Queen of Blood and Vengeance (Secrets of the Faerie Crown #4)

90. Arran

90

ARRAN

The histories of wars did not recount the hours after the battle. Nor the next day or the next week. If it were not for Isolde, more humans would have died from their wounds the day after the Battle of Camlann than had been slaughtered by the succubus in the valley. So named to distinguish it from the last battle of the Great War, fought in the Effren Valley seven thousand years before, and in honor of the humans, who’d lost more than any of us. The fae losses were dire as well. Tens of thousands had walked onto the twin battlefields. Less than half their number walked or flew or ran off.

Veyka had carried many of them herself. She’d used her void power to bring the wounded to the healers, and eventually to help arrange the dead for burial. She moved between Annwyn and the human realm so often, I struggled to keep track of her.

But whenever I reached across the golden thread of our mating bond, I found it stronger than the day before. The darkness was not gone completely. It had been there before and would always linger. But the succubus was gone. We were far from whole; I could not even say that we were healing. It was too soon for that. But we were alive and we were together.

The last of the evening light was ebbing when Veyka took my hand.

We waited for the supper we’d shared with our Knights and other leaders in the command tent, still standing up on the hill, to be cleared away. But we did not wait for the others to leave before slipping out ourselves.

I did not ask after our destination. It didn’t matter. Wherever she led, I’d follow.

We walked in silence for a long time. Past the ravine with the rift to the human realm waiting at the bottom. It had been used so frequently over the last week that a path had worn away.

The goldstone palace stood in the distance, silhouetted against the gray sky. It had been cleared out and cleaned, refugee courtiers and servants alike working together to scrub away the stains left by the succubus’ occupation. Tomorrow, or the next day, we’d be able to take up residence again. Many of the courtiers already had, as well the survivors from the city below. Those that wanted to return to their homes were offered help rebuilding; those that were undecided given quarters in the palace.

The moon had just crested the tall, fronded trees when Veyka stopped in the middle of a clearing. The clearing where we’d first met, and she’d pretended not to be the queen of the whole Ancestors’-damned elemental kingdom. Where my beast had chased her down and then pleasured her with his tongue.

Would you like me to shift? I offered. I’d be happy to renew that happy occasion with a repeat performance.

Veyka elbowed me. I want to look up at the stars.

She settled down into the sand and wispy grass, lying flat onto her back. My cock hardened instantly. While I fuck you?

Veyka rolled her eyes and patted the ground beside her.

I laid down beside her, already planning how I would take her this time. She might deny it, but the ring of blue glowing around her pupils told the truth. We both knew how this evening was going to end.

She reached for my hand, lacing our fingers together as she stared up at the sky. “ Born under a double moon...”

She was looking at the stars, but I was looking at her. I waited for her to recite the rest of the prophecy, but she let it trail off without finishing, harassing her lower lip with her teeth instead.

“I need to go to Avalon,” she said quietly.

I rolled up onto my side. She had my full attention now. “Why?”

Her teeth paused their assault, allowing the corner of her mouth to twitch. “Do not worry. I don’t intend to harm my half-sister.”

“You’d be more than justified,” I said honestly. The Lady of the Lake may not have meant us harm, but she hadn’t offered aid either. She’d kept the magic of the Sacred Isle contained, leaving Annwyn and the human realm to our fates. If Veyka wanted to exact justice, I would be more than happy to watch.

Veyka’s fingers tightened around mine. “Cyara told me that it is Diana’s wish to remain in Avalon and continue her training as the Lady of the Lake’s apprentice.”

“She was the Lady of the Lake’s apprentice.” In some ways, it was the last piece of a puzzle slotting into place. Of course Gorlois had not stolen just any acolyte from Avalon, but one of the most powerful. It explained the depth of Diana’s devastation at what she’d lost—and Percival’s near-fanatical protection of her. Maybe some part of him had always hoped to return her to that lost path.

I heard the sand slide beneath Veyka’s head as she nodded.

“What do you intend to do?” I asked.

“I will tell Diana about Percival’s death,” Veyka said. I knew the sadness in her voice was not for Percival, a man she’d barely been able to stand in life. The sadness was for Diana—the sister left behind. And for herself. Because even after emerging victorious against the succubus, the inalterable truth remained. Arthur was still gone.

She cleared her throat, pushing down the emotion. There was something more there, I could sense. But I also knew that my mate would tell me when she was ready. There was no rush—not with a thousand years stretching out before us.

“Morgyn will find that I am not content to let her hide in Avalon any longer. She will keep Diana in Avalon and train her to become a priestess. If anyone has earned the right, it is Diana.”

The ferocity in her voice left no doubt in my mind. The Lady of the Lake was formidable. But Veyka Pendragon had looked into her own heart of darkness and emerged back into the light. Formidable was not even close to a sufficient description for my mate.

The stars brightened with each minute we lay in the silence of the clearing. The temperature dropped steadily as the minutes ticked by, but Veyka made no move to stand, and I was content to lay with her forever. Eventually I’d shift into my beast form and offer her his warmth.

There was one more place we must go after Avalon.

A single star fell across the sky, leaving a faint glittering tail in its wake.

I will go with you to Cayltay , Veyka whispered into my mind.

