Fated Crown by Eva Chase
Chapter Thirteen
Talia
I’ve seen the Hall of the Heart many times through Corwin’s eyes, but this is only my second time entering it. The high ceiling and the gleaming white marble all around take my breath away for a second. Seeing the stern expressions three of the arch-lords waiting for us are wearing, it’s hard to catch it again.
I can’t think of any valid reason they could have to complain about your behavior,Corwin reassures me as we walk together to his spot at the long marble table. If you’re uncertain of how to respond to anything they say, let me take the lead.
I nod inwardly, although I hate letting anyone else fight my battles. Sometimes I need it—I know I can’t face off with fae in every possible way on my own—but they’re never going to respect me if they don’t see me standing up for myself however I actually can.
Neve offers us a soft, dreamy smile. The others just eye us silently until we come to a stop at the table.
Laoni clears her throat, but Corwin jumps in before she can speak. “What is this about? What decisions were you talking about, Laoni?”
She glowers at him. “What do you think? Your mate has had quite a while to think on our proposal for her return to her own world. We would like to see that matter settled before it becomes any more fraught.”
Fraught because the rest of the winter fae might protest me leaving their world now that they’re becoming so impressed by me? Somehow I suspect Laoni is thinking more about ending whatever influence I might be gaining among her people than about how they’ll feel about my absence.
“I didn’t know there was a time limit on deciding,” I say, keeping my voice as steady as possible. “There’s more I want to understand about both worlds before I’m sure which would do the most good—not for me but for everyone involved.”
Uzziah lets out a faint cough. “An honorable sentiment, but it does bring into question your motivations.”
I sense Corwin bristling, though he doesn’t show it other than in a slight terseness that creeps into his voice. “What exactly do you mean by that? Talia’s ‘motivations’ have been nothing but pure. She’s been selflessly helping us in a way none of us have been able to accomplish for weeks now.”
“It may appear selfless, but who’s to say the human isn’t gaining something from it as well?” Laoni says archly. “She can lie after all, unlike the rest of us. Why else would she be so hesitant to do what’s right for her family and for the brother she should owe the most loyalty to?”
Terisse’s mouth twitches with a hint of discomfort, but she speaks up too. “Yes, how can we be so sure of her loyalty to us or even you if she’d abandon one of her own blood so easily?”
Guilt jabs through my stomach. “I haven’t abandoned my brother,” I retort. “I don’t even know if suddenly jumping back into his life would be better for him than staying out of it. The situation isn’t that simple.”
Laoni studies me. “Or are you saying that because you don’t want us to question why you’re so intent on staying among us?”
I grit my teeth, but I’m not sure how to answer. “If I stay, it’ll be because I can’t stand the thought that people might end up suffering more without me right here to help with the curse.” And because of all the suffering I might be able to save the other humans here from, though I don’t think she’ll want to hear about that. “And because I’m trying not to upend Jamie’s life all over again.”
Laoni folds her arms over her chest. “Take another day, then. I want us to be able to come up with a definite plan of action for handling our curse victims by then. We’ve been living in uncertainty long enough.”
I’m not usually a violent person, but right then I’d like nothing more than to punch her right in her smug face. My fingers curl into my palms, but I hold my hands still at my sides. “Fine,” I say. Corwin sets his hand on my back, and we walk back out of the building.
You don’t need to agree to their demands,he says as we go. We can insist on more time. We’ve been living in uncertainty for decades before now.
I pause, but I can’t ignore the constricting sensation in my chest that’s been growing tighter since the first moment I found out Jamie was alive. No. I think I do need to make a decision, not just for them but for me too. I’m not really getting any closer to an answer with all my fretting about it. I’d like to visit Jamie one more time before I’m sure, though.
I’ll make arrangements so that you can travel to the human worldfirst thing in the morning. Corwin’s hand moves to grasp my hand. They were only trying to push their own agenda with their comments, you know. I have no doubts about your loyalty. I know how much you care about your brother.
I squeeze his hand in return, but his reassurance doesn’t erase the guilt still prickling through my gut. Laoni and the others might have been trying to shame me for their own reasons, but that doesn’t mean their points were totally wrong. I do owe Jamie more than I owe anyone here in the fae realm, don’t I? I should be able to find a way to help him when he’s obviously struggling, even if it’s hard at first.
Tomorrow I’ll see him again, and hopefully it’ll all become clearer.
“Sylas and the others should be waiting for us in your new home,” Corwin reminds me as we set off across the icy fields toward his domain. “I could ask Charles and Beth to come over from the palace and make us all one of their fantastic dinners.”
My insides are too tangled up for me to enjoy the thought of putting food inside me. I shake my head. “Not right now. I think I just want to be with all of you for a while, without anyone else there, without anything we’re supposed to be doing.”
