Six Times a Charm

by Deanna Chase

  “I’ll drink to that!” Devin declared, raising her glass. We all clinked glasses and took a drink.

  “Are you guys ready for me, or should I take up a post at the bar?” Cheney asked in my ear.

  “That’s up to you. I’m fine if you don’t want to stay, but if you do I’m sure the girls have plenty of horrifying questions they’d like to ask you.”

  He squeezed my shoulder. “Do you care?”

  I smiled, daring him to join us. “Not at all.”

  “Your friends don’t scare me,” he said, setting the next round on the table and taking a seat.

  Devin grinned. “So I hear you’re married,” she said brightly. “You failed to mention that at the ceremony.”

  “I apologize. It was my intention to allow Selene to remember on her own. I only told her out of absolute necessity.”

  “What are your intentions with Selene?” Jessica asked him.

  “You don’t have to answer that—he doesn’t have to answer that,” I said.

  Cheney laughed. “My intentions are the same as they’ve always been. I want to spend the rest of our lives together—if Selene decides she’ll keep me around, that is.”

  “Why can’t we talk to Selene on a regular basis?” Leslie asked.

  “If you don’t know where she is, you can’t be used to find her. It’s best to keep you in the dark so everyone is safe.”

  “Why do the two of you fight?” Katrina asked, and I wanted to hide underneath the table.

  Cheney’s eyes flickered toward me, then he raised his eyebrows. “Well, I’m sure Selene will disagree, but I say we fight because she’s impossible to get along with pain in the ass.”

  “She’d disagree, but it’s true,” Devin said, then glanced at me. “You are a pain in the ass.”

  “I am not!” I protested. Devin and Cheney exchanged knowing looks and shrugged. “Assholes,” I muttered, making everyone laugh.

  “The only important questions left are,” Katrina leaned in seriously toward Cheney, “do you have brothers and when can we meet them?” Her distinctive cackle made me snicker.

  “I do not have brothers. I had a sister, but she passed away.”

  “I think we need shots. You want shots, don’t you, Selene? Selene wants shots!” Jessica declared, pulling me with her to the bar.

  “How did Michael take the break up?” Jessica asked, once we cleared them.

  “As well as can be expected.” Jessica shook her head at me. “I hope he hasn’t tried to call me.”

  Jessica and I ordered a round of lemon drops and carried them back to the table. Everyone took a shot, even Cheney.

  “What should we toast to?” Kat asked.

  “To finding happiness in unexpected places,” Devin offered. We all agreed and clinked glasses.

  The night went by too fast. I didn’t want to leave when the bar was closing.

  “We’ll see each other again soon,” Katrina said with certainty.

  I nodded, wanting to believe it more than I actually did, and gave them each a big hug. Cheney and I walked toward the bike in silence. He handed me the helmet, and I climbed on behind him. This time as we flew through the streets, I didn’t hide myself against him. I leaned back, letting the wind whip around me. We stopped far too soon for my liking and transported back to the house where everything was essentially the same. All of our problems were still unresolved. Cheney was back on the couch, another drink in hand, looking like he wanted to say something, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear whatever it was yet.

  “Is the pool heated?” I asked.

  His forehead wrinkled. “I think so.”

  “I think a swim would be…nice.”

  Cheney looked at me as if he didn’t quite know what to make of me. “You want to swim? Now?”

  “You don’t have to come with me.”

  He stood up, pulling me to him in a liquid motion, and a moment later we were poolside. I tugged off my dress and eased into the pool. Once I was comfortably floating, I stared up at the moon. “I’m not mad, you know? About the whole marriage thing.”

  “Yet you call it the ‘marriage thing.’”

  “Regardless, I don’t mind being married to you.”

  Cheney was silent for a long while. “You’re honestly not angry? Hurt? Disappointed? Mortified? Even though you don’t know me?”

