Queen of Midnight: A Dark Fae Fantasy Romance (Court of Lies Book 3)

by Olivia Hart

  When I turned around, Sebastian was right behind me, and I thrust the burger towards him. “Eat this, and don’t you dare tell me that it’s not the best thing you’ve ever eaten.”

  A resounding sense of dread washed over me as our bond translated his emotions to me. “What is it?”

  “It’s a burger. Meat on bread with some veggies in there. Eat it.”

  He looked at the food in his hand and with far more trepidation than I had ever seen from someone holding a burger, he brought it to his mouth. I took a bite of mine as he said, “Wait, is this going to stab me? Does the burger god require sacrifices too?”

  I had a really hard time not choking when he said that with complete seriousness. I swallowed the bite and said, “No. There’s no burger god to sacrifice to just like there’s no chip god. I was being sarcastic. Come on, try it. I eat your weird Immortal Realm food all the time.”

  He took a bite of the burger and slowly chewed, probably still wary of sharp things hidden in it. When he finally swallowed, he said, “It’s not bad, but I’ve had far better food. What kind of meat is this anyway?”

  “How can you say that? I’ve just changed your life. A person hasn’t lived until they’ve had burgers for the first time.”

  Sebastian shrugged, and for just a moment, I wondered how I could possibly be in love with a person who didn’t enjoy a good burger. Then I turned around, purposefully ignoring him and enjoying my little moment of perfection.

  That was when Astriel walked up to me with a devious look in her eyes. As soon as I finished the bite, I closed my eyes and said, “No. You just wait. You will not ruin my burger with whatever terrible thing you’re about to make me do. Let me finish, and then you can torture me however you want.”

  When I opened my eyes, Astriel had her lips closed tightly, but the grin wasn’t gone. I took another bite and gave her a look that said, “Don’t you dare try it.” She didn’t say a word, but she didn’t look away either. These immortal Fae had the whole patience thing down to a science.

  When I finally finished the burger, I said, “It’s time for games, isn’t it?”

  Sebastian walked up from behind me, his burger either eaten or discarded, and said, “Games? What kind of games?”

  Astriel grinned. “We have several. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the first one, Sebastian. We’re playing bobbing for nipples.”

  I blinked my eyes, but fear rose in Sebastian faster than I could have imagined. This was not the fun kind of fear like with the burger. He turned around and pulled me to the ground as he jumped backward.

  Embrys was transforming. An arm rose from his back while one of his scaled legs had disappeared. The skin of this new arm was a muted silver, shining in the torchlight, and in the hand, an obsidian dagger was held upward. One of the GSS’s silver swords swung down, clanging against the obsidian.

  A head began to appear from the back of Embrys and rose like someone surfacing from a pool of Embrys’s scales, thin strands of hair forming as it rose. Another goblin appeared beside it and swung his sword faster than you could blink an eye.

  The silver blade slashed through the neck of the creature rising from Embrys, and the head seemed to fall off, rolling along the floor. Another head began to form from the creature’s neck, and finally, Sebastian seemed to snap to. I was frozen. I had no idea what was happening.

  Lunging with his blade, he sliced through the wrist of the creature even as another arm grew from Embrys’s back. The obsidian dagger fell to the ground, and the goblin picked it up.

  Without hesitation, he thrust the blade into Embrys’s side. I had to blink several times to believe what I was seeing. The dagger hadn’t bounced off Embrys’s scales.

  Then I understood. This was not Embrys. The scream that filled the Throne Room emphasized this. Everything changed all at once. The decapitated head disappeared as if it had been an illusion. The thing shook, the entire confusing and grotesque body convulsing on the floor.

  And then, it too disappeared. All that was left of the bizarre creature was a silver slug. Sticking out of it was the obsidian dagger, and the goblin still held it, his eyes holding flickering flames for the first time in his life.

  A liquid that seemed extremely similar to quicksilver poured from the gash in its side. I glanced at Sebastian who was staring down at the creature. “What in the fuck is that thing?”

