SO... WARNING! This chapter has one of "those sexy scenes" in it. It's the last. But I said I would warn, so, here it is, lol.
It IS at the end of the chapter, however.
Together, they found Cora in the study. She was sitting beside Duglas on the couch. She met Eve's eyes eyes and stood. "What's wrong, Eve?"
"I touched it. I touched the rose. Cora, I know."
She looked confused. "What do you know?"
"The voice. The one that has me do things. I know who it is." Cora glanced at Kornae's face before taking Eve hand. She led her to a seat hand gratefully, Eve sank on it. Kornae sat beside her. "I saw what they did to him. I know where he is. What I don't know how to do it get there."
"Eve, get where? Where is who?"
Eve looked at Cora. "The rightful Shadow king."
Cora dropped back to where she was sitting. "Are you certain?"
"I watched, no... I lived through what they did to him. I know the magic it took. I know the effort it took, how many people it took. Yes, Cora. I'm certain." The Unseelie magic surprised her. Based on who Kornae named, she didn't expect that they had a traitor in their midst. Yet the green magic that helped burn her, no, burn him alive spoke of someone else. Someone who could still be within the palace walls. She glanced at Kornae. She didn't want to say it. Didn't want to put anything else on him.
"What is it?"
Not right now. After this talk, she would tell him. She would tell him and they would deal with it like a Queen and her King.
"Later," she said.
His eyes never left hers. If he was trying to intimidate her into saying, it almost worked, but after a moment, he released. "Done."
She let her breath out slowly.
"The Shadow king has been speaking to you. Obviously, he's not dead. Is that why..." Cora asked, but she was looking at something that Eve couldn't see. "I need to check something. Something that my friend said was only a rumor. You said you touched it?"
"I actually stabbed the thorns in my hand when Kornae scared the hell out of me."
"If you had been doing what you were supposed to be doing, that wouldn't have happened." She turned to him, about to tell him what he could do with his 'supposed to' when she caught the smile.
"Is it still in the library?" she asked, standing again.
"No, well, yes, sort of."
Cora simply looked at her.
"It disintegrated while I, while he, was being imprisoned," Eve said.
Cora's eyes widened. "You took what was sustaining it. It was meant to deliver a message. That's why..." She headed to the door. "Follow me and witness prophecy."
"I've done enough of that," Eve said as she got to her feet. There was a low laugh behind her and no, she was not going to throw herself on the man.
They followed Cora as she made her way to her rooms. "What caught my attention, the day they attacked me, was a rose just like that one."
"And you didn't take it to Naiel?"
She shook her head. "No, and for reasons I'll explain if my suspicions are founded."
They stopped at her door and she waved her hand over it. She led them inside and headed straight to the mantel over the large fireplace in the corner. "It's true." The softness of her voice was almost a reverence. Eve walked up beside her and there on the gleaming black wood, was a pile of ash in the shape of a rose.
"What is going on, Cora?" Eve asked, turning to her friend.
"Have a seat," she waved in the direction of the sitting area.
Eve did what she said and waited. Kornae stood behind her chair with his hands on the back and Eve almost leaned back, wanting to feel the warmth of his skin. But somehow stopped herself.
"My friend from the Shadow court, Ryon, shared some information with me. Not all of it I recorded. The things I did are non-personal. The personal ones, I kept in here." She tapped the side of her head. "Those are things I also didn't share with you, Eve. I don't share secrets."
Eve nodded, wondering where this was all going.
"Of the things he told me in the somewhat personal range was a rumor of the king, once visiting here, taking a cutting of the Queen's roses. A cutting that he planted in soil taken from Seelie, because very little grows in the Shadow lands anymore. He fueled these roses into growing using magic. 'The only thing of beauty in now heartless world' was what he said." She stopped for a long moment. "I wondered about something. His sigil was the rose and then it was abused. I imagine that others that might have been slain bore the same 'gift'." She met Eve's eyes. "Did he plan all of this in some hope of getting a message to you? With the ash of that one, I would imagine the whole bush to be gone, purpose served."
"But, that's insane." Eve jumped to her feet. "I was supposed to get my throat cut in order to get a message from the king? He's spoken to me. Why couldn't he tell me?"
