Fae's Fate: Fated Mates of the Fae Royals (Summer Court Book 7)

14. Malachi

Before I knew it, Ciara called on her powers and smothered herself in the shadows. She vanished in an instant blending into the rock wall.

“Where did she go?” Emer asked, whipping her head side to side.

I stifled a laugh but then Ciara’s shadows engulfed me. Her power tickled my skin. It was a sensation I’d experienced before otherwise I wouldn’t have realized her guards couldn’t see me either. I loved the way her power caressed my flesh. I always imagined her fingers stroking me the same way her power swirled over my skin.

“Shite, where did Malachi go too?” Ivo asked.

“Princess, this isn’t funny,” Emer said.

Under normal circumstances, I’d think this was funny. Ciara grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the waterfall. I leaned closer to her since I saw her clearly while engulfed in her shadow magic. It was a game we’d played many times hiding from her brothers and sisters while sneaking around the palace. The things we’d learned while doing it had opened our eyes.

“What are you doing?” I whispered into her ear.

“Shh.” She touched a finger to my lips. “They’ll hear you. We should go by ourselves.”

I shook my head. This was a bad idea. Terrible. But I kept my hand in hers and let her lead me to the edge of the waterfall because I’d follow her anywhere. We inched along the rock wall instead of swimming through the water as Sledge had instructed so they wouldn’t see our bodies rippling the water. The rocks were slippery with moisture, and we almost fell twice but Ciara’s power snapped toward the wall and anchored us as though a pair of ropes were holding us in place. Each step carried us closer to the water rushing over the cliff face. The force sent a spray of water over us turning our human clothes damp and sticking the material to my skin.

We stopped once we were behind the wall of water. Ivo and Emer’s images were blurry through the curtain of water. I eased my grip to release her hand, but she held tight to me.

“Don’t let go,” she said. “They’ll see you.”

“Ciara, this is a terrible idea. We need your guards to protect you.”

“We have a better chance of being accepted into the Water Sprite kingdom without them. You understand this because you read the same book as me. The book clearly said anyone who enters with weapons will be treated as an enemy and disposed of. The guards won’t leave their weapons behind and if they do, they’ve trained their powers as weapons too. I can’t risk their lives. I can’t risk this last hope that water magic will fix our spring.”

My lips firmed. I didn’t disagree with her. What was the point when she was right?

“You should have at least told them.”

“They would never have let me go by myself.”

I sighed. She was right again. The King’s guard took their role seriously.

“I hope I don’t regret this.” I squeezed her hand. “How are we getting up?”

Ciara smiled and sent a surge of her dark power upward. Thick black shadows shot up the wall.

“And here I thought you were magicking us up there?”

She giggled and then slammed her free hand over her mouth. My gaze landed on her face, drinking in the happy gleam in her eyes. Dia, it made me want to kiss her. I longed to soak her happiness into my body. To make her even happier too by showing her how much my body hungered for hers.

Her gaze met mine and a tangible thread of heat bounced between us. She dropped her hand from her mouth. Ciara’s pink tongue darted out along her lips so fast I almost missed it, but I’d fantasized about twining my tongue with her in a lover’s kiss for so many years. It would be so easy to sneak kisses while engulfed in her shadows. The things I wanted to do to her, and she didn’t have a clue how I felt. Now wasn’t the time to tell her either.

She shifted closer to me as though drawn by my thoughts of kissing her lips parted in invitation. I lowered my head. The heat coming from both our bodies was tangible. We were so close her tiny puffs of breath brushed over my lips. It was almost like a kiss itself.

What was I doing?

I dragged my gaze away and stepped into the shadows climbing the wall. We had a job to do. I couldn’t keep fantasizing about my best friend. Ciara kept in contact with my skin as though she didn’t sense my lustful thoughts to kiss her and devour her body. The contact sent my desire even higher as she threaded her arm through mine linking us at the elbows. She placed one hand on the wall and then tugged her other hand. I lifted my gaze to the great height we’d need to climb. Climbing while connected would be hard, but I trusted her power to keep us safe. I swung toward the wall and together we climbed inch by inch. Her shadows clung to us and the wall like thick cords of rope helping us up the wall. I didn’t doubt for a second if I fell, she’d catch me or make a mattress from shadows for me to land on.

