Black Market Magic

by Amy Sumida

  “All of Unseelie at our feet,” he said softly.

  “There's nothing like it.”

  I stared across the vastness of forest, farmland, villages, and then sparkling sea. Moonlight made the land glow softly, while darkness hid the sharp edges of Unseelie. So many people were afraid of the dark, but night could be a kindness. It was gentle and nurturing. Without the harsh heat of day, the world became a misty wonderland full of mystery and romance. Every tree and flower, every rock and creature, was transformed by the simple lack of light. It was miraculous.

  “Do you know that I would give it all up in a heartbeat for you?” Raza asked gently.

  I turned to look up at him; he was even more magnificent than the kingdom before us.

  “I would for you as well.” I framed his face with my palms. “I wouldn't want to be Queen of Unseelie if you didn't rule it.”

  “We rule, mo shíorghrá,” he corrected me with a smile. “Together.”

  “Not really.” I kissed him to soften my words. “You rule, and I support you. I'm gone far too often to know how to govern the unseelie.”

  “You don't need to be here constantly to know what our people need,” Raza said. “You just have to remember who you are, and it will come to you.”

  “I'm going to remind you of this the next time we disagree,” I teased him.

  “Good,” he said firmly. “Because I don't want to rule alone, Seren. I need you to challenge me and keep me on the right path. I need you to make sure that I—” He swallowed roughly and looked away.

  “That you don't turn into your grandfather?” I asked in a shocked whisper. “Is that what you were going to say, Raza?”

  He frowned; the ridge of his brows becoming even more prominent and shadowing his eyes into complete darkness.

  “Raza?”

  “Yes,” his voice was softer than a whisper.

  “You don't need me for that.” I eased his face back to mine. “You are a better man than you know, and an even greater king. You don't need me to make you so; you got there all on your own, dragon.”

  “You're wrong, mo shíorghrá,” his voice rumbled through the crisp air. “I may have had the potential to be a great king, but I would not be one without you.” He placed his fingers over my lips when I started to speak. “I lied to you earlier, when I said that I took the throne to save Unseelie.”

  My eyes widened.

  “I do care about our people,” he assured me. “But that's not the real reason I fought for the crown.”

  His hand dropped away, and I inhaled a confused breath.

  “Why, then?”

  “Why else, Seren?” Raza smiled self-consciously. “For you; it has ever been about you. From the moment you stepped foot into that unseelie garden, every choice I made became centered around you.”

  “You won Unseelie for me?” I shook my head. “I don't see how that... would...”

  “Ah, now you understand.”

  “Danu,” I whispered.

  “No, not Danu,” he shocked me further by saying. “When Uisdean mistreated his soldiers, forcing them to dig for Dagda's Club, I saw an opportunity to place myself in a position that would give me the most power and the greatest advantage toward winning you. It was a strategic maneuver.”

  “I don't care about power or thrones,” I stammered. “Why would you think that being King of Unseelie would win me, if not because of Danu?”

  “Perhaps she did lead me to it, but at the time, I was thinking as a fairy suitor,” Raza explained. “A king has many options, mo shíorghrá; magical and material means that make wooing a woman easier. Not the least of which would be impressing your father.”

  “Sweet Goddess,” I murmured. “You waged war so that I'd choose you over Tiernan?”

  “It was the right thing to do for Unseelie.” He lifted my hand and kissed it. “But yes: I went to war for you. I claimed this kingdom for us, and I would battle any force you bid me to, to keep your love.”

  “I don't want you to kill for me, Raza.” I slid my hand around the back of his neck and pulled his head down to mine. “I want you to live the life you were born to. I want you to rule this kingdom with strength and compassion. Be the man I fell in love with; that's what I want.”

  Raza kissed me tenderly, the taste of warmed sugar teasing my tongue. When he eased back, his golden eyes were gleaming in the moonlight.

  “I can do that,” he said.

  “Even if you don't”—I took his hand and squeezed it tightly—“even if you fall into cruelty or your dragon rages out of control, I will still love you, Raza. No matter what you do, you will never drive me away. I'm stubborn like that.”

