The Queen's Consorts Box Set: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Trilogy

by Elena Lawson

  “Liana,” Alaric said, and I found his wide steel-blue eyes when I lifted my heavy head. “What is it? Was it Kade? What happened?”

  They were supposed to wait outside, but taking a cursory look around, I could see all of Queen Suriels’s guards and mine were now crowding the council chamber.

  I needed an answer. Now. It was time to leave.

  Alaric helped me stand, and I turned back to the Queen of Day, who looked at me incredulously, “You bound yourself to one of your royal guards?” she asked, her hand fluttering at her chest, shock plain in her features.

  “No,” I answered her, “I bound myself to all of them.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but I silenced her with a glare and a raised hand, “The Mad King’s army marches south. They’ll be at the borders of my court in a fortnight—maybe less. I need to know if I have your support.” I released my hold on Alaric, standing on my own, resolute. My jaw squared, “Will you help us?”

  Her royal guards exchanged animated whispers, their brows furrowed and faces grim.

  “Quiet,” she barked at them, walking with slow, measured steps to the table. Setting her palms against the smooth wood. She panted, her eyes wild and searching.

  Edris moved into the room from where he stood near the door, “Your Majesty, if I may—”

  “I need a moment!”

  “We don’t have a moment to waste.”

  She hung her head and sealed her eyes. Her shoulders tensed. When she turned, it was Edris she spoke to, an apology in her eyes, “This is not our war,” she said. “And there’s no reason for me to believe Ricon means me or my court any harm.”

  Frost covered my fingertips, climbing like vines up my arms. “Suriel, if you don’t help us, you’re condemning us to death.”

  Her eyes gleamed and her chin quivered, “I’m so sorry,” she said, “But I cannot ask my people to fight—to die for… I’m sorry, I just can’t.” Queen Suriel rushed past me and out the door to the council chamber. I watched her go, her head bent, her guards following at her heels.

  Edris reached out to stop her, but she brushed him off, “Your Majesty, wait,” he said, turning back to me, “You go. The Night Court needs you,” he said, “I’ll stay here. I’ll speak to her. She will see reason—she must.”

  “Stay if you like,” I said, my voice sounding oddly detached, “But she’s made up her mind. We are alone in this war.”

  My fathers’ gaze hardened, and his lips pressed tightly together. Edris narrowed his sights on Alaric, “Keep my daughter safe,” he said through gritted teeth, “I’ll return to court as soon as I can.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Finn

  I didn't have to be Graced with power over emotion to notice the change in the mood of our party on the journey home. We hardly spoke. Liana was the quietest of all of us. She rode ahead, alone, maintaining a steady pace.

  How she must feel.... as if she'd failed her court. I wish I could tell her she hadn’t and that the Day Court's armies wouldn’t have made a difference, but we both knew that wasn’t true.

  I racked my brain for a solution but could find nothing plausible. The Mad King was coming, and with or without the Day Court army, we would have to be ready when they did. But those were problems for tomorrow.

  As we neared the palace, the sun dipped below the horizon and the full moon shone brighter, marking the death of another day.

  The ivory castle milled with Fae eager to return home for the evening, and those who passed us on their travels south bowed to their queen or welcomed her home, but it was as if she couldn’t see them, blinded by her own grief. Her hand tight on the reins, wincing with each step of her horse.

  The ride had taken its toll on her, and I wondered why she didn’t heal the aches that so obviously were causing her discomfort.

  Alaric rode beside me, his head bent, and brows furrowed. His warm breath clouding in the frigid air.

  The telltale sound of wings slicing wind had me whipping my head upwards, finding Kade as he descended from one of the terraces to meet us. Liana had already told him the Day Queen’s answer through the bond, and she said his response was so vulgar she dared not repeat it to us. I could only image the amount of profanities he’d spewed aloud, never mind what Liana heard in his thoughts.

  He hadn’t told the council yet. Alaric would do that tonight, and Kade would retrieve Silas from the front lines so Liana could meet with him and the rest of the council in the morning to discuss what needed to be done to prepare.

