Chapter 24 Maggie #2
Only Yaya stood and made a perfectly courtly bow to us. It was clear the Elves would always think Noth and I were lesser until we showed them otherwise.
I smiled. “I see you need a demonstration to choose.”
There was audible shifting in the room as Noth removed the leash from my collar and my diamonds began to glow. “YOU WILL BOW TO YOUR TRUE RULERS!”
Dark magic swept through the chamber, fueled by Noth and my power mixing together. Humble hearth magic clashed with the darkness of ages to make a potent mix of the ethereal and everyday. Each Elf slammed prostrate onto the floor.
“Do your worst, witch.” Nemian said, pressed against the stone.
“You haven't seen me at my worst.”
Noth shuddered at the words he had said to me all those months ago.
It’s time. I told him and he lent me his power, giving me everything.
My voice took on his Nightmare’s echo. “For crimes against the crown, Nemian of House Fenzorwyn. Second of your name.”
Noth forced me to practice my mouth around the Elvish names until I was ready to cry.
“Your life is forfeit.”
My sigil painted his back. The spell was an easy one. Rue kept it for people not able to stand the press of years against their bodies. The sigil quieted the heart, dulled the mind, stopped the lungs. Not even a near-immortal would survive without breathing.
I didn’t take any satisfaction from the dawning horror across Nemian’s face when he realized he had overplayed his last hand and our magic collapsed his breath in a death that was really more kind than he deserved.
I looked up from the floor. Noth had released the other councilors from his shadows and I expected horror on each of their faces. Instead, I found respect.
“See? For your protection,” Noth said as he crossed his arms.
I was still stunned this had worked just as we planned. Him the carrot, me the stick. Finally, a good outlet for all that anger.
“You see the consequences. Are you willing to speak your concerns reasonably?”
“You are persuasive, My King,” Aeerol said.
“You will stop fighting me. I don’t need you to say yes to everything. And as much as I would love to, I can’t take all of your heads. I won’t rule unfairly, but I will have order. I will not have a constant dagger at my back or I cannot look forward to what we can accomplish.”
Aeerol nodded ‘yes’. The rest of the Council bowed without persuasion. The political wrangling wouldn’t be solved in one day, but we had made progress.
“Then you can be witnesses to my wedding.”
Noth promised me I wouldn’t have to wear a white dress or walk down an aisle. A ring was out of the question. I had enough diamonds. Still, I understood we had to make a public commitment. This was the compromise.
Jax, listening on the other side of the door, opened the room to the whole courtyard full of Elves and forgotten soldiers assembled for a different kind of test. It hadn’t been easy accepting them into the territory but having Jax in a position of power had helped guide them.
We refused to scatter them across the Harrowlands again.
Evie, Dolly and Fallon stood with Severin, Ward, and Declan as witness.
Ward held out both hands in a thumbs up and I smirked. Evie was spreading the good word.
Noth’s brows lowered. Did you tell him to do that curse thing?
Maybe he's just proud of you, I replied.
Noth puffed up around me. Why did you summon the pup? He has no official standing to witness this. Noth squeezed my hand, his tone curious.
I did a reading and it’s important that he be here. You know he used to be your neighbor?
Those wolves disappeared. Noth shook his head. Nevermind. Come, my blushing bride.
Noth pulled on my hand and kept the Council in view as they joined the rest of his territory.
My back hugged his front. He imparted all his warmth, like a cocoon of reassurance.
It was all I had in me not to tug on my dress again.
I couldn’t let any of my nerves show as Noth swept back my hair from my shoulder.
Evie said it didn’t hurt but she wouldn’t explain much more than that.
“My gift at the start of my new reign. I present your Queen and my mate!”
Noth’s jaw unhinged in a spectacular display of teeth and terror. The round eyes of the crowd didn’t make me less nervous, but I refused to move. I wanted Noth’s bite.
Ready, Pumpkin?
Ready. I said in my most confident inner voice.
Three… two…
The yelp died in my throat. Noth’s teeth struck my flesh in a hail of lightning. I didn’t have time to stiffen. Not confined to the shoulder I had bared, it felt like his Nightmare had half my body in his maw. I fought against the instinct to struggle.
Mine, he growled in my mind.
Breathing through my panic, I looked to my sister for reassurance until the wave of lust hit me all at once. The bond opened up a universe of Noth I only had glimpses of before.
Stars fell in my eyes. Darkness radiated from both of us. Vines and flowers burst over the balustrade. Trees leaned in our direction. Life quickened all around us in an awe-filled display of our combined power.
In the distance, I heard Ward say, “We are witness.”
Actual cheers went up as I struggled not to orgasm in front of the entire territory. I crossed my legs.
Evie’s evil little smile made me laugh. “Better get a room, girl!”
I couldn’t stop giggling as Noth plunged us through the vortex we generated and into his secret greenhouse. It was indeed as pristine as he claimed, with a massive bed in the center.
I came in a gushing rush as Noth pried his physical and magical teeth from my body. Boneless, I dropped to the moss-covered floor, chest heaving.
“What have you done, Rat Face?” I watched him carefully in case he tried to deny it.
“I didn't know it could be like this.” Noth’s dreamy look fluttered whatever was happening between my legs, over my thighs and straight to my breasts.
He swam around in my thoughts, my soul. But if he had access, I had the same. I stroked his ears through the bond and he flushed red.
“More importantly, what are you going to do about it?” he challenged.
The past clashed with the present.
I savaged his clothes to dust while releasing the magic holding up my dress.
“You knew what would happen up there. This is agony. I’ve never been so horny.”
His spurt of pre-come said ‘yes’ for him. “We’ll have to work on that.”
“We're not making it to that ridiculous bed,” I told him and launched myself at him.
I licked the darkness out of his mouth, swallowing it down until my skin vibrated. My magic brought him up hard against my ass, as I wrapped my whole body around him. His claws gently raked down my back with a prickling edge of fear that drove me wild.
My teeth weren't as sharp as his, but I made up for it with enthusiasm, sinking into his shoulder. Mean enough to take a little revenge, I fed his length inside me slowly, until he touched the end of my passage.
“Oh my Godds,” Noth ground out.
I shook him. “Pray to me, my dark god.”
I waited for a snarky response but his eyes filled with pure black, fanning curls of darkness across his face.
“I worship at your altar. And take thee into my soul.”
The echo of our first encounter made for a heady clash of time and space. I gripped his bloody shoulder as he crushed my hair, fucking up into me. Every spark of pleasure rippled and rolled through both of us, our magic, eternity.
His cock was definitely wrecking my insides, striving deeper but the bond pulled his soul ever closer.
“The other side. Please, Maggie.”
I bit his other shoulder, his taste detonating another orgasm that fused our souls, our magic once and for all.
Anyone else would have let me come down from the high, but Noth slammed my back into the bed, pinning me there to jackhammer his piercings against every nerve ending I owned. His thumb unerringly found my clit.
“No one will hear you scream.”
And I did, even though it was in our minds, through the bond. My helpless sound made Noth laugh, the joy of it rolling through me and finding my core.
He flipped me over onto all fours–the least intimate position possible. When he covered me with his body, his skin sliding along mine, his shadows adding licks and pulls to my breasts, my lips, even my toes. It turned into the most intimate position.
“I fucking love you,” I bit out. I ripped his control away with those words, wringing out his orgasm in the best fight of our lives.
He ground his hips into my whole lower half as our magic kept spawning wave after wave of pleasure passing between us. “I fucking love you too, Pumpkin.”
I covered his hand over my heart with my own. It was too much. It was never enough. It was perfect.