Chapter 9

When we reached our home, the one that bordered Elphame, not my apartment, Beatrice took my face in her hands and held my gaze. "Do not forget who you are, Geneviève." She looked at Eli. "Or allow this wound with Eli to fester."

Then she kissed my forehead as tenderly as any mother ever did and, in a moment that left me thoroughly speechless, kissed Eli on both cheeks.

"I will handle your Alice and your mother," Beatrice said with a tone of voice that every Jewish mother could summon at will.

I smothered the smile that such a guilt-provoking tone brought to my lips. Beatrice had barely had the opportunity to be a mother, and both of the women she was going to "handle" were grown women. But seeing this moment of maternal exasperation was as endearing as seeing the gown-clad monster explode a wall to reach me.

"I am lucky to count you as family," I told her.

"Indeed," was all she said, but she looked pleased as a kitten in a basket of yarn for a sliver of an instant. Then she was gone as quickly as if she'd never been there. The draugr gift of speed was so remarkable as to mimic disappearing into thin air.

I took an uncomfortable breath before meeting Eli's gaze. "I don't want anyone but—"

"You are eternally my home, Geneviève of Crowe and Stonecroft. I share with you my hearth and lintel. May you find shelter in my heart and home." He led me to the keystone of the doorway, echoing words he'd said to me several times. "In this world and my home, you are mine to safeguard." He looked like each word was sharp glass on his tongue as he said, "And I failed you."

"No!"

"If you would seek shelter at another hearth, I will release—"

"You will not." I grabbed him. "You are eternally my home, Eli of Stonecroft. I share your hearth and lintel. I find shelter in your heart and home. Youare mine unto death or beyond."

I felt my birth magic and our fae magic swirl around us, as if we were in the center of a hurricane. Wind whipped around us, and I was no longer certain that the earth was solid.

Arms around his neck, I pressed my lips to his. I wasn't sure if it was magic, love, lust or some twist of the three, but together we flowed into the house.

"Geneviève." Eli pushed me back onto the bed and pulled my dirt-and-blood-stained jeans down almost at the same moment.

"Mine." He breathed the word against my bare stomach as he kissed and bit his way up.

I plucked at his shirt, as I promised, "Yes. Yours. Always and eternally. Now, touch me. Two weeks apart is too long."

He laughed, low and joyous. "I would free you if you asked, Geneviève. It would kill me, but if that's what you w--"

"Not what I'm asking." I unbuttoned his trousers. "Not what I want ever."

I slipped my hand into his trousers and stroked. "This. I want this."

He leaned down and kissed me speechless.

My other hand slid under his shirt, shoving it up. As soon as it was over his head and out of my way, I kissed his chest, his shoulders, his throat. I nipped gently. "May I?"

"Geneviève," he said.

"If you don't want me to since—"

"Bite me. Touch me," Eli ordered, voice low and rough. He shoved his trousers further down giving me unfettered access.

Then he ordered, "Show me."

I let my fangs slide into his skin, and the taste of his blood pouring into my mouth made me whimper even as I swallowed. All the while, I stroked him. Time seemed to melt as my world was reduced to the touch, scent, and taste of Eli.

Eli grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand away.

Straddling me.

Pinning my wrists over my head with one hand.

I felt the hard length of him as he thrust his hips against me. Not entering me, merely taunting.

"Who do you belong to, Geneviève?" he asked, a whisper in my ear since my fangs were in his throat still.

I moaned.

Eli pulled back, moving so his throat was out of my reach and his length was almost where I needed it. "I asked you a question."

I pulled my gaze away from the blood trickling along the column of his throat as he eased forward, barely inside me.

"Geneviève? Tell me." The demand in his voice, the same icy command he'd had in the cave made me try to push my hips upward.

Eli's hand gripped my hip and held me steady, all while his other hand gripped my wrists tightly.

"You."

"Who?" he prompted as he slid home.

"You. Only you." I swore. "Eli of Stonecroft. You."

"No doubts, Geneviève?" He had me pinned, unable to move, unable to do anything but wait.

"None. Please. Please." He held me immobile for several more moments, as if he needed to prove to us both that he had mastery of me.

I could only feel and beg. "More, Eli. Please. More."

