“I am.” Cassie’s tone was strong, certain. Whatever nerves she might have experienced were gone now in the wake of her song.
“Then let us begin.” He motioned to Lucy, who stepped forward as well. With Robin on Cassie’s right, and Lucy on her left, he began. “First, you must renounce your ties to the White Court.”
Cassie nodded. “I hereby renounce all ties to the White Lady, Queen Gloriana, Queen of the White Court, Lady of the Seelie. I declare myself Oberon’s from this day forth, in honor and in faith, having no other oaths to forswear. By the gods I pledge my loyalty to the Gray Court, High King Oberon and our descendants. I declare myself the sworn servant of the Gray Lord, High King Oberon, King of the Gray Court, Lord over the Fae. I pledge my voice and my honor to uphold the laws of the Court. I and my house will abide by the laws handed down by the High King. I will faithfully perform all services required by Crown and Court. So swear I, Cassandra Airgeatine.”
Now it was Oberon’s turn to take an oath easier than any before it. “I, High King Oberon Airgeatine, the Gray Lord, Lord of the Fae, hereby hear your oaths and accept them in the name of Crown and Court. I declare you our loyal servant, sworn to our bidding. From this day forth my sword shall defend you, my magic protect you, and my wrath be mighty should you fail of your duty. All former oaths to the White are hereby null and void, by my power as High King. So swear I, Oberon, High King.”
Cassie shivered as the magic of the oath flowed over them both.
The regalia of the Lady of the Gray consisted of only two pieces, the crown and the orb. The crown he had made himself, but the orb was a Tuatha Dè gift from long ago. Taken from the Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny would only work in the hands of the rightful ruler of the fae, in this case either Cassie or Oberon. Where Oberon’s sword lit up when he sat on the throne and weighed barely anything when in his hands, the orb would enhance Cassie’s gift, granting her the ability to sing at full strength whether or not she was near or in water. It would also protect her, healing her if she became sick or wounded. It, too, would light up when Cassie sat upon her throne, thus proving her divine right to rule.
The stone was polished like marble, unremarkable in any way until placed in the hands of the Lord or Lady of the Fae. It could shrink or grow at Cassie’s command, allowing her to wear it as a bauble or on a necklace when not in use. If she chose, the orb could be hung above the sword when they held formal court, both objects glowing their approval for the monarchs.
But until Cassie was officially crowned, neither the orb nor the sword would glow for her, despite her truebond. It was the nature of their magic.
So Oberon began the last ceremony of the day, the one that would make Cassie his queen in every sense of the word. “Cassandra Airgeatine. Do you swear, in the presence of the gods and before this court, to conduct yourself under all circumstances as having the interest, prosperity and honor of the fae, no matter their station, within your heart at all times?”
“I so swear.”
“Do you swear to administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich?”
“I so swear.”
“Do you swear to faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on yourself as Lady of the Gray?”
“I so swear.”
“Will you protect the freedom and the rights of all the courts and their residents, regardless of race, station or court?”
“I so swear.”
Oberon took the crown from Robin. “Then I declare you Queen Cassandra, Queen of the Silver Flame, Lady of the Gray, Lady over all the Fae, my queen, my successor and the mother of my children. May all heed your voice as they do my own.” He placed it on her head, nodding in approval when, instead of looking down, she kept her gaze firmly on him. He took the orb from Lady Lucy. “May your reign be long and prosperous, and may all rejoice as I do.” He handed the orb to Cassie, smiling as it began to glow a brilliant turquoise, not the silver he’d expected. “Rise, Queen Cassandra, and face your subjects.”
Cassie got to her feet and took her place at his side, right where she belonged. Right where she would stay for the rest of their days.
“Mr. and Mrs. Nerice! Welcome back.” Greg, the front desk manager at the Sea Crest Bed and Breakfast, beamed at them both as he took their luggage. “I’m so sorry your trip was cut short last time you were here.” The concern in his expression seemed sincere. “How are you feeling, Mrs. Nerice?”
