This chapter is rated M for sexual content.
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Lilly opened her eyes and sat up immediately, taking a huge breath into her lungs.
"Is everyone accounted for?" Lilly asked inside her head.
"Yes," both Rose and O'Callaghan replied.
As Lilly sighed in relief, the acorns' tops opened up and her husband and kids popped up, laughing happily as Arthur picked them both up from their piloting compartments.
"That was fucking incredible!" Aoífe exclaimed in excitement as she clung to her father's neck.
"Hell yeah, it was!" Arthur laughed, squeezing both his kids into a big hug before looking at Lilly with a bright smile. "Look."
The kids looked at Lilly who was wobbling as she stood up. "Mummy!" they yelled as they scrambled out of their father's arms and ran to her.
Lilly scooped them up and held them tightly, kissing both their faces with tears in her eyes. "Oh, me babies!" she wept. "I missed ya so much! All of yas were just wonderful back there!"
Arthur climbed out of the acorn and walked over to his family, embracing them all in a big hug. "We missed you too, Lilly," Arthur said, kissing his wife's forehead.
Lilly sniffed and kissed her husband's lips. "My heroes," she smiled sadly. "I'm sorry for causin' so much trouble."
"No, not at all, sweetheart," Arthur said, gripping her tighter. "This weren't your fault."
The kids yawned as they snuggled against their mother. "Let's go tah bed, I'm tired," Aoífe said sleepily.
"Okay," Lilly laughed before walking towards the platform area. "Did Brigid get Olena here?" she asked as Arthur and the fancy dressed man followed.
"Oh yeah. Darrach's got her tucked safely inside the tree," Arthur replied.
"Yep, and now that I have had a chance to move around in human skin, I think I shall work on a body for her," the man in the top hat announced with a grin. "She really is such a sweet child."
Lilly arched a brow at the man as they got on the platform. "Who the fuck is this?" she asked, looking at Arthur with a confused expression.
"Darrach," Arthur replied with a big wiggling of his brows.
The platform moved up and Lilly's face was expressive with the emotions of disbelief, confusion and amazement. "How?" she asked.
"Well, uh," Arthur cleared his throat. "Turns out Michael was workin' for Carman, Corvin, Dubh and Appa and he buried a bunch of puppets on the grounds and stuffed more in the house walls. So...Darrach killed him by...absorbin' him. And now he's usin' Michael's reanimated body."
Lilly gave an amazed smirk before chuckling. "That is feckin' brilliant," she laughed. "But Michael? Really?"
"I know. We wasn't that close but, still..."
"Ya shoulda seen the musical number he did," Junior giggled. "He used Michael's head tah sing while his roots banged together and he pulled gramophone horns out tah play an orchestra of music!"
Aoífe cackled madly. "Yeah, and then he got all mysterious with lights and smoke, and then this suave fucker came strolling down the steps with the most smug look on his face! It was fantastic!"
Lilly threw her head back and laughed. "Oh my god!"
The platform stopped as the others laughed loudly, the doors opening and everyone walking out and being greeted by a big crowd of people. They cheered and whistled, yelling out things of encouragement and praise. Lilly looked through the crowd, seeing lots of familiar faces and even others she didn't recognize. Then her eyes caught onto someone she hadn't seen in years.
"Javier?!" she gasped.
The audience died down and Javier stepped forward, then Lilly saw Uncle come through the crowd. Then Reverend Swanson, Mary-Beth, Kieran, Lenny, Bill, Strauss, Mr. Pierson and Trelawney.
"What the fuck?!" Lilly screeched happily, giving the kids to Arthur and rushing to everyone from the Dutch van Der Linde Gang. "I missed ya so feckin' much! Oh my god!"
They all laughed and Lilly kissed everyone on their cheeks while hugging them individually. Happy tears dripped from her eyes as she looked at them all.
"I canna believe yer all here!" she laughed while grasping her red locks. "And Kieran! Ya got yer eyes back! How?!"
"Darrach gave him new eyes," Mary-Beth chuckled, her arm looped in Kieran's. "They're made out of those doohickey acorns Darrach's got."
Lilly blinked profusely. "That is fucking nuts!"
