Fate & Fire

by Anna LaVerne

In an instant, we are ripping our clothes off of one another. Every ounce of fight I had regarding taking a harem has gone out the window. These men are mine. I give to them as they give to me. It is a relationship that benefits all involved.

  Rhett is swift and not gentle at all. His large hands grab ahold of my milky white breasts pulling them into his mouth. I throw my head back in pleasure, while my hands undo the clasp on his pants.

  My hands slide over his shoulders and hold fast as he grips my ass. Rhett lifts me, and naturally, I wrap my legs around his waist. He then throws me upon the bed. I wiggle out of the last of my clothing as Rhett kicks off what is the rest of his pants.

  I take in his proud muscular body and salivate at the thought that he is is all mine. Smiling to myself, I never imagined I would be in a situation like this with a harem of my own. Who would have ever guessed that I would go into it willingly?

  I roll my head back and moan as Rhett climbs upon me kissing me up my leg. He passes my sweet spot which prompts me to lift my hips towards him encouraging him to act. Rhett locks his lips with mine as he enters me in one long swift thrust.

  Lights go off in my head as I am hit with another wave of energy. I grind my hips upon him with each thrust. I can sense a thin line of magic between us strengthening. It is so real I can see it within my mind's eyes. Strand after strand of magic joining together and forming a chain connecting Rhett to me. My eyes open and I see tiny specks of embers floating in the air and burning out before they touch the ground.

  Rhett buries his head into my neck and shoulder as he thrusts in and out. It is rough, but it is beautiful. I love being able to see his muscles bulging over me. It is incredible in every sense of the word.

  The ball of energy building in my core is about to explode. I dig my nails into his back and pull him into me deeper than before. My legs tighten around his hips as my sex clenches down and quivers with the waves of release. Rhett follows me into oblivion collapsing and pinning me beneath him.

  We are both breathless, trying to regain our composure. Rhett rolls off of me and sits on the edge of the bed. He looks over his shoulder and says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t picture our first time together being so rough or so quick.” Rhett wipes his hand across his brow.

  I sit up in the bed and throw a pillow at his head. “I like how you pictured how our first time even when you didn’t know if I would choose you or not.”

  “Oh, I knew the moment I met you on that horse outside Cargil. Celeste may have ordered me to get close, but if she didn’t I still would have. I am drawn to you like a moth to a flame, and now you will never be rid of me, Princess.” Rhett twists around to look at me. He holds his palm with the spiral open in the air for me to view. “I would go through hell and back with you, and if we are ever separated, it will be the death of me.”

  “Separated will be the death of me,” I repeat Rhett’s words aloud.

  “What?” Rhett places his hand over his heart. “I only speak the truth right now and you know it,” Rhet responds.

  “Oh no, it's not that. Your words brought back the memory of Gabal, the man in my healing coma. He was dying until my energy touched him. He is one of you. I have three men . . .” Rhett’s eyes narrow, and then he shrugs.

  “I never had the false idea you would be mine and Trey’s alone. So, I guess we need to go find this Gabal guy?”

  “No, he is a mage, and he will come to us, but if he enters through the portal room, how will I get him out and into Lorcan?”

  “I don’t know, that is a question for the Queen. What I want to know is if a portal room is necessary, then how did Celeste open portals all over Cargil to raid us from within?”

  “Oh! I bet she only needs to map her location and have a portal marker in each spot. We need to have Lorcan searched. Can you do me a favor?”

  “Do you really have to ask, Princess? You know damn well I will do anything you ask me,” Rhett retorts.

  “It means more work after a long day.” I raise my eyebrows at him.

  “I know the only work I want to do.” Rhett leans back revealing he is ready to go another round.

  I climb off the other side of the bed and walk around to the front of Rhett. I put one leg on each side of him and stare down into his blue eyes. “Oh, how I wish we had more time, my handsome carrot, but right now, I need you to do me a big favor.”

  Rhett pulls me closer and plants a kiss on my abdomen. “You know the favor I want to do,” he says as he peppers kisses all over me.

