4. Chapter Four
Stars formed in my eyes long before reality returned to focus. A low, rumbling laugh echoed through my head like a distant nightmare as my aching body collided onto its side when the carriage rolled upside down for the fourth tumble. Sapphire’s screams pierced the deeper howls of pain, and the second her slender fingers grabbed hold of my arm, we were whisked through a portal away from the carriage.
Eero, Sapphire, and Casynox piled on top of me, the crackling of splintered wood chipping onto gravel filling in the ringing noise. Only remnants of our accident remained. The carriage, nothing more than a distant memory, existed somewhere far away. If it hadn’t been for Sapphire, I may have broken my neck. The fae would have been fine—but me? Sapphire? The halflings…with the ability to outlive a mortal yet exist with the same sort of fragility as a bloody heart? My hand, which had only just begun to truly heal, ached beneath the weight of three bodies overtop of me.
Eero was the first to groan. He strained as he pushed himself onto all fours, lifting Casynox and Sapphire’s weight from my thin frame. The air flooded back into my chest as I coughed, rolled onto my back, and blinked away the tears. I wasn’t sure if I was crying from the pain or the crushing reality that Sólkon had just placed upon me.
“Aurelie, Aurelie. What the fuck?” Eero sputtered, resting Cas on his side before hooking an arm under my shoulders and helping me sit up. Sapphire was the next to come to, her nose bloodied and cheek bruised. Her focus was anything but hindered as she stared at me, wide-eyed in utter disbelief. “What happened? Are you okay?”
Casynox coughed as he rolled onto his back, blinking rapidly at the starry sky. Sapphire stumbled onto her feet and spun around to see where she’d taken us. I, however, was getting suffocated from the inside out as my anxieties gnawed at my chest. Eero was brushing hair away from my neck to inspect the exposed skin before carefully lifting my wrist. He was treating me like a porcelain doll, which infuriated me. I was fragile. I was weak. I put them in danger. That was what Sólkon wanted after all, wasn’t it?
“So…Sol…He w-was right t-t-there,” I sputtered and grabbed hold of him. I howled out as my aching fingers cracked with the harsh grasp, but I needed the contact. Sólkon had found a way to take hold of me through some divide in our realm. I was helpless—I couldn’t fight back even if I wanted to.
“Sólkon?” Eero repeated quietly as he brushed his thumb across my skin. “Where, in the carriage?”
I nodded, my entire body overwhelmed with a tremor. This was bad. This was so terribly bad. When I stayed with them, I knew war was on the horizon. I understood that many of the people I met were willing to die for this cause, but I didn’t anticipate how terrifying this would truly be. I was na?ve to the wonders around me—and though magic would be the only thing saving me from demise, it was the only thing terrifying enough to paralyze me.
Eero turned to look at Casynox, whose heated glare was already digging into him. I could see the rage burning off Eero’s snowy strands of hair. I knew he was trying to remain composed, but he wasn’t one to let his anger dwindle. If he did, he’d just be a fuse waiting to blow.
“I knew I shouldn’t have brought you with us, Aurelie,” he whispered quietly and helped me stand. “I’m so sorry.”
I choked out a gasp and let go of his arm. I was still fighting to get a hold of my breathing, but I wouldn’t let him throw me into a room and lock the door. No, I was tired of being locked away. “No, you…you d-don’t get to say that.”
Eero snapped his head back at me, nostrils flared. He opened his mouth to rebut my argument, but when his finger lifted, he sighed and stepped back. After curling that same hand into a fist, he nodded and turned on a heel. “For once, witchling, listen to me. I tire of this fight.”
I watched him walk up the hill, Sapphire a beat behind. My heart was pounding, but I had no will to argue. From head to toe, I was numb. Casynox brushed the grass off his pants before walking up to me.
“Just give him a few hours to cool off, and he’ll make things right. And, if he doesn’t, I’ll rough him up a little.”
