Chapter 23
Daisy
The rest of the royal family soon entered, but they didn’t get to use the dais.
That, alone, held the king, which was very telling about how the family operated.
The king called the shots, had a big fucking ego, and didn’t give up much control.
He was the head of his operation. Cut off the head and the rest would fall.
So many thoughts dumped into her mind that she had a hard time choosing one to notice.
That was the problem with learning to split conversations and focus on multiple threads of people’s thoughts at once—it opened her up to more avenues of information gathering and things got jumbled.
She’d need to sit down and sort it all out later.
The queen was first to walk in, coming from the right and draped in another of the billowing dresses so many of the infected females wore.
She didn’t have as much magical rot etching her face, with her cheekbones lined, her eyes circled, and her pinched face outlined.
Her throne, significantly smaller than her mate’s, sat at the side of the dais on the right.
The daughter came in next, her gaze never drifting as far as Tarian.
Daisy couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.
“Bad,” Tarian murmured, his words only for her ears. “It means she is incredibly angry and plotting her revenge. I’ve traveled this road a great many times.”
At least she was predictable.
From the other side walked two males, one nearly as covered in the black lines as his father and the other not terribly affected at all. Somehow, he had escaped the worst of the twist overloading his family.
“He’s the baby of the family,” Tarian said, sitting back and crossing an ankle over his knee.
He turned Daisy so she was heavily resting against his side and slung his free arm across the back of the couch, getting comfortable.
“He’s never been ambitious, doesn’t partake in the family dynamics very much, and is gentler than the average fae. ”
“Which means his father thinks he’s weak.”
“Exactly. It might save his life. If the magic is cleansed soon, he should be able to come back from it.”
“But his family is…”
“Utterly fucked. They are too far gone.”
She wouldn’t even have to feel bad when she burned this place to the ground.
He laughed softly. “As if you would anyway.”
Instruments in an unseen corner came to life, the first notes floating up and hanging in the air before more joined them.
A collection of fae took to the dance floor in odd groupings, each dance organized but changed a little depending on the number of people they had.
She watched in fascination, quite liking the look of their flow and movement.
“I can teach you,” Tarian said, looking down at her with a smile. “I’m sure you’d pick it up quickly.”
“Learning and practicing the magic is much more important.” Which was a real shame, because she would’ve loved the opportunity to dance with him, her hand in his, his body close, his focus solely on her.
“One day, then.”
Sure, why not?
Those not dancing sought out food and drink, holding obsidian plates rimmed with gold and decadent glasses sparkling with a ruby elixir.
“Pixie wine,” he murmured, voice very low so no one could hear their conversation. She wondered why he spoke instead of using mindgazer magic.
He glanced around in obvious boredom. To let them know I talk to you.
I share things with you. Things I am not allowing anyone else to hear.
That’ll make them more suspicious of me, which will make them try to seek out the things I say.
These royals—the court as a whole—are extremely paranoid, and I have more knowledge about the fringe than they do.
It might buy me time, which should, in turn, buy you time.
“It is extremely potent,” he continued. “More than anything I’ve tried in the human world.”
“Have you tried moonshine?”
“Moon…shine? No. That sounds like something inspired by Faerie.”
“I think it’s more inspired by getting a kick while saving a buck, but sure. How about absinthe?”
“No…” he drew out.
She nodded. She’d tried those things and knew how her body reacted to them. It could help her gauge pixie wine if she ended up in a situation where it was served to her.
“It would’ve been nice to have a guide in the human world,” Tarian mused.
Deep night rolled over the shining marble floor along the back wall.
A few nobles gave it furtive glances and subtly shifted away.
“I learned a great deal from the memories of humans, but that is nothing like experiencing it for oneself or getting the surprise of a new sensation.”
His eyes focused, looking straight ahead. Across from them, the shadow stretched across the floor, blanketing the ground. It reached under tables and caressed the feet and legs of various fae it passed. It seemed to engage with those who were the most twisted.
Tarianthiel, a voice said, winding between him and Daisy. Handsome Tarianthiel…
Blackness crowded around their feet. Licked at their legs.
What is it? dark and dank voices whispered. They were like that of the wylds, but…wrong. Nightmarish.
“Twisted magic taking root in the castle,” Tarian said, unperturbed. “Ignore it.”
It does not belong here… The darkness at their feet clutched Daisy’s legs and started to crawl up. The dank cold seeped into her bones. Her skin felt like it was changing, like mold was growing. It does not belong here!
Her heart picked up speed. She grabbed Tarian’s pant leg, barely stopping herself from curling her feet under her on the couch cushions.
“Be easy.” Tarian pulled his arm from the back of the couch and ran his fingers under her chin. He applied pressure to bring her face up, looking down into her eyes. “It won’t hurt you if you don’t let it seep in.”
“But it has seeped in—”
He shook his head before dropping his lips to hers. “That is the feeling of its touch, but it is just extremities.” His volume was normal. He was allowing people to see her uneasiness. Her differentness as a human. “Don’t open yourself up to it, and that is as far as it will go.”
“How do I stop myself from opening up to it?”
“By ignoring it.” He traced her lips with his thumb.
“When you lean into its siren song, when you allow yourself to be hypnotized by its allure, it will seek to embed itself within you. That’s how it will twist your magic.
Distract yourself.” His eyes sparked fire, and gold ran a river around his pupils. “Pleasure me, little human.”
She glanced at the ground, wondering how in the world that stuff could feel alluring.
“Maybe it doesn’t affect humans the same way,” Tarian said, his brow pinching as he looked at her. Reading her, more likely.
Or maybe it’s because of the chalice magic? she thought.
