by Joshua King
Brielle's legs draped over my arms as I took hold of her hips and lifted them slightly so I could align the tip of my cock with her entrance. She was hot and ready, and I wasn't going to hesitate any longer. I plunged into her, the angle allowing me to press deep and fill her completely. The resistance that had squeezed against my fingers was still there, but I pushed past it, eliciting a cry of blended pain and pleasure. The look of shock on Brielle's face lasted only a few seconds before melting away to an expression of pure bliss. She held tightly to my arms as I thrust into her. The fabric of her nightgown still covered her breasts, but I could see them bouncing with each hard stroke. I let go of her hips and reached up to pull the fabric down, releasing the swells.
Her legs bent on either side of me as I leaned forward to close my mouth over one of her breasts. My tongue flicked over her nipple and I felt it harden further. Our mouths caught and I pounded into her faster, each thrust harder, until the sensations became so intense that I knew I couldn't last any longer. With one final, impaling stroke, I buried myself deep inside Brielle and gritted my teeth against my roar that tore from my chest as I poured out into her. Her body responded instantly, her climax clenching down around me and milking me as she lifted her head to cry out against the curve of my neck and shoulder.
I held myself as deep within her as I could as the sensations coursed through me, not wanting to lose even a second of the intensity. Finally, we crawled up onto the bed and collapsed into each other's arms. As much as I wanted to stay like that, I couldn't let us be that vulnerable. I reluctantly dressed before lying down beside her again and gathering her against me.
"Why are you here, Hayden?" she asked.
"For you."
"But what brought you here? To the village?"
I had held back up until then, only sharing basic information, but that wasn't enough anymore. If I had my way, Brielle was coming with us and that meant she needed to know who we were and what we were doing. Pulling closer to her, I took her hand in mine and started telling her about everything that happened. She listened intently, not saying anything and giving no indication about how she felt or what she was thinking. I didn't try to sugarcoat anything or simplify what was ahead of us. She deserved to know every gritty detail and the true magnitude of what was happening, even if it wasn't the most pleasant of stories.
"I want you to come with us," I finished.
She reached out and ran her hand along my cheek.
"I can't, Hayden. You know that."
"No, I don't know that. Why can't you? You don't believe in what we're fighting for?"
"I do. I believe in all of it. The longer the opposing powers in the realms of the Underworld go unchecked, the more devastation there will be for everyone. I want to see the world united and to seek vengeance for those who were victims of the fight for control."
"Then come with us."
"I have obligations to my kind."
"No, you don't. You shouldn't feel that way, Brielle. These aren't your obligations. None of this was your choice. Think about the way they talked about you. When the five of us came here and they sent us looking for you, they never even mentioned you were a person, much less told us your name or why you mattered to them. They just said the Dark Fae King had taken something of theirs and they wanted it back. All that matters to them is what you can do for them. Is that really the type of people you want to feel obligated to for your entire life? You are willing to give up everything you believe in and everything you feel for a decision someone else made for you? We want you to be a part of our group, to travel with us and fight beside us. We leave tomorrow. On our way out of the village, you can escape from the palace and follow when they lead us to the portal."
"No. We leave tonight."
"But we need to get to the portal."
"You don't need anyone else for that. I know where it is. I will guide us there. No one in the village can say anything against you going through. What needed to be done to use it has been done. They can't go back on it now."
Hope filled my chest and I kissed her deeply before climbing off the bed.
"Wait half an hour and then go to the window below here. I'll go get the others and we'll be back for you."
I gave her one more kiss and rushed from the palace.
Time pressed around me like it had in the glass maze as I rushed the rest of the group to get ready to leave. For the first time since our escape I thought about the Dark Fae King and his reaction to us taking back Brielle and destroying so much of his army. He hadn’t come after us, but there wasn’t a single part of me that believed that was actually going to last. The longer it took him to try to find us, the more dangerous it was going to be. We had to be ready. Getting through the portal and out of the woods would put some distance between us.
We hurried through the village to the palace and I ushered the group to the back, expecting to see Brielle looking out waiting for me to help her down. Instead, I saw only a stark black gap in the wall.
"She’s not there," I said.
Erral stepped up beside me. His height brought him far closer to the window, something I was planning on taking advantage of. I’d envisioned a King Kong moment of him scooping Brielle out of the palace, so I didn’t have to worry about dropping her while helping her down. The only flaw in the plan was actually having to have her there to rescue.
"Are you sure this is where she is waiting?" Aurora asked.
"Yes." I stepped up closer to the building and focused my mind on her, trying to connect with her thoughts so I could find out where she was. After several seconds of nothing, I looked back at the women and shook my head. "I can’t reach her. The connection isn’t working."
"It might not work with her immediately," Stephana said. "She’s a different magical species. The link might not immediately form. You might have to tell her about it before she is open to it."
