Witchbane (Book 5 in The Twilight Court Series) Read online

  Then she stopped.

  I looked up from my melodramatic berry munching, to find that we were in a little meadow. The sun shone down on the grassy banks of a stream, which happily gurgled through the clearing. Flowers and herbs grew in casual clumps, and pasleins (a type of fairy butterfly with crystalline wings) flew among them, gathering nectar. Their wings cast rainbow glimmers everywhere, making the meadow look even more magical.

  I slid off Cat's back with a soft smile, and wandered over to a spot beside the water. I settled down on the warm grass, flopping my annoying skirts around me, and peered into the clear water. The stream bed was lined in little pebbles, quite a few of them were precious jewels if I wasn't mistaken. I slipped a hand into the cool water, golden fish darting away from me as I reached for a bright red stone. I pulled it out and held it up to the sunlight. It had the unmistakable pinkish tone of a ruby. I chuckled and tossed it back into the stream.

  Fairy was generous with its inhabitants, offering up precious metals and jewels so the Fey didn't have to go digging into the earth to find them. Something fairies would never do. They didn't believe in mining. It was harmful to Nature and fairies were linked too closely to Nature to ever hurt her. Perhaps there weren't as many precious resources available here as there were in HR, but the Fey, for the most part, were content with what they were given. They didn't crave an excess of goods like the humans did. For an immortal people, there was a surprising lack of overpopulation among them. I'd been told it was due to fey fertility cycles, which only came upon females once every hundred years. This ensured that Fairy had plenty of space and provisions for its inhabitants.

  Even with this bounty available, Uisdean had used mining as an excuse to dig for Dagda's club in the Human Realm. He'd justified his actions by pointing out that humans hurt their world all the time. Sure, that's true, but most humans don't feel a religious connection to nature. Fairies do, and the process of cutting into the Earth had been deeply traumatic for Uisdean's men. He'd basically tortured his own people, and it had nothing to do with stealing natural resources from the humans. It was a devious double play. A magician's sleight of hand on a much grander scale. Uisdean had shocked us with his crimes against Nature, to hide the fact that he was actually digging for Dagda's club.

  And when he had found Dagda's club, he used it to bring back his dead wife. Resurrecting a loved one may not sound so evil at first. But Uisdean had to kill nine people to generate enough power to fuel the club, and those nine people happened to be twilight fairies. Two of them were members of my personal guard, the Star's Guard.

  I lay back in the grass with a sigh, my heart aching once more for Sir Iain and Sir Digby. I missed them. They had been my friends, not just my guardians. Iain had also been Tiernan's best friend, which made me grieve for Tiernan's loss too. I suppose we'd had a measure of justice served. Uisdean had lost his kingdom over the debacle. But I knew this was far from over. As long as Rue lived and Dagda's club was within Uisdean's possession, this wouldn't be over.

  Cat shifted into her puka form and nestled in beside me. I smiled and pulled her close. My eyes drifted shut as the warmth of the sun, and the fluffy puka by my side, lured me to sleep. The softly babbling stream added its lullaby, and soon I was drifting off, away from all my restless thoughts of murder and zombie queens.

  Chapter Six

  “Seren,” a deep, rumbling voice woke me.

  I opened my eyes to see Raza kneeling beside me in the grass. I frowned, confused, and looked around. I was still in the bright clearing, laying beside the stream. Cat was sitting off to the edge of the meadow. She gave me a knowing look and then ran into the forest.

  “Cat!” I called out.

  “Seren, what are you doing out here alone?” Raza drew my attention back to him.

  “How did you find me?” I countered.

  “I was on my way to Castle Twilight and spotted you from above,” he nodded to the pale sky overhead.

  “You were flying?” I blinked as my slowly awakening brain processed the information, coming to the conclusion that if Raza had been in dragon form, he was now... “Naked,” I whispered as my eyes traveled over his impressive, muscled chest.

  The sun gleamed over the true black of his skin, turning strips of it silver. Raza looked like a marble statue come to life, all impossible angles and widths. The line of his shoulders, the thickness of his biceps, the length of... I drug my eyes back to his, and found his golden stare laughing at me.

