Chapter Four
Osmund
T he morning after our first group...playtime, I woke with En curled around me as the big spoon.
As my bleary eyes focused, I saw Bryn atop Adi on the other side of the bed. I lay silently, cock hard, hand grazing up the long soft length of En’s thigh while Bryn’s muscles flexed in the early light as he took our mate slowly and sweetly. They both moaned gently, lost in pleasure, their fingers tangled together, extended across the forest-green sheets towards me. My vision was dazzled by the motes of dust twinkling in the morning sun as I heard Bryn’s voice softly murmuring. My eyes blurred with tears at their beauty and at my incredible luck at finding three souls that sing to mine. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep so I wouldn’t interrupt them and eventually dozed back off.
Adi is sitting at the end of the bed when I wake for the second time. My incredible mate is wearing a simple but gorgeous blue dress that makes her grey eyes stand out. I smile as I stretch, back arching and hands locking over my head.
“Wake up, you lazy slut,” Adi teases as she rubs En’s legs. En grumbles and presses her face into my back, her arms tightening around my waist. I grin as I roll and tug her to my chest, my arms going around her in joking protectiveness.
But En growls, “Dammit, I have turned into a lazy slut. I should have been up hours ago.” She glares at Adi. “I blame you.”
I stroke her back reassuringly. “I like lazy sluts,” I grumble.
Bryn laughs uproariously from the doorway, wet hair dripping and gorgeous abs on display above the towel he’s wrapped in.
I grin. This is perfection.
“I DISLIKE LEAVING ADI with just Nairna.” I cross my arms over my chest.
Bryn raises a single eyebrow. “Don’t trust her?”
“I do,” I argue. “I just...feel better if one of us is with her. We know the court better.”
Bryn purses his lips as he gives me a look. “Sounds like bullshit, metamour.” He turns to the mirror. “Come on, I need you with me.”
We step through the mirror into the bedroom of the guest house in Orla and Sean’s backyard. Rory sits at a desk situated near the bed, while Weyland stands at the window, his large, curled horns rimmed in light. Rory hops us and hugs us both. Weyland turns and strides over to clasp hands and slap our backs, a smile on his warm face.
I notice Rory is wearing a sword belt for a short sword. I look to Weyland, who sees my raised eyebrows. He nods. “I’ve been training him with a blade.”
Rory smirks. “Oh, he sure as hell has been.”
Weyland admonishes him, but I catch the amusement in his voice when he says, “I meant with an actual sword.”
“Are you any good?” I tease Rory. He’s a good Fae. My little mate adores him, and I trust him—though not in a battle, as his skills are elsewhere.
“Why don’t you stay late and I’ll show you my sword-handling skills? Maybe give you a one-on-one lesson.”
Bryn chuckles. “Ossy has that under control, Rory.” Bryn grins evilly as I look away, trying not to blush. “Ready?” he asks.
“Yes, boss,” Rory says sassily and I catch Weyland roll his eyes with a fond look on his face.
I’m so glad they seem to be getting on well. The next thing we need to do is officially free Rory from servitude so he can make his own choices for his future. My face turns grim. We will do that.
The four of us file out of Orla’s shaded and lush garden, avoiding Isla’s toys that are left pell-mell about, and out onto the street.
The Fae in Glario have a nervous air about them. Fewer children running around. Fewer Fae sitting in the green spaces, hurrying instead to get their errands finished. I’m not surprised given the uprisings. Fae in this country have known control from the US government, but we’ve also known peace. A lack of violence from humans plus a strongly enforced moratorium on infighting and clan skirmishes and centuries-old feuds have created an air of ease even with our restrictions from the US.
As we cross the happily burbling Murimont River via a wide stone bridge, I slow to watch the selkies, their small seal bodies flashing and diving. Adi’s kind. She doesn’t spend near enough time in her pelt. It makes my heart ache. She loves the water, loves her fur. Perhaps when this is over, we should move to Glario. If there’s a Glario left.
