So Dark the Night

by Elle Cross

  The paperwork was all filled out now, and all that was required was a signature.

  A shadow appeared across the paper and looked up to see that West was there. “Did the Oracles give you something, my queen?”

  I nodded. “Seems we have a direction for us to travel to.”

  A little furrow crinkled across his perfect brow. “How far away is this destination, my queen? Even fully powered and combined, I doubt Havoc and I would be able to walk us through the Shadow Paths there, at least not in good time.”

  “I could map it for you?”

  I pulled out my mobile device and got the information he needed in miles and then converted it into the distance that crows flew. He nodded, processing the information. “It would be too far, but no matter. There is a hub for the Cross Roads here in this city and another, here.” He pointed to a spot just south of the dropped pin that indicated the address of my new home. “From there, it would be no problem, and we would be at our new house in no time at all.”

  After another comforting squeeze on my shoulder, he moved away to help bring over the food. The way he said “our new house” lingered in my ears and squeezed my heart to bits.

  Food was prepared, and I was impressed with the feast that had appeared from what was in my refrigerator. I surely wouldn’t have made anything this palatable on my own.

  If this wasn’t magic…

  The dining area in the kitchen was a pretty tight squeeze, but we got everyone situated for seats. West had already eaten earlier, plus had spent the most time with me so far, so chose to be first watch. He had felt the need to announce that for some reason, like it was for my benefit.

  There was an unspoken shuffling around, and Enver and Havoc sat with me at my bistro table that the nice home store catalog said would fit a family of four—haha not a family with people this size—while Taran leaned against the island, picking at the food platters as he kept an eye on the back entrances.

  “So, out of curiosity, West said that my mother sent you, yes? But you all were scattered? Did she summon you to her Court?” A queen had sway over her sworn subjects, even the ability to call out to them from afar. Since my Inner Circle had sworn their allegiance to me, and they had come to my call, I wondered how my mother had been able to call them.

  They shook their heads. “Oracles,” they said in unison.

  Ah.

  “How did they do that? They do not seem to be the direct communication type.” Even with me, someone who was taught to be an apprentice, they could be extremely slippery with their words and really confusing. Living in an Ever Now could do that where they wouldn’t be able to see events in context.

  Not that they advertised that, though.

  My opinion? They liked making people think they were more mysterious than they really needed to be. Then again, they really didn’t let anyone else question them as closely as I did.

  It was nice playing twenty questions and barely toeing the line of respect without being annihilated from the fabric of the universe. Being a queen’s daughter had its privileges.

  At my question, Havoc coughed, and I had a feeling it was suppressed laughter. Taran could never keep a straight face, and so left the kitchen with a hurried excuse about checking the door locks, guffaws booming in his wake. Enver was actually blushing.

  Oh my stars, I needed to know what the Oracles did.

  “I’m guessing they had spectacular timing?”

  Havoc straight laughed now, barking coughs around his food while West pounded his back.

  “Let’s just say that their message got to us, we then heard you, and now, we are here,” Enver said quietly, punctuating that statement with a bite of food, glaring at the rest of the men.

  I was not about to pry into their privacy—not really—but I liked the teasing. This felt good. It had been too long since I had anyone other than myself and the television to talk to. Before I could ask my fake question though, Enver’s hand snaked onto my knee, and he gripped it. Firmly.

  I gasped at the sensation, heat spreading through my body. He took that as an invitation to pull me closer. “Please don’t ask,” he said close to my ear.

  Chills ran down my neck. I wasn’t going to, but if this was going to be the response…

  Enver smiled wickedly, before slanting his mouth over mine, deepening the kiss.

  I forgot how to breathe.

  Without breaking the kiss, he settled me across his lap so I straddled him. One strong arm across the small of my back. The other hand cradling my head, anchoring me to him.

  I melted against his hard body. My fingers dug through his hair, clinging to him.

  “Dinner and a show. The Shadow Realm ain’t as bad as I thought it’d be,” Havoc’s sardonic voice cut through the haze of lust that overwhelmed me.

  I broke the kiss, breathless, dazed at the fact that I was in my kitchen.

  Enver knew exactly where he had been and what he had been doing. He rolled his hips up against my center, and I bit my lip before a moan could escape from my mouth. “Havoc, I’m going to kill you.”

  “You’d have to get up from under our queen first. Since that’s not a tradeoff any one of us would take, I’m guessing I’ll be fine.” He ate another bite, winking at me as I looked over my shoulder at him.

  I flushed. I was never so… brazen... at the Nightmare Court. Well, outside of revels. But that was completely different. The moon was to blame for those.

  Enver trailed kisses down my neck to gain my attention, and I sighed turning into them.

  Taran lumbered closer. “Aw good, Havoc didn’t break the mood. I was hoping to be next.”

  West snorted. “If anyone’s next, it’s me. I found her first.”

  Okay, I was done.

  Enver growled, sensing my shifting mood.

  “And enough. I’m the one who gets to decide what to do, including who I do, with my own body, thank you very much.”

