by May Dawson
“I’m sure you’re an expert on humble manners, prince,” I taunted him, and he yanked my head back, before his mouth claimed my throat.
He went still, his cock buried deep inside me, and my thighs tightened on his lean waist, holding him there close to me. My core was already squeezing around his cock in the lead-up to my orgasm, but he took his time, kissing the places where I liked to be kissed until he suddenly began to suck. I groaned at the sensation of his mouth drawing my skin, teasing and tugging, but that didn’t stop me from smacking him.
“You can’t mark me,” I said. I was supposed to be marrying Raile, although I had to find a way to fix that. I intended to marry all of the males I wanted.
He raised glittering eyes to me. “Is that so?”
We both knew I could heal myself, but I still loved his possessiveness as he went back to teasing my skin, my hips jerking against him as he marked his way down my throat. Then he found my nipple, his tongue teasing against the tip, and suddenly he was all tender. His hair brushed against my chin as he went to work on my nipple, running his tongue around it and sucking it until I was on fire with need.
Duncan had learned my body and learned it well. I couldn’t hide a moan, and he couldn’t hide a self-satisfied smile, and then he finally straightened. He grabbed my thighs and held my legs up as he began to drive into me, so hard that the bed began to shift back and forth across the floor, scraping the marble. But I didn’t care about the floor; hell, I’d destroy whole kingdoms to have this male close to me.
And maybe you will.
I pushed away the thought that echoed through my mind so I could focus on Duncan, on the way he watched my face with those intense, icy blue eyes, his face as cold and stoic as ever to someone who didn’t know him well. But I did; I saw the way his cruelly handsome lips parted, the way his breathing grew harsh and ragged when he was lost in me. His pupils dilated in those gorgeous eyes as if I were a drug.
Then the beautiful boy blurred as pleasure swept through me, and my back arched, my fingertips skating across the smooth sheets before they fisted in the fabric and jerked them loose. But I knew he was watching me, always watching me, losing himself in my pleasure as much as his own.
My moan as I came blended with his roar of satisfaction as the world turned into nothing but bright light and the force of that orgasm, sheer warm pleasure rippling through every limb.
Then he fell onto the bed beside me, gathering me toward him, and I slid into his arms.
“Never pegged you for a cuddler,” I said, making myself comfortable in his arms.
“Shut up,” he said. “I just try to humor your needy ass.”
I grinned against his shoulder. He stroked my hair back from my face, then pressed a kiss to my forehead. He looked at me as if there was something he wanted to say, but he held himself back.
I traced the hound tattoos on his chest, enjoying the sensation of the two of us curled up together. It felt like no time had passed since I’d been torn away from the academy; the two of us still came back together as if nothing had ever happened.
I’d always been a wealthy princess, a gifted magician, a born warrior.
But I’d never felt like a lucky girl until these males held me in their arms.
Hours later, Nikia crept into my room when Duncan was asleep in my bed, his arm flung out across the sheets. I was still laying there awake, smiling to myself as I replayed the evening, until she knelt by my bed and whispered, “Your father requires your presence, Princess.”
“Oh no,” I said, turning my back on her and nestling my head onto Duncan’s shoulder. He stirred in bed—he was a light sleeper, as any Fae royal should be—and his hand skimmed up my back to rest on my hip.
“He said you’d refuse,” she said, “and he said to make it clear he’d have his guards drag you through the halls naked if you didn’t obey.”
I yawned. What a frightful little male my father was. “That seems awkward for all involved.”
I’d been so comfortable and happy curled up with Duncan, and of course my father had wrenched that one little bit of joy away. I’d still be furious and wide-awake once Nikia left, even if my father didn’t make good on his lovely threat.
“I’d probably mind it the least, honestly. If those guards get a good look at my tits, they might change their loyalty from my father to me.”
They were a spectacular set of tits; Duncan would have agreed.
“Princess, please,” Nikia whispered.
I sighed and finally rolled over. When I shook Duncan’s shoulder gently, his eyes flew open immediately, deep blue and keen.
“My father summoned me,” I said. “I have to see what the old beast wants.”
“Are you all right?” he growled, worry written across his face.
“I’m the model of the dutiful daughter,” I said, and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. I was naked when I rose from the bed, and quickly dressed in one of my new gowns; Nikia darted over to lace up my corset. I didn’t want to face my father in anything less, in case he had me dragged onto Raile’s ship or to the dungeon or one of the Sisters’ keeps. Anything could happen, really. “Please go. Please be careful.”
No matter what happens.
“Always. I’m the soul of caution,” he lied.
Then he added, “That’s why you need me to balance you.”
That was the truth, really, and I leaned forward to kiss him goodbye.
“I’ll be there tonight,” he said. “A week’s worth of festivities, but tonight is your true birthday, isn’t it?”
“I guess so. Going to have a present for me?”
He shook his head, but his smile told me another story.
I was smiling when I slipped into the hallway, no matter what waited for me. Behind me, he was dressing, preparing to disappear into the pre-dawn gloom.
I glanced back at him over my shoulder, just once, watching him with his head down, fastening his trousers. The muscles in his broad shoulders and arms rippled with every movement, and I wished I could go back and press myself against him once again.