I had not spoken of it. As if by refusing to form the words, I could ignore the reality now interred at the base of the mountains. My son. It was selfish to keep him in Baylaur, rather than return him to the terrestrial court where he’d been raised. But Morgause had decades with him. I’d only had weeks.

I still could not bring myself to speak of it aloud. Veyka had known. She did not say more, but I could feel her reaching out for me across the golden threads of our connection.

It might be better if I face Morgause and Orcadion alone . I did not say it to hurt her, only to spare—

Who, me or them? She cut off my thought. Never again , she reminded me. We may have defeated the succubus, but I have not forgotten our vow. Never parted again. Especially not for Morgause’s sake.

She wrinkled her nose at the last thought.

Laced hands weren’t enough. I pulled her in against my side, burying my mouth in her hair and breathing her in. I’d found myself doing it again and again throughout the day, reminding myself that we were alive, that we were together.

Orcadion would not soon forget the slight I’d dealt him in the aftermath of the battle at the Crossing. Morgause would blame me for Mordred’s death. I already blamed myself. The Dyad would have to be dealt with. But Veyka was right—we would do so together, as High King and Queen of Annwyn. We’d defeated the succubus. Two terrestrials were hardly of consequence.

Veyka shifted beside me, working the sand beneath us so that she could fit her body in tighter against mine. I released our joined hands and caught the one on the other side of her body, settling it against her hip.

My eyes drifted back up toward the stars—

Veyka moved again, dislodging her freed hand from between us and using it to drag down the front of her dress so she could toy with her breast.

A groan of warning was all I gave her before catching her hips and pulling her on top of me.

I thought you wanted to look up at the stars , my beast growled. There was far too much clothing between us. Trousers, leggings, the layers of her skirt.

You can keep looking at the stars. She disentangled her hands entirely, using the newfound freedom to drag her dress up over her shoulders and away, leaving behind acres of pale skin brighter than the moon overhead.

I cupped her breasts, one with each hand, watching the contrast of her glowing skin against the dark outlines of my fingers with unrestrained awe. You are magnificent.

Veyka hummed aloud, the sound filling the clearing around us. But she was not content with playful touches, even when they turned worshipful. There had been no time for this in the last few days of healing and organizing and rebuilding. She’d stolen me away to this clearing for the conversations we could not have anywhere else, but also for this. For us.

I let her tear away the fasteners of my trousers, savored the undulating rhythm of her hips as she slid out of her leather leggings. Her knees dug into the sand on either side of my hips, bringing her down on my cock harder and deeper than ever before.

She rode me slowly at first, her hand splayed across my chest as her hips moved up and down. She rose up until only the head of my cock remained inside of her, then slid down in a gloriously slow and controlled motion. I’d taught her too much about torture in the last year. She was too damned good at it.

Veyka . It was a warning and a plea.

“Aren’t the stars beautiful?” she asked between ragged pants. Her legs began to shake—not from exertion, but from the pleasure roiling between us.

“ You are beautiful.” I pushed myself up in the sand, grabbing the back of her neck and dragging her mouth to mine. I plunged my tongue inside of her in time with my cock.

Never again. Never parted. Never lost.

My partner, my mate, my love—in this realm, this life, and all of the ones that came after.

Veyka clung to my shoulders as our hips beat out a fantastical rhythm. It was too fast to be real, too intense to exist in this realm of earth and sky. We were going to be swallowed by the inferno burning between us, dark power joining with light, blood and vengeance and love all twined perfectly together.

Her fingernails bit into the skin of my shoulder just as my canines sank into the tender skin above her clavicle. I tasted her blood on my tongue. The tang of my blood filled the cold air. We came together in a cascade of power, lighting up the entire clearing around us with a burst of white brighter than even the day of our Joining. I was powerless to close my eyes against it. I wanted everything, every bit of her. I always had.

Later, I wondered if the explosion of power had been visible from the army camps below or the balconies of the newly repopulated goldstone palace. Much later, when our breathing had finally returned to normal and my mate was tucked in tight against the warmth of my body, I knew I did not care. Let them see. Let them worship my queen as the goddess she’d become.

The night slowly shifted toward dawn. But I did not need the amorite stud still in my ear to know that I would live to see the morning that awaited.

The words stuck in my throat, but I knew now was the time to voice them. Alone, far from the battlefield. “They are truly gone? Forever?”

“Yes,” Veyka said without hesitation, understanding immediately what I meant. “Their realm… I sealed it. When I closed that last rift, it felt different. Like it never had before—like it never will again, I hope.”

I had nothing to say to that. She would know better than anyone. She’d banished the succubus from Annwyn, from the human realm, and from her mind—along with the strange shadow power.

“They tried to take me with them. She tried,” Veyka said softly.

She —the succubus.

Of course I’d known that. I’d felt her slipping away from me, pulled by the darkness in her own soul toward that land of eternal night. We had not spoken of it, not until now. If Veyka wanted to, I would. I would relive every moment of that trauma for her sake. And if she preferred to let it die in memories, I was fine with that, too.

Veyka’s breath tickled the inside of my arm where she’d rested her head.

“You saved me,” she breathed.

“You saved yourself, Veyka,” I said into her hair. We saved each other.

She pinched my side. “Take the compliment, Brutal Prince.”

I pressed my lips to hers. “Whatever you command, my queen.”