by Meara Platt
Everywhere! But she pointed to her forehead, wishing he would kiss it and make it better, which he promptly did because he was once more reading her expressions. Drat! His lips lingered on her brow, descended to her cheek, where he planted a feather-soft kiss that made her body tingle, and then descended to her neck, where the kisses were hungrier and more intense … as were her responses, for her now-healed heart shot into her throat. He kissed her throat as well, and then his lips moved lower to her breasts, which were once more open to his view because she didn’t resist when he nudged loose her death grip on the fabric and slid it off her shoulders.
“Stop!” she cried as his tongue met her breast and a burst of heat exploded through her body.
Cadeyrn drew back in surprise, unexpectedly bothered as well, for he ran a hand across the back of his neck, rubbing it several times before he spoke. “Have I done something wrong?”
“No, you were doing it just perfectly, which is why you have to stop,” she said, awkwardly clutching the open ends of her nightgown and drawing them together yet again as Cadeyrn gazed at her in utter confusion. “Not that I understand how you managed it, for you’ve said that the Fae don’t understand human feeling. But what you did just now was very nice and I don’t think it’s supposed to feel quite that good.”
“I only meant to heal your heart. Are you still in pain?” He reached for her breast once more.
“No! I don’t hurt anywhere.”
His hands fell to his sides. “Not even your heart?”
She shook her head. “It feels perfect, thank you.”
“Are you sure? You’re obviously in much discomfort. I don’t understand why you commanded me to stop.”
“I had to. You have a way of muddling my senses every time you touch me and we must discuss what happened last night. Why did Ygraine ask for me to heal her? And how did I manage to do it? Don’t touch me or I’ll forget my questions again. I can’t put a simple sentence together when … never mind. My mind is turning to pudding again.”
“Interesting,” he said, casting her a thoughtful nod. “If we’re to talk, then let me tie the lacings of your gown. I find your current state of undress also distracting to me, and—”
“I’ll do it!”
He drew back, but not before their hands grazed, causing another intense wave of heat to course through her traitorous body. “I have several more questions,” she said, her fingers shaking as she hurriedly put herself together. Her cheeks were on fire, as was most of her body. Cadeyrn wasn’t helping by staring at her with an irreverent smile on his face and an amused arch of his eyebrow, as though he found her predicament quite entertaining. Honestly! Fae kings could be insufferable at times.
“Go on,” he prompted, watching her make a hash of the neat bow she was attempting to tie.
She finished it off, hoping it would hold. “Why does Edain dislike me?”
Cadeyrn’s amusement quickly faded as he shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I need a more helpful answer than that. If Fae have no feelings, then she should not have responded to me that way.”
“I noticed Edain’s rudeness,” he said after a moment, “and took her aside so that we could speak privately, but your screams interrupted our conversation. I’ll question her again soon. It troubles me greatly that she has acquired this unpleasant human condition. I intend to find out how and when she did so, and who, if anyone, assisted her.”
“Fair enough,” Melody said with a nod, moving on to her next concern. “Ygraine’s words also troubled me.”
“Her words?”
“You know what I’m talking about. When you introduced us at your banquet, she praised you for telling me something, but you tossed her a warning glance before she could explain. What did she believe you had told me?”
“I can’t reveal it to you yet.”
“Does it concern me?”
“It concerns all of us. You will know in time … soon.”
“How soon?”
“This evening.”
She uncurled her fists as her tension eased, for this secret could not be so terrible if he took little pains to hide it from her. This evening? She could wait until then, though she didn’t understand the need for the delay.
Cadeyrn rose and walked across the room to her window, opening it to allow in the dewy morning air. He took several deep breaths as the cool, damp breeze wafted into her chamber, and Melody had the impression he was preparing his thoughts in order to explain. “Upon my oath, I’ll tell you all. I swear it upon the Stone of Draloch. You must trust that now is not the right time.”
“Very well, but will you not give me a hint now?”