I finally tore my stare from his back and met Casynox’s silver, stormy eye. He smiled despite the chaos we’d just experienced. At that moment, I finally understood how a man like him could be the leading force behind a rebellion. It wasn’t because he was the embodiment of evil or violence—instead, he was a light in the darkness.
“I saw his brother, Casynox. He was there, grabbing hold of me like we were in the same space.”
He winked before saying, “You better have given him hell, then. You lit up like a shooting star.”
My lips cracked into a sad smile before I turned away and walked after Sapphire and Eero, Cas in tow. I needed to find a way to thank Casynox one day—if not for saving me from Sólkon long before I entered his domain, then for his support when I was at a crossroads.
Eero was whispering to Sapphire angrily, hand stiff, pointing at the ground near my feet. He briefly twisted his gaze to me before huffing and facing the opposite direction. Sapphire crossed her arms and shook her head when he walked off, continuing down the path we could only hope led to a settlement.
I joined her, the inside of my lip raw from chewing on it. I was torn between anger and sadness; the only thing excruciating enough to distract me was the throbbing pain in my hand. I didn’t need to say anything to Sapphire. Instead of words, she turned to me and gave me a hug.
Closing my eyes, I breathed deeply and accepted the embrace.
“Whatever you saw, I’m sorry,” she said quietly. She parted from me and straightened her lips into a thin line. “I don’t care what Eero says. If that happens again, I’ll make sure you have some fight in you.”
I blinked at her, smiling softly. That was all I wanted, and despite Eero’s infuriating apathy, I knew he wanted me to be able to defend myself too. I wasn’t sure how I’d win this fight against him, but I wouldn’t sit idly by and let the magic sizzle inside me without the ability to utilize it. He wanted to protect me…but I didn’t think a lock and key would prevent Sólkon from finding me.
Not after tonight.
I sighed softly and nodded, letting her guide me down the hill until we found ourselves in a town. Eero had stopped bickering with Casynox when we reached an inn and tavern. Sapphire sat with me on a bench outside the building while the other two ventured inside to ensure it was safe. This place felt warm enough to still be the Spring Court, but there was no telling.
She held my hand and warmed it with magic, easing the throbbing pain in my bones. “I thought you’d been possessed,” she muttered.
“I thought I was a goner. He was fuming like a dragon. If I hadn’t fought back, I don’t…I don’t know what would have happened.”
Sapphire’s lips tugged into a small smile, her gaze firmly fixated on my bruised skin. “Silver is the only thing that can kill them, really. That, or to have somebody pry their limbs from their body until there is nothing left but shredded skin.”
“Them, sure, but you?” I asked. A pause, then, “And me?”
Sapphire placed my hand gently on my lap before capturing my stare. It was difficult to believe we were cut from the same cloth, that I could live as long as she—and Yenira—had, with little concern for my well-being or strength.
“One day, fire will be the least of your fears, Aurelie. I can promise you that.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Aurelie, Saph,” Casynox called from the door. When we turned, we caught sight of him with half a chicken wing in his mouth. He waved us toward him before letting the door swing shut. I breathed deeply, unsure if I wanted to sleep, eat, or sink into a hot spring and drown out the last few hours. When we ventured inside and sat at the table, the warmth of fresh bread and meat stimulating my senses, my shoulders relaxed.
So I sat, ate silently, and didn’t let my elbow brush against Eero’s. Not that he made much of an effort to close the gap between us on the bench. I’d only had the chance to sigh twice out of anger when Casynox broke the silence.
“We’re in one of the farming towns deep in the Spring Court,” he said between bites. I watched him tear his roll in half, chomp on it, and flash his brows. “About a day’s journey back home on horseback. Unless Sapphire here wants to”—he whistled and twirled a finger around dramatically—“you know, do her thing.”
Sapphire snapped her finger, sparks of starlight bouncing from the tips. “Even my prowess needs rest, Cas. After a bit of wine and rest, I should be good to get us back in the morning.”
I looked at her and wondered how she knew her magic needed to refuel, and if I’d only need a short rest to recover my own abilities. I wasn’t surprised that magic had limits, but how did somebody know? Was it innate, built into them like an hourglass?