  “You need to ease back, Leonidas. I don't need your Gerard Butler abs rubbing up on me,” I motioned to his amazing ab situation. “This is not Sparta,” I tried to push at Raza's chest, but he caught my hand and held it there.

  “Seren,” his voice dropped to a purr. “Why do you deny this?”

  “Because I love-”

  “Tiernan,” Raza rolled his eyes. “One love has nothing to do with the other.”

  “It does when I want to be faithful to that one love,” I yanked my hand away from Raza's sculpted chest.

  Before I could get up, he leaned forward, pushing me back into the grass. His massive body caged me in, making it impossible for me to escape him. I growled and shoved at his shoulders anyway.

  “Raza, this isn't funny.”

  “No, it's not,” his lips covered mine, working seductively over my sensitive skin until I groaned.

  Raza drank in my groan and invaded. His tongue twirled with mine, and the taste of fresh mint filled my mouth. My skirts were hiked around my hips, his thighs pushing between mine as he edged closer. I felt him hard and ready against me. It was too much, I was shaking with desire, heat coursing through my veins. My hands roamed the curves of his biceps, learning each dip and angle. Then I spanned the breadth of his shoulders. His thick neck. His sharp jawline. The cords leading to his wings. I finally delved my fingers into silky, ink-black hair and yanked him closer.

  “Wait,” I tore my lips from his.

  Raza growled.

  “No, I can't.”

  “Then just let me touch you,” he cajoled as he pushed my hands back into the sweet-smelling grass, and then trailed his talons down the sensitive skin of my inner arms as he eased himself downward. “I promise not to penetrate you. At least not like that.”

  Sweet Danu but the man made the word “penetrate” sound sexy.

  “Raza, what are you-” I groaned and fell back as I felt his hot mouth cover me. “Oh, you naughty dragon.”

  Lips rubbing back and forth over my tender flesh, tongue flicking out tentatively. Raza moaned against me, and the vibrations nearly made me climax. My hands went to his hair, my eyes taking in the scandalous sight of his bent head between my thighs. Those garish stripes of scarlet hair were laid across my pale skin like wounds. I grabbed them, sliding them back into the rest of his locks, blending them with the ebony.

  Raza's hands slid up the sides of my waist and over the mounds of my breasts. He squeezed roughly as his tongue dove deeper. My back bent and I screamed with pleasure. Then, one of his hands slid downward, and a thick finger split me, teasing me. Coming so close, but stopping before entering. I thrashed back and forth, the ecstasy rising. And then Raza sat back.

  My eyes opened onto the shameful sight of bunched skirts, parted thighs, and a naked dragon-djinn kneeling between them. Raza's smile was glistening from my pleasure, his hands placed casually on his thighs. His glowing, gold stare dropped to my core, and he licked his lips.

  “No,” I whispered as he dove over me again.

  This time, he laid his shaft over that most intimate spot, as he laid his body over mine. I closed my eyes as rapture returned, rolling my head to the left and then right. My gaze was consumed by the mass of his biceps, bracketing me in. Raza's face pressed into my neck and his sharp teeth closed over the delicate skin there. But he didn't draw blood. He bit just enough to knead the cords of my muscles, then he began to lick. My body rolled beneath him, my hips pushing up against his shaft until it split me. But still, he didn't en
ter me, just rubbed his length against me. Raza rocked his hips, sliding over and over.

  I was nearly there. Just a little-

  “Enough,” Raza was panting when he drew back this time.

  I stared up at him in shock.

  “Do you want me, Seren?”

  I could only nod.

  “Show me,” his hand eased over his hard length and squeezed.

  I felt possessed. I rose to my knees, breathless, my eyes fastened on the glaring crimson tip of his sin-black shaft. It was already slick with my own desire, and he was rubbing that liquid in, stroking himself slowly. I crawled over the small space that separated us, and took him into my mouth without using my hands. Raza let go of himself, his arms falling behind him as his hips thrust forward on a groan. He filled my mouth and then some, hitting the back of my throat firmly. I eased off my hands so I could take a hold of him and control the depth. I began sliding my tongue over him, easing into the motions of pleasure.

