Fevered: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 1) Read online

  I’m glad to be back home. It feels good to have pure magic running under my feet, feel it fully and without strain. I’d barely realized how starved for it I’d become. But being here now feels strange. Everything is different. Changed. I have a mate. The idea of being open in pleasure with anyone who chose me is now unthinkable. I don’t know how to operate with this space now, and I haven’t even truly been with her yet. Inside her.

  Jumping off the horse near the temple, I almost barrel over the priestess at the door. Dark red hair that reminds me of what Kari’s looked like before the life was stolen from her, and this female is wearing nothing but the ceremonial marks of her rank. Before, I might have admired her. Thought about an encounter later. But now she doesn’t hold a candle to my mate.

  She starts to greet me and I cut her off. “I need to speak to Urien.”

  “He’s preparing for a healing and can’t be disturbed.”

  “I’m the one who sent the message. He’s going to heal my mate.” It’s the first time I’ve said the words out loud, and they ring with special resonance in my head.

  The priestess nods, and gestures for me to enter immediately. I remove my clothes, hastily shoving them on an open shelf so I can follow her. I know this temple well, but I don’t have time to search the many rooms and alcoves here. The sounds of sex and the rich scent of perfume fill the temple, and I can taste the magic. The air is permeated with it. That’s good. Urien is going to need as much as he can get.

  She leads me to the center of the temple where there’s a large circular space. Right now it’s filled with people, everyone connected in some way, pleasuring each other. Visible magic floats above the floor in a haze of color and light. No wonder there’s so much magic, Urien has summoned an orgy to prepare.

  Across the room, there’s an alcove hidden with garnet curtains. It’s here that the priestess leads me. I nod to her before slipping through them. This smaller room is circular too, with a simple altar in the center. The room is open to the sky, filling it with the bright.

  Urien is kneeling before the altar, head bowed in silent prayer. He’s naked. There are no clothes permitted within the temple. “Urien.”

  He looks up and turns to me. “Aeric,” he says. “Is she here?”

  “Almost. I rode ahead to make sure that everything was ready.”

  “I am as prepared as I can be,” he says. “Is it as bad as your message indicated?”

  I nod. “Yes. And worse. She was attacked on our way here. When we were able to find her again, she was almost gone. We’re lucky that she’s alive at all.”

  Urien freezes and looks at me. The look on his face is at once terrified and understanding. “She’s reached the gates.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The same way you do,” he says. “That was something I did not expect.”

  Goddess. I close my eyes. Another mate. What is your plan for us here? I send the question outward, into the temple where I hope the spirit of the Goddess is listening, along with the prayer that I’ve been saying every hour since I met Kari. Please.

  “It’s not just us. Brae. Verys too.”

  He takes in the information better than I would have, simply nodding. We don’t have time to ponder it, or hash out what it means for any of us. Because none of this matters right now. None of it will matter at all if we can’t save her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  ________

  KARI

  The temple is beautiful, from what I can see of it. It looks like a tent, the stone it’s carved out of folded to billow like fabric that’s every shade of red. Sometimes it morphs through purple into blue and green. But that’s all I see as we enter the outer chamber.

  There’s a soft female voice nearby. “They’re waiting for you. Please remove your clothes. And hers.”

  Rustling fabric sounds around me, and there’s a brief moment when I’m lifted into Verys’s arms as Brae strips. It’s Verys that presses a kiss to my temple, soft and gentle, a wisp of magic flickering into my mind. More heat on my other side. “Kari,” Brae says gently, “we need to get you out of your clothes.”

  I swallow, looking up at him. “I can’t stand.” I don’t even have to try to know that I’ll fall if they put me down.

  The look on his face is so tender, and so understanding that I shut my eyes again to hide the tears. I hate this. “I know,” he says. “I’m going to help you.”