"What could he say?"
"I don't know, maybe 'I'm the king, come save my ass'?"
Cora's lips twitched. "And you would have believed him?"
"Absolutely not."
Cora grew quiet. "I can't imagine the amount to strength it takes him to speak to you across realms."
Eve shuddered, retaking her seat. "And to stop time." Violet eyes watched her. "I know, I know... He probably didn't want me to die in order to get the rose." She sighed and leaned back for a moment, forgetting where Kornae's hands were. They moved quickly. She tilted her head back. "Sorry." That tiny secret smile was sexy even upside down and Eve looked forward again. "Naiel is looking in Seelie for another far-seer. I imagine that anyone sympathetic to the king's cause would have been dealt with and the 'gift' left to taunt us." Warm hands touched her shoulders and she swallowed.
"Did the..." Cora took a shaky breath and Eve was supremely relieved to know that she was just as affects as herself. "Did the king say anything else?
"The usual, 'set me free or all faerie will perish'. Like, I didn't know that last part. And, the most cryptic message... 'When shadows move, come to me'."
"I'll have to think on it. I've been dealing with prophecy for a while, though nowhere near as long as Naiel. But from the sound, don't go yet. You have to wait for a specific message, or sign."
"Waiting is fine. I have a lot to do in the meantime. I'm so bad at hand to hand, I would probably knock myself out. Magic isn't quite as bad, but I once had a great teacher." Hands tightened on her and she smiled.
Kornae spoke up, "With my Queen's permission, I would like to speak on something."
Why did that scare her?
~~~
"Permission granted," she said looking back up at him. "Provided you put your thumb just a little to the left."
He grinned and her heart stopped. Completely stopped. Then fought to catch up by racing.
She had to look away, had to, because she was going to do something, say something to drive the volatile Fae away again. Cora met her eyes and they shared a look.
His hand shifted and he pressed and Eve went limp then he spoke. "Together, we will be leaving for the Shadow court."
Eve knew where this was going and she smiled. Somehow, he had read her mind.
"There will be a period of time where there is no sitting ruler. Would you do me, do us the honor of becoming the Queen until Eve returns?"
Cora's eyes widened and Eve couldn't help the laugh. "Cora, you have done so much for me, for us, for faerie. I know it's added pressure, but I honestly don't know anyone more deserving of bearing the title than you. " She laughed. "Actually, even more than me. I'll be the first to say it."
The thumb that was easing the knot out of her shoulder stopped. His hands shifted, gripping her tight. His breath was way too close when he said in her ear, "You are an amazing queen."
"Yes," Cora said. "Of course."
Eve glanced at Duglas who was silent through all of this. She could feel his displacement and maybe what she was about to ask and offer payment if needed, would help that.
"Duglas?"
He met her eyes.
"I know you can't go into shadow. Would you offer her your protection should she need it?"
Those dark eyes laughed at her and she knew he remembered the same question Gideon asked him so long ago.
He glanced at Cora then back at Eve. "Yes. I will. She is strong." He smiled. "Payment is not required."
Eve laughed, in relief and in memory of a time that while her life was strange, it wasn't the absurd level of crazy it was now.
Kornae's hands tightened and she swallowed the moan. Not now, or ever, was the time.
Eve glanced outside and read the sun's position. It was amazing how quickly she had learned to do that.
Her questions about her friend, Ryon, had to wait. She had to break Kornae's heart.
~~~
"Walk with me?" she asked the quiet man at her side.
"If you wish." His eyes were that calm blue that captured her as he waited for her acceptance of his service. The quiet of them hiding anything he might be feeling. A quiet she wished she could break, though not in anger as she so often did.
Ice, empty, or calm. That was all she ever got out of him.
But she needed that calm now, didn't she? Though, it wouldn't last.
They found a bench in the courtyard and since Gabe wasn't with them, the trees minded their business. She ran her hands over her thighs and tried a deep breath. That one didn't work, so she took another. Then another.
"Eve?" His voice pulled her and she took strength from his gaze.
