Fated Crown by Eva Chase
Chapter Eighteen
Whitt
Sylas studies me for a long moment after I’ve finished speaking. It’s difficult to tell which of his eyes, the dark one or the deadened one, is seeing more.
“You’re sure about this,” he says finally.
I lean back against the doorframe of his study, listening to re-confirm that no one’s nearby in the hall outside. “I’ve been sure I want to since before this whole business with the Unseelie. I only needed to be sure of Corwin. But since it affects the cadre and my service to you as well, I wouldn’t go forward without consulting you.”
A hint of wryness curls my brother’s lips. “And if I said no, would you heed me?”
The wryness stops me from bristling. It’s still a new sensation, feeling this at ease with the man I serve. Knowing he’s only teasing, that he trusts me and I trust him. A fleeting jab of irritation runs through me that his former mate stole that ease from us for so long, but what’s done is done. At least we’ve ended up in a better place.
“I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise,” I reply with a crooked grin. “You are my lord. And you’ve spent more time with Corwin than I have—it’s possible you’ve seen reasons for concern that I’ve missed.”
Sylas shakes his head. “My assessment is much the same as yours. His loyalty is to Talia above his colleagues, and to the alliance between our peoples over their self-interest. The fact that you’ve drawn the same conclusions reassures me.”
He pauses and rubs his hand across his jaw, his gaze going momentarily distant before refocusing on me. “I think what you suggest could benefit us and is unlikely to harm us. I wish I were in a position to offer it myself. If you’re confident in the decision, by all means, go ahead. But I would ask that you don’t speak of it to anyone else, including August, unless absolutely necessary.”
I don’t need to ask him why, even though the thought of keeping something from our other brother sends a vague uneasiness through me. August isn’t as adept at dissembling and subterfuge as either of us. He’d never let a crucial piece of information slip purposefully, but in an urgent situation where he didn’t have much time to think, he could give something away. And the wrong person finding out about this could be disastrous.
I dip my head in acknowledgment. “I completely agree. Thank you.”
Sylas gives me a softer smile. “I’m glad you’ve found a partner who brings you more peace than most ever achieve. I was starting to think you’d keep your bachelor ways forever.”
The warmth of his words leaves me a bit awkward. It’s true that I’m not often at ease with any sort of affection, brotherly or romantic. I let out a rough chuckle. “You well know what a spectacular mate she is.”
After I leave the study, I gather a few items I wanted to stash in my new rooms in the border castle and then make my way over there at the agreed time. Talia has been with August and then Corwin for most of the day, but this evening and the night belong to me. As the accord between the realms becomes stronger, I expect we’ll all spend more of our time working out of that space together, but I can’t say I mind getting the mite to myself for a little while.
I speak my vow and go in through our entrance. Before I’ve made it more than a few steps inside, Talia appears at the other end of the front hall, which is nearly as grand as Hearth-by-the-Heart’s. Her cheeks are nearly as ruddy as the pink strands of her windblown hair, suggesting she’s just come in from outside in the winter realm. The hue makes her look so wildly alive that my heart skips a beat when she beams at me.
No, I never thought any woman would ever affect me so deeply either. What a marvel she is.
As she limps over and gives me a hug in greeting, Corwin peeks in from the hall. He offers me a nod of welcome and then heads off. The man is a bit of an odd duck, but it’s become clear that his stiffness and formality are simply part of his general personality, not any reservations he still holds about our joint relationship—and he’s willing to shed them as Talia needs him to. Unlike the rest of his jabbering colleagues.
Now that the moment is upon me, I’m not sure how to begin. But Talia pre-empts me anyway.
“There’s something I wanted to ask you about,” she says. “If you don’t mind getting right into business the second you’ve gotten here.”
I laugh. “If you’re scheming something, I definitely want to be a part of that.” I hold up the satchel I packed. “I need to bring this to my room—and if you’ll join me, we can talk in there with some privacy.” I’ll want that for the subject I mean to speak about as well.
I grasp her hand, and she follows me upstairs to the bedrooms. As I put my belongings away, she perches on the edge of the bed—only half the size her new one is, but plenty lavish enough for my tastes. I don’t plan on sharing this one with anyone other than her.
“This morning I went to see how the human servants in Laoni’s castle are treated,” she says.
I can’t imagine that trip was very inspiring. I glance over my shoulder at her. “And?”
“It went about as well as you’d think, which isn’t very well.” She makes a face. “I’m going to see if I can check on some other domains on both sides of the border to get the full picture, but I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what’s typical already… The hard part is going to be convincing anyone to go against the kinds of things they’ve been doing for thousands of years. I was hoping you might have some ideas for how to pitch the idea of better treatment for humans to the other fae.”
“Me specifically?”
She shrugs with a small but sweet smile. “Strategy is your specialty, right? Who better to strategize with?”
