Chapter Three
LUCA
T ee took the news about his mom extremely well. He’d said that actually being tied to the royal line, being free to choose between the realms changed nothing. He had no desire to return to the Otherworld or to leave Alex, but knowing he could now cross through the Veil if the need arose eased his worries. If Cair and I found ourselves in trouble, he could be there.
We hoped it would never come to that, but having the safety net was nice.
“So, you’re not sure if he’s actually your dad, you’re just going off what you found in records and diary entries from this secret room in the library?” Alex asked, stirring his drink with his straw.
Cair and Tee had moved up to the office under the guise of checking over some paperwork for the club, but I guessed they were probably catching up. That left Alex and me at the bar, doing the exact same thing. We planned to set off on our trip in two days, and since Rathe was back in the Otherworld organizing the particulars, we had an hour or two to spare before we had to head back. It was nice just sitting here with Alex, in the first place I’d ever felt really at home. I missed him, I missed the club, and though we’d already been here an hour, talking shit and drinking Tee’s experimental cocktails, we hadn’t run out of topics—not with his ability to turn everything into an innuendo—nor did we feel like we wanted to be anywhere else.
Or I didn’t, at least.
“Nailed it.” I took a sip of my own drink. It was called a Sour Temptress, and it tasted like apricots. “Oh, and after the spell lifted and Cair remembered the guy, he said I have his eyes, so that’s something?”
My bestie snorted, and I couldn’t really blame him. “To be fair, no one has eyes as pretty and distinctive as yours, so I’d say that’s a valid clue.”
“That’s what Cair said!” Alex hummed around a gulp of his drink as if he’d expected my mate to be on his wavelength. I carried on. “I’m not totally stupid, okay? I know there’s every chance we go to this farm in the Outerlands and he’s not there, or he is and he’s a dick, or he just doesn’t want to know me, but if that happens, I won’t really be any worse off than I am now. We can just try a different path or figure out another way to get the closure I need. It’s still worth a shot.”
Cair was already ninety percent sure this guy was my father, so I wasn’t as worried on that front as I was by the possibility that he could be… disappointing. For years, my mom had refused to mention him, hated the Fae because of whatever he’d done, so of course I was wary. Cair remembered very little about his character except for the brief interactions they’d shared and what he’d heard from others. When I’d probed him for more details before bed last night—anything at all that he could remember—he’d said that he’d seemed kind. Gentle, even. Too gentle to be so close to the king. He’d assisted the Fae in Edenglas, fought for their rights, and worked tirelessly for the good of the people. It all sounded so admirable and promising, but could he really be a good guy after so many centuries acting under the orders of the king?
Or was he a victim trying to survive just the same as everyone else?
Like so many other questions I had, I couldn’t be certain of the answers until I found him, and even if this path ended in disaster, or we reached a dead end and had to keep searching, I was willing to follow whatever breadcrumbs were laid out to reach any sort of conclusion.
A happy and stress-free reunion preferred, obviously.
“Hey, you’re not stupid at all,” Alex scolded me, almost knocking over his glass with how carelessly he set it down. “You follow your curiosity, and you’re persistent about it. Two of the many things I love about you.” He reached forward to ruffle my hair, and I narrowed my eyes.
“Are you drunk?”
He reeled back in offense, but after a brief pause for self-reflection, he shrugged. “Maybe, but my point still stands. I love you.”
“It’s not even ten a.m.”
“Don’t judge me. You’ve had just as many as I have!”
“Mine are mocktails,” I clarified. “As in nonalcoholic .”
“Oh.” His eyes widened a fraction, and he let out a sheepish giggle. “Oops.”
I laughed, shaking my head, and it only took a few seconds for him to join in. “I love you too.”
With a smile only someone six cocktails deep could pull off, he rested his hand on top of mine, squeezing lightly. “I’m happy for you, Lu, and I really hope you find him and that he lives up to your expectations, but keep me updated. Send a letter, or a pigeon, I don’t care. Just keep us in the loop, okay?”
“I will.” I smiled, my chest feeling all warm and toasty. I would make more of an effort to visit when we returned from the Outerlands. I’d make plans to spend more one-on-one time with Alex, like we used to before our mates came along. I loved it being the four of us, our little family, but it was also nice to be alone with him and talk about everything and nothing.
It was almost like therapy.