"So, I don't know how to say this. I don't know how to hurt you. Because it will. And I hate myself for laying this on you. Not when you already have so much on you." It only then crossed her mind that as Queen, it was something she could handle by herself. She could do it. It didn't have to be him.
"What is it?" The voice matched the ice that slowly crept into his eyes.
"I made a mistake, my King. I forgot that it's something that I could deal with. And I can. You—,"
"It's a bit late for that now. Tell me what it is."
She jumped to her feet before his hand shot out, grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. "Let me go, Kornae. I can handle it."
"If you don't tell me what it is, I'm going to—," He broke of with a curse and dropped her hand. "Just tell me."
"Oh, what are you going to do?"
His eyes turned glacier and she swallowed. "Fine, just keep in mind that I tried to avoid this."
He growled at her. Growled! And damn if the conversation wasn't so serious...
"When I was the king, I saw what was done to him. I saw the magic used. The blue of the Seelie and the gray of the Shadow." She took a breath. "And I saw the green of the Unseelie."
His reaction was not what she expected. He sat back with a sigh and closed his eyes. "I figured that there was someone else." He looked back up, eyes distant. "When they had me, I could feel the magic of home being used on me." He focused on her, and where there was ice, now was the calm. How could he be calm when talking about what was done to him?
"They used magic on you too?"
"They had too. The cutting wasn't working."
Her head was between her knees as nausea rose up in her, hard and fast. She tried to control her breathing, damn it, she tried. But her body didn't give two shits about what she wanted. The cutting wasn't working.
"Are you okay?" He was on his knees in front of her, acting like he didn't just rip her heart into millions of tiny pieces.
"No. No, I'm not. Kornae, how..."
He pulled her head up. "It's over, isn't it?"
She reached out and cupped his cheek, thumb smoothing across the scar that ran from his eye, before her fingers closed around air. He was sitting back and she whispered, "Not for you."
~~~
They sat side by side in the throne room, as the guard watched from the edges. It would never hurt her heart to be in this room, but what she was about to do would give some comfort. One of the three that tortured Kornae, killed her mother, turned traitor, had already lost his life on this floor.
The second was about to.
Seven men stood in a line, waiting for Eve. But there was something she had to say first.
"To those of you that have no guilt, I offer my deepest regret at bringing you here. That being said, I hope that you can understand the seriousness of the situation. There is one among you that threatens our lives. Not mine. Not the king's, but all of us. I cannot allow that to happen."
She grew quiet and glanced over them. She could feel fear, a little anger and a lot of hatred. The hatred was what she needed to find.
Rising to her feet, she carefully lifted her skirts, once again wearing the dress she wore when she accepted the role of queen and the responsibilities held with that. Her first official act and it was going to be to kill someone.
She knew what she had to do to find them. She knew how to use her marks. She also knew that the traitor had his mark long enough for it to have become part of him. No outward sign. How did he hide it when it was fresh? She took the first step. Did he cut himself then use the bandage to hide it? Being able to say it was an injury? Not having to lie. She took another step. How did he feel when he received it. Knowing that he would be murdering those that he spoke to on the street, at home. Would his family have the mark? Did he have a family? Another step and she was standing where her mother took that last tiny gasp of air.
She stopped. This was where it needed to happen. To appease a sense of revenge she didn't know she had. This was where he was going to die, only his death wouldn't be quiet.
"Bring the first one."
The man walked up calmly, arms gripped by the strongest of the strong. Her personal guard.
"Please, hold out your hands, palms up."
He did as she asked with no hesitation, no flinching and she knew that he was innocent. The look in his ruby eyes was one of peace, mixed with what was that she felt... admiration?
She gave a soft smile as her hand softly touched both of his palms. There was no answering blue on his skin and she gave him a deep bow. "Go in peace," she said and the man returned the bow.
One down, six to go.
The next one fought a little, but he only seemed frightened. His hands trembled at her touch, but nothing lit up.
She repeated her actions from before and he left.
Next to last. Calm and cool as a cucumber as he approached. Silvery green eyes met her eyes without fear. A slight smile on his stunning face. "Come, my Queen," he said as he held his palms out. "Let us get this over with."