  I knew Raza was close, as close as I was to reaching that elusive ecstasy, when he pulled away yet again. He yanked me up his body, his hands sliding around my hips to lift and separate my legs. The wet tip of him hit my entrance, and I made no protest. His mouth covered mine as he rubbed that tip into me. My hands gripped his shoulders tight as I started to ease myself down. But his palms held me firm. He tore his mouth from mine.

  “Do you love me, Seren?” Raza asked fiercely, his molten eyes burning into mine.

  I gaped at him.

  “Do you?” he demanded.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “Do you want this? Do you want me inside of you?”

  “Yes.”

  Raza pulled me down onto his length, just one sharp thrust and he was in to the hilt. I gasped in air brokenly, the pleasure so intense, I could barely make a sound. But then he grabbed my jaw firmly, and I opened my eyes

  “Then you know where to find me,” he growled and disappeared.

  Without his support, I fell back into the grass. I lay there in frustration and amazement, just as another voice called to me. The clearing faded away as quickly Raza had, and I opened my eyes once more, to find the true meadow waiting for me in the real world. A layered dream. Finally, actually awake, I saw that it was Tiernan kneeling beside me this time, his silver eyes flashing with anger. I blinked and looked behind him, where Cat sat beside his horse.

  “What?” I coughed, turning to the side to spit out something that was filling my mouth. Mint. I must have chewed on some in my sleep.

  The dream came rushing back and I was instantly made aware of my body's unsatisfied state.

  “Seren-” Tiernan started.

  I cut him off by pulling his face down to mine. I know, I know. Not cool to use one man to satisfy the needs another created. But it was just a dream, and I had no intentions of acting on Raza's invitation. Wait. Was it just a dream? Or had Raza somehow sent me those images? No, I couldn't think about it. I had more pressing matters to attend to. I yanked my sexy, fairy boyfriend down closer.

  Tiernan pulled away and glared at me, “Aroused, Seren?”

  “A little,” I scowled at him. What the hell?

  “Does it have anything to do with you calling out Raza's name in your sleep?” Tiernan stood and dusted off his breeches.

  “I-” oh shit.

  “You were going to use me to slate lusts that the dragon woke in you?!”

  “Tiernan,” I sat up. “It's not like that.”

  Okay, so it was kind of like that.

  “No, I can't do this, Seren,” he waved a hand at me. “Get yourself presentable, we're going back to the castle.”

  “Tiernan,” I started again.

  “You can't just run off like that!” Tiernan shouted at me. “I woke up and you were gone. Then I hear that you've rode off alone. Alone into the Twilight Forest! Are you insane?”

  “No one's going to attack me in Twilight,” I huffed as I got to my feet.

  “You don't know that. You're a princess. You're a valuable hostage. Fairies may be unable to kill you, but they could keep you alive and use you to their advantage,” he snarled. “You have a Star's Guard for a reason. Don't leave us behind again.”

  “I had Cat.”

  “Yes, and she did such a fine job of protecting you on the battlefield.”

  It was true to a certain degree, but not in the way he was implying. And it was also a low blow. So I slapped him. It was an automatic reaction. Nobody got to speak about Cat like that. Not even Tiernan.

  His cheek went red with the imprint of my hand, but he had barely moved. Tiernan's eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched, and he took a deep, angry breath.

  “Get on your horse, Princess,” he ground out each word.

  “Fuck you, Tiernan,” I left him standing there and climbed up on a nearby boulder. Cat shifted into her horse form, and came over to me, sending me a baleful look over her shoulder as I jumped on her back. Tiernan had hurt her feelings. “Forget him, Cat. He's an asshole. Let's go home.”

  “Seren!” Tiernan shouted as he mounted his own horse.

  But I didn't wait for him. My best friend and I rode off without him.

  Chapter Seven

  “So you just ride away from me after I catch you moaning Raza's name?” Tiernan slammed my bedroom door shut behind him.

  Cat whined and ran into the dressing room with her long, fluffy tail between her legs.

