Chapter One
I put the Bleiten ICD—an intergalactic communication device—back into my nightstand drawer and took a deep, calming breath. My husbands, consort, and I were finally settled in our new home, and I had an enormous bedroom all to myself. Of course, one of them shared my bed every night, but at the moment, I was alone. That was a particularly good thing since I had been speaking with yet another potential lover.
I have four men already—three husbands and one boyfriend—because I'd gotten myself drawn into a Faulin fusion to save my life. The Faulin are an alien race who humans once called Incubi and Succubi—that's male and female Faulin, respectively. I have no idea why humans separated Faulin by sex; I'm sure there's a story there. My story is a long one, but as for the Fusion situation, I can sum it up by saying that I'm bound to all my men through magic and love. They were okay with sharing me because of that magic and love. The Fusion helped them get over any possessive or jealous feelings while it gave us lots of perks. Perks such as shared power.
I'm half Danutian (Fairy to all of you humans) and half Triari (Angel). When I was born, my immortal Danutian side was unbalanced by my mortal Triari side, and I got very ill. My cells refused to die properly—something humans call cancer—but it wasn't cancer, it was the curse of being a changeling. Changelings are children who are half Danutian and half anything else. I specify children because there has never been one who survived into adulthood. Not until me.
My father had been a runaway Triari prince who also happened to be a scientist. He developed an elixir to help his people colonize an inhospitable planet. That elixir worked better than expected, and instead of merely healing injuries, it gave immortality. The Triari King, my uncle, wanted to dispense this elixir to a select few of his people, but my father knew it would be a mistake to allow that to happen. So, Dad destroyed the elixir and all his notes and then fled to Earth.
On Earth, my father met my mother—a woman who was also in hiding from her people. When they had me and I got sick, my father decided to whip up a fresh batch of the Amaranthine Elixir—ironically my namesake—and administer it to me. His gamble paid off, and I was healed, the imbalance in my blood corrected to make me fully immortal.
Recently, I'd discovered that because of this balancing done by the elixir, the latent elemental magic inside me—that which all Danutians are born with—was made whole. But to explain that, I have to back up a little. The Danutian's original planet, Danu, was destroyed, and they came to Earth seeking refuge. While here, they decided to pool their asha—their life force and magic—to create a magical realm where they would be safe. Danutians used to possess equal parts of all four elements, but to make the realm of Danu—named after their home planet—they removed pieces of their asha and donated them to the realm. Every Danutian removed most of three out of their four elemental magics, leaving them with only one strong element to sustain themselves. This deficiency created a symbiotic bond between the Danutians and their new home.
Because they gave pieces of themselves to form the realm, they couldn't be far from Danu for long without their magic suffering. Danu sustained them by refreshing their lacking magic through a cycle that connected them with the old pieces of their asha. This deficiency was inherited by their children since the Danutians didn't have the magic to pass on and so, even those who had not sacrificed parts of their magic still had to reconnect with Danu or the magic they were born with would eventually die. That's what happened to my mother; her elemental magic died. But it never happened to me.
I had previously believed that I'd been spared because I was born on Earth, but that may not be the case. A Danutian mage—a scholar who is more in tune with the magic of Danu than other Danutians—inspected me and concluded that my magic was whole. Beyond whole even. I haveallof my elemental magic thanks to my father's elixir, but that magic had also blended to create a fifth element—that of Spirit. Spirit, with its direct connection to asha, gave me the ability to see asha and the non-magical human version called auras. Not only that, but I could also alter the colors in a person's aura and use those colors to hurt or heal them. I could see all colors, in fact—the full spectra from ultraviolet to infrared—and could use the colors around me to create illusions. But, most importantly, I didn't need to connect with Danu. I could stay away from the realm for as long as I wished. Not that I wanted to stay away for long; I rule the Southern Kingdom of Danu with my husband, King Everan.
But back to the Fusion. In addition to my Danutian husband, I'm also married to a Faulin and a Bleiten (Demon) prince. My final lover is a Triari prince, but that's a military title, not a royal one. All my men are now immortal and can see auras as I can because of that sharing aspect of the Fusion that I mentioned. So far, three of them have also developed additional talents.
Faulin survive by exciting and then feeding on a person's lust, but Cyprian, my Faulin husband (he's the Ruar, or alpha male, in our fusion and the whole reason we have this bond), can now magnify and feed onanyemotion. Kyrian, my Triari boyfriend, can compress emotions and feed off them like a Faulin—a talent stemming from his Triari training to compress his emotions until his aura becomes a blinding white halo. Finally, Everan can connect with the elements inside someone and feed on them—a combination of the Faulin feeding and his Danutian tie to the elements. I've gained the ability to feed off emotions, but when I do, I also take some of my target's life force. It doesn't hurt them if I don't take too much; life energy can replenish itself as long as there's some life left.
My Bleiten husband, Malik, hasn't shown any new abilities beyond seeing auras, though he's both physically and magically stronger now. Even if he never receives another magic, he'd be content with what he has because, in addition to all of those other perks, the Fusion can unite us intimately. When I have sex with any of my men, we can share our pleasure with the others in our fusion, and when it comes to a group situation, that pleasure can be mind-blowing. Yes, I'm a very lucky woman.
