We pass a building that is clearly the temple, in what seems to be at the exact center of the city, with large avenues emerging from the plaza like the spokes of a wheel. The temple is unlike the others that I’ve seen—it’s circular like the plaza, with tall columns lining the edge and holding up one massive stone ring. It makes sense, leaving it open to the sky so they can see the moon.
At a distance, I can see the statue of the Goddess in the center of the columns. The magic inside me unfurls and releases perfect warmth, as if in recognition.
The central plaza is filled with the commerce I’ve grown used to seeing in the cities, and like Verys said, a lot of them are stalls that contain cloth. Beautiful cloth in every shade and glimmer that I could imagine and more.
Verys makes a motion with his hand, and there’s a series of glowing symbols that quickly disappear into the air and vanish. “What was that?”
“Our message.”
“Will you teach me how to do that?”
Taking my hand, he spins me under his arm like we’re dancing and pulls me in. “I’ll teach you everything.”
“If you two need a room I can come back,” a loud voice says behind me. “Otherwise I’m here to make you look fabulous.”
When I turn around, Kaya is standing there, striking a pose far more dramatic than is needed. It suits her perfectly. She’s smirking. “Miss me?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
________
KARI
Kaya is just as crazy and vibrant as I remember. Her bright red hair stands out against the background of mostly pale buildings. As soon as I see her she approaches and wraps me in a massive hug. “I should absolutely skin you alive for not send me a message sooner,” she says. “I’ve been wanting to hear how you love your closet!”
I laugh as she practically crushes me with her hug. “I’m sorry. It’s been a little crazy.”
“Tell me everything. And while you do, we’re going to pick some amazing fabric so I can make you clothes you’re not going to want to take off even with five delicious men begging to have you naked.”
I very much pretend that I’m not blushing from head to toe. “If you imagine that’s what’s happening, you’re very mistaken.”
Kaya slings her arm around my shoulder. “I’m very not. Now what am I making you? I realized I didn’t send you any lingerie which I admit was a bit of an oversight.”
“We were hoping you could make me clothes that are armored.”
Her eyebrows raise into her hairline. “Seems like you have some things to tell me.”
“You could say that.”
Verys keeps watch behind us while Kaya marches me through the market with comfort and ease. She’s been here before. And just like with Emma and Odette, I tell her everything while she’s picking out fabrics while barely consulting me. Rich colors and some lighter ones.
I particularly love a pale grey that she’s picked out. It shines like a pearl and is so soft I feel like I can’t stop touching it. I never really thought I could pull off grey with my coloring, so I’m happy.
She shakes her head when I’ve finished the story. “I don’t know what you did to attract Allwyn’s attention, girl. But I understand why you need armor. I have everything we need for the moment. But these are going to need more than just me taking your measurements by eye, and time to weave wards.”
“You can come with us,” Verys says. Instead of us walking all the way back to the house, he simply opens a portal that’s directly into the bedroom we’re sharing in his mother’s home. That’s something I need to learn how to do because the amount of time saved with portals is blowing my mind.
Back when I danced, if I had been able to do that I would have slept as late as possible and then portaled myself directly into company class.
We step through the rip in space and the world goes fuzzy and dizzy for a second before everything snaps into focus again. Almost immediately Kaya spreads the fabric she’s retrieved all over the bed and begins to sort through it.
“Now, how much have you learned?” She asks as she picks up the grey fabric.
“Magically?” She nods. “I only just started before we met up with you.”
“Has she rested enough, Verys?”
I cross my arms and stare her down. “If you’re planning on making me stop you from stabbing me with a pin, no dice.”
Kaya laughs and rolls her eyes. “No. But I was going to have you practice forming a shield.”
“She should be fine,” Verys says.
Kaya points to a spot on the floor. “Stand here so I can work on you. And while you do that, form a shield around yourself. Verys can throw some things at you and you can stop them.”
I shake my head. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“It’ll be different for every person,” she says lightly. “So I can’t just tell you how to do it. But the idea is that you can just have the shield in place around you to stop physical and magical attacks.”
I roll my eyes. “Completely simple.”
Settling in a chair in the corner, Verys chuckles. “It’s a good thing to practice, and we’ll start lightly. Just give it a try.”
A shield. From all angles. I don’t need a specific image, I just need a bubble. Reaching for the magic, I let it bubble up and I let it expand around me like a bubble. Not pushing it away but extension. Almost like a cocoon. Silver magic threads along the edges of the shield, and for all the world it feels like Verys is running his fingers across my skin. “That’s nice,” he murmurs.
Kaya’s magic isn’t as gentle. The fiery red magic fizzles across the shield and I jump. “Not at all bad for a first try. Arms up.”
She goes to work with the fabric, measuring it against me in ways that I’m sure make sense to her. Verys pushes harder. And the magic flexes like a bubble but doesn’t burst. “Do I need actually protect against magic?”
“Of course,” Verys and Kaya say at the same time, and I laugh. “But the Goddess told me the magic would protect my mind from invasion. So I don’t have to worry about anybody…magically hypnotizing me or anything.”
“You think that’s the only thing you can do to a person with magic?”
