The High Mountain Court by A.K. Mulford

Chapter Twenty-Three

They had stopped at an elegant little inn. They were careful not to pick the fanciest one they feared the Northern fae might stay in. But a human woman ran this inn, and it was still a fine accommodation.

Only one thought stayed lodged in Remy’s mind: Ruadora was alive. Rua was through the northern mountain pass, and it was less than a day’s ride into Yexshire. Remy’s body still buzzed from the excitement of what Baba Morganna had told her.

Remy had lived her entire life thinking she was the last of her family, that she was the only Dammacus sibling to survive the Siege of Yexshire. She wished she had lit that red candle a long time ago, wished she had contacted Baba Morganna as a child. She would have known that Rua was still alive and that there was a safe place in the world for red witches. Remy would have gone to them straight away. She would have saved herself years of working in taverns, hiding.

Hiding, it was all she knew how to do.

As she stood in her nightgown facing the bathroom mirror, her long black hair spilling down her chest, a human woman stared back. She had been hiding in her human form for thirteen years, mistaken for a witch because of her magic. Yes, she would let slip a trickle of her fae power so she could run faster or see more clearly in the dark, but that small step into her fae self was as far as she ever let herself go.

Remy had wanted to ride through the night to see Rua, but she let Hale convince her to rest in the town of Andover. He had given her that pleading look that begged her to take it easy, if only for a day. Watching her die only yesterday, he refused to let her push herself. Remy knew she could say no, she could push Hale harder to relent . . . but she had agreed to stop because of the very reason she stood in front of the bathroom mirror now.

Hale had been right—a fae form would be so much safer in the North. If she changed, she would have the protection of her fae form . . . but she couldn’t find that strand of magic that controlled her glamour anymore.

Remy didn’t know her true face. This glamour had become who she was. She watched that human reflection, focusing, clenching every muscle in her body so tight and willing the change.

Nothing.

She tried harder, screwing her eyes shut.

“Work, damn it!” she cursed.

Nothing.

Remy couldn’t do it. She pictured herself riding into Yexshire in her human body. Riding through the ruins of a castle, the site of her parents’ murder, while she was still hiding. She was such a coward. How was she meant to claim her place on the High Mountain throne? How was she meant to lead the resurrection of her people when she hid from her own reflection? How could she face her sister only to see that disappointment on her face? She would let everyone down.

Remy took a deep frustrated breath and clenched her fists, trying again. The buzzing she felt behind her eyes and in her hands was her red witch magic, though, not her fae magic. The entire room was shaking with her effort.

Hale knocked at the bathroom door. “Remy?”

She said nothing. She couldn’t face him either. She couldn’t let her Fated mate see how broken she was.

Broken. That’s what she was—a broken, foolish coward. Her parents would be so disappointed in her too. Her parents were brave and courageous. They had faced the world with all that they were.

She heard the full-length mirror shaking on its frame, but she could not open her eyes.

Remy did not even try to save them. She did not even try to save herself. Letting the world just happen to her, she let everyone tell her what to do and who to be and she had barely fought them. It was a life of nothingness: unnoticed, unremarkable, unworthy of glory or love.

Glass splintered in front of her, but she still would not open her eyes.

That was the truth, wasn’t it? She had never fought and her body knew it. What had she done to deserve the love of her parents, her court, her mate? Her human body only knew how to fear and how to hide. She wasn’t a princess in any manner of the word, so how could she change into one? She wasn’t brave like her parents. Her body knew it.

She had not earned the right to be who she really was.

Shards of glass rained down as Remy collapsed in a heap in front of them. The bathroom door burst open and then Hale was in front of her.

“Are you hurt?” he shouted, running over to her cowering form. He pulled her hands from her face with gentle fingers. “What happened?”

“I’m fine,” Remy said, her voice cracking. Her face burned hot with rage as she said, “No. I’m not fine.”

“What happened?” She sensed Hale’s eyes scanning her body, searching for where the shards of the mirror may have sliced her, but Remy knew she was unharmed.

“I can’t do it,” Remy murmured, balling her fists.

