Brimstone (Fae & Alchemy, #2)

by Callie Hart

“What do you think I’m doing?” I snarled. “I’m saving the fucking fox!”

“Don’t you know? There isn’t much I wouldn’t sacrifice to make you happy, Osha.

“Well, I suppose if no one else is going to say it, then I will. You look downright fuckable, Saeris Fane.”

Carrion at 3% - we are in for a ride 😂

“Your father was felled by his own hubris. He was too arrogant. He believed himself invincible, and I had the pleasure of showing him otherwise. A god sword will make worm food out of any of us, no matter who wields it. But, regardless,” I called in a clear voice. “I am no child. My name is Saeris Fane, and I am your queen.”

You can own your fantasies with me, Little Osha. There is nothing in this realm or the next that I won’t give to you if you desire it. All you ever need do is ask.

I love him sm

It grabbed the warrior and sank its claws into his skull, crushing bone as it wrenched his head to the side and plunged shattered teeth into his neck.

I leaned back so that I could look at him properly, and the open, raw emotion on his face stole my smile. The hope in his eyes destroyed me. Like there was a possibility that it wasn’t true. Like there was any realm or reality in which I didn’t love him, but he was praying that I might. He was out of his godscursed mind. “I love you, Fisher. Of course I do. Always. Forever.”

“I despise the gods, Saeris. I’m Oath Bound by this land and the blood of kings. I swore I would never offer up a word of gratitude to them again, but you have made a liar of me. You’re a gift that cannot be ignored. My heart . . .” He swallowed, giving a tiny shake of his head. “I’ve killed more people than I can count. I lost the parts of myself that knew how to feel anything other than pain and sorrow centuries ago. But for better or worse, you have brought me back to life.”

Now there wasn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do for this male; he slowly began to move down my body, peppering light kisses over my skin as he went. The underside of my breast. Rib cage. Stomach. Hip bone . . . “Where do you think you’re going?” I sounded so breathless. Kingfisher huffed, smiling as he ran the tip of his nose along the skin that led south of my belly button. “Come now, Osha. Where else would an acolyte kneel to worship but at the altar of his god?”

SCREAMING

Fisher watched me get dressed, a small smile playing over the corners of his mouth. I threw one of his socks at him, pulling a face. “Why do you look so pleased with yourself?” I teased. And Kingfisher laughed. “Because I am pleased with myself. Because I’m the luckiest bastard alive. And because you look like you’ve just been thoroughly fucked.”

“Fuck you, Lorreth.” He made a face. “You kiss my commander with that mouth?” “I’ve done far worse than kiss him with it.” His mouth pulled down at the corners, his eyes going wide. “Okay. I don’t need to hear about that, thank you very much.”

Lorreth was with Carrion in the training hall, attempting to whip him into shape, and

Is carrion not with Fisher?!

“Where there is light, there is always darkness, shadow weaver. To kill a queen, you will need to visit the darkest of all places. You will need to strike a deal far more costly than this one if you hope to succeed. And the beast who lies in wait for you there will not be so easy to trick as me. She will eat you whole, shadow weaver!” Joshin roared as I held the flickering torch to its body. “She will tear away your soul and feed on it for decades!”

“Not if you want to keep your fucking tongue,” I growled. Carrion straightened, looking up at the ceiling as he thought about this. “Umm. Yeah, I kinda need my tongue.” He took a deep breath and then sighed it back out. “People do seem to like it.” I almost laughed. Almost. Gods, I was losing my mind. The male was ridiculous. “Just keep searching for the still, Swift.”

Dynamic duo

Fuck, I just ached for her. I wanted her here, next to me. I wanted to hold her; the fact that she wasn’t in my arms right now felt like the greatest injustice that had ever been inflicted upon me. There was no breathing my way past it.

“I don’t know what this is right now,” he said, gesturing to the cottage around us, “but it feels like a gift. We’re alone. It feels safe. It’s snowing out there. We have the fire, and food is cooking, and the fox is chasing insects. This is all I need, Saeris. Something simple. And you. I’m claiming you, Osha. Come on. You’re coming with me.”

Thank the gods, I chanted in my head. Thank the fucking gods. Don’t thank them, came Fisher’s low, resonant reply. Thank me. I’m the one who’s about to make you scream.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered. “You’ve existed in my mother’s drawings for most of my life, but you were never real to me before. I didn’t believe . . .” His eyes were wide and full of awe. “I had no idea what you would mean to me. I had no idea what I would do to keep you safe. When I close my eyes, you are all I fucking see, Saeris Fane. I could be dead in the ground five thousand years and the frosts could have taken my bones, and still no other male will ever have loved another female the way that I love you.”

“Sweet fucking mercy,” he panted. “Kill me. Sit on my face and ride my tongue until I fucking die. I can’t take it anymore.”

Is this too much to ask for?????

Carrion threw the cloth he was holding onto the table beside him. “The injustice! You dream of your girlfriend, you’re healed by her, get laid, and wake up brand-spanking-new. Meanwhile, I dream that I’d been turned into a goat, and I wake up with a mouth drier than the glass flats, covered in suspect pox marks!” “She isn’t my girlfriend, Carrion.” He gave me a pointed, very unimpressed look. “Your relationship status with Saeris Fane was the least important thing I just said, Kingfisher.”

I can’t

appearance. “Oh, y’know. ‘I am so in love with Kingfisher. Kingfisher is so handsome. Look at his ass in those pants—’ ” “Hey!” I prodded him in the ribs, hard. “I do have other things to think about besides you!” Pulling both his lips into his mouth now, forcefully preventing himself from smiling, he rolled his head to face me. He couldn’t keep it from his eyes, though. “It’s okay, Osha. Many women have appreciated my posterior in a pair of leathers. I don’t let it go to my head.”

“Every part. I love all of you.” He blew a dark curl out of his eyes. “I’d spend the fortunes of the universe to protect you. I’d drain the seas dry. Fell every tree. I would sacrifice the sun from the fucking sky and surrender the stars, too, if I could. But those things aren’t mine to give. All I have is my life. It isn’t much, but I’d spend it and consider the price small if it meant keeping you safe.”

“The way that you love me. Some would say that is your weakness.” The lines of his face softened. “Some would say that,” he agreed. “But they would be wrong. It’s my strength

Carrion squinted at Fisher, hand in the air. “Is it weird, knowing that people’s balls retract up into their bodies whenever you’re around?” He made a cupping motion of something being sucked upward.