The Castle of Wind and Whispers (Briarwood Reverse Harem Book 4)

by Steffanie Holmes

  “I’m not afraid of a dream.”

  “I am. I’m afraid it’s really some kind of premonition, even though I don’t believe in premonitions. I’m afraid that I’m looking at the deaths of five people I love most in the world, and I can’t do anything to stop them. I’m afraid that I can’t see the sixth body on the stakes. Have you seen it?” Her eyes narrowed. “Can you tell me who it is?”

  The five people I love most in the world. My heart pounded. Did she… include me in that list?

  Should I tell her? Maeve had made it clear she didn’t want any secrets. I was pretty sure this counted as a secret. By keeping it I was disobeying her direct orders.

  The sixth stake flashed in front of my eyes, and I set my resolve. She’s strong, but she’s not strong enough for this. It will break her. Arthur and Corbin will protect her body. I have to protect her mind.

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. Either you’re right and it’s not a premonition, or it is a premonition, in which case there’s no way we can change it.”

  She stroked my cheek. “Do you think it’s some kind of fae magic planted by Daigh?”

  “No. Dream magic is human magic. Faeries don’t dream. Daigh used to ask me about my dreams. Sometimes he would paint what I described – vicious landscapes, tortured souls, weird creatures that didn’t exist in the fae realm. He took great interest in this dream when I first had it. He painted the stakes, and the briar, and the castle in the background, exactly as I described.”

  “When did you first have it?”

  “It was recent, maybe ninety days ago—”

  “But those are fae days. How long was your solar day?”

  “Huh?”

  “The time it takes the planet the fae realm exists on to make one full rotation so the sun appears in the same position in the sky. Or the sidereal day, that’s how long it takes for—” Maeve shook her head. “No, ignore that. It’s too complicated. Here on Earth, our solar day is twenty-four hours, as you might have noticed. But since the fae realm is in another entire part of the multiverse, your day could be longer or shorter.”

  “It was longer, I think. We didn’t measure it in hours and seconds, so I don’t really know.”

  “Could you draw some of the constellations you saw at night? Maybe we could figure out where it’s located, if it’s even in this galaxy or—” Maeve smiled. “Sorry, I got distracted. What happened when you told Daigh about the dream?”

  “Daigh was super interested in it, as I knew he would be. It was what made him start all the preparations to come to earth. It was why he sent Kalen to spy on the coven and follow Corbin to America, where he found out you were still alive.”

  Maeve paled. “Have the others been dreaming it, too?”

  “I doubt it, otherwise they’d have mentioned it. Unlike your sexy dreams, I think this one is just for you and me.”

  “And Daigh.”

  “Hey, don’t hate me – it was all in aid of getting to you,” I stroked her cheek. “I had a cunning plan – I give the dream to Daigh, he decides now’s the perfect time to launch an attack on the human realm. He starts testing the limits of the gateway so he can get his hands on the sacrifice. I prove myself in battle and seize my chance to escape.”

  “Great plan,” Maeve said sarcastically. “Considering you’d basically be escaping into a land about to be overtaken by the Slaugh.”

  “I figured if the Briarwood coven had defeated him once, they’d be able to do is again,” I shrugged. “I didn’t count on the remarkable incompetence of its current ranks, present company excepted.”

  She punched me in the arm. “What about Daigh’s plans for us?”

  I watched as Maeve bit her lip. She was referring to Daigh’s belief that I would wed her and we’d produce strong spirit children he could mould to his will. “I wasn’t keen on it, but that was before I saw you in person. When you leapt over that wall to protect Flynn, I knew I dealing with a truly exceptional witch.”

  Maeve wrapped her arms around me. “Tell me a story.”

  “A story?”

  “About the fae realm. I want to know what it’s like.”

  “You saw it.”

  “No, I mean, to live there.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Tell me about Daigh. Tell me something that might make me not hate him.”

  I cast my mind back, searching for a memory that fit her criteria. It was hard, not least because Daigh could be easy to hate. Fae have different ethics to humans, and I knew many of the stories I found hilarious would disturb her.