  “Seren,” he said my name brokenly and pulled me to him.

  My robe fell away as his hot hands coasted over my shoulders. His wings folded around us, to block out the cold, but I pushed away from him.

  “No,” I said. “Put your wings away, dragon. I want to see what you won for me while I have you inside me.”

  Raza growled, a triumphant sound, and whisked his wings away. His mouth descended on mine; his lips as ferocious as his tongue. I felt him rising hard between us and took him in hand. I was about to slide down him and take him into my mouth, but Raza stopped me. He knelt before me, his massive arms wrapping around my legs as his hands kneaded my thighs. Keeping his glowing stare on mine, he lowered his mouth to me and slid his tongue over my most intimate place. I threw my head back and moaned into the wind.

  Raza was tight against me; his manhood rubbing against my shins. The sensation drove me nearly as wild as his mouth. And then his fingers slid through my thighs from behind, angling up to part me before sliding into me. My knees buckled, but Raza caught me and laid me down on my discarded robe.

  “Nothing could ever be as beautiful as you are in this moment,” Raza said as he drew a hand down my body. “Your skin shining in the moonlight, your eyes like fallen stars upon a meadow, and your lips parted softly from pleasure.”

  Raza turned his hand and slid it gently over my womanhood, splitting me with his knuckle, then brought it back up to slide a finger inside. His thumb went naturally to that special spot and began to rub. My thighs clenched, and I reached for him automatically. Raza leaned forward, continuing to work me, faster and faster, and kissed me. As he kissed me, he removed his finger and eased his member into me. I cried out, and Raza breathed in my rapture as his hips bucked forward.

  “Look, mo shíorghrá,” he growled. “You wanted to see Unseelie, so look upon it.”

  Raza stroked my temple, easing my head to the side so I could gaze across our kingdom.

  “That is the least of what I will give you,” Raza vowed as he rubbed his cheek against mine. “Name it, and it's yours.”

  “Raza, when will you learn that you are enough?” I turned back to him and kissed him softly. “This is what I want from you.” I grabbed his ass and pulled him in deeper. “This pleasure and that of your company. I want your smiles and your frowns, your shouts of anger and delight, your waking moments and your sleeping ones, your cock”—I ground myself up against him and then stroked his cheek tenderly—“and your heart. In short, Dragon King, I want far more than a kingdom from you.”

  “You have it,” Raza said softly.

  “And I still want more,” I said. “I want all of you and all you'll ever be.”

  Raza growled before lowering his mouth to mine and giving me his all while taking all of me in return.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next morning, I dressed in some cold-weather, human clothes—a long leather coat over jeans and a thick sweater—and kissed my husband goodbye. I met my Star's Guard in the great hall. As twilight shivered over Unseelie, the horizon lightening to gray and then lavender, we formed a circle and held hands. No, we weren't going to pray. I was the only one who had seen our destination, so I needed to lead our journey.

  I used my human, psychic ability to levitate just a couple of inches off the ground. The Star's Guard u
sed their air beags to do the same. We needed to be in a between place to access the In-Between. The easiest way to do so was to hover off the ground, but there were other possibilities; a beach worked well or the border between kingdoms. We just needed to be somewhere Twilight ruled in order to connect with its heart.

  Once I was floating, I let the twilight magic fill me. That sparkling energy rushed through my body and pulled all of us through the In-Between; through space itself. My heart raced, but I wasn't scared. This place between places was a second home to me. I felt more powerful there than anywhere else—and even loved. The In-Between was aware; it had a sort of sentience, and that awareness wanted to help me. It carried me kindly through itself, and deposited me exactly where I asked it to.

  We reformed in a standard hotel room; double bed with worn linens, frumpy furnishings, and smudges all over the picture window. The curtains were open on a nearly empty parking lot, all of its cracks and faded paint showing up sharply in the sunlight. It was warm in the room, but I knew I'd be needing my coat outside. It was Fall in Idaho, very close to Winter.

  “There's my lovely fiance,” Killian purred as he slid his arms around my waist and leaned into me from behind.