Cassie smiled. Neither of them corrected the man. They’d agreed to come here under the names they’d used before rather than confuse the humans who ran the B&B with a changed surname. “Much better, thank you.”
“Are these the Nerices?” A human woman with golden brown hair and amber eyes came around the corner from the dining room. She held out her hand with a smile. “I’m Noelle Rogers; I help the owners run this establishment.”
“A pleasure to meet you.” Oberon shook her hand. “You work for the Rizzetti brothers, Luc and Angel?”
“Yes. You know them?” Noelle seemed pleased. “I’d wondered why they asked me to personally greet you. Normally I work behind the scenes.”
“They’ve done work for me on numerous occasions.” Oberon’s slight smile was easy. “They’re among the best at what they do.”
“Thank you. They’ll be pleased to hear you said that.” Noelle gestured toward the stairs. “Allow me to show you to your room.”
They followed Noelle back to the honeymoon suite, with the balcony that overlooked the ocean. “Is there anything we can do for you tonight?”
“No, thank you. We ate dinner en route, so we will probably just retire for the night.” Oberon winked at Cassie behind Noelle’s back. “Or we might take a midnight stroll down by the beach.”
Cassie shivered at the heat in Oberon’s gaze. “I like the sound of that.”
Noelle cleared her throat. “Well, I’ll make sure Greg gives you the code card so you can get back inside. Just make sure you remember to give it back to him when you return, and enjoy your evening.” Noelle shook their hands again and left, a spring in her step.
“So.” Oberon pulled Cassie close, his arms around her waist, his forehead against hers. “You want to stroll along the beach?”
“Mm-hm.” She toyed with the hem of his shirt. He’d worn the blue cuff links again, and a small blue diamond had appeared in his silver hair tie. That had surprised her, that he’d matched his crown to hers, but she had to admit it gave her a thrill, too. She doubted she’d ever get him in jeans and T-shirts, but that was all right. This was her bondmate, and she loved him, starch and all.
“Maybe take a dip in the ocean?” He kissed the tip of her nose.
“Mm-hm.” She stroked her fingers over the skin she’d bared, smiling when he hissed in pleasure.
“Make love on the sand?”
She wrinkled her nose. “That gets in all the wrong places.”
His brows rose as his eyes turned gunmetal gray. “I’d ask if you have experience with that, but then I’d have to kill someone.”
“Because we were both virgins when we came into this mating.” No way was she going to let him get away with that kind of thinking.
He huffed, but she could tell he wasn’t offended. “As far as I’m concerned you’re pure as mountain air.”
“And you’re what, Little Boy Blueballs?”
He choked on a laugh. “What?”
She blushed. “Okay, maybe that didn’t come out quite the way I meant it to.”
“No, I don’t think it did.” He hugged her tightly before letting her go and grabbing some towels out of their suitcases. “Come on, a stór. Let’s take a walk.”
“Do we need our bathing suits?”
Oberon merely smiled and held out his hand. It looked good on him, that happiness that had been so absent the first time she
saw him. He needed to look that way every day. He’d more than earned some happiness in his life, and it was her privilege to see to it that he had it.
The waves lapped gently on the shore under an almost full moon. The cloudless sky allowed them to see the stars, the moonlight glistening on the water like a soft lover’s touch.
It was perfect. No one was on the beach except them. The water called to Cassie, tempted her into its dark depths. Without a thought to anyone who might see she began to remove her clothes, eager to leap into the water and let her body soar through the surf.
Strong arms wrapped around her, preventing her from removing her pants. “We’ll swim afterward.”
Afterward?
His hand cupped her pussy through her jeans.
Oh. Afterward.
Cassie shivered as he slid the zipper of her jeans down.
“You’re so beautiful, Cass.”
“I’m not.”
