Emerald caught Apollo’s head between her hands and gently kissed his beak. “I’m sorry, Apollo. I can’t wait to meet you properly. I know that it sucks not to show your true face to the world. You’re a beautiful swan, so I bet you’re the most beautiful man in this place, and wow, you have some competition with these Fae Three.”
Apollo ruffled his feathers up with pride; Emerald was good at reading people. “I am beautiful. All is forgiven, and I’d like strawberries, please. We came across wild ones in the gardens at Court once. They tasted like freedom.”
Emerald glanced at me; it was easy to forget that she couldn’t hear Apollo. Would that change after the bond?
I nodded. “He forgives you, and would like wild strawberries and a stroke.”
Always upsell.
Emerald shot me a sly look as if she knew what I’d done, but she still stroked Apollo’s feathers, as he pecked at a truffle delicately.
“Aye, that’s the taste of freedom,” Apollo sighed, dreamily.
Apollo wasn’t allowed to experience the same foods as the other students. I was desperate for him to live in his human form. How many other experiences had he missed out on?
When Radley let go of him, Apollo flew to the end of the bed, just as Felix crawled further onto it, resting against the headboard.
Radley snatched a mint truffle. “Beef Sunday roast with five roast potatoes, three Yorkshire puddings, and lashings of gravy.”
My mouth watered. I didn’t know whether I was more jealous of Radley or the truffle, when Radley tongued the truffle and moaned, rubbing his hand across his clothed prick.
Emerald groaned in turn, sliding her own hand down her stomach, before inching up her dress. Now I was most jealous of Emerald’s fingers, which circled across her inner thigh and then her panties.
Feeding from Radley’s pleasure must’ve been erotic then. Everything about him was erotic.
Radley licked his lips with a contented grin. “I’m full now but I’m still hungry for you.” He grabbed Emerald around the waist, and she vanished the chocolates before they could tumble to the floor.
Radley twisted her, spinning her towards the bed.
Emerald’s tail coiled out, twitching to stroke Radley’s thigh.
“You didn’t think to mention that she has a tail?” Radley’s glare at Felix and me was murderous.
Felix hugged his knees. “Then you wouldn’t have had the same surprise as us. Aren’t you just imagining what it’d be like to sleep with it wrapped around you?”
Well, I was now. Bliss.
Apollo shook his own tail feathers. “If you ask me, it’s her best part.”
Radley gripped Emerald’s tail, stroking along it with a technique that my own prick could write a testimonial for and it’d read: ah, ah, ah, please let me cum, cum, cum…
My prick was such a talented wordsmith.
“It’s lucky that I’m not assessing you, right?” Emerald’s voice shook, as she wound her arms around Radley’s neck.
“What would you write?” Radley kissed up her throat.
Emerald shivered. “Alpha, forceful, and passionate…”
Radley snorted. “That sounds more like my dating profile. Where’s the psychopath who’s a danger to society part?”
“It seems to be missing,” Emerald replied. “Although, have you forgotten that this is a punishment session?”
I swaggered (okay, hopped…but there was a swagger in my hop), to Emerald, kissing her like I’d thought about ever since my last session. Caught between Radley and me, she melted. Her eyelids fluttered under the intense pleasure coursing through her and feeding her power.
“Punish us then,” I murmured.
Emerald’s breath hitched. Then her lips curled back in a devilish way that made my stomach flutter with sudden nerves.
Had I just played with fire?
“Oh, you’ll enjoy the way that I punish.” When she nipped my lips, it was as gentle as the brush of a feather. She glanced at Radley, whipping her tail out of his grip. “Didn’t you order the good stuff now? Get naked.”
Felix’s eyes widened.
Radley didn’t need telling twice. He lifted Emerald onto the bed next to Felix and then dragged off his coat, hurling it into the corner of the room like a fighter daring another before a battle. My tongue darted out to wet my lips. Then Radley’s hands moved to the buckle of his belt.