I’ve never seen anything else, but I suppose I haven’t seen very much. Kaya is quiet, her face troubled as she glances at Verys. “Fae combat is not like human combat,” he says quietly. “We do not need weapons. Not when we can move our fingers and slice the enemy in half.” The magic he’s brushing along my bubble turns sharp enough to steal my breath, and with one fierce blow the shield shatters into nothing. “Again.” He says.
I wrap magic around me like a blanket. Thicker and more solid. I don’t feel an end of the power—a seemingly infinite well to pull from. Verys’s magic crashes against it like a wave, and it crumbles into thin air. “Again.” He stands from his chair and takes a step towards me. And I know what he’s trying to do. In this moment he’s no longer my lover and friend—he’s the person hunting me, and as slowly as he’s moving he’ll reach me in moments. The fae trying to take me will grant me even less time.
I pull up more magic and abandon the attempt to circle myself completely and throw it up in a wall in front of me. Moving so fast I almost feel the wind whipping past my cheek his magic spins around me and cracks into the shield from behind, slithering past my skin and intentionally brushing me. “Again, Kari. Keep me out.”
My lungs feel like they can’t contract, iron bands around my chest. I’m panicking. Just like I would if someone were coming at me, and I can’t afford to panic. Get your shit together, Kari. I’m resisting the full magic. I can sense it there under the surface, like one of those holes in the ocean that you can’t tell the depth, and I’m afraid that I might lose myself. Like I did the first time. I couldn’t find my way back to my body and that is absolutely terrifying.
But if I don’t, I won’t be able to defend myself.
Falling one way or the other tangles all the strings.
Thi
s is one of those moments. I can choose to embrace this magic and what it means, or I can reject it entirely. But it has to be now. I’ve been avoiding it and trying not to think about it. I meant what I said to them. I’m done hiding and I’m ready, but that doesn’t make taking this step feel any less like stepping off a cliff into nothing.
There’s a sense of something bigger, outside of myself. Like this is a knot in that tangle, with paths branching outward, and Allwyn waiting for me to choose. The whole world has held its breath, and me along with it.
Choose. I hear the musical voice in my head. There’s no judgement or tone to tell me which choice would be better. Only kindness and understanding for whatever way I choose to break. Choose.
In the end it doesn’t feel like a choice. I’m not giving up, and fear is something that I’ve had enough of. Closing my eyes, I open myself to the magic. If before I was dipping my toe in a puddle, this is opening the floodgates. It presses against the edges of me, barely contained, and if I needed it, there’s more.
I barely have to think to let it surround me—it wants to. I’m controlling it, but it already knows what I want and it taking shape, hardening around me. I’m sleeping beauty encased in glass, and this time when Verys’s magic comes for me it glances off the facets of the shield like nothing. His magic beats against mine, collapsing in wave after wave that I barely feel. I am an island—untouchable. I am myself, and I am more than myself.
When I open my eyes, the entire room is bathed in golden light, the shield around me entirely visible, separating me from Verys with a barrier drenched in radiance. His hands are pressed to the barrier, and his face is a mix of awe and concern. It’s easy to let him in and keep the shield in place.
I watch, seemingly at a distance as his hands sink through the magic and the rest of him follows. He’s safe now too. I’ll protect him. Or we’ll protect each other. He adds his magic to the shield, gilding it with silver and shivering vibrations.
His lips fall onto mine with a force I’ve never felt from him, and I slammed back into myself. I’m in control and the magic didn’t overtake me. I’m here. And Verys’s magic twisting with mine sends need piercing through my veins. I need him closer, faster.
“Exactly like that,” he whispers. “Keep everyone out. Even me. Even us.”
“I don’t want you out,” I murmur against his mouth. “I want you in.”
“I think that’s my cue to go,” Kaya says from behind me, voice barely containing her amusement.
I startle, having completely forgotten she was in the room. “I’m so sorry, Kaya.”
“Why?” She lifts an eyebrow. “The only thing you should apologize for is making me jealous of the fun the two of you are about to have.” The blush takes over my whole body, which only makes her laugh harder. When she raises her hand to the edge of the shield, I consciously note to let her in, and Kaya’s is beaming as she steps through the barrier and pulls me into a hug. “That was amazing. Keep practicing, because none of us want to lose you. I’ll send the clothes as soon as they’re finished!”
She’s disappeared into a portal almost before I can track her, all the cloth with her. “I didn’t mean to scare her away,” I say.
Verys pulls my face back to his, not missing a beat with his next kiss. “You didn’t scare her, she’s just observant and realized what’s about to happen.” He nudges me backwards and as soon as I lose my balance on the edge of the bed he falls with me, pulling me on top of him.
“What’s about to happen?”
Lips drag down my neck, causing shivers all the way down to my toes. The magic surrounding me has faded back to invisible, but it’s still there, twisting and pulsing and keeping everything out but the two of us. “I could tell you in detail, just how thoroughly I’m about to fuck you.” he says, letting his words and breath drift little eddies of power across my skin. Power created with the express purpose of seeking out my core. It finds my desire and drives it higher until I’m panting for him. Clinging to his body, already about to come just from the sheer force of this need. “Or, I could just show you.”