Cair and Teighan wandered back in from their stint upstairs, and I couldn’t help but watch as Tee strode up to my best friend, wrapped an arm around his waist, and leaned in to kiss him. As if their time apart had been too long. It was adorable, and though they were both total softies underneath, this level of romance was definitely not something I had expected from either of them. But seeing Alex’s genuine smile as he gazed up at the grumpy Fae and the look of pure adoration he got in return was heartwarming. They loved each other, that was plain to see, and it was good to know that they were both finally getting the care they needed.
And deserved.
“You two are disgustingly cute,” I observed, and their eyes snapped to me.
Teighan glared, but Alex grinned. “If you tell anyone, we’ll kill you. Or he will, and I’ll just sit here and finish sipping my Dutch Oven.”
“ Duchess of Fern .” Tee corrected him with a fond eye roll, and Alex waved him off.
“Whatever.”
“Oh, believe me, I won’t have to tell anyone,” I scoffed. “It’s like a horned-up romcom in here. Anyone with a good nose and a lick of sense could tell you’re an item. I’m surprised Alex doesn’t have you wearing matching sweaters, at this point. I’m a little disappointed in that fact, actually.”
My friend raised a finger, opening his mouth as if to correct my statement, but Teighan piped up instead. “You’re one to talk,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Alex gave him an appreciative once-over. “As if the months I spent smelling yours and my brother’s unresolved sexual tension wasn’t bad enough, I had to disinfect and fumigate the entire office before I could even sit down and do paperwork.”
I winced in sympathy. Not regret, though, because Cair bending me over his desk had been an out-of-this-world experience. But I still felt kinda bad that Tee had to deal with all that before his takeover.
Alex decided to stop eye-fucking his mate long enough to chime in. “ And all those times you limped around looking like you’d been mauled by a vampire and fucked with a baseball bat.”
My cheeks grew hot, and I wanted the ground to swallow me up. “Touché.”
“Leave my mate be,” Cair said, slotting his huge body in behind me, the rumble of his gruff laugh vibrating against my back. “It’s not his fault he’s utterly irresistible.”
Alex made a face that said ‘see, there’s another point to us’ and I couldn’t disagree. There was no denying that we were all sickeningly in love with our mates. It was unavoidable.
“I’m feeling very attacked.” I pouted.
Cair hummed. “Shall we go before you’re subjected to further ridicule, my heart?”
“Oh, don’t let us keep you,” Alex said. “I’ve been thinking about blowing Teighan behind the bar since you got here, and I might lose my mind if I have to wait much longer.”
I groaned, scrubbing at my face in exasperation. “For fuck’s sake Al, time and place.”
“What? Would you rather I lie to you?”
“ Yes .”
He shrugged, leaning on the bar to sip his cocktail. “Then I wouldn’t be me.”
“And the world would be an awful place for it, bird,” Tee cooed, nuzzling Alex’s hair, a smirk on his face that said he was trying to get a reaction out of me.
I swear, they were both just as bad as each other. A perfect match.
After saying our goodbyes, we left the club. We didn’t rush our walk back to Cair’s penthouse. Kor had offered to teleport us there instead, but since we’d woken up early that morning and sprinted over to the club to tell Tee his news, I hadn’t really had the chance to appreciate being back.
As we were on the Fae side of the city, the scenery and decor were similar to the Otherworld, but modernized. It was an ode to both worlds—the high-rise buildings instead of medieval architecture, an abundance of trees and flowers instead of cars and buses. There was magic and there was machinery, and I still felt an overwhelming sense of giddiness at being allowed to experience it.
My thoughts drifted to Alex, as they often did whenever I strolled through these bright and lively streets. It was a shame that even though he now lived on this side of the border with Teighan, he couldn’t see its beauty. He was an artist, and he’d always been fascinated by the monster world. It felt cruel that he was denied it.
After bonding, the two beings’ souls were fused together, meaning they could feel one another from miles away, tap into each other’s emotions, their feelings, and know each other on a more visceral level. With a Fae as one half of the pair, there was also a chance their heightened senses would bleed through the tether. It could give their mate superior vision, smell, taste, and reflexes—and enough stamina to put a rabbit to shame—though it didn’t always happen, especially with humans. I was already half Fae, so joining with Cair and moving to the Otherworld had awakened those traits in me, and had Alex been another creature, it may have worked. He said he didn’t mind it, that Tee gifting him the radharc flower on their mating night was enough, but I knew if he had the choice to view the city as we did, he’d absolutely take it.