  “Nope. I was upset when I first heard, and I’m in no way ready to be yours or anyone’s wife, but I’m not really bothered by the fact that I am.”

  “How is it that after this long you still manage to surprise me?” Cheney’s voice was much closer than it had been. He stood next to where I was floating, looking down on me with unmistakable emotion in his eyes.

  I stood up and moved towards him. “I like you a lot, but—”

  “You’re scared.”

  “Terrified,” I agreed.

  “You have nothing to be frightened of,” he whispered and pulled me into a tight hug.

  I rested my head against his bare, firm chest, choosing to believe him and allowing myself a few moments to feel what it would be like to be his.

  “I know tonight didn’t actually change anything for you. You’re still upset about whatever set you off on our first date, but I swear to you, I am trying.”

  “I know you are. And you’re right that I can’t keep lying about how I feel.” Cheney’s breath pulled in. “Not that anything’s going to happen tonight,” I added quickly.

  “You think I’m trying to sleep with you?”

  “We’re both half naked in a pool. The thought had to be there.”

  He pressed his lips against my head. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, do you?”

  No, I didn’t have any idea because he didn’t miss me. He missed her. The other me. That strange creature who made my mind reel whenever I thought about her existence, who made my stomach knot when I thought about her with Cheney, and the girl I would always be compared against. I hated her. “Probably not,” I said softly.

  “Promise me, you’ll never run away from me again. Promise me you’ll stay, no matter what happens.”

  “‘No matter what’ is a difficult promise to make.”

  Flames kissed the edges of his golden eyes. “No matter what,” he insisted.

  I couldn’t have refused anything he asked me like this. “No matter what,” I whispered, nodding. The flames died down and the corners of his mouth curled. “But I expect the same promise from you, Cheney. No matter what happens, you stay with me.”

  “I’ve never left you, Selene. I’ve always been here waiting.”

  That didn’t mean he wouldn’t leave me once he realized the other me was never coming back. He would move heaven and earth for her, so I wanted the promise. “No matter what?”

  “I will never leave you. Nothing in this world can tear me away. No matter what.” Cheney lifted me against him and kissed me. “You should be in bed. Your body needs to rest before training tomorrow or you’ll be sluggish.”

  “Okay.”

  Standing, sopping wet, in the middle of my bedroom, Cheney produced a towel from nowhere and began to dry me off. “I’m not exactly impaired. I can do this myself.”

  His hands reached around my back to where my bra clasped. “Let me,” he requested with bated breath.

  The desire in his eyes was palpable. I lifted my chin in consent, and the garment fell unceremoniously to the floor. His hands ran over my breasts, squeezing them softly before smoothly moving down my sides. His fingers slowly trailed down my back. He settled on my hips, fingertips pressed into my flesh. My body responded to every nuanced movement he made. I took a step toward him, but he stepped back.

  “Patience, princess.”

  We stood in front of each other with bare chests, water pooling at our feet. He sank down onto his knees, lightly feathering kisses over my stomach. He hooked my panties with his thumbs and slid them down my legs, inch by inch until they, too, were discarded on the floor.

&nbs
p; He picked up the towel and started at my feet, drying and massaging his way up my legs at an excruciating pace. He softly kissed behind each knee and the top of each thigh. He looked up at me, quirking an eyebrow.

  “Cheney,” I breathed, which appeared to be answer enough for him. He nudged my legs further apart, his tongue running the length of me in one deep stroke. Fire shot through my body, and I buried my fingers in his hair. Flicking his tongue back and forth, he wrenched cries from me as I struggled to remain upright. When I was at the point of exploding, he pulled away. “Please, Cheney.” I wanted more, needed more, but he only smiled.

  His mouth left a hot trail to the point of each hip as he toweled off my backside with extreme focus. My fingers dug into his shoulders, wanting him inside of me, but he continued his exploration. His tongue dipped into my belly button as he rubbed the dip in my back with his towel.