His arms tightened. “I’ve lived thousands of years, seen things no one else has ever dreamed of. I have seen the relics of the Tuatha Dè, of the lost cities of Falias, Gorias, Murias and Finias. I am one of the last of my kind, and I know beauty when I see it.” He kissed the nape of her neck. “Nothing in this world or the next is as beautiful as my truebond.”
Cassie shuddered, her eyes filling with unexpected tears. “Really?”
“Would I lie to you?”
She gazed at him over her shoulder. “If you thought to keep me from pain—”
“No.” He shoved her jeans down her legs, taking her panties with them. “Not about something as important as this.” He held her steady while she kicked the clothes off completely, the jeans and panties landing next to her bra and shirt. “Your song is a part of me. There is not one bit of it that isn’t magnificent. Even your pain only enhances your allure, though I’d rather you’d never suffered it at all.”
“If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be me. I’d be like Demetria.” She turned in his grasp, clasped her arms around his neck.
“You once told me that nothing could truly change our melody, only our harmonies.” Oberon unbuttoned his shirt with Cassie helping him by undoing his cufflinks. “You would never have become another Demetria. It isn’t in you.”
She slid the shirt off his shoulders as he began to unbutton his slacks. He shrugged it off almost impatiently. Cassie slid her hands up his chest, the smooth skin warm and inviting. His long silver hair brushed against his nipples. “I think you’re the beautiful one.” She brushed his hair back over his shoulders, loving the way it flowed over her hands.
His slacks hit the sand, and Oberon kicked them away much as Cassie had done with her jeans. “Let’s agree to disagree.”
Before she could argue, Oberon took her mouth, kissing her with a sweetness that made her knees buckle. He lowered her to the sand, all thoughts of chafing gone from her mind. His erection brushed against her leg, hot and hard and already wet at the tip. “Will you sing for me, my siren?”
He licked her nipple, blew hot breath across the wet peak. Cassie groaned, arching her back to tempt him closer. She wanted him to suck on the hard point, to bring her near to begging for him to enter her.
“That’s it, Cassie.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth like she’d wanted, but quickly released it. “Sing for me.” He repeated the teasing action on her other nipple, licking it and blowing gently across it.
Well. Two could play the tease. Cassie ran her finger along his erection, tracing the throbbing vein from base to tip. He closed his eyes and thrust into her touch. She cupped him, stroking his balls, dragging a low, guttural groan from her bondmate. “Only if you sing for me.”
“A duet, then.” Oberon opened his eyes, his gaze heavy-lidded and seductive. “Perfect.”
Oberon nipped Cassie’s earlobe and began kissing down her neck. Cassie hummed in pleasure, tilting her head to give him better access. His hands stroked up and down her sides as she dropped her Seeming, her glow brightening everywhere he touched.
“So beautiful, a stór.” He began to murmur to her in that lyrical language she didn’t understand, peppering kisses across her skin in between softly spoken words that sounded almost like a prayer.
Cassie sang, of his breath upon her skin, his hands tracing her scales, of the love she could feel between them, strengthening both their melodies. Her tune blended with his words, adding new harmonies to their shared song. He loved on her with a reverence reserved for goddesses, and she melted beneath his touch.
When he finally entered her it was with a slow, smooth glide, filling her over and over again as he took her gently. Everything about their lovemaking tonight was easy, without thought for time or place. They had eternity to love one another, so Oberon took it. Cassie met him thrust for slow, deep thrust, worshipping him every time she accepted him into her body.
She stared at him, watching the play of emotions across his face, reading the pleasure he took from her, the love he was trying to convey. She buried his hands in his hair and tugged him down, kissing him with the same sweet devotion as they sealed their bonding vows with their bodies.
Closer and closer the orgasm came, the tingling through her whole body overwhelming. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kept their lips touching, her song of passion filling them both.
“Tá mo chroí istigh ionat. Tá grá agam duit, a stór.” Oberon shuddered, his breath coming in gasps. “Soon, Cassie.”
“Soon.” She tilted her head back, trembling with the need to come.