  “Trust me, I want you to do that as well . . . . But it will have to be later.” Pushing off of him, I stride towards the shower. “I need you to find Bee, Trey, Tim, and maybe Tig, and a few other trustworthy people to scour Lorcan looking for the portal symbols. I also need you to order me a huge meal. The biggest meal you have ever ordered. I want lots of meat, and sweets. No soups. Soups are never filling. I will shower and then we will all rendezvous in my sitting area. Don’t bother the Queen with any of this. She needs her rest.” I walk back towards him and give him an electrifying kiss.

  “Consider it done.” Rhett gets up and dresses before leaving the room. I head to the shower. Who needs rest when I have a harem to keep me going?

  Chapter Six

  I enter my sitting room still wearing my bathrobe. I don’t care if anyone sees me being comfortable. On the table is a feast of different foods and snacks that the kitchen must have put together just for me.

  The door opens the moment I sit down to eat. Everyone is just going to have deal with it because this princess is hungry. I motion to Trey and Tim to take a seat, “Help yourself to as much as you want, I can’t eat it all.”

  Tim’s eyes light up as he takes a pastry with strawberry filling and bites into it with the type of delight I have only seen in children. “Rhett said you wanted us all to meet here. Bee went to get Vex, they will be here soon. Rhett said he would gather a few more warriors because we will need all we can get?” Trey said the last part in the form of a question.

  “Yes, I need you to scour all of Lorcan to find every portal symbol. Lorcan is huge, and so having extra help is useful. If you find one destroy it. Simple.”

  “Um, not so simple.” Tim speaks through a full mouth.

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “Celeste knows Lorcan better than anyone. I am just saying it isn’t so simple.” He shrugs and gives his attention back to his food.

  I continue to eat as I talk, “What do you suggest then?” I direct my question at Tim who doesn’t answer. Trey nudges him with his arm.

  “Oh, you're talking to me? S-sorry no one ever asks for my opinion. I suggest you check all the rooms big enough to bring a large group of people into, such as the ramparts and the conservatories.”

  “Lorcan has conservatories?” I ask.

  “Several, Vex has been training with Rhett, Manu, and me in one,” Trey answers.

  “Manu, I forgot he was here.”

  Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Rhett walks through the door with Tig and Manu. “Did I hear my name?” Manu asks.

  I almost forgot how attractive Manu is. I don’t respond, instead I stare. What is this draw I have to this stranger? Trey speaks up on my behalf.

  “Rhett, are you sure Manu is trustworthy?” he asks.

  “That is a rude thing to ask. We have been training with him these last few days, and I am an excellent judge of character. I trust him.” Rhett shrugs and takes a seat next to me and picks up a pastry of his own.

  “His nation sided with Celeste,” I counter him with an even tone.

  “Fine,” Rhett tosses his hands into the air and then slaps them back down onto his lap. “Show them, Manu.”

  I look to the bronze muscular giant still as a statue. It is obvious he is a prince. It bleeds through his bearing. I cannot read Manu’s expression as he stands there stone-faced before us. After a few tense moments, he nods towards Rhett and grabs the arm of his shirt ripping it off at the shoulder seams, b
aring his arm for us all to see.

  My jaw drops as I see the same spiral that is on my palm and also of Trey and Rhett’s palms, is on the shoulder of an exotic prince. Unable to resist the draw, I stand and stride over towards him. I open my palm and can instantly sense the thrum of power between us. Manu has been marked.

  “When?” I ask.

  “The night we left Cargil. Rhett tells me the time frame coordinates with when you fell into the healing coma.” Manu tosses his braid over his shoulder.

  “That is when mine appeared,” Trey speaks up. “You hid this while we trained.”

  Manu shrugs. “I didn’t understand what it meant. I would have continued to hide it, but yesterday my tunic ripped while sparing with Rhett, and he saw it. Just so you are aware, Princess, I stand by what I said in Cargil. I did not approve of joining forces with Celeste. I never liked her or King Maddox. You can trust me.”

