Chapter 33 - Dove
thirty-three
Dove
“Istill think we should kidnap the queen. As long as we don’t look her in the eyes, she can’t bewitch us,” Rivern states matter-of-factly. He thinks both our bond and his lack of eye contact with Calypso helped him stay away from her clutches.
Gideon is still refusing to shift out of wolf form. He keeps growling and eyeing me down like I’m some prized catch, gruffing “mine” through my head.
I’ve decided I’d prefer him this way over being completely enthralled with the mers. I couldn’t live with seeing him fawning all over them.
If he’s going to start claiming me as his mate in my head, then I’m claiming him right back. Which means I have three males in my life now. One was already hard to come to terms with. Now I have three? Goddess, how you test me.
“There’s got to be another way. I don’t want this to turn into a bloodbath.
That isn’t me. That isn’t us. I wanted Fury to help with taking back Haven because the only people who will be hurt are the right people.
I won’t hurt innocents.” He also gave me no choice when bonding with him. I may as well use the God.
Rivern leans back on one of the carved grey columns, his foot propped up behind him. I stand to his side, hiding the large endowment he has on full display. He’s unbothered by having the crown jewels on show. I, however, am distinctly bothered.
Gideon is still at my back, boxing us in, and Moyrie is on the other side of Rivern, scowling at the mers. She has been quiet since we entered the throne room, only talking occasionally.
The most curious thing of all is that I’m no longer jealous of her.
Here she is, naked in front of Rivern, who is also naked, and my brain barely registers it like it isn’t even a possibility.
She doesn’t try to touch him. If anything, she’s completely unfazed by him.
Her thoughts seem to be consumed by the blue mers, just as ours are.
“I have an idea,” Moyrie addresses me, ignoring my two guardians.
I nod for her to continue. “She said they used to take my people’s males to breed before we found Saff?
” I give a swift yes in reply. “All I know is the old stories. We would scout to protect our borders. We always felt this intense need to protect against the void, and my kind would disappear there all the time. Once we found Saff, we scouted by air only, so her story could be true.”
“Okay,” I say, waiting for her to reach the point.
“What if we don’t have to use these two”—she points at Gideon and Rivern—“What if we can establish a breeding treaty with my people. This time, making it consensual?”
I must look dumbfounded, my eyes falling out of my head. Her smile has a sinister quality to it. “You would do that to your people?”
“I’m not doing anything to my people. They have a choice, and if you haven’t noticed, they like fucking.”
Heat courses up my cheeks. I don’t even need to question it. It’s true. I witnessed it. They do like to do that.
Rivern notices my sudden flushed state, running a glinting finger around my cheek. “There’s only one person I’m breeding.”
A ragged cough comes out of my lungs. “Excuse you?”
He laughs, grasping my head in his oversized fae hands and taking my lips with his, completely flooring me.
A spark alights inside my body, roaming all the way to my core. The gruff beast standing behind me pushes himself against me. Once again, I’m wedged between these two hungry males.
Nibbling at my lip, Rivern finally releases me, my neck straining from reaching up to meet him.
“Moyrie said she’s willing to open up breeding between silvers and mers. This time, consensually.”
Violet eyes sparkle down at me. “Looks like we have a plan, then, don’t we?”
“Yes,” I bite my lip, his thumb stroking my cheek.
Our small entourage goes back to the queen, the mers decidedly more relaxed this time, with two females sitting at Calypso’s feet, stroking her legs, and another hand-feeding her a slimy substance. A hungry pang rolls through my stomach at the thought of food.
I bow before her, eager to make this deal so I can hopefully rest and eat. “Queen Calypso, I believe we have come to a decision that will greatly benefit you.”
She shoos her server away with a flick of her finger, but the mers at her feet stay, stroking the blue fins that continue to ripple around her ankles.
“The Silver Sands princess, Moyrie, has agreed to broker a breeding deal with you and her people.” Now, finally thinking about it, I don’t know if she has such authority among her people.
