A Court of Earth and Aether: a Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (War of the Gods Book 4)

by Meg Xuemei X

  To reward him, I swirled the tip of my tongue around the slit on his fat crown before sweeping over its thick ring. I also let my dark fire out, the one he also possessed, my flame wrapping around his silken length and licking its every inch.

  I could feel his pleasure rippling through me.

  His cock throbbing on my tongue, Reys hissed out a curse. “You’ll be the death of me, baby.”

  He thrust deeper into my mouth. The fae heir to Sihde was now losing it.

  I held back a smirk. At least I got the confirmation that the mate who was fucking behind me wasn’t Reys. I wrapped a hand around the base of the fae’s cock and pumped it mercilessly hard as my teeth scraped over his silken skin.

  A rough groan tore out of his throat.

  Yeah, baby, it’s time for you to surrender to your little mate.

  Another animalistic growl rumbled from the broad, cut chest behind me. Pyrder had just revealed himself to be the one banging me from behind. His panther had surfaced, because he couldn’t stand my attention shifting to another male, not even to his twin.

  Pyrder always had a soft spot for me, but he was a dominant alpha male in his bones.

  A crocodile couldn’t change his nature.

  But maybe I shouldn’t compare Pyrder to a lizard. He wouldn’t appreciate it.

  If my mates wanted to play a sexy game, then I’d play it like a pro.

  I wanted them to lose themselves in the haze of lust for me. I wanted to strip them of their last fucking threads of control.

  Pyrder thrust harder into my narrow passage, lodging deeper into my heat. With a few more mighty pumps, he bellowed his release. He bent down over my back, his panther’s fangs out, and bit into the base of my neck to imprint me while my pussy still milked his cock hard.

  My back arching, my neck tilting, I roared as pain, pleasure, a rush of contentment, and orgasm blended, even with a cock hard in my mouth.

  I tore the blindfold off my eyes.

  My whole body was radiant. Through the reflection in Reys’s turquoise eyes, I saw that mine glowed, the left violet and the right golden living fire.

  I trained my gaze on my mates. They still had their masks in place and their bodies clad in leather, except for their long, large, hard cocks that were all out. Though they looked sinfully hot in leather, I wanted to see their powerful, perfect male bodies.

  I flicked a wrist and stripped them bare, save their masks.

  Their erect, mighty cocks made my blood roar in my veins.

  Pyrder swept his mask off and stared at the fox masquerade incredulously. Alaric made himself a dragon mask because he had the dragon fire. Lorcan was granted a lion mask, and Reys a wolf one.

  “What the fuck?” Pyrder hissed. “Why did I get a fox mask? I don’t even like the stinky animal. It was a miracle mate even let me fuck her!”

  Alaric chuckled. “Be grateful, panther; at least I didn’t give you the mask of a mouse.”

  My heated eyes fell upon the High Lord of Night in a lion mask, who lounged on a comfortable chair, stroking his cock. The intense lust in his gray-silver eyes set every inch of my body on fire.

  I stalked toward him like a predator, and he heaved a deep breath.

  He knew what was coming to him.

  It was my turn to be brutal. It wasn’t in me to show mercy at the moment.

  I had let the three of them fuck me. I wanted to fuck damn hard as well. Wanted stake my claim and leave my imprint on my males.

  Without a word, I climbed onto the vampire lord’s lap, straddling him. His hands came around and gripped my ass. I gave his unbelievably gorgeous torso a quick, appreciative look before I notched his cock at my slick entrance.

  I sank down, inch by inch, then slammed to the base of his enormous, hard shaft. My ass pressed tightly on his balls for friction, and Lorcan hissed in response.

  “It’s going to be a rough ride, baby,” I purred.

  “I can take whatever you throw at me, dulcis,” said the high lord, so eager to be fucked.

  Without missing a beat, I heaved up and down the incredible length of his cock, harder and faster. As my speed blurred, Lorcan’s eyes rolled back.

  Yet he grabbed my hips, helping me hump him harder than any other mortal or immortal man could take, except my other mates. Lorcan panted, and the rest of my mates burned with need as they watched us.

