by Amy Sumida
Verin's grunt was doubtful.
“Or maybe he could tell us how to guard against a Jinn attack,” Cerberus suggested. “Either way, El's right. You should speak to the Jinn Royals.”
“Can you not find him with a song, my vicious?” Lucifer asked.
My men tensed.
After I'd spoken to my men about Viren, Darc and I had told the others everything that had happened with Petra. I think the most frustrating part for them was that Lucifer could find me merely by focusing on me, but they couldn't. At least Darcraxis had discovered that he could track me through water, but that hadn't helped in this instance. When Kairn had caught me in his net, only Luke could locate me.
After I disappeared, Lucifer had grabbed the nearest man—Darcraxis—and went after me. He didn't wait to ask what the rest of them wanted to do or try to bring them along with him, he just reacted. That was fine since it resulted in my survival, but Luke had gone after me when they could not and that—piled upon all of the other things Lucifer had done lately—stung.
I had seen their anxiety clearly so I assured them—again—that I didn't want anything other than friendship from Lucifer. As far as I was concerned, Slate was the last man I was going to add to our family, no matter what happened with the RS. Which led us into a discussion on what to do about the possibility of RS requiring more “fuel.” We decided to prepare for that by researching ways to suppress the RS' power. I'd even try a song if I needed to. We didn't want to destroy her but there had to be a way to tone down her magic; a spell dampener.
Back to the current meeting and Lucifer. I did care deeply about him, love him even, but that desire I'd been feeling for him was gone now. I was more than happy to just be friends with him. If only he could be happy with that as well. Listening to him speak now, I could hear the love in his voice. And I had no idea what to do about it.
I shrugged at my men, and they settled into resigned expressions. What do you do with a man in love? You can't force him to not feel it. Love is a cage with an open door. Or rather, an open cage whose occupants refuse to leave. My cage had been turned into a home because my men chose to remain inside it with me, despite the cramped conditions. But Lucifer was sitting in his cage all alone. Only his feathers to warm him and no song to sing. It broke my damn heart, but I couldn't force him to leave. That was his decision to make.
“I could try,” I finally answered Lucifer. “But I don't have much to direct the music with, and Jinn are notoriously hard to track. It's something about the way they travel.”
Despite my protests, I got up and went out onto the deck, grabbing a coat as I went. My coat had been lost during my abduction so I used one of Sarah's that hung by the door. The men came out with me, most not bothering with coats, and waited near the door as I began to sing.
I used one of my old standbys. Tracking enemies with music was becoming old hat for me. The song spread out across the lawn and tried to latch onto the jinn's trail but, just as I suspected, the trail vanished, slipping through my metaphysical fingers like smoke. Like a spirit.
I let go of the music, looked back at their expectant faces, and shook my head.
“So, we go with our original plan,” Declan said as we trudged back inside. “Petra said she killed those women to lure Elaria out of Tír na nÓg. Conclusion; El is safe there.”
“I don't want a threat from a jinn keeping me out of an entire realm,” I grumbled.
“More than one,” Gage pointed out. “Jinn can travel to nearly every realm. Tír na nÓg is one of the few exceptions.”
“So, I'm trapped there?” I asked in shock. “Seriously?”
“There are worse worlds to be confined to,” Darc said gently. “And it's only until we can find the jinn.”
“And you're not the only one who will be confined to their realm,” Banning said with a pointed look at Darc and then Luke.
Darc nodded, but Lucifer looked unconcerned.
“This is ridiculous,” I huffed. “He's just a jinn. We can kick his ass blindfolded.”
“Fighting Jinn is actually very similar to kicking ass blindfolded,” Cerberus muttered. “Fucking creepy bastards. You know they can possess people, right?”
Verin growled in distaste.
“Great.” I rolled my eyes. “We have to worry about another possession.”
“They can't possess Beneathers,” Gage reassured me. “You're right, El; we can handle him. But he knows we're stronger than he is, and he's likely going to come up with a plan to counter our strengths.”
“In short; you need to be on guard,” Lucifer said.
“He's a bitter guy who just lost his lover,” Raphael noted. “He isn't thinking straight right now; probably hasn't been for a long time. He fell for a psychopath and gave her his true name. Petra could have done all sorts of nefarious shit to him with his name. Now that she's dead, he could very well snap out of it and realize that you three did him a favor.”
“Raph's right,” Cerberus said. “We could be overreacting. Let's give it some time. After a few months, if there hasn't been any activity, visit the Jinn Royals and see what they have to say. But for now, let this shit go. We need a fucking vacation.”
“You know what, Cer? You're right.” I grinned at him. “And I know just the place.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
With Poseidon back in control of his body, my parents had felt safe enough to return to Pyrosvesti. They were relieved to find that it was relatively untouched. Gargo had been after my parents—probably to hurt me—and hadn't cared about destroying their property. There were a few broken things from the invasion but that was all.
