by Viola Grace
He straightened, and she tried to go with him, but she was seated, and he was too damned tall.
Petal glared at him. “You are a terrible tease.”
“I am not teasing. I am just making sure that you are pain-free for the handfasting.” He smiled slowly. “But, if you had something else in mind, I think I could be accommodating.”
She stood up and pressed her hand to his chest. “If you wouldn’t mind, get on the bed, Darius.”
He blinked in surprise. “What are you planning to do?”
“Share some of the body oil.”
His eyes lit up. “I think I can help with that.”
She didn’t know where the throaty chuckle came from, but it electrified him. He lifted her up to face him, and his kiss was scorching. She wrapped her legs around him, and he walked to the bed, leaning down and settling between her thighs.
The kisses turned to touches, and she rocked against him, grinding her hips against his as her blood heated. He reached between them, and a few moments later, he was pressing into her. She met his eyes as he slowly filled her and panted when he started to move. She groaned as he withdrew and slid slowly into her, his eyes watching every twitch, moan, and shudder as they connected.
She tensed around him, and he paused, nuzzling at her cheek. “Relax, Petal. We are not in a hurry.”
She panted and slowly relaxed. She mumbled, “Speak for yourself.”
He chuckled. “It will be worth waiting for.”
She looked at him. “I feel like I have been waiting for you forever.”
“That makes two of us.” He kissed her deeply and started thrusting again. He reached between them to stroke her clit, and when her control snapped, he was with her. She shrieked, and he groaned, the heat roared through her body, and it felt like she was going to melt them both.
Her mind sorted itself out when he was lying on her and pressing soft kisses to her neck. She muttered, “I am glad that didn’t wait much longer. I think I would have scorched both of us.”
He chuckled. “I think we are going to have to handfast today.”
She blinked. “Really?”
“Oh, yes. In fact, as soon as we are up and showered, we are going to head over to the greenhouse and have our ceremony.”
“Because you say so?”
“Because you have to work tomorrow, and I want to spend the entire weekend in bed learning all of your most sensitive spots.”
Petal muttered, “You have more than a passing familiarity already.”
He grinned against her neck. “There is always room for additional study. You are a subject that I can spend centuries looking into.”
She chuckled at the thought of centuries with him. One lifetime was more than she hoped for.
He withdrew slowly, and she sighed as he moved to her side and pulled her against him.
“So, we are having the handfasting at the greenhouse?”
“In the forest at the back. I set the site up this morning.”
She sighed. “You are a very busy guy.”
He grinned. “There is so much to do here. It is very amusing.”
“I am glad you are enjoying it. So, what do I need to do for the handfasting?”
Darius kissed her forehead. “Take a shower with me, and then, I will do the rest.”
“That seems to be a running theme today.”
“You are welcome to take me any way you want at your leisure, once we are linked.”
She snickered, and he pulled her to her feet. She was steered to the bathroom on stiff legs. The trail of cum down her leg made her blush, but when she was standing in the shower, it was rinsed off, and she was distracted by the hands stroking down her spine as her body slowly returned to a state of hot and pulsing under his slow and cleansing work. When she was clean and frustrated, he wrapped her in towels and sat her at the dressing table, where he sectioned her hair and got it straight and smooth in no time.
She looked at him in the mirror. The towel around his hips was rather low. “You are really good at working with long hair.”
He chuckled. “Practice. My own hair sorts itself out. That came with my elevation to the position of Spring King. I don’t even need conditioner, but before that, yeah. I had to spend quite a while combing, braiding, and wrapping my hair back.”
Petal chuckled, and when he kissed the crown of her head, he smiled. “And now, we dress you.”
“We?”
“Me and magic.” He chuckled. He held her hand and helped her to her feet. The towel fell, and silky fibres wrapped around her in a Grecian-style gown with tiny pearls around the neckline and the edge of the sleeves that exposed her shoulders. The gown’s light silk hem fell to her feet, and when he finished, she took a few steps and noted that the gown was made of dozens of panels that allowed her to move and breezes to get in.
He exhaled softly as he touched the soft pink fabric that covered her left nipple. She looked up at him and smiled. “Well, I look adorable, how about you?”
He chuckled, and he glowed, and when the glow receded, he was in a matching outfit in soft cream, and it was his long, loose vest and the loose trousers, but a belt made with tiny seed pearls in twisting spirals and a pink silk background had been added.
His hair was brushed and smoothed behind his back, and his coronet of green leaves was bright and holding the hair off his face.
He took her hand. “Come on. I have made a gate to the meadow.”
She smiled and walked with him through the house to the garage. He opened the door, and as they stepped through it, a green forest space unfolded around them.
She knew that they were still in the grip of winter, but here in this glade, they were wrapped in spring. She smiled and tried to see everything at once, but it was alive and blooming, and an arch of flowers was at the end of the living space.
He walked her there with a formal pace, and they stood and looked at each other, holding both hands in a world scented by new life.