Once on the other side of the river, we quickly walk the cobblestone streets until we hit the industrial district. Large buildings surround us, some with signs announcing the names of the dance clubs they house, but most without markings. It doesn’t look like any have been turned into high-end housing yet, so that’s good, I suppose.
Bryn leads us to a nondescript warehouse, its bricks old and crumbling, and yanks open the maroon-painted door.
It takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light and, when they do, the first thing I see is Filib in his kelpie form. He tosses his head, and for a moment I wonder if he can whinny. He looks like a large shaggy brown horse with sharp teeth. In the old country, kelpies lured unsuspecting humans onto their backs, then jumped into the water to drown and eat them. Perhaps that’s why I’m rather suspicious of Filib.
“Greetings, friends,” he says in his oddly normal voice, pulling his horsey lips back in an attempt at a smile. His eyes linger on Rory and Weyland. They have been working without the EA’s knowledge, but Bryn has decided to introduce them, though I’m not clear on why. Power flex, perhaps. That’s Bryn’s style.
Bryn, unsurprisingly, looks as if he wants to strangle Filib but nods silently in acknowledgement. He strides towards the tall female on Filib’s right. Elen, I recall, the gwyllion who was voted in when Adi killed that bastard Leon. I don’t think Bryn has met her in person yet.
The gwyllion are mountain Fae, with sensitive noses and who often get murdery around twilight. Elen is tall, almost as tall as me, but not willowy, like the court females. No, Elen is rounded, curvy, a female you wouldn’t be afraid to break. She’s just gorgeous with odd, colorless hair loose around her face, eyes that appear white, and plump lips. My mind wanders to places that it hasn’t been since before I met Adi.
Shocked, I shake my head, trying to break the spell she must be projecting. I dislike her on principle given the minor spelling she just did; Adelaide and Nairna are my females. The Goddess, and female beauty, take no other form for me. Anger swirls inside me but I try to shield it so as to not wind anyone else up. Adi has been helping me with my shielding, and I’m getting the hang of it.
Elen proffers a hand for Bryn to kiss, which he does quickly, dropping it immediately. “Elen, good to meet you in the flesh.”
She nods kindly, her large, oddly flat teeth revealed. “And you, Captain.” She turns to us with a soft smile. “And who have you brought?” She studies us even as my attention wanders behind her.
The Lower Council, twelve of them, sit at attention in a few lines of folding chairs in the otherwise empty warehouse, waiting for us to acknowledge them. They represent a wide variety of Fae including a brownie and a few leprechauns. I catch sight of a coblyn and a small red-haired abcán fingering a musical instrument silently, nervously, who I haven’t previously seen on the council.
Bare bulbs hang from wires at intervals not quite frequent enough to light the room. My eyes land on a pile of chain in a corner, around which are dark stains across the wall and floors. My gaze flicks to Rory and Weyland, who stand silently.
“Osmund, my mate,” Bryn answers, “and our friends, Rory and Weyland, who have been keeping tabs on the rebels here.” Bryn’s eyes take in the council, most of them Fae he’s known for years. He studies them silently. But I see him tense, and that makes me instinctively grab my sword hilt. Weyland sees my reaction and silently does the same with his hammer, shifting his stance slowly to angle in front of Rory.
“I have come with a message,” Bryn begins. “We will stand with Priestess Adelaide, not with the Upper Council of the EA. The Priestess is familiar with our FEC, with our politics. We will cleave ourselves from the national EA if necessary, and I want only those who support our means on the Lower Council here. Any who will not stand with us, rise now so that we may speak.”
Six of the twelve members stand hesitantly. A mix of Fae species, the brownie and a few annwn hounds among them.
Bryn nods. “I understand your concern, my fellow compatriots. I will tell you that the Priestess is set upon immediately removing the bonds of indentured servitude and also disintegrating the immunity that the royal courts possess for basic crimes.”
Upon that rather unexpected declaration, four of the members sit back down. Two remain standing, however. One is the abcán, the other a leprechaun. I recognize the leprechaun as being one of the more radical of the group from around the time of the Mabon Bombing
Bryn turns towards them. “Are you certain you stand against this path, against splitting from the Upper Council if they choose outright rebellion against the US?”
