Chapter Eight #3
“It is not the blight, Seren! It is you!
Your choices will affect our entire family.
They will affect Falcas. He made incorrect conclusions because information was withheld from him.
He's not an infant. He sees and understands what's going on around him.
And anyone who has seen you with Astaroth would have come to the same conclusion—he lusts for you.
Isn't it better that Falcas hear the truth from us?”
“Exactly what do you think the truth is, Tiernan?”
Tiernan's face twitched. “I think that it was too late.”
“What was too late?”
“Anu removing his influence. It was too late. You and Astaroth had already fallen in love.”
“Motherfucking Demon!” Killian cursed.
I lifted my chin. “All right. You want to do this here, in front of our boy?
Fine. Let's lay it all out. This little revelation of yours isn't a revelation. I told you I love him.” I looked at Kill.
“I told all of you. We know this isn't about lust; it's about love.
Yes, that's worse, but I can't help what I feel. What I can help is what I do about it, and once Anu removed his influence, we both became strong enough to stay away from each other.”
“Have you?” Tiernan narrowed his eyes.
I felt heat wash through my face. “Have I what?”
“Have you stayed away from each other, Seren?”
“Motherfucking Demon!” Kill cursed again.
“I have not willingly visited Star,” I said.
“Oh, fuck this,” Kill growled. “Don't play word games, Twilight. Just fucking say it.”
“Falcas, I need you to leave now, please. This is about to get too intimate for you to hear.”
Tiernan didn't say anything, just kept his silver stare on me.
Falcas nodded. “Yes, Mother. I'll see if I can help Grandmother.” He left the library.
“What have you done, Seren?” Tiernan asked as soon as Fal was gone.
“I've been dreaming of him,” I admitted.
Killian's furious expression went blank. “Say what?”
“I've been having dreams of Star.” I grimaced. “Vivid dreams.”
“That's . . . all right, that doesn't make me feel great, but they're just dreams, right?”
“No, Killian, I don't believe they are.” Tiernan gave me a prompting look. “Are they, Seren?”
“Okay, you need to stop speaking to me like that. You're sounding very patronizing, and it's infuriating.”
“My manner is infuriating?” Tiernan frowned. “I see. Well, forgive me, my love. How should I behave when my wife tells me she's having sex dreams about another man?”
“Sex dreams?” Killian growled. “Is that what they are?”
I rubbed a hand over my face.
“Gods damn it, Seren!” Kill shook his head. “How long has this been going on?”
“Eight months, I would imagine,” Tiernan said.
“Tiernan, this isn't you. Something's wrong.” I took his hand.
He intertwined his fingers with mine. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I'm finally accepting what I've been sensing. I know the only way for us to move past this is to be honest with each other. So, has it been eight months?”
I stared at him.
“Dude, she's right. You're acting weird. Like, weirder than normal,” Kill said. “But we'll deal with that later. Right now, answer the question, Seren.”
“Yes, it's been eight months. And Star has been sharing the dreams.”
Tiernan released my hand.
“What the fuck did you just say to me, Twilight?” Killian's eyes turned a brighter shade of green, and his slim snake fangs popped down from the roof of his mouth. “He's sharing your dreams? Does that mean they're more than dreams?”
“I can't control them, Kill. So, no, I don't think they're more than dreams. And I didn't tell any of you about them because there was nothing to be done. I thought they'd stop.”
“But it's been eight months. How long were you going to let this go on before you told us?” Tiernan asked.
“I'm sorry. You're right. I should have told you.
I just . . . I'm tired of this. It's been so long.
And I'm scared. I feel horrible all the time.
I don't want to argue about Astaroth anymore.
I don't want to see doubt and accusation in your faces.
I didn't tell you because I knew it would make me feel alone again. Like it's all of you against me.”
“Babe, no,” Kill said. “Never. How can you even think that? The reason we're so mad is that we love you. You're not alone.”
“I understand, Seren.” Tiernan smoothed my hair back.
“And Killian's right. You're not alone. You must never feel like you can't share something with us.
We are your husbands, chosen by the Gods to support you, and we're also your friends. If anything, you make us feel alone when you withhold things like this.”
I blinked, my emotions churning in and back on themselves. “Yes, I . . . I get that. I'm sorry.”
“The only thing you've done wrong is not tell us.” Tiernan leaned down and kissed my forehead. “We could have been helping you through this.”
I frowned up at him. As wonderful as it was that he wasn't shouting at me, this acceptance felt strange too. Yes, he'd been upset, but not as upset as I expected, and that anger had vanished in the blink of an eye. I was feeling less worried about Star and more worried about Tiernan.
“Uh, yeah, I'm mainly mad about you lying,” Killian said. “But, I'm sorry, I'm pissed about the dreams too.” He frowned at Tiernan. “Dude, you're starting to scare me a little. Aren't you angry about this? He's been having sex with our wife in her dreams.”
Tiernan cocked his head, his gaze turning inward. “No. I don't believe it's Seren's fault. Not the dreams, at least. And anger will not serve me here. We must consider our goals, Killian. What do you want?”
Killian gaped at Tiernan. “Uh? I want my wife to not be fucking the King of Hell in her dreams.”
