“I am going to kill you while you sleep,” I sputtered, my warning doing nothing to dissuade him as he swam farther out. I didn’t dare with the dress I wore, knowing it would be entirely possible for my legs to get tangled up in it and have it weigh me down. I hadn’t done much swimming in the spring in the tunnels, mostly using it to get clean or seek out a partner or two when I wanted pleasure.
“I can think of no better way to go than having your face be thelast thing I see and drifting off only to never wake,” he said teasingly as he swam back toward me. Taking my hand in his, he guided me back to the sandy shore and the Sidhe who waited there. Some had moved into the water, dressed in clothing that looked like it was intended for swimming. I’d never seen anything like it before, and children frolicked and danced on the sand, playing in the shallow water as we walked out of the ocean.
“Hello, Etan!” a young girl said, grabbing him by his other hand and tugging him to dance with her. He spun her with a flourish as a handful of Sidhe and Lliadhe played music on the edge of the beach. I watched, standing alone and not knowing the steps to the dances that they all did, until another girl took pity on me and came up to me, pointing to my head.
“I like your braids! Can you do mine?” Smiling, I nodded, sitting on the sand and having her lower to the ground in front of me so that I could braid the hair back from one side of her face. Someone brought me a cup filled to the brim with wine, and after a nod of approval from Etan, I took my first sip and sighed in contentment.
I watched Etan with his people as I worked and drank, listening to the little girl chatter about how her mother wasn’t very good with braids, and shealwayshad to wear her hair down, my mouth twisted into a smile the entire time. The sun started to set on the horizon, but in spite of the fading light, the mood and festivities on the beach continued like there wasn’t a care in their world.
There was lightness here, a contrast to the darkness of the tunnels and Tar Mesa that went much further than just the sun shining down on us. It seemed so strange to sit in the knowledge that these people had peace like this, when people in Tar Mesa and Nothrek were fighting for their lives every day.
I sat in that, letting that peace wash over me as girl after girl took a seat in front of me and chattered while I braided. I could only hope that one day, I’d find a peace like this for myself.
EIGHTEENETAN
Fallon stumbled as I guided her to the room at the top of the stairs, her drunken giggle warming my insides in a way that was entirely different from the Faerie wine. The manor was large, abutting the sea, so I heard the waves crashing against the shore as I paused and held her still with one arm so she wouldn’t fall on her ass. Turning the knob, I guided her into the room we would share for the night before making our way to the sanctuary the next day.
Setting her on the side of the bed, I pointed a finger in her face in an attempt to be serious, though I couldn’t help my smile when she gave me a crooked, loopy grin. “Stay,” I ordered, unable to control my chuckle when she swayed, lunging toward me to nip at my finger playfully and nearly throwing herself face-first off the bed.
She’d clearly had far more wine than her tolerance could handle. I hadn’t anticipated just how sensitive she would be to the stuff until it was too late, and she’d taken to dancing with the women ofOceanmere—laughing hysterically every time she tripped over her own feet.
I left her sitting, moving to the edge of the room to throw open the curtains, allowing the salty air to penetrate the room. Having spent too much time confined in the stark stillness of Tar Mesa, I craved the life of the summer air on my skin even as I slept. The moon illuminated the edge of the room, the wall entirely open between two supporting pillars so that I could watch the light play over the water and feel the breeze on my face. It was the same room I stayed in every time I visited the seaside village, and while I knew it wasn’t mine and other guests frequented it, it felt like a home away from home in many ways.
Fallon stood, stripping off her dress, which had long since dried and stiffened from the salt water when we’d gone for our impromptu swim. Sand covered the fabric as she shoved it down her body, and I only had a moment to think before she was nude before me. She gave me no time to react before she tripped and giggled at her own clumsiness. Stepping out of her dress, she moved to the stone bath that had been hollowed out from the floor at the edge of the room.
The water had already been prepared for us by the staff, and Fallon eased her body down into it with a sigh of contentment. I sighed, following suit and stripping out of the clothes I’d worn in Tar Mesa. If I could have trusted her not to drown in the bath, I likely would have done myself the favor of leaving her to bathe in private rather than subjecting myself to her nudity when I couldn’t have her.
My clothes were as stiff and covered in sand as hers when I kicked them aside to be forgotten. The household staff would wash them and place them in the wardrobe to be kept for us until the next time we passed through. We would need more traditional Summer Court clothing as we continued on our journey anyway, allowing our clothing and the sea air to ease the heat and make us more comfortable for the duration.