  His hands are gentle, pulling my shirt up and over my head. I shiver, and Verys holds me closer, wrapping the blanket tighter over my chest. He helps Brae remove my pants and wraps me again. I’m glad that they let me keep the blanket because I’m so cold.

  When Verys gives me back to Brae, it feels like being held by a furnace. I like the way his arms feel, even if the only thing I can do to tell him that is press my palm to his heart. He lifts me higher, closer, cradling me so that I can rest my head on his shoulder. “We’re here,” he whispers. “Just hang on.”

  We’re walking, and I hear moaning. It’s getting louder. The distinct sounds of sex and pleasure. And not just one person or one couple or even a small group. This sounds like a crowd. I look just in time to see us walk into a huge space. It reminds me of the temple in the Crystal Court, though there’s no statue here. The space is filled with fae in the throes of sexual ecstasy. Everywhere I look someone is crying out and having an orgasm. The room is bright with magic and heady with sound.

  The shock must show on my face, because I feel the vibration of Brae’s laugh, even though I can’t hear it over the sounds of the orgy. “Are you surprised?” He asks, lips to my ear. “This is the Carnal Court. Sex is just as much a part of worship for us as it is our daily lives. Besides, this is for you.”

  “For me?” I don’t understand.

  “They’re raising magic. For your healing.”

  I tuck my head into his neck again, fighting a wave of unexpected emotion. Why would they do that? For a human that they don’t know?

  Brae carries me across the space, and the others follow. I catch a glimpse of Kent, and he looks as shocked as I do, but he’s naked, and he’s here with me. That’s all that matters. We’re careful not to interrupt anything as we move, and I can feel magic thick in the air. But it doesn’t affect me. Not yet, anyway.

  Verys pushes aside a curtain and we slip into a smaller space. Aeric is standing there with another fae male. He’s beautiful. Beautiful. He has skin that’s the deepest navy blue, like the summer sky, and long hair that’s absolutely pure white. I know with bone-deep certainty that this male is going to help me. I’m pulled towards him like I was drawn to the temple in the Crystal Court.

  With a sudden burst of clarity, I remember Lai’s words there. Know this: the Goddess is not one of coincidence.

  I didn’t understand what he meant then, but now maybe I do. Maybe it wasn’t a chance that they saved me. Maybe there’s something more to this than mere attraction. Maybe there’s magic that I don’t understand that put me here and now, in spite of everything that’s happened. And this fae male is a part of it. That, I’m certain.

  He and Aeric approach me. Aeric takes in my appearance, and I notice that his jaw is clenching, but he doesn’t say anything about it. “This is Urien,” he says. “The healer we’ve been telling you about, and our friend.”

  This close to all of them, including Urien, I’m very aware of the fact that we’re all naked together. In a temple that’s dripping with sex and magic. I can’t even think about what’s going to happen, but my body knows. Senses it, growing wet in anticipation.

  “Hello, Kari,” Urien says. His voice is deep and resonant, filling the room without effort. “May I touch you?”

  I nod, and he reaches out, placing one hand on my forehead, and another on my chest over my heart. There’s no doubt that he can feel it pounding, which it is. Because of him. Because of all of them.

  His magic enters me, and it’s fierce and pure like bright snow and dark like the night wind. It’s
exactly like the magic I felt when I entered the Court. This time it doesn’t make me feel sick. His face fades into a frown. “Yes,” he says. “I can feel the curse. And the thing she put inside you. It’s siphoning your life force elsewhere.” He shows me a small smile. “I do believe that I can sever this curse entirely, but it will take significant magic.”

  “You mean sex?” I say, by way of clarification.

  He smiles wider this time. “Yes. If I have your consent. But it will not just be me. It will be all of us. The combined magic and that of those outside will help us break it.”

  “Yes,” I say. “Please help me.”

  Urien’s hand moves from my heart to my cheek. “I will do everything in my power.”

  It’s not until he moves away that I see the altar in the center of the space. Brae carries me to it, setting me gently down on it. I’m still wrapped in blankets, but they fall away when he sets me down. I can see the scarlet sky above me, bright and deep like blood.