She made the original deal with us in the Silver Sands, so maybe princesses in her kingdom have more say than the princes and princesses of other territories.
On hearing her name, Moyrie comes before the queen and bows slightly—just enough to show a modicum of acknowledgement of Calypso’s status as queen.
The queen squints, eyeing me down. “What of those males?” She points at them accusingly.
“They are bound to me and cannot breed with anyone else.”
“Unfortunate,” she muses, eyeing each of us individually. I don’t waver when she looks into my eyes, knowing that’s where her magic lies.
She stands before walking down the dais steps.
“In truth, I’m impressed. You’ve somehow managed to get past my cerulean, many-legged beast, and you also have this big, hairy one enamoured with you.
” She pouts, stroking her collarbone. “I was so fond of him when I found him. Now I see his full size, it is quite concerning.”
Holding in a laugh, I move my head up and down in agreement. It is also a concern of mine. I’ll keep that a secret.
The queen moves before Moyrie.
Moyrie’s reflective scales glitter blue. The sight of them is truly a feast for the eyes … Moyrie, with her slitted orbs and hairless body, and Calypso, with her varying shades of blue, long pink hair and fluttering fins.
Calypso puts a finger underneath Moyrie’s chin, lifting it high, whispering, “So you are a princess?”
Their eyes are locked. I wonder if the mer is bewitching my new friend. If anyone can look after themselves, it’s Moyrie. Plus, I’m not sure the spell works on females.
Dropping her hand, the queen quirks her head to my side. “Tell your princess she has a deal. I do so like the way their scales shimmer in the water light. And their males are much more agreeable, with a proven history.” She bites the last words as if Gideon and Rivern now offend her.
Goddess, my head is spinning.
“In good faith, I will attend your little sing-along for Orion. However, by the next heat, I want willing males here, ready to seed us.”
She strides towards the dais, listing her demands. Before sitting down, she turns to sweep my body with her gaze—a long, drawn-out swoop from my head to my toes.
“And I’m bored. We haven’t had visitors in centuries. I want a show.”
I just knew we couldn’t get away with all our demands that easily. Of course, something had to give. What possible show could she want?
“I…” I try to respond, she continues.
“You say they belong to you. I want you to prove it. I saw how the golden one with those lines on his skin had no trouble claiming your lips before.” I don’t know whether I should curse Rivern and his wayward hands or praise him.
“And I see how that hairy wolf of yours hovers over you. The princess may wait on me while I have my dinner. You three, I want a grand performance. Something that will wet my thighs until the Silver Sands males arrive.”
I’m pacing in a much smaller cave assigned to us by one of the queen’s people.
It contains a small pond to the right of the oval-shaped room with a trickling waterfall down one side of the cave wall.
A four-seater table and chairs made of stone sit to one side, and a clamshell bed.
Mostly, it’s sparse, reminding me of my old bedroom back in Haven, in the damp underground.
This room has much finer bedding arrangements, compared to my cold stone floor piled with old rags.
Making my way over to the charming bed, I slump down, bouncing up and down before steadying myself. Velvet downy sheets ripple deliciously through my fingertips. Unable to help the fall of my body, I starfish backwards, closing my eyes.
“Can I rest now?” I mumble at no one in particular.
Finally, after turns of travel and sitting in a cage for what seemed like a whole rotation—but I now know it was only one suns and moon cycle—I want to rest my aching body.
The chill isn’t pervasive in my bones anymore now that Gideon has lent me his heat.
The tiredness, though, is a flood to my senses—one I can’t keep away.
I don’t bother opening my eyes again. The bed dips next to me, my body rolling into the summer forest scent that is Rivern.
“You can rest,” he whispers softly against my ear, tucking me in close, his arms enveloping me.
One thing I have realised since being with this fae male is that home is not a place, it’s a person—or maybe people, in my case. I have no problem snuggling close to his firm, smooth chest and falling into a deep sleep.