“Don’t be silly,” she retorts gaily. “My flying is no worse than anyone else’s. I just get a little excited sometimes and miscalculate. As for my mates, they will be along shortly. I got tired of them hovering. I gave them the slip while I pretended to gather nectar. Do not be concerned, Orel. I know Aster will track me down any minute now.” Though her tone is plaintive, a fond smile plays about her lips at the mention of her mates coming to fetch her.
Her smile widens, and she throws her arms around me, her enthusiasm bubbling over with every twitch of her wings. “I have been looking everywhere for you, Orel. I heard that the seer has said that you will get a queen this flight! I was so excited that I had to hunt you down straight away.”
“I am sure your hive will enjoy hearing that,” I return dryly as I gently remove her arms from around my neck. She pouts up at me, but her eyes gleam mischievously.
“Probably not,” she agrees impishly. “But we will all have a great time… ahh, making amends.”
“Just be sure to leave me out of it,” I say as sternly as possible. “I don’t relish sending your mates to the healer when they attempt to ‘protect’ you from me.”
Her laughter rings out merrily in response. “I am so glad that your hive will soon have a queen. You are a bit odd in color and freakishly huge, but you are all are the sweetest of friends. I can’t wait to meet her. You will bring to see me immediately, right?”
“Fini, I don’t even know if we will have a queen. It may not happen,” I remind her gently. Her face crumples and I hasten to reassure her. “But, I promise, if we should be so fortunate, I will bring her to meet you.”
She beams immediately in response. “Directly! The very next morning. I insist. I am your best friend and I know more about matings and females than you males do. I will be an invaluable asset.”
I hide my grimace behind my hand and nod in agreement to prevent any further theatrics. Fini may as well have been our sister the way she followed us around until she reached adulthood and went to dwell in the unmated queens’ hive. As much as I love her like family, I am very familiar with her methods of getting exactly what she wants.
“Excellent, then that is settled. I suppose I best…”
“Fini!”
I groan as I hear Aster growl, his bright blue wings matching his pale glow as he darts through the trees toward us. His hive brothers fly in formation behind him, each wearing an identical scowl as they drop behind their mate and pull her into the center of their formation. Their wings are held high, buzzing with irritation. I can feel the impatient glower beginning to descend over my features and try to will it away without success. I know these males are doing what our culture and thousands of years of instinct demand, but I have little patience for it, and less time as I know Gwin will be seeking me out soon to discuss “strategy” with our hive for finding our queen.
I sweep one hand over my face in exasperation.
“You know well enough I am no threat to your queen, Aster,” I say, barely reining in my temper. “She is as a sister to me and suffers no risk in my company.”
“You are practically castri,” he snarls. “Even now, your light has dimmed to barely a flicker. Everyone knows that the castri offer themselves to serve all the queens. There is nothing to prevent you from trying to tempt her before taking your vows so that you might have a generous female willing to provide for you.”
I swallow back the bitter bile that pushes up my throat at the mention of my fate, my entire existence dependent on the gifts awarded from the queens for my services. Although it is far from dishonorable in our society to be a castri, my pride is wounded at his words. I lift my wings around me and buzz them in warning.
“Orel, is everything all right here?” Gwin frowns as he drops down on a nearby branch.
Aster and his hive brothers balk now that they are confronted with two of us, and my lips twist in an unpleasant smile.
“Yes, everything is fine. Right, Aster?”
He opens his mouth but Fini batts him across the face with her wing, giving him a full dose of pixie dust. I almost feel sympathetic toward the male for the raging cockstand he is about to experience for the next foreseen period. He sputters and his queen’s voice turns frosty.
“It was all a big misunderstanding. Isn’t that right, Aster?” she demanded. “It is your own fault for being positively suffocating, not Orel’s… besides which he is my friend and not someone you have to protect me from. Especially not from my own decisions. Now, are we going home to take care of your little problem?” She looks pointedly down at his groin before smiling at him sweetly. “Or do you want to argue more?”