The memory rises up of the time when I felt at my most despondent last month, when the answer to the winter curse was eluding me and I seemed to be failing everyone. I brought Corwin into my bed, and just cuddling against him melted some of my anguish.
Everything we did together after cuddling didn’t hurt either…
I want to have all my lovers—my mates—around me, to be enveloped in their love. To see just how far we’ve come… even if we won’t take our relationship any further after all.
Corwin takes in my emotions wordlessly. When we step over the threshold on the diamond side of the border castle, he sweeps me off my feet as August likes to do and tucks me against him.
As he heads through the halls to the central rooms where crystal and wood merge, my Seelie lovers emerge from their side of the castle to meet us. Sylas takes in our expressions and frowns.
“My colleagues have been especially hard on our mate today,” Corwin says, his use of our setting off a glow of warmth inside me just like that. “I think the cure she needs is to be wrapped up in as much adoration as possible.”
August’s expression also turned solemn when he saw Corwin carrying me, but at that last remark, a grin springs to his face. “I’m all for that.”
Whitt arches his eyebrows. “Let’s break in that new bedroom of yours, mighty one.”
A blush heats my cheeks even though I’m not sure just how thoroughly I want to break in the bedroom right at this moment. “That sounds perfect to me.”
As we head up the stairs with their alternating wooden and diamond steps, Sylas draws up beside Corwin and me. “Should we be concerned about your colleagues’ current demands, whatever they are?” he asks.
“No,” I answer for Corwin. “Mostly they just want me to make a decision before much longer about whether I’m staying here or going back to Jamie. Which I probably should anyway. I’ve been putting it off, but it’s only getting harder to sort out my thoughts, not easier.”
A more somber mood settles over our group. Whitt slips his hand around one of my dangling feet and strokes his thumb over the arch. “If there’s anything you need to know that would help you get a clearer picture of the situation, come to me without hesitation. And keep in mind that any decision you make now doesn’t have to be final. They can’t prevent you from changing your mind.”
“We’d all fight for your right to return here or there if you wanted something different later on,” August adds, the muscles in his shoulders flexing.
Knowing that should comfort me, but instead it only expands the melancholy ache in my chest. They’re already preparing to say goodbye to me if that’s what I insist on. The sorrow that lances through Corwin at that thought carries through our connection, and I know the other men must be similarly affected. Even considering the possibility of losing any of them hurts me just as much.
I swallow thickly and will down those emotions. Right now I want to be focused on this moment, in case it’s the only chance I get to enjoy our shared home with the men I’ve been so looking forward to sharing it with. My decision can wait for tomorrow.
I haven’t seen my fully finished bedroom before. When we step inside, a delighted laugh bubbles out of me. The walls are the same mix of diamond and wood as the other rooms in the middle of the castle, twined together here in delicate swirls. The furniture is a similar mix: a diamond washstand, a wooden wardrobe. The bedposts are wood with diamond spheres glinting at their peaks.
But what most delights me is the size of that bed. They’ve conjured one that’s at least twice the size of those in either of my old bedrooms, more than large enough for all of us to comfortably fit on.
Corwin sets me down gently in the middle of the soft bedspread and then eases back. I can tell from the impressions trickling through our bond that he wants to show the other men he’s not staking a greater claim on me, that he’s willing to let them come to me first.
August and Whitt pause, studying him. They’ve never been part of any shared intimacies that involved my newest lover.
Sylas, who initiated our first shared encounter, settles next to me with his shoulders propped against the headboard, his fingers brushing over my hair. Seeing their lord make the first move, the other two climb onto the bed. August sprawls out at the opposite end of the bed and starts massaging my feet. Whitt presses a kiss to my belly and nestles his head against my hip.
Only then does Corwin properly join us, completing the ring of manly warmth around me with his head tucked against my shoulder. I kiss his forehead, run my hand down Sylas’s chest, tease my fingers through Whitt’s silky hair, and push my sole into August’s touch encouragingly.
Just like that, we’re all together as one unified collective. The lingering tension that stirred in Corwin at the prospect of navigating this situation fades away into contentment.
It’s impossible not to feel like this is exactly where I belong—where we all belong. The love doesn’t only pass between me and them but also between the men to each other, even if they share different sorts of affection and respect.
We brought the Seelie and Unseelie together after decades of war. We’ve challenged both societies’ ideas of who could be a proper mate. So much trust and faith has grown between us. How can there be any problem we can’t conquer?
But the problem of tomorrow’s decision hasn’t gone away. When my worries start gnawing at me again, I know just snuggling here in this ring of warmth won’t be enough to chase them away. A starker desire ripples through me and collects between my thighs.
I want to know just how well all five of us can come together in every possible way, whether it’s only the beginning or a memory I’ll be able to hold on to tightly in days to come.