My parents had only just returned home, and I didn't want to crowd them, but I dearly wanted to spend some time on the island I had grown up on. So, my men, Cerberus, Freya, and I pitched some luxury tents on the beach instead of staying in my parents' guest rooms. We invited Lucifer, Raphael, and Viren, but all of them graciously declined. I wasn't too surprised by that. I was a little surprised when Verin gave me a tiny, polished, branch of coral, tinted blue with magic and enchanted to communicate with him. With the gift also came an offer of an alliance. Verin announced that it was about time for the Lóng to come out of the deep and what better way to do that than by cementing a friendship with powerful beneathers? I accepted, all of us did. You can never have too many allies. I also reciprocated with a gift of a contact charm, which I explained would allow him to communicate with anyone with another charm, not just me.
Now, to my vacation. My parents stopped by to check on us—my mother fluttering about with a basket of baked goods—then went back to their tree grinning at each other. I suppose it was as nice for them to have me near as it was for me to be there. There had been some close calls recently, and they had almost lost their daughter. Again.
I frowned after them. How hard it must be to be a parent of someone like me. Then that thought led to another; I could never have children. Not while my life was so dangerous.
“What's that face about?” Torin sat on the log beside me.
The men had dragged a few fallen trees out of the forest and set them in a rough circle around a fire-pit Freya and I had dug out of the sand. Night was approaching, but we'd yet to light the waiting wood, relying instead on several camp lanterns that we'd spread about.
“I was just thinking about parenthood,” I said.
Torin went still. “Do you want children?”
Motion came to a stop around the camp. Even Cerberus and Freya paused to eavesdrop my answer.
“Not yet,” I said gently. “Not when our lives are so uncertain and...”
“Violent?” Torin asked.
I nodded.
“But you do want children?” Torin pressed.
“Eventually.” I lifted a brow. “Do you want children?”
“As many as you're willing to give me,” he said immediately.
I blinked. All I could hear was the word many.
“Why does that make you nervous, li
ttle bird?” Torin asked as the others joined us.
There really was no point in pretending that they couldn't hear or weren't interested in our conversation. Everyone gathered around and stared at me expectantly. I sighed and focused on the driftwood in the fire-pit. With a wave of my hand, the wood burst into flames.
I stared at those flames as I answered, “I don't know how children would fit into our lives. How would we even go about conceiving them?”
Cerberus snickered, and Freya smacked him.
“Oh, come on,” Cer huffed at his girlfriend. “I didn't make a joke about making babies even though it was staring me in the face. That's called control, sweetlips.”
“Do you want children?” Freya shot at Cerberus. Her sky-blue eyes sparked with lightning.
Cerberus gaped at her.
“Cerberus!” Freya snapped. She had her mass of golden curls pulled back into a tight braid and combined with her furious expression she looked ready to rumble.
“Yes!” Cerberus yelped as if she had elbowed him.
Freya's face went slack. “You do?”
Cerberus smiled, slipping into the smooth-talking sex god persona he loved best. “What man in his right mind wouldn't want a child with you? Of course, I do.”
Freya frowned.
Everyone went still.
“You do too, right?” Cerberus asked warily.
“I don't know.” She looked away from him.
“You just practically shoved my face into fatherhood but you don't know?!” Cerberus roared.
“I wanted an answer, that's all.”
“And if I had said no, you would have been happy?” He countered.
She scowled deeper.
“Fucking women!” Cerberus tossed his hands into the air, stood up, and started stalking down the beach.
“Cer!” Freya shouted after him.
He flipped her off over his shoulder.
“Cerberus, you bad dog, come back here!” Freya got up and chased after him.
“Choke on a fishbone, cat woman,” Cerberus called back.
I chuckled. “Ah, sweet love.”
“That's what happens when you mix cats and dogs,” Gage said sagely.
“Back to your earlier statement,” Declan prompted with a pointed look at me. “There are ways to ensure that one man remains fertile while the rest do not. We could decide beforehand which of us would father a child with you and in what order.”
Wow, isn't that romantic? RS' voice dripped with sarcasm.
Shut up, wench! Discussions like this should be done with a cool head, Kyanite argued. Children are too important to blithely conceive.
I ignored them both and looked around at my men. “You all want children?”
They nodded. All except for Slate.
“Slate?” I looked at him.
“I'm with you, sweetheart,” Slate drawled. “I'm not ready for kids. We've just begun. This isn't the time to be settling down with babies.” He grimaced as if the thought pained him. “Honestly, I don't want you to be burdened by them either, even if another man father's them. Not yet.”
“Burdened?” Banning asked in horror. “Children aren't burdens.”