Aster shoots me a dark look but inclines his head to his queen. “I will forget it this time,” he says from between his teeth. He watches over her possessively as she waves farewell and drops into the air before turning a threatening look my way. “Pray that you find your queen before you dare to approach mine again. Castri don’t have hive brothers to watch their back,” he says with a meaningful smirk toward Gwin.
I step forward, bristling, my chitin plates chiming loudly as I loom over him. “Is your hive threatening me?”
He bares his fangs in a hard facsimile of a smile. “Merely reminding you of your place. Fini is my hive’s queen. We will not tolerate your interference and certainly not your presence if you are not bonded to a queen of your own.” He turns away and leaps into the air, his brothers following after him. The last among them gives me an apologetic smile before flitting off after them.
The branch bounces lightly with Gwin’s weight as he takes position beside me. I glance over at him to see him scowling in the direction of the departing hive, his large hands on his hips in a menacing posture. His wings vibrate irritably before dropping into a resting position. He turns to look over at me, his brow drawn as he scrutinizes me.
“Are you all right?”
“As well as I can be until we find Shavish’s promised queen,” I remark dryly. I cock one brow plate at him. “Are you sure about this? You do realize it will be harder for us to separate after we fail. Dazi and I have worked hard to prepare for our separation.”
“I know,” Gwin replies quietly.
I turn and face him fully, the back of my hand reaching out to skim down his arm in old familiarity. His eyes land on my hand sadly. I curl my fingers and withdraw my touch. This is too hard on both of us. I clear my throat.
“It is not something we want, but it is for the best. If we renew the bonds to do this mating flight and fail… it will destroy us,” I say earnestly, my eyes moving away to stare at a distant flicker of another queen flying with her hive.
“Shavish is certain. I am willing to take that chance. Are you?”
I look back again at my hive brother, the lines of his face openly showing his hope and I sigh, a smile curving my lips. “I believe I can. I just hope that the seer is right. Having our own female to complete our hive is all that we have dreamed about since we were young. I want to see that happen. I do not want our hive pulled apart.”
“Neither do I,” Gwin says with an smile. He extends his hand and brushes his knuckles down the back of my arm, taking me by surprise. “Come,” he says at last. “Shavish is waiting for us. Hopefully, Dazi has also emerged from the depths of our nest.”
“If not, I suppose I could drag him out,” I offer with an amused chuckle. “It would feel like old times when we were young. Perhaps that will give us some luck.”
Gwin laughs and takes to the air, his dark green wings and their faint green glow beckoning as he slides through the branches. I flutter after him, my wings humming as I fly rapidly after him. He dodges me in the old patterns that we practiced as youths. More play and daring than traditional mating dances. It has been so long that it takes me a moment to catch on and surprises a laugh out of me as I wing after him, falling into the barely remembered dance.
The years feel as if they’ve melted as we flit among the trees, our chitin occasionally chiming
merrily as we speed toward our nest. It almost seems as if it were a sign and, suddenly, I cannot wait for sunset to fly over the lagoons that stretch through the forest.
A queen. Perhaps we will finally have a queen at last.
Hope is a dangerous thing, but it beats freely in my breast.
4
Orenda
I peek out from between two large leaves obscuring the entrance of the hollow I’m nestled in. It’s small, barely large enough for me to turn around, but I’m not about to complain. It was by chance that I discovered it at all during the freakish downpour. Never in my life had I seen raindrops that large coming down so violently. It’s clear that I’m no longer in my own world, but of the few accounts I’d read of the fae realm, nothing described oversized plant life or dangerous rainstorms that can easily drown a person unlucky enough to get caught in one.