"No pun intended?" Mary-Beth giggled.
Lilly threw her head back with a laugh. "No, I didna intend that at all!"
John, Abigail, Sadie and Charles came walking up next and Lilly rushed them all into a big hug. "I missed ya too!" she said. "How's the farm doin'?"
"Well, we actually sold it," John said as he smacked his lips. "We moved back here after you left."
"Oh," Lilly said, looking at everyone. "Does that mean...you guys are living here, too?"
"Yep!" Uncle laughed. "We ain't gonna want for nothing for the rest of our lives!"
Lilly jumped up and down excitedly as she brought Uncle into a big hug. "I'm so happy!"
"Darlin', I know you're excited about all this, but it's almost four in the morning," Arthur complained. "We gotta get these little chiselers to bed."
"Oh, right!" Lilly said, turning and rushing to her husband to grab Aoífe. "Let's go."
Brian and James came padding up to walk alongside their sister as everyone began walking back to the house.
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Brigid had a frown on her face as she watched Lugh walk away, slinging an arm around Lilly and laughing happily. She was happy that Lilly was back, that was for sure, but even though her heart was made of stone, Brigid still felt...pain. It had been going on ever since Lugh and her had that fight in Vietnam.
Brigid flinched when something solid fell from her eye and she wiped her face, pulling back a small stain of blood.
"What in the world?" she said as she looked down, spotting a blood covered pebble on the ground. "Oh dear..."
"Your heart is cracking," Darrach said behind her.
Brigid whipped around with a yelp, covering her chest and taking a breath. "You startled me, Darrach," she chuckled.
"Apologies, Queen Brigid, but..." he took a step closer, his hands behind his back as he held his cane. "What do you plan to do now that you are running out of time?"
Brigid shrugged casually. "Nothing lasts forever, not even a god," she remarked.
"This is very true, but your time to die won't be for a while. Not if I have anything to say about it."
Brigid arched a brow. "You have plans for me, then?"
"Yes."
"And what are these plans?"
"For you and Lugh to be married and live happily ever after," Darrach replied with a smile. "You both deserve it."
Brigid rolled her eyes. "Spare me. I do not need your sympathy for the choice I made. I made it willingly and I knew the consequences of my actions."
Darrach nodded. "Did you ever consider that Lugh would suffer for your drastic measures? Or does that not matter to you?"
"Him? Suffer?" Brigid laughed bitterly. "He has enough whores to make sure he doesn't suffer."
A frown appeared on Darrach's face. "For someone as wise and knowledgeable as you, you really are blind to his pain as well as yours, but I suspect it is because of your heart of stone."
"I've had enough of this discussion." Brigid turned to walk away but Darrach appeared in front of her. "Move."
"Just hear me out, my queen. I may have come up with something that will fix your heart's condition. Temporarily."
Brigid's eyes went wide. "Oh?"
"Yes. It won't do if people see you crying tears of stone," he said, pointing at her face.
Brigid nodded. "Very well. What did you have in mind?"
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Arthur opened the door for everyone to get in and as he held onto his son, he watched Lilly stare at the foyer in awe. It was still the same before the renovations, but it was much bigger now.
"Wow," Lilly said as she smiled. "You guys have really been busy these last few years, haven't you?"
"Oh yeah," Dutch replied. "Very busy."
Lilly chuckled and Arthur smiled. "C'mon. Let's get the kids upstairs."
He turned, walking towards the stairway that lead to the west wing of the house, but when he took a step, Junior pointed at his mother and Arthur shifted around to see a look of horror on Lilly's face.
"What's wrong, Lilly?" he asked.
"I...I canna go up there," she replied with fear in her voice.
Arthur sighed and held out his free hand. "We took the old bedroom out, sweetheart, then I had it burned to the ground."
"...Oh," Lilly said with a thoughtful look before shrugging. "Alright."
Lilly walked to him with Aoífe in her arms, then she took Arthur's hand and looked at him with a smile. He smiled back before looking at everyone.
"The Countess of Moycullen has returned, people! After the tournament, we'll celebrate!" Arthur announced.
People whistled and cheered for the couple while Brian and James barked and howled. Arthur watched the blush appear on his wife's face, making him smile even brighter.