There was such a beautiful tone to his voice, a resonance that almost made her drop her hand. A resonance that reminded her of Kornae's ability to whisper. Stiffening her spine, she watched as those gorgeous eyes widened. She didn't need to make the mark to blaze to know she had found him. And she could see it all so easily now. Kornae, pushed so far beyond his end, this voice in his head, promising a stop to all pain, all agonizing torment, if he would simply do what he was told. And it wasn't that hard, was it? Rosewen didn't want the throne. Because of her, the land would become a dried up wasteland. The people would become barren. The land would bear no fruit, why should the Fae continue to bear children?
The burn in her hand held no surprise as the man dropped to his knees and bared his throat, waiting for her to use the same blade on him as they made Kornae use on her mother. Make a martyr of him and he would go quietly to his death.
Rage filled her, then filled her, before filling her once more. She dropped the knife as she found the words taught to her by Naiel.
Someone knelt by her, taking the knife.
There was fear in those shining green eyes. A touch, but in front of the people he betrayed, she would see it grow.
Her lips moved and she heard Kornae, calling her, from a distance.
"Eve, no!"
But still she spoke them, voice growing louder. It needed to be louder as a rising wail swept into the throne room. Hands pulled her back as the guards let go of their captive.
Things she had no name for followed the sound into the room, moving, writhing, crawling toward the now frantic Fae. "Kill me! He cried out and his voice ran through her. She took a step before she stopped herself, Kornae's fingers on her arms helping keep her still.
"You killed my mother. She died where your knees rest. You tortured my King! You betrayed your people!" She found herself screaming and lowered her voice. "Why do you deserve mercy when you have shown none."
The things had reached him, and nails and teeth and claws began to tear at him. His voice, that beautiful sound that caused so much agony, lost its purity as the screams began.
She went to turn away but Kornae grabbed her chin, keeping her facing the horror she had called. "You cannot look away, Eve. You called them. You must see it complete. If you avert your eyes, they will come after you next."
The sounds that came from that mass of flesh, the screams that refused to die, the crack of bone splintering, finally, the gurgling when there was nothing left to shriek with, sliced into her soul. She was the one who now bled from her actions. She knew she needed to be stoic. She had to be the Queen that felt no regret for her decision to call upon the slaugh. But... she couldn't.
Tears streamed down her face as Kornae kept his fingers tight against her skin, until there was only the sounds of her sobs within the massive room. The gray fleshed creatures of nightmare left, this time without the shrieks and there was only a bloodstain where a living, breathing creature once knelt.
Her hands over her face did nothing to get rid of the images burnt into her mind. Her leg gave out and she hit her knees now, cries breaking from her shivering body. Kornae knelt with her, arms around her and she let his chest claim her tears.
Her name was whispered on her ear and she cried harder, massive things that shook her body. Sickness rose in her and she tried to get away, but he didn't let her and after a few more minutes, she calmed enough to grow silent. She waited for him to leave her then, but he didn't.
What would those eyes show her when she got up the courage to look? Would they be that winter landscape because she cried about killing a man who tortured him? No, she didn't just kill him, she destroyed everything there was about him.
"I'm sorry," she finally said, body exhausted from her breakdown.
"I would have worried about you if you didn't cry." His voice was in her ear, so soft and kind.
"He broke you, Kornae. How could I shed tears for that?"
Fingers stroked her cheek before turning her head. She found his eyes warm and the kindness in his voice shown in that blue. "Because my Queen has compassion, and there is nothing wrong with that." A thumb swept across the tracks left by tears. "I wouldn't have her any other way. Except, maybe listen sometimes." He gave her a tight smile. "You didn't know what the slaugh were, what they did. You only knew some textbook idea and something in writing can never show them for what they are."
Trues words had never been spoken.
"Come," he said, standing, lifting her with him. "Let's get you to bed. It's been a long day."
It hadn't been, not really. But she was exhausted from all the information. From the vision of the king. From obliterating a life.
She followed him from the room.
~~~
Three weeks later, she found herself sweaty and panting in a circle of stone, staring at the sadistic man that loved nothing more than to piss her off. Why wouldn't he hit her like she needed him to? Teach her what was in store when she fought someone stronger? Someone who didn't give a shit that she was queen? Or, someone that did it because she was.