Casynox nudged her with his elbow and grinned. “Fine. Any excuse to drink some wine, aye?”
She raised her glass to cheers him. “I second that sentiment, friend.”
He accepted her toast, and they both took a swig of their drinks. I smiled, warmth brewing in my chest at the sight. There was so much darkness looming in my mind right now, but being around them, with their cheerful laughs and positivity, it was enough to distract me. Even if only for a moment.
And, finally, when Eero rested a hand on my knee, I turned my head toward him and caught his stare. He had bags beneath his eyes, and his lips were chapped, but he smiled subtly. He said nothing, but he didn’t need to.
I rested my hand over his and nodded once before returning to my food, letting the conversation on the other side of the table drown out my buzzing thoughts.
I went upstairs into the room after satiating my aching stomach. I’d left in silence when Eero went to grab more wine, and Casynox and Sapphire had ventured to dance alongside the bard. I enjoyed the change in atmosphere and mood, sure, but I was tired. I’d been tired since waking in that wretched Winter Court fortress.
I didn’t have a change of clothes, I couldn’t warm the tepid bath water with my magic even if I wanted to, and the moon was blocked by the clouds of a looming storm. The peace and quiet eased my senses, but I bounced my foot against the wooden floor.
The door creaked not even a half-hour later. I grabbed hold of the antiquated brush, as if the blunt handle would act as a weapon, and readied myself to throw it. When I looked through the mirror to find Eero peeking through the door, I eased.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said quietly.
I hummed, neither in agreement nor defiance, and returned my focus to the tempest next to the vanity. “I’m okay.”
Eero shifted into the room and let the door click shut behind him, and although I wasn’t looking at him, each step on the floorboard was like a warning. The creaking wood was barking at me to turn, but I refused.
His hand rested atop my shoulder and moved some of the hair to the side. I let my eyes flutter shut, focusing on nothing other than the small, meaningless shapes he traced into my skin. When his lips pressed to the top of my head, I sighed.
“I snapped at you earlier. I’m sorry.”
I frowned. “Eero… I’ve never been so tired before. It’s made me terrible, and for that, I’m sorry too.”
“There is not a world where I’d consider you terrible,” he whispered. I stood from the vanity bench and tipped my head back to look at his eyes. “I just…I want to protect you. I don’t know how he did what he did, but it terrifies me to no end.”
I reached up to hold his cheek. He turned his head and kissed my palm before grabbing hold of it, gaze flicking across the scar I often forgot about. “Don’t you think it might be time to learn to master the terror? I’m rather sick of it defining what I can and cannot do.”
Eero grinned and laughed, moving my palm to his chest and hardening his piercing stare into mine. “I admire your courage. I don’t think I’m built to master terror, witchling.”
I lifted my other arm to drape over his shoulder and cocked my head. “I find that difficult to believe.”
His lips pressed onto my forehead before he swayed with me. I closed my eyes and let his warm, woodsy scent envelop me. It was like an embrace in the warm rain, easing my aching bones and calming the tidal waves of my mind. This was the man I could fall into time and time again, without fear of whether he’d catch me or not. I could only hope to give him that same sort of security—and perhaps, one day, I would.
But without my magic, I was no stronger than a foolish, greedy, impossibly stubborn mortal girl.
“Shouldn’t you be downstairs getting drunk with the others?” I asked after the silence had grown deafening. “I rather like the idea of you and Casynox causing mayhem for those poor tavern dwellers.”
Eero chuckled warmly and lowered his head to rub his nose against mine. “The revelry downstairs is familiar to me, Aurelie. I’ve had centuries to start trouble with Casynox. I’ve only just begun with you.”
I blinked, a familiar flush covering my cheeks. He had a way of reminding me how charming he could be, should he put his mind to it. “There is a certain symphony in these quiet moments,” I said. He chased my lips, but I merely brushed mine against his before resting my head on his chest. “I tire of the chaos.”
