Shameless: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 3)

by Devyn Sinclair

  “Kari?”

  I turn my head, and I’m lying next to Kiaran. Oh. This is his bed. And even though there’s a blanket over his waist, he’s not wearing any clothing. My eyes wander up his body, perfectly dark golden skin and the shapes of his abs that make my mouth water. He’s long and lean and perfect. A swimmer’s body, and I would happily swim with him.

  I’m naked too, because I’m naked in bed at home. “Hi.”

  He’s been looking at me too, and when he reaches for me I can feel him. But I know that he’s not real. This is not what it will be like face to face. He pulls me close quickly, kissing me, allowing his hand to roam across my hip. “You’re here.”

  “It’s a dream.”

  He growls. “You think I care?”

  There’s a bandage over his shoulder, and I trace it. “You’re hurt.”

  “It was nothing,” he says quickly, “that was a good move on his part. I wish I hadn’t stood in the way.”

  I close my eyes. “Does it hurt?”

  Kiaran shakes his head. “No more than being here. No more than her having me. No more than what really touching you feels like.”

  “You’re the only one,” I say, tracing his lips with my fingers. “The only one that I haven’t mated yet.”

  He rolls over me, and arousal blooms low in my stomach. The urgency in his kiss takes his breath away. “I don’t care,” he says. “I just want to feel you.”

  The shrill voice shoves ice into my veins and down my throat. “So this is what you do when I loosen my control.” Ariana is standing in the doorway to this room. That smile that makes my skin crawl appears, and Kiaran throws himself off me. “Oh, dear,” she says. “It’s far too late for that.”

  “Get out,” he says to her.

  “Now now, where are your manners?”

  The fury in his gaze could burn the world down. “Get the fuck out.”

  “Last time I checked, you were bound to me, Kiaran,” she says smoothly. “That means I can do what I like with you. Even be in your dreams. And what a good one to witness. I’m glad I was bored this evening or I never would have known how lucky I am.” Her gaze turns to me. “Coincidence that your mate is mine? Or are you just that unlucky?”

  Horror closes my throat. She knows. I was hoping that she would never find out. Not until I had figured out a way to save him. Now she’s grinning like she was gifted a puppy. I’m not saying anything. Nothing that could possibly give her any more ammunition.

  “Seems like I have the other hand, and you are out of time. You know where I am. Clever, finding me here and breaking that ward. Even if the alarms you set off still give me a fucking headache.” She lifts a finger, and Kiaran rises from the bed. “What am I going to do with you?”

  That finger that’s controlling him taps against her lips. “Apologize.”

  Kiaran’s entire body goes stiff. He’s fighting her power and I can see it on his face. Orange and red and purple light swirl around her hand, and the words come from his mouth. “I’m sorry, Ariana.” The inflection is flat and dead. Forced words and nothing more. I can still see him inside. He’s not gone yet, and if her magic wasn’t holding him back he’d tear her apart. She knows that too.

  A smile. “On your knees.”

  Suddenly the magic clicks in and his face melts into calmness. He bows his head and smoothly kneels before her. “I apologize, my lady. Forgive me.”

  She runs her fingers down his cheek and smiles almost fondly. My stomach turns. I want to break her wrist for daring to touch him. But even if I broke her here, it’s still just a dream.

  Ariana looks at me, gaze now frigid. “You are out of time. Be here by mid day. Alone. Or the next thing I will deliver to your home is the hearts and heads of both your friend and your mate.”

  With a flick of her wrist I’m falling, and I land in my own body with a jerk, snapping into a sitting position. I’m surrounded by sleeping bodies, none of us bothering to move after last night. It’s already full bright. I’m not sure what time it is. “Wake up,” I say. “We have to go. Now.”

  They’re up and alert before I manage to make it all the way to the closet. “Slow down,” Kent says. “What happened?”

  “I can’t slow down. There’s no time. The deadline is now mid day, and she wants me to come alone. I know that you won’t let that happen, so you need to be prepared for a fight. But unless we get there they’re both dead.”

