He just laughed at her. “None would’ve permitted you to, and neither would I. I don’t intend to control you, but you have much to learn of the immortal realms and I won’t stand by and let you hurt yourself. Do you really think me such an unworthy male?”
He was joking, but the knife in her gut at his words were no less painful. “No, I don’t think that you’d let me get hurt if you could help it,” she replied, her toes nudging the grass with one foot at her confession.
Toressa came back down and landed gracefully in front of Isabel, just barely making a sound as she hit the ground. Her perfect landing cut right through the serious air that had formed around them. She head butted Isabel’s ribs lightly and lowered her frame in a bow, head and front legs down.
“I believe she would like you to climb on. It’s as much an honor to the larien to find their rider, as it is for the Sidhe that becomes it. You are bonded with this being—now, and forever.”
She looked at the Larien then back at Bodhe with a fluttering in her stomach. “Now? But, what if I fall?” she asked, though even as she said the words, she inched closer to the beautiful being.
“You will not, I give you my word.”
She grazed her hand over the soft feathers on her neck and Toressa nudged her softly again. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to get to ride her. Slowly she climbed on her back and Toressa rose up.
“Do you see the place on her back that is raised in front of you?”
“These here?” She touched the risen bones gently.
“Yes, those are for you to hold until you are comfortable holding on with your legs alone. When you are able to fly as we do, you won’t need those any longer.”
She smiled down to him, a tear threatening to fall from her eye. He bowed to them both and she felt Toressa stir beneath her.
She whispered soothing words to her larien and held to the slight raises on her back as she was instructed. Suddenly her magnificent wings were spread again and they were in the air circling around the canyon, Isabel laughing with glee.
The entire kingdom opened up as they flew from the enclosed rocks, and her breath caught in her throat. The sky was ten thousand shades of color as the sun set on the horizon, shimmering on an opalescent colored city and massive castle that had its own ten thousand colors. Golds, bronzes and silvers reflected the sunlight, nearly blinding her with the clean, uninterrupted lines of the archways and the strange white stone that everything was made of here. It was like a city of pavilions the way they dipped and flowed harmoniously with the landscape, one roof not more beautiful than the next, and somehow all of them were nestled amongst the rivers and mountains seamlessly, as if the homes were built into the very land around them.
The castle at the center of the city was a behemoth against the skyline, and had balconies stretching out off of it that were big enough to host the entire college for a dance. Cinderella had nothing on this. Nothing at all. She was absolutely in awe seeing the world from up here.
An ocean that shimmered the deepest blues and greens was in the faraway distance with another large castle that she was curious about, as well. It seemed so far from the city she was above…that it must be another city altogether. Did they even call them cities? She looked at the different, yet similar structure and lay her head on Toressa’s neck as she gazed, earning her a sweet sound that she felt was an approval. The faraway place had a different grouping of rooftops that was nestled near the castle there, but there was nothing between the two cities except pasture and woods that both held rainbows in their deepest shadows.
A tear did fall then, looking out across this world that she had no idea if she belonged to. How would she ever choose the right thing? Her larien began circling back down toward the canyon and Isabel wiped her eyes, running her hands along Toressa’s silver mane and sighing. There was plenty of time for self reflection later, aka self pity, but this wasn’t it.
When they landed after her far too short of a flight on her larien, she positively beamed at him. “This is the best present ever! She’s incredible.” She patted her softly and Toressa ran off to the edge of the canyon.
“Better than my earlier gift?” He laughed as she turned bright red.
“Well, maybe the second best,” she admitted shyly.
“Get used to it, Princess, you’ll be spoiled here in Loveryn on a daily basis with gifts from my hands…and my mouth. Though, Toressa I can’t take credit for. She was yours by birthright.”
Heat sparked in her flesh again as she stared at him. For the first time she noticed her own skin glowing too.
“What the...?”
