Unsidhe Assassin (Darkly Mine Season 1)

by Leona Windwalker

  “I like him well enough,” Willow replied. “You are alone this evening, Lord Cypress?”

  “I thought to see what there was to sample. Why eat the same thing every day, eh?”

  My skin crawled.

  “Or be eaten by the same,” Willow laughed. “Would you like my boy to have a taste of you?”

  I prayed he’d say no.

  “That would be delightful.” He settled into a chair by Willow, widening his legs in invitation. Willow flattened his hand on my chest and gave me a small push, letting me know to go. I’d seen this sort of thing before in clubs, where a dom would share his sub. My job took me all kinds of places. I crawled over to where my job was sending me now, between some middle-aged fae’s legs. I reached for his trousers and pulled him out. His cock was already hard, red, and weeping precome, which I made a big show of lapping up. I swirled my tongue around the head, then sucked him in, flattening my tongue as I added suction.

  “Oh, he has a talented mouth!” the geezer gushed. Thankfully, his cock was short and fat, so when he began making thrusting motions, he didn’t become a battering ram like Willow did. I relaxed my mouth and let him fuck my face until he came, swallowing him his cream when he finally exploded. Then I licked him clean and tucked him back into his pants like a good boy.

  Lord Cypress licked his lips as he looked at me. “I’m terribly torn. I do wish I could have a taste of him, but I hate to ask.”

  “No blood,” Willow said, his voice sternly underscoring his words.

  “No, no. I just want to suck him off,” Lord Cypress replied hastily. “I’d love to ask to fuck him, but after just having come, it’ll be a while before I can go again.”

  Willow tilted his head, giving him a lazy grin. “What if I fucked him while you sucked him off?”

  “And what about me?” Came Puzzle’s voice from behind me. “I’m the host, do I get to play?”

  “He could suck you off at the same time,” Lord Cypress suggested.

  I was about to be the filling in a rather large sandwich. My traitorous cock was busy signaling its delight at the thought of getting a blow job from a guy who probably had more years of experience giving them than twice the number of years I’d even been alive. Puzzle moved to my periphery, and I saw he already had his cock out. Like Willow, his dick was long, though his was slender while Willow’s wasn’t. My mouth watered. I was quickly becoming a cock hound. I’d always loved sex but not like this. When I went for a hookup, I always talked with the guy I was picking up for a bit, bought him drinks. I only made a move if I felt some kind of connection, of attraction to the guy himself even though it was never going any farther than wham, bam, thank you, man. I didn’t even like these guys. They were just cocks and mouths while doing it or about to do it and potentially lethal traps any other time.

  “Loincloth off,” Willow ordered me, and I pulled the ties on the sides, dropping it to the floor. “Get me wet,” he ordered. I turned my mouth’s attention to the dick he had out ready for me. I slobbered over it, getting it as wet as possible as I knew he meant for that to the only lube I was getting tonight. This was going to burn. “Enough,” he said. I pulled my head away with a wet pop. He held two fingers in front of my mouth. “Get them wet, too.”

  I did as he asked, sucking them and soaking them with as much saliva as I could muster. “On my lap,” he said, pulling his fingers free of my mouth. I clambered up onto him, up on my knees, one leg either side of his. Without any further prep, he shoved both fingers into my hole, making me wince. It burned. I breathed out, knowing the pain would soon settle. He twisted his fingers about, then scissored them twice before pulling them free. “Turn around.”

  I shifted about unclad my legs now on top of his still trousered ones, my bare back flush against his buttoned-up shirt. I lifted my hips, and he pointed his cock at my hole. Using the arms of the chair for leverage, I held myself up, then dropped down on him, plunging all the way down in one fell swoop. Fire lit my nerve endings, but I ignored it. He wanted us to put on a show, and it was vital that we did, so I raised myself up again, then lowered myself back down.

  “Wait for Lord Cypress,” he chided. I paused, my master still balls deep inside me.