Maybe, once I found my dad— if he was my dad, and if he didn’t shun me at the door—I could ask him if there was a spell or enchantment that could allow for it. He was a mage, so if anyone knew a way, it would be him, right?
I shook my head, scoffing internally. I hadn’t even met the guy and I was already asking for favors.
I really have adapted to this prince life, haven’t I?
“I’ve been meaning to ask you…” I filled the silence, sidetracking my own thoughts because that was what I did best. At least it was actually on a similar vein, which was a rarity. I waited for Cair’s answering hum before continuing. “What do you think of Alex?”
Cair’s eyes widened minutely, and he paused for contemplation. “He’s…”
I snorted. “Be nice.”
“Sweetheart, you wound me,” he said, and I shook my head. “Your friend makes my brother happy, and I would like the chance to get to know him better—as the human my brother fell in love with, not just the eccentric creature you’ve told me about.”
“He is very eccentric,” I agreed. “But that’s what drew me to him. He was fun, seemingly carefree, and I needed that in my life. I think Teighan did too.”
“Yes, their personalities balance each other out.”
I laughed at his very accurate analysis. “Beyond that though, he’s honest, he’s generous, and he cares fiercely for the people he loves. They’re good for each other. They’ve both been through a lot, and they’re both as stubborn as mules, pretending everything is peachy when it’s not, but… at least they’re on the same team now, supporting each other. Even if they took a hot minute to work it out.”
Similar to how Teighan only had Cair, Alex only had me, and when I’d first run off to get mated, I felt a little guilty leaving my best friend on his own. He’d never been on the best of terms with his family, especially since his younger brother, Theo, had cut contact several years ago. He barely saw his elder sister, so his mother had been his only tie, but even before she’d disowned him, she may as well not have been there at all.
Thankfully, he now had someone else in his corner, someone who would give him all the stars in the sky if he asked, and I didn’t feel quite so uneasy.
He was in good hands.
“So, you approve?” I said as we rounded the corner. Cair’s building was at the end of the block, and it never failed to astound me just how magnificent it was.
“Of course I do,” he asserted, gazing down at me to show his sincerity before staring ahead again. A distant look fell over his face, as if he was lost in a memory. “I love my brother dearly, and for the longest time, I worried for him. He never asked for anything, he hid his pain behind a mask, and though I was always there, it was clear that loneliness ate at him. He’d never have admitted it, but he often struggled to see his worth because, from the time he was a youngling, he was forced to suppress all those agreeable traits that he only ever showed to me. His passion, his protectiveness, his loyalty. He was raised to be a warrior and expected to give up on the notion of finding a mate because ‘no one would want to be tied to a male who only knew bloodlust.’
“His emotions were locked tight, but since Alex came into his life, he has softened. The boy has encouraged him to be vulnerable, to show his true self, and he finally has someone to lavish all those caring instincts on. Someone to protect and keep safe, to love and worship, and be given the same in return. It warms my heart to see my brother genuinely content, and I have Alex to thank for that.”
My chest felt heavy. I was equally saddened by the mention of Tee’s struggles and elated that he no longer had to suffer under his father’s control.
“When we first met, I thought Tee would glare me into an early grave,” I said, recalling the early days of my employment at The Veil. “I pegged him as this big grump with the emotional range of a teaspoon, but after a while—and a lot of wearing him down with my awesome personality—I noticed a few soft spots peeking through his hardened shell.
“The day you were taken from me, I saw a fraction of that protective streak in him,” I carried on. “That caring, almost gentle side that slipped free because I was in distress and he reacted instinctively. He’s still a grump, but I know he’d never intentionally hurt Alex. He’s good for him, and I’m just glad they’ve found each other.”
Cair smiled. “As am I.”
We reached Cair’s apartment building and Mal, his assistant, greeted us at the elevator, using the gold card in his jacket pocket to send us up to the top floor. Since the penthouse was where we’d successfully portalled in before, we didn’t want to run the risk of messing up by changing the location. We could’ve tried opening one at the lounge, but it was safer to stick to what we knew worked. We couldn’t be certain the energy from the Veil wouldn’t interfere with the magic. Besides, Cair had wanted to speak to Mal about keeping the place in order while we were gone, so it wasn’t exactly a wasted trip.