“Wait, don’t take off your pants,” I called out. Radley raised his eyebrow in his you’re an idiot look, which was usually reserved for me. “The Dean will know if we remove the iron in our boots, which means…”
Felix tilted his head. “Bare chested and pricks out looks sexy…” He stroked his hand down Emerald’s cheek, and she kissed him tenderly. “You have witchcraft in your lips.”
“And you in yours because I’m under your spell.” Emerald pushed the coat from Felix’s shoulders, pooling its green against the white of the sheets.
Radley grunted. “No more pretty words.”
He snatched me around the neck, before stripping my coat from me like a squire serving his king. My skin warmed at every brush of his fingers across my skin. Then he lay my coat across the bottom of the bed, and I lifted Apollo onto it, so that even if he wasn’t able to join us in human form, he’d still be cocooned in the warmth of my scent.
“I love you, My Lord.” Apollo’s gentle words made me shake. “I love all you blue-blooded rascals. And I’m honored to be bonded to the woman who’ll unite us.”
“I said no pretty words.” Radley clutched me by the neck, throwing me onto the bed next to Emerald.
“Aren’t you the leader? Does he always manhandle you like that?” Emerald asked.
Felix patted my shoulder. “Quince loves it.”
Emerald twisted on her back between us, as Radley watched from the end of the bed, looking even taller and more powerful as he loomed over us.
Alpha, forceful, and passionate…
Emerald sure had that right.
I shrugged. “The despotic leadership style is overrated.”
Emerald’s eyes glittered, as she scrutinized me. Why was she so intense all of a sudden? “I knew that you were beautiful and my bond but not that we had so much in common. Let’s just say that I agree.” Then she waved at the room. “This is better than the dickish stuff that they had in here before, right? I told you that your first time wouldn’t be over a desk.”
Felix’s wings stiffened in shock. “Why, you naughty fae! I was in there discussing Shakespeare, but you used your session to… I thought you told us that you didn’t unleash the kraken?”
Radley laughed.
Emerald straddled me, palming me through my pants, and I arched. “The kraken?”
“She said that my first time wouldn’t be…and I told them that I didn’t…” I choked, confused.
Then they all burst into laughter, and I realized that they were playing with me.
Wow, my pranking status was being really challenged here.
I loved that.
“Does the fact that I’m a Marquess count for so little?” I demanded.
Emerald licked over my nipple, and I gasped. “Since you’re not a despot, I’d go with yeah. So, this Wicked Bucket List, what number is: Screw my lovers, until I see stars…? Because that’s what’s about to happen, sexy wings.”
I squirmed to try and encourage her tongue to my other nipple, but she appeared to be waiting for a response. “I’m onboard with that but I’d rather we made Number Seven: Make love underneath the stars. We’ve always been prisoners and trapped inside. Forest Fae should claim each other outside. What if we risk that on Friday?”
“Risk.” Radley leaned his fists on the bed. “Everything about the Night of the Beltane will be a risk.”
“Tell me,” Emerald demanded.
“It’s the most important night to us, when the veils are lowered between worlds, and our own magic is at its strongest. We celebrate our god, Belenus, or we would, if the school would allow i
t,” I explained.
“It’s the welcoming in of summer.” Felix unpinned Emerald’s hair, and it fell in a golden waterfall to her shoulders. Then he slowly unzipped her dress, kissing over the creamy curve of her shoulders in worship. “The ritual means growth, rebirth, and transformation. It’s the night when every element shifts and changes. It’s our last chance to worship our traditions and to be alone together.”
Emerald’s eyes were as bright as mine at Felix’s description.
“I’ll swear that you’ll get to celebrate it this year,” Emerald breathed. “We’ll welcome in the summer together. How’d you know where to hold the ritual?”
Radley’s wings beat. “The wild-fire leads you.”
I reached up to slip Emerald’s dress from her shoulders. As each inch of skin was revealed, I licked and kissed like she became more closely bound to me with each touch.
Radley watched, hungrily, as if I was unwrapping her just for him.