Edging toward the precipice of the hole, I look down at what is nearly a lake-sized mud puddle beneath me and grimace. I really don’t want to get wet, but nor do I want to be stuck in the hole any longer. For all I know, whatever creature that made the hole could come back and not be pleased to see a human intruder. I rack my brain as I run through the different kinds of fae I knew of. What would make a hole and live in it? A troll? It seems small for a troll, though it is possible that it is in construction. I could be squatting in the foundation of an angry troll’s den.
That decides it for me.
Holding my breath and pinching my nose in desperate hope that none of that junk gets in either orifice—I refuse to worry about the other one right now, which is only protected by a thin, wet skirt and pair of panties so soaked that they might as well be gauze—I hop down from the hole into the mire.
Despite my best efforts, I scream the moment my legs make contact with the frigid water. It’s fortunately not deep, but the shock upsets my balance and I fall forward into the mud, slicking the entire front of my blouse up to my neck and down my arms. I cough and choke as I spit out the foul water.
Shivering, I stand up in the water, my skirt sticking all the way down the length of my thigh to where it floats around my knees.
“Oh shit,” I say around my chattering teeth. I bring my hands up to briskly rub my arms as I slosh through the shallow, muddy water to its bank. “Magic fucking portal couldn’t have transported me to someplace like Tahiti.”
At least there’s no snow. I wrinkle my nose and, once I’m on firm ground, I turn slowly in place, taking stock of my surroundings. I’m in awe of just how enormous and utterly unfamiliar everything is. I suppose that would be natural in other worlds. I turn nearly ninety degrees before I come to a stop. I choke on a gasp, my mouth dropping open. Impossible. Familiar green leaves spike up and a tall stem rises into the air up to the flower head of an enormous daffodil.
My mouth works for a moment before gaping at the impossible sight. I had thought everything was just uncommonly large otherworldly flora, but that flower I know for a fact shouldn’t be that size. The trumpet shape of the bloom is large enough that I could almost wear it as a dress if I wanted. I can see every vein in the petals in larger than life detail and a drop of rainwater hangs off of it before it drops into the grass with an audible splash. I’m just far enough away to be outside the splash zone but still gawk at the sight.
“Impossible…”
I’m still grappling with the sight before me when a dragonfly as big as a pickup truck zips overhead out of nowhere. The sun makes its chitin shimmer in an iridescent hue as its mammoth wings buzz like a plane. I watch in horror as it sweeps over the flower, far closer to me than I like and I all but cringe, before disappearing. I’m either very mistaken, delusional even…or somehow, I’m no more than seven inches tall!
My breath comes out in ragged, panicked pants. I want to run in every direction at once. I want to throw myself onto the ground and scream, praying that it’s only a nightmare and that I’m really asleep. A shiver runs over my skin and a tiny whimper works its way out of me. I’m incapable of doing anything other than heeding the overwhelming drive to flee.
I stumble back, away from the flower, my blood rushing dangerously away from my head. Everything is spinning in a sickening fashion and I just want to beg it to stop. I want to get off this ride. My last thought as I fall among the giant blades of wet grass is why this bullshit couldn’t have happened to someone more deserving in my family.
My head strikes something hard on my way down and the world blacks out around me.
5
Gwin
I flex my wings with an excitement I hadn’t felt all year. I swear my soul light is brighter today than it has been in some time. The green luminescence surrounds me as my mating heat surges.
I feel so… alive.
I can feel my cocks swell and rise, pushing at the delicately woven loincloth hanging around my hips. A glance around confirms that every male in the hive is in a similar state. Our shimmer is brighter than ever and our bodies exuding all the strength of mature pixie males. I can’t help but admire the image we present as we all prepare for our mating flight.
Shavish’s grin that he tosses my way is infectious and I soon return his smile. Even Dazi, who has been angry and withdrawn lately, appears to likewise be in good spirits, his silvery soul light flashing brilliantly as he joins us. I meet Orel’s eyes and we share a meaningful glance.
This is it for us. We both know it. Our last flight as a hive.