  What could be done.

  Kade came to an easy landing next to Liana’s mare, taking the reins to stop the animal in its slow walk. I saw her shoulders shaking and my insides knotted—my chest collapsing at the sight of her broken and defeated. He pulled her from the mare and into his arms where she shook against him, convulsing with the strength of her sobs.

  “Get her out of here,” I heard Alaric gently order Kade as we neared. My brother nodded to his captain with a hard, pained expression and scooped Liana into his arms, flying her the rest of the way to the palace, leaving her mare to make its own way back to the stables.

  We—Alaric, Tiernan, and I—hadn’t seen what they saw. No one else had. A finger of ice pressed into my gut.

  “I’ll need you on watch tonight,” Alaric said, not lifting his head when I pulled up alongside him. “Tiernan will relieve you in the early morning.”

  “Alright.”

  “And Finn,” he said, looking up, “She needs you.”

  I didn’t catch his meaning.

  “Give her one night of peace before the start of it all tomorrow. A formal announcement will need to be made to the court. And then…”

  He didn’t need to finish. I understood the weight of what he implied. And then we would make ready for the battle to come. We’d do everything within our power to lessen the amount of bloodshed. And to protect her. Until the end.

  I nodded gravely, spurring my horse into a gallop, eager to get him stabled and up to Liana’s chambers.

  The faraway expression hadn’t left her face. She stared into the hearth in the parlor as though it held the answers to her many questions.

  Kade had left moments ago after he promised a swift return. She’d squeezed his hand, but said nothing, taking another small sip of icy water when he moved away, sighing as he flew from the terrace.

  I knelt in front of her, “Come with me,” I asked her, holding out a hand. Her gaze drifted towards me, looking to my hand, trying to read my expression.

  The muscles in her jaw twitched, but she set down her glass and pressed her frost-covered fingers into my palm. I stood, lifting her from the armchair and she followed without question or complaint from the parlor, down the corridor, and into the bedchamber.

  She dropped my hand as we approached the bed, and my pulse quickened. “Take off your dress.”

  Her vacant expression morphed into one of confusion, “Why?”

  “Trust me.”

  She swallowed, and undid the fastening above her breasts, letting the thick cloak she wore fall to the floor. I helped her with the corset strings and her dress and trousers fell too.

  My heart leap into my throat at the sight of her, bare, her nipples standing at attention against the chill breeze. Her stomach muscles tight and her shoulders tense.

  “Lie on your stomach.”

  She pursed her lips, but did as I asked, crawling onto the bed and laying stiffly against the feather-filled coverlet. My cock hardened in my trousers, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself on task. The ice that had collected in my bones vanished. This wasn’t about me, or what I wanted. It was about her.

  I extinguished the lantern next to her bed and pulled the bar of hardened oils from my vest, unwrapping it from the silk cloth and crawled onto the bed next to her.

  “Finn…?”

  I hushed her, moving so my knees rested on either side of her hips. “Try to relax,” I said, coating my hands with the oil. The
scents of lavender and honeysuckle filled the room, and her muscles uncoiled beneath me.

  She sighed as I worked the oil into her back, pressing and kneading and rubbing out the knots under her skin. Within a few moments, the tension in her buttocks and neck all but vanished, and her breathing evened out. After an hour more she had all but become one with the bed.

  The knots were still there, but not as pronounced, and her pulse had slowed back into its normal rhythm. Her skin was still cool to the touch, but not near frozen as it was before. I couldn’t tell if she was still awake.

  I leaned in and laid a kiss against the back of her neck, breathing in her sweet earthy scent mixed with the heady aroma of the oil still clinging to her. She shivered, and the motion reverberated down her body, awakening my senses.

  She turned beneath me, flipping over so we were face to face. Her eyes were sultry and sleepy, and her hair was a mess, bunched up atop her head like a bird’s nest. I couldn’t help the smile twitching at the corner of my mouth.

  “How do you feel?” I asked her.

