“I can feel your power rising, Einstein,” he murmured against my lips. “Let’s make it crash and burn.”
He was right. I could feel it too – a second pillar of pressure bubbling up within me, connected to my desire but also apart from it. Blake rolled my nipple between his fingers while his other hand dipped lower, reaching for the hem of my skirt. He scrunched the fabric up my leg, then slid his fingers into my panties. I knew he’d feel how wet I was, how much my body craved this.
“Oh, Princess,” Blake whispered in my ear, his breath hot on my flushed cheek. “I thought you didn’t care.”
I moaned against Flynn’s lips as Blake slid a finger inside me. He soaked his finger in my juices, then removed it, pressing it against my throbbing clit.
I was so fired up – my body thrumming with the power building inside me – that Blake barely had to move his finger for me to get off. The ache inside me rose like a tidal wave through my body, reaching down my arms, pounding inside my head like waves against the beach.
“That’s it, Princess,” Blake whispered, his teeth scraping my earlobe. ”Let go. Unleash that power for us.”
Two guys touching me, pleasuring me…
It’s so messed up, but omigooooood…
Flynn’s fingers clamped on my nipple, and the sharpness of his touch sent me over the edge. The orgasm tore through me. My knees buckled. Flynn and Blake braced me against their hard bodies, holding me upright while I lost control, my limbs slackening.
“Come now, you harlot.” Flynn lifted me back on my feet, his blue eyes becoming black holes – darker and deeper than the sky above. “We’d better get this ritual done before Daigh’s forces rally for a second attack.”
I walked between the two boys, my mind whirling. Usually after an orgasm, the heat in my body cooled, the aching energy dissipating. But this time the heat remained in my veins, not cooling but warming up, the fire licking against the inside of my skin. The ache in my stomach rose into my chest and my feet itched to move faster, my hands tightening around the guys. Nervous shivers shot through me, my body desperate to be doingsomething.
Magic.
For the first time since the guys told me what I was, I feltwitchcraftin my bones.
The magic existed inside me in a raw, unpredictable state. It clamored to be released, to find a conduit.
I could put it to good use tonight.
Corbin and Rowan met us at the entrance of the sidhe. Arthur stood at the bottom of the steps, facing into the dark chamber, his sword poised at his side in one of the defensive wards he taught me. From way back where I stood I could see the tension in his shoulders; his muscles coiled, ready to strike.
Corbin pointed down at the crystals and candles Blake had arranged on the top step of the sidhe in a bird’s-foot pattern, the middle talon pointing down the stairs to the gateway. “Is this right? I don’t understand what you’re trying to do with this arrangement.”
“Of course you don’t. Your books don’t say anything useful about how magic actuallyworks.” Blake kicked one of the crystals back into line with the edge of his soft boot. “The actual objects don’t matter. It’s all about the controlling the force of the magic – pushing it in whatever direction you want it to go and making it take the form you desire.”
Blake’s description made magic sound a little like chemistry. I stared at the objects he’d arranged, and for the first time, Iunderstood. The magic hummed in my veins, desiring to leap out of me and power through that conduit. I understood how Blake intended to direct our magic, how the lines would create a barrier around the gateway. Igotthe point of all the new age trinkets I thought were silly – the crystals and the chanting and the candles and the ritual.
Magic-working was acraft. The craft of witching. The magic was inside us – an invisible, undescribed physical force. In order to use it, we had to first create the experiment.
Blake stood back, dusting off his black linen trousers. “There. It should all be ready.”
“How do you know about this stuff?” I asked him.
“There’s not a lot to do in the fae realm if you hate dancing and you’re too young to fuck. Daigh wanted me to learn as much about my spirit magic as possible, so I’ve been studying for years. I make a more effective weapon against humanity that way.”
“Daigh said you were supposed to be my…” I couldn’t quite bring myself to say the word.
“Lover?” Blake lifted his hand to his face, and sucked one of his fingers between his full, pouty lips.The finger that was inside me,I realized with a shudder. ”The taste of your sweetness on my fingers would suggest my dear adoptive father was right.”
I swatted his shoulder, ignoring the flare of heat that surged between my legs. “You’re worse than Flynn.”
“I resent that,” Flynn piped up, coming up behind me and placing his hand on my hip in a protective kind of way that made my whole body ache with need. “No one is worse than me.”
Corbin sighed. “I’m beyond tired. Let’s just get this done.”
Reluctantly, Arthur backed up the staircase, sheathing his sword. The six of us took our places around the edge of the mound. I stood between Blake and Arthur, on the side furthest from the castle. I could just make out the tops of Briarwood’s ramparts and turrets over the top of the mound – a looming presence, reminding me of the legacy of witches who’d fought – and won – this same battle before me.
Briarwood stood strong as long as our coven fought.