  I turned in Killian's embrace and slid my hands over his shoulders. Instead of responding with words, I kissed him. It had been a couple of weeks since I'd been with Killian, and there were certain needs that had to be met before I could form a coherent thought. Killian had that effect on me since the day we met. One look, one word, and I wanted him. Denying our attraction had been one of the hardest things I'd ever done. Only my reaction to Daxon surpassed it. Raza had surmised that with each Call of Danu—a Goddess-driven urge that pulls two fairies together sexually—the power of the Call had increased. With Tiernan it had been hard to stop myself, with Raza it was even more difficult, with Killian the urge became a constant throb, and with Daxon it had nearly made me a mindless bimbo. Surprisingly enough, knowing that made me feel better.

  At the moment, though, all I wanted to feel was Killian.

  My fingers trailed over his chiseled jaw and then up into the wild locks of his deep, auburn hair. No matter what Killian did to it, his hair was always misbehaving—just like he did. My hands ran downward, over his wide shoulders and thick biceps as he pulled me closer. Then the dingy room faded away under the intensity of vibrant ivy eyes and fiery hair.

  “Ahem,” Ainsley actually said the word.

  “Okay, keep your pants on,” Killian growled. “I just wanted to say hello to the woman I love. Is that all right with you, Sir Ainsley?”

  “Sorry,” Ainsley said, “but I wanted to make sure that you kept your pants on.”

  The rest of the Guard laughed as Killian fist-bumped Ainsley.

  “Nice comeback,” Killian said approvingly.

  “Thank you, Ambassador.” Ainsley grinned.

  “And that's a nice shirt, Snake-Face,” Conri said to Killian.

  “Thanks.” Killian puffed out his chest.

  Killian had his trademark leather hoodie on over jeans and a worn T-shirt with the Slytherin logo on it. He was embracing all things snake these days. I looked from his leather to mine—the coat, the gloves, even the boots—and smiled.

  “What?” Killian asked with his own grin.

  “We've dressed alike,” I noted.

  “We'll call it ambassador wear,” he said. “It seems to be our go-to look when we go to work.”

  “True.”

  “Um, excuse me,” Conri whined as he waved a hand down his jeans and leather combo.

  “Why are you always copying us, Con-man?” Killian asked Conri with a shake of his head. “It's sad.”

  Conri gaped and huffed about the look being his first while Killian strapped on a pair of iron swords. Killian and I had something else in common: an immunity to iron. Iron was fatal to full-blooded fairies. It was like poison, and a cut from it would kill a fairy if it wasn't treated magically. But Killian and I weren't full-blooded fairies, so iron didn't bother us. Still, it had been awhile since I'd seen the swords. Killian was an expert at Florentine: fighting with two swords at once—one in each hand. He was amazing with them, so much so that some of the knights had dubbed him “The Cuisinart” after they'd seen him training. But Killian rarely brought the weapons into HR with him.

  “It's that bad?” I asked Killian in shock.

  “It is.” Kill nodded. “But check this out; I've been practicing.”

  Killian gave me a brilliant smile as he waved his hand over one of the swords. A haze trailed in the wake of his palm, and the sword disappeared. He did the same to the other one.

  “Nicely done, nathair-sith,” I said approvingly.

  “Thank you.” He took a bow. “Torquil has been teaching me the beags.”

  Beags; pronounced “bigs,” were the minor magics every fairy could perform. I had to go through the training too. In fact, I was still mastering all of the elemental magics, though I had most of the accessory beags—like fairy-strike, glamour, and invisibility—down. When you were born fey, you were taught the beags as you matured, but Killian and I had to take some crash courses on the stuff.

  “Really?” I looked at Torquil.

  “He's a fast learner,” Torquil said with a smidgen of surprise.

  “Come on,” Killian waved us to the door. “The Boise Council House delivered a couple of SUVs for us last night.”

  Killian led us out of the room and down a set of cement stairs to the parking lot. There was a pair of black SUVs waiting, just as he promised.

  “You guys take that one.” Killian nodded to one of the SUVs as he tossed a set of keys to Conri.