Since he hadn’t captured my lips, he instead kissed the skin nearest my temple and continued our gentle sway. “I do, too, my witchling. I’d rather be here with you. There’s no question about that.”
“Though…some more fae wine sounds tempting.”
Eero hummed, but I could feel it deep in his chest this time. It was tempting, a subtle tease in the depths of his heart. I lifted my head and let my lips tremble into a terribly sly smile. “I can think of something equally as intoxicating.”
“Can you?” I feigned a gasp that caught in my throat the second his lips captured mine. With his hand braced across my lower back, I dipped back to accept his weight and grappled my fingers into his hair. It was a kiss reminiscent of our first, with an impossible wintry storm fading onto us as he backed me into the tree. His warmth bled across my skin, eliciting the softest whimper into his mouth with each swipe of his tongue against mine. I was no stronger than mud in the rain.
When he parted, I thought I’d melt away. He straightened me, adjusting his hands so they were firmly planted on my waist. “I meant it when I told you I tire of fighting with you,” he said softly against my cheek, the stubble along his jaw grazing my cheek. He didn’t often have a beard, but when he did, I found myself reaching for it every chance I got. “We’ve struggled, haven’t we? I can’t help but feel I’ve neglected you.”
“Neglect?” I repeated and fluttered my eyes shut, intimately aware of how his fingers tucked beneath the hem of my blouse. “You’ve done no such thing.”
Another hum, low and long. He nipped at my ear, and I shuddered. He guided me until my back was pressed against the wall, the breeze through a crack in the window raising gooseflesh across my arm. He lined my jaw with gentle kisses before dipping into the crook of my neck and sliding his tongue across the smooth, unmarked skin. We’d tried to be intimate a few times, but I was fatigued. Numb, actually. The nightmares, the restless nights, and the fighting had assaulted my body in more ways than I cared to admit.
He’d done all he could to help me, but there was only so much he could do to fix a broken mind. I was shattered since that night Sólkon stole me away—and I feared I always would be. But, as his teeth grazed my skin, that tease of a euphoric rush reminded me what it was like to feel. My desire and my mind warred with each other, again—and I found it hard to breathe.
But my mind was winning. I feared being bitten—even if it was by my mate.
“Oh, but I think I have.” When his lips ghosted away from my neck, my nerves eased, and I realized what he meant by neglect. My body was already trembling at the thought, no better than an addict without their high. When his gaze captured mine, though, the darkness and need shifted to concern. He didn’t speak; he only lifted a hand to brush against my cheek.
“It’s…” I started, fading off into a lost thought as my cheeks turned red-hot. I didn’t want this to stop. But each time he got close to biting me, I choked up. “I—I, well, I don’t know if I can…”
Again, another failed thought.
“We don’t need to do anything your heart is not set on,” he said, and this time, he kissed my cheek with a gentle touch. “Why don’t we just rest?”
“Eero,” I said, somewhere between a desperate whimper and sigh. His brows knitted, and I clutched my fingers onto his tunic. “I want this. I just get in my head with all the thoughts of you biting me.”
His head cocked, and he licked his lips. “I did not mean…” Then, he cleared his throat. “I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m so, so—”
“Don’t say sorry,” I said, hushed, and although I frowned, I pulled him down onto my lips. “Just kiss me.”
Eero braced a hand behind my head to level himself before drifting a finger along my side. His fingers brushed against the soft skin of my chest before dancing along the neckline of my blouse. There was something gentler about his touch now—hesitant, almost.
His fingers pushed aside the sleeve of my blouse. His breath was a raspy, quiet plea—our tongues and teeth and mouths dancing against one another. “I’m serious, Aurelie. We don’t have to.”
I was trembling beneath him, but it was not from fear.
It was need.
I moaned into his mouth and tightened my hold on him. “I want this,” I whimpered in reassurance.
He pressed his fingers into the soft flesh of my thigh, and I reached to claw at his jaw to feel some sort of friction again.
Chills engrossed my entire body as his presence overwhelmed me.
