by Ann Denton
“We will not stand by and be used any longer. We won’t be the playthings of a selfish queen. A greedy one who bleeds us dry. The time has come. Sedara has been weakened. Our power has increased. And we need to move, now.”
“How’s Sedara weak?” one man called out. “I haven’t heard nothin’ about no ships being blowed up.”
“They’ve lost their chess piece. The one thing that held back the sea does so no longer.”
My heart tightened. She could only mean Avia. I was disgusted she’d referred to my sister as a chess piece. My heart ached for Avia. I bit my lip and felt like a dunce.
Eight kingdoms. The sea was the eighth kingdom. Sedara ruled the seas. The mer creatures didn’t want Queen Diamoni to rule them anymore—
The siren cut off my thoughts as she continued, “Rasle and Cheryn are leading the charge against the tyrant. They’re gathering near the shore. They’re ready to move soon. We seek those who wish to join.”
“What about Evaness? Why aren’t we leading this? Those fools outta Rasle don’t know nothing!” a curly-haired man shouted from the far corner of the room.
The siren’s eyes flashed a bright yellow in her anger. She said, “Evaness has no respect for the sea. No respect for others. Their house is full of thieves. The queen here is allied with Sedara. She only supports Sedara’s oppression.”
The magical sea community was angry at Sedara’s control. And furious at my house for mother’s thievery.
Shite, the gears clicked in my head. My mother was a fool. She’d stolen a siren? That’s why these women raged. That’s why they’d left the ocean and come all this way. That’s why they recruited my own people under my very nose.
I gulped as I realized how awful the situation really was. The magical sea races were tight knit. If Avia was a siren, we weren’t facing just the fury of women who could lure sailors to drown. We faced all kinds of creatures from the deep.
While I processed that revelation, mutters and mumbles spread through the crowd as quick as fire.
“I heard the queen enslaved that prince from Cheryn,” one man called out.
The siren nodded.
Moten anger filled my core. That was a lie.
I bristled, my mouth opened, but then I snapped it closed. I was here to observe. Here to gain knowledge. I doubted I’d be able to change the minds or hearts in this tavern.
Quinn watched me closely, and when he realized I had my reactions under control, he nodded, turning back to the room.
The conversation only grew worse. Complaints about the crown, taxes—name it, and I was blamed for it.
One man even blamed his wife’s inability to conceive on a curse I’d brought upon the nation.
The sirens waited patiently until the din quieted. They like their audiences seething, it appeared.
I certainly was.
Until the second siren stood and walked to stand next to her companion. She opened her mouth. And started to sing. Her voice was like a warm summer wind and a beam of sunshine.
Quinn grabbed my arm and hustled me out the back door into the alley. Ryan’s guards didn’t make it after us. They were caught in the golden web her voice.
Even so, the few notes I heard had me dizzy and giddy.
We ran down the alley and around a corner. My chubby male body was gasping by then, so Quinn stopped, and we took the reversal potion.
I could run much better as myself than the pudgy man from my disguise. I watched Quinn’s bulbous nose recede and his handsome smile restore itself. His half elf ears became more pointed. He pulled bottles of Flight from inside his vest. We drank them. Then we jumped into the frigid night air.
The cold made me squint my eyes and I bit my teeth together to stop them from chattering.
Isla and Raj had a dragon. They had djinn. They had sirens, and by extension most of the magical sea folk. Things weren’t looking good for Sedara. Or me, if they thought I was in league with Queen Diamoni.
Quinn grabbed me and pulled me into him. I clung to his body heat.
Those sirens were angry, Quinn said. Inside, they were furious. Incensed.
Over Sedara. And me.
No, Dove. They pictured your mother. They were angry at her more than anyone. They pictured Avia. They were disgusted by her human form. By the thought that she’d been taken.
I know. Avia’s a siren. Mother stole a siren.
No, Dove. She didn’t. A siren doesn’t have the power Isla and Raj are betting on. Their range extends to a roomful at most. That’s why there were two.