  I am still standing close to him, and the thrum of energy is strong, even though we have had no relations. It is a pull I won’t be able to deny for long. Damn this new magic trying to make my life complicated with a fourth man! I shake off the feeling and force myself to walk back to my seat. I glance up at Manu and notice the bulge in his pants. He is fighting the same urge I am.

  “Why is his on his arm and ours are on our hands?” Trey asks.

  “Because you and Rhett steady me, and Manu is my muscle,” I answer without realizing where the answer came from. It is just another piece of a never-ending puzzle I have not figured out. I will hate telling them that Gabal’s marking is over his heart, because he is my heart. Once I join with him, neither of us will be able to live without the other as we are the same. I am the female to his male.

  I sigh in a breath of sadness for things I never wanted but fate is demanding of me, regardless. The only thing I can really do is get back to business.

  “Okay, well I trust you all. Tim, is there a map of Lorcan?”

  “Yes, it is kept in the library. Although, not every area is on the map.”

  “Trey, take Tim to get the map please.”

  Trey’s shoulders droop, and I can tell he will do what I ask, but he doesn’t want to. “Fine, Rhett, take Tim to get the map.”

  Rhett stands from his chair and kicks Trey in the leg. I suppress a chuckle at the two of my men vying to spend more time with me. Trey flashes Rhett a grin that speaks volumes. He won this round.

  As Rhett and Tim are leaving, Bee and Vex arrive. “Well, this looks like a somber room. What's wrong now?” Vex asks.

  I continue to eat and let Trey fill him in on what is going on. Before I can add my voice to it, Vex places his hand on my shoulder, “You need to rest, Dina.”

  I shake him off. “No, I am fine. It is like I don’t even need to sleep anymore.”

  “I agree with Vex, I am knowledgeable of how magic works even if I have none of my own, and you need to rest. If you don’t you may end up in another coma or lose control of your gifts. You have gone nonstop since you woke.” Bee reiterates my need for rest.

  “I will rest after we find the portals.” I argue with them both before standing to go get dressed.

  “Manu, I heard you are marked for Dina, right?” Vex asks him.

  “So it seems,” Manu answers.

  “Then I trust you to stay here and guard my Princess while she sleeps.”

  “Wait a minute, Vex,” I interject, “No one here can keep me in if I don’t want to stay. I want to help.” I cross my arms like a petulant child.

  “I'm not asking him to keep you in. I'm asking him to keep you safe while you sleep.” I want to shout that he isn’t my father, but alas he is. The proof is in the fire.

  “I don’t want to miss anything.” I am pouting, but it is true. I am scared I will miss something, and the world will crumble around me.

  “If anything happens, we will wake you. A good queen delegates her jobs to others when needed. This is something you can trust to the five of us. Look Tig has been sitting silently this entire time. There are enough of us to be strategic and check every big area in Lorcan. Then if needed we will take our time to check the smaller rooms.” Vex is making sense. I scowl at him and keep my stance with my arms across my chest.

  “Well, actually checking all the small rooms would be impossible without making many people angry. Lorcan is a city within a mountain. I think your isolation to the royal and educational areas have kept you oblivious to its size.” I look up to see Tim standing in the doorway with Rhett holding a giant roll of paper.

  “Then what can we do?” Trey asks.

  “We check the big rooms, dining halls, conservatories, amphitheaters, and all major hallways. I guess the dungeon and asylum should also be checked. Celeste always had a fascination with the mystics who’ve lost their minds.”

  I motion to the table that Bee cleared while Vex and I were arguing. I swear under my breath when the map is unrolled and the truth size of Lorcan is revealed.

  “You're right, Tim. I had no idea how big Lorcan really is. This is an impossible task. Lorcan isn’t safe,” I say with a whisper of defeat.

  “It’s more than possible because we are starting with the most likely areas. We can split them between us and accomplish it all tonight. We will report back to you late tomorrow morning or for the midday meal,” Trey reassures me. He places his hands on my shoulders and massages them. I let my muscles relax as my sense of duty wavers ever so slightly.

  “Okay, who goes where?” It is the closest I can get to admitting I will take the time to sleep.

