Auden holds his breath, hoping that his little gamble here has paid off – that Margot did as she promised and successfully distracted Mahl last night. He hadn’t had time to receive any reports from his men, or speak to Margot herself, but…When Mahl turns away, a little scowl on his face, Auden’s smirk deepens.Mahl begins to pace the room and Auden waits for his father to pull his thoughts together and plan his next move. Would he continue to berate his son for some tiny, innocuous lies? Or would he move on?As Auden waits for Mahl to decide, his mind wanders despite his determination to concentrate on the situation at hand. There’s just so much he has to do. Where are the children now? Time is getting short – the cart will arrive soon if it hasn’t already, and he wanted to be there when it did –“Enough of this,” the King snaps. Auden raises his head again to meet his father’s eyes, pleased that the King has finally decided to weigh this in his favor. “You will keep no more secrets
I’m late to the garden party, which means that by the time I get there I can barely see the garden itself, so full is it with pressing bodies. I don’t enter the gardens through the ballroom as I did last night, but instead via the more intimate and discrete Royal entrance, which opens out into a wide square clearing surrounded by benches. A delicate fountain sprays in the middle of the clearing, though I can only see the top spout of the water right now.I’ve been here before, of course – but it’s unrecognizable as the quaint and peaceful courtyard it usually is, instead now packed and humming with conversation. My eyes go immediately to Mahl, standing above the crowd across the courtyard on the painted wooden dais constructed for these sorts of events.I sigh, knowing I have to get to his side and realizing that getting there means I have to run the courtier gauntlet.As soon as I step from the entrance, eyes turn to me and a thousand different expressions cross people’s faces. Some
I suddenly feel very awkward about the intimacy of our seating arrangement, so I quickly turn away and raise my wine to my lips, taking another big sip. Mahl, amused, gestures towards a Gamma who quickly comes over to give me a refill.“Oh –“ I say, surprised as the wine fills my glass. I quickly thank the Gamma before Mahl dismisses him with a wave. “I’m sorry,” I say to Mahl, a little embarrassed. “I don’t mean to get drunk –““Do it,” he says, raising his eyebrows. “If it pleases you.”I cock my head to the side a bit. “Surely,” I say quietly, with a little smile, “you would not want to present a drunk Queen to your court on her first day?”“What I want, Everleigh,” he says, leaning closer to me and making my muscles tense, “is for you to be comfortable. If that means drinking your weight in wine, then do it! If the Queen is drunk,” he whispers, as if it’s our little secret, “that merely means that everyone else is too sober.”I laugh a little despite myself, a little undone by Mah
“Father,” Auden says, pitching his voice so that everyone can hear. “I hope that you will allow me to introduce you to two important young people,” he says, nodding to my kids. “Vivianna and Niall. Your grandchildren.”The court goes mad at these words, a flurry of gasps and whispers rippling through the crowd like wind through a field of wheat. I barely blink as I watch people turn to each other, wide-eyed and delighted at the scandal. I watch my son flinch and gasp, shocked by the sudden noise; watch Auden’s hand land comfortably on the back of Niall’s head, stroking his hair, an act that makes Niall jump again for a moment before looking steadily up at his father.Vivianna turns a little, attempting to glare around at everyone at once, clutching her little dragon close to her chest as if she would take on the entire crowd.My heart soars with love for Vivi suddenly, for my brave girl. I worry for Niall – wonder if he will thrive in this world – but Vivianna? About her I have no dou
Vivi steps forward readily but Niall hangs back, leaning hard against Auden’s leg. A fond smile flashes across Auden’s face as he begins to move forward, nudging Niall to go along with him. Mahl sees Niall’s reticence too and, luckily, turns his attention to Vivi first. “Well?” Mahl says, looking the girl over from head to toe. “And who are you?” “I’m Vivianna,” Vivi says, staring straight at Mahl as if he’s a little stupid. I laugh inwardly because I can almost read her mind - she knows that the King knows her name; she just heard him announce it to the whole court. Mahl chuckles, perhaps realizing this as well. “Well, Vivianna,” he continues, “I am very glad to meet you.” “He told me you are going to be my grandfather,” Vivi says, lifting her chin towards Auden. I bite my lip to keep from laughing at the way she narrows her eyes at her father, as if he might have been lying to her. “He also said,” she continues, turning back to Mahl to study him, “that you’re a King. Is that true