"What are we going to do?" Ashe asked.
"We need to get inside. If she can’t come out to us, we’re going in to get her."
Scrambling up the wall again or having Erral pick each of us up and deliver us through the window didn’t seem practical, so we made our way back around to the front of the palace. On our first pass we had kept ourselves in the shadows so we wouldn’t be seen by the guards standing at the doors. As we came around the corner, prepared with weapons from Jaxxim’s stash, I noticed rather than the two attendants who had been there originally, there was now a group of six. They created a wall across the doors, standing shoulder to shoulder as they stared out directly in front of them.
"What’s going on?" Aurora asked.
"I don’t know, but it can’t be a good thing. Just act like we’re supposed to be here."
It was the only plan I had at the moment. Some of the faces of the guards standing in front of the doors looked familiar and I recognized them as attendants from inside the palace earlier. There was a chance they would recognize us as well and simply let us through, thinking we had more business with the Queen. We had only gotten to within a few yards of the doors when it became obvious getting into the palace wasn't going to be that simple. Rather than parting to let us through, the guards tightened their ranks, squeezing closer together to block the doors more securely.
"Let us through," I commanded.
"No one is permitted to enter," one of the guards said. "By order of the Queen."
"We have business with her," I told him. "We were here earlier."
"No one is permitted to enter. By order of the Queen."
"She invited us to join her," Aurora said, tossing her own slightly stretched version of the truth into the ring.
"No one is permitted to enter. By order of the Queen."
"We heard you the first time."
I turned to look at each of the women. Our eyes met and I felt the link form between us. I'd never tried to link to all three of them at the same time and it felt like my brain was being squeezed, but I fought through the discomfort, trying to get use
d to the strong connection so I could more easily communicate with them.
"Should we go back to the window?" Aurora asked silently.
I shook my head subtly.
"Something is going on. Do you think Brielle is in danger?"
Nodding, I glanced back to the guards.
"No one is permitted to enter. By order of the Queen."
"Who pulled your string? We heard you."
Bex bobbed his head in the opposite direction and we walked several yards away, sinking back into the shadows again so they couldn't watch us.
"The only reason that many guards would be standing outside stopping anyone from going in is if there is some serious shit going down in there."
"Exactly," I said. "We need to get in there and get Brielle out. The guards are obviously not going to let us pass, so we're going to have to find a more compelling way to convince them."
As good as the guards were at standing in place and repeating their instructions monotonously, they were not prepared for us to burst out of the shadows at them and attack. After a few surprised seconds, they pushed back, and our brawl spilled down onto the street in front of the palace. Now was not the time for subtlety. It didn't matter what it took, we were getting inside.
Erral swept one of the guards off his feet and tossed him away, then reached for another. I slashed at the guard in front of me with my sword and turned to plunge the blade through the belly of another. When the guards were away from the doors, Erral looked at me.
"Go," he said. "I’ll take care of this."
I ran through the doors with the women and Bex at my heels. The Queen’s voice echoed through the building, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. I ran through the halls toward the throne room. My heart fell into my stomach when we burst through the door.
The Queen stood on a platform in front of her throne, her arms held high above her head. She held an elaborate chalice, the jewels embedded in the gold glinting in the light. In front of her stood a man with a shock of pale blond hair and large wings spread out from his back. At his feet in a dress that pooled around her and a headpiece that sent pale blue fabric streaming down her back was Brielle.
11
I was only a few steps into the throne room when the cloaked figures swarmed from either side. The attack was serious and blindingly fast, making it almost impossible for me to tell who had come at us. Knowing the rest of my group was close enough for me to hurt them, I kept myself from using my magic to force back my attackers. Instead, I used the weapons I brought in and finally had one of the men on his back. Tearing away his hood, I revealed the face of a member of the Dragon.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded.
The man laughed through the blood trailing down his face and tried to buck me off him so he could sit up, but I used my strength to slam him back down onto the marble floor.
"We were invited to join in the celebration," he said.
"What celebration?"
"The wedding."
Smashing the man's head hard enough onto the ground to render him unconscious, I forced my way through the rest of the group to Brielle. She was already on her feet, but before I could touch her, one of the Dragon grabbed me and wrenched me away from her.
"You didn't think the Queen was going to let her get away again, did you?" he asked. "You didn't actually believe they were just going to celebrate Brielle's return and not make sure she didn't get away again."
"What do you have anything to do with that?"
"You already know the members of the Dragon are hybrids. Each of us has Fae blood. It has been our purpose from the beginning to bring power and control to our own kind. This marriage would mean incredible things for us. When The War comes, we must all be prepared to stand up for what we believe in and strike down those who oppose us. The blending of the Prince and the most powerful healer in recent history would make us virtually untouchable. There is only one thing that stands in our way, and that's you, Hayden."