Emerald wriggled completely out of the dress, before allowing Felix to turn her onto her back. Then she wound her tail around my waist, and I shivered at the combination of its softness and power, as she yanked me over her. My dick was hard, and I ached to push down my pants and free it.
“Kiss me,” she commanded.
When I leaned down to kiss Emerald, however, her lips curled into that wicked smile of hers, and she caught me by the hair. “Did I say on the lips?”
When I looked into her eyes, I caught the challenge, as well as the question. I could choose where I took this, but I always rose to a challenge.
“Lix, kiss this beautiful bonded of ours on the lips. I’ll be busy.” When I untangled her tail from around me, she shivered.
“I’d be honored.” Felix caressed his wing down Emerald’s cheek, before tipping up her chin and kissing her.
I loved when he kissed like that: as if the world would end if you didn’t love him back.
Then I slithered down Emerald, caressing her stomach and edging my fingers around the silky edges of her panties. I teased her, as her muscles tensed, before sliding down her panties, following them with my mouth and tracing the path with my tongue.
I sucked, marked, and licked, wanting to wreck her at the same time as protect her from every danger, as much as she did me. I longed to kiss her, until she couldn’t think of anything but me and the way that Felix tasted.
Until she could never forget or leave us.
Emerald quivered, as my tongue danced lower towards her clit. I clasped my hands on her hips, circling patterns with my thumbs on her inner thighs.
My prick was even harder than before, but only Emerald’s pleasure mattered.
All of a sudden, I heard a snarl behind me, and Radley launched himself onto the bed. He caught me by the belt, hauling me to the side, although Emerald’s tail whipped out to catch and drag me close again. Felix broke away from his own kiss to look up in shock.
Radley straddled Emerald. His wings were outstretched like he could hold all of us on the bed under his power. “I’ll share you with my lovers. But right now, they’ll watch, because you’re mine.”
I understood. Radley had only just gone through the courtship ritual with the chocolate; I’d felt the same in my first counseling session.
When Radley flashed his sharp white teeth at me, I clasped Emerald’s hand, instead. Felix clasped her hand on the other side. We were still connected.
Radley and Emerald deserved their moment.
Still, when Radley caught Emerald in his intense gaze, slipping his fingers into her pussy, and pushing her rhythmically towards one shuddering orgasm, before slipping on a condom from the stash he’d bartered from the Almost Humans, thrusting into her to spiral her back towards a second, I ached worse than my balls.
Felix and I were caught in Radley’s bondage as much as Emerald. Yet it was hot to be forced to watch, and I wasn’t jealous of either of them.
I loved them both.
Emerald trembled, but her eyes burned with a fiercer fire than I’d ever seen. The pleasure had fed her power; my magic could sense it blazing within her.
Radley sat up, with his knees on either side of Emerald. He folded his wings, before slipping off her. He tossed the condom into the corner and tucked his prick away with a reluctance that made my still hard one bitter.
Emerald turned her head towards me, pulling me closer by her tail to kiss me. Then she drew back.
“Lord River,” she whispered.
Felix leaned down eagerly, and she sucked on his lower lip.
“Aye, forget the sacred swan shifter again.” Apollo swooped over the bed, crashing against the chandelier with a tinkle of crystal and then nesting on the pillow next to Emerald’s head. “That la di da, aren’t I the princess light wasn’t expensive, right?”
Emerald sat upright in shock. “Hey, rude…but I can hear you.”
I laughed. “It is a bond. Better watch what you say, Apollo, or she’ll be profiling you.”
“Enough of your cheek, My Lord.” Apollo snuggled down, wrapping his wings around the naked Emerald, who laughed. “You’re talking about my bonded, and I’d die an infinity of deaths for the woman who’s connected us in love.”
Suddenly, a ruby flame lit above Apollo’s head. I shouted, expecting him to catch on fire, but Emerald only clutched tighter to him, pulling him away from me, before I could roll him in the covers to put out the blaze.
“Stop,” she commanded. “It’s the bond.”