  “You were being a dick,” I crossed my arms and scowled at him.

  “Over you dreaming about another man's dick,” he snarled.

  “I can't control my dreams, Tiernan.”

  “No, you can't,” his jaw clenched. “It seems your dreams are more honest than you are.”

  “Not cool,” I pointed a finger in his face as he approached me.

  “But true,” Tiernan took a deep breath and closed his silver eyes for a moment. “We need to deal with this.”

  “With what? Raza's dick? I think I'm good not dealing with it,” I grimaced. It was such a lie. My legs were still shaky from that dream.

  “There's more to him than that,” Tiernan went to sit before the fireplace, on the loveseat. A clear indication that this was going to be a long conversation, “And you care about him more than you're willing to admit.”

  “I don't want to talk about it,” I refused to join him.

  “If we don't, it will destroy us.”

  “I think you have that backwards,” I sat on the bed and stared up at the delicate flowers above me, their pale green petals pressed shut. Night blooming jasmine. Which meant it bloomed at night. Obviously. So my bed canopy was currently asleep.

  “You tell me you want me, not Raza, but then you dream of him,” Tiernan lowered his face to his hands. “It's obvious that you're conflicted. And it makes me feel like I'm somehow hurting you. Standing between you and who you really want.”

  “You're not,” I gave in and went to sit beside him. “Tiernan, I need your help on this. If this is Danu's Call or whatever, you know how strong it can be. I need your understanding or how will I be able to resist it?”

  “My understanding?” Tiernan blinked and shook his head at me. “Seren, what do you mean 'if' this is the Call of Danu? You know, as well as I, that Danu has not only called you together, she's personally proclaimed that you're meant to be. She's said it to me and to Raza. I commit blasphemy every moment I keep you apart. And that's killing me almost as much as your desire for him.”

  “You're not committing blasphemy,” I took his hand. “I'm the one denying Danu. And I'm sorry, but I don't think it's blasphemy to choose my lovers. This is my body, my life, and my decision.”

  “This isn't just about pleasure, which you know as well,” Tiernan squeezed my hand. “She's trying to unite the kingdoms.”

  “Why?” I pulled away from him. “I mean, I know it seems like a good idea to have everyone connected, but Fairy is a planet. A planet, Tiernan! It's huge! Every kingdom is huge. Bigger than countries on Earth. Does it ma
ke sense to have them all ruled by one connected family? I don't think so.”

  “You're making excuses to oppose her,” he said sadly. “This is our Goddess, Seren. She's not trying to hurt us. Danu is guiding us. She loves us.”

  “I don't have to make excuses,” I stood up. “I'll do what I choose to do with my life. I spent too much of it living for other people already. I've alienated a man who's been a father to me, and I've lost my mother. I'm done. If that means I lose a goddess too, then fuck Danu, I don't need her anyway.”

  Tiernan stood up and calmly slapped me across the face, “Don't ever speak about the Goddess in such a foul manner again, Seren,” his eyes were flashing with fury. “I won't have it.”

  I held a hand to my cheek and gaped at him for two seconds, before I recovered.

  “Get out,” I whispered.

  “What?” Tiernan had the nerve to look both shocked and offended.

  “Get. Out,” I said as calmly as he had slapped me.

  “Oh, you can strike me when I'm acting in a way you don't approve of, but when I slap you for verbally abusing our goddess, I'm the bad guy?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “I shouldn't have hit you, and maybe I deserved that slap. But I thought you were more of a man than that, Tiernan. I mistakenly believed you to be chivalrous, the type of guy who would never hit a woman.”

  “Normally, I wouldn't,” his eyes narrowed. “But I'm also the type of guy,” he mocked my word, “who would never allow anyone to speak ill of Danu. She is the Goddess, and must be respected. Even by you, Princess.”

  “Yet you don't seem to have a problem with disobeying her when it suits your purposes,” I sneered in his face.

  For a second, I thought he was going to slap me again. Instead, he walked out. I think I would have preferred the slap.

  Cat crept out of the dressing room, where she'd been hiding, and looked from me to the door. It was still vibrating from Tiernan slamming it again.