  He stood, sliding his own wet body up against me in one long, sensual caress. He turned me away from him and planted kisses over my shoulders and down my spine.

  Squeezing and tugging my nipples through the rough texture of the towel elicited deeper moans. Wrapping the towel around my hair, he squeezed the water from it, making individual strands tug at my scalp and sending chills down my back. The towel dropped to the floor. His hands ran across my shoulders. He collected my hair, pushing it over one shoulder while his mouth worked up the side of my neck—and then my earlobe was pulled into his mouth and nibbled on.

  My eyes closed as the sensations washed over me. The tip of his tongue ran up the edge of my ear until it came to the new elven point. Pleasure exploded throughout my body as he softly caressed the point with his mouth, pushing me past any edge I’d ever known to a place within myself that existed solely of passion and lust. My hands found his hips and yanked them against me. I needed him. Now.

  He continued to tease the tip of my ear with his tongue until my eyes fluttered and I rhythmically moved against him. His hands clenched around my midsection as he finally pulled the tip of my ear into his mouth, sucking hard against it. A cry tore from my throat that barely sounded human as my body convulsed with the most incredible orgasm. My legs lost the ability to support any weight and I sagged against Cheney, utterly spent.

  He scooped me into his arms and laid me underneath the covers. I watched as he stripped off his boxer briefs and climbed in beside me. I curled against him, twining my leg with his, rubbing against him. A low groan left his lips. “I’m not sure I can sleep in the same bed and not have you.”

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t have me tonight. I just wasn’t making any promises one way or another.”

  Cheney smiled but refused to open his eyes. “You need to rest or you won’t be ready for training.”

  “Sebastian will wait,” I quoted him from the first day when he was chasing me around the kitchen.

  Chapter 23

  Cheney laughed. “Yes, he would—but the longer we wait the more dangerous it will be for you. My primary goal is keeping you safe.”

  I removed my leg from atop his and scooted my way up until our heads were even, then propped my head on my hand, facing Cheney. He traced his fingertips across my cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”

  His glamour had completely vanished. I ran my hand along the edge of his ear. His nostrils flared. His hand caught mine and he kissed each fingertip before gracefully flipping me over so I was facing away from him again. His body formed against mine as he held me to him. “Not tonight, princess. Another night, when we have more time. You need sleep.”

  “But I’m not at all sleepy.”

  He chuckled. “I can tell.”

  “Cheney?”

  “Mmmhmm.”

  “Why did I leave you?”

  “I’d rather not talk about it now,” he said, his arms tightening as he nuzzled the side of my neck.

  “Look at it this way. I’ll probably remember at some point. Obviously whatever made me leave you is going to pack an emotional wallop when it hits me again. I think you should tell me first so I can be prepared for the memory and not overreact.”

  “Is there anything you can’t talk me into?” He sighed. “The issue was twofold. The first problem was my father. It’s not that he has anything against half-elves per se…” He kissed my shoulder.

  “He just didn’t approve of his son being with one. In all likelihood, I’ll someday be Erlking, and no one in that position has ever been married to anyone of mixed heritage. We have one of the few completely undiluted blood lines left, which is a great source of pride for my father.”

  I felt him smile against me and snuggled closer.

  “My sister and I both gave him a fair share of sleepless nights over the choices we made when it came to love. Once he realized how serious my attachment to you was, he did little to hide his feelings about it. I tried my best to keep the two of you apart, but there were occasions when it was unavoidable. Father was less than gracious toward you, and well, you have a tendency to bristle and say whatever you like. Basically, whenever the two of you were around each other, it was one verbal jab after another.”

  “And you still married me? I bet it was a fun wedding.”

  “You’re jumping ahead. At this point we weren’t married. We lived together and loved each other, but that brings me to the second issue. I couldn’t completely disregard the wishes of my father. He told me in no uncertain terms that if I married you, I would no longer be his son. I tried everything to make him see what he was doing, but he wouldn’t listen. I didn’t want to choose between the two of you, so I didn’t. I tried to keep both of you happy.” His hand rubbed back and forth over my arm as he thought.

