Chapter Nine
Hours later, my scry phone chimed again.
Tiernan and I were still in the library, still encased in shadows and wrapped in each other's arms. He had made love to me over and over until all I knew was him.
As odd as his behavior was, it was the perfect response.
Tiernan was right. If he had fought with me, I would have fought back.
I would have felt alone and persecuted as I had before.
But because he calmly expressed himself and then physically reminded me of why I loved him, it made us closer than ever before.
The King of Seelie had gotten what he wanted.
Lying within Tiernan's arms, listening to that distant chiming, I felt more treasured than I had in years. We were in the middle of a crisis, but Tiernan had taken the time to make me feel like a queen again—his queen. And he had reminded me that he was my king.
If only my other husbands would follow his lead, Star wouldn't stand a chance.
Sighing, I stroked Tiernan's chest. “T, we'd better get dressed and answer that scry.”
Tiernan, his head pillowed on his bent arm, smirked at me. “Had we? I think I like it here. Duty be damned, my love. This is more important.”
“They are not our duty.”
“No, but they will make it feel as if they are.” He rolled his eyes. “Shall we ignore them forever?”
I snorted a laugh and then frowned. “Baby, I really am worried about you. You're acting odd.”
“I thought you liked it?” He turned onto his side to face me.
“I do. I'm very happy, but it's still odd.”
Tiernan sighed. “I know you think I've been infected by the blight, but I don't agree. I think . . .” His gaze went distant.
“Yes?”
“I think it helped me.” Tiernan looked back at me. “I think it helped me see more clearly.”
“Helped? Tiernan, that thing is not trying to help people. Look what it did to our soldiers and the Anthousai.”
“I know. And yet they said the same.”
“Which only worries me more because they're obviously unwell.
“I think perhaps they spent too long in its embrace. It went too far with them.”
I sat up. “All right, as much as I want to lie here with you until morning, we need to get back to our research. I want to know what this thing is.”
Tiernan sat up and bent a knee to rest his arm on. It put his leanly muscled body on display and made it difficult for me to remember why we needed to search the library. He grinned.
“You are so naughty!” I pushed at his chest and then stood up, piercing the veil of shadows. They clung to me like mist.
Tiernan waved as he stood, and the shadows vanished. “Very well. But I will have you again soon, wife of mine.” He began to get dressed. “There is much to remind you of.”
I knew I needed to get dressed, but I couldn't look away from Tiernan. I watched him pull on his pants, the fabric sliding over his corded thighs and covering his spent cock, resting amid platinum curls. He buttoned his pants and lifted an eyebrow at me.
“Sorry.” I grinned and got dressed.
“Never apologize for looking at me like that.” Tiernan took my leather pants from my hands and knelt before me to hold them open.
Steadying myself on his shoulder, I stepped into my pants, but as he drew them up my legs, he nuzzled my sex, breathing in deeply.
I shuddered when he pressed his lips to me there in an erotic kiss.
But then he zipped up my pants and went for my boots.
He helped me into those too, before he got up and finished dressing himself.
It was perfect.
The chiming returned.
I yanked on my top and grabbed the scry phone from the shelf where it was still perched, the leather case open. Full of mist, the crystal slice waited for me to answer the scry. I swept my finger over the surface, and the mist condensed into an angry Dragon-Djinn.
“Hey, Raza.” I glanced at Tiernan.
He smirked at me.
“Mo shíorghrá.” Raza's endearment for me—my eternal love in Fey—felt like an accusation.
Here we go.
“Seren, would you allow me to speak to him first?” Tiernan held his hand out.
Gaping at Tiernan, I passed him the phone.
Tiernan took the phone and held it up to head-height. “Raza.”
“I want to speak to Seren,” Raza growled.
“No. I want you to consider two options first.”
“What options?”
“These are your options, Raza.” Tiernan's silver stare gleamed as he strode away from me and into the central part of the library that was open to the upper two floors.
“You can either verbally attack our wife and put her on the defensive, or you can listen, be supportive, and accept that you are partially responsible for her behavior.”
“Excuse me?” Raza roared.
“What do you think will happen if you choose the first option?”
I ventured to a table nearby, slid onto a chair, and watched Tiernan, absolutely fascinated. He'd always been diplomatic; it was part of what made him so well suited for the throne, but this was beyond anything I'd seen from him.
“What do I think will happen?” Raza snapped. “I think our wife will finally be truthful with me. And I think we all deserve the truth, Tiernan!”
