Fated Crown by Eva Chase
Chapter Nine
Corwin
With the sun lighting her pale face and beaming off her pink-and-violet hair, my mate is nothing short of gorgeous. She leans over the edge of the carriage, peering at the icy forest we’re passing over, and then glances back at me with a sly glint in her eyes. “You said this is one of your favorite places in the realm. Why’s it taken so long for you to show it to me, then?”
I make a vague motion with my hand, maintaining the casual atmosphere I’ve tried to set for this expedition. “It’s a farther trek than places like the frostfire forest. And perhaps I wanted to save a few things to discover together once you were fully my mate.”
The smile that crosses Talia’s lips at that remark, both shy and sly, sends a bolt of desire straight to my groin. What a mate she is. My heart swells so much just looking at her that a tiny edge of fear creeps around the edges of my affection—the thought that it might be too much, that I might be too immersed in her to keep my head straight.
Especially when I might have to say goodbye to her sooner than I ever imagined.
But that’s a fear driven by decades of sneers and judging glances, not by anything I truly believe. I simply have to keep reminding myself of that. What could be wrong with appreciating seeing the woman whose soul is twined with mine happy and relaxed for the first time in days, if not weeks? I can’t remember the last time she showed this sort of playfulness, we’ve spent so much of our time together rushing from meeting to curse victim and back again.
Sylas sent a brief message to me before I came to meet Talia at the border that she could use any break I can provide from the responsibilities we fae have heaped on her. I can already tell his instincts were right.
Every part of me initially resisted the idea of sharing Talia’s affections, but it’s turned out that having other men who care so much for her in our lives benefits our own relationship as well. Now, I’d hate to lose their contributions to her happiness.
But today can be just about us. I took care of all my pressing responsibilities ahead of time, and my coterie can manage any new concerns that come up until my return. Even if another of my people falls victim to the curse, it doesn’t take them so quickly that we need to be immediately available.
Talia has given so much of herself to my people, but she should be allowed a life that belongs just to her as well.
With a sweep of my hand, I direct the carriage toward a tall slope of rock so polished by natural forces that it gleams like marble. Around the other side, the top of the hill plunges into a sheer cliff. I bring the carriage to a stop some twenty feet above the ground where a crevice only a little wider than I am offers passage inside.
Curiosity hums through Talia and into our connection as I help her out of the carriage, which afterward I let sink to the ground where it won’t require magic holding it up. She doesn’t ask any questions though, knowing I wanted to show her rather than try to explain what we’re about to experience with words and memories. Her fingers curl between mine, her gaze roving avidly over the glossy walls of the passage we step into.
“Not many venture out here since it isn’t equipped to admit many visitors at once and it’s rather distant from any village or other area of interest,” I say. “But my father used to like to come out here to compose his thoughts, and as I got older he’d bring me as well. I find it has a way of both settling and lifting the spirits.”
A faint melody is already seeping through the passage to our ears. Talia’s gait begins to sway in time with it, perhaps without her even being aware of it. Her smile grows—she knows how fond I am of music. But this is more than a collection of lovely sounds.
We step out into a small cavern—about the size of my study in my palace but with a conical ceiling that rises many times higher to a pinprick of sunlight up above. Pointed stalactites of all sizes dangle from the slanted surface around the peak. A breeze winds through them, summoning the lilting notes and casting ripples of bright color across the rock. The hues seem to match the music, fiery reds and yellows when it skips along briskly, cool blues and purples when it smooths into more of a lull.
Talia steps carefully into the center of the space, inhaling with a gasp. “It’s beautiful. And I see what you mean about it being calming but also uplifting at the same time. I think I could watch it for hours.”
I beam at her. “We can stay here for hours if you’d like. I had Charles and Beth pack us some food, so we won’t want for anything.”
I spread a cloth over the stone floor that’s thin but soft enough to provide a comfortable resting spot, and Talia sits down, still staring up at the dancing hues. A faint sheen of color touches her skin, making her look even more ethereal. After a bit, she lies right down on her back so she can watch the spectacle without straining her neck. I seat myself next to her and let my fingers drift idly over her fanned hair.
A sense of peace descends over me, as if this space is all that exists in the world, no troubles lurking in wait outside. Talia exhales with a shaky sound that stills my hand. With a pinch of concern, I rest my fingers against her temple. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she said. “I mean, there’s still a lot that’s not exactly okay, but nothing I need to think about right now. This is a perfect escape.”