“Do what?” Hale asked.

“I can’t take off the glamour. I can’t change.” Remy chewed her cheek so hard she was about to draw blood.

“Remy.” Hale’s voice was a near whisper. She refused to look at the pity he was sure to have on his face. Hale’s hands cupped her cheeks. “Look at me.”

She kept her eyes shut. How could she face him? How could she disappoint one more person? She felt the hint of Hale’s breath before his mouth pressed gently to hers. She still tasted the remnants of her salty tears on his lips. The kiss was so soft, so gentle, as if Hale were telling her in the only way he knew how: she wasn’t a disappointment to him.

“I am here. We are here together.” He spoke onto her lips, breathing into her. Pulling away, he rested his forehead on hers. “Open your eyes.”

Remy gave herself over to her mate’s request. Those sparkling gray eyes shone at her, a smile tugging on Hale’s lips. His thumbs stroked her cheeks as he gazed at her.

“It is so much, Remy,” Hale said softly, brushing his lips to her mouth again as if he could not keep them away. “It is such a big ask. A glamour that has held for thirteen years? You are not a failure for not being able to take it off on your first try.”

“I . . .” Remy’s voice thickened again as she took an angry breath. Her hands still shook by her sides. “I don’t think I want to take it off. Not really.”

Hale nodded. “It’s okay to be scared.”

He understood.

“I don’t deserve my fae form.” Remy trembled. Hale stroked a strong hand down her bare arm. His warmth seeped back into her. “I am a coward.”

“No,” Hale said, his voice stronger. He had called her a coward once, and it stung even still. She knew Hale directed his anger at himself in the same way she felt for calling him bastard. “Do you think I’m a coward? I didn’t stop the way my father treated my mother. I was too afraid to go see her . . .”

“I don’t think that. Never,” Remy said, cupping his cheek and pulling his forehead back to hers.

“You can’t believe that I am not, and yet you are.” Hale’s eyes burned into hers. “You are so much braver than me, Remy. You are strong and cunning and gutsy and everything that this world needs.” Remy shook her head. She couldn’t hear it, but Hale squeezed her hand, threading their fingers together, making her meet his eyes again. “No, it is the truth. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”

It was no distance at all for Remy to press her lips to his, her Fated. She kissed him harder than those first fleeting kisses, his warm mouth pulling her from her despair. Releasing his cheek, she pulled him closer, pressing herself up against him. She licked at the seam of his lips and his mouth opened further, tongue caressing her own.

Her body trembled, not from the anger or the cold this time.

Hale broke the kiss and looked at her, eyes blazing.

“Let me show you who you are,” he breathed, his voice edged with pleading, as his mouth hovered over hers. “Let me show you all the ways I can worship you.”

Remy’s core clenched as she nodded. Smiling, Hale scooped her into his arms and stood like it was no effort at all. Shards of mirror scattered around them as he strode out of the bathroom and to the enormous bed.

He set Remy down, only to pull her into a hot, branding kiss. They stood there at the foot of the bed, breaking apart only long enough to pull off Hale’s white undershirt. Remy had seen him shirtless before, but now she could indulge her urge to stroke her hands down his sculpted body. Her hands traced the corded muscles of his arms as he gathered the fabric of her nightdress in his large hands and pulled it over her head, baring her to him.

She leaned backward onto the bed, inching herself up towards the pillows. Hale snarled as he looked over her naked body. Her nipples stiffened against the cool air and the heat of his stare. A hot ache pulsed at her core from Hale’s look alone. His molten silver eyes filled with the ferocity of an unspoken promise that he would devour her.

Hale made quick work shucking off his boots and unbuttoning his pants, and it was Remy’s turn to go still. Her mouth parted as she looked at him. She had gotten a sense of his size from that night in the woods, but seeing him naked in front of her, the way his abdominal muscles tapered to his thick, hard shaft, had slick wetness pooling between her legs. Hale’s nostrils flared, smelling her arousal. The scent made his entire body shudder. Remy vibrated in anticipation. The promise held in those wild gray eyes set her aflame.