He smiled. “I will start.”
A pink ribbon began to unfurl from the sky and wrapped around their hands and wrists.
Petal blinked. “Oh. Right.”
Damek looked more and more like a terrifying elf king as he spoke, but her heart melted at his words. He spoke eloquently of finding a woman who made him want to earn his place in her life daily. His admiration and his love of her learning and adaptation to the world around them. He loved her spirit, her soul, her body, and if they were blessed with children, he would raise each and every one of them with pride and delight.
Petal froze at the thought of children, and she was going to do some mental math, but instead, she smiled. “Damek, when you first met me, you were an arrogant ass, but you also healed me, helped me to learn a bit about defending myself, and you were still in your rut when I returned home. Whatever happened after that must have woken you up, but you were the same kind and caring guy when I met you again, but this time, you had an eye on the future and not just the present. You let yourself learn, you adapted to the modern age, and I frankly think you are better at it than I am. I am delighted to be with you, expanding the scope of our lives together, and I could not imagine a day without you in it.”
He leaned in and kissed her, and the ribbons shifted, slid, and turned into a thin band on each of their wrists. He leaned back and smiled. “I greet you, Petal, Queen of Spring.”
“I greet you, Damek, Husband. King of Spring.”
He grinned. “You win. Petal Black, my wife.”
He kissed her again, and she slid her hands around his waist, holding tight as he hugged her, and their bodies joined as much as they could with fabric between them.
He hummed softly as they kissed, and they were back in his house.
He lifted her in his arms and swung her around. His grin lit up the room. “You are mine.”
She chuckled. “I know. And you are mine. I don’t know what I am going to do with you
, but I am sure you have a few ideas.”
“I do indeed. The rest of the night stretches before us, so what should we do first?”
She grinned. “Order delivery. I don’t want you out of my sight, and clothing is definitely not required this evening.”
Damek chuckled. “That sounds like an excellent thought. Why don’t we have sex, see who is the winner, and they can choose the meal?”
“Deal.”
The pizza was good, but the spaghetti was better. Petal enjoyed being the winner every time he tried to challenge her. It was a long night, but they skipped dessert.
Chapter Ten
Darius’s phone started ringing at four in the morning. Petal groaned and swatted at it as he lifted it to answer.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Omek? This is Sergeant McCaffey.”
Petal sat up and looked at him as she could hear sirens in the background of the call.
“Do you know the whereabouts of Petal Black?”
Petal blinked and stared at him.
“Yes. I know where she is. She’s safe. What is going on?”
“It appears that someone set her car on fire and then lit her house on fire. Both are looking like a total loss.”
She covered her mouth in shock.
He squeezed her free hand. “What does she need to do?”
“We would like to see her and confirm her safety. Do you know where she is?”
Darius set the phone to speaker, and he nodded.
“Hello, Sergeant. I didn’t think you worked nights.”
“Miss Black?”
“Yeah. With the current situation, I have been staying with Darius.”
“It turns out that it probably has saved your life. We had a car coming by, but we didn’t catch whoever did this.”
She nodded and then realized that he couldn’t see her. “Right. I will check the feed from the car camera. It should have been recording and sending stuff to the cloud.”
The sergeant sounded excited. “Can you check now?”
“I have to install the app. We got a new phone today, so it isn’t quite up to date yet. Please, let Darius know what you need us to do.”
She got up and went looking for her new phone.
She found the security app and uploaded it, keyed in her login and password, and then, she looked for activity. She downloaded the images and sent them to the sergeant. She remembered his information from the earlier file-orgy, and she sent it to everything she could easily recall.
Darius was speaking calmly, and she smiled. “I sent you the picture. It is a pretty good image of his face and the tattoo.” She cleared her throat. “The blowtorch in his hand is also pretty concrete information as to his intent.”
The sergeant was quiet, and then, he made a sound of agreement. “Well done, Miss Black. How long have you had the camera?”
“About a month. When it became imperative for me to get to work on time, I thought it was an investment that would make it easier for me to get a rental car. Since the car had been parked near my house, the camera had enough of a connection to reach the Wi-Fi.”
Darius grinned at her. “Well done, Petal.”
She snorted. “Thanks. I am guessing that a call to my insurance company is in the cards.”
Darius sighed. “We can deal with that in a few hours. You need to get some more sleep.”
Sergeant McCaffey spoke, “Please come by the station when you have the opportunity, and I can provide you with the police report that you need for your insurance.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
“Tomorrow’s morning news won’t hurt either. It is best that you don’t come here until we have apprehended the arsonist. I think he might be lurking and waiting for you to make a panicked appearance. Or, he thought you were inside as that is where your vehicle was.”
She shivered, and Darius held her. “Right. I will come and get the report when you let Darius know that the dude is in custody. At least, we have confirmation that he is dangerous.”
“Yes, Miss. And that you were not the one who set your house on fire. Hooray for cameras and the cloud. Get some sleep. There is nothing for you to do here.”