  I wanted to leave, but when I shifted my position, Havoc reached over and trailed his fingers over my arm. “Of course you get to decide, my queen. We’re just trying to organize the queue for you. You know, make it orderly and all, just like you like.” Havoc, the cheeky strategic bastard with his damned lovably evil face.

  I couldn’t help but laugh, and the tension left me.

  Enver sighed, knowing he was well and truly done for now. “I should kill you all.” His threat was empty, since he made no move to follow up on his words. Clearly, no one was bothered by this threat, and just laughed at him.

  I didn’t know whether to be pissed or laugh or what at the way he was easily cock blocked.

  “You should eat.” Repositioning me so I was back in my own seat, Enver grabbed a bit of food and held it to my mouth. I took it, and was rewarded with a kiss on my shoulder that sent chills down my legs. “Soon,” he whispered, noticing my reaction.

  I’d forgotten what I was doing, too lost in his eyes. He brought another spoonful of food to my lips.

  Oh, yeah. Eating. Food. And then—

  Havoc coughed for attention. “My queen, are you set to leave tomorrow morning then? Would you want to leave at dawn? That would give us the night to rest and start fresh.”

  I blinked. Rest. Night. Right. That sounded like a great plan, and not like I was a company-starved freak who suddenly realized that she wanted lots of sex.

  The transitions between night and day were when the veils were the weakest in the Shadow Realm. Totally legit strategic and non-selfish plan to wait a little bit longer. I mentioned that. “I would feel safer moving once it’s fully morning.”

  “Just to clarify: Are there multiple threats then? Or just one?”

  “I’m not sure. It could be one threat with multiple branches. At least that’s what it feels like.”

  “An alliance between multiple solitary beings from the Fold or beyond bleeding into the Shadow Realm would be an odd coincidence. Seems more likely that a unifying force is bringing them together. That possibility does not
sit well with me though.”

  Enver rubbed my back in circles meant to soothe. It had the opposite effect on me, making my heart skip, and breathing come faster. I gulped down some cool water.

  “It sits well with no one. Even your mother thrived on the discord that happened among those tribes. She would never have stood a chance had they united their force, even against her Court.”

  I doubted that. They would have given her more problems, but in the Fold, where it was an Ever Night, my mother was powerful enough not only to be sovereign over her Nightmare Court, but the entire Fold. She would have quashed any such opposition if it had been presented to her.

  Unfortunately the opposition was not against her, and the Shadow Realm was far outside her influence. She had power enough to impact what went on in this world, but as she didn’t rule here, she could not bend most things to her will the way she could in the Fold.

  For her to meddle in the affairs of Shades would weaken her Court, and ultimately the Fold since it would tear the veils and unseat the portals and bolt holes that kept the worlds together.

  Action like that would involve the Remnant Gods and their Power Brokers. And no one wanted their interference at all.

  “Well, until I hear otherwise, the best course of action is still to go to the last case from the file we’d found at the precinct. The girl was—or will be?—reported missing from Circle City, Indiana.”

  Taran made a noise, a rumbling of the thunder he was named for. His birthright as Lord of Thunder and Earthquakes was obvious. “I find it interesting that such things have happened in a place known to be a hub for the Crossroads.”

  “Why Taran?” I needed to know, since our plans relied heavily on using the Crossroads to get there in good time.

  “Nothing, my queen. Just interesting. As if the disappearances happened because they were conveniently close to the Crossroads.”

  “Convenient for traffickers and the like you mean?”

  “Could be.” So maybe that was a motive. That they were being trafficked for some purpose. I couldn’t imagine those purposes being good.

  “West planned for us to go through the Crossroads to get to our new house,” I explained what West’s course of action was. “How do you feel about it? Would you prefer an alternative route?”

  “Nah, the Crossroads would be safer than being exposed in the Shadow Paths and driving or traveling with the Shades. Veil warping and tampering is being heavily monitored thanks to the new Power Broker that governs this city. He wants nothing to weaken the veils.”

  I was not into the politics of the Remnant Gods, but there was no overlooking the huge Black Tower that reigned over the middle of the city and was visible no matter where you were. A reminder of the rulers of this Fold.

  I had no reason to cross paths with the Power Broker, nor deal with any of the Remnant God Tribes that settled this city. But their rules and politics still impacted the rest of the Shadow Realm—Shades, ghosts, and ex-patriated Brightlings and her would-be Inner Circle alike.

  Once we were traveling on the Crossroads, all who were there needed to abide by the rules set by The Powers That Be who ran them. Safe passage was all but guaranteed. What happened on either end of the trip was another story. An even better reason not to travel at night and tempt attracting Hunters at their full power.

  “We will get to the Crossroads, my queen. Don’t worry about that.”

  Even if I wanted to tear open a seam in the veil to get to Circle City and avoid another abduction, it wouldn’t mean anything if I was not careful and got myself or my guards killed in the process.

  I swallowed down my anxiety over not knowing, but at least there was a clear cut plan for the moment. Rest tonight. Tomorrow we would leave for the hub.

  For now…

  Enver read my mind, or rather my shifting body. He gathered me to him again, then called his shadows around us and in a wink of darklight, took us both back upstairs.

