Hex and the City

by Sarina Dorie

  I didn’t squeeze a second time.

  “Sorry, she said no,” Elric said.

  Thatch was silent, no doubt giving Elric the evil eye. I kept squeezing Elric’s hand. I wanted to shout at him and tell him he was being immature.

  Elric laughed. “I jest. You know she said she wants you to kiss her. But I’m just going to let you know now, it isn’t going to work. You’re only a Witchkin. In fairy tales, it’s the prince who wakes the beauty.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes at him.

  Thatch’s hands remained where they were, under my spine and on my belly. He touched his lips to mine. He kissed me, lightly at first, uncertainly. After going for a month without his touch, it was torture not to kiss him back. I tried to breathe him in, to invite him deeper.

  Whether it was my own silent urging or his desire, his mouth became more urgent, hungry for more. His tongue tasted my mouth, and I responded, arching closer to him. My affinity blazed and pulsed between his hands. Even now, under the worst circumstances, cursed and with Elric holding on to one of my hands, he managed to make me want him.

  “Open your eyes,” he murmured against my lips.

  I did so. He pulled away enough to look me in the eyes. I was in a bedroom, the same room I’d been in before. Curtains of lacy lichen surrounded the canopy bed. I lay on top of the blankets. Candles lit the room.

  “Clarissa,” Thatch started.

  “Please, don’t—” I wanted to say, “don’t stop,” but already the effect of the kiss was slipping away. I couldn’t make my mouth work. My eyes fluttered closed again.

  “Merlin’s balls,” he said. “I almost did it.”

  He kissed me again. I managed to open my eyes for a second time. I murmured against his lips, wanting to explain everything I could while I was aware and able to speak.

  He pulled back.

  “You can’t stop kissing me or else. . . .” My tongue stopped working and the last few words came out a mumble. My eyes fell closed.

  Thatch swore again.

  “Stand aside,” Elric said. “This solution cannot be solved by an amateur.”

  “No, you will not kiss her until she consents.”

  “Of course, I won’t.” He pressed my fingers to his lips. “Will you let me try to wake you?”

  I hesitated. As caring and kind as Elric was, I didn’t love him. I didn’t want to lead him on and let him think this meant he was my true love. On the other hand, he was Fae, and he was a prince. What if he was right that was what it would take?

  Yes, I said with one quick squeeze. After all, what did I have to lose at this point?

  Elric leaned so close his breath whispered against my cheek. His lips smoothed against my jaw.

  Thatch didn’t move his hand from my belly. I had no doubt he could feel my affinity stirring in response. For him to have so much awareness of my body’s longing for Elric’s touch was embarrassing.

  Elric brushed my hair away from my face and cupped my jaw in his hands. His lips skimmed over my eyelids and cheeks and nose. Each kiss he planted on my skin blossomed with warmth. Short little spikes in my core radiated throughout my body. My breath came in ragged gasps.

  My affinity throbbed. I was uncomfortably aware of Thatch’s hands on me even as I arched my hips with desire for another man.

  I drank in Elric’s kisses greedily, drawing in his energy. Longing flooded through me. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted to touch him.

  Elric’s fingers kneaded the back of my neck. He kissed me harder. My pelvic muscles clenched. I knew what he was doing. He was using magic on me. My muscles spasmed, and my affinity churned out of control. Waves of ecstasy rose inside me. The heat of lightning crackled in my core.

  My affinity imploded. I expected to feel an orgasm, but instead, a tide of pain smothered the pleasant sensation. I cried out.

  “Stop!” Thatch said.

  If anyone in the room would be able to sense pain, it would be him.

  Elric broke away from my lips. The magic of one of his immaculate orgasms subsided.

  “Clarissa?” Elric smoothed a finger over my temple, drying the tears I hadn’t realized I was crying. “It didn’t work. Why didn’t it work?”

  “Did you expect an easy solution?” Thatch snapped.

  Elric took my hand again. “It doesn’t hurt to hope.”

  “Go ask your damned wife what she did to Clarissa and how to cure her.”