He was quiet, breathing as needy as mine.

"I love you," I reminded him. "I'm here. I'm home."

I heard the strain in his voice as he half-ordered, half-swore, "No one will ever take you away from me, Geneviève."

Then there were no more words, as we spent the night reminding one another how perfectly we fit.

Come dawn,I had to disentangle myself from Eli's grip. Quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping prince, I whispered a spell for stealth, so the click of the door closing was muted.

Maybe it was a small bandage on a gaping wound, but I spent the next three hours planning details for the wedding ceremony that we would be having. Between Alice and my mother, the main pieces were pretty much in order—as if they had planned obsessively in my absence.

By the time Eli came into the room, eyes darting around in a panic that made my stomach twist, I had selected two wedding gowns, flowers, and finalized the remaining details.

"Tux for the wedding here or traditional fae garb?" I asked as he stood staring at me. "And did we want to have the royal guards attend both weddings?"

He opened and closed his mouth silently.

"And I was thinking that although I want our wedding to be private, we ought to do a drive by for the paparazzi." I realized I was talking nervously, too quickly and too obviously worried. "You. Me. Marcus and Alice. Maybe she'd get a clue that he wanted to make her his queen. I wish I could tell her or that you—"

"I respect the bargain you made, and as I was privy to the terms, I cannot disrespect you or the king by telling Alice. A faery bargain is sacred," he murmured quietly. "We'll deal with your plot to get around it later."

I met his gaze. "Can I create a faery bargain? I mean, since we bonded I have some of your fae traits."

Eli nodded, unusually speechless.

"I can then. Interesting." I pondered the language I wanted to use for a moment before asking, "What do you say to a faery bargain, Eli?"

The catch, of course, was that if a bargain is begun, the fae making the bargain knows what the bargainer most desperately wants. And I desperately needed to know what Eli most wanted.

Eli gave me a look that made me want to squirm as he pointed out, "If we agree to make such a bargain, you will know my heart's desire in this instant. Do you want that?"

"Yes, very much so. And I'll give it to you if . . ." I stalked toward him.

"If?" he echoed.

As much as I had enjoyed Eli's need to prove his dominance over me, I wasn't done with atoning. "Does that mean you would like to enter a faery bargain with me, Eli of Stonecroft?"

"Perhaps. What are your proposed terms?" he asked.

I took a deep breath as Eli's desire washed over me. Eternity. My safety. Not taking the throne. Figuring out what Iggy wanted from me. Chester's death. A baby. The noise of his mixed and varied desires was daunting. Several sexual scenarios flitted through my mind, and I made a note to examine those more closely later.

"This is how you knew what I liked," I mused.

He offered one of the half-shrugs that meant that he agreed but would not be admitting anything. "The fae do not lie, but that does not mean that we ignore those things we have in our arsenal."

He gave me a look that left me certain that we had always been headed to forever, even when I had the foolish notion that I might maintain my illusion that I could resist him.

"I will offer you a wish, Eli. One unrestricted request when most you want to use it," I said.

"If you do so, you are bound by law to comply." He stared at me, as if his will alone could impress clarity upon me. "Nothing and no one could order you otherwise."

"Yes." I took his hands in mine. "Not even your uncle the king, or Beatrice—"

"Or Blackwood," he added because that, of course, was the crux of the wish. We both wanted him to be able to use that wish to free me if the need were to arise.

I understood then that this—this ability to offer a bargain for the other person or for the bargainer to gain a coveted moment or exception to a law—was what he'd been doing all along. Our first faery bargain was for a kiss, which had led to our engagement. The first bargain made him my fiancé, but it allowed him to save my life. The second allowed us to stay engaged without rushing toward an actual marriage. The third led to our bonding.

Until this moment, he'd been giving me the power to control my fate despite the challenges that came from eons of fae tradition and law. And today I was giving him the power to overcome the Hexen magic that Iggy had used to entrap me.

"What terms?" Eli asked.

"I will grant you this wish, Eli, if you take me to Elphame and pronounce me your bride before all of Elphame."

"Now?"

"Now." I gathered my wedding plans and dress images. "Take me to your place of birth. I think it's time we had a wedding."