"When exactly is the tournament? How long was I gone?" Lilly asked as she gazed at her husband.
"Couple days. Tournament starts tonight," Arthur explained. "Let's go get some rest, then we'll head back to French Indochina and get prepared."
Everyone started heading to various parts of the house, some left to go outside, but Lilly and Arthur took the kids upstairs and put them to bed after telling them a story. When the kids finally fell asleep, their parents kissed them good night and left their bedroom. Arthur took his wife's hand and kissed it softly before leading her to the new bedroom which was the fourth door on the left instead of the third. When Arthur opened the door, Lilly blinked as she walked in. It looked pretty much like their old bedroom, but much bigger.
"Wow," she said with a chuckle. "Do we really need this much space?"
Arthur frowned. "Well...I just thought, you know...you'd like it."
Lilly turned to him and wrapped her arms around him, nestling her head into the crook of his neck. "I do like it. I love it. I just...well, I suppose being rich has changed you a bit."
"Among other things, yes," Arthur said, holding his wife close and breathing her scent in. "But I love you, Lilly. That will never change."
Lilly giggled and kissed his throat tenderly, making him take a sharp intake of breath. "I would certainly hope so, Mo Fear Álainn," she whispered.
Arthur leaned his head back and shut his eyes while Lilly placed more kisses on his neck, locking the door as he reached behind himself. With a soft click, the door locked and Arthur grasped her face before laying a big, passionate kiss on her lips.
Lilly moaned against his mouth as she held Arthur tighter against her body. The man was exhausted from the past few days, but now that his beloved wife was back from the Underworld, kissing him as if the world depended on it, he was getting fired up. They began to strip out of their clothes one by one, and once they were completely naked, Arthur laid her down and placed himself above her. As her legs fell open, he lowered down to grasp a breast in his hand and enveloped her nipple with his mouth.
"Mmm, Arthur," Lilly moaned softly.
"Hmm?" he asked, his tongue flicking her nub.
"I...I gotta tell ya something."
"Can it wait?" he asked, raising his head to gaze at her.
"It's important."
"Well, how about you tell me after I make love to you?" he whispered, grazing his teeth against her other nipple which made her gasp in pleasure.
A small giggled escaped Lilly as she ran fingers through his hair. "I think that is a fair compromise, m'lord."
Arthur chuckled deeply before kissing her. "Good. Because this cock has been out of the hen house for too damn long."
Lilly snorted before lifting her head back and cackling loudly. "Yer such a dumbass!" she laughed.
Arthur barked with laughter before kissing in between her breasts. "That I am, ain't no denyin' that."
Lilly gripped his hair tightly before looking down at him with a devious expression. "But yer my dumbass," she growled seductively before wrapping her legs around him. "Now fuck yer wife like the good boy ya are."
It was always such a fascinating turn on to see Lilly go from being tender to sexually rambunctious in less than a second. With a nod, he guided himself in with a grunt and Lilly bit her lip harshly with a groan. As he thrust in and out of her slowly, she yanked on his head to crash her lips onto his. One of his hands gripped her ass tightly before dragging his nails across the skin, eliciting a low growl from Lilly.
When long fingernails scratched against his back, Arthur huffed with excitement before slamming into her ferociously. Lilly whimpered in ecstacy, grinding her hips up in rhythm to his pounding. She held him tightly while he rocked her, biting on his lower lip while Arthur encircled his arms around her. Their tongues danced together while he went faster and harder inside her, Lilly's moans and whines egging him on.
Eventually Arthur maneuvered her to get on her hands and knees, and as she did, he took a moment to admire her posterior and the way it looked in the moonlight.
"God damn, woman," he wheezed with a laugh. "You have the perfect ass."
Lilly wiggled her butt a little with a sweet giggle. "Do I?"
Arthur grabbed her by the hips and pulled her back, pressing the tip of his shaft at the entrance of her womanhood. "Absolutely."
Arthur grasped himself and tapped her butt cheek with his dick, chuckling to himself. This made Lilly laugh. "What are ya doin'?" she asked.
"Playin' around," he mumbled as he smacked her ass with his palm, making her squeal. "Ooh, Daddy likes that."
