by Anya Bast
Niall was not feeling particularly gentle and she loved every second of it. He grabbed her hips and began to stroke deeply inside her. Every inward thrust brushed the head of his cock against that spot deep within where she was extra sensitive. Her fingers sought purchase in the blankets as he took her harder and faster. He dipped his hand down to splay on her stomach, then moved between her thighs to stroke her clit.
The combination of the pressure of his fingers on her and the steady, unrelenting thrust of his cock deep within her body forced her into another climax. Her head whipped back as it hit her and she cried out, her sex pulsing and spasming in pleasure around the pistoning length of his shaft.
Her orgasm seemed to trigger his and his cock jumped deep inside her while her name fell from his lips on a deep groan.
They collapsed in a satisfied tangle on the bed. He pulled her toward him and wrapped his body tightly around hers, laying tiny kisses to her temple. “Forgive me. I was rough. I really wanted you.”
She let out a short laugh. “Sorry? Please. That was incredible.”
They lay together in the darkness, the sheets and blankets tangled around their legs, and watched the snow come down. His hands traveled restlessly over her body, as if he could draw needed sustenance from the surface of her skin. “I’m really happy that you’re here with me tonight,” he whispered.
She sighed as he slipped his wandering, magical hand between her thighs and gently stroked. “I’ve been thinking so much about you since the cabin.”
She almost told him about how she wanted only to be with him, how much she’d missed the sound of his voice and his touch—his presence—but it was too close to admitting how deep her feelings went. She wasn’t ready for that yet. What if he didn’t feel the same way?
Anyway, her emotions for him were fanciful at best. It’s not as if there was a happily-ever-after waiting for them.
“Have you?”
She nodded. “And now we don’t have the pieces lodged between us.”
He kissed her forehead and lay a hand over one of her breasts, playing with the nipple until it grew hard and aroused, making her softly moan as her sex flooded with warmth for him once again. “I’ve been thinking about that, too.”
“Yes?” her voice came out breathless since he chose that moment to slide between her thighs. The head of his cock pressed against her entrance. She moved her hips a degree, and he slipped inside her, pushing deep. Her teeth sank into her lower lip, and she closed her eyes for a moment, savoring it.
“Yes.” His voice rumbled out of him, and he stared deeply into her eyes as he rocked back and forth, driving his cock very slowly in and out of her. “I’ve been thinking about all I did to keep you safe and why I did it. I betrayed my queen to protect you, Elizabeth. I’ve never done anything like that before.”
She held his gaze, pushing her hips up to meet him, slow, easy, thrust for thrust. “And why did you do it?”
“Because I love you.” His voice came out warm and sweet as honey.
She stared wide-eyed into his face. “What did you just say?” Maybe she hadn’t heard him right.
He pushed a loose tendril of hair away from her cheek, then searched her eyes. “I’ve never met anyone like you, and I’ve fallen totally and completely in love with you.”
His words coated her in tenderness, made something respond deep in her chest, thrum like a huge bell. The sensation was like an answering note of clear brilliance, a moment of perfect harmony and happiness in the middle of a storm.
She pushed up, kissing him hard and slipping her tongue into his mouth to twine with his. The pace of his thrusts increased. He took her harder and faster. She sighed and moaned, enjoying the sensation of Niall becoming one with her.
Their gazes met and held, his hips rocking against her hips. Pleasure rose, blossoming through her body until it burst over her. She cried out from the racking ecstasy that shuddered in waves through her body. Niall came a moment after, murmuring her name. Then they fell to the bed, panting from the exertion.
She rolled over and lay her head on his chest. Rubbing her palm over his stomach, she closed her eyes, enjoying this perfect moment. Never had she expected that when she’d taken the pieces of the bosca fadbh for the Summer Queen that her journey would end this way. If there was one good thing about this situation, this was it.
Elizabeth raised her head and looked into his eyes. She felt brave enough to tell him now. “I love you, too, Niall. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I fell for you.”