The man's words acted as a catalyst. The battle rose up violently and again I was tangled up in an intense clash that kept me from Brielle. I could hear the Queen's voice, and though I didn't understand what she was saying, I knew she was continuing with the wedding ceremony. It didn't matter if Brielle was willing to go along with it or not. They were going to force her into the marriage so they could reap from it what they wanted. My hand shot out and wrapped around a man's throat. I sent a blast of magic through to my fingertips and watched his body convulse. His skin sizzled and my fingers slipped closer together as his skin and muscles burned away. His corpse dropped to the ground and I turned around to continue the fight. In that instant, I saw one of the men take hold of Aurora and sling her across the floor. She tried to pull herself up, but he came down over her, bringing his fists down into the center of her chest. Without realizing what I was doing, I reached out for him and his body pulled back as if I had grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him away from her. An instant later, Aurora rose up off the floor, held suspended above the man who attacked her by a band of magic stretching from my fingertips. Carefully controlling her movements, I shifted Aurora through the air and over to another of the hooded Dragon members.
As the man came closer, Aurora pulled back and planted her foot in his face. The force of the kick pushed him back, but I noticed a slight glow around the impact. She noticed it too, and her eyes met mine.
"I just used your magic," she said to me through her thoughts.
I nodded to show her I heard. It was something we hadn't been able to do before. Our link had only been the ability for me to listen to her thoughts, but now it seemed I could transfer at least some of my powers over to her. I carefully lowered her to the floor and turned to find Ashe. She had seen what happened with Aurora and gave a consenting bob of her head. Channeling the same protective rage, I sent out another band of magic and wrapped it around her, sweeping her off her feet and up into the air. The masked Dragon members around us watched with a combination of awe and fury. They slashed at her, but I kept her out of their reach. I lifted my other hand and directed it at her. Creating a ball of energy, I focused on the space between us and sent the glowing orb toward Ashe. Part of me was aware of the risk of what I was doing. There was the distinct possibility that instead of my intended result, the orb of magic would get to Ashe and hurt her. Relief and excitement filled me when I saw her extend her hand and the ball of glowing magic came to rest in her palm. She held it for only a second before launching it toward another of the Dragon members. It burst, sending sparks over the man's skin and bringing him to the ground.
My focus was so intently locked on the new connection I'd discovered with my women I wasn't paying enough attention to what was going on around me. A hard impact from behind me flattened me to my face on the ground and I heard a gut-wrenching groan as Ashe fell without my magic to hold her up. Rolling over onto my back, I tried to fend off the attack of whoever had forced me to the ground, but they moved too quickly. Three men came down on me with hard blows from their fists and sharp, burning punctures from unseen weapons. The frenzy was coming too quickly for me to gather my thoughts, but just as everything was starting to go dark, a loud sound and something stinging on my skin broke the flurry of the assault. The three men moved away from me and I got to my feet as fast as I could. The floor beneath me looked strange and I followed the glistening white and blue patches with my eyes to see Bex a few feet away. He was standing on what looked like a mound of ice and snow, the pristine white surface marred with blood dripping down from one arm. One of the masked men came at me again, and Bex reached up toward the ceiling with the opposite hand, suddenly turning it and forcing it down toward the floor. As he did, a blast of shards of ice exploded from his palm and spread out across the floor. It hit one of the men, instantly freezing him so his skin became pale blue and glittering with ice crystals.
Bex dropped to his knees, the other hand now dripping blood on the floor around him. The explosion of ice was e
nough to tip the battle back into our favor and we fought with every drop of ferocity we could gather. Pain radiated through my body, telling me some of my wounds had been created by magic rather than a traditional weapon. They wouldn't heal as easily, but I wouldn't let the pain or exhaustion stop me. The throne room seethed with clashing streams of magic, the air bright with different bursts of color and heavy with acrid, metallic smells. Finally, the floor was littered with the bodies of the Dragon and the guards that had come to their aid. The Queen screamed for her son, who grabbed hold of Brielle and started for a door at the back of the room. In one last push of the energy I had left, I chased after them. My energy was nearly depleted and all I could manage was enough magic to send the Prince to the floor. But it was enough to claim Brielle back and run from the palace.
Erral was already holding all our bags when we ran from the doors of the palace. I could only see four of the guards that had blocked the doors, and I tried not to think about where the other two might be. The giant came toward us and scooped Ashe and Brielle into the arm not holding our supplies. Without us having to say anything, he followed us as we ran from the village and into the waiting woods. I didn't know how long my body would hold up and the trail of blood Bex left as he ran alongside me was enough to make me worried he wasn't going to make it far, either. We ran until I dropped to my knees in a cluster of dead tree trunks and Stephana dropped down beside me. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and helped me sit, leaning me back against one of the trees.