“It’s common to glow with your partner, Isabel. Especially in the first few hundred years. We’ll be like a fireball when we’re together for a very long time.” He gave her a beaming grin, complete with dimple on his left cheek. Soft Bodhe was before her, and she had to stop herself from reaching up and playing with the curls that sat just above his collarbone.
She looked at him sideways, still registering his words. “Wait, that’s the third time you’ve said that word, ‘partner’. Is that like a mate?”
Darkness visibly shadowed his face, his eyes glowing heatedly. “So, Morkain has spoken to you about mates, has he?” he scoffed, clearly struggling to keep his anger subdued. “Partners for Sidhe royalty are different from any other species—we’re different even within our own race. We only have one that we are to spend the end of days with, and we actually wait for them.”
She looked at him strangely. “But that’s exactly what he said about the Elves and their mates. God, how confusing this all is! So royalty never has another partner?” Please don’t lie to me. Please. She begged in her mind as she looked at his emerald eyes.
“Isabel, there are exceptions to every rule, of course, but no, most of the Sidhe royalty does not lay with another until their partner is found. Most don’t find meaningless sexual relations…entertaining.”
He didn’t answer it…he avoided it. He didn’t say one way or another. Bodhe drew nearer to her and held her face in his hands softly, yet the look in his eyes was anything but. He looked like he was a hair-trigger away from losing his shit.
“You can tell your true partner in the Sidhe realm by the way that they glow with you. Watch, I’ll demonstrate.” The smile he crafted then chilled the ice in the air of his anger. When his lips came down on hers and he began a long, slow, lingering kiss she began to tremble, subtle lightning bolts everywhere that he touched. She moaned softly and began the heated exploration of his body. Chiseled muscles were tensing beneath her languid touch, and she felt his hand gliding down her back. She shivered and arched into the embrace, her entire being aching for him. He stopped his kiss abruptly, even though she whimpered in protest.
“Open your eyes, Isabel.” He stepped back from her and let her examine herself.
“Holy shit!” she screamed, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth at her outburst. She was really going to have to work on that, but not this moment. Wow. Her skin was golden, and light was filtering from her very pores. Still trembling with the heat of his touch and wanting him closer, she stepped forward, but he just shook his head as he grinned at her.
“I want you to see for yourself. It’s the only way to prove this to you.”
“But how do I know this doesn’t happen to all Sidhe when they get…worked up,” she asked, eyes flashing between his glowing skin and hers.
“Worked up?” He chuckled. “For me to get you worked up, I need a whole lot more time exploring all the ways to make you turn those beautiful shades of rose.”
Heat blazed in his eyes even though he’d been joking with her. Nice, playful Bodhe was gone in that stare, and a predator was in his place. One that made her want to bite and consume and scream his name. She shook her head and tried to get herself together and stop thinking about how much she liked him looking at her like that.
“You still didn’t answer my question. How do I know this doesn’t a
lways happen between the Sidhe?”
He thought about this for a moment before he grinned. “Ask Amele. She hasn’t found her partner yet, but I’m certain that one has had some fun with a few immortals…and likely some mortals too, at that. Ask her what it’s like when partners meet. That wouldn’t be breaking any rules that I can think of.”
“I’ll do that.” She weighed her next question carefully before asking it. “So, have you been with…many women?”
He looked out to the valley before returning his green gaze to her. “Do you really wish for me to narrate what I’ve done in the last five thousand years to you? I don’t think you’ll find it as appealing as you think it will be.”
She looked at him for a moment and then decided better of it. No, she didn’t want to think of him with another woman. Ever. “Exception then, is you. Okay.” It made her a little sick to think of, but before he could say anything else, she shook her head at him. “No, I don’t want to know about your sexcapades any more than I did my best friend’s, and I really need to let everything marinate.”
He looked at her curiously, then the predatory look came back…or maybe it was anger? Insult? Right now, she was the only one insulted. When he began to speak she placed a finger over his mouth and shook her head, and a small jolt of lightning in her fingertip where they touched shocked her.