But—I swallowed, and the winter cold seemed to invade my insides. The chill spread right to my heart. If not a siren, what type of creature did mother steal?
I saw a picture in their heads. He showed it to me. The dark black of the ocean depths crept around the creature. She was a lithe woman with white hair that floated behind her. Her body had an elongated human shape. She was lined in iridescent scales on either side from foot to neck, on the undersides of her breasts, and around her eyes. The woman’s fingers were webbed and tipped with claws. Huge body-length fins, like those from a beta fish, fluttered from her back like wings. Her eyes were huge—and completely black. The picture she made was utterly beautiful. And utterly terrifying.
I’m not certain what this creature is. Some kind of sea fairy. Do you know?
It definitely wasn’t a siren. I shook my head. Is that … Avia?
No, here’s the next part of their mental picture. It’s not Avia.
The creature shot out a jet of power that created a whirlpool next to her. The swirling vortex rose up, up, up. And then, with a swirl of her hand, the sea woman reversed the rotation. A ship flew down toward her, smashing into the ocean floor at her side. Bodies and cargo burst from the ship like bubbles. The woman moved forward and broke open a chest that had floated to the ocean floor from the wreckage. It was full of coins. She picked up the chest and grinned.
My eyes widened as I watched the sea witch open her wings and flap them to swim carelessly away.
The coins we’ve been seeing. They’re old because they’re—
Sunken treasure, Quinn finished my sentence for me.
This creature—whatever she was—was no siren.
She was something worse.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Instead of flying straight to the castle, Quinn flew us north toward the Cerulean forest. Most of the blue leaves now littered the forest floor and the trees were merely angry hands scratching at the sky.
My head was dazed but my heart was anxious even as he held me in his arms.
Where are we going? We have to find out what that sea woman … sea fairy … monster … we need to know what powers she—
Quinn’s mouth latched onto mine. His lips were ice cold from flying but his breath was warm. He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I have to kiss you.
But the rebellion—
Can wait five minutes.
Only five?
He grinned. Or five hours. Whichever you prefer.
But … those sirens came to get those people to act.
For tonight, they’re only trying to get them to enlist. Probably on a magically binding scroll. And they might have a harder time of it than they expect. As soon as the one started singing, I planted an image of a witch—Quinn sent me a mental picture of a gnarled old witch—in the heads of the half-dozen most violent men in the place. They’ll think they’re being tricked. It’s why I pulled you out. I fully expect a riot to start down there.
Sure enough, I heard yelling in the distance. I looked back to see torches leaving the tavern.
I sighed in relief and turned back to Quinn. Thank you.
He grinned.
I smiled at the mischief in his grey eyes. I thought: You wanted five hours? Well, then, I’m not arguing with you.
Because I wanted release. I craved it. All this tension, all this nervous energy weighed on me. This fear threatened to eat me whole. I
needed a momentary escape.
Quinn grinned against my mouth and kissed me again when he felt me acquiesce. Slowly, his tongue began plundering deeper. He spun us slightly in midair. Without gravity to stop us, we kept languidly spinning in the moonlight, our feet dangling above the treetops.
I’ve loved you from the day I saw you, Quinn’s mind whispered even as his mouth traced a hot path down my neck, setting my icy skin alight.
You were so hot that day, I thought in return. Your eyes—I pictured him in Kylee’s tavern and sent the image to him.
Not that day. Quinn sent me an image of a market. I’d been in a disguise spell, selling eggs. I’d given a little beggar boy a loaf of bread.
I pulled back to study his face, astonished. That had been a least a year before he’d caught me. How did you know that was me?
He shrugged. I could see you in your actions. You’ve always been a pure heart. A wild, wicked mouth—which I love—once the real you was unleashed. He kissed the corner of my lip. But a pure heart.
My mind spun dizzily at the revelation. But … you didn’t bring me in. I’d been at that market a year before he caught me and brought me back to claim the throne.
His fingers fumbled with the ties at the front of my shirt. The cold was making us stiff and movement hard. Quinn directed us lower, out of the winter wind.