He didn’t answer, his gaze sharp despite his obvious desire. He didn’t know.
She ran her hand along his hard length through his trousers, certainly distracted, but not by him. The voices kept slithering around her like the shadow swirling around her legs.
It does not belong here. Kill it!
“That can’t be good,” she murmured, looking around the other seating arrangements, little groupings for the fae of high status and shared circular tables for those lesser.
The shadow crawled across the floor there, too, pooling around ankles and reaching as far as waists on the more affected fae.
“Why would anyone want to come to court and constantly have this annoying them?”
She freed him from the confines of his pants, and he breathed heavily as she ran her palm against him.
“Suck it,” he murmured, his lids hooded. He didn’t seem to notice the shadows at all. Indeed, a strange light sparked in his eyes, a little off balance, like when he’d come into the prison. Or when he walked the halls. “Suck it down deep, human.”
His fingers curled into the back of her hair before he dragged her closer, forcing a kiss. She opened her mouth to accept it, delighting in the strength and power of his dominance. Needing it to rip her attention away from those horrible shadows, now chanting, Kill it-kill it-kill it!
His other hand wrapped around her neck in a choking hold, pulling her higher onto the couch.
She had to pull her legs up to accommodate, getting her knees under her and thankfully out of the shadows.
The voices died away and, with them, her uneasiness.
Still, she knew they were there. Could feel their presence slinking along the floor under them.
Tarian let go of her neck and forced her down to him. She captured the base of his cock and ran the tip along her lips. She swirled her tongue around it, and he sucked in a breath.
“That’s right.” His voice was louder, commanding. Passing fae would definitely hear him, and likely the clusters seated around them, too. “Good.”
He pushed her down harder, and she acted like she wasn’t sure, bracing against his thighs and resisting.
His fingers tightened, and he worked her up and down his shaft, pushing into her throat and growling with need.
Her fingers tightened on his thighs. She sucked rhythmically, swirling her tongue at the tip before being shoved down again.
She felt her own desire start to climb, enjoying pleasuring him despite the posture of her body.
Delighting in his taste and feel despite her tenseness and the act she was putting on for the court.
“That’s it,” he groaned. “Nice and deep. Take it all the way in, human.”
She did, her wetness leaking down her thighs.
He pulled the hem of her dress up over her rear, exposing her. She jolted, but he cooed in her mind.
Focus on me, little dove. Focus on how good it feels. I’ll keep you safe. They will see you—see us—but they will never touch you. I will make sure of it.
With the chalice magic, she felt for the closest person, her vessel not full and wanting to rectify that. That fae had too much power, though. Those were always the prickliest. The most prone to notice when she was trying to take some—or so it seemed with the Fallen.
She hunted for another and another as Tarian’s fingers ran down her center. He groaned as she repeatedly took him in, and he dipped two fingers into her, stroking just right.
“Hmm,” she purred, liquifying against him. The act of restraint was over. It was too hard to pretend.
“Yes, that’s right.” She took him all the way in, wanting to do this for him in a way she’d never cared to for anyone else. “Please me, human, and I will give you a present.”
She’d hold him to that.
He chuckled within her mind as his fingers worked. She redoubled her efforts against him, wanting him to control her harder. To be rougher.
He did so immediately, tensing, his fingers going faster. She strove, tightened—
“Come for me,” he said, and she had no choice. She shuddered with him deep in her throat, groaning around his cock. “That’s right.” He pulled her off him by her hair. Drool dripped from her lips. “Now, you will fuck me.”
As though by magic, she felt drawn to obey. To crawl up and over his lap, leaving ample time for the court to glimpse his continued hardness. If they’d missed it in the hall, this was another opportunity.
He helped her guide a knee over his hip before collecting her dress and bunching it at her waist. Everyone in view, and a lot of them had stopped to gawk in obvious surprise, would be able to see him enter her.
He was leaving nothing to the imagination.
No fuel for the naysayers. They couldn’t excite him, but this weak little human slave could hold him in rapture.
He would be magically compelled to kill everyone who touched her.
She clasped his face with her hands and found his lips, prideful of the effect she had on this magnificent and beautiful fae. His breath was uneven with desire. He lowered her, lining himself up and then pausing. Slowly, purposefully, he pulled her down the rest of the way.
She groaned from how good it felt, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning harder against him. His heat radiated around her, and she began to move, rolling her hips and feeling all the delicious friction.
“That’s right, dewdrop,” he cooed, the fae term of endearment that made her heart catch. It was so much more beautiful than “baby.” So unique to him, to fae.
He kept one hand on her waist, holding up her dress, but the other tangled in her hair. His lips devoured hers. His body inside of hers consumed her, washing away the strangeness of doing this for spectators. Of being intimate in a fae court.
She moved faster against him, unraveling, losing herself to him. The princess could have been standing right behind her and Daisy wouldn’t have known. She dropped her hand between them, working herself as she gyrated.
“You’re the only thing that makes this court bearable,” he murmured against her lips. “The only beauty this court has to offer.”
She clutched his shoulder. Her body tightened.
His tensed, and they shuddered with the rush of climaxing together.
He dropped her dress and wrapped his arms around her, crushing her into him and hugging her tightly.
She held him as well, breathing heavily, the tingle of her high spreading through her.
I apologize, he said.
For what—
He abruptly nudged her off him. She rolled away, a mess of wetness from her assertions. He put his arm against the back of the couch for her to lean into.
I’ll make it up to you, he said.
It better be in addition to that present you promised me.
She felt his elation—apparently he thought that was a joke.
She sighed, picking at a gold chain on his jacket.
Now what? she asked.
Now…we wait for the fallout.
It didn’t take long to come.