  “Who else?” Brae looks at me in horror.

  “Kiaran,” I say, pulling on the protective clothes that Kaya gave me for training and fighting. “She knows.”

  “Shit.” Aeric flies off the bed. “Grab your weapons and clothes. Be downstairs in five minutes.”

  Faces are grim as they spring into action, but no one questions the validity of what I told them or argue a different path. I finish pulling on the pants and shirt. They’re comfortable, and though I have little hope that the embedded protections would survive a direct blast from Ariana’s power, it’s a small comfort just the same. I use the last couple of minutes to braid my hair away from my face, all the while praying to the Goddess that we are not too late and we can manage to save them.

  We wanted a plan, and we don’t have one. But we have a lot more magic than we had before, and I can feel all four of my mates. Every one of them is focused and determined and confident. They’re going to fight like hell for me. No matter what happens, I have that.

  The portal is already open when I come down the stairs. They’re all dressed and armed to the teeth with blades. Even Kent has a sword strapped to his back along with knives and the ash gun.

  This is where someone might give a rousing speech in a movie. Rally up the troops. But this isn’t a movie. There’s no guarantee of a happy ending and no extra time. Instead, I push love through my bonds to them and take Kent’s hand. We walk through the portal together.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  ________

  KARI

  Everything feels different when we enter the tunnel again. The melted walls are still there, and the traps, but everything is silent. Not in the way it was—fake and hiding something sinister under the surface. No, everything is just…off. The traps are dormant, and there’s a line of magic leading a clear path straight to her.

  I guess Ariana is confident enough in my loyalty to both Kiaran and Emma that she’s willing to risk me walking straight in. “Stay on your guard,” Verys says. “She’s not stupid enough to think that you’d actually come alone.”

  “No,” I say. “She’s not.”

  As we walk lower into the tunnels, it grows dark. There’s no natural light, and we have to supply it with magic, but it also grows louder. After our third turn, rotating ever downwards, it becomes clear why this field of ice is in the Wild Kingdom. Because it’s not a field of ice at all. The walls have melted into running water. Running, but static. It flows around the space of the tunnels like the air is solid.

  Reaching out, I run my finger across the surface. It’s so cold that I pull back, but I could plunge into it if I wanted. There’s no barrier stopping the water, it simply is. Soon there’s no ice left, only the flowing tunnels that lead us deeper down. The air is cold and thick with moisture. Colors from everyone’s magic refract through the moving flow, lighting up the paths like a kaleidoscope.

  I really don’t want to think about how far we are under the surface. I can feel it. The pressure in my bones and the gut deep knowledge that the solid weight of the earth is above my head. Surely Ariana knows that I’m here by now? That I’m on my way? What time is it on the surface? Have we reached mid-day?

  More twists and turns and with every one the anxiety builds in my gut. Knots upon knots of it, ready to make me scream. I have no idea how long we’ve been walking when the path levels out, leading us straight and away down a bigger part than before. Almost palatial in size, the waterfalls pouring down each side.

  It would be incredibly beautiful if it didn’t feel like a fucking death march.<
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  Without warning, the tunnel opens up into space, and you can hear how loud it is. The sound of falling water echoes throughout this cavern, and our little lights are swallowed up without anything to bounce off.

  But light comes from above. Suddenly. Brilliantly. A sphere of bright white, though I can already see that it’s laced through with the colors of Ariana’s stolen power that I saw just hours ago. “I told you that you were predictable,” she says, calling out from across the room. There’s a ledge of ice at the back of the space, and she’s fashioned a chair like a throne on it, lounging. Kiaran is by her side. He’s completely encased in magic, so there’s no question about where his current loyalty lies.

  She continues. “I told you to come alone or I would kill them.”

  Other taken fae are scattered around the space. It reminds me of what Kiaran showed me at the Heart of Allwyn. And the ones that we saw yesterday. They stand between us and Ariana, dead faced and ready to do her bidding. There’s a lot of them, but not so many I don’t think we could win.