  The moment I settle on the altar the thing inside me twists in rebellion. I hold back the scream that tries to fly from my lips, but I grab Brae’s arm and hold it. They all see it, and suddenly they’re by my side with frantic looks on their faces.

  I’m being scraped from the inside. Emptied faster than I can breathe.

  “Urien,” Brae says, “It has to be now.”

  I see his dark face above mine. “I’m sorry our introduction isn’t under better circumstances Kari, but I hope to know you better once you’re well. Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” My voice is almost gone. Evaporated.

  Urien presses his lips to mine, sweet magic rushing through me, and it begins.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  ________

  URIEN

  The magic writhing under Kari’s skin makes me ill. Just being near it makes me want to empty the contents of my stomach, and she’s been living with this thing in her body for more than a week.

  I study this woman laid out in front of me, and my gut twists. When I received the message from the Crystal Court of an urgent healing, of course I made myself ready. But I didn’t expect her to enter the walls of our Court and become my mate. What was just a simple ritual for me is now fueled by desperate, burning need. I know nothing about this woman who’s lying on the edge of death. Everything about her is white and pale, from her skin to her eyes, as this curse leeches the life out of her. But I’m going to fight like hell to save her. I’m not going to lose a mate I never had the chance to know. Not when most males don’t get the chance to have a mate at all.

  The magic I’ve pushed into her has calmed her, but that thing inside, the physical object, is fighting. Like it knows what’s about to happen and that it’s about to be utterly extinguished.

  I kiss Kari again, harnessing magic from the worshippers outside and letting it funnel through me and into her. It’s going to take every effort of mine to do this, and I will need help.

  I nod to the others, even the human man who’s standing back, watching Kari. He’s terrified for her, but I can sense the purity in his desire for her to be healed. I send magic to him too. His need to see her healed alone will bring power to this ritual. When the magic hits him, he briefly looks at me, and nods. He’s done this before, then. Likely when they needed to save her life.

  Pressing one more kiss to Kari’s forehead, I stand back. Being so close to her, I want to touch her. I want to take her in the way she should be taken as a mate—desired, treasured, and truly fucked. My cock is hard, begging to pleasure her. To find my own. But that’s not my job at the moment. I stand back as the others approach, gathering magic to me. Harnessing and shaping it.

  That’s all I can do until I have enough. Until it’s ready.

  Kari gasps, body going still. A lance of black magic impales her, stabbing outwards from the inside. She screams. Goddess, no. I can’t afford to be gentle. My hands crash down on her chest and her stomach, allowing the blackness to flow into me.

  It’s a sea of fire and pain, rotting, burning like acid, breaking my bones. I rip it away from my soul and expel it towards the sky. Even that small taste of it is horrifying. She’s experienced this every second. This little human is stronger than any fae I’ve ever met. And she’s mine. Ours.

  This little human who is no longer breathing.

  Her heart stutters under my fingers. Falters.

  Outright terror deadens any pain I feel. I reach out, pulling every fragment of power I can sense into my being, lancing it into Kari’s heart. And I form a barrier around that little crystal I can feel inside her. It pulses with a hate so vile I can taste the bitter ash of it. It beats against my magic, trying to break free, trying to kill and wither and destroy.

  Goddess, I pray. Help me.

  “Everything,” I grit out. “She needs everything.”

  My words unfreeze the men around me, who went still at the sound of her scream. Their magic joins mine, and she takes a shuddering breath under my hands. Her eyes open, filled with blind tears of pain and despair.

  “Kari,” I say to her. She doesn’t respond.

  The human man is the first to touch her, falling to his knees at the end of the altar and burying his face between her thighs. I see Kari gasp, but she’s still not present. Yet her body responds to the magic this man wields. I can feel the creation of new magic, spreading and seeping like light across her bones. Good.