His voice is soft, and among the many Fae in the room, only I pick up the menace dripping from it. Shit. My hand on my sword tightens.
Both of them nod, quiet and obviously on edge. The abcán starts to open his mouth, but suddenly blood blooms from his throat, a small throwing blade emerging from his neck. His instrument clangs to the floor, loud in the silence. My eyes swivel to the leprechaun, only to see a blade protruding from his neck as well. His hands scrabble at the hilt ineffectually.
No one in the room moves a muscle as the two Fae gag and choke on their own blood. The abcán collapses onto the floor while the leprechaun slumps back into his chair, dead.
My mate is a cold-blooded killer and I love it, even in all its shocking intensity.
Bryn holds a third small knife. “Any other objections?” he asks quietly.
When no one so much as breathes loudly, Bryn states, “Good. Then we are agreed.”
The silence is heavy. Bryn’s gaze takes in every member then he spins on his heel, stopping for a quiet word with Filib and Elen, before we follow him out into the sunlight.
THAT NIGHT, I COLLAPSE on the bed in the room we had rented at a tavern. I’m mentally exhausted. Without the clear and immediate danger to one of my mates, killing is hard for me. I had to remind myself repeatedly over the course of our afternoon chasing down rebels, who were all linked to the two dead council members, that they were a direct threat to Adi. To Bryn. And even Nairna. I will protect them, no questions asked. I will follow Bryn. No one will stand in the way of that.
My muscles slowly relax as I take the deep even breaths that En has been teaching me. The breeze blows in the open window, feeling delightful on my bare skin, and I hear the muffled noises of the city. The sound of the shower filters into the candlelit room and my eyes drift shut as I doze.
I jerk awake to Bryn straddling me.
My body responds immediately, my cock hardening where it is pinned between my stomach and his thigh.
“I need to fuck you, Ossy,” Bryn says quietly. “Will you yield control to me?”
I have the feeling he knows how hard I struggled today and wants to take my choices away. Make it so I don’t have to decide anything, so I feel at ease. He’s transparent as glass, once you understand him.
“Yes, Bryn,” I respond softly.
He pulls lube out from Goddess knows where and starts to stroke it onto his cock. I stare greedily. Without preamble, he’s got two fingers against me and I tense.
We haven’t had much penetrative sex. And not like this, I think, as I take in Bryn’s washboard abs where he kneels between my thighs. I feel more self-conscious and vulnerable in this position, legs splayed and my cock dripping onto my belly. I just want to bury my face in the blankets and let him have his way with me until we both lose control.
But Bryn isn’t having any of that. He presses his fingers into me and my eyes close as I gasp.
“Metamour.” His tone is demanding and my eyes focus on him. “I want you to watch me as I fuck you.”
His words hit me hard and my cock jumps.
His fingers press further into me and my back arches without me intending it. “Such a sweet boy, Ossy,” he praises me.
His fingers piston in and out of my ass as my hips shift.
“Oh gods,” I gasp.
Bryn chuckles. “Say my name, love. There are no gods here.”
“Fuck,” I respond, then, “Take me, Bryn. Fuck me. I need you inside me.”
He obliges quickly, lining his perfect cock up against me as I shiver at the feeling.
He presses his hips forwards as he whispers, “Easy. You can take me.” Another push into me and he pops past my ring of muscle. I groan in pain and Bryn, ever attentive, freezes.
“Look where we meet, love. Look at my cock burying inside you. Look at you taking me so well, metamour.”
I groan again, but this time at his words.
“Good boy. I feel you opening to me. Deep breath.”
And then my love, my mate, my captain, slips the rest of the way into my body. Our bodies press tight to each other. He leans down and kisses me like he will never get enough.
He starts to take me hard, breaking our kiss to lean farther back onto his knees. His hips slap against the back of my thighs. He leans in over me, and his fingers dig into my legs as his breathing comes faster. The wet slide of his cock in and out of me is almost enough to push me over the edge. I moan, unable to stay quiet.
When I can tell he’s close, I reach down and wrap my hand around my aching cock. But before I can stroke myself, he swats my hand away.