  “A changeling,” he whispered.

  “Yeah, what the fuck is a changeling?” I asked as Sebastian was edging towards it. I followed him, every nerve in my body on edge.

  “They live in the forests far outside of the Court of Light. I had no idea that Seraphina had convinced any of them to work for her. Their natural state is like this, but as soon as they are adolescents, they begin to create new bodies around them.”

  “They shift the flesh around, molding it and shaping it extremely quickly. Almost as fast as I do with the mists. Except that it is real flesh. The muscles are made of magic, but they work just like normal muscles. They can look or act like anything or anyone.”

  I shivered as he continued, “The blade was already out when the goblins moved to strike. If I hadn’t heard them start running, you or I would have had a dagger in our back.”

  I looked to the goblins who stood at attention in front of us. “Thank you for your vigilance even here in the Dark Tower.”

  The goblin who held the dagger offered it to me. “Lady, that’s our job. We take our jobs very seriously.” He glanced at the other goblin. “The last thing I’d want is to be forced to wash dishes for the rest of my life.”

  I took the dagger from him as the other goblin nodded emphatically. “Well, thank you. I’m sure it won’t be the last time.”

  It was then that the real Embrys appeared. He let out a bit of smoke that looked very much like his dragon-sized litter box. I tapped into it, glad nothing bad had happened. “I leave for a few moments and you start believing that I look like that creature?”

  “Oh hush, Embrys. I was paying attention to the food, not your scaley butt.”

  He blew another bit of smoke. “That is a good reason to ignore people. I will not be angry.”

  I grinned at Embrys as I realized that at least one being in the room understood my love of food. The goblins nodded and went back to their posts along the walls, both of them with wide smiles. “Well, that was a party foul if I ever saw one,” I said with a sigh.

  Astriel and Tara walked up to me then. “If you think a dead changeling is going to get you out of bobbing for nipples, then you’re dead wrong.” She paused for a moment and said, “Maybe that wasn’t the right word considering the situation.” She glanced at the servants who were cleaning the floors and disposing of the changeling’s body.

  I looked at the large basin filled with water and rubber nipples. “Can I say that I’m sick?”

  “Nope.” I glared at Sebastian. “These people fed you things you have been craving for months. The least you can do is look like a fool for an hour or two.”

  I sighed. “Fine.”

  Sebastian pulled me closer to him as we walked. “Plus, you get to see me look like a fool. I’m sure that will cheer you up.”

  “You know me so well.”

  Chapter 32

  Rose

  I glanced at the wine bottle that Sebastian held. I would love to have just one glass of wine before bed. It would be the perfect end to a perfect day. I’d never expected a baby shower. Truthfully, I hadn’t even thought about having one. The war had become the only thing that mattered.

  I pulled my shirt off and tossed it on the chair I normally would have sat at. Then the pants came off next. Sebastian gave me a confused look as he poured himself a glass of wine. The scent of soft raspberries filled the air, and my mouth watered. I knew I couldn’t have it. That didn’t mean that I wouldn’t have loved some. It was absolutely unacceptable that I was forced into a year of sobriety in a place with such good wine.

  I crawled into the bed and grinned at him
. “I know that you like to have a glass of wine before bed, but would you rather have the wine or me?” I asked.

  I swear that Sebastian nearly dropped the bottle and the glass as he rushed to the bed. It had been too long. Seeing him be silly today had reminded me of what our lives had been like not that long ago.

  He may have been a sex god, but there was nothing that turned me on as much as watching him laugh and smile. Ignoring the changeling issue, today had been one of those days that made you happy to be alive. To see friends and adopted family laughing together.

  But now that I was looking at Sebastian, I was reminded of just how beautiful he was. Sometimes I took it for granted, but as he ran his fingers through that long black hair, I felt that familiar stirring inside me. I may have been bound to Sebastian, but right at that moment, I wanted him. And that was a completely different feeling.

