by Lisa Cardiff
“Your eyes always betray you,” he murmured, leaning closer to her. “Do you know that? You’ll never be a good liar. Stop frowning at me. It’s true. That’s something you should work on if you want to survive at Court.”
She shrank further into the pillow behind her back.
“You’re not afraid of me. Why are you running away from me again?”
“N—no,” she stammered. She lifted her left hand placing it on his chest, trying to regain some personal space, but either he refused to move or she failed to push. He wasn’t sure which. He just knew he felt that undeniable connection with her, wrapping around them once again like an invisible cocoon.
“I thought you wanted me to finish every last bite of that soup,” she said desperately. A slow smile spread across his face. He knew she was trying to regain some of the levity that existed between them before he ruined it by touching her. Laughing, he brushed a kiss across her temple. “It isn’t going to work, you know that, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
He saw the weariness in her eyes that went beyond physical exhaustion, and he sensed her desperation to force some distance between them. While he knew it was probably a good idea to back away from her, he didn’t. Instead, he succumbed to his need to comfort her. He put his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap.
He needed to take care of her until he brought her to the Faerie Realm. That entailed making her feel safe so she didn’t try to run away again or resurrect those walls around her mind. With her mind open and connected to him, he could insure her successful integration into the Fae world as the Guardian, and she could relax in his arms knowing she was protected, something he knew she hadn’t had much of in her life.
That was all he meant to do, but when he wrapped his arms around her waist, skimming the bare skin exposed above her waistband, he forgot about his well-reasoned intentions, and they were both sucked into that sliver of time and space where only the two of them existed.
The kiss began straightforward enough. Just a few brushes across her lips, but when she opened to him and kissed him back, the tone changed. Before she knew it, she was on her back, and he was bracing himself above her, yanking her sweater over her head. Lifting his gaze to hers, his heavy-lidded, green eyes glittered intently as his hands slid restlessly across her stomach, down her sides, and finally cupping her hips, pulling them forcefully into him. Avery whimpered, an unbelievable tension building in her body.
He lifted himself off her and pulled his shirt off with one hand, tossing it on the floor. He slid her pants down her legs. She fumbled with the button of his pants, finally pushing them down his hips with her legs.
Feeling the intensity of their need for each other building with every kiss, she murmured, “We shouldn’t do this again.”
If he heard the half-hearted pleading in her voice, he ignored it, trailing kisses down the side of her neck, stopping near her ear to whisper, “Yes, we should.”
She shivered when his warm breath caressed her neck. “No, we can’t,” she said, her shaky hand pushing lightly against his body.
His lifted his head a fraction from the side of her neck. “We were meant to be together. I know you feel it too. Don’t run away from it—from us.”
Looking into his emerald eyes and listening to the husky rumble of his voice, Avery believed him, and her heart beat wildly in response. “Kalen…” she whispered, her lips brushing his, and her hands curling over the top of his shoulders. Beneath her fingers, his body felt like warm silk covering stone.
Pulling away from her, he cradled her face between his hands and stared intently into her eyes.
Look at me. You know you feel our connection. This was meant to be. Just trust it and trust me. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.
His unspoken words penetrated the haze of their lovemaking, and she smiled. There was nothing slick in his words, only profoundly stirring sincerity. She knew from the moment their eyes met outside the Foundation that she was meant to be with him. She was done fighting it, fighting him.
When he touched her, every cell in her body felt alive, pulsing with love. She wanted to stop erecting barriers around her heart and hiding from life, so she allowed herself to believe in him. As if he heard her conclusion as it drifted through her mind, he kissed her again; possessively this time, letting her decision soak in, and their fate was sealed.
Kalen placed a hand on the inside of her knees and trailed it up the inside of her thigh. She let her legs open, inviting his touch. The minute his finger reached her center, she whimpered at the sensual onslaught of his fingers stroking her while he kissed her deeply.
He tore his mouth away from her and sprinkled kisses over her chest and neck. By the time he returned to her mouth, Avery was clawing at his shoulders. Kalen pulled her pelvis tight against his erection, pressing it against her center, teasing her until she groaned with want, and then he drove into her. Every slow, calculated thrust pushed them closer to the edge of reason.
Open your eyes.
Her long black eyelashes fluttered as she opened her eyes. They gazed into each other, never breaking contact. They were meant to be together, so she let him into her mind, body, and soul. Desire, wonder, and confusion flashed across his face, and she smiled knowing he felt as entranced as she did. He pulled her legs around his waist. She felt pleasure building as his thrusts sped up until they both reached their peak.
When they were done, they lay quietly side-by-side, facing each other, bodies intertwined, cherishing the sensation of being connected. Now completely dark outside, the overhead light cast a dim yellow glow across their naked bodies.
Lying next to Kalen, listening to the wind brush through the leaves outside the bedroom window, Avery felt carefree. She pulled Kalen closer, wanting to shelter them from reality. Astonished at her blissful feelings, she buried her face in his chest and smiled. Despite Dierdre’s death and Kalen’s revelations, she was happy because she had Kalen on her side. She felt that truth in her soul almost as much as those truths she felt as a child when she watched people carefully as part of her truth seeker game.