Lilly started cackling again, burying her face into the sheets to obviously muffle her laughing. "What the fuck did ya just say?" she giggled as her face lifted.
"What, you don't like it?"
"No!" she laughed. "I dunna wanna be thinkin' 'bout me father while we're havin' sex."
Arthur slapped her ass again with a chuckle. "Can I keep doin' this?"
"Oh, that I definitely like," she breathed.
Arthur smirked to himself before slapping her ass a third time, making Lilly yelp. He then inserted himself into her, grasped her hips tightly and began to fuck her hard and fast. With the occasional ass slap, Arthur would switch between holding her hips and gripping her rump by the cheeks. Lilly's moans started rising in volume and intensity and when Arthur felt her pulsate around him, he knew she was close to climaxing so he suddenly stopped thrusting.
"Ugh, why'd ya stop?! I was almost there!" she shouted.
"Shh!" Arthur said with a low giggle. "You'll wake everybody up, darlin'."
"Then dunna stop!" she whined.
Arthur pulled her upper body up to rest against him, their knees bended on the bed as he began kneading her clitoris while kissing her shoulder.
"But you know it's so much better when I keep you teetering over the edge," he sighed, feeling his wife shiver as he stroked and played with her bundle of nerves. "You only deserve the best orgasms I can give you, m'lady."
A palm trailed up Lilly's stomach to her breast, cupping and squeezing it as Arthur's other hand was preoccupied with pleasuring Lilly. "Hard tah argue with that," she whimpered softly as she rotated her hips in a circular motion.
Arthur bit the flesh of her neck as she moved up and down on him, her pussy twitching around his cock once more. He forced her to remain still, his finger leaving her clit to rub around the lips of her wetness.
"Dunna tease me, mo chuisle," she begged. "Let me come."
"Not yet," he whispered into her ear seductively. "Not until you beg for mercy."
"I just begged!" she hissed.
"Beg more."
Suddenly Lilly's vaginal walls tightened around him and his eyes went wide as he gasped. "How about you beg fer release?" she growled playfully.
It wasn't a painful sensation that Arthur felt in his groin, but the feeling of her muff tightly wrapped around him was somewhat overwhelming to him.
"Lilly, you're tight enough as it is, so could...you..." his eyes rolled back as she wiggled her hips. "...oh...shit..." he breathed.
Lilly giggled as Arthur relaxed his arms around her, allowing the redhead to bounce up and down on him. Arthur breathed in short spurts as his toes actually curled from the pleasure and he growled loudly like an animal before bending her over, pulling her hair and plunging into her repeatedly. Lilly moaned over and over, grabbing a pillow and shoving her face into it as she got louder.
When Lilly's orgasm came and she screamed, her walls clamped around him and he tensed violently as his own climax exploded from him. He groaned intensely, squeezing his eyes shut as wave after wave of pleasure hit him. Arthur's grip on her hair loosened and he trembled while breathing heavily.
"Holy...holy..." he tried to say but he couldn't speak very well. Lilly grunted before relaxing on the bed, rolling over as Arthur collapsed himself. "You're gonna kill me one day, woman, I just know it."
Lilly barked with laughter before tossing an arm and a leg over him. "That was fantastic," she muttered in content.
Arthur had to agree so he nodded as he tried to catch his breath. "Where did you learn that?"
"Um...well, when I was in Saudi Arabia, I got an invitation to a prince's palace and I hung out with all his concubines. They had...extensive information on how to please a man," she replied smugly before kissing his cheek. "Ya canna tell me death by sex would be a bad way tah go, can ya?"
Arthur's glossy, sex riddled eyes drifted to his wife's teasing face and he smiled. "No, especially when you're the one doin' it to me."
Lilly let out a squeaky yawn and scratched her neck before brushing her fingers through Arthur's hair. "I've missed this so much, Arthur."
"Me too," he said as he shut his eyes, feeling her nails gently scrape against his scalp. "Mmm, now what was it you wanted to tell me?"
"Um...well..." she said, trailing off with a big breath.
His eyes opened slowly and he saw Lilly looking at him worriedly. "What's wrong, Lilly?" he asked, raising a hand to stroke her cheek. "Talk to me."