Hale prowled on top of her, his mouth meeting back with hers, and Remy was certain he would fulfill that promise. Those kisses were all consuming, a symphony of lips and teeth and tongue, like they were melding their whole beings together. Remy was desperate for that union to be complete, grinding herself with wanton abandon against him. Hale broke the kiss to grin wickedly at her desperate writhing.

“What do you want?” he whispered, skimming his lips across her neck and nipping his way up to her ear.

There was only one thing Remy wanted. She hoped there would be other times, slower times with hands and mouths and casual lovemaking, but her need for him right in that moment was so overwhelming she needed all of him right away.

“I want you inside me,” she breathed even as her hands tried to pull him closer. She spoke with a level of desperation she wasn’t even the slightest bit embarrassed of.

Hale smiled that smug, princely smile at her as he nudged himself at her entrance. Upon feeling that wetness between her legs, that smile wiped away. Hale growled again, his lips meeting her once more as he pushed himself in another inch.

He broke the kiss and watched Remy’s half-hooded eyes as he pushed himself all the way into her. The feeling of him filling her shattered every thought in her mind other than that pulsing fullness at her core. Every cell in her body homed in to that spot where they became one.

As Hale began slow, testing movements, every sense in her heightened. She smelled his musky arousal, heard his heart thundering beneath his chest, saw the dilation of his pupils. She tasted his sweat and his ocean air scent. Hale’s eyes seemed more flecked with stone and silver, widening as he looked at her, something dawning on his face she couldn’t quite name. Did it feel the same for him? Like a door unlocking to another world.

They held each other’s stare in awe and wonder for a moment at how right it felt to be united in this way. And then Hale was moving again in a way that had Remy moaning.

“It feels so good,” he hissed. “You feel so good.”

Her legs shook. Remy bucked her hips up to meet him, demanding more of each thrust. Hale growled, the veins in his arms bulging, as he started moving faster.

“Hale,” Remy whimpered, and the sound of his name on her mouth unleashed him.

He pulled all the way out of her and slammed back in, the sensation so good, so overwhelming, Remy cried out. Hale’s own desperate groans met her wild sounds as he did it again and again, faster and faster until she was so close to the precipice.

Hale bent down and took her hardened nipple in his mouth and sucked it while continuing his punishing pumps.

Remy’s nails bit into his skin as she shattered into a million pieces, screaming his name. One more pump and Hale’s body seized as he spilled into her, that climax rolling through them until they were panting and gasping.

Stars danced in Remy’s vision.

They held each other for a long while, listening as their breathing slowed, their heartbeats steadying. Eventually, Hale summoned enough energy to drag out of her and roll to his side. His lips skimmed her shoulder, his mind still far away in the memories of ecstasy. Remy closed her eyes, leaning into his touch.

“My Fated mate,” she whispered.

When Hale didn’t respond, she turned to him and the look of adoration in his eyes made her feel like she was glowing.

“You . . . ,” he said with a level of reverence she had never heard from anyone before and never wanted to hear from any other, only him, “you are the most beautiful, stunning, incredible being I have ever laid eyes upon.”

He traced idle fingers across Remy’s cheek, nose, the lobe of her pointed ear.

“See for yourself,” he said.

He reached across to the bedside table. Grabbing a framed portrait, he flipped it to the silver backing, and he held it to her.

Remy furrowed her brow but looked into her distorted reflection . . . but it wasn’t her. A female fae looked back. She had shining brown eyes flecked with emerald green, tousled onyx hair and rosy freckled cheeks over smooth tawny brown skin. Her lips were fuller, pinker. Her face was more angular, her skin lit from within with a golden hue. And the tips of her ears tapered into sharp points.

A memory of her mother passed through her mind. She tried not to well up at the thought. She would see Baba in person tomorrow and thank her for all she had done to save her . . . again. Remy blinked at her reflection.

“My mate,” Hale echoed, his shining eyes brimming with unshed tears, overcome by what this moment meant for both of them.