  “It isn’t going to work. Quenylda will deny it.”

  “Make her tell the truth. I don’t care if you expose her to electronics or threaten to lock her in iron chains. Command her to tell you.”

  “I will find an answer and rescue you from this,” Elric said to me. He planted a kiss on my forehead. His touch withdrew. His footsteps tapped against the floor and faded.

  Thatch shifted his hands from my belly and back. He held my hands. I retained my awareness of my core. I wanted him to speak to me, to tell me it would be all right. But he wasn’t one for frivolous words or insincere reassurances of comfort. If I had asked him for that, he would have told me to toughen up in his grumpy way.

  A few minutes later, muffled voices sounded from farther away.

  “I already told you,” Quenylda said. “It’s a Sleeping Beauty Curse.”

  Elric’s voice was a low growl. “No, it isn’t. We’ve both tried kissing her.”

  “That will only work on a mild enchantment, not a curse.”

  Feet scuffled closer. Quenylda’s nearness set my nerves on edge.

  Thatch released one of my hands, shifting, but still holding on to me. “Why have you brought Clarissa’s attacker here?”

  Elric’s voice lacked his usual buoyant enthusiasm. “Princess Quenylda has promised to tell us how to cure Clarissa under the condition that she is able to do so in the presence of all three of us.”

  The silence of the room prickled my ears.

  “Out with it, then,” Elric said. “What is the cure?”

  “You remember the story. The original story. Sleeping Beauty doesn’t wake when the prince kisses her.” Her laugh was cruel and cold. She didn’t sound that different from the Raven Queen.

  I didn’t like where this story was going.

  “Sleeping Beauty didn’t wake when the prince kissed her or raped her.” Thatch didn’t hide the disdain in his voice. “She woke when she gave birth to twins. It was the pain of childbirth. Is that what you’re saying?”

  Quenylda hummed to herself for a moment. “It will be interesting to see all the ways you try to wake her. Pain magic. Sex magic. Maybe we’ll even get some twins out of it. An addition to the bloodline. Unless of course it’s Felix Thatch who does the honors.”

  I didn’t doubt Quenylda would kill any heir I gave Elric. I thought about Vega and her unborn child.

  “Quenylda, how could you do this?” Elric said. “We had an understanding. We agreed we would never touch each other’s lovers or human consorts.”

  Her voice sliced through the quiet of the room. “But she’s not your lover, is she? You only want her to be.”

  Elric’s voice grew louder. “I can’t believe you! When she was my lover, you threw a tantrum. Now that she isn’t my lover, you do this? Is there no pleasing you?”

  The cloying sweetness of her voice felt sticky and wrong in my ears. “I told you long ago. You could have any woman, any woman but not Loraline.”

  “Indeed. And Clarissa isn’t her mother.”

  “I think she is. A reincarnation of her.”

  “No,” Thatch and Elric said at the same time.

  Quenylda huffed. “Even if she isn’t, she deserves it. She’s made you suffer. She refused to have your children, the little tart.”

  The Fae princess had told me she didn’t want me to bear his heirs. Had that been a ruse? Or was this a ruse? Fae could be so troublesome to figure out.

  “I can’t believe my ears,” Elric said. “You did this bec
ause Clarissa refused me? You sought revenge on my behalf? I am more than capable enough of avenging myself if I feel offended over a slight. I don’t need your assistance in such matters.”

  This was like listening to a soap opera. This time on Days of Our Lives. . . . As sweet and thoughtful as Elric could be, I was feeling more and more like it had been a good decision not to involve myself with a married man.

  “As usual, you think everything is about you,” Quenylda said. “The one Witchkin out there with the knowledge to restore the Fae, and she strings you along, just like her mother did with half the Fae kingdoms.”

  Thatch’s voice was monotone, giving away no indication of what he felt. “Clarissa doesn’t know her mother’s secrets. She doesn’t know how to solve Fae Fertility problems. It is possible she isn’t even fertile herself.”