“You’ll come from my cock in your perfect ass or not at all, love,” he grits out, still fucking me like it’s his only goal in life.
I gasp and groan at the same time. My eyes close as he pounds me faster, and I know he’s almost there. I also know from our punishments of Adelaide that he’ll unquestionably leave me hard and dripping if I don’t follow his orders.
“I’m going to shoot my cum up your ass, Osmund. Do you like the thought of that? Do you want to be full of me when we return to our ladies?”
Oh fuck, oh fuck, I’m so turned on. I want to obey. I want to come for him . My body rises to meet his every thrust.
“Fuck!” he curses as he tips over the edge and presses his hands down hard on my hip bones. His next thrust hits just where I need it and I squirt suddenly, yelling, as he comes inside me. My eyes are clenched shut from the force of my orgasm. I feel my seed on my stomach, wet between our bodies.
As my breathing eases, Bryn slows his body but doesn’t stop stroking inside me. He leans back and his hand wraps around my softening cock. “Ever had an orgasm without your cock played with or buried in someone?” he asks in a quiet, gentle voice.
I can’t manage to open my eyes. My entire body is lax. “No, metamour.”
I feel him gently towel off my stomach. “Good,” he growls. “You come on my dick only, Osmund. Fuck Adi and En sensless with that huge cock of yours and come for them, but this is how you finish for me.” He pulls his cock out of me and I shiver at the sensation. And then he kisses me as he lays on top of me, arms going around my neck, and we roll together into a comfortable position and slip into sleep almost immediately.
Nairna
ADI AND I ARE AT HER favorite pub, having a drink. Fae crowd the place, but she only has eyes for me as we sit at the bar. She ordered some ridiculously heavy stout that the bartender places in front of her while I sip an IPA.
“Dark like your heart, birdie?” I ask as she licks the foam from her lip. I smile and lean in, letting my tongue run over her top lip slowly, getting the last of it.
She grins and my focus whittles down to her. The sassy rise of her eyebrow, the curls slipping over her shoulder, the tiny Priestess tattoo on her forehead that I’ve been asking her to let show more. Goddess, I’m totally smitten. I thought I was such a hard-ass, a cold-hearted bitch, but this little nymph has slipped past all my defenses.
“Believe it or not, I wanted to get a beer with you for reasons other than public groping.” She smirks.
“Mm, maybe just a little public groping? For fun?”
She snorts and it makes me grin. Her body closes in and her lips touch mine, cool tongue slipping into my mouth as I make a sound low in my throat. As she pulls away, I feel her put up a confusion spell to keep our discussion private.
“Want to use my glamour skill for a ‘meet a stranger at a bar and take them home’ game?” I tease a bit more. My magical strength is in glamour, cloaking. I’m very, very good at it.
Her eyes widen. “Wow. That’s an expected bonus of being mated to you. Variety when wanted.” She smirks and leans in to trace her fingers down my neck. “I like you like this, love.”
My heart warms and tears prick my eyes. I capture her hand and bring it to my mouth for a kiss.
She smiles sweetly before her face settles back to serious. “It’s about Barclay.”
I tilt my head. Not what I expected.
“What about him?” I ask as I cross my legs under the bar.
Adi sighs. “How well do you know him? Know his intentions?”
I shrug. “As well as any sergeant knows her commander. He was fair, a strong leader who always led from the front. He didn’t hesitate to get his hands dirty.” I think back on my years in his Guard. “He didn’t take kindly to outright cruelty. And yet, he had plenty of indentured servants in the guard and in his household. He had a tendency to do whatever it took.”
“Would you say he fought dirty, or that he was merely doing what was needed to do what he thought was right?” she asks, and I catch a sad edge to her tone.
I watch Adi as I ponder that question. I’m curious as to her line of thinking but she’ll either reveal it or not. She tosses her hair back as if it’s annoying her. I can feel her anxiety shimmering across the bond that we have locked down to a tiny thread. Oblivious to our public location, I lean over and gather the mass of her curls over her shoulder and start to fishtail braid it. I skootch forwards, my legs framing hers.