“Yes, they are,” Slate said firmly. “Act as shocked as you like, but I'm only speaking the truth. Having a kid is hard, even for us Beneathers. And I'm just talking about one when you're all speaking about a whole brood.” He held up his hand when Gage started to protest. “Yes, they can be cute and you'll see your immortality inside their eyes and all that crap, but they can also be ravenous monsters who tear apart your home and interrupt your sleep; which is a form of torture, by the way. Not to mention how they destroy your sex life. Do you guys like having sex with Elaria? Because I do. Very much. And I don't want it interrupted by a crying baby or a child wanting to crawl in bed with Mommy and Daddy or the scent of dirty diapers. And that is just the tip of the iceberg of parental horrors. Sorry if that makes me sound callous but it's the way I feel. I'm just not ready to give up that much of Elaria yet. I already have to share her with your five. I don't want to share her with children too.”
Darc started chuckling and the other men stared at him in surprise.
“You think that's bad,” Darc said to Slate. “Try having your children turn on you and separate you from Elaria for centuries. You're absolutely right, Slate; now is not the time for little ones. Someday”—Darc's gaze drifted to me and softened—“I would like to try again. Perhaps children born of our physical bodies will feel a greater connection to us. But for now, I simply want to be with my wife.”
“I suppose you're right,” Torin admitted. “We have all the time in the Realms to have children. We should enjoy these moments that we have all to ourselves.”
“And we can practice conceiving as much as you'd like,” Declan offered with a grin. “In fact, I wouldn't be opposed to starting right this instant.”
“Okay, I'll have your fucking babies, you big hound dog!” Freya's shout carried over to us.
I burst into laughter, and Declan rolled his eyes.
“See?” Slate waved his hand toward Cerberus and Freya. “Even the mention of babies can ruin a mood.”
We all laughed and the tight ball that had formed in my chest melted away. Children; yes, I wanted them but that didn't mean I had to plan them now. I could leave that anxiety for another day. Just pack it away along with my worry about a vengeful jinn.
Chapter Fifty
With six lovers it can be difficult to spend time with all of them together and still make each man feel important. It had taken us years to work out the kinks—pun intended—but we'd come up with a way of doing things that seemed to satisfy everyone—pun intended again. My men kept a rotation going for times when we were all together, ensuring that I never had to choose one over another or rank them in any way. There were no favorites; that's the secret of our success. And, of course, love that outlasts galaxies.
During our camping trip, my lovers and I spent a lot of time together as a group. We don't hold back our affection in public—when you have to parcel time out with people you love, you get over any shyness you might have real fast—but I also wanted some alone time with each of them. So, I spent three hours walking around the island, swimming in the sea, and lying in the sun with my guys individually; half an hour for each man. Cerberus just shook his head at our “antics” but I loved it. It felt like a series of mini-dates. Speed dating Elaria-style.
Darcraxis and I spent most of our time together in the water. No big surprise there. But during our swim, he brought up another touchy subject. We had just come up for air after a passionate underwater kiss—well, I came up for air and Darc went with me—when he wiped the water from my brow and a serious expression came over his face.
“If it becomes necessary, I'll consent to another lover,” Darc said softly.
I tensed.
“Your eyes.” He shook his head in amazement. “They just flashed with fire.”
“Did they?” I was so surprised by my physical reaction to his words that I briefly forgot about my emotional. I scowled as I settled back into it. “That must be because I'm angry. Furious, even.”
“Why does that anger you?”
“I don't want you to be okay with me taking another lover,” I growled. “And I don't want anyone else, Darc.”
“Not even Lucifer?” He asked softly.
I knew it had been Lucifer who Darc was suggesting so his words didn't shake me. But they did make me even angrier.
“How many times must I say that I don't love Lucifer?!”
“As many as it takes to make it the truth,” Darc's tone hardened then he turned and started to swim back to shore.
“Darc!” I called after him, but he kept swimming.
I dove and swam to him, catching him around the waist and pulling him under. Darc swung around and grabbed my face between his hands then kissed me savagely. My body trembled under the onslaught; not just physical but emotional too. I could feel
the biting sting of Darc's anger, the ache of his fear, and the depths of his ancient love for me.
Darc pulled on the strings of my bikini bottoms then yanked the material away as we surfaced. His eyes glowed like a sunken sun, its rays shining through deep water. The ocean churned around us and held us aloft as he positioned me over his shaft. I felt him prodding my sex and despite my anger, I sank down upon him eagerly.
We groaned together, arms clasping each other closely, and our mouths melded once more. The kiss turned brutal. Punishing. I tasted blood. It only excited me more. Darcraxis so rarely lost his cool, that I had learned to savor these moments like fine wine. And yes, I enjoyed his ferocity even when it was directed at me. Too much calm made a man seem uncaring. This barbaric desire meant that beneath his unruffled surface, my husband felt things profoundly. I clawed him closer as he lifted and dropped me onto himself, his hips slamming against mine. Beneath my hands, the sculpted muscles of Darc's back rippled as if every inch of his body shared his passion.