He turned from the window to gaze at her, his Fae expression unreadable.
“Well?” she prompted when he didn’t immediately respond.
“The secret will be revealed after we complete our coupling. My council is concerned that I’ve tarried too long already.”
“Our coupling?” She let out a laugh that died halfway up her throat. He was serious!
“Aye, the joining of our bodies—”
“I understand what it means. What makes you think I will agree to such a thing?”
“Your eyes reveal it. You’re hungry for me—”
She gasped. “How dare you!”
“Will you lie to me and deny it?”
Melody wanted to shout back a vehement yes, but he’d spoken the truth. She did want him. However, wanting and surrendering were quite different matters. She would not surrender her virtue to him, no matter how appealing the possibility. She was attracted to him, incredibly attracted. Still, that didn’t give him the right to presume she’d fall into his arms and allow him to ravage her body at his whim … as delightful as the prospect seemed.
He folded his arms across his chest. “Are you done shooting daggers at me?”
“Not in the least.” Also hurtful was his obvious reluctance to undertake the assignment, apparently not hungry enough for her. Why else would he hold off until his own council demanded that he bed her and be done? Was she so distasteful to him?
“Had I wished to take you without your consent,” he said with an unmistakable sigh of exasperation, “I would have done so the morning we met. I could have lifted your skirts and had my way with you atop those damn bluebells and you could not have stopped me. However, the Draloch Prophecy speaks of our savior queen having boundless love for her Fae king. I did not think you could ever love me if I were to … introduce myself to you that way.
“Be patient with me, Melody. I have little understanding of human feelings, but I know that taking a young woman’s virginity without promise of marriage is considered wicked in your realm. Until now, it did not sit right with me that I should take from you and leave you to suffer the punishing consequences if you were not The One. Isn’t that the way of your people? To blame the woman and make her an outcast?”
She opened her mouth to protest, and then snapped it shut. He believed in this ridiculous prophecy, all Fae did. Yet despite his belief, he’d placed her concerns first.
“It is now evident to all that you are my destined queen. Your healing powers cannot be denied, nor can you deny the golden aura that surrounds you whenever you minister to the Fae.”
“Am I the first you’ve seen surrounded with this aura?”
“The first human. Ordinary humans cannot heal a wound with a simple touch, yet you healed Ygraine when all Fae failed. I know now that our fates are bound to each other. I don’t require you to admit that you love me, for your love is boundless … it is beyond words.”
“I still don’t know how to fight dragons. I’m still afraid of demons. And despite your attempt at comforting words, I’m still afraid of you.”
“Of me? It isn’t possible. I know your heart and it has revealed the truth to me. Melody, I couldn’t have healed you unless your love was true.”
“My love. My heart. What of yours? Is mine all that matters?” Her thoughts were awhirl
with the war raging within her. She wanted to shout out a deafening denial of her love but couldn’t get out the words that would be a lie. That she loved him was not quite true either. “I will not fall into bed with you. There must be another way to prove—”
“You mistake me. I have all the proof I need. What’s lacking is your ability to trust me with your love.”
“How can I trust you when I know you’re holding back secrets?”
“Only one secret,” he corrected. “It’s easy to trust when there is no reason to doubt. But to trust in spite of all reason, well, that is truly special.”
“A love beyond measure? Forget it. I won’t be joining you in your bed this evening or any other in the foreseeable future.”
He cast her an icy glare that warned his patience was at an end. “It will be done. Our bodies will unite before the next rise of the sun … probably more than once … and you will surrender willingly.”
“Because it is foretold in the Stone of Draloch? I don’t care what the darned thing says. Here’s what I need to know … do you love me?”
“Melody, you know the Fae—”
“Then you don’t love me? How convenient for you that you can’t because the Fae have no feelings. Yet you expect me to give up my heart, my soul, and my respectability to accommodate you?” She took a deep breath and curled her hands into fists once more. “I wasn’t angry before, but now I am. Get out! Get out and don’t come back!”