The head of the guard taught her all sorts of moves, but moves she couldn't use properly, because he wouldn't come after her like she wanted him too. He couldn't. Not unless he wanted the palace to kill him.
The last lesson had ended up with her stomping around the ring, muttering curse words in Unseelie.
"You're getting better, my Queen." A voice she hadn't heard in so long came from behind her and she spun.
"How in the hell would you know?" She wanted to groan as the words came flying out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit cranky right now. How have you been, my King? It's been a while."
"I can see, Eve." His voice held a trace of laughter while his eyes remain empty.
She didn't think she pissed him off. Maybe.
"And I know you retain him every day now."
"Yes, I do. I'm determined, Kornae. I have to learn to defend myself. I have to learn to defend the land. I have to learn. So fucking much to learn."
"The land can defend itself, Eve. Are you sure this isn't something deeper?"
Damn him. But she was learning, wasn't she? She was learning to accustom herself to his absence. Learning to divide her days between things she had to during the daylight hours that seemed to stretch on forever and the night hours when she had those that she loved with her. She was also learning how to be Fae. Shifty. Tricky.
"The land can't defend itself from what's coming." She turned, shifting focus to a nuance she could answer without a lie, while trying to deal with what seeing him now, after so long, did to her emotions. That part, she hadn't learned yet because it was like a shock to her heart. Grabbing a rock off the ground she flung it at the line of trees that separated the sparring circles.
Fingers grabbed her arm and spun her around. "That wasn't my question and you know it." He lifted her head and she met deep, dark, blue. But she knew that they also held hints of white, violet and black. Part of her whole fucking universe was in this man and he didn't care.
She jerked her head back. Why was he so intense? Always so fucking intense.
"You can't do this." She found her backbone somewhere in the puddle his eyes made of her. "You can't just disappear for so long and then come back here demanding answers."
"I never disappeared. I was here. I watched you train, watched you curse and kick stones, watched you take hits that made me grind my teeth in effort to not stop you. I've also watched you lay on the ground, shaking from exhaustion." He looked so deep in her eyes, she was certain he knew the color of her soul. "I've watched you. And now I want to know why?"
She pulled away from that intensity because it was going to burn her to ash. She could forget all her fear around him, except the fear of him leaving her alone. "Because I still wake up grabbing at a throat that doesn't work because I relied on something that is a part of me and it wasn't there! That cold metal sliced into me and I watched my life turn to gemstones in the sun." She sucked in a lungful of air. "I can pretend that I'm fine. That I recovered. I can pretend that it never happened. But my dreams, all save one, have been either of death and destruction, or me bleeding out of a cold marble floor." Another breath. "You have your answer. Do with it what you want."
He watched her, eyes cool and she had never been able to find that place in herself, though she tried, damn her she tried. She knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth and once it made her cry, once it made her smile. Now it only pissed her off further. She was too emotional. She knew it but didn't he realize that that was who she was?
She opened her mouth to argue when his words filtered through the red her brain was surrounded in.
"I won't hold back. Make sure you're ready."
She focused on him, every part of her "I'm ready."
He came after her with no further warning, a sudden spin, leg out and low that had her jumping, scrambling. This. This was what she needed. Not the precise choreographed dance the guard took her on.
Though, she did find herself appreciating some of those moves as a fist came in, low and hard, and she spun away from it because Kornae projected just a bit to hard. As he followed through, she drove her elbow back and a sound from him was her reward. His hand fisted in her hair, pulling back and she went with it, before dropping, her hand shooting up, connecting with his diaphragm and the grunt made her smile. A smile that only lasted a second as she hit her back, an elbow looming closer before she twisted, catching it with her ribs instead of her belly. It wasn't hard enough to crack one, but fuck, it hurt. Compartmentalize. She rolled twice, ignoring her grunts as she got back on her feet. She was smaller, lighter, faster.
Running up, she kicked, catching the person across the chest. Wrong move. To much protection there. Should have gone for the throat. It also slowed her, allowing the man to grab her foot, shoving it, and she hit her back. Air left in a rush, but it wasn't about breathing, right? It was moving. Just keep moving. As her air wooshed out of her, she pushed, keeping the momentum going as she pushed with her arm on the ground, her legs going over her head and she was on her feet.