  “Better,” she whispered, trailing a finger up the length of my torso, setting my nerve-endings ablaze. Her path stopped where the thin cloth of the tunic met the dip in my throat and it looked as though something had occurred to her because she licked her lips and swallowed, and her heartbeat quickened.

  The smell of her desire flooded my senses all at once and her eyes lit like sapphires in the dark. “Make love to me,” she said.

  As if she already sensed my answer—and she probably had—her hand curled into my tunic and pulled me down, pressing her lips to mine. I deepened the kiss, sensing just how close to the edge she was. She walked the thin line between her desire to have me—to escape reality, and to give in to the torment I aimed to wash from her mind.

  I pressed my hand to her chest, my fingers curling around her ribcage. Her skin incredibly soft against my calloused palm. The other I curled deep into the satiny strands of her hair, drawing her closer still—thinking there was no measure of closeness that would ever be enough. I’d hold her with me always. Keep her safe and warm and smiling for as long as I could.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Liana

  He touched me like I was the most precious thing in the world. A rare and fragile gem he was honored to hold. His hands were firm, but gentle where they squeezed and kneaded in my hair and on my skin. I reached down to unfasten his trousers, and he lifted his head. The sight of his dark hair, his eyes glinting in the sliver of moonlight lighting my bedchamber had an ache spreading deep in my belly and between my legs.

  The moment I unhooked the final button, he yanked them down to his ankles and kicked them free. His cock pulsed, and his eyes lit with glowing desire. But he made no move to enter me, settling down slowly and purposefully between my thighs.

  It coaxed the fire I’d missed the past couple of days back to life, flickering within my core, sending warmth to my extremities.

  Finn’s gaze roved over me, admiring and appreciating every inch of my flesh. His breathing quickened, and his wings grew taught with anticipation. I reached a tentative hand up, running a finger down the inside of the web-like limb. He gasped, his eyes closing against the sensation.

  “Gods, Liana…”

  “Does it feel good?”

  He gritted his teeth, “You have no idea.”

  “What about this,” I asked, reaching down between my legs to take hold of his cock in my hand, rubbing it at the same time as I caressed his wing. He spasmed at the dual sensation, almost convulsing as I wound the bead of wetness at the tip of his length around the whole head, stroking the spot just below the tip.

  My own wetness grew, dampening my thighs. It ached to be sated.

  He groaned, and my back arched as his cock brushed my opening. He jerked at the contact, his eyes opening to reveal a blaze of gold searing down into me. Finn.

  My Finn.

  My core tightened at the exquisite span of his wings as they caught the moonlight, the expanse of his broad shoulders tapering down to the slender, defined thrust of his hips as my hand fell away and he penetrated me. All the breath ran from my lungs at the satiating pressure of him inside me, awakening my senses, setting my mind on fire—erasing every dark, numbing thought and replacing them with only one. Him.

  I cried out, and he eased back, his body tensing. I tore the tunic from his torso with clawed hands, needing to see him—all of him. Feel the power of the muscle flexing under the surface of his skin with each deliberate movement of our bodies as they worked in tandem. My hips moving of their own accord, deepening his steady movements.

  The quickening came hard and swift, building to a precipice, leaving me staring down in wonder at the steep drop, aching to fall over it and tumble headlong down, down, until there wasn’t a sane thought left in my mind.

  He kissed me again, and it was frantic, the press of his lips hard as he pushed into me, climbing his own cliff. On the cusp of his own release. He moaned against my lips and I melted at the rawness of the feelings crashing through me, over me, like a tide dragging me out to sea—only I didn’t fight against it, I reached for it, begging it, take me, take me!

  Our bodies tightened against each other, locking together like a door in a frame, and we came together, falling over the edge in a tumultuous roar of hot breaths, howling moans, and fingertips burrowed into unyielding muscle.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Liana

  The Horde camp wreaked of molten metal, unwashed bodies, and campfire smoke. It wrinkled my nose and gave the whole place the miasmal atmosphere of a hawk staring down a mouse. Almost, but not quite ready to strike.