Apollo didn’t burn. Instead, the flame leaped to Radley’s head, then Felix’s, and finally to mine. I could feel its heat, yet it didn’t hurt.
A hush fell over us.
I expected the fire to vanish, but instead, it moved to hover in the air in front of Emerald.
“Why’s it doing that?” I asked.
“Because there’s someone missing,” Emerald said, quietly. “I haven’t found all my bonded yet.”
Radley exchanged a glance with me. That wasn’t good.
At last, the magic flame faded.
“Honestly, to see the flame with your bonded is seriously rare.” Emerald wrapped her tail around herself as she ducked her head. “We’re fated.”
Fated…?
Why did Emerald look excited and yet terrified at the same time?
“What’s fated mean?” Radley demanded.
“Time’s up. This session is over.” Emerald looked away; her fingers trembled, as she stroked Apollo’s feathers. “Just believe me when I say that being fated means that I’ll do anything to save you.”
Perhaps, that’s what frightened me the most because I’d do anything to save her.
Why was she in danger?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Wicked Reform School, Library
Thursday 29th April
Morning class was Magical Research in the dark freeze of the Wicked Reform School library that stank of ancient enchantments.
I scrunched up my nose at the musty scent of books, which silently ranked the shelves. A single light flickered on the ceiling. Apollo shifted his wings in his sleep. He’d shoved a pile of dusty (okay priceless), magical books into a heap so that he could nest in a corner of the bookcase with his head tucked underneath his wing.
To be fair, last night when Felix had slipped off Apollo’s collar with his Fortune Magic, we’d taken turns until dawn wearing out Apollo. It hadn’t felt fair that he’d missed out on all the sexy fun with Emerald.
Apollo had warned that since we were such rascals to make him sore all over, he’d expect carrying around like a prince tomorrow.
I’d never wanted to let Apollo go. But then, of course, he’d found himself a nest and fallen asleep.
Now, I danced with my bare feet sliding along the marble floor between the bookshelves, humming Pharrell William’s joyful “Happy”.
Radley leaned against the far bookcase with his arms crossed. His gaze looked hungry enough to both devour me at the same time as the amused curl of his lips told me that he
’d never take off his boots and socks to dance.
“Do you have a problem with my happy feet?” I spun around him, wiggling my toes in the air. “They’re celebrating their freedom from the iron tyranny.”
After yesterday stuck wincing on every step, I’d take this small victory. After all, every hour closer to the Day of the Wicked became more dangerous.
Radley snorted.
Wells should’ve been watching the lesson but he’d shut himself away in the office down the corridor with the banshee librarian, Ms. Farah. Either they had a thing for each other (yuck and also, unlikely since Court Fae claimed to have a single mate who could never be replaced), or Ms. Farah spied on the rest of the school for Wells.
Either way, it was an opportunity for Felix to do what he did best…sneaky research.
It should be his personal superpower, just as Radley’s was inventive threats, and mine was leading my tribe to their deaths.
Perhaps, mine was actually battling to save my tribe, despite walking in the shadow of death. Either way, this morning my feet were still happy.
I twirled to Felix who’d made himself a nest out of books just like Apollo. Felix’s was on the floor, however, wedged into the corner of the magical section.
I could’ve watched Felix like this all day. I shuddered with desire at how smart he was. The library was his kingdom, and I’d have worshiped at his feet if he’d noticed me. Except, Felix would’ve probably only used me as a handy prop to hold up his book.
I had a feeling that the scent of old books was like a drug to Felix. His eyes blazed, as he flicked between three opened books at the same time, scanning pages faster than I’d ever hope to be able to keep up.
Did he know how much I admired him?
The lesson plan today was to look up essential facts that we Forest Fae would need once we entered the Court like how to use cutlery correctly at feasts and why all fae were inferior to Court Fae (list three examples).
Instead, Radley, Felix and I had slipped away from the rest of the fae and down to the lowest, darkest, and most magical section of the library, instead.
Today’s topic for us was the meaning of the word fated.
I rested against the bookcase next to Felix, attempting to peer over his shoulder.
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