He took my hand and pressed it to his chest. Underneath my fingertips, I could feel his heart beating wildly, almost as fast as my own.
With gentle fingers, he reached down and lifted my shirt from my damp skin, pulling it over my head and tossing it into the corner of the building. I shivered underneath his gaze and at the heady spark in his eyes. He smiled and traced a line down the center of my chest, making me tremble at the strange ache that began to grow within my core.
He stood and motioned for me to follow. Swallowing hard, I pressed up from the floor and held my body still as he slid my pants down my legs. Next came my underwear and my bra, and then he removed all his clothes, until there was nothing between us but air. My chest heaved, and my body quaked. Rourke’s hands slipped around my back and caressed my shoulders, my butt, my thighs.
Desire shot through me like a comet. I let out a soft moan and leaned against him. His lips caught mine, and the heat of him almost took my breath away. Our limbs entwined as his tongue explored my mouth, teasing me and tasting me and driving me wild with a need I’d never felt in all the years of my life.
With a heavy groan, he pushed me back onto the burlap and pressed his slick body on top of mine. I spread my legs, hooking my ankle around his thigh. The hard length of him pressed against me. He was so close, so agonisingly close. I arched my back and pressed myself harder against him. An ache built inside me, reflecting how painfully I needed this beautiful fae.
With a shudder, Rourke pulled back and gazed adoringly into my eyes. “Are you certain this is what you want, Norah?”
“I’ve never wanted anything more,” I breathed.
He shuddered again, and then pressed his hardness against my slick thighs. He went slowly and carefully, keeping his eyes locked on mine, as if he wanted to make sure that I enjoyed every second of this moment with him. And oh, I did. The feel of him inside me made the entire world drop away. He was mine, and I was his, and I never wanted this moment to end.
Our hips began to rock together. We crashed into each other, the power of our need growing with each passing beat. As my pleasure began to build, all of the tension in my body began to melt away. My moans grew louder, and my movements faster. I wrapped my arms around Rourke’s golden body and dragged my nails down his back. I was losing myself to him, letting all my inhibitions drop away so that I could experience the full pleasure of Rourke.
As we reached our climax together, Rourke caressed my cheek and dropped his forehead to mine. My heart swelled at what I saw in his eyes. This was more than just lust. This was more than just a passing moment in time. He was my mate. I was certain of it. More certain than I’d ever been of anything in my life.
Chapter Twelve
A part of me wanted to stay in this cocoon of happiness, safety, and exhilarating passion forever, to block out everything terrible going on in the world. Here, in this little stone room, nothing else mattered except for Rourke. But as the rain continued to pour from the sky, my thoughts began to turn outward instead of in. It was only three days until the Spring Court would attack the Winter fae. Liam was waiting for me back in the Summer lands, and my heart ached to see my Winter prince. It felt like years since I’d seen Kael and Finn, and I worried now what they might think when they learned what had happened here this day.
“You’re thinking of the others, aren’t you?” Rourke murmured as he traced lazy circles on my bare skin. “I can tell by the look on your face. You look wistful and sad. And perhaps a little worried.”
I turned on my side to face him, staring into the flickering golden eyes that had captured my soul. “You know things are kind of complicated, right? I’ve kissed both Kael and Liam. I don’t really understand what’s happening between all of us, but I do know that I don’t want to upset anyone.”
“Greater Fae mate differently than the rest of us do.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Greater Fae. Lesser Fae. I hate those words.”
“Marin hated them, too,” he said softly.
“I don’t think I’m anything like her. Maybe power-wise, but that’s about it.”
Rourke regarded me carefully. “And why is that, Norah?”
“She was a Queen and a ruler. A good one at that, it sounds like. Her people loved her, and she protected them. So, she must have been strong and powerful and wise. And also kind.”
“Yes.” He gave a nod. “She was all of those things. And, as far as I can see, you are, too.”
I grunted. “Hardly.”
His soft finger traced another circle on my arm. “Why do you doubt yourself so much?”
“You’ve seen me, Rourke. I flailed around like an idiot when I first came to the Academy. My powers might be getting stronger, but they’re still nothing to scream about. Not to mention the fact that I hardly ever know what I’m doing until someone points out I’ve done it. People see me as a stupid wooden block. Nothing special. I don’t deserve the title of Greater Fae.”
“You’re still going on about that wooden block, then.”
“Well, I don’t want to be a wooden block. I want to be more than that.”
A flicker of a smile. “Good. Then, let’s start with getting your information back to the Summer Hunters, something I fear I may have gotten distracted from after all your…moaning.”
He winked, and despite myself, my cheeks flamed.
“We do need to get back as soon as possible. Do you think we’ll be able to leave soon?”
Not that I truly wanted to, especially not when he was looking at me with that heat in his eyes again.
He cocked his head to listen. “It sounds as though the storm has almost moved on. While we’re waiting, why don’t you fill me in on what you’ve learned?”
Of course. Because I’d yet to even share the information with Rourke. First, we’d been fleeing from the castle. Then, we got trapped in the hailstorm. And then…well, I certainly wasn’t thinking of Queen Viola’s words when Rourke’s strong and muscular body was pressing on top of me, or when his lips were caressing my neck.