  But anywhere was better than being at the palace. Curled inward at the crushing weight on my shoulders—that weight compounded by the sidelong stares of anyone I passed in the bustling corridors. I’d done my duty and addressed my court, standing in front of each and every noble who could attend the assembly within a day’s notice.

  The gathering of fifty Fae felt like a crowd of hundreds.

  The reaction of my people ranged from shock, to disbelief, to outrage spoken in harsh whispers or shouted outright for all to hear. But the numbness still clung to my bones, so I only spoke my piece and then left—their shouts fading the further I moved away from the assembly hall.

  Everyone would know by now. Word had likely spread to even the smallest of villages, like the one the Horde army now camped in. But they had evacuated this one almost a week prior. The people who once inhabited it gone to stay with family or in Inns and cottages paid for by the crown. And by the look of this village, one of the last on route north to the border—wherever they went, it was likely an improvement.

  Small, ramshackle huts and buildings formed two parallel lines down the middle, with a forge at one end, and a mill at the other. And sequestered atop a small sloping hill to the south, the noble lord of the area’s manor house stood erect, with a sturdy stone exterior, a high piqued roof and a wide double chimney puffing out clouds of soot and smoke.

  I didn’t have to know him to know he did not deserve his post. Leaving his entrusted area to rot and wither while he lived in ignorant bliss on his hilltop. Pathetic.

  “You’re awake,” Alaric said, turning from where he sat at a rough wooden desk. “I’ll call for something to eat.” Without another word, he rose and slipped out through the slit in the fabric of our tent. He’d been quiet the last week since we returned to the palace. Though I wasn’t much better. I found the only way to beat the wretched despair dragging me down was to throw myself into my training.

  I trained day in and day out and had the marks to prove it. Tiernan trained me in sword and bow. Kade trained me in fire and strength. And Finn taught me how to anticipate attacks before they happened, and to find the weak points in my opponents.

  And perhaps most importantly, Alaric and I trained together, blocking each other’s influence. If we were ever face to face with the Mad King again—we’d need to be prepar
ed.

  I was getting better. Stronger. And faster. But would it be enough?

  They slept soundly, Kade snoring softly, splayed out on his back atop a bed fit for a toddler—his arms and legs hanging from the edges onto the dirt floor. Finn slept next to me in the fur-covered bed, his knees still curled up from where they rested behind mine only a few moments before. Tiernan’s bed was empty. Gods knew where he’d gone…

  But of course, in his absence Arrow rested on a coatrack, his head tucked in as though sleeping, but I could see his little beady eyes watching me even in the dim light.

  I climbed from the bed as quietly and with as little movement as I could manage, trying not to wake Finn. But the second my feet hit the floor, the vibrations coiled up through the soles of my feet. The thump, thump, thump, of hundreds of feet marching—shaking the ground.

  And then I heard them. The clamor of metal. The whooshing of wind through bodies pressed tightly together. And the audible clomping of boots over hard-packed dirt.

  Silas had been sending our forces in waves to the border, a few hundred at a time. They arrived at the encampment from the main Horde fort to the south, armored and bearing precious supplies before they were sent off to the front—leaving room for the next group to take rest before the next long march.

  Kade and Finn stirred in their sleep, their eyes fluttering open to the raucous noise.

  “It’s just the next group leaving camp,” I whispered to them, “Go back to sleep, it’ll pass soon.”

  Kade buried his head under a pillow, and Finn rolled over on his other side. The flight here had tired them the night before, burdened by the weight of Tiernan, Alaric, and I. Their eyes were already half-closed before they could even make it to their beds.

  “That’s it,” I said, slipping away, “Go back to sleep.”

  Hurriedly, I dressed in my new trousers—they were light, yet warmer than the thickest wool. Darius had insisted that if my mind was set on wearing trousers, I’d at least be seen wearing ones that fit me properly instead of the hand-me-downs I’d brought from the Isle of Mist.