  Lord Cypress knelt before me, taking my aching cock in his hand and licking a stripe up the sides. My eyes rolled back into my head. It felt good. Puzzle tapped my cheek with his dick. I turned my head and opened my mouth obediently, wriggling my hips and bouncing on my master as I sucked the deliciousness offered to me while enjoying the exquisitely slow torture that was Lord Cyoress’s blow job. Overwhelmed by the sensations, I moaned around Puzzle’s cock. He groaned in response to the vibration.

  “What a mouth,” Puzzle said.

  I whimpered. I desperately needed to come. Willow understood what I needed, and began to thrust upward, shifting his weight beneath me. I saw stars as he hit my prostate, wailing around the cock in my mouth. He started hammering up, nailing it again and again. I had stopped sucking now, but it didn’t matter as Puzzle was fucking my mouth in abandon. Lord Cypress slid me deep into his throat and hummed. That was it. I tipped over the edge, screaming hoarsely around Puzzle’s cock, which swelled before jerking and spilling into my mouth. Lord Cypress pulled away, and Puzzle stepped back.

  Willow took the opportunity to push us forward. I cried out, catching myself on my hands. Willow began pounding relentlessly.

  “Ah, hah, hah,” I panted, sweat trickling over my body from the workout he was giving me. He fisted my hair, yanking my head back, using me for more leverage. His movements became erratic then he stilled as heat flooded my insides. Then he pulled free and stood up, legs straddling me, my head still cruelly pulled back. I knew what he wanted. I stuck my tongue out and licked the tip of him clean. He swiped a bit of cum from my face where Puzzle’s had leaked from the corner of my mouth. I licked his finger clean.

  “Fuck, that’s hot,” Lord Cypress said. “I’d love to get to fuck him senseless and use that mouth again.”

  “We should invite Willow to more parties and have him bring him,” Puzzle commented, straightening his clothes back up, his cock already tucked back in.

  “Oh, most definitely,” Lord Cypress added.

  Willow released me and sat back down. I turned around to face him, leaning in to finish cleaning his cock.

  “It’s cold without your mouth. Don’t move,” he said. I settled down, acting content to be his cock warmer. The scary part was I was beginning to not mind so much. Liking the sex didn’t mean I loved the guy or even liked them in particular. Just that the sex was good.

  26

  Willow

  My father was sitting at my breakfast table. Keeper looked at me apologetically, her face pinched with worry. I gave her a nod, letting her know it was okay. She couldn’t very well not let my father in my home, any more than my guards could keep out of my compound. Until I came of age, I was ultimately under his control.

  “Sit down,” I told Ghost. He hurried over to his seat at the breakfast island.

  “He eats with you?” my father asked as if it wasn’t entirely evident by my actions that he did.

  “When we’re home alone like this, yes,” I replied testily.

  “I see.”

  “Why are you here?” It was a valid question. This was rather early in the morning for a casual drop-in because he just happened to be in the neighborhood. Not that he ever simply dropped in anywhere casually.

  “I have news,” he said, picking up a piece of buttered toast and taking a bite. He chewed languidly.

  Keeper handed me a cup of tea, and I sipped it, the sweetness sweeping over my taste buds, the warmth suffusing my bones. I frowned, glancing at Ghost’s nipples. They were pebbled. “Why is to so cold in here?”

  “It’s the freezer, Lord Willow,” Keeper answered. “The amulet came adrift and rolled into the broom closet where it got stuck in a crack in the floorboard. It activated, and now the broom cupboard is a giant walk-in freezer whi
le the freezer is warm.”

  Which meant that not being insulated, the closet leeched artic temperatures into the kitchen. I walked over to the broom closet and spotted the amulet sticking up through the frosty floorboards. I gave it a yank and it snapped in half.

  “Well, damn,” I said.

  “You break it?” Father asked.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Well, at least you broke the spell,” he said.

  “I’ll send a shimmer to Faekea and order a replacement,” Keeper said.

  “Thank you, Keeper.” I took my seat, picking my tea back up, sipping it and enjoying the warmth. “So, what’s the news?”