She smiles gently, knowing my touches are my attempt to help center her.
“I think he had morals. Of his own sort,” I tell her as I continue braiding her long hair.
She sighs. “I need to speak to him. I don’t want to align with him, but it’s that or kill him. And I’m feeling oddly guilty for his...situation.”
“I’m not sure how that will go over....” I trail off, recalling how Ossy and I are more or less responsible for the death of his son and wife, regardless of whether or not they had it coming.
“I asked my father to clear up the ‘I’m his kid’ thing. And Barclay didn’t care for his wife much. That really only leaves his son to apologize for.”
“ Fuck all that. That prick and his mother were responsible for abducting you.” I pull a spare hair tie off my wrist and use it to secure her braid. My lips quirk upwards. Her hair looks enchanting when it’s braided.
I take a deep breath. “Why do you think we need to align with him? I don’t know your reasoning, birdie, but my knee-jerk reaction is to just kill him instead.”
Her lips tighten and my stomach drops. Shit, I didn’t mean to question her, to make her think I didn’t trust her. But she bursts out laughing.
“Of course it is. I’m sure the boys would agree with you,” she gets out between giggles.
I purse my lips.
She takes a deep breath and continues. “I need him to align—or die—because of how we intend to break with the Upper Council of the EA if they won’t hold off on the bigger revolution. We need to show them that we can make it work in our FEC. If we can get our FEC in line, that will give us a lot of leverage in pushing back the timeline for overthrowing the US government restrictions upon the Fae.”
I nod slowly. It makes sense. Kind of. “What will you tell the Upper Council if you have to kill all the monarchs of our FEC? Seems a bit high-handed to suggest they not go around lopping people’s heads off when we have done that very thing.”
“Yes, well....” She trails off and shrugs. “Nothing to be done for it, really, if they insist on being ignorant jackasses.”
I take a deep drink of my beer as I think things over. Finally, I nod. “All right, then. Sounds good to me. Now, about that public groping?”
I grin as Adi bursts into laughter again.
AFTER A SECOND BEER each, we head out. I catch a glimpse of Ossy’s ravens overhead, following us like two winged guards. It makes me smile. Adi steers us to a community mirror. My feet slow.
“I thought we were going back to the castle, birdie?” She’s going to do something stupid. I can feel it in my bones.
She grabs my hand, pulling out her necklace.
“Adelaide,” I warn, dragging my feet.
“Don’t Bryn me, En.” She grins suddenly. “I guess I can go without you...,” and she lurches for the mirror.
“No!” I yell and let her pull me through the mirror just as I get my free hand on my blade.
The magic of the mirror covers my skin, warm and almost oily, but the necklace that Bryn gave Adi gives it a “taste” of him. I smile despite myself.
I am scanning for threats before my feet hit the ground.
“We’re in Glario?” I ask, shocked.
“Yes,” she hisses, grabbing my arm and tugging me down an alley. “And I don’t want to run into Bryn and Ossy. Bryn’ll be pissed.”
“You think?”
I follow her, nervous not so much of Bryn but of actual danger, peering over my shoulder for anything suspicious. A few turns later and we emerge between two buildings built right up against the Murimont. The water laps at our feet quietly.
Adi grins. “Can you swim?”
I grimace. “Dog paddle.”
“Was that a joke?” she squeals before turning to the water and shimmering with magic as a fur coat covers her skin and her body bends and shifts.
Her seal fur has a caramel tint to it. She looks up at me from liquid dark eyes before slipping into the river.
“Fuck,” I groan as I turn into my dog form and jump in.
We swim with the current and it quickly takes us out of the city. As soon as the river’s edges become wooded and thick, Adi heads for the shore, climbing out.
She transforms again, and the water dripping off her disappears. I climb out and shake off right next to her. I woof a laugh as she squeaks.
She strips, hanging her clothes from a majestic maple tree. I switch to my Fae form and follow suit.
Her eyes drink me in as I peel off my clothes. I feel her desire along our bond, which is jumping happily between us.