As often, my fae men’s keen senses tip them off to the shift in my mood before I’ve given any purposeful sign. August’s caresses become more provoking, traveling up my calf to the sensitive skin of my inner knee. Whitt traces his fingers across my abdomen, his breath spilling hot enough across my hip for me to feel it through my dress. Sylas slips his fingers under my chin and draws my face up to meet his kiss.
And through it all, my soul-twined mate watches with a weird mix of exhilaration and envy. His instinctive possessiveness hasn’t totally left him, but he isn’t letting it control him.
I want him to be a full part of this interlude. As I kiss Sylas back, I tug on Corwin’s shirt. I need you too, my soul.
With the silent impression of a groan, he leans in to nip the curve of my neck. My breath hitches against Sylas’s mouth.
No matter what happens, nothing can erase what I’m experiencing right now. Nothing can break the love we all share. That much I’m sure of.
The certainty comes with a joy that’s bittersweet but also so potent I can’t hold it back. I draw back from Sylas just enough to murmur a true name into the air. “Sole-un-straw.”
Light shimmers over us like a shower of tiny shooting stars. Corwin exhales sharply, and then he’s guiding my mouth to his.
As he kisses me with more passion than I’ve ever felt from him before, my Seelie men intensify their attentions too. Sylas cups my breasts and nibbles the lobe of my ear. August and Whitt make a joint venture of guiding my dress up to my waist, kissing their way up my legs in tandem. By the time they reach my upper thighs, I’m squirming and soaking my panties.
August pauses for just an instant as if he’s worried Corwin will change his mind if things get too intense. I tug on his hair, and he lowers his head to mouth me through the thin fabric over my sex. The heat of that intimate kiss sends a shudder of delight through me. A mewling sound escapes my throat, and Corwin’s tongue delves between my lips at their parting, devouring me even more deeply.
Oh, God. I already feel like I’m on the verge of exploding, and not a single piece of clothing is off any of us.
As if sensing that thought, August yanks my panties right off and kisses me skin to skin. The slick of his tongue over my opening has me arching off the bed with a rush of pleasure. Whitt clasps my bottom and holds me up at an even better angle for his brother’s attentions, dappling kisses across my hip bone at the same time. When August delves his tongue right inside me, Corwin has to swallow my cry.
But my soul-twined mate isn’t selfish. He worships my mouth for a few moments longer and then releases me with a nod to Sylas. As my Seelie arch-lord reclaims my lips, Corwin opens the fastenings on my dress. As soon as he’s gained access to my breasts, he lowers his mouth to them and works them over with just as much enthusiasm as August below.
With bliss burning through me from every direction, it’s a miracle I keep enough of my head to know I want a little less clothing on the rest of them too. Picking up on that silent wish, Corwin straightens up to peel off his shirt. A tremor of discomforted modesty travels through our bond, but then he announces to the others, “Our mate would prefer not to be alone in her state of undress.”
It’s an awfully formal way of saying that I’d like them all naked, but it does the trick. Suddenly there are shirts and slacks being shed all around me. In the middle of it, they manage to completely remove my dress as well. I find myself kneeling between my four lovers with them wearing just their boxers, their erections straining against the fabric.
Another urge takes over me that I don’t question. I reach for Corwin first, sliding my hand down his lean chest to the waist of his undergarment. “I want to taste all of you.”
His breath stutters as I duck my head. I tug the waistband lower to free his shaft and take it into my mouth.
The salty flavor that mingles with his wintery forest scent is familiar now. I swirl my tongue around the corded length. Every twitch of his member, the desperate tensing of his fingers in my hair, and the echoes of the pleasure I’m offering him make me giddy. There are so many ways in which these men have more power than I do, but when it comes to the bedroom, I’m at least their equal. I don’t have any more doubt that they want me just as much as I want them.
I move from Corwin to Whitt, freeing my sly strategist in turn. His eyes turn heavy-lidded as he strokes my cheek. “Taste as much as you like.”
The scent that clings to every part of him is almost the opposite of Corwin, like sunbaked sand, but I relish it just as much. The groan that spills out of Whitt when I suck hard on his rigid length makes my own sex throb.
I’m tempted to stay there and see how long it takes to draw out Whitt’s release with just my mouth, but I don’t want to leave my other lovers neglected. I lap the head of his shaft and turn toward August.
The warrior’s face has flushed, his eyes shining with both affection and lust. “I’m right here for you, Sweetness,” he says in a husky voice.
And he is, his thick member nearly filling my hand as I draw it out. I lick around the tip and then take as much as I can into my mouth. His fingers drag over my scalp with just the right mix of tenderness and tension to set off a wave of sparks. I could drink in his sweetly musky flavor all day.