  The traps down here are complicated. I’m not exactly sure what they do, but I feel the magical connections that are powering them. Not so dormant as the ones that we passed—just waiting. Ready to be triggered.

  “I suppose I should thank you,” Ariana says, standing. “You’ve made it easier on me. Now I won’t have to track down each of your lovers and kill them. I can do it all in one go.”

  “Where is she?” It’s the first thing that I’ve spoken, and I’m taken aback by the way my voice sounds. Far, far more confident than I actually feel inside.

  Ariana smiles, and gestures to the falling walls of water. I never would have noticed, but there’s a shape inside the water. A bubble. Emma hangs suspended inside. Her form is to obscured by the rushing flow for me to tell if she’s alive or even conscious. That water nearly took my finger off with its temperature. Getting to her isn’t exactly going to be easy, and there’s a crowd of fae that I have to get through first.

  A cube of water containing Emma’s bubble emerges from the wall, sliding across the slippery floor. It slides to a stop. “She’s right here. Perfectly preserved, as promised. Though you broke the rules, and I’m not sure why I shouldn’t just kill her now.” Emma drops like a rag doll in the bubble, crumpling on the bottom of it from where she was floating. Emma looks frozen. If Ariana dropping her suddenly opens her up to that temperature, she doesn’t have much time. Through the water I see Emma lift her head. She’s alive. For now. I push down the fear that’s squeezing my heart like a vise. I can do this. There has to be a way.

  Reaching inside, I push confidence through the bond to my mates. They’re not going to like what I’m about to do, but it’s the only thing that I can possibly think of that might work. “I want to make a deal with you.”

  She tilts her head. “Whatever for? I have all the leverage.”

  “No,” I say. “What you have is a stalemate. You have my best friend and my mate. You can’t kill them and ever hope to get anything from me voluntarily. Ever. And you won’t let them go because you need that leverage.”

  I feel the range of emotions from the men around me. From shock and panic to curiosity and trust. But there’s only one person that I can’t feel, and he’s the one that makes the move. I hear the click of a hammer and look over to see Kent leveling the gun at Ariana. I think my heart stops for a moment.

  As one, the fae look at us. Before they were looking straight ahead, and now their malevolent focus is chilling. Ariana doesn’t flinch in the face of the gun. But she raises her hand to either side of her. Emma is lifted off the floor of her cage, and Kiaran stiffens beside her. “I could snap both their necks before that bullet hits me and we both know it.”

  “Kent,” I say quietly. “What are you doing?”

  “Giving her something to prove,” he whispers back.

  Ariana snaps her fingers. and around us within the water and under the surface of the floor I feel magic swim to life. The traps are primed, and if we walk forward at all we’ll be caught in them. So will the fae that she has bound to her if she ever lets them move.

  She stands up from her chair and comes down the steps, lazily walking through the rows of fae until she’s close enough that I can see her face clearly. Kiaran follows her, eyes boring straight ahead like he sees nothing. But he’s still held in her grip and so is Emma. “Have your dear mates ever told you what happens when fae die?” Ariana asks.

  Her tone is so confident that I pause, and don’t say anything.

  “All power is gift temporarily from the great and might Goddess. And Allwyn, of course. And when fae die, that power returns to the source. Or, if you’re clever enough, it gets diverted to another one. A better one. So there’s a flaw in your plan, Kari. I don’t need you alive.

  “Would this work better if you were? Yes. The power you have is far more potent within you. But I’ll make do. And when your mates are dead as well, all that magic will be mine, and I’ll have more than enough for what I need.” She waves a hand, and the water closes over the entrance behind us.

  Kent still has the gun pointed directly at her heart. “And if you die?” he asks. “What happens to the magic that you’ve stolen?”

  “Your magic will be collected here after you are dead. Everything is ready. I misspoke before. I don’t hold all the leverage. I hold all the power. And when you have that, there’s no need to make deals. Especially when you know exactly what your opponent will do. You can create a situation she is unable to walk away from, and have her exactly where you want her.” She’s close enough now that I could reach out and touch her, but I’m terrified of what will happen if I do. “Goodbye, Kari. I’ll amen sure your magic is well taken care of.”