I joined Fallon in the bath, where she relaxed, her head bent back to rest on the edge so that she looked as if only a moment away from falling asleep as predicted. She adjusted her body as I stepped in across from her and lowered myself to the seat carved into the stone before she could look my way and get an eyeful of my nudity. The room was barely lit, and she brushed her legs against mine, her foot trailing a teasing path along the side of my thigh that I fought to ignore. The suggestive touch made my cock harden against my will,but I refused to act on my arousal for the first time when Fallon was drunk.
The enormous bed across from the bath was low to the ground and big enough to fit a crowd, offering a casual ease to the space that was barren of all else. An open door at the corner led to a space where clothes were stored, but I knew well enough that this room was meant only for sleep, relaxation, and pleasure.
Fallon seemed to have the latter on her mind as she straightened her neck to meet my eye, gliding her hands over the edge of the stone bath. Her legs spread as she sat up, her hands moving to rest atop my knees. Bending her knees, she rested them over my legs where they’d been spread just enough to accommodate her body between them. The position put her on display, and if I dared to look beneath the water, I knew I would see the parts of my future wife that I’d only dreamt of until now.
“Fallon,” I warned, resisting the temptation to so much as glance. She smirked in response, fully committed to her seduction as her fingers trailed teasing touches over my knees and rounded to my lower thigh.
“What’s wrong, my King? You don’t want to play with me?” she asked, her words slow and punctuated as she tried to get them out without slurring.
“You’re drunk,” I said, believing that to be explanation enough as to why I wouldn’t wish to follow this path. Even if the thought of bending her over the edge of the bath and fucking her while the water sloshed around us did already have me hard and ready.
“And?” she asked, giggling as she moved closer to me. Her ass sat between my knees, the warmth of her body so close to where I needed it that I gritted my teeth. I could practically feel her already, and the knowledge that the slightest shift from me would put me inside her tested every bit of control I possessed.
“And the first time I’m inside you will not be when I need to question if you’ll even remember it come morning, let alone whether or not you’ll come to regret it,” I said, leaning forward to tuck her damp hair behind her ear to lessen the sting of the rejection. Even if I was doing the right thing, I didn’t want it to hurt her. “The first time I fuck you, I will do so content in the knowledge that you’re doing so because you wantme,not just because you want an orgasm.” Even in her drunken haze, Fallon seemed to feel the sting of the words as she flinched back with a pout.
“Who says I don’t want you?” she asked, raising her hands frommy knees and wringing them in front of her. The move was so vulnerable that I wondered if maybe she wasn’t as drunk as I thought, but the hiccup and giggle she released immediately after all but settled that moment of doubt.
“If it’s truly me you want and not just a wine-induced need to fuck, I’ll still be here when you’re sober in the morning. You can have me then, Sunfire,” I laughed.
Fallon’s gaze fell to the side, staring off at the bed in a way that I suspected she wasn’t really seeing it before her. She was lost in her head and to her thoughts, and I gave her the moment to try to gather them enough to speak, even though the exercise in patience pained me. I wasn’t sure if I could trust whatever she said to me while she’d been drinking, but some part of me suspected that maybe, just maybe, it would release her inhibitions and her hesitations enough for her to let me in.
Just a little.
“Not wanting you is not the problem, Etan. It’s everything that comes along with you that worries me,” she said, her voice quiet. “I worry I won’t be a good wife or queen. That my need to feel all the things they kept from me in those tunnels will prevent me from being what you and the rest of the Summer Court need. I want to be selfish for once. I don’t want to have to choose.” The words were tossed out in a way that I knew wasn’t entirely like her. The openness and honesty of that insecurity hung between us, pulsing back and forth as she swallowed and the wine took over.
“Fallon,” I said, my voice softening as I reached between us and caught her hands in mine. No matter the cause of the word vomit and the horrified expression on her face as she realized what she’d said, I knew that the words and the emotion behind them was genuine. “Nobody is going to lock you away in Vallania. You don’t have to choose.”
“But I’ll be your wife,” she said, her brow furrowing in confusion. “Doesn’t that mean that outside of whatever trips we take for politics, you’ll shut me away and expect me to run your household or bear children—” She broke off, seeming to realize the impossibility of children for us.
