The Castle of Earth and Embers

by Steffanie Holmes

  Oh my Goooooood…

  A mouth on one nipple, the tongue flicking at my sensitive bud. Flynn rolled my other nipple between his fingers, pinching it slightly. Now that my mouth was free, he bent my head back and covered my lips with his. Flynn’s kisses were like him – light, fluttery, the kind of kisses that swept a girl away.

  I can’t believe this is happening. Please, don’t let it stop.

  The air around us sizzled with heat. I relaxed into the sensations, feeling their kisses and caresses through my whole body, relishing the warmth of being surrounded with them. One question burned in the back of my mind.

  How far will this go?

  As if he heard my question, Corbin slid his hand down the outside of my thigh, bringing it up between my legs, underneath my skirt. His fingers brushed over my panties. The lightest touch, but it sent a fresh wave of pleasure through my body.

  In response, Flynn’s tongue rammed into my throat and I devoured him with all the passion that swirled around inside me. Corbin’s fingers snaked under the edge of my panties, and he pressed one finger against my throbbing clit. I shuddered, already so close to climax—

  “Um, guys?”

  Shit. Hell. Bollocks!

  Corbin sprung off me like he’d stuck his cock in an electrical socket. Flynn sank back into the couch, somehow thinking he could camouflage himself in the purple cushions. I stuck my head up over the top of the sofa, dreading what – or who – I was going to see.

  Rowan stood in the doorway. For once, his eyes weren’t on the ceiling, his lips weren’t moving as he counted the swords. Instead, his gaze bore into mine, his expression completely unreadable. My cheeks blazed as I yanked my top down, covering my breasts. The ache had gone, replaced by a terrible churning in my stomach that somehow, I’d hurt him.

  Rowan’s eyes never left mine. He said, his voice calm but emotionless. “The draught is ready.”

  I gulped. No time now to sort this out. I couldn’t worry about Rowan or Corbin or any of the guys. I had to focus on trying to do the one thing I still didn’t entirely believe I was capable of.

  I had to perform real, honest-to-God magic. It was time to do my mother proud.

  33

  ROWAN

  There was no mistaking what I’d just walked in on. Maeve’s vest was around her shoulders, those gorgeous tits of hers bouncing free. Flynn’s hand pinched her, and Corbin had a face full of tit, which made my blood boil because I knew exactly how great a place that was to be. Corbin’s hand was up her skirt, and from the way she was moaning and quivering, he was touching her just the way she liked. When Maeve had looked up and seen me, her heavy lidded eyes showed only desire.

  Corbin and Maeve and Flynn. Seeing them together like that should disgust me, make me seethe with jealousy, shouldn’t it? That was how people felt when someone they liked was with someone else. Two someone else's.

  But that wasn’t what I felt at all. Not after Maeve had said what she’d said to me last night. You don’t think you’re worthy of me… but I’m telling you… even without this coven magic acting on us, I would shag you in a heartbeat.

  I trusted Maeve implicitly and I believed her words, even though they were completely foreign to me. Maeve wasn’t the first girl I slept with – there were girls at the shelters and on the street, high on anything they could get their hands on and desperate for some kind of feeling. That was me, too. But that had been mechanical, a means to an end, a way to numb myself for an hour or two, a way to score the next hit. With Maeve… that was the first time I actually felt something.

  Seeing her with her breasts naked, her head thrown back in ecstasy… I was feeling it again. My own fingers itched to run over Maeve’s soft skin, to be the one lying with her back pressed against my chest, my fingers teasing her nipples.

  I wanted Maeve, and I thought that maybe, possibly, I would love her one day, if I was even capable of that emotion. But I loved Corbin, too, or as close to it as I was able. And Flynn and Arthur. They were my brothers. Corbin saved me. He got me off the street, even when I didn’t want to come. He brought me to Briarwood. He paid for my first cooking class. He was the first person in my life to believe I was worth something. Seeing him with Maeve like that – knowing that for once he wasn’t thinking about who he had to protect – made me happy.

  I just wanted him to be happy.

