Shameless: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 3) Read online

  Kari.

  The whisper comes from beside me, and Kiaran steps up beside me. He doesn’t look at me, and when I reach out to touch him, he’s there. The fabric of his shirt is soft under my fingers, muscles hard underneath that. But he doesn’t react to me. Is this a dream or a vision? Does he know I’m here?

  He walks past me, and I follow him. Deeper into the cavern where a pulse of power beats. A deep, thrumming vibration that I can feel in my bones, and that I recognize. It’s a deeper version of the one that’s inside me now. That golden, glittering mass that I was given is only a drop of this, but I would recognize that magic anywhere. That’s Cerys’s power.

  Kiaran steps around a formation of rocks, and suddenly the space around us opens up into what feels like infinity. Spheres of magic hover in the air high above us, casting light around the space. Crystalline rocks shimmer in every hue, casting shards of light around the space and across the gathered fae. At first glance there are maybe twenty, all of them with a dead expression and that manic gleam in their eyes that speaks of being controlled.

  The cavern is roughly circular, and the floor flatter than I would have expected for something that looks so natural. But on that detail alone, I know that it’s not. The ground is stone too, and clear. It’s like looking down into water, the light fading at a certain distance leaving the impression of vast depth and unease. The thrumming is coming from somewhere in that depth, hidden, yet palpable.

  And straight ahead of where Kiaran’s walking, the ground appears to have erupted. Jagged, broken chunks of glassy stone shear straight up and out at odd angels. Debris litters the floor around it. Kiaran’s steps crunch as he steps over the rubble. This was recent.

  This was the earthquake. Not an accident or natural event. The beginning of an excavation.

  Now I see where Kiaran is headed. Ariana is standing under one of the giant fragments, staring at the fae before her, their arms outstretched and caressing the stone with power. Little rocks crack off the surface onto the floor. They’re digging through the chunk, one small bit of magic at a time.

  Ariana turns and sees Kiaran, and she doesn’t look happy. “This is going far slower than we thought it would.”

  Kiaran turns on a slow smile. “Are you really that surprised? This is the source of all magic in the world. It makes sense that it would protect itself.”

  “We’re going to need more manpower.”

  “Once you have Kari’s magic, it won’t be a problem.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I can’t use that magic for this. As powerful as she is, I don’t know how much magic she has, and I need it for the final blow. I’m not going to waste that power getting to the vessel and not being able to finish the job. We need more fae.”

  I feel sick. She can’t mean what I think she means. Can she?

  “That can be arranged,” Kiaran says, sticking his hands in his pockets. “It may start to draw attention.”

  “Start with the dark courts. There must be some fae who will come to us willingly. And if they won’t, there are plenty there that won’t be missed.”

  A loud crack! Rends the air, and a foot-sized chunk falls from one of the seams. Ariana waves a hand, and the rest of the fae who are not yet working on the stone lift their hands and lend their magic.

  “How quickly—”

  She cuts him off with a raised hand. “You said it yourself. We’re going to draw attention. I need it to be fast enough to be completed. So as quickly as possible. So far things are falling in our favor. Are things ready for tomorrow?”

  Kiaran nods. “All set.”

  “Keep hammering that stupid fucking shield. If anything it will grate on their nerves.” She pauses, then smiles at him suddenly. Reaching out, she places a hand on his chest and runs it down across his abs. “The world will be ours, Kiaran. No one will be able to tell us who can and can’t have magic. Where we belong. We’ll belong everywhere.”

  He smiles down at her, but says nothing. I feel absolutely nauseated—can taste bile on my tongue. I don’t want to see her touch him. Don’t want to know what she forces him to do. He’s very still, but for all the world with that smile on his face I would swear that he’s in love with her.

  “We still have time. Double check the holding and then go prepare the site.”

  Bowing his head, “As you wish.”

  When Kiaran turns, he looks directly at me. Not through me. Directly into my eyes, and they are clear. For this moment, he is his own person, and my breath rushes out of me all at once. He strides away and I follow him back into that smaller hallway, keeping as close as I dare to him.