  I didn’t know whether he actually believed that or whether he knew what Vega and I had been up to. Vega didn’t look pregnant.

  “I suppose we’ll find out if she’s fertile,” Quenylda said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Elric asked.

  “Someone is going to have to try to get her with child. She’ll end up hating one of you when she wakes.”

  “I believe we’ve heard enough. Please remove your wife from this room,” Thatch said.

  Quenylda cackled. “Which one of you is going to rape a sleeping woman you both claim to love? How will you decide who gets her? Will you duel? Will it be a battle to the death?”

  A chill settled over my skin. So this had been her game all along. She played to kill.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Sleeping Beauty Take Two

  No, I said, squeezing Thatch’s hand twice. I didn’t want them to fight. I remembered the time outside the swing club that had turned nasty. Elric was stronger, but Thatch fought dirtier.

  Thatch’s voice was close to my ear. “No one is going to force you to do anything.”

  “Clarissa will choose,” Elric said.

  “How?” Quenylda’s high-pitched cackle bordered on hysterical. She sounded like a madwoman. “She can’t talk. She can’t move. You can’t ask her consent because she’s unconscious.”

  I realized then, she didn’t know I could move. Whether it was a flaw in her spell or the electricity of my affinity that weakened her curse, I had a small amount of agency, even if all it consisted of was squeezing a hand.

  “Remove your wife,” Thatch said again.

  Footsteps scuffled away. Quenylda’s peals of laughter receded into the distance. The door slammed closed.

  “He’ll take that demon to the dungeon if he knows what’s good for him,” Thatch said. “Unfortunately, he probably doesn’t know what’s good for him. Pardon my saying so, but he’s a knave. What man, mortal or Fae, decides it’s a good idea to marry his sister in the first place?”

  It was almost nice to hear him complain about something like he normally would have. He released my hand. I reached for him, not wanting him to leave me. I slipped into blackness.

  I was aware of voices, but they were distant, muffled as though a wall separated me from them. They sounded like they were arguing. Not good. My consciousness revived itself when Thatch took up my hand again. His voice became clear. I wondered how long Elric and Thatch had been arguing about me.

  I squeezed his hand repeatedly, trying to ask him without words what was happening. I didn’t want him to fight with Elric. Quenylda had known exactly what buttons to push. She was as adept at torture as the Raven Queen, though her version was subtler.

  Thatch abruptly stopped talking. He massaged my hand again. “I understand you’re trying to get my attention, but I don’t know what you want.”

  Elric’s usually gentle voice lashed out, harsh and sharp. “If you weren’t such a selfish sod and were capable of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment, you might guess she’s scared.”

  Thatch stroked my hair. “Clarissa, no one is going to hurt you. I’m not going to force myself on you.”

  Elric’s tone was playful, considering the dire circumstances. “She might also like to know that you aren’t going to try to kill me so you can have her all to yourself.”

  I squeezed Thatch’s hand to tell him yes. I did want to know that.

  Thatch groaned in exasperation. “You are incorrigible. We both know it’s the other way around. She’s afraid you’re going to kill me, and that you’ll claim her as your trophy in that chauvinistically Fae way of yours.”

  “How dare you say that! I’m not the one who purposefully used pain magic on her.”

  Quenylda was a genius. She was a horrible, evil genius who manipulated others into fighting her wars for her. No wonder Vega got along with her. Only, I took it Vega didn’t appreciate being used for her schemes. She’d almost killed Vega. Surely Vega didn’t know Quenylda would kill her baby.

  I needed to tell Vega, but I couldn’t.

  I squeezed Thatch’s hand a dozen times, trying to get his attention. He released my hand. All sensation left my body. Damn him. I slipped into blackness.

  “There,” Thatch said, taking up my hand again. “Her affinity ignites, but only when I touch her.”

  Yes, I said with a squeeze.

  “Does that mean you fall back under the spell when no one touches you?” Elric asked.

  Yes, I squeezed. Finally they were getting it!

  “So you couldn’t hear us discussing . . . your fate just now?” Thatch asked.

  No.