The hazy figure came at her again, and she spun, twisting for all she was worth. Her foot made contact with the shadow assassin and she smiled, right before being shoved onto the ground,belly down, body pinning her to the ground.
~~~
"Eve," a voice said, as she struggled, trying to lift herself, pushing the bastard off her. "Stop." She heard the word, heard the voice, and her frantic shoving against the earth slowed. "You're alive, Eve, you're alive."
More words and she stilled. The body lifted and she rolled, looking up into eyes that saw too much. "Kornae?"
"Yes. And you're safe."
Why did tears fill her eyes? She was trying so damned hard to be strong. Why the waterworks?
"He can't hurt you again."
More leakage and she broke. She lay on the dirt and curled in on herself. Or, she tried. Kornae lay behind her, his arm over her waist, holding her hand against her stomach as she completely lost her shit. His warmth at her back a blanket she wanted to wrap herself in. Eventually, she began to calm down. "I don't know what's wrong with me."
She rolled onto her back and he rose up on his elbow beside her.
"I do," he said.
"Tell me please." She partially laughed. "I didn't cry after it happened. So why am I drowning now?"
"It's because you didn't cry. You didn't let yourself. You are trying so hard to do everything and be everything that you forgot about being you."
She met his eyes, maybe, because damned if he wasn't back-lit again. "I'm never not emotional. I don't know if you've realized that or not."
His hand came up to cup her cheek. "I've realized."
She tried a smile. A thumb swept her bottom lip and she took a ragged breath. "That's a bad idea, my King."
"I know." It did it again and she cursed.
"Sto—," she was going to say until his silhouette drew closer and his head blocked out the sun and the look in his eyes and he was going to blame her for this somehow, but she didn't care.
His lips touched hers as his hand slid down her throat, fingers circling the back of her neck, pulling slightly and holy shit. He drank deep from her lips and she offered freely. This soft slow deliberate destruction of her senses left her completely of kilter. She was used to aggressive, almost punishing kisses from him. But this languid thing was going to do what nothing else had been able to accomplish. It was going to kill her.
"A very bad idea." The breath of those words scorched her as his fingers bunched in her hair, pulling her mouth closer and she groaned against him.
She didn't want him to stop . Never wanted him to stop. But she couldn't take him pleasuring her then going off to someone else. She pushed against him and her hands were pinned at her sides as his mouth moved across her throat, body settling over hers, burning kisses where once was sliced flesh. His grip tightened and she cried out, body arching. His laugh was one she could never tire of.
He squeezed tighter and pulled his head back, watching her as she shuddered from his grip, the pain only pleasuring her. "Eve,' he said as her body rocked against his.
She could feel the pulling away and she wanted so badly to lash out, but at the same time, she loved it all and if he never did it again, she was going to cry. But, sure enough, he shifted, pulling her up. But it was fast. Too fast. She wasn't ready and why was it always the ribs?
Her breath hissed and he moved once more, and arm at her back, laying her down. He lifted her shirt, running fingers up flesh just beginning to bruise. "Not broken," he said. His eyes met hers. "Heal," he almost growled, voice raspy.
She would have argued, but not with that look in his eyes.
Murmuring Seelie words, she moved her hand over her side, hoping like hell she wasn't waking Gabe.
She took a deep breath, showing him she did it. His face relaxed.
"I would apologize, but I'm can't. You wanted to know that you are learning. You are. You never let yourself heal from the attack. You're tears were a good start to that. You don't need pain to carry around as a sign of strength." He smiled at her. "Or as a reminder of something you can never lose."
He stood and pulled her to her feet. Kissing her forehead he turned and walked off, leaving her to wonder what in the hell his words meant.
~~~
A long bath later, she was on her way to see her nocturnal loves. Specifically one. Gideon. Dressed to kill in a golden mesh outfit, gleaming emeralds and black diamonds with a touch of gilt material pretending at modesty, there was no way in hell she was going to let him push her away again. That was over. Somehow, even though Kornae once again drove her to the brink of destruction and then walked away, she didn't... hurt. And maybe that was because his last words. So very similar to her own, thrown in his face not long ago. But his felt good.