I groaned.
“I want the same.” Tiernan stroked my cheek. “Raging at Seren will not get us what we want.” His hand went down my throat to lay on my collarbone. “So, what will shift your focus from Astaroth to us, my love?”
My heart sped up.
“Uh, what the fudge is happening?” Killian whispered, the shift in his cursing a clear indication that Killian's anger had just been overpowered by his confusion.
Tiernan took the phone with his free hand and set it on a nearby bookshelf at eye-level with us. Then he took my waist and pulled me in against him. “Has sex with your husbands become boring?”
“No,” I whispered and then glanced at the library doors. They were shut but couldn't be locked.
“I think it has.” Tiernan took his hand from my face as it filled with light.
My eyes went wide as the shadows cast by that light came alive and moved toward me. “Tiernan! Tiernan, what are you doing?”
“I'm fighting for my wife.” He bent his head and kissed me.
“Dude, I'm still here!” Killian called.
Tiernan kept kissing me, using his tongue to make Killian disappear.
At least for me. I groaned as my talented Lord Hunter, the man who had first shown me Fairy and helped me through my transition into the Twilight Princess, the first love of my life, reminded me of who he was and what we had.
Astaroth and I may have been fated to share a great love, but Tiernan had given it to me first. He'd given me everything and given up everything for me.
“Okay, now I feel like a perv. I'm going to scry Daxon and Raza with Sever. Scry us when you're done,” Killian said. “Unbelievable.”
Meanwhile, the shadows called by my Seelie husband slid in tendrils around my ankles.
Up my calves. Encircled my thighs. I gasped as they found their goal.
Flicking at me and sliding into me, Tiernan's magic took me into a bliss so transcendent that even Killian's threat to tell on me didn't register.
I swayed, and Tiernan laid me down on the hardwood floor.
Shadows surrounded us, forming curtains to conceal us while they removed our clothing.
In a daze, I broke Tiernan's kiss to look down at my sudden nudity. Dark clouds pulled my legs apart even as those naughty tendrils prepared me for my lover. Back arching, I moaned and opened my arms. Tiernan descended, his mouth finding the apex of my breast to suck hard on it.
“Tiernan,” I whispered.
He lifted his head. “Not yet. Not until you forget him.”
“Who?”
Tiernan chuckled and went back to my breast.
Pleasure shivered over my skin. No inch of me was left untouched—either by Tiernan or his magic.
I couldn't focus. Even my scalp was massaged by shadows.
My muscles melted while ecstasy simultaneously tightened them.
My entire being was in a baffled state of desire.
The only thing I knew for certain was that I needed Tiernan.
“Look at me,” Tiernan whispered.
I opened my eyes and looked up. Silver flashed in the darkness—his eyes and his beautiful scar. Near his face, his hair was so pale, it practically glowed, but it grew darker until the tips vanished in the darkness, making it seem as if he had emerged from the shadows.
“Remember me, Seren.”
“I've never forgotten you.”
“Yes, you have. Now, I want you to remember when we came through the rath for the first time. How the magic took you. Do you remember waking up to find me watching over you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember your first sight of Twilight, atop Aideen's tree? You in my arms. The world spread before us? Do you remember that feeling?”
“Yes, of course.” My chest shivered as the memory came back in full measure.
“What about the first time I did this?” Tiernan slid into me.
I cried out with the sensation of unity, and tears came to my eyes. “I remember, T.”
“Do you remember this?” He held out a hand, and something rustled—his clothing.
I looked over as a crystal locket slipped out of Tiernan's jacket and floated to his hand on a breath of air. Slowly grinding inside me, he put the locket in my hand. I lifted it to see a single pink petal preserved in the crystal—a rose petal.
“Oh, Tiernan.” The petal blurred in my tear-filled vision as another memory of Tiernan replaced the last—making love to him in the wild garden behind Castle Twilight.
Tiernan had taken me into an arbor of roses and used his magic to bind me with the vines.
It wasn't our first time together, but it was the first time I let him take control.
That was the moment I gave Tiernan my trust along with my heart.
I remembered him picking up that very petal before we left the arbor.
He slipped it into a pocket. But I didn't know he kept it.
He never told me, not once in all these years, that he had preserved the petal in crystal and carried it with him.
“I always have this with me.” He took the locket back and set it aside. “But I don't need any reminders, Seren. You are my life. The spark in my soul. You are always with me. Even when your mind is with another.”
“Tiernan!” I pulled him into an embrace and held him tightly. “I love you. I'm so sorry I let him come between us.”
“I am too, my Queen. I've been lax in my duties to you.” He began to move faster, thrusting more powerfully into me.
“I've let this happen—relied too heavily upon your love and the support of my brothers.” He leaned back to meet my eyes.
“No longer. I trust you, Seren, but this is gone beyond your control. I must step in and put an end to this as your husband.” He pushed up on his forearms and drove deeper into me as the shadows receded to guard us only.
With just the two of us inside that dark embrace, Tiernan reclaimed what was his.
When I screamed his name, his magic drank my cries and shuddered with me. It was everything I'd searched for in my dreams. Everything I needed. And it had been mine all along. I just had to remember.