  The crackle of power is nearly a whisper when he changes direction, carrying me swiftly into the glassy wall and pinning me there. My gasp is lost in the kiss that sweeps me away, doubly stealing my breath. “You can touch me.” It’s more a statement than a question, and more a moan than anything else.

  “Here it doesn’t hurt.”

  His hands on me make me ache, that blue magic tasting and teasing and making me wish that this is more than a dream. “Did you bring me here? This isn’t like the other dreams.”

  “You needed to see,” he says. “Needed to know. And you had enough magic left for me to bring you here.”

  “What—”

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “I don’t have time to explain it. I don’t know how long I’ll be clear. Only until she notices her charm has worn off. But you needed to see this. And be prepared for tomorrow. She’s preparing something.”

  Of course she is. I wouldn’t expect it her to do anything less. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know.” When I raise my eyebrows he continues. “I swear on the Goddess that I don’t know. You need to go now. Quickly.” He starts to shake, fingers gripping my hips harder. Almost bruising. “I’ll tell her, if you’re here when I turn.”

  Panic grips my throat. “I don’t know how to go back.”

  Kiaran kisses me hard, and I hold on to the moment for as long as I can. “Just open your eyes,” he tells me. And then he’s gone and I’m staring up into a different face.

  Brae is hovering above me, face lit with worry and the magic pouring out of me. “Thank the Goddess,” he breathes.

  I shake my head a little to clear it. Blinking. What was that? Was it real? That nausea from the dream catches up with me, and I roll out of Brae’s arms just in time to vomit over the side of my bed. Goddess bless magic, because within seconds the mess disappears, but the sick feeling in my stomach doesn’t. I can’t stop trying to throw up. She wants to kill her.

  Ariana wants to kill the Goddess. That’s what Kiaran meant when he said she wants to remake the world. Aeric was wrong. She doesn’t want to resurrect her at all.

  Hands smooth up my back, and I heave one more time, finally able to calm myself stomach enough to stop. Brae’s worry is leaking through the bond, even though he’s doing his best to smother it with calm. “What happened?”

  I shake my head, accepting the glass of water from him, and the help he offers to drink from it. It soothes my throat, but I can’t seem to find my voice. Can’t wrap my head around the fact that Ariana wants my magic to commit murder. It’s so much bigger than I ever imagined.

  Brae pulls me onto my back again, pulling me into his side. It’s dark outside in the garden—probably some time in the middle of fade.

  “You were glowing again,” he says. “I couldn’t wake you up.”

  I’m sure that he feels my panic and my dread, but I can’t seem to reign it in. How do I tell him this? It’s horrifying. I just shake my head—I don’t want it to be true. Please.

  Covering my face with my hands, I fight the sheer, overwhelming terror that’s binding itself to me. I never imagined this. Anything but this, actually. I thought it might be some kind of strange fixation since I was the one who got away. Maybe some good old-fashioned power trip. Use the power she wants to steal from me to take over a Kingdom or a Court. But this? The scope is too vast, and there’s t
oo much at stake. I can’t be responsible for saving all of Allwyn.

  Right?

  That can’t possibly be why I was given this power or why Allwyn chose me to be mated with Fae. Why me of everyone in the world? I can’t make sense of it and my thoughts are spinning so fast that I can’t slow them down.

  “Kari,” Brae says, pulling my hands away from my face. “Look at me. Breathe.”

  I try, but the air in my lungs is shaky at best.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  I can’t. There aren’t words in my vocabulary for this. Something changes in his expression, and he rolls over me, sliding down my body with determined grace. He must have changed me into a nightgown after I passed out, because that’s what I’m wearing, and it lets him push apart my legs with ease. His mouth lands on my clit without any prelude, grazing it with his teeth and rolling his tongue across it.

  Holy shit.