  But where did that leave me? Maeve said she didn’t want to choose at all. But does that mean what I think it means?

  “I’ll get Arthur,” Flynn darted off. Maeve shot me a sad look, then slunk away, smoothing her skirt down.

  I slid the silver tray in my hands onto the small coffee table we placed in the center of the circle. On it stood five small shot glasses of foggy brown liquid, each one spaced evenly from the last (I measured). In the center I placed a tall glass filled with salt and a red candle tied with sprigs of rosemary and rowan. Beside the candle were four bracelets, which Maeve had woven earlier from locks of our hair. These were how Maeve would pull us into her dream and ensure we stayed locked with her.

  Everything we needed for our ritual, all nearly arranged in a perfect circle.

  Corbin came up behind me. “Rowan, I—”

  I hated to see that look on his face, that fallen look that said he thought he’d hurt me, that he’d give up this one for me if he thought it would make a difference. But it was also a look that said he knew I didn’t have a shot.

  For once, he had things wrong.

  “I wish it had been me,” I said.

  “I know,” Corbin looked so forlorn, it almost made me burst out laughing. “It should have been you, Rowan. I wanted that, you know, right? Even though the magic makes me want her, too. This just sort of… happened. I know even know what I was thinking – she slept with me last night, and then she went and slept with Arthur, too. But I’ll stop. I promise that I’ll stay away from her from now on. She’s yours. I just…. I just lost it a little, and then Flynn jumped in and I got carried away—”

  “No,” I shook my head. “I wish it had been me, instead of Flynn. Me, and her, and you.”

  I’d never seen Corbin look so… lost. “Um…” he gulped. “Right.”

  A hundred unsaid things passed between us in that moment.

  “And it wasn’t Arthur who slept with her last night,” I couldn’t resist adding. “It was me.”

  Corbin looked stunned, and I had to admit, I liked seeing him look like that. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but no sound came out. A hundred thoughts whirled around in my head – images of him and me and Maeve – but I couldn’t find the words to articulate them, to make him understand. Instead, I counted the cracks on the wall behind his head.

  “Rowan—” Corbin started.

  Footsteps on the staircase broke our bond. A moment later, Arthur appeared at the door to the Great Hall, dressed in his medieval garb – a long tunic and linen breeches tucked into enormous leather boots. A leather belt slung around his waist held his two-handed sword and two shorter blades. Flynn dashed in behind him, dressed like a normal person but wearing an enormous iron medallion around his neck.

  “Right, we got rid of Dora,” Flynn announced. “I convinced her there was a special sale on silver polish over at that bargain store in Crooks Crossing. Now, where’s my dram? I want to get under before Arthur’s snoring starts.”

  I pointed to the silver tray. Flynn picked up one of the glasses to inspect it, his brow furrowing. Then he set it back down, deliberately off-center. Because he was Flynn.

  Corbin picked up the salt and raised it, then hesitated. He glanced at Maeve. “You should be leading this.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “Please, I need you to take charge of the ritual. Let me focus on the actual dream walking.”

  She knew just how to give Corbin what he needed. He grinned as he raised the salt again, and said his blessing over it. He offered the salt to the four corners – the north, south, east, and west. The
n – while we chanted the invocation we all knew by heart – Corbin sprinkled the salt in a circle around the sofas and beanbags Maeve had arranged around the center of the room. He left a small gap in the salt.

  Arthur lit the candle and passed it to Corbin. The woody scent of rowan – the tree of protection from which I’d been given my name – filled the room. Corbin walked clockwise around the circle again, holding the flame high as he spoke the invocation once more. He stepped through the gap he left in the ring of salt, closed it off with the last granules in the glass, and set the candle back down on the table.

  Maeve gestured to the couches and beanbags. “Shall we make ourselves comfortable?”

  After what had just happened on that sofa, I doubted anyone would be getting comfortable there. Corbin looked ready to jump out of his skin. Flynn kept glancing between Corbin and I and Maeve was biting her bottom lip, her usually-neat pixie hair sticking out all angles. I suspect her nerves were more to do with what she was about to do. Maeve didn’t strike me as the type of girl who bothered with regret for what she had done.

