony. Just soothing bliss. “Yes,” Urien says. “You are free of it. I wanted to make sure once you woke that there wasn’t anything hidden in your consciousness that I missed. You’ll still be weak, but there is no magic left in you but your own.”
A sigh of relief escapes me, and on its heels comes a wave of emotion. I turn away from both of them and curl my face into the pillows so they don’t see the tears spilling down my face.
I’m not a crier. Not normally. But everything I’ve been holding back—or that was forced down—comes rushing up and out at once. I never wanted to admit how scared I was. The idea of being murdered. I had to hold on and fight as hard as I could. But it’s over.
Hands smooth down my back, and I bury my face further, covering it with my hands. I know they know, but I don’t want them to see. They’ve seen me weak enough, they don’t need to see this.
The warmth of a body presses against my back, and I feel the mattress dip as the other joins on the bed. Instantly, I’m pressed between them, and I glance up to see Brae in front of me again. I close my eyes, though that doesn’t stop the tears from flowing over. “I’m sorry,” I say, unable to make my voice louder than a whisper.
“Why would you apologize for this?”
I can’t speak. I just shake my head and allow him to cradle me closer. He turns me so that he’s pressed against my back. Lifting the hair off my neck, he presses a kiss to my nape, soft and gentle before he pillows my head on his arm. The other one is slung around me just like it was when I woke. The steadiness of his breathing calms me, lets me start to match him.
Urien is in front of me now. His features are beautiful and dark, and I want to taste his lips again. I want to know him in the way that I know the others. He seems to want that too. “Kari,” he says, and I’m carried away by that voice. In the human world that voice would win awards and have people begging him to read things to them for the sake of hearing him speak.
One hand cups my face, thumb brushing away a tear. “You were attacked. More than once. There was every chance that you were going to die. Your body was
invaded and taken away from you. Those are things that leave a mark. You have nothing to apologize for.”
I open my mouth to speak, but he silences me with his lips. Soft and seeking, the tenderness brings a new wave of emotion. Relief and embarrassment and happiness and grief all at once. It’s too much.
“Tears are good for you,” Urien whispers, simply watching my face. There’s no sign of judgment there, or in the kiss that Brae leaves on the side of my neck. I weave my fingers with the ones Brae has spread across my stomach. He holds on as hard as I am.
“But—”
Urien kisses me again, swallowing my protest. If I’m going to be told to stop talking, I can’t say that this is a method that I mind that much. He’s good at distracting me, making my body want other things.
“I want you to understand something,” he says. “I took in that magic to release it. I held it for a few seconds at most, and it was the worst pain that I’ve felt in my very long life. You bore it for weeks. Anyone, fae or human, who would mock you or think you weak for your tears is no one worth your time.”
And so I let myself cry. Urien’s hands stroke down my side, caressing and soothing while Brae steadies me. I let it all out. The pain and the anger and the grief and the loneliness. Everything that I didn’t have time to feel, I pour it out with the tears and let it go.
I’m not sure how long it takes, but when it settles, I feel clear. I’m still weak and utterly exhausted, but my mind is settled. They both can feel the shift in me, and Brae slides our joined hands up and back so he can kiss my palm. Urien offers me a soft, wet cloth to wash my face. I do, ignoring the fact that my eyes must be swollen beyond recognition.
Urien is the first to move, sliding off the bed and offering me his hand. I hate how much I have to lean on him just to stand, but at the same time, it feels so good to be upright. “Are there any clothes?”
Brae chuckles. “I don’t think anyone would mind if you walked around naked.”
Fevered: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 1) Page 17