She says that, but I can tell it isn’t perfect because it isn’t complete. Awe and delight emanate from her, but threads of tension still wind through them. She hasn’t entirely relaxed. Which I suppose isn’t unexpected, but I can’t help feeling it means I’ve failed.
But there’s more I can offer her, more that could wash those worries from her mind for a short time, isn’t there?
I stroke my fingers down her cheek and drink in the giddy tingle that resonates through her body at my touch, skin-to-skin. We’re even more attuned to each other’s physical and emotional states now that we’ve confirmed our bond.
As I trail my hand farther down to the curve of her neck and shoulder, desire flickers between us, as much mine as hers. Her gaze slides from the ceiling to me, a hungry gleam shining in her eyes.
And yet something in me balks with a twinge of that earlier fear. We aren’t in the privacy of my palace. This place isn’t often frequented, but there is a chance that another party could stumble on us here. I’ve never done more than kiss her where we weren’t safely behind a locked door.
Talia peers up at me, taking in my reaction, waiting patiently while I grapple with it. The heat of her longing courses into me, but she won’t make any demands of me. If there’s anything I know about my mate, it’s that she’d never do anything she thought might harm or disturb me—well, unless there were worse consequences for not doing it.
I wet my lips, thinking of our interlude with Sylas just a couple of weeks ago. There is something to be said for the passions stirred by taking an unconventional route. What better way could there be to sweep her away from the troubles she hasn’t been able to shake?
If someone should stumble on us, they’ll simply see an arch-lord honoring his soul-twined mate in every way she deserves. I have nothing to be ashamed of in that.
I dip my hand lower to caress the swell of one of her breasts. Pleasure quivers from her into me, bringing my cock to half-mast before she’s so much as touched me. With a murmur that’s almost a purr, she arches into my palm as I swivel it over the tip. Her nipple hardens beneath the fabric, her breath already quickening.
It’s an intoxicating sequence, generating bliss in her body that travels into me to inflame my own, and then my enjoyment spurring hers onward even more. The blessing of the soul-twined connection is that when we’re so in sync, so devoted to each other, every bit of joy and desire the other feels sparks the same in us. It flows between us in a delicious cycle that in moments like these I never want to end.
Talia reaches up to tug on my jacket, and I lean in to claim her waiting lips. Her kiss is hard with longing, and I’m pleased to note that I can no longer sense any stress laced through her emotions. She’s totally absorbed in the escape I’m creating for her.
I want to lose myself in her just as much. As I deepen our kiss, I loosen the ties down the front of yet another elegant dress her Seelie friend designed for her, that makes my mate look every bit the arch-lord’s lady. Each inch of skin I uncover sends a heady thrill through me.
My fingers brush over the ridges of scar on her shoulder, and I give them the same gentle attention as the rest of her lovely body. She should know the only thing about them I regret is the pain that came with them. As far as I’m concerned, she’s perfect.
I tug the dress farther down and can’t resist lowering my head to kiss my way across her collarbone to her breasts. When I suck the pert peak of one into my mouth, the noise she makes shoots straight to my groin.
My erection is straining against my trousers now, but I’m not going to rush this. We came together so quickly at first with the urgency of our uncertain bond driving us. My beloved is meant to be savored.
Talia’s fingers tangle in my hair, twining with the thick curls. The graze of her fingernails over my scalp sends an exquisite quiver through me. I work over one breast and then the other, lingering whenever her breath catches and her chest arches toward me again, until she yanks my lips back to hers.
As our mouths collide, she pulls at my jacket. Before I can finish stripping it off, she’s already fumbling with the buttons on my shirt. I toss that aside as well, humming encouragingly as her slender hands trace over the planes of my chest and the true names marked there.
She charts me like a map, her fingers drawing heated lines in contrast with the cave’s cool air. I delve my tongue into the sweetness of her mouth, cupping her breast at the same time, and swallow her moan. But as she squirms the rest of the way out of her dress with the help of my urging hands, a shiver travels through her that’s not all pleasure.
Her human skin isn’t as tolerant of the wintry chill as mine is. Without the warming spell on her clothes, goosebumps are rising over her skin.
Concern flashes through me before I latch onto an easy solution. With a smile, I sit us both up, guiding her onto my lap so she’s straddling me in just her panties. Talia tips toward me, tucking herself close to my body’s warmth, but I have more to offer.