  Probably a good thing. There was plenty enough regret in this castle to go around.

  Flynn was the first to sit, grabbing his shot glass from the tray, flopping down on one of the beanbags and crossing his long legs on the table. “I’m ready for the best night’s sleep of my life.”

  “Why, is Corbin’s mother out of town?” Arthur said, picking up his own glass.

  “Ask me bollix,” Flynn shot back, and downed his glass in one gulp. “That was a terrible joke.”

  Corbin sat down on the end of the sofa, picked up his own glass, and tossed it back. He set the glass back down, his mouth twisting into a grimace “I wish that tasted as good as your hot chocolate, Rowan.”

  Maeve picked up the last two glasses and handed one to me. Her hand brushed mine, and a cloud of bright thoughts assaulted me, quite out of character, really. She held up her glass, and it took me a moment to realize she wanted me to toast her.

  I clinked my glass to hers and tipped the liquid down my throat. It did not taste like hot chocolate.

  Maeve threaded the four bracelets onto her wrist, turning them to admire the different colors – Corbin’s dark, silky hair, Arthur’s blond, Flynn’s vibrant red. Mine was just a single dreadlock, with a bead on the end. She gulped back her drink, and immediately stifled a yawn. “I hope it’s a better sleep than last night. I was so wound up, I barely got a wink.”

  On the couch behind her, Corbin choked, his eyes wide. I smiled at Maeve, but the drought already tugged at my facial muscles, making it a little lopsided. I settled back into the sofa beside Corbin, remembering how bright Maeve’s eyes looked as she rode me last night, how much I wanted another night like that with her.

  And maybe, with Corbin, too…

  That was the last coherent thought I had before I slipped beyond the veil of sleep.

  34

  MAEVE

  The four boys fell asleep first, slumping over the sofa arms, their heads lolling to the side. Flynn was right; Arthur did snore, his huge body shuddering with each outward breath.

  I longed to move around them, to touch their faces and feel the warmth of their skin, but the draught was starting to work its way through me. My brain fogged over. I stared at the corner of the room, watching the cracks in the lime wash wobble. I tried to lift my arm, but it was like an enormous weight was tied to it.

  This is insane. You’ve just taken a drug you don’t understand. You can’t seriously believe you can do magic. Dreams are just the brain’s responses to REM sleep—

  Don’t think about that. Concentrate on where you want to go. Think about the fairy realm… the sidhe… the wormhole across the multiverse…

  My eyes fluttered shut, and darkness enveloped me. My body slipped over the edge of consciousness.

  I opened my eyes. Bright light poured over me, and it took a moment for my retinas to adjust and discern the shapes around me.

  I lay in a bright field of tall, lush grass. Wildflowers of every shape and color swayed in a gentle breeze. The grass wafted over my bare legs, tickling my skin, fresh and light and beautiful.

  Why am I sleeping outside? Why am I—

  Then I remembered what I had come to do, and where I (hopefully) was. Slowly, worried that sudden movement might knock me out of the dream state, I got to my feet, and peered across the meadow.

  I stood at the bottom of a wide valley. Sweeping forests drew up on either side of me, the high treetops disappearing into dense, fluffy clouds. At the end of the meadow, a series of sidhe peeked out. Smoke puffed from bonfires, and the faint sounds of music and laughter wafted on the breeze.

  Okay, the first part of the plan was a success. I was pretty sure I was now in the fae realm. I had crossed the multiverse in my sleep. I could deal with the theoretical physics behind that later. Now, I had to bring my guys with me.

  I glanced down at my wrist where the four circles of hair encircled my arm. I unwound the end of the first one, pulling a single hair from the bundle. It was dark hair, wavy and almost black. Corbin. As I unwound the bracelet, I imagined it as a rope in my mind, pulling Corbin from his place flopped over the sofa in Briarwood into the meadow.

  “Maeve, you did it.”

  I whirled around. Corbin sat on the grass behind me, his face shining with pride. I threw my arms around him, relishing the solidity of his form. He was definitely here. I brought him into the dream with me.

