She pictured the property in her mind and immediately realized she could sense where the intrusion came from. The riverbank, just a few feet beyond the ring of anemones she'd summoned last night.
She got up, murmuring to Uriah that she had to pee when came half-awake and tightened his arm around her. He let her go with a sleepy grumble, and Ivy wrapped herself up in his shirt on her way to the bathroom, leaving the light off as she tip-toed around the wall, keeping in the shadows until she could see out through the enormous windows.
There was definitely someone out there, a solitary figure wearing dark green clothes and a hood to blend in with the foliage, but he couldn't hide the subtle shine of his skin when the rays of the full moon passed over his face.
A lock of red hair fell forward out of his hood, and Ivy knew to the soles of her feet she was looking at her brother. He lifted his hand almost casually, his long fingers flicking through the air.
Ivy's heart raced as she stood there, rooted to the spot, watching her tall, broad-shouldered brother create another Queen of the Night, encouraging the petals to open so he could write her a message. He finished and glanced up, then did a quick double-take when he caught sight of her in the window.
Her eyes burned with unshed tears, but she refused to let them pool and distort her vision. Even with a long scar curving up from the left-hand corner of his lips that disappeared into his hairline at his temple, the man below was inhumanly beautiful. Ivy could see their mother in his features, in the red hair that spilled down his shoulder in a thick braid when he pushed his hood back.
He looked... sad. Tired. He lifted his hand in greeting and gave a crooked smile. Trembling, Ivy touched the glass as though she could meet his hand, and his smile deepened. He touched his fingertips to his chest, just above his heart. He took one step back into the trees, and vanished before her eyes.
Without thinking, a soft cry of denial passed her dry lips. The next thing she knew, Uriah busted through the door, bristling with aggression like he thought she was being attacked. When he demanded to know what was wrong, Ivy hesitated.
What would he do if she told him she'd just seen her brother? No doubt he'd run out there and try to catch him, or at the very least, patrol the yard to make sure Ilex was in fact gone.
But what if it was a trap? A lure to get Ivy or Uriah to come out into the darkness to face a host of Fae hiding in the trees?
Her brother left her another message, but at this point, he was still potentially the enemy.
Unwilling to take the chance with Uriah's life, all she did was point and say, “There's another flower.”
Uriah shouldered in front of her gently, pushing her behind him while a soft snarl feathered from between his pinched lips. “Fuck me. Whoever's doing that has balls. Big brass ones. No one crossed your boundary, did they?”
Ivy murmured a sound of denial, turning her cheek to rest against his shoulder while she squeezed her eyes shut tight, trying to burn the image of her brother into her brain.
“No. If they had, they'd be lying on the ground, screaming in agony as a thousand thorny vines exploded from the dirt to wrap them up in a nice tidy package. The dirt around here is a little deficient in iron; blood will do nicely to give it a boost.”
“You're a vicious little thing, aren't you, honey?” Uriah sounded proud of her for it.
“I've never needed to be vicious, but if it's your life or theirs? Call me the Queen of Hearts. I'll rip their heads off and paint the damn roses red with their blood.”
Uriah turned and scooped her up, carrying her back to their bed with a hungry rumble, his eyes glowing in the darkness. He whipped his shirt off of her and tumbled her down to the mattress, letting her take his weight as he settled over her.
“You are so sexy when you talk dismemberment, my Queen.”
“Are you making fun of me?” she demanded, though it came out far more breathy than she intended, what with his rock-hard cock sliding up and down through the cleft of her sex, spreading her arousal around, teasing her with the promise of more until she trembled with need.
“Nope. You're the kindest person I know, but you've got a mean streak in you, and it turns me the hell on when you get riled.” Uriah tilted his hips and ground down, the thick vein along the underside of his shaft pressing hard against her clit, making her lashes flutter, and her thighs tremble as sparks of pleasure lit up her nerve endings like flash cotton. The fire spread, leaving trails of warmth in their wake. A promise of ecstasy to come.
“I'm about to be all kinds of riled if you don't hurry up and fu—oh! Oh...” Ivy's head tipped back, her spine arching up off the bed like a bow when Uriah found the heart of her and pushed inside. Tight and unprepared, every single one of her muscles fought against the burning stretch of his invasion.
Magic. Pure, undiluted magic. That's what it felt like.
Uriah slid his arms beneath her and cupped her shoulders, his knees spread wide beneath her thighs, not allowing her to retreat a single inch as he slung his hips forward, over and over, slow and hard.
“This what you need?” he whispered in her ear, pressing tiny little kisses along her hairline, scraping his teeth across her jaw.
Ivy hitched her thighs up around his waist, hooking her ankles together over his back, crying out as her pelvis tilted just so, allowing him not only to go even deeper, but give him the perfect angle for the flared head of his cock to rake across that amazingly sensitive spot high inside her.
She was beyond words now, able only to gasp and moan, clawing at his back for purchase.
“Oh yeah, this is definitely what you need. What we both need.”
He quickened his pace, drilling into her hard enough to make their skin clap loudly. Their kisses were rough and sloppy, bordering on violent, as Ivy tried to do more than just lie there, but with his considerable bulk holding her down and the power in his arms holding her in place, she had no other choice except to take it.
Faster and harder, her soft gasps and pleading moans turned to wild, carnal shouts that bled into one long scream of absolute, bone-melting bliss. Uriah roared above her, his face tightening in a feral grimace as he exploded, thickening inside her as he came in a hot rush.
He gave a ragged sound of relief, rolling to his back with her still pegged on top of him, his hands roaming her back, prolonging the agony for both of them by grabbing hold of her backside to gently rock her back and forth on his semi-hard erection.
Even as her orgasm lingered, they both struggled to catch their breath, the wildness of their coupling having soothed the tangled feelings of confusion and warring emotions at having seen her brother. And no doubt, it helped release the tension pent up inside Uriah for having to be patient instead of impulsive.
Ivy was quickly coming to realize she detested waiting for the other shoe to drop, but at least there were pleasurable distractions.
*****
In the morning light, Ivy reached out and cupped her brother's flower in her hand while Uriah stood at her back, scanning the forest in hopes of locating the messenger. Like before, the flower snapped open to reveal the red letters carefully written across the petals.
Pick your battles. Don't let him make the first move.
A strange sort of peace washed over her at her brother's advice, but doubts crept in. If Ilex had been able to find her, why wouldn't he tell their father?