Instead, I followed a pale-faced Nikia down the hall to my father’s apartments.
When I walked into the vast marble entryway, the first golden rays of dawn were just escaping the dark sea. Herrick and Faer were drinking wine on the couch despite the late hour.
“Breakfast wine, is that the fashion now?” I asked lightly.
“Happy birthday, Alisa,” my father said, raising his glass to me, then to Faer, including him in the toast. “It was the happiest day of my life when you two were born.”
“So sorry that we’ve been a disappointment since,” I teased.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Herrick disagreed. He glanced at Faer. “Do you like this wine?”
“I do,” Faer said.
I glanced between the two of them, then took my seat on the couch. “You two seem pleased with yourselves. Why did you want to see me, Father?”
“What about you, Alisa?” he asked, swirling the wine absently in his glass. “Did you like the wine Nikia brought to your room? For you and your autumn lover?”
My heart froze in my chest. “What did you do?”
“Easier to show you than explain,” my father said. He flicked his fingers lazily to one side, murmured a word under his breath.
I tried to catch his whisper, but my head was suddenly hot and dizzy. The world seemed to reel around me, and my stomach rose as if I were spinning.
“Easy,” Faer said to me, reaching for my arm. He glanced at Herrick over his shoulder, but then turned back to me as I swayed. He caught my arms as I leaned forward, my muscles suddenly soft as jelly.
I tried to ask what he did to me, but the words came out garbled. I frowned and tried again.
Faer helped me down to the ground as my muscles tightened, tightened until it felt as if my bones would snap. My back arched as I let out a cry of pain, every muscle cramping into misery.
“I think she’ll
understand,” Faer snapped at Herrick. His hands were on my shoulders, cradling me onto the floor.
“It brings me no pleasure to hurt your sister,” Herrick said. His words were distant, because my eardrums popped as pain coursed through my body.
Faer started to say something, but the world was fading black.
Then suddenly, the wave of pain receded. Every muscle relaxed and I sagged into the ground. But my muscles all still ached, and my head reeled as if I were drunk. I got to my knees and launched myself across the room, desperate to get out of there, to get to a weapon.
“Alisa.” Herrick’s voice was sharp as a whip crack. “There’s nowhere for you to run, daughter. Try to listen for once.”
Faer was there, his hands on my shoulders as he turned me around. His eyes were wide with worry, and for a second, I saw the twin brother who loved me, the one I’d die for. The one I’d always thought would die for me.
Then he said, “You’d better listen, if you want to save Duncan.”
He steered me back toward the couch, pressed me down into the cushion. I fought the constant rise of nausea, tasting bile at the back of my throat, and I stared at my father, trying to fight through the fog in my mind.
“What do you want?” I asked, my voice coming out thick, and I swallowed.
“You’re going to end things with Duncan tonight,” Herrick said. “The same poison was in his wine tonight, and the effects last for some time.” He smiled at me coolly. “But feel free to test me. I know how headstrong you are.”
“Why?” I demanded.
“You are not going to marry that pair of lovesick idiots.” Herrick sneered.
Did he hate Duncan and Azrael most of all because they genuinely loved me?
“I want you to break him,” Herrick warned me. “No tender, tearful breakup. Hurt him. Because if you don’t, I’ll kill him.”
“Break him? What—”
“Break him,” Herrick interrupted, his voice savage. “I know you’re capable. You ruin everything, Alisa; ruining Duncan should be easy for you.”
I stared at him. So Herrick intended this as my punishment; not just that I would be left alone, but that these males I loved would come to hate me. Did he have some plan to make me hurt Azrael as well?
“You forget that you’re just a girl.” Herrick stared at his wine as if he couldn’t bear to look at me. “Just my daughter. Not the queen, and you never will be. You’ll never be able to outsmart me, no matter how highly you think of yourself.”
I glanced at Faer, quicker than thought; there was part of me that still looked to my brother to rescue me, the same way I would have rescued him.
“It’s better this way,” Faer said, and the floor might as well have gone out from under me.
“Fine,” I said lightly, as if it were nothing. But it was everything. “I will.”
I could make Duncan despise me, if that was the cost to save his life.
Chapter One
Duncan
As we sailed across the sea on the swan’s back, Alisa shifted against me. The movement carried the scent of her hair—like roses warmed by the sun—and my nostrils flared, trying to breathe in more of her scent despite myself. My first impulse was to slip my arm around her waist and hold her close.
She looked across the water, her face beautiful in profile. The moon sparkled across the ocean, which looked still and peaceful. It was hard to believe the sea might come alive and swallow us whole if Raile had his way.
“I don’t love this,” she said lightly. “I love pools—like the ridiculous one in my room—but the ocean itself…”
“Because of Raile?” Tiron’s voice was dark with his protective urges, and I had to resist the impulse to reach out and clap the back of his head.
“No,” she said with a smile, as if she heard the same emotions I did. “I don’t think it’s his fault. We aren’t the top of the predatory pyramid in the water, and I for one can never forget that.”
I snorted. “You’re always the apex predator.”