And yet, there I sat, thinking about another man.
Chief Braxis of the Fengoth had just become a duke of Hell. We'd been enemies for a while, bitter enemies, but beneath the anger had been a sharp attraction that had driven us back together even after Braxis had fled the planet of Hell to escape retribution from my mvarro—the Bleiten word for husband—and his father, King Lucifer of Hell. Braxis had found me a few months ago and used a Triari relic to abduct me. The man who had given him that relic—a thing called the Silver Tongue—asked for only one favor in return: that Braxis and his warriors attack the Triari and break a truce that Malik and I had helped to forge.
The Triari and Bleiten had been at war for hundreds of years prior to that truce—a war that had spread to many planets, including Earth, and cost the lives of millions of people. But there were those who wanted the war to continue—those like the ex-Triari prince who had given Braxis the Silver Tongue. His name was Gregory and his villainous resume included the death of my parents. His most recent goal had been to overthrow the Triari King, my uncle Jovan. Thankfully, he had failed, and that was partially due to Braxis.
Despite our violent and traumatic beginning, Braxis and I had found a way to forgive each other and in the end, he had freed me and returned the Silver Tongue to the Triari. But before he returned the relic, he used it to help us save Danu. Yes, the entire realm. That last bit, and the fact that Braxis had saved my life as well, did a lot toward earning him forgiveness from my men. But he wanted more than forgiveness now.
I had helped Braxis acquire a coveted trade agreement for his people, a pardon for himself and his warriors, and a dukehood from King Lucifer, all in exchange for Braxis hunting down Gregory and bringing Lucifer his head. I think my father-in-law got a kick out of the nod to the Bible with a severed head—pun intended. Either that or he had started the whole “bring me his head” thing. Now that I thought about it, it was likely the latter.
Oh, and there was one other condition to the agreement. Braxis had to kneel to the King of Hell and swear his fealty in front of his Fengoth warriors. I didn't think this was a big deal since every duke has to kneel to Lucifer to accept his ducal crown. But Braxis had taken some convincing—especially with the bit about his men watching him kneel. And yet, when faced with my furious men, Braxis had immediately dropped to his knees and begged their forgiveness. Although, that was probably because Braxis craved their approval far more than he did Lucifer's.
Braxis had been fighting on behalf of the Bleiten of Reaksar—a continent on Hell—for most of his life. The Tribes of Reaksar refused to submit to Lucifer's rule, and Lucifer had refused to trade useful technology, especially weapons, with them because of it. All of that would change now that Braxis had been crowned Duke. He had agreed to rule the Reaksarian tribes for Lucifer and monitor the trade agreements that would be steadily growing with every year that passed peacefully. Except that Braxis was about to leave Hell.
The ICD I had just put away was basically a long-range cellphone that could only contact other Bleiten ICDs paired with it. One ICD could pair with up to five devices, which made for a very small network. But I had enough room left on my Bleiten ICD to connect it to Braxis's, and he had just used that connection to let me know about his crowning... and his imminent departure for Earth.
I suppose I hadn't truly believed that Braxis could convince Lucifer to let him return to Earth right after accepting a ducal crown. But even without the Triari relic, Braxis had a silver tongue, and he had gotten the King of Hell to agree to allow Braxis's chosen representative to rule in his place until he returned. I wondered if Braxis had told Lucifer the real reason he was returning to Earth—to win approval from my men to court me. Since one of my men was Lucifer's son, I couldn't see him condoning that.
“Oh, forest fires,” I cursed as I stared around the beautiful bedroom with its antique French furnishings, chosen carefully with Cyprian's help.
My new home was big enough to accommodate the enormous Bleiten warrior—now a duke—but was my life? Or my heart? I honestly had no idea and that, appropriately enough, scared the hell out of me.
Chapter Two
“Braxis has been crowned,” I announced as I joined Malik and Kyrian in our living room—the main living room that we used most often.
The men were playing chess before the massive fireplace with its antique stone mantle. They might have looked like a couple of rich scholars if they hadn't exuded power and sex. Both had muscular bodies hardened by years of war, but Malik was a bit larger than Kyrian—more brute than sleek predator. Kyrian, with his shoulder-length dirty blond hair (grown out from its previous military cut), his chiseled Triari features, and ocean-blue eyes looked like a warrior king. While Mal, with his Bleiten body, sharp features, pitch-black hair, and piercing purple eyes had the look of a villain Kyrian had to defeat. The human clothing—tailored shirts and slacks with dress shoes—detracted from this illusion a bit. Nonetheless, I sighed in pleasure to see the delicious contrast they made. Mine—both mine. Is it wrong that the thought thrilled me?
“Has he convinced my father to let him return to Earth?” Malik's deep voice reminded me of thunder at night—a sound that brought a tingle of fear but in a good, snuggle-under-the-blankets way.
“Yes.” I took a seat on a nearby couch and crossed my legs primly.
Kyrian slid his gaze my way. “Are you all right, Mara?”
“Of course,” I said with a weak smile.