They were mated forever and inextricably tied. A part of his soul existed in her and she in him. In their joining, she had revealed her true self to him. She could only ever be her whole real self for her Fated mate. And it made her feel raw and vulnerable, beautiful and worthy all at once. She wanted to stay there, linked to him. She had felt first bound to his eyes and then his lips, and now every part of them had united. The very fabric of their beings had woven so tightly together they would never unravel from each other again.

* * *

Remy knelt in the snow in nothing but a black satin robe. Bri had bought it for the warm Southern climate, not the Northern snow. Her long hair wrapped around her like a blanket, shining brighter, the curls tighter in her fae form. Her fae skin felt the cold, but it wasn’t as biting. She liked this body . . . her real body, she realized. It felt like she had had a headache for the past thirteen years, and only now that it was gone did she realize what she was meant to feel like. This body felt right. She felt stronger, faster, more resilient even to intangible things. How much easier life would have been if circumstances had permitted her to take off her glamour years ago.

Remy stared at the flickering candle in front of her. She laid her totems bathing in the full moon glow before her. She had discarded her fallen leaf from the last full moon and in its place now was a sprig of pine needles. She added a new one too, one she did not intend on discarding anytime soon: a shard of broken mirror. It would serve as a reminder to her of who she really was, not a witch but a High Mountain fae who could cast red witch magic. She could not shy away from her reflection anymore. Remy and her sister were the last of the High Mountain royals. She had debated whether to do a full-moon ritual at all, wondering if she should leave it behind now that she was in her fae form. But she liked the rhythms of the moon. She liked her prayers and the ritual. The same murmured words every month made her feel steady.

The inn sat to her back, and the whole evergreen forest stretched out before her. She knelt there, staring at her candle. No ancestors could speak on this quiet hunter’s moon, but she still felt the echoes of her mother’s words. Her mother, the Queen of the High Mountain Court, was wise and strong. She had treated Remy with warmth and love but also a hardness that made sure her daughter wouldn’t turn into a simpering princess. Her mother wanted Remy to be strong, cunning, brave, but fair. Remy frowned. She didn’t feel like she was any of those things. How could she ever fill the shoes of the fallen Queen? It was an impossible task.

The icy wind blew Remy’s hair off her neck, and she heard a soft inhale of breath from far away. Her fae hearing was fine-tuned better than any night-stalking predator. She looked behind her at the window, knowing who she would find leaning on the sill.

“How long have you been there?” she asked, looking up to her Fated love. Hale leaned his shirtless torso out into the chilly air. The moon made his eyes glow even in the shadows.

“As long as you have been down there.” The smirk he gave her made her body echo with the pleasure of the last hours. She had waited until he had fallen asleep to sneak out and pray to the moon. Her sneaking skills still needed some work, it seemed. “Only you would dash out into the snow in nothing but a skimpy robe.”

She felt the brand of his eyes on all her exposed skin.

“I can take care of myself you know,” she said, though her words had no bite.

“I know.” Hale grinned, both cheeks dimpling. “But when my Fated is alone with a priceless talisman, it seems wise to have backup.” He looked to where the Shil-de ring lay in the snow. “Plus, you are half naked, and if any male were to walk by right now, I’d be forced to gouge his eyes out.”

“So very even keeled, aren’t you?” Remy laughed.

“Yes, I feel very sensible around you. Now, are you coming back to bed?”

She loved that warm, honest grin, those crinkled, happy eyes. She loved every single inch of him.

Remy bit her lip at the thought.

“Yes. I’m done.” She whirled with a bit too much eagerness to mumble the last of her prayers and blow out the white candle.

“Good. You have three seconds to climb back up here or else,” he said, his voice a playful rasp.

“Or else what?” Remy arched a brow at him, already knowing the answer.

“Or I will jump down there and fuck you in the snow.” The low vibration of that threat shook right through Remy, making her thighs clench together.

She was sure the snow was melting under her as she put her totems back into the black bag. She prayed for many nights in the future when they could make love under the stars, but not tonight in the Northern snow. Picking up the candle, she turned to the window a story above. She assessed the outer wall. It would be an impossible climb in her glamoured form, but now . . .