*
The pounding on Melody’s door brought her up short. Oh, dear! Her shouts had awakened the household. “Melody! Melody, child! Open this door at once!” Her mother jiggled the knob so fiercely it seemed about to break. “What’s wrong? Let me in!”
Melody hurriedly tossed on her robe before flinging open the door to her bedchamber. “All’s well, truly. I … I saw a rat and it scared me.”
Her mother barged in and took a quick look around. “Goodness, child! You gave me palpitations.” She placed a hand over her heart as though to emphasize her distress. “I thought an intruder had broken into the house.”
“No, it was just a rat. A very big one.” She turned to Cadeyrn, who was still standing by the window, his arms crossed over his chest and looking more furious than a faerie without feelings ought to look.
Melody decided her mother ought to stay a while, at least until Cadeyrn calmed down. She had pushed him too far and wasn’t certain what he might do to her once they were alone again.
“I don’t see anything, Melody. Are you sure it wasn’t a field mouse? Or a shadow that you mistook for a creature?”
“No, it was a creature all right.”
“I’ve had just about all I can take of humans,” Cadeyrn said with a growl and shifted into a raven. He perched on her window ledge.
He’s the raven! How silly of her not to have realized it, for the signs were there all along. His shining black feathers, his piercing eyes … the powerful grace of his wings and body.
“There it is! Oh, it’s a bird,” her mother said, laughing in relief. “All this fuss over nothing.” She crossed to the open window, whipped off her shawl, and began to shake it in front of Cadeyrn. “Shoo! Go away! Fly out of here, you silly thing!”
Cadeyrn did, but not before taking a swooping turn about the room and giving Melody a quick peck on her backside. He then flew out and perched himself on a nearby tree limb. “Mother! Did you see what he just did? Of all the gall!”
“Are you hurt?”
“Only my pride,” she admitted.
Her mother smiled as she shut the window. “Goodness, I was beginning to think our days here were rather dull. I ought to thank the raven for livening it up a bit.”
“You mustn’t. He’s a wicked thing.” She groaned inwardly, wondering just how much Cadeyrn had seen of her—and how often—while in his raven form, perched on that limb.
“Oh, I don’t know. He seems rather a handsome creature to me. Look! I think he heard me. There’s a good fellow. He’s grinning at me.”
Melody came to her mother’s side and unceremoniously drew the curtains shut. As she did so, something struck her as odd. “Where’s Vicar Axwell?” Surely he would have heard her shouts and come running to her bedchamber as well. Not that she wanted him here, but it did seem odd that he was absent.
“He rose quite early, something about finishing this week’s sermon before his important meeting.”
“What meeting?”
“I don’t know, dear. It’s more business, I suppose. He went to his study in the church to work without distraction. All the better. You and your bird—”
“He isn’t mine.”
“Quite so, yet the pair of you made such a fuss. Mr. Axwell won’t be home for supper either. I believe he said his meeting was in Windermere. He’ll stay there for the evening and return tomorrow.” Her mother paused a moment and her eyes suddenly brightened. “They have quite lovely shops there. What do you say to our joining him? I’m sure he won’t mind. It’ll only be for the day. What harm can come of it?”
Melody was tempted to accept, but the thought of being trapped for hours in a carriage with the vicar and his leering gaze was simply too much. “You go, Mother.”
“Without you? Are you certain? I would not feel right to leave you alone.”
“You mustn’t worry about me. No strangers ever pass through here, so I ought to be quite safe. I’ll keep myself busy until you return. Besides, I just finished a long trip, traveling from Portsmouth to Borrowdale. The thought of another long carriage ride holds little appeal.”
“Pity, they do have lovely shops. Let me know if you change your mind. I’ll order the raven to take care of you,” she teased, drawing aside the curtains and peering out to check on him. “Ah, good fellow. You’re still here. Take care of my daughter while I’m gone, but no more mischief. I will not tolerate any untoward behavior from you.”