“Thank you for the call, Sergeant. Please advise us if anyone is apprehended.”
The call was disconnected, and Petal nodded. “Okay, so that is one less thing to worry about.” She looked at Darius. “May I stay with you until I get the thing settled?”
He sighed and hugged her. “You belong with me, Petal. Things will go well, and I will help you work through all the details of the loss, but at night, you sleep next to me, are we clear?”
She yawned and nodded, setting her phone down on the end table, face down.
Petal crawled back into his arms and settled her head on his shoulder.
“You can sleep so easy?”
“I am safe here. My stuff is gone, but there wasn’t much of it anyway, and I now have no remaining ties to my family. So, I pretty much won all the way around.”
His chest swelled a little, and she chuckled.
“Don’t be getting smug, Damek. If you keep inflating, you won’t fit in the greenhouse.”
He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her. “It has been a very delightful twenty-four hours, aside from the tremendous property damage.”
She chuckled. “The house needed more in repairs than it was worth. The car was way worse. Oh, is it a problem that I come to you with no dowry or whatever?”
He patted her butt. “I will take you as you come.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest, and she yawned. “Usually, I cum, and then you take me, but I can switch it around.”
He groaned and pulled her astride him. “You are going to pay for that one.”
She chuckled and moved down his body. She always settled her debts.
She was working on the seed trays when Audra came in, and Petal froze. Audra was wearing a crown of lightning, and she had two dark bands around her wrists. She grinned when their eyes met.
“Finally. Congratulations on your handfasting, Petal.”
Petal blinked, and Audra walked up to her. “You look different.”
Audra snickered. “I have been waiting for weeks for you to remember him and finish connecting. Welcome to the fey brides club.”
“Is that a thing?”
“Not yet, but we could totally make it one.”
“So, who did you end up with? Lightning?”
“The storm king. He’s great. Quiet, charming, and has a way with water.” She chuckled. “When I saw who was buying the greenhouse, I didn’t know about the fey yet, and then, my guy showed up, and everything made sense. Then, Darius explained that he was waiting for you, and I got your text about a spring job. It kind of all fell together.”
Petal frowned. “Wait. Is there something on my head?”
Audra grinned. “A tiara made of leaves and spring flowers. It is rather pretty against your hair.”
“So, everybody can see it?”
“No, only fey or those touched by fey. So, strangers might start bowing to you.”
Petal blinked. “Right. Well. That’s strange. Okay, back to work. I know you are taking off in a few days, and now, it makes much more sense.”
“We do actually want to start a tree farm, but he needs to get out of the city so he can breathe a bit. So, we are heading to my property up north, and he is working on the design for the new house. It is going to take a while by his standards, but I want it built the normal, human way. With magical expansions inside.”
They continued chatting about Audra’s plans as they worked, and then, Petal walked across the yard to ask Darius which of the four species of tomatoes he wanted first.
A blue vehicle was parked in the lot, and she paused as the driver’s door swung open.
A man with dark hair and brilliant blue eyes stepped out. “Excuse me, miss. Is this the Tallyville Greenhouse?”
>
She smiled slightly and shook her head. “No. That is twenty kilometres outside of town. Just get back on the road and turn left.”
He continued to approach her, and he was smiling in a weird way. “It has been a while since we were this close. I am savouring the moment, Petal.”
She stepped back. “I don’t know you.”
He lunged for her and grabbed her arm. A bar slid out of his coverall sleeve, and he raised his hand. “You know me.”
His hand came down, and she ducked, punching upward to catch him in his ribs. He grunted, and the bar glanced off her thigh. Petal didn’t hesitate. She struck at his jaw, neck, kicked at his knees, punched him in the groin, and then kicked him in the ribs when he was down.
Hands lifted her off, and Audra was in front of her, zip-tying the man’s hands behind his back. Petal was being held gently but firmly by Darius. She could smell honey. He was stroking her hair and leading her over to sit near the teashop while Audra kept an eye on the man on the ground. His ankles were bound as well.
She shivered. “I am guessing that was him.”
“He matches the man I saw in the initial video of your attack,” Darius murmured.
“Ah. The one who snapped my leg.”
“Yes. Apparently, it was his plan all along.” He was very still.
“If it matters, he was aiming at my head. He hit my ass by accident.”
There was a strangled sound as police sirens got closer. Her partner muttered, “He struck you?”
“Yeah, there is going to be a helluva bruise. Thanks for teaching me how to do that, by the way.” She gestured to the man squirming on the ground.
He frowned. “You are welcome. I was glad it was useful.”
“I am delighted I knew what to do.”
He pulled her to him and kissed her head. That was the position in which she met Sergeant McCaffey.
The lean man looked at her and nodded his head slightly. “Miss Black?”
“Yes, Sergeant. He’s over there. He tried to strike me with that bar or pipe or something.”
“He did strike you,” Darius murmured.