Her connection to him grew every moment they were together, especially now that she was no longer fighting it. She still didn’t understand him or what he was because he was able to withhold a part of himself from her, not letting her get inside him completely. When she probed his thoughts like she did with others as a child, there seemed to be an inviolate core or darkness about him that waxed and waned. Recognizing that barrier or darkness didn’t frighten her or diminish their connection. She felt that with time, he would let her in fully, just like she did with him.
His hands roamed lazily up and down her bare back. Tilting her chin up to look at him, she saw his green eyes narrowed in thought. “What’s wrong? What are you thinking?”
His muscles tensed. Abruptly, he pushed her onto her back and he rolled on top of her, his thighs pushing between hers. Bewildered, she studied the suddenly fierce-looking features of his face. She couldn’t read his expression, but she knew he was on edge.
“If you don’t want to go with me to the Faerie Realm, I can take you away from here to someplace where neither the Fae nor the Foundation will find you.” The statement rolled off his tongue in a low growl.
“What would happen to you if you let me go?” she whispered, smiling warmly.
“I would be banished to the Unseelie Court or maybe I’d just stay with you. That is, if you want me.”
She reached up to caress his rough cheek with her heart in her eyes. “I trust you to make the right decision. I know you’ll take care of me wherever we go. It’s up to you.”
Kalen regarded her wordlessly. While he felt like hugging her for trusting him, he couldn’t deny he wanted to shake her for the same reason. Gaining her trust virtually guaranteed the success of his mission. He felt hollow thinking how much his duplicity could hurt Avery. If everything went smoothly once they crossed over, he reasoned sh
e never had to know he had agreed to seduce her if she wavered or kill her if she sided with the Foundation. Still, a feeling of impending doom weighed on him.
He wished there was an alternative for her. Uncertainty ate at his gut, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. While he could give her freedom, he couldn’t guarantee her safety. He could leave her hints or a trail to a place where she would be safe for a couple years, maybe five if she were lucky. Five years of freedom might be better than a lifetime of being a pawn.
Pushing back his dark thoughts, he thrust into her. The urgency and wildness of his desire made her arch against him and gasp. His need to be inside her again made their previous love making seem as though it had never happened. Her body sensed the demanding almost primal nature of his possession, but instead of causing fear, her body responded by mimicking his need as though their mood were mutual. A shared burst of light marked their union, and it was over almost as quickly as it started. The desperation and intensity of their lovemaking left them both exhausted, and Avery wordlessly rolled into his embrace and fell asleep.
Kalen watched her eyes shutter and her breath even out, but then the emptiness started to seep back into his core. His need for her scared him. He hadn’t felt this close to someone since Mary Margaret. No, that wasn’t true. He never felt half as much for Mary Margaret as he did for Avery. Part of him wanted to hold onto her and never let go, and part of him wanted to run as fast as possible. He looked at her features softened by sleep, and he envied her oblivion and naiveté. Her conscience was clear, but his was burdened with missteps.
He had things to do to prepare for the crossover, and he should get up, but reality would come quick enough. Instead, he pulled up tangled covers from the end of the bed and wrapped his body around hers. Tomorrow could wait.
Throwing his hand over his face to block light beaming into the room, Kalen rolled away from Avery and onto his back, unsure what woke him. He heard the front door’s lock turn and he knew who was coming and what had caused him to wake up prematurely. Cian had finally tracked them down. A part of him hoped Cian would find him before he crossed into the Faerie Realm with Avery, and this mess would be over and out of his hands. Cian wouldn’t have it any other way. Kalen could fight him, but that would be messy, and Kalen didn’t think he could handle any more complications.
“It looks like the Queen’s concerns about you were valid,” Cian said, pausing in the doorway to the bedroom, the morning light framing him in such a manner as to seem otherworldly, his faerie-kissed skin shimmering with a translucent radiance. If it had been Aerin or the Queen walking into the bedroom, he would have said the entrance was made for dramatic effect, but Cian wasn’t one to use such tactics.
Kalen sat up and leaned against the headboard. He looked to Avery and saw she was awake. He wasn’t pleased he inadvertently subjected her to a reunion with her father while naked in bed with a new lover, but regrets wouldn’t get him anywhere.
“And what are the Queen’s concerns these days?” he said with a steady voice, his face a shuttered mask.
Cian directed his gaze toward Avery. “I’m guessing this is my daughter, Ashling.”
“Avery,” Kalen responded. He wasn’t sure where Cian was going with this conversation. “She calls herself Avery, not Ashling.” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Avery lay unmoving in bed with the sheet clutched near her shoulders. He thought he should console her, but it probably wasn’t the best idea right now given the barely contained anger emanating from Cian.
“Okay, Avery it is,” Cian mumbled as his eyes raked over Kalen and Avery in bed together. “I’m so glad you found my hospitality welcoming. When I mentioned I still had this house, I was happy to let you use it, but I was by no means implying you were free to use my daughter too.”
Ignoring the comment, Kalen nodded in Cian direction. “Avery, this is Cian, your father.”
“Nice to meet you or see you again,” Avery mumbled, blushing.