  Pain spears through my chest, the curse attacking me directly.

  This is more than a simple curse. This has sentience. Knowledge. It’s figured out that I’m what’s holding it back from taking Kari and is trying to bring me down. I squeeze harder with my power, gritting my teeth against the acid dripping through my veins.

  Verys touches her with reverence, smoothing his hands down her shoulders to her breasts, around where my hand is sealed over her heart to keep it beating. Verys, who I’ve never seen touch a woman. Never seen touch anyone. His hands trace lines across her breasts. Perfect, glorious breasts that mold under his hand. Goddess, I can’t wait to feel them. He rubs his thumbs across her nipples, and I watch them harden under his hands as he does it again, and again. They rise to perfect peaks, and Kari’s lips open, a little gasp of pleasure escaping.

  Yes. There.

  Verys leans down and flicks his tongue across her breast. I feel the spark of magic he uses with it, joining mine near her heart. He’s gentle, teasing her skin softly but earnestly. The tiniest sound comes from Kari, and that sound makes Verys suck harder at her skin, given confidence by her pleasure. His magic catches her pleasure and creates more. I draw it into her heart and keep it there.

  Her skin glows under my palm, icy white and pulsing each time her heart beats. That pulse is pure relief. Because every time that glow flickers I know that she’s still alive. I can feel it.

  Between her legs, the human pulls her deeper against his mouth, adding his fingers to his efforts. He’s a natural with the magic he’s been given, curling it under inside her and driving her higher towards the first climax. She’ll need more than one. It won’t be a problem.

  Brae joins Verys, covering Kari’s other breast with his mouth, and her eyes close this time in pleasure. She’s coming back. Her hands reach out, grabbing onto Verys and Brae where she can find their skin. She clings to them like they’re an anchor. At this moment, they are.

  Aeric is watching her with heat and lust in his eyes, stroking himself. He’s gathering his magic, holding back until the last moment. It’s a good plan. We share a look, and he nods firmly. This is what we need. Blasts of our power until it all can coalesce. Our fire will burn this out of her.

  It will be pure pleasure and pure pain.

  Kari’s breath goes short, and her heart speeds up, a flash of my own magic breaking through as she comes. It’s small, the pleasure bursting up and out in just seconds, but that’s all I need. Just that one opening into her pleasure. I thread my magic through it, never taking my eyes off of her face. She’s so beautiful, bow
led over by the abrupt burst of power. But I stroke it out, extending her orgasm until she’s shaking, my power building off of her pleasure and adding to the glow underneath her skin.

  When she opens her eyes, she’s there. I can see her. “Kari.” Her eyes focus on me. “Good.”

  I lean down close to her face, Brae and Verys pulling back to give me the room I need. “I know it hurts. I know it feels good too, right?”

  She nods.

  “It’s going to hurt,” I say, not willing to lie to her. “It’s going to hurt more than anything you’ve ever felt. But it’s going to feel so damn good when it’s gone.”

  “Okay.” Her voice is nothing but a whisper.

  “Do you trust me?”

  Eyes closed again. “Yes.”

  “Thank you.” And then I drive magic straight into her chest.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  ________

  KARI

  When I was a child, my family visited France. In one of the cities, I remember there being a wall of flowers in the image of Joan of Arc. She was burning alive. I wondered what it would feel like, in that way that kids do.

  Now I know.

  The Goddess Cerys burned alive too. Did it feel like this?

  The blast of Urien’s power shatters through me, electrifying and burning. Purifying. I tip over the edge of orgasm into pleasure and pain, offered up on this altar. I can’t change my fate now. It’s in their hands.

  Kent’s mouth is on me, tongue sliding slick and smooth over my clit while I’m wrung out with pleasure. He started it, and Urien finished it, grasping that tendril of sensation and fanning it into a wave. A double-edged sword. As good as this feels, the dark magic is fighting back. I can feel the way it’s barely contained, holding me down and trying to strike at my heart.