You were happy, he shrugged and caressed my cheek before going back to the ties. If you were happy and weren’t ready for the crown, I wasn’t ready to force you back.
But—
Happiness matters. Don’t forget that. Duty is good. Selflessness great. But happiness matters, too.
Whose happiness though? We’re about to get put in the crosshairs of a war and if I can do anything to stop it … it’s my duty. To sacrifice for Evaness. It’s what mother would have done. She did do. She stole a child to protect this country. She magicked that baby and raised it as her own, knowing that she’d be a target—
He stroked my cheek. Your mother’s way isn’t the only way.
How else can you be queen?
He gave a shrug. You muddle through, day by day.
I’m pretty certain muddling through won’t stop any wars.
You can plan as much as you want … but sometimes, you just know when things aren’t right. It’s why I couldn’t take you that day at the market. It wasn’t right.
What was different at Kylee’s Tavern?
You were furious. Gods, the vixen in you was out that day. You weren’t happy anymore. You were frustrated. Lost. And your anger was so …
Off-putting? I laughed.
Hot.
Quinn’s lips smashed into mine and he angled us down through the trees quickly until my feet landed on a pile of dead leaves.
“Wait! We don’t have any more Flight!”
Quinn didn’t answer my protest.
Before I could blink, my pants were off. I was in only the oversized male shirt I wore, which was entirely too thin.
Quinn let go of me up for a moment to lay his vest out sideways as a makeshift blanket. Then his eyes locked onto mine and his hands snaked around my waist. Slowly, he lowered me down onto the vest.
He lay down next to me and propped his head up on his hand so he could stare down at me. I love you, Bloss.
I fell into the grey depths of his eyes and warmth lit my heart, like a candle flame. The world might be crashing down around us. But we’d sink together. Together was the important part.
“I love you, too,” I whispered.
I wish I could give you your dreams.
You mean you’d help me find someone to take this damn crown off my hands?
He chuckled. If there was anyone else fit to wear it.
He lifted his free hand and his fingers skimmed the seam of my lips lightly.
I fought a shiver. The winter night was closing in.
Quinn noticed and pulled me closer so that I was flush against him. He brought my hands to his mouth and blew on them to warm them. I have an idea, Dove. Close your eyes for a moment.
I let my eyelids flutter closed and I focused on the feel of his chest against mine.
I’m a simple fisherman and you’re my wife. We live in a little cottage by the wharf that smells of brine when the wind blows the right way.
The smell of the ocean touched my nose and my eyes popped open.
Not yet, Dove. Keep them closed. Quinn’s grey eyes scolded me.
I closed my eyes and shoved my top leg between his, cuddling closer and stealing his body heat. I smiled as I listened to him weave a fantasy for me. A fantasy where we were simple people who fished and made homemade bread in the hearth, except on the days I burnt it.
A burnt smell wafted over us and my eyes popped open again.
If this is a fantasy, why am I incompet—my thought trailed off as I gazed beyond Quinn in wonder. I didn’t see the trees of the forest. I didn’t see the pile of dull blue leaves where we lay. I didn’t see Quinn’s vest underneath us. Quinn and I were in a cozy little cottage bedroom, laying on a lumpy mattress. The walls were a roughhewn pine. A fire crackled merrily in the hearth and I could nearly feel the heat of the flames. A loaf of bread sat on the edge of the hearth, one half black as charcoal.
Don’t worry about the bread, Dove. I’ll eat the burnt half, Quinn thought as he nuzzled my neck.
I can’t believe—I was going to say I couldn’t believe Quinn’s magic. The illusion was so beautiful. So detailed. But Quinn cut me off with a kiss.
Quick. Before the others get home. Quinn gave me a naughty wink. I love to make the cottage reek of sex before your other husbands walk in.
I grinned and shook my head. Even in fantasy, Quinn couldn’t stop his playful, childish side.
Well, if that’s what you want, you’d better get to work. I raised my eyebrows.
