Ash rubbed the back of his neck as he continued to pace, and the look he gave me was almost apologetic. “Kori, I’m not trying to rush you, but how is any of this going to help us?”
“Because…” Ruin muttered as his gaze travelled far away. “The only possible way that we’re going to be able to capture Ravage is if Kori uses her Tempus power. If she freezes time again, we can pull Ravage into the Deep.”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I’m pretty sure that whoever is touching me at the time won’t freeze, but Ravage will, and we can move him within the walls.”
“Hell no.” Ash reeled back like I punched him. “It’s just another fucking plan where you die. You heard what the queen said, didn’t you? If you die this time, us three won’t be able to revive you. What if something goes wrong and we can’t get Ravage into the Deep?”
“Ash, I’m not throwing out an idea. I’m telling you what will likely happen.” A shiver passed over my skin, and I pushed deeper into Ruin’s warm chest. “I meant what I told the queen. Ravage is going to find some way to trap me, and more than likely, this will trigger my magic. It might be my Ignis power, but my Tempus power is so much more dominant. That’s why I brought up that prophecy with Ravage. That’s the only time that I used my power and didn’t die.”
Ash’s gaze went distant before fixing on me. “Right after I marked you.”
I nodded. “The queen said that the stronger our mate bonds were, the stronger I was connected to this world. I had a fresh mate mark. What if I had two or even three?”
Ruin stilled, craning his neck to look down at me with his brow furrowed. “Kori, the queen is going to return at any minute. We don’t have time to mark you.”
“What if you all did it at the same time?” I asked, as a flutter of nervous butterflies erupted in my belly.
Ruin squeezed me tighter. “From what I understand, a mate bond can only form during the main way a couple has sex. For all of us, the main way we’ve had sex has been with our dicks in your pussy… please excuse how crude that sounds—but, I don’t think any of us consider anal or oral the main way. We could try it, but I don’t think it would work. More than likely, we’ll be interrupted before we can make the mark.”
As if his words summoned the queen, heavy boot falls echoed from the hallway beyond our room.
“They’re here so fast. I really think it was your mark that stopped me from dying, Ash, but we don’t have time.” Why had I taken so long to suggest it?
Ash turned to the door. “Fuck it. Let’s go for it anyway. They can break down the door and pull us apart.”
Death leapt to his feet. “I can hold the door—but if Silence has brought a battalion of warriors, it might not be for long.”
“No pressure to perform…” Ruin shoved down his sweatpants before reaching for me. My breath hitched as I climbed up onto his lap.
Time was running out, but when Ruin reached up and slipped his fingers into my damp hair, cupping the back of my head, I didn’t say a word of protest. Ruin’s soft lips pressed into mine, and a hot tear ran down the side of my face.
Damn. I could lose this man today. I could lose all three of these men before the day was out.
There was a thundering knock on the door to our room. “Let us in, that’s an order,” the queen called through the wood. “I’m bound by my own laws to take you four back to Ravage, and I will do it by force if need be.”
“We’re going to need a few minutes to prepare ourselves,” Death said.
“You have one,” the queen called back.
As if neither man heard the confrontation by the door, Ruin pressed his warm lips deeper into mine as Ash’s hands slipped over my hip and down my belly. I reached back and rubbed up and down Ash’s arm as Ruin’s tongue plunged between my lips. His deep kiss sent tingles all the way to settle in my core.
Ash’s fingers closed over my center, and he slid one finger up my slit. Ruin’s hand dropped down from my hair and glided between us. One of his thick fingers plunged inside me and then two, pumping fast.
Pleasure bloomed in me, and I broke away from Ruin to gasp. “We have to do this now.”
“Your wish is my command, goddess.” Ruin’s fingers pulled out of me, and his hands wrapped around my hips.
Ash put pressure on my clit as Ruin’s cock pressed into my center.
“Both,” I moaned. “I want you both to mark me at the same time.” I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for, but I knew it was the right choice.
“There’s only one way to do that, Kori,” Ash said as he pressed up against my back. His cock pushed just behind Ruin’s.
“Then do it,” I said.
Ash lifted his arm before my lips, and I tasted his delicious blood. “You should drink if we’re going to do this. You’re going to need your strength.”
As my lips suctioned over his cut, the head of one of their cocks slipped into me. I wasn’t even sure whose cock it was, and for some reason, that thought sent a spike of excitement through me. The first cock slipped out, only for the second one to slip in.
I moaned into Ash’s arm as he and Ruin took turns entering me.
There was a crashing from the other side of the room, and Death growled. “We need more time!”
“Your time is up,” the queen yelled as the crashing came again.
“You ready to take more?” Ash growled into my ear, and when I nodded, he pushed the tip of his cock into me while Ruin’s shaft was deep inside.
I cried out against his arm, feeling too full. It hurt, while at the same time, the spike of lust within me fanned into a blazing inferno, and I wanted Ash to push in deeper.