  Elric smoothed a hand over my hair. “We promise not to fight. Does that make you feel better?”

  One squeeze. Yes.

  The more I thought about it, though, it only made me feel slightly better. There were still so many things to worry about. I gave two squeezes for no.

  Elric laughed.

  Thatch said, “I don’t think this is meant to be part of the fairy-tale curse. The reason Clarissa is able to revive herself has to do with her affinity. She needs human contact. She needs touch.”

  “It doesn’t matter what your theory is. The end result is the same in either case. She is going to need someone to awaken her.”

  “You should do it,” Thatch said quickly. “It’s the logical solution. You have Fae magic, and it will help revive her.” He sandwiched my hand between his. “Clarissa, you know I’m right about this, don’t you? We need to be practical.”

  No, I said with two squeezes of the hand.

  Hello? I wanted to say. That’s how emotionally unavailable you are? You don’t want to have sex with me or for me to potentially have your child?

  “Don’t be stubborn,” Thatch chided. “You know I’m right.”

  “Indeed,” Elric said.

  Thatch cleared his throat. “You need to ask Clarissa’s permission first.”

  Elric took my other hand. “Would you mind giving me a minute alone with Clarissa? I want to speak to her without your presence disturbing her and making her feel self-conscious. She doesn’t need an audience, right, Thatchy?”

  “Don’t call me that.” Thatch withdrew. “Don’t touch her until I return.”

  “Of course not.” I couldn’t see the grin on Elric’s face, but I heard it in his tone. “I wouldn’t dare make love to Clarissa without you present. I’m certain she’d feel so much more comfortable with an audience.”

  That was the second time he’d made the remark. If Elric was goading him, Thatch was disciplined enough not to show it.

  Thatch took my hand again. “Are you all right if I leave you alone with him? I won’t leave you long.”

  Yes, I squeezed. I would have rolled my eyes at him if I could have. I knew Elric wasn’t going to leave me, not after what Quenylda had done.

  How would Felix Thatch handle my comatose body being hammered by another man if he didn’t even want to leave Elric long enough to talk to me? I wished he would have told me what was truly going on in his head.

  “She’s fin
e,” Elric said, patting my hand. “I’m not a monster, contrary to what you may believe.”

  Thatch’s feet trod away from me. A door clicked open and closed.

  “What a capricious and mercurial man.” Elric kissed my fingers.

  I waited.

  “I know you well enough to recognize once your mind is made up about something, there’s no use in attempting to persuade you. I’m not going to try to convince you I’m better for you than he is or that I love you more. I know you adore that insufferable buffoon, even if he doesn’t deserve you. If that’s what makes you happy, it isn’t any of my business.” He sighed. “This isn’t about me and you, or him and you. . . .”

  I waited for the ‘but’ that was coming.

  “But. . . .” He cleared his throat. “Something strange is going on with Thatch—stranger than usual—I mean. One minute he doesn’t want me to kiss you—and rightly so. What man in his right mind would want to share you?”

  This, coming from the man with multiple wives. If I had a voice, I would have laughed at the irony.

  Elric’s voice rose in vexation. “The next minute he insists I have to be the one to awaken you through making love to you. There must be a reason for his contradictions. Now, I know I wasn’t your first choice to kiss. I wasn’t your first choice to even date—”

  I felt so bad for him to be put in this position. I wished I could have explained to him, it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t that I thought he was disgusting or hated him. I did care about him. He’d been a friend to me. Even after all the times I’d accused him of lying about Thatch touching me inappropriately, he’d never backed down. If only I could tell him it was Quenylda’s doing. If only I could apologize for calling him a liar.

  “I know you don’t want me to make love to you. This is probably what Quenylda wants, for Thatch and me to duel, and for me to win—which would make you hate me. You would be stuck with me after you rejected me and I killed the man you loved, and for me to feel miserable knowing you didn’t want me.”

  Unlike Thatch, Elric had never had any problem talking about his feelings, even if it hurt his pride to do so. I held his hand tighter, wishing I could have comforted him.