What no one in my hive knows is that I am literally pumping all of the magic that sustains my life into this last heat. I have nothing left. If this flight is left unfulfilled… well, I won’t have to worry about becoming a castri anymore. My heat will burn through the last of my soul light until it flickers and dies.
I know this, and I believe that Orel may suspect it given his grim expression as he looks at me. The healers I visited in secret earlier this day also know it. The elder healer tried to dissuade me from joining my hive’s mating flight… but I cannot do that. If by some miracle the seer is correct and I do not take part, then our hives bond would complete without me. I would be left out, not out of any sense of cruelty but by our species’ design.
I would rather risk it all for even the chance of having a queen.
I look at my hive brothers as the sun sinks over our forest, our lights growing brighter as darkness falls. In my eyes, my hive is not comprised of oversized males with peculiar wing hues as some say, but rather, I see one that possesses beautiful males, strong and loyal.
It has been years since I’ve seen any of them glow so brightly, even cocky Shavish. For all his bold talk, his light too has diminished over time. Now he shines brightly in subdued garnet hues, his light pulsing powerfully. Beside it, Dazi’s silver light looks nearly ethereal, and even Orel’s blue appears richer. That we are larger and possess more varied lights like females has been a source of endless grief for us. Queens have never been attracted to our lights. But this time will be different. Though I had my doubts at Shavish’s claims, I can feel it now… I know we will finally attract our queen!
A cool wind sweeps through the trees scented with the perfume of spring flowers and the potent pheromones of queens. I see them then. They burst up from the queens’ nest like dozens of fine jewels, their potent scent drifting over to me. I inhale deeply, my wings shivering with the aphrodisiac dust my body produces specifically for this occasion. Beside me, I hear Shavish growl low in his throat like a predator. But through our bond, I can feel the moment the full force of the pheromones hit him, and his body stiffens with need. It is far too aggressive for a lure and I turn to hiss at my brother.
“Shavish, remember that we are luring, not hunting.”
My brother’s black eyes turn toward me, and he grins mischievously. He doesn’t say anything. He merely drops from the balcony, his wings spread wide, buzzing rapidly as they carry him away. A little alarmed, I drop off after him. I can feel Orel and Dazi close behind me as we wing after our hive leader. A puzzled frown settles on my fa
ce when I realize that we are going in the opposite direction of the brilliant cloud of females drifting toward the nearby lily ponds. Putting more power into the beat of my wings, I catch up to him.
“Shavish, what are you doing? We are going the wrong way!”
My brother’s eyes slide over to me, his grin widening. “I did not say we were going that way. Remember, Gwin, the seer said deep within the forest. He laid out for me the path. Our queen is not to be one of the many females of our part of the forest. Ours is to be unique!” he shouts the last as he darts ahead, leading us on, his light burning brighter.
I cast a worried glance after him just as Dazi and Orel join my side.
“Where is he going?” Orel demands. “If he’s wasting our time, he will not have to worry about becoming a castri—I am going to kill him.”
Dazi grumbles in agreement, his silvery light flickering rapidly in irritation.
“He says he is following the path indicated by the seer,” I grumble as we slide gracefully at full speed between a close network of tree branches. We move so smoothly together, our bond tighter than it had been for months. A shame that none of the females were present to see it. “He claims that our female is to be a matchless queen… exceptional, I imagine.”
Dazi makes a click of doubt but keeps pace with us without complaint.
“It seems unlikely for any queens to be out this far into the woods,” he observes a short time later as we penetrate the darker depths of the woods. We’ve been flying for quite some time, our mating heat burning more intensely with each passing moment. I feel nearly consumed by it. I can tell by the way Dazi shivers, spurting dust from his wings, that he is caught in the effects too, though he is focusing his thoughts away from it as he continues his observations. “Though there are nightblooms, I don’t see the ponds where our females gather nectar. What would a queen be doing this far in the woods?”
Blooming Desire Page 29