He tugged at the waistband of my pants, yanking them down my thighs far enough that I could kick them off. He quickly hooked his forearm under my legs and carried me from my place on the wall to the soft, feathery bed. I could all but taste the desire on his lips, and I missed it when he parted to shed himself of his tunic. Body hovering over mine, he caged my head in with his arms and enveloped my lips once more. It was a feverish assault, enough to send my body reeling for him. I dug my nails into his back as he gently scraped his mouth against my collarbone.
“Now that I think about it,” I said between heavy breaths, “it might be a good idea to remind me how badly you neglected me, Eero.”
His rumbling laugh tickled my skin. After balling the neckline into his fist and tearing it enough to expose my chest, he sucked a nipple into his mouth. I instinctively arched into him and fluttered my eyes shut. I wanted the darkness to guide me through this—I didn’t want to spoil the wonders of surprise with a greedy stare.
There was just something so exciting about simply not knowing.
But when his breath turned icy against my pert nipple, I hissed out in surprise. His other hand reached to grab my wrist and held it to the bed, teeth nipping at the sensitive bud before dragging the tip of his tongue to the other side. The cold was slowly warming, but I forced myself to keep my eyes shut.
And this time, when the icy breath ghosted my skin, I breathed out a soft moan. He curled his fingers around mine as his other fiddled with the buckle of his pants. He forced my legs wider apart and ground his hips into me. The only thing separating us from joining were his braies and my undergarments.
My skin tingled when his hand parted from mine, his mouth toying and teasing every inch of my skin before he bit at the hem of my panties. The air was frigid when it touched my sex, and though he bruised my skin with a titillating suckle against the softest flesh of my thigh, I couldn’t help but wonder what the Winter King could do to me with that icy touch. I was already whimpering as he marked my leg with every part of his mouth but his teeth, but when he latched around my core and flicked his tongue across the sensitive nub, I truly cried out.
He held my hips down and enveloped every part of me, moaning in a way that made me feel more powerful than ever before. I grappled my fingers into his silver hair and stole a selfish glance, watching his tongue swipe across me, his teeth grazing the sensitive flesh. Still, he was mindful and intentional about where his teeth touched.
I would forever be appreciative of his care.
When his dual-colored gaze hardened onto mine, my mouth formed an ‘o’, and I breathed out in delight. Eero closed his eyes a second later, and this time, when he nibbled at my clit, frigid air blew from his mouth. It was like snow on a cold winter day, tightening my body with a harmony of shock and sensual pleasure.
“Fuck…Eero,” I wept and tugged at the strands of his hair. I yearned for more friction, even as his finger slid into me and accompanied his ethereal tongue. I could come undone so easily onto him—and as the bliss of fire and ice continued to wax and wane, I wondered if he’d let me. “I want you. I need you. I—hells.”
Eero added a finger and curled into me, rubbing some part, commanding me to bend a knee to him for eternity, to cry out so the neighboring rooms understood his name and skill.
“Patience, witchling,” he purred against my skin before kissing the skin on my thigh. The euphoria coursed through my veins as he fucked me with his fingers quicker, harder—
It was over before I had the wits about me. I was a mess beneath the weight of him, my thighs tightening around his head and holding him close as my body convulsed. Trembling pleas slipped past my lips. They weren’t pleas to stop—no, I wanted more.
He raised and dipped his head over mine, my gaze stuck to his like a moth to the flame. Eero’s lips parted like he’d just been tempted by the devil herself. His lips crashed onto mine, moaning into my mouth, his hands tugging his undergarments down. He was already hooking his arms under my back so he could hold me close, and when his cock slipped into my dripping cunt, he whimpered.
Gods, a man like Eero whimpering was sweeter than any song I’d ever heard.
He rolled his body against mine and tucked his head into the crook of my neck, whispering the sweetest nothings into my ear. I was digging my nails into his back so hard, I felt the skin break, but that only encouraged him to go harder. He owned my pain, my pleasure, and my heart.
