Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Riona couldn’t stop smiling as Aiden spun them around the dance floor. Their bodies broke apart and then joined again in the wild dance. Tonight there was something different about the revel. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but the atmosphere was freer than the last time she’d attended a few weeks ago. Even the queen was sprawled on her throne with a wine glass dangling from her long fingers. Everyone seemed happier.
Aiden’s gaze was filled with heat as he held her against him, and they moved among the other dancers. Their bodies brushed against each other. Just that small touch sent heat pooling through her body. As if he were reading her mind, Aiden smirked knowingly, and their steps parted them again. When they came back together, Aiden’s hands slid over her body in a way that the dance didn’t call for.
Riona closed the distance between them and tilted her head upward. They stopped dancing, and Aiden’s lips came crashing down on hers. Around them, other revelers made noises of protests, but Aiden growled in response. The others gave them a wide berth after that. Riona giggled and wrapped her arms around Aiden’s neck, and he picked her up. He never broke the kiss as he carried her away from the dance floor.
The sound of the music faded, and soon they were in a dark alcove. All alone. Riona’s back slammed against the wall. Aiden’s lips branded a trail down her neck. One of his hands brushed her thigh while the other stayed wrapped around her waist, keeping her body pinned against the wall. His hand slid higher until his fingers found her cleft, and he began to stroke her already sensitive nub.
His tongue thrust into her mouth, and she moaned at the sensation of being penetrated by his fingers and his tongue at the same time. Her eyes flew open in concern at the noise she was making, but she realized that their spot was much farther away from the revelers than she’d thought. There was still the possibility someone could come across them.
“Aiden, someone will see us,” Riona said against his lips.
“Does it matter if they do?” Aiden nipped at her. She was so caught up in how good Aiden’s touch felt that she realized she didn’t care if the entire Unseelie Court watched. Surprisingly, the thought of a crowd watching her as Aiden fucked her until she screamed made her even wetter.
“No.” The word came out as a sigh on her lips.
He laughed and thrust another finger inside her channel. She let out a gasp as his fingers began working their magic. The pressure built inside of her. Her gasps were smothered by Aiden’s mouth. She was so close. Her nipples scraped against the soft fabric of her dress and the press of his body, heightening the sensation.
He withdrew his fingers. Riona cried out in protest, but her cry was cut short when his cock roughly entered her soaking pussy. He drove into her hard and fast. Her body adjusted and stretched to accommodate his size. Aiden wasn’t small by anyone’s standards.
He withdrew and thrust again. His cock filled her. Riona closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of being claimed. Each movement of his cock sent little ripples of pleasure through her until the pressure was starting to build up again. Aiden bit down on her neck hard. The pain of his bite and the fullness of his cock ramming into her sent her over the edge.
Aiden didn’t stop as she cried out her release. Her cries only seemed to make him fuck her even harder. He pumped inside of her relentlessly, like he was trying to conquer her body. His gaze was feral, and his teeth were bared as he hammered into her. He came with a shout, and hot cum spewed inside of her.
His body stilled, and they stood connected. One of Riona’s legs was still wrapped around his waist. If Aiden hadn’t had his arm locked around her, she would have slid to the floor in a puddle of contentment. They both gasped for breath. Their eyes were fixed on each other. Both silent and staring. Every time they came together, something inside of Riona shifted, and her feelings for Aiden ran deeper.
She wondered how much of her emotions bled into her gaze. Aiden’s golden eyes were wide and filled with so many emotions. They stayed locked together until their breathing evened, and then Aiden gently disengaged. He helped Riona clean up, but the silence stretched out between them to the point of discomfort. Riona scrambled for something to say after the mind-blowing sex they’d just had, but she stayed silent; her brain was still mushy.
He pressed a kiss to the spot where he’d bitten her. It was tender. He’d left a mark, but she didn’t mind. He was hers, and she was his. She wasn’t embarrassed, which was strange. She’d never been ashamed of sex, but there had always been a level of reserve before. Not now.
The realization was freeing. She wasn’t in the village anymore, where disapproving eyes were always watching. She was in the Unseelie Court, where no one seemed to judge her actions. It was wonderful. She was truly happy for the first time in a long time, since before her mother died. Riona laughed and threw her hands up.
“Care to share?” Aiden watched her with a bemused smile on his face.
“I feel free.”
“It is a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?”
“It’s been so long since I’ve been genuinely happy.”
“To happiness,” Aiden stroked her cheek. Riona leaned up and kissed him. Just as the kiss was turning into something more serious, she broke away. Aiden’s sound of protest made her smile as she spun her heel and tugged his arm towards the main room.
“The queen is going to call on me to give her a song any minute, and I’ll be nowhere to be found. We must return.”
Aiden scowled in response but nodded.
Riona slid her fingers through his as they walked. The music was getting louder, and the shadows were retreating. Soon they were on the outskirts of the dancers. They both paused, and Riona watched the Fae celebration. Just a short time ago, she’d been afraid to come here. Aiden was right. The Unseelie Court was beyond her wildest dreams, but not in the way he’d meant.
Somehow, she fit here. She was at ease. No one stared disapprovingly at her when she was among their ranks. She could just be herself. Or so she hoped. Tonight was the first night in a very long time she would sing among others. Well, others aside from Aiden and Ava.
Nerves made her hands shake a little at the thought of performing. Siobhan had mentioned her mother’s performances fondly and seemed to look forward to Riona’s. Riona remembered her mother’s voice and how pure and almost otherworldly it had been. She wasn’t the same, but she hoped that she didn’t disappoint the queen. She’d carefully chosen a song for this evening that she and her mother had sung together many times.