  “Dulcis, your pussy is so tight,” Lorcan groaned. “So perfect! I can never get enough of you.”

  I moved on top of my vampire, feeling his every glorious inch filling me, stretching me, and cherishing me. I fucked him like the wildest thing on Earth.

  Pleasure stormed through me, wave after wave.

  “You’re mine, dulcis,” Lorcan growled, bucking up his hips to thrust deeper into my molten core, to claim my every inch. “Your pussy is mine.”

  “Ours!” my other mates growled.

  “I now have eternity to fuck all of you, boys,” I said.

  Our mating bond—my bond to all my mates—burned brighter than starlight, and flames swirled around us like a beautiful whirlwind of colors.

  I came so hard around Lorcan’s cock I forgot my own name for a second.

  CHAPTER 23

  Family and friends gathered in our new home at the fringe of the fae realm and a mortal city. If we stepped out of the main entrance of the splendor manor, we’d overlook busy downtown Sydney. But if we headed toward the garden in our backyard that merged into the fairy forest, we strayed into Sihde, the Spring Isles.

  On this day, we toasted in victory.

  Our warriors all drank the vodka named the Devil Springs, which could shred weak males’ throats. The label on the bottles clearly stated “Abusing this drink can literally make you meet God!” But hey, we’d already met the gods and beaten their asses.

  Amber and I sipped our pink wine like ladies on the spacious balcony, eying the bustling city beneath us. The night-time city was a sea of lights, flowing cars, and strolling lovers.

  I wore a sky-blue one-shoulder gown for the occasion. Pyrder said that I brought the look to the next level, but I didn’t even know what this level was.

  Amber fussed over her ruffled, cascading blush-colored gown. She looked so pretty. These days, she always had pinky hues in her cheeks. I believed that it had something to do with the God of Blacksmiths and Fire.

  “Will the gods ever come back, Cass?” she asked.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you the seer? You tell me.”

  She looked forlorn. “You know I’ve served my purpose. I no longer have visions.”

  “You don’t need any visions, pip,” I said. “You’re smart enough to toss me bright ideas. Just don’t ask me to write another book summary.”

  She giggled.

  “What book summary?” Hephaestus asked, strolling onto the balcony. “Anyway, I doubt they’ll ever want to come back as long as Dragon Cass is in her lair on Earth.”

  He laid his large hands on the back of the chair where Amber perched.

  The smith god had chosen to stay on Earth. He said it was because he wanted to be the great nurse to my future children. I wasn’t exactly sure about that. But he was the only god I’d allowed to stay on this planet, partly for Amber’s sake, partly because somehow he had grown on me.

  But I knew the God of Blacksmiths had stayed for Amber.

  It shocked the hell out of me that my best friend was secretly into monsters. I didn’t mean Hephaestus was a monster, or even close, but he looked like one. It worried me for Amber. Hephaestus was like a giant beast, though he appeared to have a heart of sparkling gold now and then, but my former sheep seer was tiny, though she had been known to show a wolf’s fangs.

  My mates strode onto the balcony, saying that they just wanted to refill our pink wine, but I knew I was the magnet for them, and the four of them couldn’t stay away from me for long.

  I grinned as I graciously accepted a tall glass of wine from Lorcan. My vampire mate would need me to feed him to
night, so he acted extremely courteous right now.

  “I wonder for how long this peace in the post-gods era will keep up,” Hephaestus said.

  “It won’t last long,” Alaric said. “Mortals have a short lifespan, so they’ll stir up trouble and fight for power and territories soon, as they usually do. Humans and supernaturals will get into armed conflicts in less than a year, utterly forgetting that they united to fight the alien gods not long ago, just like their ancestors forgot how we battled the dragons an eon ago. Humans are humans. Nothing will change.”

  I made a mental note to ask my mates more about the great dragon war.

  “Let them fight,” Reys said. “But we’ll watch, as we did before, and keep them in line.”

  No race would go extinct, not under the watch of my mates and me. I wouldn’t slumber, unlike the primal Earth Goddess, for I was one lucky woman, who had four hot mates spoiling her and satisfying her every whim.

  At the thought, I felt mist falling on my lush eyelashes.