But I still have one more lover I want to include in this impromptu ritual. I give August a quick kiss on the mouth, our flavors mixing on our lips, and ease around to face Sylas.
The Seelie arch-lord watches me with nothing but love and desire in his dark eye. I tip forward so I can kiss a path down the middle of his chest, over several of his true-name tattoos, before I reach his boxers. When I delve inside them, he presses into my grasp as if he can’t help himself. His earthy, smoky scent fills my lungs.
I suck him down slowly, tracing my tongue along the rigid shaft to find the spots that make his muscles tighten and his chest hitch. I’m learning how to make this man come undone. All of these men. They’re mine, and I’m theirs, and that’ll be true no matter how far away I am at any given moment.
As I draw a rough sound from Sylas’s throat, one more hunger shivers through me. I’ve taken each of them one-by-one, but can I make our union completely literal and make love with all four of them at the same time? See us all reach our releases together?
I don’t know, but I have to try. I’ve managed it with my three Seelie lovers before. One more should be possible.
I ease back, glancing around at the four men, my lips tingling from the use I’ve just put them to. Corwin shouldn’t have to speak this desire for me.
“I want all of you… with me, together,” I said. “I’m not sure exactly how…”
When I trail off awkwardly, Corwin smiles, his expression full of heat and affection. “I’d imagine we can accommodate that wish as well as the other,” he says in a lower tone than he normally takes on. “I know you’ve already discovered many of the ways we can pleasure you and you us.”
A sharper flare of heat surges through me. I think of him touching my other entrance when we made love in the cave, of Whitt penetrating me there weeks ago, and a heady tingling washes through me.
Through communication that’s mostly unspoken, the men move around me, pausing to offer kisses and caresses as we navigate my request. I find myself braced over Sylas, my knees by his hips, my hands braced against his chest as he sprawls back on the bed. He holds my waist to steady me, not to control me. In answer to the question in his dark eye, I rock myself against him so the head of his member slides across my opening. It feels so good I quiver with eagerness.
As I sink down onto him, a deeper pleasure flares through my core. A whimper works its way from my throat.
Whitt gives August a lightly playful nudge. “Do you think you can see to our lady’s other needs this time, whelp?”
August mock-glowers at him, any trace of rancor dissolved by the broad smile that stretches his mouth at the same time. “It would be my honor.”
He kneels behind me, carefully straddling Sylas’s legs, and kisses a scorching path from the middle of my back to the nape of my neck. His fingers work me over, spreading my own liquid and an added slickness he conjures with a murmured word to prepare my other opening.
With the blissful sensations swelling all through my core and up into my abdomen, it’s hard to focus. I manage to tug Whitt and then Corwin closer on either side of me. I bow down to kiss Sylas hard and lift up again to kiss the men next to me, gasping against Whitt’s mouth when August eases into me.
Oh, that sensation of being doubly filled makes me feel as if I’m soaring and burning up at the same time.
Corwin makes a strained noise as my delight passes into him. I curl my fingers around his jutting erection. As I begin to stroke up and down it, I lean the other way to take Whitt into my mouth for the second time. This time I’m going to see him all the way through to the end.
Relishing all of my men at once doesn’t go perfectly smoothly with so many moving parts. Sometimes I become so overwhelmed with the pleasure racing through me that I lose myself in a momentary daze. I have to adjust my position a few times, taking the moment to steal more kisses. But as I sink into the rhythm of the two men thrusting into me, it drives my momentum with the other two until we’re swaying together in a rush of heated delight that’s swiftly becoming an inferno.
To my surprise, it’s Whitt who topples over the edge first, with a hissed curse and a squeeze of my shoulder. After he’s flooded my mouth, he pants for a moment and then turns closer attention to every area of my body he can reach to spark more pleasure in me. His thumb swivels over a nipple, both Sylas and August buck into me in unison, and my hand jerks around Corwin’s shaft so hard I feel the surge of his impending release. I duck quickly enough to wrap my lips around him just as he reaches his peak.
I rest my hands on Sylas’s chest again, sliding them over the sweat that’s formed there. He lets out a growl and pumps into me faster. August matches his pace, and all at once I’m hurtling toward my own orgasm at top speed. All I can do is hang on through the tsunami of ecstasy until the final wave crashes over me.
I come apart with a cry that’s almost a sob, shaking in my lovers’ joint embrace. Sylas groans and August clutches me tighter as they both follow me over the edge.
I end up slumped on the covers in a nest formed by my four mates, their limbs tucked around mine, finding a comfortable space next to each other. When I catch Corwin’s gaze, his eyes glitter with the same thrilled satisfaction that’s resonating through our connection.
We are five, and we are one.
And tomorrow I have to decide whether keeping us together is the right thing or an avoidance of my true responsibilities.