Riona stopped her woolgathering and looked up to notice that Aiden’s eyes were on a lovely pink-haired female Fae who was decked out in a shimmering black dress that glittered like the night sky. The same one who had tried to intercede when she’d thought Riona was in trouble the night before. Riona glanced at Aiden again. He was staring at the woman like she was a puzzle he wanted to unravel. She knew that look, but at the stranger, his gaze wasn’t admiring.
Whoever she was, Aiden wasn’t happy with her. Right at that moment, as if sensing Riona’s stare, he looked at her, and his look changed. His eyes softened and emotion shone through. Any jealousy that had started to trickle in disappeared when Aiden looked at her the way he was now.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” Aiden whispered in Riona’s ear.
“Once or twice,” Riona said with a smile as Aiden’s arms circled her waist. His lips were almost on top of hers when loud clapping sounded across the room. The music stopped. Riona stifled a groan. The queen had the worst timing. Siobhan rose from the throne and paced to the edge of the dais.
“We have a special treat tonight. Among us is Riona, daughter of Finella the Songbringer. She’s promised to play for us,” the queen’s voice carried over the murmurs of the crowd. A cheer swelled into a thunderous chorus of cries of excitement at the queen’s proclamation. Hundreds of Fae turned to focus on Riona, who stood paralyzed by their attention.
“You have nothing to fear,” Aiden said, his voice almost inaudible over the crowd.
Riona swallowed and mustered a small smile as she crossed to the stage the musicians were vacating for her. Her mother’s lute was waiting for her on the now-empty stage. When she’d arrived, a servant had spirited it away with the promise it would be in safe hands until the time of her performance. Now they were about to be reunited. The lute glimmered in the light, and Riona walked forward as if in a trance. Aiden followed behind her, a reassuring shadow.
The stage stairs seemed to be an infinite instead of the seven they actually were. Silence filled the room as the Fae watched her take the steps. Each of her footfalls sounded like a thunderclap to her ears. Riona stared out into the crowd. Some of the Fae looked bored, but most were curious.
Aiden stood right at the edge of the stage like a sentinel. The queen had sat back down on her throne. There was no mistaking that excited glint in her violet eyes. Riona sent a prayer out that her performance didn’t disappoint.
Her fingers wrapped around the cool wood, and she lifted the instrument from the small table that it had been resting on. She closed her eyes and exhaled. As she opened them again, she allowed her fingers to begin to strum the first notes of the song she knew by heart. The melody bolstered her courage. Riona opened her mouth, and she sang. She sang of lost love and sadness, allowing her emotions to accompany the words. Sorrow filled the air, and many of the Fae’s eyes glistened with tears. But she made sure to keep that thread of hope in her voice even when she sang the most heartbreaking verses.
Slowly, with each verse, she built up hope and let happiness rise into her voice as the verses changed from lost love to a new love found. A new beginning. Soon, her voice and her words washed away the sadness she’d brought onto the revelers. The mood of the room shifted to one of happiness, to a new love and to a new future.
As Riona sang the last few words, she looked out into the crowd. Each Fae she settled her eyes on was radiating with happiness and smiles. Riona’s eyes settled on the queen, who was watching her with an impassive look on her face. The last chords of the music ended, and the revelers exploded into cheers. It seemed not a single Fae was unsmiling except for the queen.
The courtiers slowly stopped clapping when they noticed the queen’s reaction. Whispers broke out as all eyes traveled from Riona to the queen. Finally, Siobhan stood up and began to clap. A small smile twisted her lips.
“Well met, Riona. You seem to have inherited your mother’s talents. We are honored to have you at court.”
The Fae began to clap again. Their admiration was a balm she’d never known she needed until now. Riona smiled out into the crowd of revelers. This was where she belonged.
She was still on her performance high when Aiden settled her in with a group of musicians. Their names flew through her mind, and none of them stuck except for a serious-looking male with honey-blond hair and sun-kissed skin. She remembered him because his sad brown eyes made her heart clench, and he might have been a human save for his slightly pointed ears and teeth. Fionn. The others were just a faceless blur. She enjoyed their attention and meeting them. When Aiden called out to her that he was going for a drink, she smiled and waved to let him know she was fine.
But as they all pressed around her, wanting to know more about her, she began to feel overwhelmed and wished she hadn’t waved Aiden away. She tried to field the questions, but it was becoming too much. There were so many voices that she couldn’t focus on just one person.
Almost frantically, she searched for Aiden. He was going in the opposite direction of the refreshments. A head of pink hair caught Riona’s attention. The familiar female Fae ducked out into a hallway. Aiden followed closely on her heels. What’s he really up to?
“Riona, are you okay?” an older woman with long purple hair and a small dragon perched on her shoulder asked. A woman whose name started with a J. That much Riona remembered.
“I...” Riona paused. She didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but she needed to breathe. She needed to get out of the crowd. She needed to know what Aiden was doing with the other woman. Clearly, it wasn’t an assignation, but what was going on?
“She’s come down from her performance high and now she needs a moment to herself. We all know what that’s like, don’t we?” Fionn’s deep baritone chimed in. His eyes were filled with sympathy, and she smiled gratefully at him.
Exclamations of understanding echoed through the other bards. The purple-haired Fae gave Riona’s hand a squeeze, and then, as quickly as the musicians had converged on her, they dispersed. They understood the needs of one of their own. Riona heaved a sigh of relief and made a vow to find each one later to talk with them individually, and then she hurried through the crowd in the direction that Aiden and the unknown woman had gone.