  I still couldn’t believe I won my fairytale ending.

  My mates noticed the shift in my mood, and Reys moved to my side, lifted me, and sat me on his lap. I clasped my hands behind his neck and kissed him.

  Amber didn’t blush. She shrugged and gazed into the horizon beyond the skyline, as if searching for a new chapter.

  Hephaestus, however, coughed to remind us to get a room, until Amber linked her fingers with his. Then he just stared at their interlaced hands with a shit-eating grin on his face.

  The stars in the dark sky stretched high and far and forever.

  The air suddenly vibrated, then a shimmer formed, and from it stepped the primal Earth Goddess.

  Amber and Hephaestus dropped their jaws, their eyes going ridiculously round at the sight of Goddess Gaea radiant in her glorious beauty. It was the first time they’d ever seen her in the flesh.

  It was about time she showed up. I’d been waiting.

  But fuck, she’d copied my badass style without asking, wearing all leather and boots instead of her traditional goddess gown. Something instantly clicked in me. She was leaving.

  Lorcan, Pyrder, and Alaric surrounded me at once in a protective formation, their powers ready to defend me and attack her. Reys held me in a shielding way.

  Easy, tigers, I said in their heads. She won’t try anything. And I got this. Don’t let her see we’re guarded or worried about her.

  I rose from Reys’s lap and smiled sweetly at Gaea. “Hello, grandmother. Nice of you to come celebrate with us.”

  She leaned against the rail of the balcony.

  “You made quite a name for yourself, daughter,” she said. “With earthlings worshiping you as the heroic Earth Goddess, you can drink their energy and become even more powerful.”

  I detected a tinge of jealousy in her voice. For millennia, she’d been forgotten. But whose fault was that?

  That reminded me what I needed to do next—I’d need to shatter the earthlings’ illusion of me.

  “The thing is, I don’t want anyone to worship me,” I said. “Who wants that burden?”

  “Humans always need religion,” Amber said quietly. “If you don’t give them one, they’ll create a cult.”

  “Well, if they have to find a god or a goddess to worship, maybe they can—” My glance shifted to Hephaestus, and he stared back at me, eager delight glinting in his dirty-green eyes.

  I sighed inwardly.

  “When is the wedding, daughter?” Gaea asked.

  Right, the wedding. I couldn’t hide a grin.

  Earthlings’ media had reported that my ceremony to my four mates would be the wedding of the century. Everyone was fighting to get an invitation. However, we weren’t some monkey show! I usually loved grandeur, but this time I opted to have a small, private wedding with only family and friends around. My mates fully supported my proposal, which I told them wasn’t set in stone yet.

  It was hard to give up my extravagant style.

  “You know when,” I said.

  “I can’t make it.” She sighed with regret. “I’ll have to leave soon.”

  That was what I’d expected.

  I widened my eyes, feigning surprise. “When? And where are you going? The whole Earth is yours just as it’s mine, granny!”

  She licked her lips, a sign of her nervousness and excitement.

  “I’m going to seek out the Dragon God, my mate, in the Draconis Galaxy,” she said. “You have his middle name, Saélihn, as your last name.” She smiled in sadness and longing. “My mate is the most magnificent male ever to exist. I hoped I could show you his image. It was long before you were born that we were last together. At one time on Earth, the dragons roamed the land, and Saélihn ruled the realm with me. Then the Olympians came, and Earth became violent. We lost the war, and my mate had to migrate to another galaxy with his dragon clan.”

  Reys had once told me a small part of the dragon war, but it was a different version than Gaea’s. Dragons, the extremely violent, bloodthirsty species, had gone on a killing rampage and burned half of Earth, and my mates had risen and worked with the Olympians to go against the dragons. Enemies had once been allies, and allies finally betrayed each other.

  “My heart was broken,” Gaea continued. “For eons, there was only loneliness and bleakness for me. After being alone for so long, I gradually sank into slumber. And when I awoke, the world had changed and passed me by.”

  “But wasn’t Jezebel, your daughter, with you?” I asked. “The daughter left by your mate, the Dragon God.”