And he helped her. In a strange way that not many people would understand, he helped her face that damned demon.
And by god, she was going to help Gideon with his. She spent time trying to learn what Kornae did to her, his magic holding her still, and if she had to pin Gideon to the bed then she would. Without bothering to knock, she opened the door to find him sitting in a chair, facing her and as her heart stuttered, she realized that it was Sebastian he was talking to. Everything inside her screamed 'abort mission' and bloody hell, did she consider it.
Gideon was saying something and the thing that kept her from making the mad dash back to her room was the way his eyes instantly flared as his mouth forgot what he was saying. She had never seen Gideon speechless. Ever. And it soothed all the rough places inside from Kornae's constant pushing.
Could she do this?
Though she might act foolish sometimes, she was far from one. She knew exactly where this was going to lead if she took one more step. A step that Sebastian was willing to give her as he never turned around. After all her big talk. But then, there was Fallon's 'We'll see'. There was her decision to live her goddamn life. There was the freedom she felt after her experience with Gabe.
She swallowed, Gideon raised a brow, and her feet were moving.
Reaching him, she sat across his lap, not even giving him the chance to send her away. "Sorry to interrupt," was said to whoever was listening because she was so fucking scared, but she had to do this. She ran her fingers in his hair and felt those light brown waves tickle her palms and he said it. "Figure me out?" His half-smile burnt her and she swallowed.
"I never forgot," she said and pulled his lips down to hers.
Arms wrapped around her, one hand at the base of her neck, the other around the curve of her bottom and he didn't pull away. Instead, he kissed her deeper, longer and his fingers pressed into the swell of her ass and she made a sound against his lips. Pressure at the back of her neck, hand holding her tighter as his mouth drove her crazy.
"Eve." Her name from his lips was nothing but sin. "Wait, beautiful."
She pulled back, staring into dark hazel-brown eyes. "I don't want to." She said softly before taking a breath. Vampires didn't forget. Counting on that to relieve some tension, she said, "Can I sleep with you both tonight."
She might be terrified, but she couldn't help the smile when Sebastian said, "Be careful what you ask for, Eve."
She twisted and looked at him. "I don't mean to sleep, you ape."
Gideon's warm breath trailed down her throat as he said, "I don't mind."
Eve closed her eyes, leaning her head back against Gideon's firm chest as his lips trailed down the barely there cloth of her clothing. They remembered. Someone took her hand and she forced her eyes open and met Sebastian's hot brown one, their touch scorching her. He was on his knees in front of her and he asked the most important question on the planet. "Are you sure?"
Gideon grew still and she knew they were giving her one last out. An out she didn't want.
She lifted a hand, tangling it in Gideon's hair, the other, she ran across Sebastian's lips.
"Kiss me."
He did, sudden and hard, pressing her head back into Gideon, Gideon's mouth leaving flames across her shoulder.
Then she had Gideon's lips against hers as Sebastian cupped her breast, her body arching against him. Their warmth surrounded her, filling her and she burned. She moaned against Gideon's lips as Sebastian once more leaned into her, into them, his mouth scorching a trailed across the exposed flesh of her throat, and Gideon shifted slightly, the feeling of him growing against the small of her back sending shivers down through her body. His hands held her hips tight as she tried to get closer to that swell. Her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling his mouth even closed and he growled against her lips.
Fingers captured a hardened nipple and she jerked, Sebastian's chuckle against her causing her to cry out. Such a beautiful chain reaction as Gideon's hands gripped her tighter as her body moved across his. Gideon left her mouth as one of his hands splayed over her stomach and he lifted his hips slightly, letting her know exactly what was in store for her. She shuddered, her free hand digging into Sebastian's skin and his groan poured gas on her flames.
She cried out as Gideon's hand moved lower, then lower still, cupping her, pressing against her and she pushed her head back against his shoulder, body arching. Sebastian freed an aching breast before dipping his head and running his burning tongue over the tip and she bucked against the dual pleasure. Too much. It was too much.