Ash’s free hand wrapped around one of my thighs, and he spread me more before pushing in another inch. Both men groaned as Ash slid all of the way inside. In sync, they pumped in and out. Pleasure surged through my core as they filled me to the brim. I could no longer hear the crashing confrontation or anything else, all that existed was these two men and their cocks. Ash’s hand returned to my bud and he rolled his fingers over my clit.
“It’s so much pressure… I’m going to come,” Ruin groaned as his hands squeezed my hips.
“They’ve broken down the door,” Ash growled. “Fuck...”
Both of their fangs sunk into my neck, and pain sliced through me, while at the same time, the rightness of me being their courtesan while they were mine resonated in my heart. Both men pushed deep inside, and their cocks spasmed. The pressure was almost too much as they filled me with their cum.
My eyes rolled back, and I moaned as the whole world fell away, only leaving a myriad of sensations. Ruin, Ash, and I were connected, and it felt as if that was the way it was always supposed to be.
“Like I said, she’s a vampire queen,” Silence said, breaking through my moment of bliss. The room came back to me slowly. We were surrounded. Silence stood with her arms crossed beside thirty warriors.
While my oversized t-shirt covered most of what we were doing, the warriors clearly knew, because more than one of them were observing with interest sparking their gaze. Ash and Ruin didn’t seem to notice as they licked the sides of my neck, their warm tongues accentuating the pleasure still surging through my core.
Ash slipped out of me first, but he only moved away for a second before he guarded my back. As soon as Ruin pulled out, the queen offered me her hand.
“We need to go,” Silence said with a wry chuckle. “You don’t seem like the kind of queen who’d want to be dragged.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kori
The colorful walls of the Deep seemed to be mocking us as we walked through the maze of hallways. My body felt tender and sore, but the memory of what had caused those sensations sent aftershocks of pleasure through me.
Something warm brushed against the back of my hand, and I glanced over to find Death’s hand sliding over mine, gliding down to intertwine his fingers through my own. He lifted up our joined hands and kissed my knuckles.
�
��We’ll be right beside you the whole time,” Ash said from my other side. Reaching down, he took my other hand.
Hands landed on my shoulders, warm and familiar. Ruin.
I should be feeling terrified. This was an impossible situation, and there were no good solutions to our present dilemma. But all I felt was loved. The only thing that mattered in this moment were the hands that wrapped around both of mine, and Ruin’s presence at my back. I loved these men. I had loved them for years, and nothing could change that, not the pain we suffered or the damage that was done to us.
“It’s just up there,” Silence said as we stopped at the bottom of a stairwell. She raised a hand, and half of the warriors climbed ahead of us while the other half fell behind. Flickering candles fended off the darkness, lighting over a long stairwell that led up into shadow.
Ash glanced over, his expression determined. He finger-combed his light, short hair away from his face, making his strong, angular features stand out all the more.
Having all three of them by my side made me feel infinitely more capable of doing what needed to be done. We climbed at a steady pace, our boots echoing in the narrow stairwell.
Trolls, vampires, and humans crowded into the courtyard before the outer cavern wall. Their grim expressions made me feel like prisoners being marched out to their execution. It wasn’t too far from the truth.
I kept my gaze on the crowd, searching for my brother, when a familiar voice called my name.
I turned, and green eyes pinned me in place.
All of the hands holding me squeezed, sending comfort radiating through me.
Ravage stood just beyond the archway. He had been trampled by over a hundred trolls, and he looked it. His dark blond hair tangled around his face. Blood and dirt crusted down his front, and the skin around his eyes was an angry red. Ravage held out a hand and focused on me as if no one else here existed.
“Where’s my brother?” I asked.
“I sent him to Seattle. He’s tasked with bringing Genevieve safely to Nightendale. I’ll take you to them.”
“You told me that you’d never bring them there—”
“We both broke our promises. Nightendale is the only place where I can make sure you and your family are safe. Please, Kori. Come with me. You’re dying.” Ravage shoved a hand through his tangled hair. “Your powers will kill you, and I’m the only one who can save you.”
“Save me? You did this to me.” I almost laughed. “You’re the one who killed me.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he stretched his fingers out as if he could grab me, but he didn’t come closer. “You have to know why I did it. Humans live short, meaningless lives. I wasn’t going to let that happen to you.”
“You did let that happen. You made it happen.”
He shook his head and reached his hand out further. “You’re not going to die. Silence, you know that you can’t use the threat of torture to keep me from my mate.”
“I could push her through the archway, but that would terrify her…” Silence paused to tap her foot, “Kori tells me that panic is what triggers her powers. If she uses her power, she dies. If she dies, no law will bind me to hand over her corpse, and my warriors will stop her lovers from doing it.”
Ravage didn’t respond. He stood there, still staring at me and ignoring the queen as if by not acknowledging Silence, she could cease to exist.
“We need to talk alone.” Ravage raised a hand, and everyone around us vanished. Warm hands still wrapped around mine, and I could feel the pressure of Ruin touching my shoulders, but I couldn’t see or hear anyone. Then, a sudden force ripped their hands away, and I was standing alone.
“I will not let you die,” Ravage called, and a wall of pressure hit me from behind.