  There’s a swell of magic and portals start to open. One near Emma’s cage, and the other behind Ariana. A manic little smile crosses her face, and she reaches her hand for Kiaran’s who takes it. She’s planned this to the letter. Every possibility thought of, because she thinks she knows who I am and what I’ll risk. So she doesn’t see it coming when I grab the gun from Kent’s hand and fire.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ________

  KARI

  Everything happens at once.

  The bullet flies towards Ariana, aim true. Time slows down, and I can feel the beat of my heart with every breath. She catches the bullet, magic wrapped around her hand and stopping it from piercing her heart, but she screams all the same. A horrifying scream of pain and rage that shakes the cavern and releases the fae on us.

  I don’t have time to think. I reach for Emma’s cage and shove it as hard as I can with my power, causing it to skid away from the portal it was about to sink into. It crashes into the ledge of ice, cracking it. In the time that takes, Kiaran and Ariana are gone, the magic from their portal evaporating into thin air.

  And around me, my men are fighting. The fae are not holding back. Ariana has given them instructions to kill. They don’t have a choice. Their gazes are lit with bloodlust and fury that will only be sated by our death. One slides under Verys’s blade and comes straight at me. Dropping the gun, I hold him back with my shield just long enough for Aeric to slam the hilt of his sword into his head.

  The fae crumples in front of me, and all I can see is the peaceful innocence on their unconscious face.

  “Kari, move,” Aeric bellows.

  Emma. I need to get to Emma. Aeric clears a path for me, and I sprint across the space to the cage. I feel the traps trigger, and I hit the floor just fast enough to avoid that spew of flame that almost killed me yesterday. I crawl underneath it through the melting floor, and scramble away from a pit that yawns open to my right.

  The cube is right in front of me, and she isn’t moving inside of it. “Emma!” I scream her name as loud as I can but there’s no response. Her lips are blue and her skin is growing paler. She’s going to die if I don’t get inside there. I stroke the cage with magic. There’s an opening at the top, but it’s a one-way door
. Once I go in, there’s no coming out.

  Fuck that. I’ll blast my way out if I need to, but I’m not going to sit here and watch her die. Aeric appear at my side, breathing hard. “What do you need?”

  “Keep them back long enough for me to break her out.” Already fae are swarming towards us, not diverted by the other battles ranging around the room.

  He nods, and sends a blast of green power into the fae running directly at him. The body goes flying into the opposite waterfall, and I don’t see it again. I will mourn for these innocent fae later. I can see everyone trying to hold back their fatal blows, but it’s just not entirely possible.

  A shout draws my eye, and my stomach drops. Kent sprung a trap. Boulders of ice springing from the ground around him, encasing him, and slowly enclosing. He’ll be crushed in less than a minute. No. The horror I feel is not just my own. I see it on Aeric’s face, and feel it through our bond. Horror and outright terror for his friend.

  “Save him,” I say. “Please.”

  I’m climbing up the ice and clamoring over Ariana’s broken throne as I say it. Emma could have less than a minute. “Aeric. Save him and then save me.”

  He hesitates for only a second, and I feel it. I’m his mate. He’s sworn to protect me at all costs, and everything in him doesn’t want to leave my side. Especially now. And then I feel him shift. This is his family, and every member is equally important. Even Kent. I feel him embrace this as something he wants and needs instead of fighting against, and then I see him launch across the space towards Kent.

  That’s all I see. I drop into the cage, through freezing water. So cold I think it might kill me, and even after I drop inside the bubble there’s no change. I’m shaking with it, but I pull Emma into my lap. She’s cold and stiff, but alive. Barely. Her breath is shallow and the pulse I feel may as well be nothing.

  I draw up as much power as I can, willing heat into the air around me and into her body. Enough so that I can get us out of here. I push against the opening at the top, but that’s no used. It’s sealed with enough magic to make it impossible.