A Fey Harvest (17 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Hours later, we laid in bed recovering from our latest bout of lust magic enhanced sex. I guess thinking about making babies had inspired Arach to start practicing. Or it could be that he was just a hot-blooded dragon. Whatever the case, I was pleasantly exhausted.

“You've never tried to mark me,” I noted lethargically.

“
Excuse me?” He looked down on me, where I laid nestled into his side, with a shocked expression.

“
I just realized you never really try to leave a mark on me,” I gave a one sided shrug. “It's just a little surprising with the whole dragon thing. I mean, we can get carried away with the biting and all but you've never given me a magical nip on the neck or anything. With the Froekn it's a sign that you're pleasing your mate in bed but Blue bit me once to send me a message, which led to Thor putting a thunderbolt on my neck to cover it up. Even Anubis cut me and left a scar so that he could get revenge, but you've never tried to do anything like that.”

“
Because it's stupid and barbaric,” he growled.

“
Whoa,” I pulled away to look him over. “You're growling at me while you call something barbaric, that's rich.”

“
You don't actually like it, do you?” He looked horrified.

“
It took me awhile to get used to,” I shrugged, “but it's in their nature. I even bit Trevor once, and left a mark on his neck. He was pleased as punch.”

“
It's a human desire to own those you love,” Arach sighed. “The fey don't do that.”

“
Why don't you try saying that again but this time without the arrogance.”

“
I'm not trying to be arrogant,” he gave me wide-eyes. “Humans, and gods it seems, have this need to display ownership. They mark their land with fences, their cattle with brands, and then each other with evidence of sexual prowess.”

“
The fey mark their land as well,” I lifted a brow at him. “There are clear borders between the kingdoms.”

“
It's not about ownership but safety. We need our lands to be clearly defined so that the fey of each element know whether they are safe or need to be wary. Also, we attack each other from time to time, and defenses are important. Humans on the other hand, will leave a land completely defenseless and yet stick a flag in the ground to proclaim that it's theirs. Ridiculous.”

“
Okay, okay,” I waved at him. “Go on then.”

“
From what I've seen in your Inter Realm, it's only gotten worse. Humans today get their lover's name tattooed upon their skin as if it's a declaration of love. To me, that's not love, that's possession, similar to the branding they do on their livestock. I don't want to own you, you're not a cow or a piece of property,” his eyes went intense. “Love is not about ownership, it's about freedom.”

“
I've never felt like Trevor was trying to show ownership,” I defended my wolf while simultaneously feeling the pull of Arach's words. Something of what he was saying resounded inside me. “It felt more like passion. After I drank from the Grayel, his marks wouldn't stay, so now he has to satisfy himself with scent marking alone but sometimes I get the feeling that he misses seeing the bites.”

“
I can't speak for Trevor,” Arach shrugged. “I can only tell you how I feel on the matter and I don't need to put a mark on your skin to show the world that you're mine. I know you love me and for me, that's everything. Love is brand enough, the scent of you on my skin enough of a banner of our passion for each other. I don't need to mar your beauty to make sure other men know you're taken. I know you love me and would make sure any potential rival knew
you were already committed. I trust you.”

“
You're kind of amazing,” I smiled and he beamed at me before puffing out his chest. “Ah, now you ruined it,” I sat up and caught a glimpse of my wedding rings. “What about these?” I held up my finger. “Aren't these a form of marking?”

“
Wedding rings are a tradition we adopted from humans,” he laughed. “They're a symbol of love and commitment, which we both wear,” he held up his hand to show off his band. “A circle, which is a form of magic, as you know, so we liked that as well but honestly, I think a female fey started it all as an excuse to wear more jewelry.”

“
You have no idea how human you just sounded right then,” I laughed and snuggled back into his side.

“
Watch it,” he growled, “I'll take them back.”

“
Over my dead body,” I growled, curling my hand around my rings protectively.

“
Never,” he whispered and kissed my forehead. “You can have all the rings you want. Just refrain from speaking about your own death.”

“
You spoke of dying in our wedding vows,” I mumbled into his chest.

“
And you released me from my vow and bid me to instead, live for you,” his voice was soft and serious. “I vowed that I would live forever for your love, that there was nothing else for me to live for anymore. How could you ever have doubted my commitment to you, A Thaisce?”