  “The Queen’s invited you to a dinner.”

  Had she now? No doubt, she wanted to get a good look at my human toy boy.

  “I’ll answer the invitation after I present Ghost at court.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  I shook my head, refusing to say anything further. Once I got him to leave, I’d send one of the guards with the traditional hand-printed message requesting Ghost’s recognition and presentation to the Crown. They’d log it and tell the Queen of the petition. She’d either agree to his certification outright or ask for him to pass a test. I was really hoping she’d ask for the test. It’d give me a reason to log my first kill target. Their death would raise the Queen’s ire so much that they’d do everything short of killing me to get revenge. All within the rules, as would be me doing what I must to save myself. One thing everyone seemed to overlook and which I had researched quite thoroughly: the rules forbade them from taking a contract out for my death. It did not prevent me from taking out one on them.

  I snickered.

  “What’s so funny?” Father asked, looking at me suspiciously.

  “Oh, you’ll see,” I told him again.

  He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “Just don’t ruin us any more than you have. It’s taken us several decades to regain what status we have.”

  “Oh, you don’t need to worry about losing staus,” I replied noncommittally. Gain it, more like.

  “Good. Now, I’m off. I played cards far too long last night, and I’m ready for my bed.”

  That explained why he came with his not so urgent news this morning instead of sending it via shimmer or coming later in the afternoon.

  “Good-bye, Father,” I said dutifully.

  “Glade,” I heard him say in greeting as he passed my blood father on his way out.

  “Hello, Glade,” I said.

  “Lord Willow,” he nodded. “The scout has returned from the location you mentioned.”

  “And did he get the items?” I asked.

  “He did. I’ve left them in the armory.”

  Ghost watched this exchange with curiosity.

  “Have them set up targets, inside the armory, but keep the one thing locked away from sight. Place a no pass through rune on the wall behind the targets.” I turned to look at Ghost. “After breakfast, fancy a bit of target shooting?” I grinned. “I sent someone to fetch your rifle.”

  He beamed.

  “It’d be better at a long-distance range.” Ghost looked at Glade as he spoke.

  “I can arrange that. We can go to the main house and use the range there, Glade.”

  It was used for arrows, but it would work as long as no one saw us. The element of surprise and all that.

  “Fine, fine. I’ll make sure it’s known that the area’s off-limits. I’ll tell them you’re practicing defensive magic,” Glade said.

  It was a good idea. No one wanted to get caught in a hail of ice daggers if a spell went awry.

  “Sounds good,” I told him. “Come on, let’s eat so we can get going,” I said to Ghost.

  27

  Jase

  It felt good to be dressed in pants and a shirt again. It felt even better to hold a rifle in my hands. I loaded it and thought about swinging it to point at Willow. Just the vague notion of doing that caused pain to shoot through my head and my arms and legs to lock up.

  Willow walked over to me and drew a rune on my forehead, unlocking my limbs and making the pain go away as if it had never existed.

  “You thought about shooting me, didn’t you?” he asked me.

  “For a split second, I wondered what would happen if I pointed it at you,” I admitted.

  Willow chuckled. “I’d have been disappointed if you’d lost so much of your fire that the thought didn’t cross your mind. The rules won’t let you, though. When you became bound to me, it laid a geas so you can’t.”

  He walked away from then, unconcerned. I stared after him. If I couldn’t kill him, I’d have to find some other way of breaking free. That was a problem for another day, though. Today was all about getting reacquainted with my rifle. I was sorry when it was over.

  The next day brought more news, though. Willow had a reply from the guild. The Queen wanted a test. Willow accepted on my behalf and chose the target I was to kill. I had two days to do it, which wasn’t much time to prepare.

  “You’re a sniper, so it has to be done using your skillset,” he told me. It was enough for me to be able to bend the rules and get away with it. My skills and training set me apart from the way fae assassins operated, so I was not bound by their restrictions. I just had to abide by human conventions that a sniper would follow. So, we sat and planned, him sweetening the pot with the promise that if I succeeded in this, he’d arrange for me to see my sister before the week was out. Then we had a guard take my rifle up ahead and leave it in the area we’d decided was best for me to set up in.

