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shoved his right hand between my legs and grabbed me by the throat with the other, startling the shit out of me.
“My, my. So worked up already? You’re slick as hell. What do you taste like, mm? Are you going to scream for me like a good girl when I have you ride my face?”
O.O
But there was something else tying me to him. Pulling me in like I was trapped. A part of me knew that Fisher himself was the trap, and I was well and truly snared…
Graceless gods and holy martyrs. He wasn’t wearing underwear. That didn’t surprise me. But the sheer size of his erect cock as it sprang free from his pants made my eyes round out of my head.
“Perfect. You’re absolutely fucking perfect. If Danya does rip my head off tomorrow, at least now I’ll die happy.”
“I don’t want a mouthful of soap and perfume. I want to taste you.”
“You don’t get to come until I say so.”
This wasn’t just an orgasm. It was an awakening.
“Oh, no, Little Osha. You’re gonna be looking right at me for this,” Fisher said. “Look.”
“Yes. I want it. I want you.”
Gods and martyrs. I would never forget seeing him like this. If I did manage to make my way back home, the image of him like this, seated inside me, skin slick with sweat, chest hitching, would sustain me until the day I died. Fisher. Kingfisher.
Lord of Cahlish.
“Apologies, my lady. I came because I heard a disturbance in Master Fisher’s rooms. When I arrived here, I found Onyx whining at the door, and I decided to wait until… well, until you were finished to see if you needed anything. Intimate relations can be very strenuous.”
I’d woken up in a tentatively happy mood, but that had changed the instant I’d caught sight of my naked body in the full-length mirror by the copper tub. Now Fisher had some explaining to do.
“As you already know, Nimerelle still carries a kernel of magic in her blade. All of the other Alchimeran swords became dormant centuries ago, but Danya’s blade was still very important to her. To our people as a whole. We can’t just sand the shards back and discard the rest. It’d be sacrilege.”
“This sword wasn’t just tempered steel. There was quicksilver in the blade.” He nodded, displaying the faintest hint of satisfaction. “There was. Not much. Trace amounts. But yes, that’s why it answered you when you commanded it to stop.”
“It’s always been quicksilver. It was bound to many different alloys and metals before, back when there were plenty of Alchemists and the pathways were still open between our worlds. It made weapons more powerful. Turned them into conduits that could channel vast quantities of magic.”
We have one year, Danya. Twelve months.
“He’s a fucking liar. He’s been lying to me this whole time.” Lorreth frowned. “Who, Fisher?” “Yes, Fisher. Who else?” The male shook his head. “Impossible. He’s an Oath Bound Fae.” “And?” “And we can’t lie.”
“When we turn twenty-one, we kneel before the Firinn Stone and make our decision. Every one of us. We have a choice. Bleed on the stone and make our vow. To always be truthful. To always be bound by our word, no matter what it costs us.”
“Yes, our canines work just fine. The same as a vampire’s would. But blood drinking is very taboo. No, it’s worse than taboo. It’s scandalous.”
“Because…” He cast another wary look around, shifting awkwardly in his seat. “It’s a sex thing. If a male drinks from someone, it’ll make his dick harder than it’s ever been in his life. It makes you euphoric. Both of you. While you’re fucking.”
see. I was a traveling singer once, if you can believe that.”
He carried me in his arms, for fuck’s sake.
He made me his brother. By blood. He gave me a part of his soul.”
“It’s an ancient rite,” Lorreth said. “One very few know how to perform anymore. But Fisher’s father had almost died once, and his friend had used it to save him. So, he’d made sure Fisher knew it, too, in case, one day, he was able to use it to save the life of someone who was important to him.”
Most importantly, I was ready to kill vampires.”
If I die first, the piece of Fisher’s soul returns to him. He becomes whole again. Everybody has a big party. The end. But if he dies first, he’s condemned to wait here for me to die before he can move on. He’d be trapped here, in a non-corporeal state, unable to touch anything or anyone. Unable to be heard. That’s the sacrifice he made when he decided to give me the gift of life. It’s happened before. The Fae male or female who tore off a piece of their soul dies first, of natural or unnatural causes, and then the recipient lives on in fine health for another two thousand years.
She takes tonics and elixirs and is rumored to drink vampire blood to extend her life.
“You’re wearing my shirt,” he said eventually.
“I’m going to see Te Léna,” he said, and the announcement twisted something deep inside me. I was a burning, drowning wreck of a girl, and I didn’t even know what to do to save myself.
“is Ballard. It’s… I came here once or twice when I was little. It’s just a small village. Tonight’s one of their feast days. They’re celebrating the longest night of the year.”
“This is what I always wanted for Hayden when he was little.” I blurted out the confession without even thinking. “Somewhere peaceful and safe, where he could have thrived.”
“A child is vulnerable. Weaker than an adult. Too liable to be picked off by predators. Our offspring actually age twice as fast as human children. We’re fully grown by twenty-one or twenty-two. That’s when the aging process slows down dramatically.”
Little Osha. At least four different kinds of Banshee feed from the souls of the very young.
“There’s also the plant life. Poisonous thorns and carnivorous flower buds. If those don’t kill you, they’ll sure as hell leave a mark.
“there’s Malcolm.” He didn’t say “the vampires.” He said “Malcolm,” as if the pale figure with the silver hair I’d seen on the other side of the riverbank was solely responsible for the death and destruction his horde left in its wake.
Kill Malcom & kill all of the vampires?
Courage, I thought to myself. And also, fuck him.
“Why haven’t you said anything?” he demanded, twisting to face me.
A woman stood before us, her craggy face lined with age. It was difficult to tell where one wrinkle began and another ended. She was short for a member of the Fae and tall for a human, though I couldn’t tell which she was. She kind of looked like she might be human, but then she smiled broadly, displaying a pair of worn but still elongated canines, and the question of her heritage was resolved.
“Evening, Wendy? Don’t you ‘Evening, Wendy’ me. I’ve been making those cursed biscuits for you every year, and you haven’t once bothered to show up and eat them. No one else likes them, you cheeky shit. What a waste of ingredients!”
Fisher laughed. Really laughed. The sound was rich and deep, and made something inside me sit up straight. When I’d picked up a pitcher at the Winter Palace and filled a glass for myself for the first time, I’d thought the sound of that rushing, free water would be my favorite sound until the day I died. I was wrong. The sound of Fisher’s genuine laughter was rarer than water had ever been back in Zilvaren; it almost brought tears to my eyes to hear it.
When I turned back to Fisher, he was lazing back in his chair, watching me very intently. I saw the tiny uptick at the corners of his mouth and leaped at the chance to torment him.
“No. Not recently. Smiling has been pretty hard of late.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “It is getting easier, though.”
<3333
He flexed out his hands by his sides a couple of times before slipping them into his pockets—he didn’t seem to know what to do with them.
Edina of the Seven Towers. Lady of Cahlish. Kingfisher’s mother.
This place belonged to Fisher. It had belonged to his mother once, maybe, and now it was his.
In my absence, Onyx had jumped up onto the bed and tucked himself into the male’s side, resting his head on Fisher’s stomach. He whined when I entered the room, his eyes moving from me to Fisher, as if he were trying to tell me something.
“If you use the oath you tricked me into to force me from this room right now, I will never forgive you. I will find a way to make your life absolutely fucking miserable. In fact, while we’re here and having such a lovely conversation about this, you’re never going to compel me against my will again. Do you hear me? Do you understand?”
“I am not fucking around, Fisher. If you have any respect for me, if you care about me even the tiniest, most minuscule amount, you will never, ever compel me again. Do you understand?”