It’s a logical explanation, but nevertheless her words provoke a flutter of tenderness in my chest. She has two arch-lords ready to leap to her aid, but there are still things she’d rather turn to me for.
I sit next to her on the bed and slip my arm around her waist. “Let’s see. What exactly do you want to convince my brethren to do?”
The way she nestles into my casual embrace so eagerly warms my heart even more.
“In a perfect situation, which I realize I might not get, at least not without a few stepping stones along the way?” she says. “The fae would stop taking any humans from their world at all, unless the humans are agreeing to come with a full understanding of what they’re getting into and no trickery to hold them here.”
I hum to myself. “That request would definitely meet quite a bit of resistance, but I’ll put my mind to it. What of the mortals already among us?"
She tips her head to the side in thought. “For the humans already here, no more drugs should be forced on them. They should be given some time to clear their heads and see their true situation, and then get to choose whether they stay or go home. And if they choose to stay, they need to be respected and given a chance to have lives of their own as much as the fae staff.”
I nod slowly. “Even the fae servants aren’t always respected, but they’re definitely better off than the humans nearly everywhere. Your biggest challenge is going to be convincing all the lords and ladies to do without their easily controlled workforce.”
Talia grimaces. “They don’t need human servants. Anything the humans are doing, fae could do it too. Probably faster in most cases. We can point to Sylas as an example of a lord who’s managed with only fae on staff for, what, about a century now?”
“Having an arch-lord as an exemplar certainly can’t hurt. And as our people’s respect for you grows, I’d imagine it’ll become easier to convince them that those like you deserve better as well.” I rub my jaw, mulling it over. “We’ll definitely want to approach the situation one piece at a time rather than trying to overhaul the system all in one go.”
“Where do you think it’d be easiest to start?”
That’s the big question. “Perhaps rather than focusing on one element at a time, we’d be best off tackling one domain at a time,” I say. “Starting with the arch-lords. Hearth-by-the-Heart already operates without human help, and Corwin’s human servants are all fully conscious and accepting of their situation, aren’t they? We could go to Donovan next. I think he’d be our best bet for convincing.”
Talia’s eyes light up. “That makes sense. After him, maybe we could talk to Neve on the winter side. She seems like the most flexible of the other winter arch-lords.”
“Perfect. If we have both of them, then half of us would be setting a new standard. Easier to start pressuring the others into following suit. And once the regular lords and ladies see that their arch-lords are making a change, they’ll be more inclined to do the same themselves.”
She taps her lips. “I should probably see how Donovan’s human servants are doing in general before we make any suggestions to him. Do you think you or Sylas could speak to him about me making a visit there?”
“No problem at all.” I ruffle her hair. “Is that a solid enough plan for you, at least as a start?”
“Definitely. Thank you.” She leans into me again, and I tuck her tighter against me instinctively.
There’s so much I want to say to her, so many ways I’ve imagined this, but now that I’m on the verge, the act feels so momentous it takes me a minute to gather myself. I trace my fingers over Talia’s cheek and kiss her temple.
“Talia… A couple of months back I told you there was something I wanted to offer you when I felt I could do so without jeopardizing my other responsibilities. Do you remember that?”
She pulls back, her gaze snapping up to meet mine. I can tell right away that she does.
Her voice comes out quiet. “It’s all right. I understand that with the situation with Corwin—accepting him as my soul-twined mate and having that unshakeable connection with him—it isn’t totally secure. I never expected you to trust even me that much, let alone him as well.”
Love swells inside me. I cup her chin, holding her gaze. “That’s not why I’m bringing it up. I trusted you enough that I’d have offered you my true name back then if it’d only been about you. And having seen the strength of Corwin’s will and his dedication to you… I trust him as well. If you don’t find it too much of a responsibility to carry.”
Talia blinks at me. “You want—you’d give me your true name now?” she says, a little breathless.
I want to wrap her in the tightest of embraces, but I can’t do that and look her in the eyes at the same time. “I would. I want you to be able to call on me no matter where you are, no matter what’s happening. You have Corwin, of course, but if I should be closer, or he should be incapacitated… From what Sylas heard from the sage, Heart only knows how much more complicated our lives may become in the coming years. And I’ll be here for you in every way I can be—as you’ve been here for me.”
Her eyes mist with tears, but her smile eliminates any fear that they’re unhappy ones. “You really don’t have to. I know what a big deal it is.”
I give in to the urge to gather her up in my arms now, breathing in her tartly sweet scent. “I want to. I have no doubt about that. My only concern is whether you want to accept.”
“Yes,” she says without hesitation. “Yes. If I could have a soul-twined bond with all of you, I’d want it, and this is as close to that as I can get. I’d die before I let anyone use it against you.”
My throat constricts. I believe she means that. “I intend to see it never comes to that, mite.”