  “Now for the others,” I tugged at the bright red bracelet. A few moments later, Flynn shimmered into view, a little further down the valley.

  “Einstein.” Flynn ran up and embraced me, his grin wide. He pressed his lips against my earlobe. “I wish you were naked, like the other dreams.”

  “Down, boy,” I pushed him away, but I was smiling. So far, so good.

  Arthur was next. His blond hair fell through my fingers as the bracelet unraveled and he appeared next to Corbin, dressed in his medieval garb, his scabbard splayed out on the grass beside him, but neither his sword nor knives were with him. A deep crease marred his cheek.

  “I think I fell asleep on the ground,” he said, rubbing his shoulder. “My body hurts.”

  “It might be that beer bottle I left under the beanbag,” Flynn said.

  “I hope you’re fucking kidding,” Arthur grumbled, rolling his shoulder.

  “Mate, I never kid about piss.”

  “You’re a bloody wanker, Flynn.” Arthur’s hand reached for the hilt of his sword. He frowned as he discovered his sword wasn’t there. He immediately rose to his knees, searching through the grass. “Where is it?”

  Corbin frowned, his hand clasping the belt of his jeans. “My button is gone, too. I think maybe there’s some kind of spell that prevents metal of any sort from passing into the realm.”

  Flynn glanced down at his chest. Sure enough, his amulet was gone. He looked crestfallen. “It took me hours to make that,” he sighed.

  I plunged my hand into my skirt pocket – sure enough, my knife and Flynn’s amulet weren’t there, but I still had the twig and Corbin’s paper. They would have to do.

  “Forget that, what are we going to do without my sword?” Arthur grumbled. “Do you plan on knocking them out with your Irish wit?”

  “Hey, give me a hand here.” I was trying to unravel Rowan’s bracelet, but his dreadlock wouldn’t pull apart. Sticky wax coated my fingers, and all I managed to do was pull tufts off.

  “Try this,” Flynn offered, holding his hand over the bracelet. A few drops of water fell from his fingers. The water was surprisingly warm, and it made the wax soft and easier to handle.

  “Thanks for doing something useful,” I grinned at Flynn.

  “For once,” Arthur mumbled.

  “You can wag right off. I’m always useful,” Flynn shot back.

  I managed to unravel the bracelet and Rowan appeared beside Corbin, his face lighting up as soon as he saw us. He stumbled forward, his baggy pants cat
ching in the long grass, and embraced me. The warmth of him gave me strength.

  Every part of this dream felt so real, from the grass swishing around my legs to Rowan’s lips pressing against my collarbone. I reminded myself that this wasn’t an ordinary dream – it was an astral-projection into another universe. And I’d somehow managed to do it. Possibly.

  “What do we do now?” I asked, glancing around. We had no real plan beyond this point.

  “Our best bet is to get closer to the sidhe,” Corbin pointed to the mounds. “It sounds as though revels are taking place. We can sneak through the trees and hopefully get closer without being seen.”

  “How do we know they’re not holding Connor somewhere else?” I pointed into the twin forests and down the valley. “He could be at any of their main population centers—”

  “Unlikely,” Corbin said. “The realm is deceptive – it looks enormous, but it’s only a glamour fooling your eyes. When the humans first banished the fae here, their witches made the realm small enough that it could be easily guarded. It’s one of the reasons the fae are so desperate to escape. The borders are only a few miles away. The Seelie and Unseelie courts are practically right on top of each other. Come on.”

  We crept into the trees and made our way down the valley, staying as far back from the edge of the meadow as we could, in order to hide in the thick forest. Not that it did much good. We were about as obvious as a herd of elephants shopping at Walmart. Every few feet Arthur’s heavy boots snapped a twig or Flynn yelped as something prickly stabbed him in the arm.

  “Could you lot be any noisier?” Corbin snapped. “I don’t think every fae in the vicinity heard you yet.”

  “Can’t Maeve just dream us up some non-noise-making boots?” Flynn complained.

  “I don’t think that’s how this dream works—”

  “Sssh,” I said, my ears straining. “I hear something.”