  Finally, something came back to me. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten it. “Daigh had a celebration every year, on the day he took me from my parents. He called it my ‘fae-day’, because it was the day I became a fae in his eyes. As soon as the sun rose he placed a crown of rowan on my head, and I didn’t have to remove it until sunrise the following day. It meant—”

  “How long was your sunrise?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Is this your way of dragging me into a conversation about time in the fae realm? Because I can see through such an easy trick.”

  She laughed and threw up her arms. The blanket tugged down, revealing the swell of her naked breasts, and it was everything I could do not to grab her and devour her. “You got me.”

  I fluffed her hair instead. “You’re ridiculous.”

  “And you’re amazing.” Maeve wrapped her arm around my neck and pressed her lips to mine.

  Amazing. I drew back from her kiss, breathing hard. “So when I wore this crown, the princes had to do what I said, no questions, no exceptions. By Oberon, it was fun. I was drunk on my power.”

  “What did you do?”

  “For the first ten years of my life, I did the revenge thing. I got the wankers back for all the things they’d done to me throughout the year. I made Airell burn his twin brother’s face. I forced Pwyll to eat processed human food and he threw up for six days.” I grinned at the memory. “It was fun.”

  “The Unseelie have a weird idea of fun.”

  I grinned. “I didn’t have a Flynn for entertainment.”

  “Is there more to this story,” Maeve stroked my cheek. “Because so far I’m not really seeing this good side of Daigh.”

  “There’s more. After a few years, the revenge thing got boring. So I decided I’d have an actual party instead – a party that included everything I liked about the fae realm. Daigh sent fae to the human realm specifically to bring me back some cake, and had his chefs prepare a fae version that they could stomach. I invited the Seelie fairies to our revel, and for hours we drank and danced and Liah and I laughed and talked and there was no violence or ill will. I declared that all grudges must be healed and all debts were wiped. Daigh thought it was such a great idea, he made the party an annual tradition – once a year all fae had to clean their slates. I always admired that decision.”

  Maeve nodded. “Okay, yeah. That’s nice. It doesn’t make up for kidnapping you and torturing you and forcing you to live in the fae realm without human contact and killing my parents and conniving to annihilate the entire human race, but it’s nice.”

  I snorted. “You have very high expectations, Princess. Expecting your leaders to be kind and non-genocidal.”

  She laughed, her breasts bouncing against my chest. “In a weird way, we’re almost like siblings, you know? In another life, in another multiverse, we might’ve grown up together, like Kelly and I. I might’ve called you my brother, instead of my boyfriend.”

  My heart leapt into my throat. “I’m your boyfriend?”

  “Sure. That’s what you call a boy who you’re committed to. What do you call them in the fae realm?”

  I grinned. “Lunch.”

  She punched my arm again. “Flynn has been a bad influence on you.”

  “Our father would be so proud.”

  She laughed bitterly. “Now that I know about the binding, I’m even sure about that anymore.”

&nbs
p; My heart hammered against my chest. “Not sure you love me?”

  Maeve kissed me again. Spirit magic sparked from her lips, dancing over my tongue. “I’m more sure of that than anything. What I mean is, I don’t see how I can possibly be Daigh’s daughter. Not scientifically. Aline slept with Robert while Daigh was inhabiting his mind. So to her, Daigh’s my dad. But that’s not how genetics works.” She broke off into a long explanation of chromosomes and DNA sequencing, which I didn’t pay much attention to because I was distracted by her taste and her breasts swelling against me.

  “You keep talking, Princess.” I nibbled along her neck. “Don’t mind me.”

  “Blake, this is serious. Do you have any idea if compelling someone would mean they retain some of your chromosomes…”

  Maeve’s words trailed away as I kissed a line across her collarbone. She leaned back against the sheets, pulling me on top of her. My lips crushed hers, my whole body lighting up as our spirit magic clashed against each other, rolling together inside us and becoming one.