I dip my head so my lips brush the shell of her ear. The syllables I’ve never spoken to anyone before catch in the back of my mouth. I urge them onto my tongue. “Wye-con-ell.”
“Wye-con-ell,” Talia repeats in a murmur, and just like that, a tingle races through the center of my being. She looks up at me. “So if I need you, I just say it—the way I say the other true names—and I’ll be able to reach out to you with my thoughts?”
“You can include a request with the name,” I say. “Ask me to open my mind to you if you have something to tell me, ask me to answer a question, ask me to come to you— I have to obey. So, use it wisely.”
“Of course.” Her eyes shine with awe. “How will I know— With the other true names, I couldn’t get a handle on them right away.”
I was prepared for that question. “I thought we could play a little game of hide-and-seek,” I say with a wink. “There’s a spot in this castle it wouldn’t be easy to get to without special guidance. Give me five minutes to reach it, and then speak my true name and focus on your awareness of me with as much concentration as you can. If you’ve got it right, you should be able to follow the route straight to me. Ready?”
Talia laughs, though she still looks a bit shy about it. “No time like the present.”
“Then come to me as soon as you can.” I kiss her once more, on the lips this time, reveling in the knowledge that I belong to this woman in every way that matters to me—that she wanted me to belong to her. Then I get up and leave the room.
I’m not sure when I’ll have need of the office set aside for my use on the border castle’s third floor. I’m reluctant to move my books and other supplies over just yet when I still need to do much of my work in Hearth-by-the-Heart. But it’s here nonetheless, and during the construction I added a personal touch: one of my secret passageways.
By pressing the right spot on the built-in shelves, one section slides to the side to reveal a narrow hidden doorway. The spiral staircase beyond leads both down to a disguised exit at the base of the castle and up to a small terrace near the top of one of the turrets.
I head up, lifting my nose to the traces of fresh summer air that seep past the door above. The turret is set forward enough on our side of the castle that it escapes the haze of the border completely. I step out onto the wooden platform with its polished, waist-high railing to a view that encompasses nearly the entire hill around the Heart as well as some of the sprawling terrain beyond it.
Evening is creeping up on us. The shadows of the buildings below stretch long, and pinks and purples that echo Talia’s hair glow in the scattered clouds. Even if this wasn’t a particularly distinctive occasion, the sight would please me. I look forward to sharing it with my soon-to-be mate.
As I lean against the railing, the warm breeze ruffling over my hair with a faint smell of wildflowers, the same tingling sensation that ran through me before touches me again. Talia is calling on me.
I picture my path through the castle from leaving my bedroom, and the tingles condense inside my skull. I get the faintest impression of Talia from them—her slightly uneven gait, her eagerness to find me, her excitement that she’s been able to sense my presence at all.
I linger on the bookshelves trick for the longest, until my ears catch the rasp of the hidden entrance opening from below. Talia’s soft footsteps patter up the stairs. As she comes through the upper doorway, I turn to meet her.
Her whole face is glowing now. She throws herself into my arms, squeezing me close. “That was amazing. I just… knew which way to go, and then I could feel you guiding me when I needed it. It isn’t like the soul-twined bond at all, but it’s still wonderful.”
“No matter where you or I go, you’ll always be able to reach me,” I say.
She tips her head up, seeking my lips. I have no problem at all giving her the kiss she’s requesting.
This woman has never been short on passion, but there’s a depth of ardor to her embrace now that tops any kiss we’ve shared before, as if she means to meld right into me. It stirs every nerve in my body to eager alertness.
“Thank you,” she says when she draws back. “I know the words aren’t really enough, but—thank you. I wish I could give the same thing back to you.”
But she doesn’t have a true name to give.
I tease my fingers along her jaw. “You’ve offered me plenty, Talia. In some ways I’d say more than I’ve yet offered you.”
She snorts as if that’s impossible. Then her gaze drifts from me to the view, and she sucks in an awed breath. “Wow. I didn’t know you’d built a balcony up here.”
“It’s for my use only. And I suppose yours as well, should you have need of it. As spymaster, I enjoy having a good view over my surroundings.” I smirk. “It has a spell around it to hide any sight of it from below, so no one will ever know they’re being spied on.”
“You think of everything,” she says, amused. She moves to the railing, setting her hands on it and peering out into the distance.
We’re so high up here that the fae moving about in the domains below look no larger than mice. Talia studies them and the vivid colors spreading across the darkening sky. When her eyes flick back to me, I catch a hint of slyness in them.
She turns her back to the railing and then boosts herself up with a hitch of her arms to sit on it. My pulse lurches. I lunge for her in the same instant, some part of my mind picturing her tumbling over the edge—but as my hands catch her waist, I can already feel that she was keeping her balance just fine.
“Trying to give me a heart attack there, mite?” I ask, bowing my head over hers.