“That little girl,” Mahl says, shaking his head as he stares after his son and grandchildren in a pleased, paternal sort of way. “We’ll have to get her a little crown made, right away.”“What?” I ask, laughing and looking after Vivi. “Why?”“Can you not see it?” he asks, turning to me with a smile. “She is already a tiny Queen.”I laugh at this, pleased and thinking privately that Mahl doesn’t know the half of it. “Don’t you think it will go to her head?” I ask. “To be given a crown? She will begin to think herself your equal, perhaps try to run the kingdom if you’re not careful.”Mahl laughs at this as well, shaking his head. “It will make me laugh,” he says with a shrug. “Which, I think, is the point of grandchildren.”I smile, leaning back against the velvet of my throne and taking a long drink of my wine, finding that relief is filling me in the aftermath of that encounter. Auden and I had spent so many hours, last night and on the ride home, thinking of all the ways it could go w
“Oh,” I say, taking a step closer toward the women who are staring at me and nodding sagely. “Yes, an incredibly good point. Certainly, it’s something to consider.” The women smile, pleased with my affirmation, but they hesitate as they continue the conversation, a few glancing over their shoulders at the woman in purple speaking alone with an Alpha. Our group breaks up a few moments later, everyone finding someone else to mingle with, and I can’t help but heave a sigh of relief. There’s an unusual pause as I am alone for a moment, and I’m savoring it, but suddenly the woman in purple is standing next to me. “Terrible little Lunas,” she murmurs to me, imitating Larissa’s words and inflection from just a few moments ago, “that little one in particular.” She raises her wine glass to her mouth with a smirk and I find myself laughing freely – perhaps the first time I’ve done that in any of these conversations. “Vain,” I continue, likewise repeating Larissa’s insults about Vivi and gi
“What?” I breathe, fascinated and delighted. “Since when do courtesans come to court!?”“They’ve always been here, Everleigh,” Mahl murmurs, not minding, apparently, that I’m not appalled at Margot’s occupation and am, instead, clearly curious. “They just…didn’t come into the circles of Lunas in the years that you were present at court. Things have changed a bit since you have been gone.”“Oh,” I say, looking up at him again. “Why?”And I regret the question immediately when Mahl looks away.I stutter a moment, making awkward noises in my attempt to apologize or find something to say, but Mahl just looks calmly down at me. “A story for another time,” he murmurs as we arrive at the back door to my chambers, the same door through which Tara traveled this afternoon to bring me my coffee.I take a deep breath and try to settle my emotions – my still-burning curiosity, my embarrassment at blatantly asking Mahl why he lets courtesans mingle with his best friends’ wives – before going into m
To my surprise, no summons to dinner and festivities comes from Mahl that evening. Instead, I’m brought a sensible little supper in my rooms alongside a note from the King saying that his war council is running late. I gleefully pack up the little dinner, taking it with me across the rooftop to the children’s suite where I cuddle Niall and Vivi in my lap and hear all about their trials and victories on their first day at school.The same happens the next night, and the night after – to the point where I’m starting to wonder if Mahl has gotten sick of me. I mean, a pleasant turn but…One which I’m not sure I fully believe. Margot has been coming to breakfast, after all, filling me in on her activities. Apparently, Mahl has been calling for her at midnight and beyond after long days in meetings – wanting someone willing in his bed, I suppose, instead of a reluctant bride whom he has to coax and seduce.She told me that their meetings have been consis
I stare up at Auden, because he can’t possibly mean that he wants me to come to him tonight -But he frowns a me, confused, and my wolf slumps to the ground of my soul with a wolfish little moan of mortification. Because yeah! He can’t possibly mean that! It’s just me, with my filthy dream-addled little mind that was thinking that he could have wanted that.I clench my teeth against a groan.“Are you all right?” Auden asks, stepping forward, reaching out a hand to support me.“I’m fine,” I sigh, stepping away and turning towards the center of the children’s room, walking unsteadily over to Vivianna’s little bookshelf and placing the tiara on top. I take the opportunity of my turned back to pull myself together, my wolf regaining her feet and shaking out her fur, newly determined not to be such a mess.“So…” Auden says. I turn to see him watching me, still leaning against the wall, expression bemused. “Are you com
“Mom won’t let me wear my tiara!” Viv shouts, stepping towards her papa, knowing he’s the easier mark. She lifts a hand to her head as she goes, holding the too-large diamond-encrusted headpiece on her blonde hair. I sigh as I watch, thinking that such an incredible piece of jewelry is far too fine for a little girl who is definitely going to drop it on the floor at any moment.Honestly, she should just give it to me. You know. For safekeeping.“Why on earth do you want to wear a tiara, Viv,” Auden murmurs, looking behind him and tossing the hand towel onto the table by his own room. “You’ll be playing and learning –““Because it is pretty!” she snaps. “And mine!”Auden grimaces, looking first at the clock and then at me, opening his mouth. I step forward, my jaw dropping, because I can see the concession on his lips.“Don’t you dare, Auden!” I snap, pointing a finger at him and glaring hard. “She ca