Kalen turned his attention back to Cian. “Are you here to make sure I’m following all the rules? I’ve been checking in with the Queen as promised. There’s no need for your interference.”
“Yes, I know. The Queen confided as much in the last meeting with the Court.” Cian moved into the room and settled himself on the edge of a chair in the corner facing the bed.
“What meeting? I wasn’t invited to a Court meeting,” Kalen replied guardedly. A meeting called in his absence didn’t bode well for him. With all the plots within the Court, being purposefully left out of a meeting wasn’t good news.
“The Queen claimed she and Aerin were unable to reach you.”
“That’s not true. I talked to them a few hours ago.”
“I figured as much.”
“Then, why are you here?” Cian tapped his fingers lightly on the wooden arm of the chair, trying to appear unaffected by the awkward circumstances, but the muscle tensing in his jaw betrayed him.
“Let’s see, how should I explain my sudden appearance?” He regarded Kalen in stony silence. “I’ll begin with the item that is mostly likely to concern you. The Queen presented a case to the members of Court that you’re a rogue agent working for yourself.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. What motive would I have to work alone?”
“Power. Control. If you control her then you control the Treasures. I wasn’t entirely convinced of your guilt, so I volunteered to check on you.”
“I’m touched by your defense of me,” Kalen said in a mocking voice.
“Don’t be. Her accusation was hopelessly generic. You could say it about anybody who was in charge of the mission. If you’re controlling Ashling or if you’re in league with her to some nefarious end, you wouldn’t have endangered her existence by expressing concerns to the Queen that Ashling might be working for the Foundation. We both know if the Foundation converted Ashling to their cause, we would have to kill her. It didn’t make sense.”
Kalen felt Avery flinch and his hands itched to touch her. “I don’t need you to defend me. The Queen’s accusations don’t hold any merit.”
“My defense of you wasn’t out of concern for you, but for my daughter. We’ve both been in this world of political backbiting for a long time. My daughter, however, has not and she is vulnerable to being exploited. I will not let her be exploited by you, the Foundation, or the Court.”
Kalen raised an eyebrow. “So that’s it. You think I’m trying to exploit your daughter for my own gain.”
“I don’t think you’re trying to exploit my daughter.” Cian eyes shifted to Avery and then returned to Kalen. “It looks like you already have. I just don’t understand why you did it if it wasn’t for power.”
“Excuse me,” Avery interrupted, her voice laced with discomfort. When both Kalen and Cian’s eyes were focused on her, she shifted her body upright in the bed. “I don’t think it’s imperative we have this conversation right now. I think we should… should reconvene in the living room in a few minutes when we are finished getting ready for the day.”
“Of course, I’m sorry,” Cian responded as he stood. “I’ll be waiting for you both in the living room.” Cian walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Avery leaned over the edge of the bed and grabbed Kalen’s shirt—which had been carelessly thrown there the night before—with the tips of her fingers. She yanked it over her head without letting the sheet drop then got out of bed and walked toward the door, not stopping to look at Kalen who had become notably silent.
Combing her hair with her fingers, she looked at him as he pulled his arms through a black, long sleeve shirt he must have found in the dresser. She watched him close each button, his fingers steady and sure. Without looking her way, he opened the door and walked out of the bedroom. Stunned by his sudden coldness, she trailed dumbfounded in his wake.
Avery stopped at the entrance of the living room, leaning one hip against the wall and propping her hand on the other. “Humor me. What
does my suddenly interested parent have to say after twenty-some years of absence from my life? Oh and, by the way, if you want to play the part of an involved parent, you should know my name is Avery, not Ashling, just like Kalen said.”
As Avery confronted her father, Kalen leisurely sat down. He leaned back in a chair and stretched his legs—an intentionally apathetic posture meant to convey his lack of interest in the upcoming confrontation. “Cian, perhaps it’s better if we settle the misunderstandings between us before you involve Avery.”
“No. I think this conversation should be had in the open, so you don’t try to manipulate her later,” Cian said. He and Kalen stared at each other with palpable disdain. Avery figured their intense stare signaled a mental conversation. Finally, Kalen broke eye contact with Cian to glance at her, and a look akin to remorse flashed briefly across his face, but it was quickly replaced with a cool, impassive façade.
“Okay, Cian. You win. Let’s spill it all right here. Enlighten Avery, would you?” When Cian didn’t continue, Kalen filled the silence. “In case you forgot where you were, I’ll refresh your memory. I think Avery interrupted you right when you were accusing me of exploiting your daughter. I think that’s a little dramatic, but we can start there.”
“What does she know?” Cian interjected.
“About me or about herself?”
“Both.”
“I gave her a basic recital of the facts regarding who the Foundation is, who we are, who that makes her, and why both the Foundation and the Tuatha Dé want her. About me, I don’t know. Ask her.”
Cian nodded and then changed his focus back to Avery. “Do you have any questions about the Foundation or us?”
“Plenty,” Avery said. “But I have a feeling those questions can wait. Right now, I want to talk about your allegations.”
“Fair enough. As you heard, the Queen was concerned Kalen might try to use you to his own advantage—”