Gideon's hand moved then, slipping inside the waist of her pants and his fingers slid through her and Sebastian nipped at her before looking up with eyes as on fire as her soul. "I want to watch."
'Watch what' was her unspoken question before Gideon answered it. The brown haired vampire sat back on his feet as Gideon began to slowly stroke Eve and she knew and oh god, the looking in those chocolate eye as her body began it's own plan to kill her. Her hips moved as Gideon moved faster, Sebastian's eyes never leaving hers. She could feel it building in her, the intensity of the eyes on her only adding to the the intensity of the pleasure. Gideon's hand moved faster and she arched, crying out, reaching out for the man sitting across from her. THere was nothing anchoring her and she was going to fly, fly so far. Sebastian took pity and gripped her hands as it crashed down over her, sounds breaking her tight throat and she lever looked away as she fell backwards into a sea of bliss.
Her harsh breathing was the only sound in the room as Sebastian stood, pulling her to unsteady feet then she was on a bed and Sebastian was behind her, pulling her shirt over her head, Gideon was between her legs, pulling her pants off and oh shit. They were naked and Gideon was bent over her and then he was filling her and her head fell back against Sebastian's shoulder and his hands cupped her breasts, thumbs caressing swollen peaks.
"Gideon," She cried out and he slowed for a moment. The look in his eyes touching her in ways their bodies couldn't.
"I never thought I would hear you say my name like that again." He filled her again, a soft slow stroke and she reached for him.
"Would have heard it sooner, but you kept pushing me away."
"That mistake won't happen again." He promised and then he was moving, thrusting so fast into her and her head fell back, Sebastian's lips claiming hers and between the feeling of Gideon inside her and Sebastian loving her from the outside, it was only moments before she lost herself in pleasure, body going stiff as Gideon pushed into her, over and over, groaning as he found release.
They shifted before she could come down and then it was Sebastian's burning eyes that stared into her soul as he shoved into her still climaxing body and she yelled out her pleasure as he rammed into her, no gentleness, now tenderness, just a man pushed to his limits and she welcomed his punishing thrusts. He stopped for a moment and she looked up to see Gideon looking at Sebastian.
"Do it." Gideon said and she swallowed. Do what?
Sebastian pulled away from her and she found herself on her hands and knees, looking at Gideon when Sebastian slapped her ass. Her eyes tried to close before Gideon cupped her chin. "It's my turn to watch."
Another sharp slap and Eve felt the shudder crawl through her. Her fingers dug into the mattress below her and she made a sound low in her throat.
Once again and her arms went weak, Gideon's hand on her the only thing keeping her up as her body melted. There was another sharp slap as Sebastian once again filled her and she cried out, a long thin sound that would have embarrassed her but for the look on Gideon's face. "I can't wait to do that again."
Another smack and hand or not, Eve dropped, arms stretching, out, searching for something, anything as she covered her cries in the softness below her. One more and her back arched and he was moving, filling her so fucking completely, so thoroughly and she yelled the pleasure into the mattress, Gideon taking her grasping hands and holding them tight as her nails dug in as fingers dug so deep into her hips, pulling her back as fast as he was thrusting and she screamed her climax to the world.
Seconds, minutes, years later and she was lifted again, and she wouldn't look, couldn't look as her back hit the mattress.
They lay on either side of her worn out body. "Eve?" A voice had to fight it's way past the blood in her ears but once it did, she could hear the hesitation in the voice. She cracked an eyelid to find Gideon looking at her with so much love in his eyes, she swallowed. "Did..."
The reason he was their leading was because he was better at speaking his feelings than Sebastian. But, he had lost that, it seemed. She held a trembling hand to touch his lips. "I... I don't have words to describe what that was. But, please believe me when I say I'm sorry for holding out for so long."
Sebastian's arm tightened around her waist. "I told you." His breath was warm on her skin, comforting instead of arousing and she smiled.
"So you said."
Gideon's smile was that sexy half one that for the longest, she didn't think she would see. "Come, Gideon. Hold me and rest here. Let me hold you because—" A gentle kiss soothed her heart and sandwiched between the first two she loved, she closed her eyes, knowing that everything would be just fine.