“
I don't know,” I whispered. “Sometimes it all seems too amazing to be true. I can't possibly be lucky enough to be loved the way you love me.”

“
I vowed to live for you but you never made me the same
vow,” he sat up and pulled me with him, his hand going to my neck to make me look up at him. “Promise me, that you will live for me as well, that you won't lay your life down for another, even if that person is me. That instead of dying for me, you shall live.”

“
I...” I felt the weight of the words hovering over me.

This was a complicated promise and I knew why he was being so insistent. I'd nearly got myself killed with Iktomi and it had pissed Arach off royally. I told him then that I wasn't going to stop fighting just because I had people who loved me. He wasn't asking me to give up on the god war but it was a type of restriction. A restriction that I'd placed on him, I realized. I'd basically made him promise to not try to save me if it meant he could die in the process. That had to be hard on him, he was the type of man that would lay down his life for those he loved and I had taken that away from him.

“Vervain,” he gave me a little shake and I refocused on his face. “Promise me!”

“
I promise,” I whispered.

“
Say the words,” he pushed.

“
I promise to live from now until the end of time for you and your love,” I repeated the vow he'd once made to me.

“
Fair enough,” he sighed, knowing I hadn't exactly promised all he wanted but then he'd never really said the words either, merely agreed when I'd asked him. There was some wiggle room there and we both knew it. “I'll take it and I'll hold you to your vow of eternity.”

“
Well, at least you didn't mark me.” I laughed, “Eternity is so much easier.”

“
When you're living it with me, it is,” he smirked.

“
Ah, there's my arrogant dragon,” I kissed him. “I've been wondering where you went.”

Chapter
Twenty

I was chopping faerie tomatoes.

King Guirmean was coming over for dinner and I'd decided to cook us pizzas. I'd invaded the kitchen and enlisted the help of the fire fey working there, to create an entire table's worth of pizza dough. The dough was rising so I was on to making the sauce.

The fey gathered around me, watching avidly as I tossed the tomatoes into a large pot and started adding the spices. Faerie spices were similar but had different names so I had to kind of wing it, smelling and tasting each before adding it to the pot. One female fey, with restless hair that kept spontaneously combusting, was taking detailed notes as she watched and I kinda felt like I was on the Fey Food Network.

“
What's this?” I picked up a bottle of sparkling red powder.

“
Oh no, my Queen!” Borgach, a fey with platinum blonde hair and red eyes, grabbed the bottle back. “That's Fire essence, we can't put it in food being served to water fey.”

“
Fire essence?” I looked over the shimmering crystals. “Would it kill them?” My TV detective skills perked up.

“
Oh no,” she laughed, “but t'would make them very ill.”

“
Did you just say
t'would
?” I teased her and she blushed. “Well forsooth, fire maiden, we musn't make our guests ill.” The rest of the cooks started giggling. “What does it taste like?”

“
It's just to add a little heat,” she winked at me and everyone giggled some more.

“
Well maybe I should take some of this with me then,” I waggled my brows at her. “Methinks the King might enjoy some in
his wine tonight... before we go to bed.”

“
Queen Vervain,” Caoimhe, the one with the fire hair, gave me a smirk, “if you add any more heat to your bedsport, the whole castle is liable to explode.”

That caused a round of laughter that made some of the fire-sidhe cooks snort fire out of their noses. I swear, fire out of the nose. It was hilarious but we finally left my spicy love life alone and got back to the cooking.

Once the pot of pizza sauce was properly seasoned and simmering, I left it to go to another table where I'd already set some fey to work on grating a thick, white faerie cheese that had a similar flavor to mozzarella and I was told melted nicely. I nodded happily at the huge piles of cheese filling three bowls already.

I checked on the sausage table next, where large amounts of hard sausage were being sliced to resemble pepperoni. I gave my approval to the kitchen help and then went to the last table, where vegetables were being sliced. It all looked good and I had a fleeting thought that I was actually going to pull this off. I was going to serve pizza to faeries.

“Okay, it's all ready. That sauce just needs to simmer for about an hour and then we can assemble the pizzas. For now, just finish the prep and then you can get back to the rest of the meal.”