  Lust and pleasure blaze to life within me, the extreme height of my panic and dread morphing into bright, shining need. Brae was good at this before we bonded. Now, he’s exquisite, listening to me and responding to what I like. That sweep of his tongue that makes my hips rise towards his lips and the way his fingers squeeze my inner thighs. He traces his tongue along the entrance to my pussy, and I moan—the first sound I’ve been able to make. I love that feeling. It’s so intimate, and when he licks inside me I gush wetness onto his tongue.

  Sunny magic slides up my skin, swirling across my nipples and pooling on them until they’re diamond peaks, straining against the silk on my chest.

  Brae moves his mouth upwards again, consuming my clit. He’s not teasing me now, instead driving me straight to the edge, and over the edge. He pulls deeply, sucking me between his lips and squeezing, and I shatter. Pleasure washes up and over, magic breaking over the two of us together. He’s just as turned on as I am by my orgasm, loving the feel of me.

  He doesn’t hesitate when he strips off his pants and sinks deep into me. One smooth movement has him buried, and I’m staring up into his eyes, trying to breathe. That orgasm did exactly what he wanted it to—it broke the spiral of panic in my head and let me focus on him. And I am focusing on him. This is the first time he’s been inside me with the bond, and I’m breathless at the feeling of fullness he brings me. His pleasure echoes mine. Heightens it.

  His eyes are sharp, watching my expression closely. And when he thrusts the look on his face turns to both satisfaction and lust, because even the smallest movement makes me gasp, sensitive as I am after the pleasure of his mouth.

  “What happened?”

  “You want to know that now?” I ask, squeezing down on his cock. “I think it could wait a few minutes.”

  He thrusts again, intentionally dragging himself over my clit and making me shudder. He even adds a feathering of his magic, drawing goosebumps on the surface of my skin. “I just watched you glow with power and unable to wake up, and I’ve never felt anything like that panic. I’m more than satisfied being inside you, Kari. I’ll wait. I’m patient.”

  “I don’t know how to tell you,” I say. “I don’t even know what it was.”

  Brae rotates his hips slowly so his cock hits different places inside of me. Then leaning down, he kisses me slowly. “As long as you keep talking, I’ll keep moving. Otherwise nothing.”

  “Fuck you,” I breathe, squeezing down on him in revenge, but there’s no anger behind my words. I just want more of him and delicious, perfect ecstasy.

  He grins. “I am trying. Talk.”

  “It wasn’t a dream,” I tell him. “More of a projection, like what I did with Ariana today, only one person could see me. I saw the Heart of Allwyn.”

  With deliberate slowness, Brae drives into me, slightly changing his angle with every movement, until suddenly he hits a place that makes my vision go white and my voice suddenly feel thin as mist. “What did you see?”

  I think the best way is to just blurt it out. “Ariana is trying to dig up the Goddess’s body. The earthquake was the beginning of the excavation. And she doesn’t want to resurrect Cerys, she wants to kill her. I heard her say as much.”

  “To Kiaran?” He fucks a little harder, the sparks he’s shoving into me catching on each other and building higher. I’m not surprised that he put two and two together, given what they know about my captured mate.

  “Yes. She needs my magic—the Goddess’s magic—for the final blow. That’s all there was, and Kiaran said to make sure that we’re ready for the meeting. That she’s planning something.”

  Faster. Harder against that spot that makes me see nothing and feels so good that I’d be willing to go blind. “Why are you panicking?”

  “It’s too big,” I say. “Too much. This can’t be what’s really happening. Because then that would mean that I’m in charge of the fate of Allwyn, and that’s way more than—oh!” I lose my words again as Brae starts to fuck in earnest, rolling his hips so the motion hits every delicious spot. I’m so close again, hanging on the edge of bliss. Sinking into it.

  “Please,” I beg him. “More.”

  Tendrils of magic drag along my inner thighs, and that shivering touch sends me falling into bright oblivion over again. I cry out, voice echoing off the walls of my bedroom. But it’s not over, because Brae isn’t finished. I feel when he slips into me at the perfect angle and his pleasure soars. Just feeling that sharp slice of pleasure through our connection sets off aftershocks in my body. Sparkles of pleasure like tiny fireworks to enjoy.