“Do you have need of me, my queen?” I wrap my arms around her waist and she sighs happily.
She shrugs. “Mayhap.”
Coy little bird. I grin. “Well, I have need of you.” I let a hint of challenge creep into my voice. “Will you serve?”
She raises her eyebrows for a moment before breaking into a placid smile as she sinks easily to her knees. “Always, my love. Whatever you need.”
Her braid has come undone and her long curls cover her breasts, hiding them.
“Tie your hair up,” I say huskily, my hand caressing her chin as I gaze down at her.
She obeys, wrapping it up on top of her head and tying it into itself, leaving her breasts and her delicious neck bare. A bird sings in the distance as I study my mate’s face. I sink to the ground with her, kissing her deeply. She makes small noises of pleasure and I drink them down, her joy in me obvious.
I gently pull away and lay back. I raise an eyebrow at her as I spread my legs slowly. “Worship me, my queen.”
She drops to her hands and knees, face against me as her tongue goes right for my clit. I groan as she flicks it teasingly. That won’t do.
“Put your tongue inside me. I want to fuck your adorable little face.”
The jolt of need that comes from her when I say that is larger than I had expected. So, as she obeys, I let my hips rock with abandon. She makes happy sounds, obviously loving being used.
I slide my fingers down and rub over my clit as I ride her face. But when I can feel myself get close, I stop and gently press her away. “Lie down, birdie. Bend your knees and spread your legs for me.”
She does as I ask, lying in the soft foliage next to me. I roll up and straddle her sideways, her one knee against my stomach as I lower my pussy down against hers. I pull her bent leg against me hard, holding her knee, as I start to grind on her. She gasps and whimpers, rocking her hips up against me.
We ride each other, the sound of the river broken only by our soft noises. I turn towards her, placing my hand on the soft curve of her belly. “Close?” I ask breathlessly.
She nods, biting her lip.
“Good. Come with me, Adi.”
Her eyes close and I rock against her harder.
“Fuck, fuck,” I whine loudly, and we both start to come. Our hips are frantic, pressing our cunts against each other, our arousal mingling while a breeze raisies goosebumps across my skin. It might be the single most erotic moment of my life.
I lean forwards, over her bent knee, panting, as Adi lets out a soft chuckle and pulls me down to her. I lie against her, still trying to recover. My eyes focus on the light filtering through the leaves, and I feel peaceful and fulfilled.
Before I’m ready to move, Adi is up and throwing on her clothes. I am still, watching her get dressed for a minute. Eventually, I sit up, groaning.
“Beat you back to Glario?” she asks a moment before she disappears.
“Shit! I’m not dressed!”
She takes off, wings beating, laughter in her caw.
WE AWAKE THE NEXT MORNING in Adi’s huge bed, limbs tangled together, sheets twisted and discarded. A low fire is needed to keep the stone room warm even though it is April. Adelaide’s violet aura is skimming over my skin in a fizzle of magic, and it’s positively delightful. I sense my red aura swirling with hers, and their silent dance causes a languid relaxation to soak into me.
As I wake slowly, I feel our auras start to pull outwards a moment before I hear Bryn and Ossy enter through the large bathroom mirror. Their green and blue auras wrap around ours in an oddly protective way as I sigh at the complete feeling that settles in my chest.
I close my eyes, enjoying the bonds in a way I would have never expected only a fortnight ago.
When I open them again, Adi’s arms have slipped around me and our heads are close. Bryn and Ossy stand at the foot of the bed, taking us in hungrily.
Bryn breaks the almost supernatural silence. His voice is unsteady. “You two take my breath away. You are as unexpected and glowing as dual moons rising over my campfire. I must have done something wonderful in a past life, because I surely didn’t do anything in this one to deserve you and the happiness you bring.” He turns to Ossy, taking his hand in his. “You as well, metamour. I love you.”
Adi buries her face in my hair, smiling sweetly. “I suppose you both want to join us for a romp before we get our day started?”
She hasn’t even finished her sentence before Ossy is climbing into bed and Bryn is shucking clothes and I’m laughing and feeling lighter than I have in decades.