He hooked her hair behind her ear. “Stay with me.”
She smiled. “I don’t want to be anywhere you’re not.”
She snuggled against his chest and eventually they fell asleep. Not even the power of the night could keep her awake, so immense was her exhaustion from the life-changing events that had befallen her during the last twenty-four hours.
When she woke it was morning. The bed was empty, but she could hear Niall in the kitchen. Her stomach growled at the smell of the food he was cooking and she realized she hadn’t eaten for over twelve hours. She stretched, then slid from the bed, grabbing a bathrobe that Niall had left hanging over a chair.
First she headed into the bathroom and took a shower, enjoying the hard, hot spray of the water on her aching muscles. She and Niall had performed sexual gymnastics the night before—something she was really not used to yet—and it had left a sweet ache throughout her body.
Her hair combed, but still damp, she pulled the robe on and headed to the kitchen. “Yum,” she said, entering the room. “I’m starving.”
His kitchen was large, with a center island hung with wineglasses and pots and pans dangling from the ceiling. He was dressed only in a pair of jeans—a most luscious sight—and stood at the stove, cooking up a pan full of French toast.
She wilted in the doorway. “Danu, that smells amazing.”
He scooped them onto a plate and set it on the table along with a bottle of syrup. “Want some coffee?”
She sat down and picked up a fork. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He poured her a cup and then sat across from her.
After smothering the French toast with syrup, she forked some of the sugary yumminess into her mouth and almost passed out as the flavor hit her tongue. “Sweet Lady, these are good. You are an incredible cook.”
“When you’re as old as I am, you learn.”
“Well,” she said, after she’d sipped some of the delicious hot, black coffee, “maybe you can teach me.”
He caught her gaze and held it steady. “I hope to have many years to do just that.”
A little thrill of pleasure curled through her stomach. She’d been alone for so long, now she had someone to spend her life with. It was almost too good to be true. She finished up her meal and sighed with happy fullness, settling back in her chair with her coffee. “So, do you do this often? Seduce a woman, then make breakfast for her in the morning?”
He looked surprised. “No.” Then he smirked. “Ah, that’s right, you’re a wildling. You don’t know my reputation here in the Black Tower.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And what’s that?”
He leaned forward a little. “Let’s just say I haven’t had many long-term relationships in my life. Very few women have tasted my”—he glanced down at her nearly empty plate—“French toast.”
She stifled a laugh. Niall had a streak of arrogance that never quite disappeared, even when he was being sweet and vulnerable. Of course, judging from the power he seemed to have over her body, perhaps that arrogance wasn’t completely unjustified. “Gee. I guess I should feel special.”
His gaze turned intense. “You are special, Elizabeth. I’ve met many women in my life, but none of them have been like you.”
Her mouth went dry and her smile faded at the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes. He really meant what he was saying. He really thought she was unique and wonderful. Emotion clogged her throat. “I
guess growing up sheltered out in the Boundary Lands has its advantages.”
Reaching across the table, he took her hands in his. “No matter where you grew up, you would have grown up to be the exceptional woman you are. It’s simply built into you. Strength. Intelligence. Protectiveness. Cunning.”
“Stop it.” Of course, secretly she loved it.
He pulled her out of her chair and into his lap. “Sexy as hell. Gorgeous beyond measure.” He nuzzled her throat, holding her close, and she wound herself around him, closing her eyes. “Willing to risk your life for someone you love.”
“Go on,” she breathed.
He found her mouth and whispered against it. “Vulnerable in all the right places.” He slid his hand into her robe, between her thighs. “And—”
Someone rang the doorbell.
She groaned. “I guess you have to get that.”
He straightened, looking suddenly serious. “It might be your mother.”
Elizabeth slid from his lap, the sense of comfort that he’d wrapped her in suddenly gone and that familiar, cold knot slowly tangling through her intestines once more. She followed him to the door and stood beside him as he opened it. Thea stood on the other side, dressed warmly in an expensive coat that had undoubtedly been offered to her by the Black Tower.