  “I thought we were going to sleep,” Maeve whispered, her mouth curling up into an enchanting smile.

  “When beautiful women rub their naked breasts against me, sleep is the last thing on my mind.”

  More sparkling kisses landed on my lips. The room, the castle, the world faded away, unimportant against Maeve’s lips.

  She slid back, tucking a curl of black hair behind my ear. “Did you know the last time we were alone together was in the bathroom at Jane’s cottage?”

  “I had so many evil plans for you in that bathroom.”

  “Oh yeah, like what?”

  I grinned, cupping her breast in my hand and pinching the nipple lightly. Maeve sucked a breath in through her teeth. “Let’s just say those candles along Jane’s windowsill would’ve looked great dribbled down your tits.”

  “You’ll have to show me some time,” she grinned, pinning my lips with hers.

  “I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” I moaned, my hands roaming over her body.

  “Me too.” She wrapped her legs around my torso, pulling me closer as she arched up to kiss me.

  Maeve’s skin sizzled and melted under my touch. I swirled one finger around her nipple, extracting a deep rumble of pleasure from her. With the other hand, I pulled her against me, mashing our bodies together as if I might be able to crawl inside her. We went to that clinic in London a few days ago, and I didn’t quite understand why but Flynn told me it meant we didn’t have to use condoms anymore. My cock twitched with anticipation as Maeve moaned against my lips.

  As we kissed, the spirit magic fluttered inside me, flaring through my whole body and breaking out of my palms. Maeve and I swapped magic as our bodies writhed against each other. Her tongue wound around mine and I nearly fucking lost control of my magic completely.

  I drew away, kissing a trail down her body while I tried to wrestle back control. I didn’t want to accidentally fall into her head, not without her permission. Maeve moaned as my tongue circled around her nipple. I licked and sucked as she arched beneath me.

  My hands drew down… down… between her legs, cupping her mound. My desire flared as Maeve’s wetness touched my fingers. I slid a finger between her folds and drew it up, swirling it around her clit, pressing it against her until she came undone beneath me.

  “Blake,” Maeve moaned as her body shuddered with the remnants of her orgasm. I teased her entrance with the head of my cock. She tried to push her hips up to force me inside her, but I pulled back. She groaned in protest.

  “If I really am part-fae, you must show me how the fae make love,” Maeve whispered.

  “As you wish, Princess.” She yelped as I flipped her over. I grabbed her hips, yanking her on to her knees. “Brace yourself against the headboard.”

  Maeve wrapped her fingers over the top of the heavy wooden frame, bending her torso up toward me. She watched over her shoulder as I slid the tip of my cock down her back, resting it between her ass cheeks, admiring the shimmering quality of her pale skin. My cock twitched with irritation. It wanted to be inside her.

  “Don’t tease me, fairy,” Maeve cooed, rocking herself back and tightening her cheeks around my cock. “I won’t… oooooh.”

  I entered her with one stiff thrust. Nothing had ever felt as warm or sweet. Maeve Moore – skin on skin. Her scent swirled around me, pushing me closer to the edge.

  Maeve’s back curled as her hips shoved back against mine, driving me deeper still. The bed frame slammed against the wall as I pounded her body, joining myself to her with every shuddering thrust.

  I reached around between her legs and touched the tip of my finger to her clit, so that every thrust would drive that sensitive bud into it. Maeve moaned her approval as she slammed her her hips back against me.

  A wicked idea occurred to me and I withdrew my finger. Maeve groaned in protest, but her groan turned to yelps of pleasure as I opened the palm of my hand and sent a wave of spirit magic straight into her clit, exactly the way Flynn had taught me with the statue. I fed her all the shimmering heat she’d called up from inside me, until she slithered and slid down the bed.

  “Blake… I… I can’t…” Maeve gasped.

  Her orgasm tore through her, and she thrashed wildly. I grabbed her waist and held her tight, bracing myself against the headboard so she didn’t throw us both off the bed. Her walls closed around my cock, squeezing me until stars appeared in front of my eyes.