The chefs were intent on providing more than one course for dinner, even though I told them pizza is a meal unto itself. I had no idea what else they were serving but I wasn't going to worry about it and I didn't want to make them nervous by hanging over their shoulders while they worked. So I asked one of them to look after my sauce and then left them to it.

I'd been inspired to make pizza after I'd seen the bread oven in the kitchen. It was perfect for cooking pizza in and I knew neither King Guirmean nor any of my fey had ever had pizza before. I was hoping they'd enjoy trying something new and who doesn't like pizza?
The dinner would start as soon as King Guirmean and his attendants arrived, which would be in a couple of hours. Plenty of time for me to get ready. So I headed back upstairs to bathe and get dressed.

I ran into Arach, who was headed down but swiftly changed his direction when he saw me.

“How went the cooking?” He looked over my flour mottled dress.

“
Good,” I brushed away the flour absently. “I've got to go shower and change.”

“
I'll join you,” he grinned.

“
I don't have time for shower sex,” I wagged a finger at him.

“
Not even just a little shower sex?” He rose his brows. “With steaming hot water?”

“
You are such a bad influence on me,” I sighed as we entered our room and he firmly latched the door behind him. “There is never anything little about your sex.”

“
I'm so glad you think so,” he leered, “and it's very accurate. I can feel it growing even now.”

“
Ugh, living with you is like living in a bad romance novel,” I yanked off my dress and tossed it in a basket near the door.

The basket was my suggestion. Previously Arach would just toss his clothes wherever he felt like it, expecting someone else to come in and pick them up. Which of course was exactly what would happen but I thought it would be nicer to leave a basket near the door so the poor laundress didn't have to roam the room for discarded dragon clothes before washing the damn things. Arach had thought it a little silly but when the fey who cleans our room came up and thanked him later, he totally took all the credit.
The ass.

“
I don't even know what that means,” he threw his clothes in after mine and shooed me into the bathroom. “Why am I a bad romance novel?”

All your innuendos and cheesy lines,” I turned on the hot water(we never seemed to use the cold) and it poured out of the gold shower head, immediately creating the desired steam.

“You have more cheese in your lines than I do,” he leaned against the door frame, looking way too relaxed for a man with an erection that big.

“
Maybe,” I pulled my eyes away from the prize, as it were, and got into the water, “but I'm allowed, I'm part human.”

“
So I have to be stoic and boring because I'm fey?” He got into the tub and slid the stained glass door of the shower closed. The stained glass dragon, flying through fire, seemed to be leering over Arach's shoulder at me.

“
No, you go ahead and be as cheesy as you like, hot stuff,” I slid my hands to his hips and pulled him against me.

“
She says I can be cheesy as she calls me
hot stuff
,” he rolled his eyes and then adjusted the shower head a little higher.

“
I'm so glad you have plumbing,” I sighed as the hot water soaked into me.

“
Why wouldn't we?”

“
I don't know,” I started soaping up a cloth. “I guess it seems like a modern convenience to me and Faerie is as far from modern as you can get.”

“
A modern convenience?” He laughed. “The Romans had plumbing. It's a bunch of pipes and water pressure, hardly the work of geniuses. It didn't take much thought to divert the water over our
natural heat source either, so I fail to see why you'd be so impressed with it.”

“
Alright already,” I laughed and started to soap him up, just so he'd stop talking about plumbing.

It worked like a gem. He lost all words, succumbing to my hands with a series of growls and moans that was starting to work its own magic on me. Just to make sure he wouldn't say anything further, I pulled his head down and put his mouth to better use. His lips were hot against mine, his tongue even hotter, and the heat called to my dragon. I felt her rise inside me, filling me till it was like there were scales right beneath my skin, just waiting to be released.

Arach picked me up, water spraying everywhere, and put my back against the stone wall. It was warm, but then the walls were always warm in Castle Aithinne, either from the sun or the fires below, there was never cold stone to shock my skin. I relaxed back into the wall, letting it take some of my weight so Arach could angle himself between my legs.

His face had lengthened, the scales at his temples spreading down his neck. I felt them cover his stomach, their glassy surface feeling cool on my skin as he slid inside me. My legs were around his waist, my arms over his shoulders, and I was pulling him against me like I couldn't get him close enough, his soapy skin slick against mine. My dragon roared inside me and I felt the vibration through my bones.