Quinn’s smile doubled and he rolled on top of me.
Yes, ma’am. His hand came up and cupped my jaw briefly before he leaned in for a full kiss, brushing his tongue lightly over mine.
After a minute, I deepened the kiss, reaching up and pulling him down by the neck so that I could feel the entire length of his strong, hard body against me. His shoulders were wide, and his hips fit perfectly between my thighs when they parted. His shaft pressed down against my thigh. It was hard and thick.
Quinn shifted his weight to one hand and brought his other up to graze my lips. Then he pushed his thumb slowly into my mouth. I used my tongue to tease out circles on the pad of his digit. When I released his thumb with a pop, he brought it slowly down my body, pulled up the hem of my shirt, and traced that wet thumb up along my inner thigh. He edged closer and closer to my core. But as soon as he saw my breath catch, he slid away. Then he slid closer. When I arched my back, he slid his thumb away again.
Quinn! I scolded. I thought you wanted this cabin reeking of sex! Quit teasing.
Oh, it’s starting to, wife. I can smell you. But I don’t just want this cabin to reek of plain old sex. I want your other husbands to hear you screaming as they walk up from the shore. I want them to drop the fish they’ve caught and sprint up here, thinking their sweet wife is being attacked, only to find you impaled on my cock, shrieking in ecstasy.
His words left me panting. But I couldn’t let his ego know that. I think you have a very high opinion of your abilities.
He raised an eyebrow. Oh, do I?
I traced my fingers down over his ribs, yanking impatiently at his shirt. He sat up and pulled it off, obliging me. When he leaned back down and returned his thumb to teasing me, I started outlining the ship tattooed on his stomach.
I smiled up at Quinn, determined to push his buttons. Honestly, I don’t believe you can make me scream. I just don’t see that happening.
We’ll see about that.
His thumb near my core traveled upward, tracing around my clit. Around and around. My hips lifted, seeking out his touch. But he pushed me down with his own hips. His lips sank onto my right nipple and he licked it t
hrough the shirt, lapping at it with slow steady strokes of his tongue. Then his thumb slowly skimmed my folds. They were already slick. So slick that when he pushed lightly, his thumb had an easy entrance.
So wet. So hot, Quinn growled. He kept his thumb just inside me, spreading me open as his fingers strummed along my lips and clit, like he was playing an instrument.
My body grew tighter, the tension rising as the irregular thump of his fingers just served to tease me further. I started to get desperate as my pussy lips and clit grew swollen, ready for more attention. I wanted direct contact. But every time I swiveled my hips to get it, Quinn moved away.
You’d better hurry, or you’ll miss your chance. The other men are already walking home. I can hear them, I added to our little cottage fantasy as I stroked his pointed elf ears in the way I knew he liked.
Suddenly, I heard Ryan boom out a laugh. Quinn’s illusions were perfection.
So, you want to turn on the pressure, Dove. Fine. I’ll let you come. But only if you scream out that I’m your favorite.
You shite! That’s not fair. It’ll hurt them.
Quinn’s smile grew wide. There’s that good heart. Overruling even a fantasy.
I turned toward him, suddenly serious. I stared into his eyes, willing him to know the truth. You know I love you. I love you all. With everything. Right? That there’s no such thing as favorites. You’re all so different. And special. And I couldn’t imagine my life without you.
Quinn pulled his fingers out of me and leaned back. His belt was off, and pants were down in seconds. I only saw his hard shaft for a moment before he pushed roughly into me.
Say it again, he grunted, halfway inside me. His grey eyes were fierce.
I love you. With everything.
Again. He thrust into me deeper, his hard, hot dick sliding against my wetness. My pussy lips pulsed.
I love you.
Again.
I love you!
Quinn bottomed out, his huge mushroom tip pressed against my cervix. He reached down with his thumb and circled my clit, offsetting the pain. He thrust lightly back and forth. I could feel his cock already pulsing inside me, threatening to come. Teasing me had built him up to a frenzy.