  Karina

  THE FIRST TIME I SHARED my body with Enver, I was eighteen and drunk on revelry. In fact we had never been together outside of a Blessed Moon revel. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I only knew that I could not stop touching him.

  We landed right outside of my bedroom. The protective spell I put around my room actually did work. Awesome.

  He barely noticed. He carried me over the threshold and kicked the door shut.

  He kept me in the tangle of his arms as I writhed against his body, kissing him until I couldn’t see straight. He walked us toward the bed. I felt it behind me and the next thing I knew we were falling on it together.

  He pinned me with his body, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I’d never appreciated how good he felt, the weight of him pressing in just the right spots.

  He seemed to know that was what I wanted because he ground against me and I moaned with blatant pleasure.

  He lifted himself off me, trailing his fingers down my body until he got to my hips and gripped them tightly, angling them up so he could rub me against his hard cock.

  I wanted to die. Why am I wearing so many clothes?

  His very male chuckle told me that I’d said it out loud, but I didn’t care. I took off my top, and he made quick work of my pants.

  He stilled for a moment, framed by the light coming through the bedroom window. He looked magnificent, like a god of his own universe.

  I propped myself on my elbows. “What is it?” I asked.

  He cupped my face with his hand, fingers tracing over my features. “I thought you were dead. I thought I would never see you again. Never touch you again.”

  I died a little inside, swallowing down the words that would only add to his hurt. I didn’t want to stop, I didn’t want to tell him that I had chosen to leave. I never knew that he had loved me until that moment outside of my last Killing Circle, could never conceive of anyone being anything but obligated to be with me.

  But now that he was here, I had this miraculous second chance of being with Enver—with all of them—the way I should have had I stayed in the Fold.

  “I’m here now.” I tilted my head so I captured one of his fingers into my mouth and sucked. I rolled my eyes up at him. The dark pleasure that bled his blue eyes black made my heart race, made liquid heat rush between my legs.

  He was on me then. He pushed me up on the bed, lifting my arms up above my head. "Keep them up, my queen." It was an order he expected to be obeyed and one I thrilled to follow, so I clutched the edge of the mattress. Cupping my breasts, he sucked on one nipple and then the other, swirling his tongue around the sensitive peaks.

  I squirmed, my muscles tight and clenching. It was like my body had finally woken from a deep sleep, all the longing and loneliness that had stretched out over the years concentrating in this moment until I was alive again, breathless and aching for Enver. I needed him inside me, like right the fuck now. As it was, he took his sweet time sinking his teeth into my skin, nipping a trail over my ribs, my navel, the rise of my hips.

  Hot liquid pooled between my legs, my clit throbbed and I lifted my hips up to him in offering. He continued to torment me, touching me everywhere but where I needed him to touch me.

  Between kisses he asked, "You seem to want something, my queen. Do you need me here?" He trailed cool finger over my hot slit, and I nearly unraveled.

  “Yes,” I whined.

  “Tell me what you want,” he said between light kisses across the valley of my hips.

  I didn't care what he used—his finger, tongue, or cock—but if he didn't do something soon, I would surely die. The evil man was determined for me to tell him though, since he was busily kissing my upper thigh, kneading the soft skin there with his rough hands as if he had all the time in the world.

  "Gods above and below, I need all of you! Your mouth, fingers, then cock!" That was the first time that I ever admitted aloud that I wanted Enver. The truth of it though loosened something in my heart.

  Instead of feeling weak or need
y like I’d assumed all those years ago, I felt free.

  Free and very much alive.

  He chuckled, the low vibrations reverberating through the bed. "I serve, my queen." He sealed his mouth over my dripping sex, plunged his tongue inside of me. I whimpered with relief. He lapped up my dripping wet slit, plunging inside of me, tasting me, before bearing down on my clit. Swirling his tongue around my swollen nub, he pushed me higher toward that sweet edge of release.

  Everything felt so much more here in the Shadow Realm. The sex between us had never been like this in the Fold, at least not that I could remember, which could have been part of the problem. I barely remembered anything that had happened during the revels. And, outside of them, I was too numb, too cold to think of anything else but sleeping and eating. The bare necessities.

  Now? There was no way I'd forget this. Any of it. I dug my fingers into my bed, twisting the sheets to keep from burying them in his hair. I was so close.

  He pushed a cool finger into my liquid heat, and then another one, stretching my tight opening as he dipped in and out. I thrust against his fingers willing him faster. I felt him smile against me before he flattened his tongue against my clit and flicked it hard.

  I screamed out in surprise as waves of pleasure racked my body. He held down my bucking hips so he could continue ravishing me. His fingers delved into my depths and brushed along a sensitized spot. I cried out once more, the shock of pleasure bowing my back as I desperately reached out for something to cling to.

  I was still gasping for breath as Enver loomed above me. He trailed his fingers down my body and I shivered for him. "Are you ready for me, my love?"

  I didn't think there was a way to get ready for Enver. But if he was asking if I wanted him to fuck me... "Cock. Now," I said between gasps. I didn't know where that came from, but his dark laughter told me he certainly liked it. He spread my legs wide and sank into me in one long thrust.