In exchange for her life.
Niall backed away from the door, and Elizabeth hugged herself, staring at her mother for a long moment, before Thea finally broke her gaze and moved inside.
Thea spread her hands, her eyes glistening with tears. “I had to do it.”
Elizabeth swallowed down the sob that had lodged itself at the back of her throat, then reached forward and pulled her mother into an embrace. “I really wish you hadn’t,” she murmured.
Her mother backed away, wiping tears from her eyes. “Thank you for loving me so much, Elizabeth.”
“Come on in,” said Niall. “Sit down.”
Thea gave her daughter one last long look, then went to sit on the couch. Elizabeth sat down next to her. “Did they manage to assemble the bosca fadbh?”
“Yes.”
Thea’s hands clenched in her lap, betraying her nervousness. She was a brave woman, bent on doing the right thing for the good of all, no matter what it cost her yet it was clear she was uneasy about what was to come. “So, now what? I want to be… prepared.”
Niall nodded, rubbing a hand over his chin as he sat on the armrest of one of the easy chairs in his living room. “The Book of Bindings cannot be opened until noon today. So, we hold our breath, hope nothing catastrophic happens. Until then we prepare to battle anything that comes our way in the meantime. At noon we’ll open the back of the book and—hopefully—find the magick within to break the walls.”
“So,” said Thea, glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner, “I have less than four hours left on earth.”
Elizabeth’s hands knotted together so hard she feared breaking her fingers.
“I’m sorry, Thea.” Niall sounded heartbroken, but how could he be? It wasn’t his mother who’d sacrificed her life to do the right thing. It wasn’t his last remaining family member he was about to watch die.
Thea shook her head. “What is will be.”
Elizabeth wanted to scream at her calm acceptance. She didn’t possess any of the zenlike qualities of her mother. She wanted to fight for what she wanted right up to the very end. Never give up, no matter how bad it got.
Thea raised her gaze to Niall’s. “Thank you for everything you did yesterday. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know what I would have done. I was completely overwhelmed when I arrived here. If you hadn’t met me and brought me to the queen, I’m not sure I would have ever been able to turn the pieces over.”
Every molecule in Elizabeth’s body went cold. Her body went rigid and her gaze snapped to Niall, who was watching her carefully. “What?” The word snapped out of her.
Thea turned on the couch to look at her. “He found me wandering the foyer yesterday, not knowing who to go to or whom I could trust. I was too afraid to tell anyone I had the pieces. I spotted Niall, and he brought me up to see the queen. He didn’t tell you?”
“No, he didn’t tell me.”
Her gaze swung to Niall as anger clenched in her stomach. Of course Niall had bustled Thea right upstairs with hardly a thought. He wanted the walls to fall, so his actions didn’t come as a surprise. Yet there was something especially awful knowing that it was Niall, the man she loved and the man she’d grown to trust, who had led her mother to her end. She wasn’t sure she could stomach that knowledge.
“Yes,” continued Thea, “he even tried to find me at the house.…”
Her mother continued speaking, but Elizabeth could barely hear what she was saying because of the dull buzzing in her head. Of course Niall had gone to her mother’s house, had intended to tell her what her daughter had done. His last shot had been to try and get Thea on his side. Elizabeth should have known he’d do that.
Still, this changed everything.
Her gaze met Niall’s. “You helped her kill herself, Niall?”
“Elizabeth—”
“No!” she cut him off. “You just told me you loved me, yet, just yesterday you took away my mother? How could you!”
“This is the way it has to be, Elizabeth,” Niall said, rising. “I do love you.”
Fisting her hands in her lap, she looked up at him. Her thoughts swirled just as fast as her emotions, making her feel sick.
She loved him, too. She always would. Yet this wasn’t going to work. Every time she looked at Niall, she would see her mother’s death. For a moment she’d actually believed they could have a relationship, but that had just been an illusion, a mirage—like an oasis in a desert.