  Conri went with half of my Guard to one of the SUVs, and Killian and I went with the other half to the remaining one. Kill opened the passenger door for me, and I climbed in. He'd become more gallant since we'd gotten engaged. I didn't call him on it; there were some things I knew I could tease Killian about, and some that I wouldn't dare. His chivalrous treatment of me was one of those that I didn't mess with. As much as I was raised to be a soldier—and Killian often treated me as such—there had always been a princess living inside me, and she liked a man who treated her gallantly. Shh; don't tell anyone.

  “Are we meeting an extinguisher team?” I asked Killian as he slid into the driver's seat.

  “Yeah, in Meridian,” he said. “There's a raid scheduled for 2 PM.”

  I glanced at the clock on the dash; it was just after 11 AM.

  “That gives us a few hours,” I said. “How far is Meridian?”

  “Not very.” Killian turned they key, and the car rumbled to life. “But I have something for us to do in the meantime.”

  “Do I want to know?” Torquil asked as he strapped on his seat belt.

  “Don't worry, Blue, you'll like it,” Killian promised.

  “Didn't you call Count Daxon 'Blue' already?” Torquil asked.

  “I can't help it if there are multiple men with blue hair,” Killian huffed. “It's a common practice to give someone a nickname referencing the color of their hair. So, I'm going to call you both Blue until I come up with something funnier.”

  “I think I'd prefer it if you stuck with 'Blue,'” Torquil muttered.

  “Then you should have kept your mouth shut, Bluebell.” Killian smirked.

  Almost as if the “blue” comments had summoned him, my cell phone rang with Daxon's number. I answered as I cast wide eyes and a mouthed “It's Daxon” at Killian. Killian chuckled as Daxon's voice filled my ear.

  “Seren, I have some bad news,” Daxon said.

  “Yeah? I do too,” I countered. “You go first.”

  “Sileas escaped.”

  “What?” I growled.

  “I don't know how it happened, and I have no excuses,” he said. “I'm sorry.”

  “It's fine,” I huffed. “My news is worse.”

  “What is it?”

  “I'm on my way into the Meridian Underground in Idaho,” I said. “In case
you didn't know it already, your fellow underground monarchs are in protest of your 'no magic selling' decree, but King Barra of Idaho has taken the protest a step further. He's allowed sorcerers into his underground to peddle their wares to other sorcerers.”

  “What the fuck did you just say to me?” Daxon snarled.

  “You heard me right.” I sighed. “Look; sit tight and handle your shit there—see if you can catch Sileas again, and I'll take care of this.”

  “Seren, be careful in that place,” Daxon warned me. “It's not like LA.”

  “I've got lots of backup; don't worry about me,” I assured him.

  “Nonetheless, I am worried.”

  “I'll call you when I'm out safe.”

  “Okay,” he muttered. “Seren, I...”

  “Not yet, Dax,” I stopped whatever he was about to say—my heart racing a little at the possibility. “I can't handle that right now.”

  “Of course,” he said crisply and hung up on me.

  “Well, that went poorly,” I muttered as I closed the phone case.

  “Sileas escaped?” Killian asked with a scowl.

  “Yeah.” I cracked my neck. “It has a strange feel to it too, don't you think?”

  “It does,” Killian agreed. “But let's worry about it later.”

  “Fair enough.”

  It took less than an hour to get to Meridian. Along the way there, Killian filled us in on the extinguisher team he'd been working with. Council members handled the set up of the raids, but it was always the Extinguishers who did any soldier work. With the Fey, the soldiers were called hunters, members of the Wild Hunt. But when it came to fairies running amok in the Human Realm, it was Extinguisher jurisdiction. There were a few teams monitoring the Underground in Idaho, but Killian had been assigned one, in particular, to work with. There were only five members in the team; three men and two women.

  “Five?” I asked as we drove into Meridian. “Isn't that a rather small team to be sending into a fairy underground? I have faith in the skill of extinguishers, but the sheer numbers of fairies down there is daunting.”

  “Most of the fairies here don't want any trouble,” Killian said. “It's only those few criminals with strong magic who we have to worry about.”