  It went surprisingly smoothly. Disguises are standard in an assassin’s line of work, so Lord Willow glamored me to look like one of the palace’s Brownie servants. Armed with a broom and dustpan, that allowed me to walk unmolested to the balcony where my bag was hidden and set up quickly. My target was in a clear line of sight.

  The Queen stood, gesturing Willow and his father forward. “I believe you put forth a request for professional recognition?” she tittered.

  “I did,” Willow said, answering her with a serious expression.

  “Well, I don’t see your human, and I haven’t had a kill confirmation.” She glanced over at the Assassin’s Guild representative, who shook their head, their eyes sliding over to the person I had the order for. Their eyes widened as they spotted the red dot on his forehead. That was the moment I was waiting for. I squeezed the trigger, and my target’s head exploded in a shower of gore. Screams erupted at the unexpected carnage. I took my rifle off of its stand, picked up my brass, and crawled backward, making my way down below where I slipped through the chaos of rushing guards and screaming courtiers. Only my master, the Queen, and the Assassin Guild master stayed rooted in the places they stood. The Queen was shrieking, though, looking ready to collapse. Sucked to be her, but business is business.

  Once they’d carried her away ad covered the corpse, the guild mater turned to the captain of the Queen’s guard. “Kill confirmed.”

  The captain of her guard looked at Willow incredulously, his hand dropping from the sword on his hip. “You chose the Prince Consort for the test subject?” he choked out.

  He shrugged. “She’s the one insisted Ghost prove himself. He seemed as good a choice as any. The rules allow for choosing anyone of age for test purposes, under these specific circumstances.”

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” his father asked him, his face white.

  “Eliminated one of the threats,” Willow replied.

  The guild master approached me, handing me a medallion. “Keep this on you at all times. It shows you are a recognized assassin acting within recognized parameters of the rules. I wish you luck, you’re going to need it after this.”

  I had a feeling he was right.

  “Come on,” Willow said, “let’s go.”

  I hurried alongside him, leaving his father and the rest of
the court behind as they struggled to make sense of what just happened. They were going to want tog et even. As an assassin who acted within the rules, I was untouchable. They couldn’t kill Willow yet either, as, despite his age, he had not yet reached the recognized majority for culpability. I had no doubt the Queen would be getting creative, though. We’d just killed her husband.

  As we rode closer to the house, Willow looked at me. “I bet you’re wondering why him.”

  Oh, I most certainly was.

  “It’s all about the rules. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a boy. The boy loved the attention and ruckus that sharing other people’s secrets brought. He and his cousin would try to see who had the juiciest one, never once thinking anything serious would happen. Until it did. You see, he saw the crown prince couldn’t do magic without wearing the gaudy jewelry he always wore. So, he told his cousin his theory, that the prince’s magic had been locked away into the stones set in the jewelry. His cousin spread it about. A few days later, a handful of courtiers were having a picnic on the palace grounds, and the cousin told them what I’d said. They challenged my notions. Just how could a fae of such lineage end up with his magic locked away? One of the courtiers stated that maybe the prince was a changeling and that the gems were the source of his magic, rather than its prison.

  The Queen happened to be strolling past just then and had her guards grab the man. “Who told you?” she demanded. But she had to let the cousins and courtiers go. It had been a lucky guess. The boy who’d started it all was blamed for spreading evil gossip, his family banished from court for thirty-three seasons. The courtiers who had been at the picnic all died shortly after, all in random accidents.”

  “Assassins,” I whispered.

  “Indeed. Even my youthful self quickly understood the import of what happened as the death toll piled up. The Crown prince was whisked away, off to foster in Valhalla as part of a good-will gesture. He never returned. Excuses were made, and to this day, the Queen insists he will come back when it is time for him take over. Yet, no fae visiting Valhalla has ever seen him, and the Queen never says who he is staying with.”