  “Tig and I will take the conservatories and dining halls. We will check behind every painting, tapestry, and mirror. Trey, you and Tim take the library and amphitheaters. Rhett and Bee shall take the ramparts and courtyards on the top of the mountain. We will meet back here in the sitting room and do the dungeons and asylum as a group. I think none of us will be comfortable there in groups of two. Meanwhile, Dina will stay here with Manu keeping an eye on her.” Vex finishes the plan as Tim passes out pieces of paper that has the portal symbol drawn upon it and the minimum size it can be.

  “Are you sure we can trust Manu?” Bee asks.

  “Once again, I am standing right here,” Manu says as he tosses his long thick braid back over his shoulder. I want to reach my hand out and entwine my fingers in his silky black hair while looking into his dark eyes and riding his cock. I am sure he has a huge cock. I blush crimson at the thought.

  “Dina marked him, too,” Rhett answers with an annoyed face.

  “I didn’t know I marked him when it happened. I am not even sure how it happens.”

  “Ah, so he is one of us now?” Bee asks.

  “Well, he is one of us,” Trey responds pointing from himself to Rhett and Manu.

  “You know what I mean, Trey. Stop being like that. I mean as in part of our group or gang, whatever you want to call it.” Bee pushes Trey. I smile. I am blessed to have so many people I can trust when I am used to only having Bee.

  “Here drink this.” Bee hands me a tea.

  “Barren tea?” I ask.

  “Yes, with a little extra something to help you get some much needed sleep. You may feel great now, but it will all catch up with you soon enough if you don’t rest.”

  I take the tea and drink it down fast. Whatever Bee added made it taste awful and bitter. She is getting good with herbs and her knowledge, proving you don’t have to be a mage or mystic to be useful.

  It only takes a second before I yawn. “I guess we have a plan. Since I have eaten dinner and drunk some sleepy tea, I will head to bed.” We all say our goodbyes. “Vex, please wake me if something big happens,” I add as he heads out the door. He only nods at me.

  Once the door closes, I turn to Manu. That tea has quite a punch, so I know I cannot act on my earlier thoughts. “I’m sorry you were marked. You probably want to return to Luhl.”

  “Don’t be. I miss Luhl only because Lorcan is so dark and dreary. To be honest, I was ensnared by you the f
irst time I saw you in Cargil. I don’t understand this ‘marked’ business, but I know I would let my entire world go to stay near you now. When Rhett first mentioned what it meant, I didn’t believe him. I only saw you that one day, and now I get it. Now, I know I am where I am meant to be. It’s fate.”

  “Fate is exhausting.” We both laugh, and then the room enters a stony silence. Not knowing what else to do, I head to bed. Sleep finds me quicker than expected, and I can thank Bee for that.

  Chapter Seven

  I find the big hulking frame of Manu snoring in the corner chair when I first wake. His large frame expands with each breath. Watching him sleep is a peaceful diversion to the problems facing us. I decide not to rush off and see what everyone has found. If they found something big, they would go to the Queen first and then me.

  Manu’s long dark braid goes over the side of the pink chair and almost touches the ground. He is still wearing his leather boots and training gear. My eyes follow along the line of his leg and up towards his wide torso. His tan arms lay across his chest causing his muscles to bulge. Drool runs down his chin. He may be deadly good with fighting and weapons, but he is still a man, just like any other, and still drools.

  I climb from my oversized bed and work my way to the bathroom. I clean up and change my clothing then tiptoe past Manu out into the main sitting area of the tower. No one is in there, and everything is quiet. I am not used to being alone. It has been weeks since I have had any time in a safe room with no one around me.

  I walk around the table, running my fingers run along the tablecloth, feeling each and every fiber used to make it. I don’t remember ever being this aware of my surroundings.

  My attention moves to a basket sitting on the table full of fruit. When I was first coming into my powers, I came to Lorcan. I had no special treatment and stayed separate from the other mystics. Celeste took me for a walk and showed me an orchard on the top of the castle. It had a glass ceiling letting light in, and steam rose from the stone ground providing heat to trees and vines.