“We do, but don't you also think that she may be truthful with the second option as well? Perhaps more truthful. And if you show her love instead of alienating her with your anger, maybe she won't run from us as Rowan predicted.”
Things got real quiet.
I wanted to rush into the silence to reassure Raza that I would never run away from him, but I had a feeling that Tiernan knew what he was doing.
“What did you say?” Raza finally whispered.
“I assume Killian told you about Rowan's prediction. She said Seren would leave. What do you think could drive our wife away? Would five loving husbands make her flee, Raza?”
“What has happened to you? Why are you speaking like this, Tiernan?”
“I've had an epiphany this morning. This thing with Astaroth—Seren keeps hiding her problems with him from us. Have you ever wondered why?”
“If you fucking say that it's our fault because we get upset that our wife is flirting with another man, I'm going to fly to Seelie and give you a new scar!”
Tiernan just stared at Raza.
“Fuck!” Raza snarled.
“It's not our fault, but we are not entirely free of blame either.” Tiernan sat down in the chair next to mine, crossed one leg over the other, and leaned back, utterly calm.
It was kinda sexy. Okay, it was really sexy. Few people could even meet Raza's stare when he got like this, but Tiernan looked like an English gentleman about to have tea—utterly composed and pleased with himself.
As if he could hear my thoughts, Tiernan smiled at me and then returned to his conversation. “How long have you been trying to scry her?”
“What? Why?”
“Just answer me, Raza.”
“Hours!”
“Yes, hours. Do you know why she hasn't picked up?”
Even silent, I could hear Raza glower. “Killian said you were having sex.”
“That's correct. I've just finished making love to Seren for hours, and the only reason we're not still in each other's arms is that you interrupted.
Making love, Raza, not having sex. Not fucking.
It's been a very long time since I've connected with Seren like that. Really felt our bond. When was the last time you made love to her without any dark feelings between you? Nothing holding you back. Just pure love flowing from you to her and back. When was that, Raza?”
My jaw fell, and it wasn't because of Tiernan confronting Raza. It was Tiernan's choice of words. Without any dark feelings. Meaning that Tiernan had no dark feelings to cloud his love for me. Was he right about the blight? Did it clear his mind?
But the other fairies—they were too calm. Too unemotional. “Unemotional,” I whispered.
Tiernan had said they were in the blight's embrace for too long. Maybe it had taken too much, moving on to the lighter emotions when all their darkness was gone.
“What was that, my love?” Tiernan asked me.
“Ah, nothing, sweetheart. I was just thinking out loud.”
He smiled at me. “All right.”
“Put her on the fucking phone, Tiernan!” Raza shouted.
Tiernan stared at Raza. Waited.
“I will be understanding,” Raza relented.
I took a deep breath. “Uh, there was something else I didn't get a chance to mention earlier.”
Tiernan lifted an eyebrow.
“Oh, for the love of the sweet Goddess!” Raza snarled. “At least angle me so I may see her.”
Tiernan looked at me.
I nodded.
He uncrossed his legs and moved his chair closer to mine, then propped the scry phone against a brass table lamp.
I met Raza's glare. “I'm sorry, Raza. I should have told you.”
His face twitched. Black on black—his midnight skin against his ebony hair made his glower literally dark. The only color came from his golden eyes, the blush on his lips, and the red streaks in his hair. “Seren, how could you keep this from us?”
“Raza, please consider—” Tiernan started.
Raza cut him off with, “Tiernan, shut the fuck up.”
Tiernan sighed and motioned for Raza to continue.
“After all we've gone through with that Demon, you hide more from us? You promised not to do this, Seren. You promised!”
“I know, but they were just dreams. We weren't actually together.”
“Oh, but you were.” Raza leaned closer. “Killian said you shared dreams with Astaroth. Don't you understand? It wasn't only in your mind. And if it was experienced by both of you, it was real.”
“No, it was only in our heads.”
“Did you feel him—his touch?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“And he felt yours?”
“I assume so.”
“You were intimate?”
“Are you asking if I had sex with him?”
“No, Seren.” His eyes started to glow. “I know you had sex with him. I'm asking if you spoke with him before and after. Did you lie in his arms and speak words of love to each other?”
I cringed. “Yes, but I had no control over that.”
Raza's jaw worked. He looked down. When he lifted his face, his eyes were full of tears. It pulled a shuddering gasp from me. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd seen Raza cry.