“I could worship your precious little cunt for an eternity, witchling,” he growled into my ear and kissed the skin beneath my earlobe. “In fact, there is no greater honor.”
Between my moans, I was riddled with giggles as I pushed on his chest. He rolled onto his back, and I mounted him, raising and falling with slow, determined movements. I watched his mouth part, his quiet whispers of a moan littering the air. He had his hands behind his head now, eyes greedily licking up the sight of me riding him.
I dipped my head back, the reminiscent sensation of his touch driving me toward another release. He sat up and wrapped his arms around my waist, sucking a nipple into his mouth before bringing me lower and moaning into the crook of my neck. I cried out, holding onto whatever part of him I could grab as he ground his cock deeper into my pussy. I was writhing above him and wanted nothing more than to feel this way day in and day out.
“I love you,” he muttered against my skin. He looked up at me, and although his words were a gentle caress, they commanded my attention. “My naughty little witchling.”
I giggled and shook my head, cupping his cheeks to steal another selfish kiss. “I love you.”
I was grinding against him and shuddering, his throbbing cock driving me closer…closer…
Eero smacked my ass and lifted me, all but throwing me on my stomach before forcing my hips up. I buried my head into the pillow and moaned out as he slipped back into me and fucked me so hard, the headboard clattered against the thin wooden walls. He kept smacking my ass—over and over and over—until the skin was stinging and raw and red and—
Again, I came undone.
But he was unrelenting, hunching over my body and owning every one of my sounds, spasms, and cries. “Good…good girl,” he growled. “Such a pretty sight.”
I was on the verge of asking for relief, a break even if but seconds long, but when he lifted my body so my back was flesh with his chest and reached for my clit, I saw stars. They weren’t the sort you expected when euphoria consumed you. No, it was like they danced within my mind and begged me to touch them—as if I were in the planetarium at Novus’ castle. I watched them dance within the void of my mind before swarming at me like bees, and for a moment, Eero’s presence was a distant memory.
A surge of energy coursed through me like a punch in the gut, that starry void fading into reality as Eero hugged me. Only, he’d parted from me and was trying to hold me up, whispering at me frantically. I was incredibly warm despite the frigid air of the room that stung my body worse than Eero’s icy, teasing kiss. I was numb, my body tingling everywhere. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like millennia had passed as the headrush forced my head to dip back onto his shoulder. He twisted me around to rest my limp body on the bed.
“Aurelie, are you…are you alright?” he sputtered through the dampened ringing in my ear. I reached my arm toward him, pausing at the sight of my skin littered with millions of stars. They were clustered around my fingertips before fading down the length of my arm, and as I lifted my other hand to view, I saw one million more. My entire body was glistening with starlight, in fact.
The hooked scar in the flesh of my palm was glowing brighter than the rest. I reached my finger to trace the forgotten mark, something Sólkon had rubbed in my face after discovering my power. So much had happened since then. I never thought of it more than a scar—an eyesore, at best—but today, it glowed like the warmest, most ethereal magic I’d witnessed.
“I’m…I don’t know,” I whispered and lifted my gaze to his. He stared in awe, the starlight reflecting in his eyes before the magic waned away. “I feel great, actually.”
Eero reached to rub my cheek and leaned forward to press a kiss against my forehead. I let my hands fall to my side. Soon enough, my body was overwhelmed with a terrible tremor. Eero frowned and pressed a hand to my cheek.
“You’re feverish,” he muttered, moving off the bed to adjust the covers so they were over me. I’d already let my eyes flutter closed, wondering if I could call to the stars again, wondering how I had called them in the first place.
I didn’t care about the terrible chills or fever. Not right now, at least. I just wanted to taste magic again. I wanted it more than anything else.
Eero sighed and dressed himself. “I’ll return with tea.”
I hummed softly, but by the time he’d walked out the door, I was already fast asleep. Tonight, I hadn’t gotten drunk off wine or sex. No, my body had been spent by the magic I feared only came on a whim.
Perhaps the stars would bless me once more if I dreamed hard enough.