His gravelly voice triggers sexy memories from this morning. The way he growled dirty somethings while he pounded into me from behind. The way he pulled my hair and smacked my ass. The way he rubbed and pinched my clit until I screamed his name.
Countless times over the past few days, Kirian sent the guys a good distance away and had his way with me in this carriage. In the twenty-five thousand-ish years we’ll have together, I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of him. There’s a hollow ache between my legs, and I want more.
I’m tired, hungry, horny, and ready to go home. Delaveria home. With my palace, my bed, and my people.
Like Kirian said—they’ll learn to love me.
“We’re here,” he murmurs into my ear.
Sudden light makes me wince, and I recognize the inside of Astrid’s cave.
“Oh, good. You’re all here.” She gets up from her rocking chair as Damon comes through the door with Gia in his arms.
She’s lifeless and unresponsive, just as she has been ever since the Dream Realm king put her in that state. Pretty impressive. Gotta say, when I first heard about Damon’s ability, I felt kind of bad for the guy. I mean, dream walking is cool and all. I’m sure it’s entertaining, but how useful can that be?
Being able to make people go to sleep on a whim is seriously badass.
As Kirian helps me out of the sling, I hold onto our precious payment. Astrid will be thrilled with the new material for her rugs. Zella didn’t hesitate to take scissors to her own hair when I told her the price for the spell.
“We need a favor,” Kirian tells Astrid, bypassing formalities like the bossy king he is.
Before the witch can go on about how much it will cost us, I hold up the long braid and run my fingers over the silky strands.
She gasps, snatching it from my hand. Bringing it close to her nose, she smells the length of it before rubbing it on her cheek. “Queen Zella. This is beyond my wildest hopes.”
“Good,” Kirian grunts. “Because we need a big spell. Something that will entrap Gia in the Shadowlands for the remainder of her life.”
“And let me guess.” Astrid thoughtfully taps her chin. “You want Princess Gia to have my home.”
“You knew this part was coming,” I pipe up, remembering the way she’d muttered something about her house no longer being safe.
“I suspected. Where am I to live?”
“With me,” Damon supplies. “There’s a room in my palace for you.”
“Well, this works out nicely for you, doesn’t it?” Astrid affectionately pats him on the cheek, then motions to the cot on the floor where he can set Gia. “You’ve been trying to get me to move in with you for years.”
“Seriously?” Kirian asks his cousin.
“What? It’d be pretty awesome to have a resident witch.”
“And the boy gets lonely without his parents,” Astrid adds.
“I’m not a boy,” Damon says defensively. “But yeah, it’d be nice to have a friend. Now that Kirian has Quinn back, I doubt I’ll see much of them for a while.”
Kirian and I exchange a troubled look, because he’s not wrong. We’ve got a lot of crap to straighten out. Not to mention, I want a honeymoon.
Although he tries to hide his loneliness with comic relief and funny quips, Damon can’t fool me. He’s pretty secluded. No mate. His parents have been away for over half a millennium. Obviously, he’s not dating. The Dream Realm is a lot smaller than the Night Realm, so he has fewer people to look after.
“All right.” Astrid crouches on the floor and begins rolling up her rugs. One by one, she dumps the hefty logs in Damon’s arms. “We’ll have to do this fast. I don’t want Princess Gia waking up before we get out of the Shadowlands.” She levels all of us with a serious look. “You’ll have to tell your people not to pass through here—ever. The coven might follow the princess, taking refuge in her domain. The Shadowlands will be more dangerous than ever.”
“Understood.” Kirian rubs his jaw thoughtfully.
“You have a question, my king?” Astrid surmises, a sly smile spreading over her face as she reads his mind. “I’m feeling generous today. Go ahead.”
“I don’t get why the witches would pursue Gia after so many years of silence and inactivity. Why now?”
“The timing was not a coincidence.” Astrid goes to her empty bowl on the table and sprinkles a chalky substance inside. “All curses have a shelf life, and yours was expiring. Once the curse is broken, they no longer have control over you. They got desperate to intervene before the bond could be completed.”
It all becomes clear when I remember what Astrid said about witches being puppet masters. “Holy shit, it totally makes sense now. Kill the fated mate, eliminate the way out of the curse. Gia was their way to infiltrate the royal family to get to me. She was their vessel. Basically their puppet.”
Astrid points in my direction. “Exactly.”
“But they didn’t succeed. They lost. Does that mean they’ll stop coming after me?” I ask hopefully.
She nods. “They’ll focus their efforts elsewhere. You’re both free to live your lives.”
A burst of satisfaction and a feeling of security come at me through the bond. Kirian and I exchange a glance, complete with relieved smiles. Mystery solved, and no one had to die. We can get on with our plans.
A wedding. Ruling the kingdom. Maybe some babies.
“What about mine?” Damon interjects eagerly, his face hidden behind the pile of rugs in his arms. “Is my curse expiring?”
“Yes.”
He waits several seconds, and when he realizes Astrid’s not going to give him more information, he makes an impatient sound. “Well, when?”
“Soon.”
Frustrated, he groans. “Soon in fae time could mean tomorrow or a thousand years from now.”
Unfazed by Damon’s dramatics, Astrid begins stirring the contents in her bowl. She recites a few words I can’t understand, and mist floats up before snaking around the room like