I shuddered, that sweet, strange ache taking shape again.
A slight smile played across Rourke’s lips. “As much as I’d like to know what that shudder is about…”
“I know. We need to focus.” With a deep breath, I told Rourke what I’d overheard the Hunter say to his Queen. And from the look on Rourke’s face, he was just as surprised as I was. Spring fae were not known for being easily provoked. They were the most peaceful fae in all the realm. Sure, they had a tendency to irritate the other Courts with their unending attraction to pranks, but they never meant any harm.
“Queen Viola must have said or done something to trick the Spring Court into attacking.” His lips pressed into a tight frown. “I know these fae. They do not like conflict. Whatever has caused them to attack must be serious, or it must be very wrong.”
“Is it at all possible that the Winter Court could have done something to provoke them?”
Rourke pursed his lips. “Perhaps, though I cannot see it myself. Winter fae are logical, and provoking another Court would not be logical. Unless…”
A shiver went down my spine. “Unless what?”
“Unless their King and Queen harbor their own desires for the conquest of this realm. If they provoke the Spring fae to attack them—in their home territory—the odds the Spring Court would fall are very high. Spring fae cannot handle the cold, not the way the Winters can. They don’t have the resources or the clothing to last long, especially not if it storms. With the Summers and the Springs out of the way, the Winters would only have to face off against the Autumn Court. As unlikely as I want it to be, I do have to admit that it’s a possibility.”
Hearing him talk through the fate of the realm as if the fae were merely chess pieces to be moved about a board…well, I didn’t feel particularly optimistic about preventing an all-out war. If the Springs wanted a fight, and the Winters were after a throne, and the Autumns were hell-bent on turning everyone against each
other, I didn’t know how Otherworld would make it to the other side.
We left when the howling winds were a distant memory. A steady drizzle caused a thick mist to hang heavy in the air, but the thunder and lightning, the hail and the wind were no longer pounding against the trembling trees. Rourke gathered me into his arms, and we ran. It was a long way to travel back to the Summer lands that way. Rourke was strong, powerful, and immortal, but he wasn’t immune to weariness. We did a quick search for the horses we’d been forced to leave behind, but they were nowhere to be found—they had likely run for shelter during the storm.
I hoped to the forest they’d found it.
“Even as fast as I can run, it will take us much longer to travel back on foot than it will to travel by horse. This kind of speed is wearying, especially at that distance, as much as it pains me to say. We would have to stop many times along the way.”
“Could you show me how to do it? If I have Autumn powers, maybe I could do this, too,” I said as I leaned against a rough tree trunk to catch my breath. Despite the fact it had been Rourke who had been doing all the running, I felt out of breath myself. And a little bit dizzy.
Rourke pursed his lips. “I have no doubt you could, and I admire your tenacity even when you look as though the world is tipping sideways underneath your feet.”
He was right. I slid down to the ground and dropped my head against the rough bark, closing my eyes to block out the shifting colors of the sky. Moving so quickly through the forest had brought back the intense weariness I’d felt after using my magic on Rourke’s broken body.
“You haven’t recovered enough from your healing powers,” he said firmly. “We’ll just have to go by foot.”
My eyelids cracked open so that I could peer up at him. He was the perfect picture of calm, a silhouette of pure steel against the soft Autumn sun. “I don’t think we have time for that, Rourke. If we’re going to stop this war, we need to get back to the Summer lands as soon as possible. By dawn, if we can. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait a whole other day to get through the archway.”
His jaw clenched tight. “You’re right. I could try to run the entire way without stopping, but I know what would happen. I would push past the exhaustion and end up collapsing. Sleep would consume me for hours. We wouldn’t make it in time.”
An idea sprouted in my mind. A terrible one, no doubt, but it was the only one I had. “We’re right by that Wilde Fae village. And they sleep during the day, yes? So, we can sneak in and take something that would help us get home. Do they have horses?”
Rourke turned, his eyebrows raised so high they hit the golden strands of his hair. “Sneak into a Wilde Fae village?”
I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. “Sure, why not?”
He let out a low chuckle. “You really are a strange mixture of both Autumn and Summer, aren’t you? Well, for one, the Wilde Fae would tear us apart if they caught us. And two, you’re still recovering from that spell.”
“Now that I have the stone, shadowing doesn’t take much out of me at all,” I countered. “I’m perfectly capable of keeping us hidden while you rustle up some horses for us, which means we won’t get caught.”
“This is a terrible idea,” he said, but I could see that he was already working out a plan in his head. He gazed through the trees at the towering wooden wall of the nearby village, his calculating eyes piecing together parts of a puzzle I couldn’t yet see. “Okay, come on, and stay close to me.”
A scream ripped from my throat, so sharp and loud that a flock of birds took flight from a nearby tree’s twisting branches. I waited only a stone’s throw away from the Wilde Fae gates, heart rattling inside my ribcage. My hand slipped into the depths of my cloak, and I felt the smooth stone underneath my trembling fingers. I didn’t need to touch it to know my magic was working, but it made me feel better all the same.