  He takes his pleasure the way he wants it. Slowly, and then faster. Slower again. I’m immersed in shimmering power and sweet, sunny pleasure. Basking in it.

  Brae slams home, rhythm faltering when he’s close. Plunging deep, he holds himself there, cock jerking as he pours that heat inside me. His pleasure feels almost as good as my own. I savor it, rolling the flavor of it through my mind.

  Lowering himself down to me, he kisses the under side of my jaw, drawing his lips up to my ear and then back to my mouth while he speaks. “The Goddess told you that you are where you are meant to be. And that means this too. No matter the scale.”

  “I don’t want to believe it,” I say, keeping my voice even. My emotions are close to the surface, and I’m afraid that they’re going to come spilling over.

  “Why not?”

  “Because it doesn’t make sense, Brae.” I cover my face with my hands again, unable to look at him and see the compassion and understanding. “It doesn’t. I can’t say that I’m no one, or that I’m nothing. But choosing me—a human with no training and no real magical talent? It’s hard to accept that that was a good idea.”

  Gently, Brae takes my wrists and pulls them away so that he can see my face. “How many decisions do you make in a day?”

  “What?”

  “How many? Even the little ones. Like what to wear or which way to sleep?”

  I snort. “I probably can’t count that high.”

  He smirks. “Neither can I. But imagine that, with every person, every fae. Every decision splitting the world into infinite facets. And the Goddess can see all of them. What makes you think that this wasn’t planned a long time ago?”

  “But—”

  “She told you that she and Allwyn always make decisions that benefit us. That benefit the world. Even if you weren’t a thought yet, she could have looked to the future and seen where you needed to be to stop this. There’s a reason that you have magic.

  “Wherever in your past that magic came from—even if it wasn’t a plan—she saw that in you. We may not ever know why. And believe me I understand that it’s frustrating as hell. But never assume that you’re here by accident.”

  I latch on to the confidence pouring off him. He believes this with his entire being, and that’s a little intoxicating. “What if I’m not good enough?”

  “Did the Goddess ask you to be good enough?”

  Pressing my lips together, I shake my head. He knows that she didn’t. She didn’t specificall
y ask me to do anything. But when I can feel her presence, I know that this is why I was gifted this magic. To save her. Or to try.

  Brae kisses my forehead, and in that moment I’m reminded of the fact that he used to be a priest. The kiss feels like a benediction and an absolution. A release from this fear and burden. “We will face this together,” he says softly. “All of us. And we will do what we can, the best that we can. There are just as many possibilities in front of us as there were behind us.”

  Wrapping my arms around him, I pour my love into him through that shimmering thread between us. And my gratitude for the reassurance. “Should we tell the others?”

  “It can wait till morning,” he says, pulling the blanket up and over us and pulling me closer. “Rest. And hopefully no more dreams.”

  Closing my eyes, I sink into his magic. It feels like the sunset, lulling me into sleep and rest. I hope for no more dreams too.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ________

  KENT

  I splash water over my face and scrub the sweat from my skin. I’ve been up for hours longer than everyone else in the house, because I haven’t been able to sleep. This meeting has me nervous, and when I’m nervous I fall back into old habits. Push my body to the limit and gather as much information as I can.

  Even though we’ve been on guard and looked everywhere, there’s about a thousand ways that this meeting could go wrong. And I’m the most vulnerable—now the only one without magic. But like hell am I not going. I want this woman to know that I am not afraid, and I’m not going to stay behind a shield because of my humanity.

  That doesn’t stop the possibilities and hypothetical situations from spinning in my head. Too many years as a cop, constantly thinking of the way things can go wrong and assuming the worst. Too many cases—both professional and personal—tracking down fae that have done horrifying things. I know better than most that the fae aren’t perfect, and even though not all the myths are true, enough of them are to make me cautious.