His hair returned to the color of a raven’s wing, and his lips lowered, blazing a heated trail over my stomach, before he nipped at my skin.
“I know that, without your people, the world would shift. It shifted because they replaced my people with yours, and the soul of the Etherlands is, and will always be, its people. That tree isn’t indigenous to the realm, and neither are you, Kahleena. I am, and it’s calling me home. It’s calling all of us home, but the only way I’ll return is if we slaughter your people and their blood feeds my realm’s rebirth.” His hand slid lower, and I scooted my leg up to cover my exposed sex.
He only smoothed a palm behind my thigh, lifting it as he shifted, curling in beside me. Long, powerful fingers danced on the back of my leg, hoisting it to settle over his hip.
“My world doesn’t need your people to survive. My world didn’t want them, but it accepted them when I vanished. Faery isn’t accepting the tree anymore because it senses that I am near and preparing to return.”
“Arius,” I whispered as realization settled in and fear shot through me. My eyes rounded, and he smirked, chuckling softly before lowering to blow on my nipple.
“You’re not slow at all, woman. I’m Arius, newly crowned King of the Etherlands. I outrank you and your false king and queen who claimed the land for their own.” His eyes locked with mine, and he lowered his lips against my ear, whispering, “Your people merely adopted the courts and enhanced abilities.” The heated breath fanning my ear made my breathing grow ragged. “Could you imagine if one person held them all, and could wield them?” He dragged his lips over the curve of my throat, flicking his tongue against the thundering pulse in the hollow column. A shudder shot through me, which had nothing to do with the mouth trailing a wave of scalding heat drifting through me.
“You can,” I murmured as a tear rolled from my eyes as visions swarmed within my mind. A deep, resonating rumble of laughter escaped him, vibrating against my flesh. The palm he placed on my ribcage beneath my heart burned, causing me to tense and peer into his probing gaze. “You’re not just the king, are you?”
“No, I’m not.” He scanned my face, lowering his gaze once more. “How’s your threshold for pain, princess? For what I intend to do to you, I am praying it’s pretty high.” He waited for my answer, smiling before he removed his hand and pressed open-mouthed kisses to the flesh beneath my breast. He lavished his tongue over the skin until my back arched and my hands twisted the sheets. “I’m the forgotten heir to Etherlands and its rightful king. I control everything without needing to claim anything. I’m heir to the shadows, fire, water, air, earth, wind, and everything else that lives within the realm. Right now, Faery is under feet of snow, and I’ve been weakening them for months.”
“Then why do you need me?” I countered.
“Because you’re the key to everything,” he uttered. “You’re the key to their undoing, and soon, you will carry something I need within you.” Arius lifted, tilting his head, drawing a bull’s-eye around my belly button. “When the barrier Danu had placed on this hellhole faltered, I slipped through a crack to see what had happened. There were whispered rumors that Danu had perished, so I decided to verify them. The search for the truth led me to the City of Gods, which is where I saw you for the first time. Your eyes mesmerized me, and this sun-kissed flesh glittered with the same gold. That wasn’t what drew me to you, though. No, what drew me was the mark of mine that you wear, and the only way to remove it is for you to pass it to your child. I will hold you until I choose someone for you to breed with, and once you’ve given birth, I’ll place you in a cage and keep you around to watch me return the Etherlands to its former glory. Of course, this all has to wait until I’ve finished using you to destroy the others.”
“Assuming I let you.” I swallowed, trembling. “You think I care who the fuck you are? You want to raze Faery to the ground and rebuild your world? Do it, and we will leave. I mean, Faery is a shitshow that literally tries to devour you when you’re walking in the meadows. Do you have any idea how annoying that is? The animals? They’re freaking rabid. I had a rabid frog bite me! It was a friggin’ frog, for fuck’s sake! And don’t get me started on the water. I had something bite my vagina! My vagina! I was literally only home for one day. One freaking day, and the world literally tried to eat me. So, you want it? Take it. We can move and find somewhere that doesn’t have vagina-biting creatures in the water.” I sat up, only for him to shove me back down, frowning at me like I’d lost my marbles.
“It’s not that simple. If the others left, you’d remain. That mark you hold? It’s the other half of mine, and I want it back.”
I grinned, sparkling with mirth until my skin glittered. “Oh, I see. It’s Yin and Yang, boy! Wait—” I frowned, grimacing at the menacing look burning in his eyes. I opened my mouth, but Arius’s palm crashed beneath my breast and his mouth blistered against mine. Agony burst through me, and I tried to scream, but his tongue delved in, feasting on the pain escaping me. He moved above me, continuing to kiss me even as I tried to wiggle away. His kiss was furious, savage, and passionate.
My hands clasped Arius, digging my fingernails into his muscle, bucking beneath him as excruciating pain soared through me. Tears flowed from my eyes, and my vision smeared and swam until my hands stopped and then dropped to my sides. He lifted his head, peering down at the flesh he’d seared. When he finally looked at me, he flinched at the way I stared, unmoving from the agony consuming me within.
His mouth slid to my ear, and he kissed it gently. Pain scorched into my bones, and he exhaled a shuddering breath against my shoulder before softly raining kisses over the delicate curve. “You were always going to end up here, glitter girl. I knew that from the moment the ether revealed you to me. We were on a collision course designed by fate. You’re mine, at least for now. So, rest, and when you wake, you’ll forget the pain and everything I told you. The only thing you’ll keep is my name and the belief that you belong here with me.”
Chapter Eleven
Synthia
Tingling in my consciousness woke me seconds before the sound of glass shattering exploded through the room. My heart thundered in my chest, forcing me to sit up, scanning for the threat or whatever had shattered the thick, balcony doors. The wind outside howled, battering the curtains into the room, along with a blast of frigidly cold air. After scooting to the edge of the bed, I stood and then carefully drifted to the ruined doors. My forehead creased, and I stepped back, turning on my heel before I flicked my wrist, sealing the doors with a barrier of magic to keep the chilled air out.
Stretching my deliciously sore body, I strolled back to the bed, scanning the room for anything out of place but finding nothing, and then crawled under the covers. I’d just managed to drift back to sleep when the same tingling shot through me, and I shot back up to sitting.
Above me, hovering in the space between the exposed wooden rafters, there was a sinfully dark creature that had my blood turning to ice. His narrowed, vividly blue eyes were focused on me. Huge obsidian-colored gossamer wings spread out behind him so the talons that adorned the ends of them spiked into the ceiling, securing him in place. Silver lines slithered over his arms, gliding from his wrists to his shoulders and over his neck to his jawline. Similar wispy markings decorated his chest, but they kissed his sides, drifting along the V-line of his hard, sinewy chiseled abdomen to vanish into the pants. The dark blond strands of his hair draped around his face, shrouding everything except his gaze from my prying stare.