After several quiet moments passed, I tipped back my head and screamed again. This time, the little hatch beside the gates cracked open, and a single green eye peered out into the clearing where I stood.
Rourke hovered with his back pressed against the wooden walls, his finger pressed tightly against his lips.
When the guard found nothing but the shaking tree limbs and the scuttle of fading leaves against the ground, he harrumphed and shut the hatch. So, I screamed again. Immediately, the hatch flew open, and the fae leaned out of his little hatch to see what all the commotion was about. His mismatched eyes gleamed as he raked them across the clearing, his parched lips stretched tight across his leathery face. And then his tongue darted out, as if the sound of my screams had driven him to hunger.
When we’d been planning our mission into the village, Rourke had told me something that made all the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. He’d said, “Wilde Fae are partial to damsels in distress.”
I’d frowned and cocked my head. “You mean, they like to save them? That doesn’t make sense with everything else you’ve said about them.”
“Not save them. They like to eat them.”
So, of course, now I was standing in front of their village screaming my head off, just daring them to come out and find me so they could swallow me whole.
The guard slammed the hatch again, but this time, the gate began to crank up from the ground, the steel shuddering as it rolled. The gate stopped halfway, and the guard ducked under so he could take a look outside. He had a sword slung across his back, not in his hands. Clearly, he thought the damsel in distress, wherever she was, was no threat.
I shuffled my feet on the ground, just to make a little noise and catch his attention. Because when he took two more curious steps my way, Rourke launched at him from behind. It was over within seconds. Rourke wrapped his arms around the guard’s head and snapped it to the side, and then held the male’s weight and dragged him around the far corner of the village wall. I watched, heart stuck in my throat. It had happened so quickly that it was almost as if it hadn’t happened at all.
Now I could see why Autumn fae often turned to lives as assassins. They were good at it.
When Rourke returned to my side, he clasped my hand to join me in the shadows. “Come on. We need to get in and out before someone notices the gate.” He searched my eyes, seeing my unease and hesitation. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I just…” The snap of the fae’s neck still echoed in my ears. “I guess I’m still not used to so much death.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that, Norah, but he would have killed us. Or worse.”
“I know that,” I said with a nod. “I just wish the world didn’t have to be like this.”
He squeezed my hand. “Me too.”
And with that, Rourke and I whispered into the village of the Wilde Fae like a pair of ghosts. We stopped first at the guard tower and finished cranking the gate so that it was fully open when we needed to go. The fae would all be asleep. They shouldn’t notice anything amiss in the few moments it would take us to procure some horses.
Indeed, the village felt like a ghost town. With the sun climbing high in the sky, it was an alien experience to walk along the dirt-packed road with no one but us and a few scurrying rats in search of scraps. The door of the tavern swung in the breeze, creaking on old and rusted hinges. We slowed as we passed by, though we spotted no one inside. And all of the other shops and taverns were the same.
“Wait.” Rourke stopped short and cocked his head to the side as if he were listening. “Do you hear that?”
I frowned and tried to listen, but the enhanced senses that fae possessed were still developing in me. So, all I heard was the rustle of the wind. “What is it?”
His grip tightened, and his expression went sharp. “Whining. Some kind of animal. No, not whining. It’s neighing. I think they have our horses.”
My heart jolted in my chest as Rourke led me back the way we came. He stopped outside the butcher shop, his chest heaving with belabored breaths. “They’re inside there, which means they’ve captured them for sl
aughter. Do you know what they do to the animals they eat, Norah?” When Rourke turned to me, his eyes were dark and hollow, seeped through with a painful kind of anger that made me gasp.
I knew right then I didn’t want to know what these Wilde Fae did to their meat. I knew his words would haunt me. I knew they would give me images I’d never be able to shake. But I could no longer run from things that scared me, or back down when confronted with the horrors of the world.
“Tell me,” I said.
“They do not kill them,” Rourke said, his voice pained. “They keep them alive, through magic, and eat them slowly. Over weeks, months. The animals are in agony, sometimes screaming from the pain they endure. But the Wilde Fae like their meat fresh off the bone and dripping with living blood. It is a horror what they do.”
Something cold hit my cheek, and I reached up to find I’d started crying. A deep sadness had sunk into my bones, but it wasn’t from the spell I weaved with the shadows. Not this time. It was for all the creatures who had been tormented by these cruel, vicious fae, and for all of those who still would be.
“We have to get them out of there,” I whispered. “We have to take them with us.”
Rourke gave a nod. “Follow me.”
We eased up the steps of the butcher shop, and the wooden boards creaked underneath us. I tried to keep my breathing steady. The fae were asleep. They wouldn’t hear our movements. By the time they realized that outsiders had been in their midst, we’d be long gone.
The door clicked when Rourke pressed it open, and the scent that drifted out to us made me gag. It was a stale stench, one mixed with iron, death, and rotting flesh. There was blood everywhere. It painted the floors and the walls and the long skinny tables set with plates, forks, and knives. My chest heaved as I stared at the sight. The fae ate in here. There were tankards scattered about. They drank here, too. While they tormented animals.
A Song of Shadows Page 11