Lilly leaned into his palm and kissed it as she pressed it to her cheek, shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath in before looking at him. "Please promise me you won't yell at me."
"I promise," Arthur said, feeling a bit anxious now.
"Do you really consider O'Callaghan and Rose to be your wives?"
Arthur snickered. "No, I just said that because I figured Hades would feel, I dunno, inadequate at the thought that he has one wife while I get to have three."
Lilly's face tightened as she started giggling. "Right, because the big ass fuckin' metal lion/bird machine wasna enough tah make him feel inadequate."
Arthur chortled before resting his cheek on his fist, propping his arm up on his elbow. "Yeah, that thing sure is purty, ain't it? I'm gonna take you flyin' in it when we get back from Vietnam. You're gonna love it."
"This wasn't your first time flying it?"
"Actually, it was, but I haven't physically gone flyin' with it yet. It's gonna be a lot different than learnin' how to move around and fly in my griffin form."
Lilly chuckled before sighing, getting more comfortable on the bed as she palmed his face. "I would love that very much if you took me flying, mo chuisle," she said before placing a soft kiss on his lips.
"Why did you think I'd get mad?" Arthur asked curiously.
Lilly pulled back with a frown. "Well...um, here's the thing, Arthur. Rose went to the Greek Underworld to get Olena out of Tartarus, but she wasn't actually there. She was at Hades' place the whole damn time."
Arthur raised a brow. "Really? Huh. Okay, and?"
"And...Cerberus was originally gonna get Olena for Rose, but when she told him who she was going after, he informed us that Olena was at the palace. However, he said that if he was gonna steal from his master's home, Rose needed to...sweeten the deal."
Arthur's lips puckered as he blinked a couple times. "Where are you going with this?"
Lilly lowered her gaze. "Rose had...relations with Cerberus," she said meekly, clearing her throat and obviously not able to look her husband in the eye.
Arthur knew he promised that he wouldn't yell, and he was going to hold himself to that, even though there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind to throw the adult equivalent of a temper tantrum. While Rose was technically not Lilly, she also was. Rose tried to kill him, too, so she had that going against her. Why was he feeling upset about this?
"Please understand, my love," Lilly sniffled, still not able to look at Arthur. "I tried to negotiate. O'Callaghan tried to negotiate, but Rose was absolutely determined to get Olena back. And...I honestly didn't think you would care, until after the deed was done, then I felt so, so guilty," she said, putting a hand to her chest. "It would seem I have broken my vow of faithfulness to you once again, mo fear céile." With tears in her eyes, she looked at Arthur's face. "I'm sorry." [my husband.]
Arthur frowned deeply before pulling Lilly into his arms, a finger under her chin as his thumb grazed it as well. "That don't count as cheatin', baby girl. And even if it did, I don't care. It's not like I love her or O'Callaghan."
A look of hurt and disappointment appeared on Lilly's face before her features relaxed and she nodded with an expression full of content, yet it did not reach her eyes. "Okay," she said, pecking his lips. "Thank you for being understanding."
Arthur blinked when Lilly rolled over and situated herself under the blankets, her back now to Arthur. He nibbled on his lip in confusion at her reaction.
"Honey?" he called out softly.
"Hmm?" she replied in a high pitched voice.
"Are you okay?" he asked with concern lacing his voice.
"I'm good, just tired," Lilly said, once again her voice being a higher pitch than usual. "Actually, no. I need tah eat," she said, jumping out of bed and quickly getting dressed.
"We can have something brought up for us," Arthur laughed. "Come back to bed."
"No, Arthur, I..." she huffed. "I just need tah go eat somethin', I'm starvin', and I...need tah think."
"About what?" Arthur asked as he got out of bed. "Did I say somethin' wrong?"
"I dunna know," Lilly muttered, grabbing at a shirt and putting it on. "I...dunna know how I feel about it because...I just...I..."
Arthur rushed to her and held her by the shoulders. "What did I say?"
"Y-Ya..." Lilly suddenly began to sob uncontrollably. "I dunna...what's..." she sunk to her knees and wheezed heavily. "Oh GOD!"