The muscles on my back twitch with the release of my wings. I fold them forward around us, forming a sort of cocoon from the thickly-feathered appendages: a bubble of warmth that’s all ours. Talia looks around at them and then grins at me with such genuine delight it sends a flutter through my pulse.
I draw her into another kiss, adjusting her against me. Her sex pushes against my rigid cock, and I have to swallow a groan. Not that holding it back can stop my mate from noticing. She kisses me back just as eagerly, rocking her hips at the same time in just the right way to increase that torturous pressure.
Tucking my fingers between her thighs from behind, I stroke them over her slit. The thin layer of cloth that separates us is already damp enough to drive me wild. I bring my hand around in front and delve it right beneath the fabric to tease her skin to skin. At Talia’s whimper, I curl my forefinger right inside her.
I love being with you like this, she says in our private way, her inner voice as ragged as her breaths. I love how you make me feel and tasting how good you feel too.
Her words only stoke the flames of my passion higher. I add a second finger, pulsing them in and out of her, my own breath stuttering at the bliss I can feel coursing through her at my touch. And what would you like from me next, my soul? I ask, though the urgent need to be filled is already radiating from her body so strongly I might recognize it even without our bond.
Take me. Make me yours all over again. Show me all that fire you keep inside.
How can I deny a request like that? I wrench down my trousers and then divest her of her panties. Before I can make good on my intention, she reaches between us to grip my shaft. There’s no restraining the groan that tumbles out of me as she works her hand up and down my length. She rubs herself against me, spreading her liquid to mingle with mine, and it’s all I can do not to ram into her in one swift thrust.
Instead, I position her over me and ease her down inch by wonderful inch. I’ve been this close with lovers before, but there’s nothing like her slickness closing around me in tandem with the heady sensation of fullness that emanates from her. It takes all my self-control not to give over to my most feral urges and drive us both to our peaks as quickly as I can.
Talia leans into me, rocking her hips up and down as I gradually increase my thrusts, welcoming me deeper and deeper. I wrap my wings tighter around her, and she strokes her fingers down the feathers. Her touch sends an electric current through the flesh beneath. A choked sound escapes me, and I pull her mouth to mine.
As our kisses become shakier and our pace more frantic, one of my hands slides around her ass to adjust her angle. Her head tips back with a moan when my cock hits that giddying spot within her channel, but a flash of memory reaches me at the same time: the ecstasy of her caught between two of her Seelie lovers, both inside her at the same time.
I tease my fingers over her other opening, and she gasps, clutching me harder. Shall I satisfy that desire too, my mate? I ask.
Her inner voice comes to me in fragments. Yes. Oh. That’s— so good.
She starts to clench around my cock. I barely manage to hold the ache in my balls in check until the full tremor races through her body. Her sex clamps around me, and my own release races through me in a surge of molten bliss.
Talia sags against me, still enveloped in my wings, still impaled on my now-softening cock. I hold her there, unwilling to let her go just yet. As I loop my arms around her and tuck my chin against her temple, the thought passes through my mind that I wish I never had to let her go at all.
But I might have to in a nearly permanent way.
I’ve tried not to dwell on the decision I know my mate is struggling with. I try to shove it away now, but a glimmer of awareness passes from Talia into me. Awareness—and a nervousness that it might not be her choice after all.
I hug her even closer. You will do what’s right for you. And if what’s right for you is staying here in the fae realm with us, then I’ll fight to the death to defend that choice, even if it’s against my own colleagues.
Her response is a wordless mix of love, gratitude, and sadness that I have to say that at all. Then she dismisses those thoughts for the moment as I did, letting the joy of our intimacy wash the worries away. She nestles closer to me with a sigh that’s all satisfaction.
We linger like that for quite a while, until hunger seeps into Talia’s reverie. I bring out the snacks my kitchen staff packed for us, and we enjoy them under the warbling lights above.
It seems we’ve recovered the peace I hoped to bring Talia here. The whole journey back to Heart’s Cadence under the sky darkening toward evening, a gentle smile plays on her lips like the breeze plays with her hair.
I knew we couldn’t keep that peace forever, but my stomach knots when I see a messenger step out to meet us as soon as we’ve drawn up at my palace. I suppose it was too much to ask that we hold onto it for even a few minutes once we’re back in the thick of our problems.
As we disembark, the man hustles over. He bobs into a bow. “I’m sorry to call on you so soon after your arrival, Arch-Lord Corwin. It’s about Fina—the woman in Stonehaven your lady cured of the curse some weeks ago. The chill has come over her again.”