  Gaea blinked as if she had a hard time remembering Jezebel, and bile rose to the back of my throat. My mother was so easily forgotten by her own mother.

  “Jezebel, yes,” the primal Earth Goddess said absentmindedly. “Jezebel was spoiled and weak, unlike you. I let her roam Earth on her own until I had a use for her. Despite my efforts to get her anchored to Earth, the land rejected her. So, I still couldn’t leave the realm, as Earth’s gravity wouldn’t let me go, not until you came. Earth chose you right away as its new goddess. I can finally be free and go find my mate. I finally have a chance to pursue my own happiness, thanks to you.” She gave my four mates a quick glance, a longing for her own etched all over her face.

  My mates’ faces remained stony and unreadable. Those were their usual faces when they weren’t trained on me.

  I’d just gotten to the bottom of the true reason why Gaea had me bred. She wanted to use me as a replacement so she could gain freedom. In the meanwhile, all the better if I eliminated the immortal enemies for her and her mate. After an eon of careful scheming and conspiring, she’d finally gotten what she desperately wanted, what her heart desired, at the expense of my mother and me, especially my poor mother. As for me, I’d only lost my brief childhood.

  A cold shiver climbed up my spine. I’d have suffered the same fate as Jezebel if not for my loyal, loving mates anchoring me to this world.

  Sure, I felt sorry for her eons of loneliness and heartbreak, but that didn’t make it acceptable for her to use and sacrifice us just so she could be with her dragon mate again.

  “I’m sorry, Gaea,” I said, my eyes glinting with tears, but they didn’t fall for her in spirit. My mother was gone forever, and she wanted me to punish this woman in front of me. “I wish you a safe, fun journey.”

  She beamed happily as she moved toward me, and my mates didn’t stop her.

  Gaea gently brushed away the droplet on my cheek with her fingers, just as I’d hoped she would. My liquid sank into her skin, unbeknownst to her.

  She didn’t know that the tear wasn’t a blessing but a curse.

  My demigod mate had worked with Hephaestus to design this perfect, most potent spell in the form of my tear. If Gaea hadn’t carried out this last tender act toward me, I’d have jumped her and smeared my tear on her cheek, which of course would be messy and ruin the perfect, beautiful farewell moment.

  The curse bound her to the Olympian gods.

  As
soon as she reached her destination—the Draconis Galaxy—I’d release the Olympians from their cocoons of darkness in the phantom zone. They’d follow her and plunge into the most brutal planet where the Dragon God, Gaea’s mate, ruled.

  Then once again, the old enemies, who had tried to avoid each other like a plague, would meet and lock into another eon of war. The gods would have to fight for survival and dominance on the dragon planet.

  They brought war to Earth and destroyed lives, and I was returning the favor by bringing war right back to them. That was my version of a happy ending for all the villains in the worlds—rounding up the bad guys in inferno and letting them destroy each other.

  That was my great gift to my grandmother for her honeymoon.

  “Farewell, daughter,” Gaea said, joy brimming in her silver eyes at the prospect of seeing her mate soon. “You made me so proud.”

  “I’m glad,” I said sweetly. “Have a nice life, granny.”

  Let’s see if your love survives the alien gods. Mine has, but good luck to you.

  Gaea vanished in a shimmer.

  I threw my head back and giggled as pure tears that didn’t contain the curse formed at the corners of my two-toned eyes.

  Punish them all, Jezebel had said, and I’d kept my promise.

  Then I felt her essence leaving Earth, faster than the speed of light. At a certain point, she stepped through an interspace portal. Then she was no longer in the Milky Way Galaxy.

  Gravity crushed me, and Earth’s power brimmed in me—it was storm, volcano, earthquake, and thunder. It was also summer, spring, winter, and autumn. My mates held me, and our mating bond anchored me, keeping the power merge in check, keeping me sane and passionate.

  Stars wheeled and realigned in deep space. The universe extended beyond eternity.

  My mates watched in wonder, and I shared it all with them.

  Then everything settled into place.

  I was now the Earth Goddess. Earth’s essence flowed in me. Its core five elements—fire, water, plant, metal, and aether—weaved like a forever song and infinite dream in my veins.