  He pulled off the black silk shirt and tossed it onto the chair. His hard chest and rippling abs made me run a hand under the blanket. He could feel my emotions and desires through our bond, especially with how focused he was on me.

  I bit my bottom lip as my fingers began to dance between my legs, and he gave me that devilish grin that I remembered so clearly. He didn’t rush to get his clothes off. Instead, he watched me as he slowly kicked his boots off and began to unbutton his pants.

  As his pants hit the ground my eyes moved down lower than his abs, staring at his manhood. He was already hard. For the first time, I recognized the hunger that had been in his eyes for so long. Not a hunger for my power. A hunger for me.

  As he slid into bed next to me, he paused for a moment. I could tell that he was torn between whatever he was thinking and what he knew I was offering. Then he sighed and whispered, “Once upon a time, you told me something that I haven’t forgotten. You said that you wanted to learn what it was like to be an incubus so that you could teach our child if I can’t. We’re going to war tomorrow, and there’s always that chance.”

  I nodded as he put his hand on my stomach, his fingers tracing my curves. “My mother learned as much as my father could teach her, but she wasn’t you. She couldn’t become me.”

  His fingers tracing my naked skin felt so perfect. I knew what he was saying, but it was so hard to think of anything except his touch. The only things that kept me from getting lost in the sensations were his eyes which wouldn’t let me lose touch.

  “I want you to truly know what it is to be an incubus, Rose. I want you to tap into me with the Gift of Sacrifice and take it all in. The hunger, the skills, the power. Everything. Drag me into a dreamscape and make me yours. I need to know that you can teach our child if he’s like me.”

  Sebastian’s hand left my body, and I felt myself becoming more coherent, more aware of exactly what he’d said.

  “Are you sure? I don’t know what it will be like to do that. I don’t know what it would be like to really understand it all. You struggled with leashing your urges for a long time, but you knew that there would be consequences. What would happen if I drained you? What would happen if I didn’t know how to stop?”

  He smiled. “It’s not as hard as it sounds. Really, it’s not. You’re not starving, and I’m not a human or even a lesser Fae. You’d have to really forget everything you already know to drain me.”

  I turned and looked at the ceiling, almost embarrassed by what he wanted me to do. Then his hand was on my thigh, inching closer to that place between my legs. I felt him through our bond. He wanted this. He wanted me to understand him in a way that no one else in the world did.

  For our child, but also for him.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I focused on the silver strand of power that connected us with the Gift of Sacrifice. I let it grow, and suddenly, a wave of feelings and needs rushed through me.

  Something changed in my mind. The hunger drove me. Sebastian was full of power, and he was vulnerable. Power rose to the surface of my skin, and it tugged at his, loosening his energy as I let my fingers graze his stomach. He moaned softly as my fingers moved up his chest to his neck.

  I tied a tether to his soul by the instincts that came from his power and prepared to take him into a dream world. His desires filled me, and I couldn’t ignore them. I ran my hands over his face, and he smiled up at me as I climbed on top of him.

  I felt these new powers pulling his eyes towards mine, and the world faded away from him even as I saw both worlds. The dreamscape appeared as though made of mist around me.

  An empty forest lit by both moons. A scene taken from his own memory but controlled by me. The grass was soft here, and though I knew that the world I was creating for him was not real, I could feel phantom sensations under my knees as I sat up.

  His dreamscape hands ran over my body, beginning at my waist and slowly moving upward towards my breasts even as his real ones stayed on the bed. Both things were completely real, and somehow, his power had allowed me to understand both worlds simultaneously. He wanted me to control this, to know what it was like to let another person have all of the control.

  “Relax,” I said, my voice soft but commanding, and I felt his confusion fade away. I reached behind me and found his maleness.

  Though I wanted to feel him inside me, I yearned for the power that was hidden behind his eyes. The flames of magic that were mine for the taking. I could feel his lust building, and as I felt him slip inside me, I remembered the way that I normally felt.

  The waves of bliss as he thrust into me. The complete disregard for anything beyond the man above me and the sensations inside me. The beautiful freedom in letting him show me pleasure.