  “That wasn’t enough, though. I failed to understand what that would feel like for you. You’re sensitive about being a half-elf. You said if we stayed as we were, the other elves would see you as my whore. You said you wouldn’t be my mistress. You became increasingly bitter toward my title and my people while embracing the more unreserved, self-destructive aspects of your personality. Eventually you began running away from me and the rest of the world, choosing to escape rather than deal with problems.” His hand stopped.

  “That’s when you found the rebels. It was a group comprised mostly of half-elves and others who were marginalized. They were against everything the king stood for, and you were the perfect addition to their ranks, as everyone knew your connection to me. What better way to undermine the king than to bring his son’s loyalty into question. I tried to talk you out of joining them, but you were so angry that you couldn’t see past what you felt. You couldn’t understand my side. So you left.”

  “That was my memory? When I left?”

  “Yes. You were with the rebels for over a year before you came back to me in the middle of the night. You told me their plan and that you had made a mistake. I told you to stay with me and that I would protect you, but you said you couldn’t. When you joined them, you became bonded to them. That was when I knew. It was the push I needed to make me take what I wanted, damn the consequences. I didn’t care about being king. That year had been the worst year of my life. I didn’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone. I married you that night.” He let me turn around in his arms so I could face him.

  “Marriage is the strongest bond you can have in the Abyss and it breaks all others. Yet you still refused to stay. You said you had to fix what you started. You had to become a changeling and make them think you were going to help them. Basically to keep you, I had to let you go—so I did, though I can’t say I handled it well.”

  “So we’ve spent our whole marriage apart? We never—”

  “Not since we were married.”

  “And you’re still a prince? Did your father change his mind?”

  “He doesn’t know.”

  “Oh.”

  “Sebastian and your grandmother are the only ones who do.”

  “What’s going to happen when the news gets out?”

  “I’m not sure. Sebastian believes I should
overthrow my father. He thinks our marriage will sway people and settle the unrest. As it is now, the elves know that a half-elf became a changeling to learn human magic and use it against them. They’re appalled. Elves are a very proud race, and they don’t like to think that anyone could defeat them, so they’re looking for you.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I don’t care what the rest of them want. I’ve devoted enough of my life to people and their causes. I want you. The rest of them can destroy each other, so long as we’re not in the crossfire.”

  “That’s very sweet but not even remotely true, and you know it. It’s your father and your people. Of course you care about them.”

  “I care more about you.” He kissed the side of my throat, his tongue slowly tracing my pulse.

  I sighed with pleasure. “Show me I’m yours,” I whispered, and he went absolutely still. “Make me your wife, Cheney.” My lips were a breath away from his.

  In a swift movement I was on my back, and Cheney’s mouth covered mine as if he would devour me. “You are my wife,” he said roughly. His entire body was rock hard against me, and his hands possessively kneaded and pulled until I felt like I was about to burst into flames. He hovered over me, teasing me with the tip of his erection until I begged for him to be inside of me. “What do you want, Selene?”

  “You, please,” I whispered hotly in his ear before running my tongue to its tip in one long stroke. Cheney drove fully inside, filling me until I was whole again. Cheney gritted his teeth, moving inside of me as I tightened my legs around him.

  “Faster, harder,” I moaned. He let go of whatever control he’d been maintaining and moved with such intensity that every nerve in my body was raw and shaking. I clung to him, digging my fingernails into his back as he took me further and further into ecstasy. Never in my life had I been so sated. With one last deep thrust, we cried out in unison, both spent and sweaty. Finally, lazily, I unwrapped my legs from him in no real hurry to let him go.

  Cheney kissed me gently. “You are my wife,” he said, the flames dying from his eyes.

  I smiled tiredly, and a satisfied sound of agreement vibrated deep in my chest.