“What the hell?” I whispered.

“
She wants out,” he chuckled, “or wants satisfaction. Shall we give it to her?”

“
I'm sure she'd appreciate it,” I grinned but quickly lost my smile when he lifted me up, sliding me up the wall and hooking my legs over his shoulders. “Whoa, wait, I'm gonna fall.”

“
Put your hands on the ceiling and lean back,” he grinned
up at me, the pieces of his wet red hair looking like claw marks down his back.

I reached up and placed my palms firmly against the ceiling as he set his mouth to me. His tongue moved against me, slow and heavy, then it filled me, working in way further than it should have been able to. I gasped in surprise, jerking back against the wall as I looked down my body at him.

“What's with your tongue?”

He drew it out slowly, then ran it over me in circles, making me scream and drop one of my hands to his head. He pulled back but I could still feel the tip of his tongue flicking at me. When I chanced another glance down, I saw why. His tongue was over two inches longer than normal, tapered to a point at the end, which he used to great advantage.

I was partially horrified but then another round of orgasms hit and the horror disappeared into the sound of my screaming. In one swift movement he pulled my legs from his shoulders and let me slide down to his waist, impaling me in an acrobatic maneuver that I would have thought impossible had it not been done to me.

Then his mouth was on mine, his tongue back to normal, and his hips were slamming me into the wall with enough force to stretch my inner thighs nearly flat. All I could do was hold on and ride out the storm as the water continued to beat on us, the steam thick around us and our skin shimmering with moisture.

My dragon shuddered inside me, a burst of fey magic shooting through my body and sending me spiraling into another orgasm. I pulled him closer and sank my teeth into his neck, his blood coating my tongue with his own magic. It was sweet and warm, and shivering pleasure filled me from below, swirling up to meet the delight flowing over my tongue. The two merged into one explosion of ecstasy that rolled over my bloody lips.

Then Arach shouted and gave one last thrust before leaning into me. He gently lowered my legs and I laughed as I tried to stand. His arm shot out to hold me up until I was able to. Then he picked up a washcloth, soaped it up, and rubbed it against my
sensitive flesh, setting my legs to shaking again, especially when he dropped the cloth and began to use his fingers to rub the soap in.

“
Are you trying to drive me crazy?” I groaned, watching as the tiny bite I'd given him closed up slowly.

“
I just want to make sure you're clean,” he nuzzled my neck and nipped me playfully.

“
We can't do another round,” I leaned away from him when I felt him starting to stir. “We've got a guest coming.”

“
Me first,” he purred.

“
Agh,” I laughed, “there you go again. I'm done, I don't have time for you,” I wagged my finger in his face with a serious look which quickly fell under waves of giggling. “I gotta go make some pizza.”

“
Your husband requires sustenance first,” he growled and turned me around roughly, pressing me face first against the warm stone.

“
Arach,” I barely was able to get out the protest.

“
I need more,” he pressed his body into mine, holding me there, and bit into my shoulder.

Pain and pleasure blended together as I felt him suck on the wound, the pressure of it pulling on places much lower. I sighed and pushed back into him, knowing it was the blood he needed even more than our physical connection. Although he was clearly intent on having that as well. He spread my legs further and angled up into me while laving the remaining blood from my shoulder as my wound closed.

I healed faster than he did, thanks to my recent drink from the Grayel, so his bite was gone almost as soon as he made it. It hardly bothered him though, in fact I think he liked it. He could bite me as much as he wanted and never have to worry about leaving me enough time to heal. Then he was sliding rapidly inside me and I lost all thoughts of healing, focusing instead on the pleasures of the flesh.

His hands found mine and placed them flat against the stone wall. He held them there, so I was completely pinned by him, no chance of slipping away. He drove into me wildly and I was nearing another crest when he suddenly turned me around to face him.

“Give me your fire,” he took my face in his hand and angled his open mouth over mine as he lifted my hips and settled me back onto him.

I didn't hesitate, I was too far gone into our passion. I pulled the fire from inside me and sent it into him, warming him as only I could. He collected my flame and increased it with his own before sending the white fire back into me. I climaxed immediately, the delicious heat of it stroking all my pleasure points from the inside out. I screamed with satisfaction and watched a wisp of smoke drift from my mouth.