My feet lifted off the ground, and I screamed, expecting to go tumbling forward. Instead, I froze, midair. My stomach tumbled as I fell. My soles hit the ground, sending a shockwave of pain up my legs.
I looked around, but all I saw was Ravage. He had been trapped in a moment while his hair flew back. His feet floated inches from the floor as if the wind he’d been using to move us around swept him into the air.
I stepped toward him lightly and stopped just before him. He was inches away from the archway, and his warriors waited just beyond him on the bridge.
“If you push him, he’ll tumble straight into the Deep.”
I spun to find Silence standing just behind me.
She shrugged. “I was reaching for you when you froze time. Ravage was separating you from your mates, and I have a responsibility to stop that.”
“Oh.” I looked back to Ravage. He didn’t look smug or even angry. He looked desperate. It would be so easy to step behind him and shove. He’d done most of the work for me by lifting himself off the floor. I licked my lips and turned to the Queen of the Deep. “My sister told me a story about someone stealing your mate, Clare. Was that Ravage?”
Silence clenched her jaw, and fury brimmed from her eyes. “There were many Clares, mostly men, but a few were women, who I loved greatly, and Ravage has killed every one of them,” Silence said, but she didn’t seem like she was talking to me. “Ravage has dedicated the last three hundred years to making me suffer.”
I covered my mouth as I muddled through the implications of her words. “Why?”
“Punishment.” Silence reached forward, just not touching Ravage. “Vampires and fae coexisted peacefully in Ireland at the turn of the first millennium. Both of our species had been hunted and persecuted by humans, so we had a common goal to stay undetected. Our relationship was symbiotic, until my consort bit the Queen of Summer—Ravage’s mother. The bite was consensual, but the queen died, and her vampirism spread like a disease among the fae. The Summer Court hunted us as the humans never had. We did not want to fight them, but they wouldn’t make peace. They followed us across vast bodies of water and land and eventually drove us underground. The forest out there is where we had our final battle. They demanded I give up my consort, but I wouldn’t. We won the battle, only to be surrounded in a forest of vampiric trees that kept us locked in here for decades before we mined our way to the surface.”
“Ravage was the only survivor from the battle?”
Silence looked away. “Ravage and his brother Night escaped.” Her fingers curled into a fist. “Since that day, Ravage has found a way to kill every consort I’ve ever taken. Clare was the last before I made the law. I’ve stopped allowing myself to love, it just isn’t worth the risk.”
Her story made a horrible kind of sense with everything I knew. The forest outside the Deep’s walls was so much more than a group of carnivorous, haunted trees, it was Ravage’s entire kingdom. Ravage was so filled with hate—at vampires and humans. Nothing could ever quench that kind of malice. Nothing would change his heart. If he got my power, he would destroy us all. “If I push Ravage into the Deep, will you agree to kill him quickly?”
Silence sighed. “No. I will torture him slowly, and one day, he will become a tree, and I will torture that tree for the rest of eternity. He knows what he has wrought.”
I met her dark eyes. “If I don’t do it… will you stop my mates from giving my corpse to Ravage when I die, like you said?”
Silence nodded.
“Ravage can’t get my power. It’s the most important thing. I’m scared that my mates will fight your warriors and attempt to hand my corpse over to save my life. I don’t want them to get hurt, so will you take them away from here and lock them up?”
“I can do that for you.”
“I might survive,” I said, as tears started to course down my cheeks. “My mates marked me, and maybe it will be enough to keep me here.”
“Maybe. Every moment that passes, you’re burning through incredible quantities of magic. I would suggest that you say goodbye before I take them.”
When I glanced back, there was only an empty courtyard. “I can’t see my mates.”
“I’ll take you to them—if you’re
sure that’s what you want.”
I turned back to my greatest enemy, knowing that I just didn’t have it in me to shove him into Silence’s waiting arms.
“I can’t give you Ravage. I won’t do it.”
“Then we need to do this fast.” Silence led me to Ruin first. I somehow knew the moment I touched him. He was midair, flying backward, and all I could reach was his ankle. Moments after I touched him, Silence led me away to Ash. I could barely touch the tip of his boot, and my heart ached like it was splitting right down the middle. Last, she took me to Death, who had somehow flipped himself in the air, so his hands were at my eye level. I kissed his invisible palms.
Silence rolled back her shoulders. “Now, I’m going to ask you to do me a favor.”
I gripped onto Death’s fingers and nodded.
“If you somehow survive this, keep what you’re about to see here to yourself.”
“Of course. I’m a lifelong courtesan—I wouldn’t have survived long if I couldn’t be discreet.”
Thick grey feathers burst from her back, unfolding into great wings. Thousands of feathers rustled as her wingspan stretched across the space. My breath caught as I stared up into her magnificent wings.
“Were you an angel?” Brendan had taught me about angels when I was a child but as one of those supernatural creatures that didn’t actually exist.
“Fallen angel,” she said. Crouching down, she beat her wings and leapt into the sky. Her arms wrapped around figures I couldn’t see, gathering them together. Her wings moved in great thrusts, and then she was a blur of grey, disappearing into the darkness above.
Ash (Fire & Blood Book 2) Page 21