He buried his face against her throat, peppering it with kisses. Vows of undying love poured from him, sometimes in English, sometimes in Gaelic, and sometimes in that gorgeous language Cassie was determined now to learn.
Cassie gasped as throbbing need became mind-blowing ecstasy, the orgasm racing through her system and robbing her of speech. Her vision went black, her body curling around his. Her climax went on and on, the long, slow build-up culminating in a pleasure so deep she thought she’d never break the surface of it.
But soon, far too soon, it was over, leaving Cassie drawing in breaths through starved lungs. Oberon had collapsed on top of her, drained by his own orgasm, his skin slick with sweat. His hair surrounded them in a silver cocoon, hiding them from the world in strands of moonlight.
Eventually he rolled off of her, leaving her cold. He took her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed the back of it. “I love you, Mrs. Airgeatine.”
Cassie smiled. “And I you, Mr. Airgeatine.”
They shared a glance. “Want to go swimming?”
Cassie was up and off the sand so fast he started laughing. She darted for the water on shaky legs, still reeling from the incredible lovemaking but determined to swim with her mate. They didn’t have much time to enjoy their honeymoon. Duty would call them back to the Gray Palace far more quickly than she would have liked, but Cassie was a royal born and understood that their people’s needs would often come between them and their pleasure.
But tonight, she had her king all to herself. She flung herself into the water, transforming into her merform before Oberon’s toes hit the surf.
“Tempting me, my siren?” Oberon dove as well, transforming into his own glittering silver merform. He swam around her, ever closing spirals that brushed their fins around one another, twining them like seahorse tails. His arms wrapped around her as he stole a kiss, this one passionate and full of joy.
“Always, my king.” Cassie wrapped her hand in his and began to swim, the joy of being underwater with her bondmate trilling from her throat. She sang for him, lured him after her as she dove, her siren’s song leading their way. In the distance she could see others of her kind performing the same dance, singing their own songs of joy to welcome the king and queen, guarding them as they played among the fish like children.
When a tiny silver fish nibbled his belly Oberon laughed, a full
-throated sound filled with wonder and joy. Amazed and dazzled by this side of her bondmate, Cassie added a new harmony to their song, one not heard in centuries of grief and pain and tearing loss. Oberon, his expression both proud and approving, stole the harmony from her lips with a quick brush of his own, filling her with the same wonder and joy he’d felt but moments before. This wonderful, reserved man had opened himself completely to her, dazzling her with his beauty, blending his melody with hers in perfect accord.
If Cassie had her way, that wondrous joy would follow them all the rest of their days.
Epilogue
“I would like you to meet someone.”
Raven stared as his father tugged on the brilliant red smoking jacket over his black silk shirt. He’d come over for dinner after Michaela insisted, unable to deny her anything.
From the delight his father didn’t try to hide, he’d been happy to have Raven over. Raven would have to make sure he came by the Hob’s house more often. It seemed his father, despite his new truebond, wanted Raven around, even when Raven insisted on flirting with Michaela.
He’d enjoyed time with his father and Michaela, and now Robin wanted to take him somewhere. “Who?” His father had the most…unusual fashion sense out of anyone he’d ever met.
“Big Red.” Robin grinned. Raven was slightly less afraid when his father made that face.
But only slightly.
“Your famed pet gremlin?” Raven donned his own black jacket, ignoring his father’s disappointed sigh. Raven had not given up his habit of wearing all black, and it annoyed Robin no end. His father hadn’t respected his wishes at first, sneaking into Raven’s home and changing all of his black clothing to bright colors. So Raven had returned the favor. Michaela, who thought Robin looked delicious in all black, had been delighted.
Robin had not been amused, especially when Raven made sure none of the blacks quite matched up properly. It drove Robin crazy to have nothing he saw fit to wear. But the stunt proved Raven’s point in a way his father could not deny.
Siren's Song: The Gray Court, Book 5 Page 23