She ran and jumped, pushing herself off one brick that stuck out from the rest and vaulting to the window ledge. Grabbing it one-handed, she clutched her totem bag and candle in the other. She easily lifted herself up and over the ledge, landing in a crouch. Her strength felt amazing.

“You are magnificent.” Hale stood before her like a dark god in nothing but a sheet wrapped low across his hips.

His molten eyes watched Remy stand. Remy’s robe was split open in a deep V all the way down to where it belted below her hips.

That heat in his eyes made Remy’s stomach tighten. With such a sweeping, unexpected urgency, she needed him again. She threw the candle and totem bag onto the floor. Not a single thing mattered anymore. Only him. Only them.

Hale moved the instant the candle hit the floor. His fingers grasped the back of Remy’s neck and pulled her to him. He kissed her desperately, that deep, sudden need overcoming him as well. They stood there kissing, in a fire that was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Hot wetness pooled between her legs.

“That scent, your scent.” His voice was a deep, rolling purr. “It was made just for me.”

He hooked his index finger into Remy’s belt and yanked her forward. Inching his way back to the bed, he deftly untied the knotted satin that rested above the apex of Remy’s legs. He never broke their gaze, his mouth open and breathless, his eyes dark with wanting. The satin skimmed across Remy’s warm brown skin as it fell to the floor.

Hale’s hands shook with restraint as he placed his large warm hands on either side of Remy’s hips and moved her to the bed. Remy lay back, splayed across the bed, trembling under the predatory gaze of the prince. She shuddered as Hale dropped to his knees and kissed the inside of her ankle.

He trailed slow kisses up her leg. He paused to swirl his tongue on her inner thigh. She shifted, eager for that mouth to move higher. She felt Hale’s smile against her flesh. His nose skimming through the coarse black hair between her legs, he took a deep inhale, letting out a growl that was nothing but feral.

His breath tickled the hairs framing Remy’s most sensitive spot. She thought she might explode from the anticipation alone.

At the first slide of his fiery tongue, her entire body spasmed. It was already too good. His tongue moved again, slowly up and down. Remy released a heavy, wild moan, crazed by the explosion of sensations.

“You taste even more amazing than you smell,” Hale groaned, his hands squeezing her thighs as he spread her wider.

Remy threaded her fingers through Hale’s hair as he bent down again. His tongue swirled over her, and she cried out. The sound weakened his restraint, his tongue sweeping faster. Feeling the pad of his finger at her entrance, she could not breathe as he dipped it into her wet depths. Her muscles tightened like a bowstring: she was already on the precipice of release.

“Hale,” she moaned. He hummed against her, the vibrations making her gasp. “I want all of you,” she gritted out in a voice of a female possessed.

Hale instantly released her from his burning tongue. He crawled up her body like a stalking lion and kissed her deeply. She tasted her musky wetness on his tongue. He pulled back a fraction as his tip brushed against her liquid heat. The sensation made Remy’s eyes roll back and flutter closed. It sucked her into a tornado of sensations.

“Open your eyes,” Hale’s husky voice demanded.

Remy obeyed. Looking into those smoky eyes alone was almost enough to undo her. Hale watched her with everything, every emotion: there were no words for all of existence whirring between their eyes. He fisted the sheet beside Remy’s head as he pushed into her. Remy’s mouth went slack as she inhaled sharply. He dipped deep inside of her. He held her stare, his eyes filled with wonder.

“I love you, Remy,” he said with a deep rawness she had never seen from him before.

“I love you too, Hale.” Remy’s voice thickened.

This was it. This was the moment she wanted to stretch on for the rest of her life. She wanted this and only this to continue on endlessly.

Slowly, he moved, sweet rolling waves in and out of her. She pulled his head down to hers. His soft lips caressed her own as she swept a hand down his back, settling on his hard backside. She felt the muscles clenching and releasing as he moved into her. This was making love. She had fucked before, but Hale was the first and only person she would ever make love to. Their souls were locking together in the mirror to their bodies. They were right there, on the edge between existing as two separate people and one. The lines blurred as they fell into bliss: one soul in two bodies.