Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Niall spat out laughter, sitting next to Lennox on the couch with blankets draped over it. In three days, Tarian and Daisy had graced every available surface with their lovemaking. The Fallen, upon learning this by walking in on them, hadn’t taken the news well. They’d been downright disgusted, actually. Now they wanted something between their butts and the “ruined” surfaces.
Lennox narrowed his eyes at Daisy. She’d thought the first at him and Niall, and the second only at Niall. Helped by the Fallen and the contraptions, she could split her thoughts much better now. She could also hide most of her thoughts in the void. It was a place that didn’t register to a mindgazer. The thoughts weren’t behind walls or shields or tucked away in a forgotten corner. Not that Tarian could find at any rate. Not even that Eldric could find. They were just…not there.
This was not welcome knowledge to Eldric, who’d never heard of such a thing. He was hard at work within his chaotic library, researching what was going on and why he was excluded from her mind. The rest of the Fallen thought it was a human side effect.
It wasn’t. It was because of the nulling magic. She was positive. The moment she swirled even a whiff of that magic, delighting in the earthy scent and feeling the hum in her body, her thoughts drifted away from prying minds. They weren’t stored at the edge of her brain for someone to pluck out. They existed for her and her alone.
“What’d she say?” Lennox asked as Daisy tugged at his magic, siphoning it delicately. So very delicately. Any faster and he’d notice and attack her. Then the rest of the Fallen would have to jump in his way as Daisy took off.
The trigger in a fae was immediate and intense. She had to be very careful with that magic, which wasn’t great because, while she’d developed an instinctual use of it, she’d only been at it for three days. She was a fast learner, but she wasn’t a genius, as Eldric loved to point out.
“She probably said your beard tassel is ridiculous,” Revana said, adjusting her top bun as she passed behind the couch.
“Nah.” Kayla grinned. “It was that your braids are all crooked. Why are you still so bad at those?”
“I think she noticed that you’re too soft to be a Thornborn,” Gorlan murmured, standing by the door.
Lennox put up his hands. “Really? We’re all taking shots?”
“I mean, when it’s so easy,” Kayla replied.
Daisy stood for a distraction and fixed her hair, siphoning a little more. She passed by Lennox, giving him a slap on the shoulder as she went. Proximity boosted her magic’s strength. Physical contact distracted them from what was happening magically.
Lennox jerked his hand up as though to grab her but stalled. He looked at his hand in confusion, then at nothing. His eyes tightened.
Fuck. He was cluing in.
It was a somewhat scary thing when Lennox charged. That male might seem like an even-tempered, chill fae, but when he was roused, he was fast and powerful and determined. Give him an axe and he’d cut down a door to get to an enemy.
She’d been on the other side of the door when she learned that.
She slowed the siphon to a trickle. In a moment, she stopped it altogether. The siphon had to be started and stopped slowly. Sudden movements triggered the crazy.
“Daisy.” Tarian stepped into the doorway of the dressing room, his face a hard mask. He’d be taking her into the lion’s den this evening. The Court Hall.
She met him there dutifully and tried her damnedest not to run a hand down his chest, or over a shoulder, and definitely not over his groin. It turned out he didn’t have much control when it came to sex. He wanted it as often as possible, and he wouldn’t be rushed, not even when he was late for a meeting. Or a trap he’d set.
She wasn’t any better. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. Keeping her hands off was a lesson in control she so often failed. He just felt so damn good. She’d never experienced sex that gave her such huge highs. And she had never dreamt of the closeness and intimacy they experienced in the quiet aftermath, when his fingers glided across her skin and they talked of trivial nothings. His was a presence and proximity that had hooked her, and she didn’t want it to let go.
He held out a dress.
Her focus snapped to attention.
“What is this?” She took it by the bodice and lifted it up for inspection.
“As of today, you are officially a toy. I dress my toys how I wish to view them,” Tarian said, readying to go into court and speaking and standing (and acting stuffy) accordingly.