He rolls us together so his body is pressing into mine. His clothes do nothing to mask his own desire, pressing hard between us. Goddess, yes.
“Show me,” I beg. “Please.”
He smiles down at me, kissing along my jaw with agonizing slowness. And I don’t think this time it’s about exploration—I just think that Verys enjoys taking his time. And drawing out both our pleasure as long as is possible. I love it, hate it, and crave the depth of it.
“I have only one condition.”
“Oh?” I’m barely focused on his words and entirely distracted by the hand that’s slipping below the waistband of my jeans to tease me. I’m already soaking wet and when he touches me, he only smiles wider.
“Keep that shield up.”
“No promises.” I say. So far the magic seems steady, but when I’m lost in orgasm I don’t think I’ll have enough brain power to keep it going.
Verys rises up on his knees, towering above me. “Yes,” he says. “Promise. Or I might have to reconsider.”
He’s still smiling, so I know he’s not entirely serious. But it doesn’t look like he’s joking either. “Are you saying that you won’t have sex with me if I can’t keep up the shield?”
“No,” he says, grinning. “I’m definitely going to fuck you. But if the shield falls, I’m not going to let you orgasm until the shield is up again.”
“You’re blackmailing my orgasms?”
He kisses me lightly. “Yes.”
“I think that’s a little unnecessary.”
He chuckles and presses a kiss to my lips. “And I think it’s brilliant. I think Aeric would approve of the training method.”
“Aeric isn’t here,” I mutter. His hand sinks beneath my waistband again, and I gasp, the magic at the tips of his fingers ripples into me and ignites. Pleasure splinters through me with a snap, and I arch up to meet him, voice lost in a moan. “Fucking hell.”
“Fucking hell is about right,” he says, stripping out of his clothes. “You have no idea how incredible you look when you come. Even if you have far too many clothes on.”
“That’s your fault.”
“True, but the rest is yours.” He helps me out of my pants and peels the shirt over my head. I would do it but my bones are still jelly due to his clever fingers. “Where’s your shield?”
Shit. The magic isn’t wrapped around us anymore. I lost it, just like I thought I might. And I don’t have a chance to pull it back, because Verys lines himself up with me, and in one thrust he’s too deep inside me that I can’t breathe. “Oh Goddess.”
He laughs softly. “Get your shield back, Kari.”
I shake my head back and forth, biting my lip as he thrusts. He’s already sent me over once, and after the first orgasm they like to keep coming. “How can you possibly expect me to do that right now?”
He thrusts deep, that unnameable ecstasy sinking through me like sand. Silver hair cascades around my face, and he leans close. “I expect you to do it whenever it’s needed so that you can keep yourself alive.”
He thrusts again, this time piercing me with magic too, and I cry out, my voice echoing off the walls. My magic catches his and it makes everything more. I can’t breathe, can’t focus on anything but the friction of his cock as he drives into me. “I can’t.”
“You can,” he says. And suddenly he’s moving slower.
“Don’t hold back on my account,” I say desperately. “You’ve got a lot of lost orgasms to make up for.”
Verys smirks at me, settling between my legs comfortably so that I’m stuffed full of him but he’s barely moving. It’s driving me mad. “I’ve got a century’s worth of patience on that front, mate.” The roughness in his voice tells me that he’s just as turned on as I am. But there’s a determination in his eyes that can’t be doubted. He won’t let himself—or me—come until the shield is back in place.
I
grab his shoulders to steady myself and focus on his eyes as I reach for the magic. Goddess, it only makes it worse. My magic explodes with his, and I can barely control the impulse to just fall into climax and forget what he’s asked of me. But I don’t want to disappoint him. One breath, and then another. Again. Until I’m filled to the brim with both him and with power and that shell is surrounding the two of us. I thicken and harden the shell until I’m sure that absolutely nothing will get through. “Good,” he says. “Now don’t lose it.”
“You’re killing me.”
He smiles. An expression with an edge to it. “I would never. You’re my mate.” And he lets himself go. The devastating wave of bliss hits me a second later and I let it wash over me, my cries lost in Verys covering my mouth with his. Gold meets silver inside my soul, and what was already never-ending seems to grow and expand. It’s not a hardship to hold onto the shield. I don’t even have to think. The magic is a part of me, and it acts for me. All I have to do is enjoy my mate.
And oh, I do.
When he releases my lips, I smirk up at him. “How was that?”
“Perfect.”
“So no more holding back orgasms?”
He chuckles. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Good.” I tilt my hips up to his and pull him down to me again, and I let myself get thoroughly lost in him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
________
KARI
The better part of a week flies by in the same way. Training and sex. It’s almost easy to ignore the fact that there’s something big hanging over my head. But there haven’t been any signs of Ariana’s presence here.
I spend the mornings with Siona in the kitchen, and she tells me stories about Verys when he was younger. It gives me a chance to know him in a completely different light. My favorite story so far is that Verys rescued a fae beast when he was still a child. Somehow the beast—in the form of a rabbit—had become injured and lost on the plains of the Lunar court. Maybe a predator, or maybe something darker had had its way with it.
Euphoria: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 2) Page 13