My powers throbbed under my skin longing to get free too. When we were younger, we’d played a lot with our powers testing them out on each other and now it was as though if one of us used our powers the other’s power responded in tune. Dark and light. As though the two needed each other to be happy. I sure needed Ciara.

“Sophia and Rian said there was a glowing red light hiding a lever,” Ciara said.

“I see it up there. We need to go higher.”

Ciara’s darkness thickened as her power pulsed harder, forcing us up the wall in a hurry, her shadow ropes tugging us higher and higher. We arrived at the glowing spot, and I shoved my hand into it sensing a frigid chill on my skin that didn’t bother me at all since I was Fae, but I assumed it was a deterrent to other people. Beside us, a circular rock rolled to the side revealing an entrance to a dark cave.

Shite. This wasn’t good. Ciara was afraid of caves, but determination etched the firm set of her mouth.

“Your time to shine.” She shot me a smile.

“I’d light up the world for you if you need it.” I released the hold on my power and let it engulf my palms.

In the blink of an eye, the entire cave glowed a vibrant white light so radiantly we’d see every nook and cranny on the rock face.

“They said there were no booby traps in here.”

“Want to race to the end?” I asked, knowing even though the cave was alight with my powers Ciara would still get the impression of being enclosed. She might even have had a panic attack. The sooner I got us through the cave the better.

“We’re too old for races.”

“We’re never too—”

Ciara raced into the cave before I finished my sentence. Her quick turn of speed sent me racing after her. She peered over her shoulder as I neared her, but then flung her head back around sending her pretty silvery blonde hair shimmering in the light as though they were fine threads. And they were. I longed to run my fingers through them. To hold them as she took my throbbing cock into her mouth. My breath surged in a sharp rush as I forced the desire back down. What was wrong with me feeling this way now while we were on a lethal mission? Perhaps it was the prospect we might not survive if the poisonous darts on the other side of this cave hit us.

I caught up to Ciara and ran by her side altering my stride length, so we kept in line and burst through the other side of the cave together.

“Stop,” Ciara said.

I ground to a stop a few steps in front of her since she’d stopped before me. I’d been too caught up in my wayward thoughts to realize she’d stopped.

Before us stood great Redwood trees in the open space atop the rocks. A clearing of grass spread in an inviting blanket to lay upon before the green moss-covered trunks. Sunlight streamed through the outer edges of the trees and bathed us in a delicate glow. The beams hit my skin in a caress reminding me of the Summer Court. There was powerful magic here as there was in the Fae Kingdom making me wonder if we’d shifted into another dimension or if we were still on Earth.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Now we announce our presence and wait for an escort into the Water Sprite kingdom.”

I raised my eyebrows. “That easy?”

She lifted her shoulders in a halfhearted shrug and said, “I Princess Ciara O’Cleirigh of the Summer Court and Malachi Byrne request a presence with the Water Sprite Master.”

Her voice rang out through the quiet of the forest as though every fiber of the area absorbed her words. After her announcement, a flock of birds flew from the trees and into the sky.

“Now what do we do?”

“We wait,” she said, searching beside the cave for a place to rest.

We both spotted the fallen tree at the same time and walked toward it. I dusted off the bark and then waved my hand at the log.

“Your chair, Your Highness.”

She dipped a curtsy. “Thank you, kind sir.”

We both laughed and sat on the log. The remembered childhood games were the perfect tension release for our wait. Ciara tugged on the material of her damp dress. I was as uncomfortable as her in these damp clothes.

“Humans need better material,” she said.

“I agree.” I rubbed the shirt clinging to my chest.

Ciara’s gaze followed the motion for a moment longer than a simple observation, but she flicked her gaze away before I deciphered if I’d read too much into her stare. Was it dreaming on my part? Was I projecting my desire onto her?

We waited a long time on the log. Neither of us said anything else. We both understood the enormity of the situation. If we didn’t talk to the Water Sprites and find out if they would fix our Spring of Life, then we might lose everything soon. So, we’d sit forever, even if forever wasn’t that long.

As the sun lowered in the sky, a gray fog rolled through the forest wrapping around the tree trunks in the way Ciara’s shadows engulfed whatever she wanted.

A dark shadow stepped toward us through the fog. Ciara stood in a rush and so did I. Another shadow appeared. Then another. Soon half a dozen shadows were walking toward us.

I regretted not bringing her guards with us.