While my mate discussed wards and other security measures with his assistant, I circled the apartment, taking in the view that still deserved a top spot on my Best I’ve Ever Seen list. It made me feel as if I were standing on the clouds, looking down at the little patch of paradise that was the monster side of Edenglas. Not much would ever compare, though I’d save my full judgment for our trip to the Outerlands. I had no doubt there would be many beautiful scenes to rival this, especially so far from the palace, where the land was in its most natural and simple state.
Peeling away from the windows, I scoured through Cair’s endless supply of records. It had shocked me to learn that my mate had a fondness for human music, especially hits from the seventies. I’d always pegged him for a classical guy, the pianoforte or opera type, but he’d said that after a lifetime of his interests being dictated to him by his father—and what he thought was appropriate for royalty—he enjoyed rebelling a little. I liked that about him. It made him seem less godlike, less out-of-reach Fae prince, knowing he had regular ole hobbies and passions like regular ole people.
The penthouse filled with expensive furniture may have shown off his status, but whenever we came here, I could almost pretend we were just two normal people, living out normal lives in the big city.
A break from reality.
“I miss this place,” I expressed with a sigh. “The view, having dinner at the table, the comfy couch… everything we used to get up to here.” I sent Cair a teasing wink, slotting the Aladdin Sane record back into its rightful place. Mal had already left, so we were alone and I was feeling nostalgic. “That last night in particular.”
I was referring to our visit six months ago, the night we had returned to the apartment after Alex and Teighan’s mating. Cair had stripped me naked, instructing me to place my hands on the window before he knelt behind me and fucked my life force out with his tongue and fingers. I’d come all over the glass the second he’d whispered against my skin how he hoped the entire city could see how pretty I looked with my hole stuffed. To this day, I wasn’t confident everyone in the building opposite hadn’t actually seen. I could barely look at that window without my belly heating.
I swore I could still see handprints if I squinted.
Cair studied me, his gaze lingering on my cheeks before flicking upward. “It never fails to amuse me how you deflect whenever your friend mentions sex, but you have no qualms reminiscing about the times you’ve begged me to breed you. Why is that?”
I spluttered, my face flaming. I’d actually forgotten that teensy weensy detail, but guessed it was unavoidable now. “That’s… because we’re in private, behind closed doors. No one can hear it, and it’s just between us. Plus, when we’re in bed, your dick makes me forget my own name, so dirty talk just flows.”
Cair hummed in thought. “So it’s the public aspect that has you squirming?”
“I don’t squirm,” I said vehemently, though it was a total lie. “But yes. I can’t help it. I’m no prude, but talking about sex casually, in public, makes me cringe. I mean, since meeting you, I’m constantly thinking about it—which I don’t believe I can be blamed for—and I’m not against telling the odd sex joke, but usually that’s when my mouth runs away with me.”
I’d never really been an overly sexual guy, but the draw between Cair and me made me feel things I never had before, as cliché as that may have sounded. With my ex, I wasn’t all that interested, and he never really gave a shit about my pleasure, so I’d retreated into myself in turn. He’d made me feel self-conscious and not worth the hassle, but Cair was the total opposite. He was doting. He made me feel safe enough to express my fantasies, and he heated up my entire body in ways I never knew were possible.
From our first meeting, he had awakened a need deep inside me that I now struggled to keep restrained. At the time, I’d thought it was magic, that he’d cast a tricksy Fae enchantment to fill my head with wild thoughts and desires like those my mom had warned me about. But I’d come to realize it was our chemistry, the tie between us. I was still private about it all, but he’d given me the courage to come out of my shell, the freedom to want , and now even just a look from him gave me butterflies.
It was a strange and new feeling, but I liked it.
“You are an enigma,” he rasped.
I rolled my eyes. “You’d think I’d have no shame left with how often we do it, but I guess it’s how I was brought up. Alex has always been vocal about sex, and he likes to tease me about it. I never really minded. We wouldn’t be best friends if I did, and he knows that. I just prefer to keep my dirty thoughts to myself. Except”—I poked his pec—“ you’ve brought it out in me. I don’t think a moment has gone by in the last year when I haven’t been low-key turned on.”
Cair chuckled, low and filthy, as his arm circled my waist. He tugged me against his chest before leaning in and brushing his mouth over my ear. “I know, my heart. I can smell it on you.”
My dick gave an eager twitch. “We don’t have to return to the Otherworld right now , do we?”
A rumbling sound vibrated against my skin. “I’m sure an hour or two won’t make much of a difference.”
* * *