The raven squawked.
“There. He’s agreed.”
Melody didn’t understand what that squawk meant, but she knew Cadeyrn had no intention of behaving. She was about to change her mind and accept her mother’s offer when she heard Vicar Axwell trudging up the stairs. “Well, well. I didn’t expect to find my two girls up and about so early in the morning.”
“A bird flew into Melody’s room and frightened her. It’s all taken care of now. Would you care for company on your ride to Windermere?”
“Of course, Mrs. Axwell. My associate has obtained a room for me at the inn. I’m sure it will accommodate the three of us,” he said, his gaze raking over Melody’s body. “If not, we’ll just make do. I’ll ask the innkeeper to spread a pallet for me by the hearth. It’s a bit rustic, but I’ll manage. You ladies can share the bed.”
“I wouldn’t dream of putting you out, Vicar. I’ll stay here.”
“Nonsense. Join us. Mrs. Axwell will enjoy the company.”
“Next time.” Melody’s parents had never been formal when in their own home, always using terms of endearment for each other.
Her father was dearest or my dear to her mother. In turn, Melody’s father called his wife my love. Since this second marriage to Vicar Axwell was not a love match, the vicar and her mother referred to each other only as Mr. Axwell and Mrs. Axwell. Though it was a bit jarring to Melody’s ears, she accepted it. They seemed to be good companions. And who was she to judge? She, who had awakened the household by shouting at a raven faerie who meant to bed her tonight.
*
Cadeyrn remained perched on the tree limb for a long while. The vicar and his wife had left Melody’s bedchamber some time ago, and Melody was now prancing naked as she washed herself in preparation for the day.
Well, she wasn’t quite prancing.
In truth, she was working hastily with the curtains drawn, window shut, and her back turned to him in the mistaken belief that he could not see her, or that if he could see her—which he could—she’d show him as little skin as possible.
He wanted to shift back into his
Fae body and appear before her to offer assistance as she ran that damp cloth across her shoulders, down her silken arms and legs … across her perfect breasts … he watched in fascination as the water languidly budded into droplets on her pink-tipped breasts.
He had heard men whisper “I ache for you” to women before, but had never understood the reason for that ache until now. This human feeling was agonizingly exquisite and he wasn’t sure yet whether he liked it or not. However, at this moment, he had an overwhelming urge to touch Melody, to hold her and make endless, passionate love to her.
He flew off to St. Lodore’s belfry.
Melody had him wildly out of kilter.
Chapter Nine
“Your Majesty, where are you?” Melody called out, standing beside the bluebell garden as daylight turned to twilight and darkness was fast approaching. She shivered, for the air was cold and damp. The sky overhead was an odd patch of dark and angry mixed with gleaming bursts of sunlight, one moment threatening to unleash a torrent of rain and the next, warming the earth with the setting sun’s glow.
Melody was alone. Her mother and Vicar Axwell had taken the carriage to Windermere this morning and did not expect to return until tomorrow evening or the day after if the roads were impassable due to the looming storm. You ought to have gone with them, she chided herself, realizing that her discomfort around the vicar was nothing to what she might face tonight if Cadeyrn’s prediction came true.
She was alone with a Fae king determined to bed her.
An angry Fae king.
She had to fix the situation now.
Cadeyrn had claimed she would come to him willingly, but she didn’t see how it was possible. She was not about to surrender her virtue to him. No, the only thing to do was to calmly discuss the matter with Cadeyrn so he would understand the rules.
In any event, she couldn’t imagine the conversation she’d have with her mother when confessing afterward. “You see, Mother, I inadvertently invited a faerie king into our home and he insisted I share his bed. Of course, I refused at first, but he convinced me that I must do so, willingly no less, because it is written in the Fae prophecy. What? All men say such things to seduce innocent maidens? I’m astonished! I had no idea.”