  But I didn’t feel any of those now. Instead, as I slowly rocked my body on him, my complete focus was on his pleasure and the steady flow of his power into me as he became more lost in the sensations.

  I began to gyrate my hips as I moved up and down on him, and his desires began to change in ways I hadn’t expected. Like a whisper of my own, I knew exactly what he wanted, exactly what he needed to experience even more satisfaction.

  And now, he wanted to use me as he had once before. He wanted to be free in a different way, a way that he’d never told me. He had bowed to me from the beginning, a Prince bowing to his Queen, but he didn’t want to bow in the bed. He didn’t want to be under me, and though he enjoyed me pleasing him, he wanted to let go of the leash he held so tightly.

  He couldn’t when I was so tapped into his power. The hunger and power that flowed through me told me that I could ignore his desires, that I could do what I wanted with him. Even the most unpleasant things I could imagine would be perfection for him right now.

  I didn’t want that, and I began to pull away from his power even as I continued to ride him. I loved Sebastian. He wasn’t just a meal, and I didn’t want to use him. Not like this. That was his hunger speaking to me. The curse of the incubus.

  I slowly pulled further away, and in doing so, he stopped draining into me, but we didn’t leave the dreamscape. The misty forest still filled the room. “Take control and let go of that leash. I’ll be your toy for as long as you want.”

  His eyes turned misty almost immediately, and I was lost in his touch. Without hesitation, the dream transformed, and I could no longer see the bedroom. He rolled me onto my back without slipping out of me, and I stared into those misty eyes as the world transformed into my little hut in the village.

  This was the place that I always longed for. The one place I’d been carefree. Now, the memories of this place had become distorted, and I’d begun to think more and more of this bed as a place of ecstatic dreams.

  Sebastian’s hands gripped my breasts as he sat up, and I let go of any control. I’d agreed to lose myself in his power. When I looked into his eyes again, they were misty, but they were glowing blue behind the mists. Alien and fierce, this was the man that hid behind the mask.

  A man that could have taken anything he wanted, but he hadn’t. So in control his entire life. But I could give him that outlet
that he needed. I could be the hunter’s prey. I could stand even the most brutal of his needs, and I would love him regardless.

  His thrusts became faster. Harder. Even painful. My eyes opened wide as he began to grip my breasts hard enough to hurt. He looked down at me with those alien eyes, and he feasted on that pain. He knew that this was what I desired more than anything. For the first time in his life, he saw someone that wanted to be his prey. Not his bedmate. Not his wife. His prey.

  One of his hands left my breast and went to my throat. His fingers tightened, and I felt powerless as my hands refused to move. I couldn’t escape this dream, but at the same time, I didn’t want to. I wanted to be weak, to be vulnerable.

  And it was like a light switched in my mind. The pains were twisted, and though I still knew them as pain, they became something that I craved. I felt the mists that were always present in the dreams begin to run over my body, each tendril teasing my skin. His thrusts never slowed, and as he stretched me beyond what I could remember, I found serenity in the rhythm.

  And a moan left my lips. Faster than I could imagine, his lips were pressing against mine as though he were desperate to feast on everything that I was. Even the sounds I made were his to consume. His lips were hard as he forced them on me, but they were everything I wanted, and the sounds of pleasure came faster than ever before. Each one of them was swallowed up by my husband.

  It didn’t take long for that all-consuming pleasure to begin to build inside me. His hand around my neck tightened, and I knew now that he could tell just how much I wanted him, just how badly I wanted him to give in to his own desires for once.

  I shook with need as he pulled out of me. He let go of my body, and all I could think of was how badly I wanted him back inside me. Instead, he watched as the mists wrapped around me, tightening and supporting me in ways that mists could never do. Then, they lifted me into the air, spinning me and positioning me. I landed on my hands and knees, and as I looked behind me, my hands and legs locked into place, I saw that twisted grin on Sebastian’s face.