“You’re right. I don’t want to know. I just don’t know why you would tell me one thing about the lights, and that most Sidhe royalty wait, but that you’ve got five-freaking-thousand years of women in your bed. I just can’t process that right now. I can’t.” She grazed her fingers down the flesh of his face, watching as his eyes closed when she did so. A war raged on the face of the Sidhe prince, even as it calmed with her touch. So damn confusing! The sun was setting in the sky, turning the world into a beautiful gold and pink paradise and she sighed, knowing that she had to leave. She was putting all this info into the box inside that she didn’t know what to do with. Nothing made sense still.
“Wait, Isabel…” he said, clarity once more in his gaze as his eyes snapped open. “It’s not...”
“I have to go,” she said, cutting him off as she kissed him gently and spoke the words that would send her home. She barely heard the ones he said in his language as the darkness came and swallowed her up. No way, she couldn’t have heard that, right?
CHAPTER NINE
Beasts in the House
“GOOD GODS, GIRL, I thought you were going to rattle the windows from the panes last night! Prince Bodhe made up for his first failed attempt to please you, I take it?” She laughed, handing her coffee. “Dish it. Now,” she insisted. Rubbing her eyes awake, she didn’t even know where to begin. “Well, I know you didn’t do the deed or you wouldn’t have come back here, and I could go home, so c’mon, tell me what was making the windows rattle last night?”
She sipped the coffee slowly, certain that there was a ridiculous grin on her face. How could there not be after last night?
“Oh yeah, it’s bad, I can see it all over your face. So is the competition over then? Eeek! Isabel! Look!” She threw the coffee mugs onto the table, the brown liquid splashing everywhere, and practically flew her into the bathroom.
“Amele! What are you…oh my God!” She looked into the mirror and stared. Well, if there was any doubt before, there was certainly none now. Running her fingers over the small pointed tips of her ears, she sucked in a breath. They were nothing like Amele’s yet, more like she imagined a baby Sidhe looked. Small and delicate points, but they were definitely there.
Amele looked at her wide eyed. “The turning is happening much faster than it’s supposed to. You should have days yet before the ears came. Just how heavy did it get with the Prince and how long did you feel like you were there?”
“I don’t know Amele, I spent the whole day there. And heavy isn’t even close to what he did to me. Try explosions of a magnitude that would tear a hole in the ozone layer. Oh, I also met my larien Toressa, and she’s absolutely stunning! Now, can I please finish my coffee and maybe put a robe on?” She looked down and the only thing she was wearing was her raka—her dagger—that was still strapped on. Why couldn’t that go with her in her dreams, she wondered.
Amele laughed at her and ushered her back to the bedroom, slapping on her very naked behind and making her squeal. After Isabel had told her the tale and wrote it down in Keiren’s journal, a practice she was going to continue, she remembered the things she wanted to ask her.
“Amele, have you ever slept with any other Sidhe?”
Amele looked confused. “Isabel, um, remember the conversation we had with the whole age thing? Thousands of years old, remember?” She laughed, “Yes, I have slept with a few Sidhe. I’ve also bedded a few Dragons, quite a few actually, in their male lessor forms of course. A few Demons…the right kind are an absolute blast. Definitely a few scrumptious mortals back in the day…and let me see, yes, even an incredibly endowed Elf. Come to think of it, there’s a very short list of beings that I haven’t had sex with. The Mers don’t do much for me but I only know that because I tried…and, let’s see….Oh! The God of the Water Elementals has been my fantasy ever since I was a little girl. I’ve only seen him in form once a very long time ago, but you can’t even imagine the appeal! Though, could it ever happen?” She sighed, “Probably not. Since he would likely crush me for summoning him. Although, I do think the sex would be well worth the crushing of my life afterwards. Just saying.” She sighed dreamily, then continued while Isabel just looked on with fascination and a little horror, “Blue God that wears nothing but a few…”
“Amele! The Elf? you said you slept with one? And you weren’t his mate?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Well of course not! He was really good in bed, and on the ground, and a few other choice places...but his mate? Not hardly. Why do you ask?”