She and Niall could never be together because too much lay between them.
Elizabeth stood, shook her head, and moved toward the bedroom. She was going to dress and get the hell out of here. Pausing, she turned toward him. “Last night was just a fantasy. Those pieces of the bosca fadbh will always be wedged between us, Niall. You and I can’t ever be together. We couldn’t before and we can’t now.” She paused, staring hard at him. “Especially not now.”
Tightly leashing her emotions, Elizabeth pulled off Niall’s robe and jerked on her clothes. In the other room, low voices murmured. Just as she was sitting on the bed and leaning over to pull her second boot on, something powerful hit the tower.
The force of it knocked her off the bed onto the floor. A second explosion rocked the tower, and she curled in on herself as plaster rained down from the ceiling.
TWENTY-ONE
“ELIZABETH!” Niall bellowed.
Elizabeth pushed to her feet and lunged into the living room. Another blast hit the tower. Elizabeth was thrown off balance, barely catching herself on a chair as she passed. Her mother stood near the door, hands pressed tightly to her mouth, eyes wide, while Niall stood at the window, looking down at the square.
Fear exploded through her. “Niall!” Elizabeth yelled. “Get away from the window!”
“They can rock the building, maybe do a little damage, but they’ll never break through the Shadow Queen’s shields.” He motioned to her. “Take a look.”
She had a bad feeling she knew who “they” were.
Elizabeth glanced at her mother, who had gone incredibly pale. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she stalked over to the window just in time for another volley. Niall caught her as she stumbled and she pulled away from him, giving him a cold glance before she directed her attention out the thick pane of glass.
Down in the square, Gideon stood alongside the Summer Queen. Behind them stood a small army of cloaked Phaendir, head bowed, faces shadowed, hands clasped inside the voluminous sleeves of their robes. Apparently Gideon and Caoilainn were through with shadowy collusions and secret operations.
This was a full-on frontal assault.
It made something bitter sting the back of her throat to see the
Summer Queen standing in alliance with the archdirector of the Phaendir against the Black Tower.
The square had cleared of fae. Not even one human soldier could be seen. Apparently they’d retreated at the first hint of malicious magick. Smart on their part since bullets wouldn’t help them much. Maybe they had orders to stay out of what occurred between the fae and the Phaendir.
Gideon and the Summer Queen had, of course, a magickal protective shield around them. There was no other way they could be standing so boldly in the middle of Piefferburg Square otherwise. Just as Elizabeth had considered the shield, a group of men rushed out from the base of the Black Tower.
Niall leaned forward. “The Fianna. Those idiots.”
The Fianna were men who were descended from the original Fianna of lore, though they also possessed the blood of the Tuatha Dé. Once they’d been fierce warriors, their ever-sharpened swords for hire to the Irish kings of old. In Piefferburg, without the tradition of warring kings to employ them, they lived privileged, idle lives in the Rose Tower. The group of men were known womanizers and tended to get drunk a lot, fight a lot, and play sports.
From the way they were charging into the square right now, Elizabeth assumed they’d forgotten that centuries had passed since even one of them had fought anyone but each other.
“Poor deluded bastards.” Niall’s voice sounded grim. “I give them ten seconds.”
It didn’t take even that long.
Elizabeth turned her face away as magick exploded. The Fianna were left burning on the cobblestones… in pieces. “Sweet Danu,” she breathed. “The Summer Queen just murdered members of her own court. Has she gone insane?”
“She was never all that stable.” He paused. “The goblins will be next, but they’re a lot harder to kill.”
Indeed, as soon as he’d uttered it, goblins began streaming out of the Black Tower commanded by the Shadow Queen. In a killing frenzy, the mass of tall gray creatures swarmed toward Gideon and Caoilainn. There were too many and they moved too fast to kill, though that didn’t stop Gideon from trying. Burning goblin carcasses began to fall around them.