I blink awake, staring at the ceiling of my castle room in the dark, grief rushing through me alongside awe.Because that dream…it was so vivid. Like I was…there, feeling everything in the moment like it had been real. The feel of his skin against mine, god damn it, I felt it. It was like…a memory relived, more than a dream.I sigh, turning my face to the side, looking over at Margot’s good-dream cakes, wondering if the name is a lie. Because while the events of that dream were fairly fantastic and I have woken all limp and languid as if I really did just have the best sex of my life…God, but that’s cruel. To give me an experience that was so real, to which my actual life will never, ever live up. My wolf howls, wanting me to close my eyes so I can go back to that dream – but I shake my head, knowing that I can’t.How had the little cake
He snarls, pleased, a predator now as he thrusts himself hard into me, claiming me with every stroke. My entire body shakes as I gasp again and again, what’s left of my mind ringing with the truth of it – with how fucking good and right it feels to make myself his, to give myself completely to him, to his pleasure –I feel it, somehow, building in him as it builds in me. My breath is nothing but fervid little gasps as he pounds me harder, his hand wrapped in my hair, pain mingling with pleasure as I dig my nails into the flesh of his back, begging him for more. I curl against him, my entire body tensing with every stroke, and I feel him watching me – taking pleasure in my helpless gasps as he strokes again and again –He growls, a command as I come to the end of it and I moan – heavy and true, my eyes pressed shut, my teeth finding his shoulder as that tension winds so tight –His fingers press
**Midwinter, Five and a Half Years Ago**I move my hand slowly up and down Auden’s cock, reveling a little at the feel of it thick and heavy against my palm even has half of my attention is on his mouth, moving fervidly over mine. I moan – just a soft, throaty noise - completely overwhelmed by him. The size and sheer power of this Alpha –God damn it but I want him. Heat builds low in my body, a fluttering tension growing in my core.Auden’s hips flex, pressing himself tighter against my palm, stroking the length of that fantastic cock against my hand as he leverages himself above me, his weight held up on his forearms as he finishes kicking his pants off, leaving them in a heap at the other end of the couch.He pulls his mouth away from me for a moment, panting, looking down into my face. And I see him hesitate, even as I continue to stroke him. His eyes flutter shut for a moment as I move
Auden kiss Everleigh fiercely, intent as his hand moves over the bodice of her dress, feeling the shape of her beneath the fabric. His hand slips around to her back, fumbling with the laces there as Evie kisses him back, their tongues pressing against each other in a way that makes him…absolutely insane.All the thoughts slip from Auden mind as Everleigh shifts in his lap, sliding her thigh over his so that she’s again straddling his hips, her face leveled slightly above Auden’s so that his head tilts back just as she kisses him. Somehow his fingers fumble with the strings, pulling at them, feeling them loosen –But he’s not sure how his hands manage that – because all of his thoughts are entirely overwhelmed by the scent of her filling his nostrils, the need he has to touch her skin, to get these stupid clothes off her, to see her – his mate – bare for him –Naked, entire
**Midwinter, Five-and-a-Half Years Ago**Auden just stares at her for a long, long moment. The most beautiful girl he’s ever seen, without a doubt. Here, in his arms, looking up at him with her clear blue eyes.Then, to his shock, her hands keep moving. He looks around for the mask – where did she toss it? But it’s nowhere. He’s distracted by the thought as her hands move over her hair, his eyes going wide as –As the color leeches out of it –Auden’s jaw is hanging open by the time she lowers her hands to her lap, grimacing a little. “Blonde,” she says, glancing upwards like she can see it – all the lovely sunshine hair tumbling from her head, landing halfway down her back.“What…the hell…” Auden whispers, completely rigid with shock.She grimaces. “You don’t like blondes?&
He shakes his head. “I don’t even know Angeline. She seems very nice – and fun. I think I will like her, I just…I can’t believe they’re having a kid.” He exhales, running a hand through his hair, staring off into the distance as he processes it.“Your first sibling,” I murmur, my brows rising as I sip the last of my whiskey and put the cup on the floor. “Do you want a brother or a sister?”He smirks and turns his eyes back to me. “I want you to stop distracting me.”I grin, caught. “But it’s such a fun distraction.”He laughs, leaning towards me and reaching out, wrapping his wide hand around one of my ankles. “Fun for you. I’m still tortured.”“Oh, come on,” I say, shaking my head and letting my red hair fall around my face. “We can discuss baby names. They could name your new sibling after