She smiles sweetly up at me. “Showing that I trust you with my life just as you’ve trusted me with yours. I can’t offer the same openness you did, but there are other ways I can bare myself to you.”
Still gripping the railing with one hand, she raises the other to the collar of her dress. In the aftermath of my panic, it takes me a moment to realize she’s loosening the ties that run down the center of the bodice. The fabric gapes open, gradually unveiling more and more pale skin over her collarbone and the swells of her breasts.
A jolt of lust shoots straight to my groin, and heat floods my body. I wrench my gaze from her chest to her face. My voice comes out rough. “Talia…”
She reaches lower and gives an extra tug to uncover her breasts completely. Her pert nipples pebble in the breeze. She watches me, avidly and yet still with a shy flush creeping across her cheeks.
“I want you,” she says simply. “I know you won’t let me fall.”
“Never,” I rasp, looping one arm around her to hold her firmly in place. She splays her legs so I can step closer between them, and Heart help me, my cock is already straining against the crotch of my slacks.
I understand the symbolism of this gesture, and I want to allow her it, but I can’t possibly pretend I’m doing this all for her benefit. I doubt I’ve ever desired her more.
I lower my head to reclaim her lips. As our mouths lock together, I caress my fingers over her breasts, teasing one nipple into an even harder point and then doing the same to the other, drinking in the whimpers my touch provokes like fine wine.
Talia squirms close enough that her sex brushes my cock, her fingers interlacing behind my neck. She kisses me like she might never get to again, like she’s starving for me, and that only makes me all the hungrier for her.
My patience is fraying fast. I slip my free hand between her legs, hefting up the skirt of her dress, and trace the dampness spreading across her panties. A groan escapes me. Kissing her harder, I delve my tongue between her lips to tangle with hers.
As I stroke her faster, her fingernails prick my neck with perfect nicks of pain. “Whitt,” she gasps, arching into me.
I know what she wants now, but I intend to give her the highest pleasure I can before I take my own.
I tuck my fingers right inside her panties to fondle her skin to skin. My mouth captures every needy sound that slips from her lips. I pump one finger, then two, then three inside her as my thumb dances across her clit.
Talia’s head falls back with an outright moan. The wind rises, tossing her hair around her. I sway with her on the railing, my other arm still firm around her back, her trust in me absolute. Her lack of fear brings an ache into my chest that’s far more potent than my lust.
I swivel my thumb, increasing the pressure when she pushes into my touch. Her spine arches farther, and then her channel is clenching around my fingers, a tremor of release racing through her body.
Before it’s even faded, she grasps my arm. “I want you,” she says with the determination I admire so much. “All of you, inside me, coming with me.”
I nuzzle her cheek. “Then you’ll have your wish, mighty one.”
She tugs at my slacks, and together we free my cock. I tear the panties right off her rather than carry out the gymnastics of peeling them off intact while I’m this close to her. I’ll bring her a dozen replacements next time.
Her fingers close around my throbbing length, and just like that I’m panting against her hair. “You spark the hottest fire in me I’ve ever felt,” I say. “I will never want anyone else but you.”
She tugs me forward. “Then have me.”
I don’t need any further encouragement to plunge right into her wet heat.
Skies above, being joined with her like this is never less than glorious, but tonight tops every time before. She rocks to meet me, heedless of the height and her precarious position, knowing that even in my greatest rush of passion I’ll protect her with all I have. The wind whips over us as if urging us on.
The intensity of the moment is too much for me to hold back for very long. I buck into her, and she reaches her second peak with a giddy cry. The bliss written all across her beautiful face brings my own body surging toward ecstasy. I hold her to me and thrust a few more times before all my desire spills inside her in a blaze of release.
We cling to each other there for a few minutes, catching our ragged breaths. Talia makes a pleased sound and nestles her head against my chest. I think her show of faith has been clear enough that I can now heft her off the railing and sit with her on my lap in a position where falling isn’t a possibility.
“I think we should do that again sometime,” Talia announces.
A laugh tumbles out of me. “I won’t argue with that. You call, and I’ll be at your side.”
She peers up at me, abruptly serious. “I wouldn’t ever use that power casually, you know. Only if it was an emergency.”
I brush my fingers over her hair. “If it’s just to convey a message, speak to me whenever you like. But yes, I’d prefer if you didn’t order my immediate arrival unless necessary. If only because it would make it rather hard to keep our arrangement a secret. But I wasn’t at all worried that you would.”
“Good.” She leans into me again, her face turned toward the view between the bars of the railing. Then, abruptly, she straightens up. “What’s that?”
I follow her gaze, my spirits sinking at her tone before I’ve even spotted what she’s reacting to.
In the near distance, coming from somewhere near the base of the hill around the Heart, a plume of smoke is rising, glinting bloody red against the darkening sky.
