“Dizzied by the possibilities? Now you know how he feels.”
The girl had none of my reticent, reduced down to a squirming, crying mess as she screamed her way through one orgasm, then the next.
“Jake, come here.”
He moved as soon as I said the words, the girl’s nipple popping free, red and swollen, as he climbed off her and ignored her pleading hands. He was so fucking tall, I’d always seen him joking or mucking around with a manic kind of energy, it was hard to remember that he towered over me, that he had this big strong body from hammering on the drums all night. His skin was flushed, his breath coming in harder, making the taut muscles of his stomach flex and shift, but I didn’t think it was from his performance. I reached out, needing to test, touch, see if he was real. I was still getting used to the perfect bodies of fae, even my own.
I felt it as soon as I touched him. His skin lit up like a Christmas tree the minute my skin met his, his hand slapping down over mine when I went to pull away.
“Tell our butterfly what you want, Jake,” Billy said, pacing behind his shoulder, some kind of creature made from shadows. “Do it, or I uncollar you.”
He stared into my eyes and swallowed.
“I want…” He blinked, going impossibly whiter. “I’m yours, Kira, to use, to direct. To hurt, to beat, to stroke. I’m yours to kiss, to bite, to stake out and offer to the whole court. You ask it, and I’ll do it. That’s what I want.” He lifted my hand with the lead still partially coiled within it, using his hands to tighten my grip on it.
“You wanted to see behind the mask, Kira,” Billy said, circling us. “This is us. Johnno won’t take him in hand. Liam doesn’t have time for it and I…can’t most of the time, and Lucas… But Jake’s set his crazy little cap for you, hasn’t he? I think it’s a little scary for him, having no boundaries, no limits, so he finds others to do it for him, and he wants that to be you.”
My heartbeat filled the gap in the conversation, the two of them just watching me as Billy and Jake’s words dropped like depth charges inside me. What they were saying, what they were asking, was so freaking huge, my brain couldn’t formulate a response because there was none to be had. It got caught on the first bit, about Jake being mine. How? When? And most importantly—why?
“Billy!” I turned dully to see Lucas standing below us. “You gotta get to Liam. Make sure you take her.”
“What? Why?”
“Rhiannon’s here.”
9
It was Billy that seemed to put two and two together first.
“I need you to drape yourself all over Liam when we get to him. Act like he’s your greatest lover.”
“Make out with him a bit,” Lucas said. It was strange to see his eyes wide and staring rather than being filled with hostility.
“God, fuck him before the whole court,” Jake said. “I’ll help. Anything to keep that bitch away.”
“Look, I know you don’t like Liam—” Billy said.
“You’re part of Hartley now,” Lucas said. “You need to pull your weight.”
“Stop!” I said as they went to say more. “You forget I’m a fan. I know what Rhiannon did to him. I can pretend to be almost anything if it means keeping her away from him. Is he going to resist this?” I watched the three of them look at each other. “OK, go in hard. Got it.”
We walked as quickly as we could without creating a scene, weaving through tree trunks and little clearings, streaming past revellers, until we reached court proper. Just like an actual court, Liam sat on a dais that appeared to have been made from ancient stone, his throne a great mass of wrought gold, Johnno sitting on the first step. People milled around the large empty space beyond the steps, obviously waiting their turn to greet the Lord of Hartley. We paused at the outskirts.
“Just remember,” Billy said, a hand on the base of my spine, “make it flashy, make it obvious. You have power over him. Exert it.”
“He stinks with want for you,” Lucas said with a shake of his head. “It won’t take much to turn his head. Just keep it that way.”
“Coming through,” Jake called out to those fae clustered around us. “Bringing the lord his consort.”
My heart sank. I’d hoped to slide up to the dais unseen and then, I dunno, kiss Liam’s neck or something. Instead, the crowd parted for us, hundreds of curious eyes turning to take us in.
“Be the queen we know you can be,” Billy muttered as we passed through.
Liam straightened up on his throne, a twisted smile of amusement on his face as we emerged.
“I wondered where you had gotten to,” he said, holding out a hand to me as I climbed the steps. He saw my expression, the fear that must have been shining in my eyes, but his expression didn’t change. Well, until he took a deep breath. The mask slipped somewhat, and a frank hunger surfaced.
Which suited my needs. I drew closer, taking that warm, strong hand, and paused for a moment. The shiver his touch sent through me didn’t have to be feigned. I’d been simmering in a weird state of arousal and confusion since I got here, so adding to that the overlay of dream Liam and the real one was kind of intense. While my mind knew it could have been Lucas or Billy or Jake, but more likely Johnno, who had visited me in my dreams, my body had felt those long, sensuous caresses as Liam’s.
His smile widened as he drew me closer. That worked for me, I’d intended to make out with him a bit, then stand behind the throne and run my hands through his hair or something, but he had other ideas. I was yanked forward, Liam looking for all the world like a lover desperate to get closer to his consort, and pulled me close so I sat in his lap. His arms went around me before I could react, the whole court catching my shocked look as his hands splayed across my stomach and hip.
“The boys send you?” He murmured the words into my hair as he buried his face in it, looking like he was kissing my neck. He did that too as I nodded imperceptibly. “Remind me to thank them later, because I’m going to enjoy this. My consort… Mm, what a fine idea.” I felt him shift underneath me, his body like iron, with no give or softness in it. “You’ll forgive me,” he said in a much louder voice to the rest of the court. “Kira has just joined Hartley as my consort today, and the connection…is very strong.”
“Consort?” I forced my head around to see who the speaker was, though I found it hard to take much in. Liam’s hands moved over my body, leaving burning trails in their wake. His lips trailed over my neck, his teeth taking tiny little nips. I went rigid in his grip, my pelvis jerking backwards, something that drew a strangled groan from Liam. I was now sitting directly on the hard lump of his cock. “Allow me to be the first to offer my congratulations.”
This came from the horned guy from the party, the one who offered to take me to the dark places or whatever. What was his name? Fuck, I couldn’t think. My body knew but also didn’t know Liam’s, so the usual anxious tension when someone new touched me was dampened down, but I felt little sparks of excitement in every place his body touched mine.
“New indeed, Hartley,” said another man standing there in a three-piece suit, which contrasted rather oddly with his pale greenish blond hair. “This was the surge we felt earlier? A little notice would have been nice.”