She twisted and looked up at me. Her silvery eyes were bright. “Why, thank you, Duncan.”
“We all have our fears,” Azrael said. I knew all too well what haunted him, but he added, “Dirtside creeps me out.”
“It’s the garden at the summer palace that I can’t stand,” Tiron said.
Alisa looked at him curiously, and he added, “All those statues…”
“I’m not pleased about the Shadow Man, personally,” I put in, “or any of that old magic that follows rules so relentlessly.”
I’d had no desire to be part of this conversation, but the last thing we needed now was to discuss the secrets of the summer garden.
Years before, my father Edric had hissed a warning to me about the princess Alisa and the rest of her family. He’d seen the winter king and queen dragged before Herrick for their rebellion against his rule. Instead of killing them, Herrick turned them into statues. My father claimed that the two of them were still there, still alive deep within the stone.
I didn’t trust my father much, but I had gone looking for the statues in the garden. I’d found a male and female Fae, twined together as if they were making love, one covered in tiny red flowers and the other in white. I’d brushed away the flowers from one face with my hand and found underneath a look of frozen terror. I’d backed away fast, my heart hammering.
I glanced at the girl who suddenly yawned, then rested her head against my shoulder. She didn’t know what happened in that garden, and I had a strange urge to protect her.
But had the old princess Alisa known?
A few minutes later, we reached the shore, miles from the castle. The swan brought us to the lapping edge where the sea seemed to murmur constantly; the silvery-white sand on the beach shone in the darkness. Where the sand melted into grass, flowers bloomed in a riot of color, forming a thick, fragrant carpet.
As my feet sank into the soft sand at the end of the sea, Tiron took the enormous head of the swan in both hands, whispering his thanks and goodbyes.
“We’ll have to go on foot until we reach the next town and can get horses,” I told Alisa, who was gazing at the sheltered cove and the trees at the top of the cliffs, her lips faintly parted as she took in the beauty around her. “Try to keep up.”
She turned to me as if I’d just snapped her out of her daze. “Being insufferable gives you energy, doesn’t it? If I’d known there was no such thing here, I would’ve brought some coffee back with me. Something has to be the cure for your perpetual bad temper.”
She breezed past me, headed toward the trail ahead of her that led up from the beach into the forest. I watched her storm away until she reached the trailhead.
Azrael finished unloading our weapons and packs from the swan. When he looked up and saw her making her way determinedly in the wrong direction—back toward Faer—he swore. Tiron watched as the swan swam off, its body barely rippling the water.
“It’s fine, I’ve got it,” I told Azrael, then whistled.
She turned, exasperation written across her face.
I jerked my thumb at the other trail that twisted up from cliffs on the far side of the beach. The trail’s entrance was almost hidden by a clump of trees, and the narrow passage up the cliffs was hard to glimpse in the dim light. But my voice was still heavy with condescension when I said, “That way, Princess.”
She stared at me for a second, and even across the distance and the dark, I could see the pale shadow of her face turn toward Azrael for confirmation. Then she stormed back.
“You are such a child,” she grumbled as she returned to us.
“Mm-hmm.” I couldn’t deny that I got a certain childish joy from tormenting her.
Tiron, slinging his pack over his shoulder, fell into step beside her. As the two of them headed toward the narrow track, she said something, and he laughed. She smiled back, looking up at him with affection in her gaze. I wondered what the hell was so funny.
She made a sho
w of offering her hand to help him up the rocks, as if she were the gallant one, and he made a show of taking it.
I grunted as I threw my own pack on. “Is the princess not carrying anything today? I’ll try to summon some surprise.”
“Careful,” Azrael said into my ear. I flinched away, giving him a dark look. “Your jealousy is on full display.”
Before I could say anything, he raised his hands. “I’m trying to help!”
“You’re being insufferable,” I warned him. That was supposed to be my department, according to the princess.
I heaved a sigh as we headed behind Alisa and Tiron. Despite the dangers that crowded the forest that overlooked the cliffs, the two of them seemed to be on a pleasant weekend excursion.
The four of us emerged at the top of the cliffside and headed into the forest. We trekked for the rest of the night, following the coastline from high on the ridge. It was best we stayed entirely out of reach of the sea.
The forest was eerily silent, and I frowned when we’d walked an hour in peace, before coming to a stop.
“Where are all the animals?” I asked softly. “There should be plenty of things that want to eat us. The forest is far too quiet here.”
“There have been reports of monsters coming over from spring court territory,” Azrael said.
“This isn’t right,” Tiron agreed. “But there’s nothing to do but go on. If we find a monster that needs killing, we’ll do it.”
I leveled him with a look. “You sound far too cheerful about that. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d never met any monsters.”
“Oh, he served in the rift, and he knows you, Duncan,” Alisa chided.
I grunted at her and walked ahead. I’d rather deal with monsters than princesses.
We walked the rest of the night. Just as dawn broke over the ocean, streaking the sky with pale yellows and oranges fighting to overwhelm the night, I spied the village through the trees.
When we reached the town at the edge of the sea, Azrael told me, “Stay with Alisa. Hide in the forest so no one sees the princess. We don’t need word to reach Faer any sooner than it must.”
