Arthur was right. The spell hadn’t been broken. We were all bound to Maeve until she chose one of us.
My other hand slipped into my pocket, fingering the condom I kept there. Corbin had given us each a huge stack when he first heard Maeve would be visiting Briarwood. We all knew what her presence would do to us.
I squeeze the little packet between my fingers. Even with the coven’s magic working on me, I knew I’d never be using any of mine. But I kept it in my pocket because…
I didn’t know why.
That bastard hope again.
“I think you’re right. So, we have a problem,” Corbin said, leaning forward, his eyes gliding over all of us. When they met mine, I looked away.
“I’ll say we have a problem,” Flynn piped up. “I’m randy as a goat named Randall McGoaty III, and you three are cock-blocking me with yourconcernand yourkindness. I don’t do crossed swords, so?—”
“Don’t talk such utter nonsense.” Arthur had taken his usual spot in the enormous wing-backed chair beside the globe –the only chair in the room that comfortably sat his enormous frame. He leaned forward and lifted the lid off the globe, revealing several alcohol bottles and glasses inside. He grabbed a whiskey and poured himself a glass. “She barely looked at you all evening. And she may have kissed me, but she’s definitely got eyes for Mr. Saved-me-from-the-runaway-Ferris-Wheel over there.”
“And Rowan, Mr. Give-a-lady-a-twig-and-she’ll-be-yours-forever, got a couple of beautiful smiles from our fair Maeve.” Flynn clapped me on the shoulder. “Smooth move with the stick there, brother. I couldn’t have done better myself.”
“I was just trying to keep her safe,” I mumbled into my chest, my cheeks flaring with heat.
“This spell is making it bloody hard to remain a gentleman,” Arthur added. “But as the only one who’s kissed her, let me say right now that it was worth it.”
“I swear, if you don’t shut your gobright now?—”
“If we could be serious for justone moment,” Corbin snapped. “We’re allpainfullyaware of the situation with Maeve. She will choose when she’s ready. In the meantime, we just have to?—”
“—walk around with permanent tent poles?” Flynn adjusted his pants. I glanced away. I didn’t really want to think about my friends and their stiff cocks.
Thinking about my own was bad enough.
I’d been hard since Maeve first walked into Briarwood. Part of that was the magic that bound us to the castle and the coven. Because we were still so young, the magic did weird things to our hormones. It couldn’t make us want something we didn’t already desire, but it enhanced our feelings tenfold. A hundredfold.
For me – someone who struggled to talk to girls on a good day – this was going to make some kind of connection with Maeve practically impossible.
But I was the one who saved her in the field. We worked magic together to disarm Kalen.
We had a connection… didn’t we?
I jumped as Corbin slammed an enormous volume down on his desk and started flipping through it. “Maeve’s choice is the least of our concerns right now.”
“Don’t get your knickers in a knot. We destroyed those fae,” Flynn grabbed the whisky off Arthur and took a long swig. “Old Aragorn over here managed to get two with that dagger of his. I don’t see what the issue is. And this whisky is shite. I’ve told you a hundred times, we need a good Irish dram around here.”
I wanted to laugh at Flynn’s adoption of Maeve’s nickname for Arthur, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile when Corbin wanted us to be serious.
“The big deal is that there werethreeof them. Can anyone ever remember encountering three fae at once before?”
I shook my head. As did the others.
Flynn took a second long gulp from the bottle.
“Exactly. I can’t either, and nothing about more than one fae has been written in the histories since the Middle Ages.” Corbin turned the page. “When you combine that fact with Kalen’s appearance at the fair the other week, and what he managed to do to Maeve’s parents, what we get is a very dangerous pattern emerging. The amount of power the pouka must’ve drawn from killing all those people might be what gave him what he needed to bring two fae with him tonight?—”
“—but the question is, can he do it again?” Arthur finished.
“Exactly. Now, I think our first step should be?—”
“We should tell Maeve the truth,” I whispered.
The others whipped their heads toward me.