“Because Morkain lied to me. He said that Elves have only one being that they can ever be with.” She huffed and began to pace. “Okay, I’ll deal with him later, tell me about the Sidhe lovers. Did you glow with them?” She eyed her carefully.
“Bel, are you for real? We all radiate light of course, as you’ve seen, but the only ones that glow bright together are partners! Were you and the prince making your own little shooting star?” Amele looked at what had to be a lost expression on her face and her tone softened. “Well, honey, that’s great news! Doesn’t it make things much easier for you?”
She turned and faced the window to think about this. No, it didn’t make it easier. Bodhe and Morkain both made her crazy. How could she trust anything at this point as confusing as it all was? She didn’t believe that Amele would lie to her, but she didn’t know what powers Bodhe had. Maybe he made them glow? That thought sat down in a deep pit of despairing bullshit in her stomach though. Nothing was so black and white in this grey world she was walking in.
“And Sidhe royalty? What’s their take on waiting for their partners?”
Amele choked for a minute on her coffee. “The Prince told you that, too? That all royalty wait?”
“Yes, he did.” She told the small white lie, trying to fish for the truth. Surely Amele would tell it to her.
Amber eyes looked pleadingly at her a moment, and then her dark locks shook with her head. “Bel, historically speaking, the Sidhe royal,” she paused a moment, making a show of gulping coffee that had to be burning her tongue, “where was I again? Oh yes, as I was saying, the royal house of Loveryn waits…usually…but it’s because of tradition. It’s a sacrifice they willingly make to show their strength of conviction and love for the people. It’s a sign of their total devotion to the realm first, before their devotion is divided with their partner. A partner will always come before everything else once they’re found. There’s only one for every Sidhe, and trust me when I say that some wait a very freaking long time to arrive. Some, don’t ever meet theirs. Which is why it’s a tradition that’s not entirely adhered to. You know how out of whack you are right
now after twenty-two years? Imagine holding onto that for a few hundred, or a few thousand years? No, not all royalty waits. The most devout rulers only.
“The King, Bodhe’s father, waited almost fifteen thousand years for his partner. Forget that! Who wants to be a freaking nun when there are so many options in the sea and on land? Not this Sidhe, that’s for damn certain.”
Isabel let all that marinate for a minute. So, just because Bodhe had thousands of years sleeping with other females, that didn’t make him bad, right? At least he hadn’t straight up lied to her. Or maybe he had. God, her head hurt. Her heart hurt too, thinking of Bodhe leaving her and going to hang out with his Sidhe fan club of women, and there had to be a ton. Morkain, too. He probably had all his shacked up with him in the Albequen countryside, and Bodhe, she could totally see him demanding quarters for them right in the castle so he could take care of business whenever he needed to. Jealousy reared its ugly head, and she had nowhere to push it away to. She’d dealt with so little relationship stuff, that all of this wasn’t fair.
Maybe this was some joke, and she didn’t have to choose anyone except herself, and she should follow Amele’s lead and go grab a few of the Sidhe guard to initiate her. The men were, why shouldn’t she? Sickness rolled in her stomach at the thought, and her body began to burn in all the places Bodhe had touched. No, she couldn’t do that….because she wasn’t them, and she definitely wasn’t Amele. She put her head in her hands and squeezed her hair at the roots to relieve some of the pressure building.
“Gods, Bel, there’s so much more I wish I could say but the magic isn’t letting me. Damn these magical binds of Keiren and whoever else, to the hells and back! Remember what I said, okay? Listen to your heart. Your head is a hot mess of hormones and your body is a traitorous bitch when it comes to the attention to these males. But your heart speaks the right language, and isn’t fooled by words. There’s time, yet. Let’s take it day by day, okay?”
Immortal Dreams (Immortal Realms Book 1) Page 12