  I lost control and slipped through my magic, falling into Maeve’s head. Her thoughts slammed into me – a wave of sensation and emotion rolling over me, plunging me deeper into her mind. With every fiber of her being, she reached out to me, her spirit humming as her synapses converged on a single thought.

  Love.

  Waves of the stuff rolled off her and flowed into me, a whirlwind of warmth and comfort and devotion and passion and affection swirled through me, touching every part of me, inside and out. No one had ever expressed feelings like that about me, about me. I didn’t even know it was possible to feel that deep about another person. But Maeve did. She loved with her whole heart and head and everything in between. She loved so hard her spirit magic loved, too.

  She loves me. She loves me.

  My whole body exploded. My own orgasm dragged me out of Maeve’s mind and back into my own, which had turned to a mushy ball of primordial ooze. My limbs slackened and I collapsed against Maeve’s body, sweat rolling down my back the last waves of warm pleasure coursed through my veins.

  I was so spent, I couldn’t even feel my cock anymore. It was probably just as well, because my head was a complete mess of feelings.

  Maeve rolled over, holding my head against her shoulder, her fingers rubbing lazy circles on my shoulder. “I’m yours.” She whispered, as her eyes fluttered closed.

  She was mine. I’d never had anything I could call my own before, especially not a person as incredible as Maeve.

  Mine.

  And I was totally and utterly hers.

  14

  ROWAN

  Aline’s eyes burned into my back as I moved around the kitchen, filling the kettle and setting it on the burner to boil. Every inch of my skin crawled with the sensation something terrible would happen if I didn’t make the tea perfectly and count the Great Hall windows. Aline was watching me and I needed to do this on my own and why was she watching me?

  My hand trembled as I reached for the cups. I dropped one on the flagstones. Ceramic shards skidded in all directions.

  “Oh, dear. Let me help.” Aline hurried to my side.

  “No, I’ve got it.” I tried to grab the broom, but it fell through my fingers and clattered on the floor. Aline grabbed it up and swept the broken cup into a pile beside the counter.

  “Do I make you uncomfortable, Rowan?”

  “Yes.” I stared at the mess on the ground. “Don’t take it personally. Everything makes me uncomfortable.”

  “Did you want to ask me something?”
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br />   I nodded.

  “About your parents?”

  I nodded again.

  “They died in the ritual.” Aline closed her eyes. “I didn’t know that before. So many died that night. So many children grew up without their parents. I’m sorry if I upset you earlier.”

  “Please… I really want to know.”

  “It’s funny.” Aline picked up two blueberries from the container on the counter and popped them in her mouth. “All those years I was trapped, I thought so much about Maeve but I never once considered what had happened to everyone else and what a mess we might’ve left behind for all of you. They were witches, of course. Dana was a water user, and Charles was earth. I’m not surprised you inherited his power and his good looks.”

  “I don’t even know what they looked like. There aren’t any pictures.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Dana was always snapping away with a camera. She had hundreds of photographs of the coven in an album – our rituals, our parties, everything.”

  “Corbin’s parents threw out a lot of stuff, after—” I caught myself. It wasn’t right to tell Aline about Keegan. That wasn’t my story.

  Aline frowned. ‘That’s not cool! They shouldn’t be erasing our history like that! I can’t believe Andrew would do that – he was always going on about how we’d know so much more about the mistakes of the past if we didn’t burn so many books.”

  “He changed his mind.”

  “I don’t believe it!” Aline glanced out the window into the garden. “Where does he live now? I’ll ask him.”

  “No!” After Corbin’s dad made such an effort to reach out to his son through Maeve, I didn’t want Aline showing up at their house and scaring them away again. “I mean, he’s not involved in Briarwood anymore.”

  “Now I really don’t believe you. Andrew promised me he’d watch over Maeve. He’d never back down from a promise like that.”

  “He has his reasons. That’s why we’re all here. We watch over Maeve now.” The blueberries dripped juice trails down her fingers. I counted the trails as they twisted around her arm. “Can you please just tell me about my parents?”