21. Sage

CHAPTER 21

Sage

I leaned my cheek against the vine-wrapped fence and watched, my heart aching, imagining it was me captured between those two gorgeous men, their sculpted muscles pressed against me, their hands roaming, caressing, making me sigh against their lips.

The completely naked man with Lark shifted behind her, his lips trailing across her jaw. He drew her long hair away from her neck and pressed gentle kisses on the glowing spots there, making her eyelids flutter shut and sending a shiver of need rushing through me.

His dark brown hair was cut short, like Lord Quill's, but he had a similar build to Talon and the same stunning sculpted physique. Silver spots encircled both of his biceps, the color bright against his medium brown skin, and pulsed in time with the spots on Lark's neck. In fact, all the men — except for the man still fully dressed whose biceps I couldn't see — had silver spots encircling their upper arms.

The other man tangled his fingers in Lark's hair and captured her lips in a deep, breathtaking kiss. She moaned into his mouth and rocked her hips forward, pressing her mound against what I fantasized was a rock-hard erection. It was difficult to tell with her body partially blocking him and his pants still on, but the two naked men were fully aroused, and if I was going to fantasize, the other two would be hard and ready as well.

My need deepened and blossomed into a soft, slick ache between my thighs. What would it feel like to have their hard length pushing inside me. Would they go slow, drawing out the sensation? Or would they be quick and hurried like Royston had been?

No. This was a fantasy. They'd go slowly, their eyes filled with a desire just for me, their bodies a tool to worship me, to show me I was precious and desirable.

They would tease me first, just like the men were teasing Lark, but in the end, I'd be filled with a glorious bliss, just like how it was described in the minstrels' tales and our hearts would be entwined by true love.

I bit back a moan of desire, my body throbbing with a need that wasn't going to be fulfilled anytime soon.

Jeez. Talon had definitely awakened something within me that I hadn't known was there. I'd never had an erotic dream like this before. Yes, a few fantasies about finding someone, about sex being as delicious and romantic as the tales claimed and not the fast disappointment it had been with Royston.

But the dreams had never been this clear before, never with multiple men at the same time, and never with the hope of finding that one true love that had never been and was never going to be my fate.

The men drew Lark to the bed. She settled on the soft mattress and the third man took over kissing her lips as the other two men started teasing her nipples with mouths and tongues and fingers. The man on the couch huffed, a low throaty sound that sounded almost animalistic, and loosened the ties on the front of his pants so he could shove his hand inside, his gaze never leaving Lark.

The ache between my legs grew, along with an ache in my breasts. I imagined the heat and rasp of their tongues and the delicious pinch as they sucked on my— her nipples. Her head tipped back in pleasure and the man possessing her lips deepened their kiss, breathing in her gasps and moans.

Then both of the men worshiping her nipples slid a hand down her body and started teasing the inside of her thighs, their fingers drawing closer and closer to her core.

My breath picked up in anticipation. The boy I'd been with before hadn't played between my legs with his fingers, but I'd caught one of Edred's men in an alcove with his fingers buried inside one of the castle's maids which was how I had to be dreaming about this. The maid hadn't looked like she enjoyed the attention as much as Lark was, but I imagined with the right man and the right intention, Lark's experience was what it should be like.

And now I ached for a man to touch me there as well— hell, just to touch me with desire.

Which was the truth of this dream that a part of me didn't want to admit.

I'd never been touched or looked at with the desire that the men with Lark had for her, and now I was surrounded by men who, even when they did discover I was a woman, wouldn't look at me like that.

Because they'd know the truth. I wasn't beautiful or feminine. I wouldn't make a good wife and I didn't want to be one. I wanted to be in control of my own destiny, not told what to do and who to have sex with by Edred or any man. I didn't want to look at my feet or smile meekly or be obedient.

But I still wanted to be desired. I wanted to be strong and loved. I wanted?—

Things I was never going to have.

And the sooner I accepted that, the sooner I could focus on what was important, which was keeping my secret long enough for Sawyer to escape.

Then…

Well then, I guess if I was lucky, I'd be sent back to Edred and punished. And with my luck, he'd figure out how to keep my indiscretion a secret so he could still sell my hand in marriage for an advantageous alliance.

I closed my eyes on my desires laid bare in front of me and tried to force myself to turn away. Watching Lark and those men wasn't a fantasy. It was a way to torture myself, showing me what I yearned for and could never have.

But someone stepped up close behind me, startling me before I could leave, and I froze, my eyes snapping open and locking again on the three men pleasuring Lark.

"Like what you see?" a masculine voice, edged with a playful hint of amusement, murmured in my ear.

His breath feathered across my cheek and neck, sending a shiver of need rushing straight to my core, as my pulse lurched into a rapid tattoo. I'd been caught. Was the dream going to punish me for peeping?

"I ah…" Heat blazed across my cheeks and I tried to jerk away, but he clasped his hands over mine, securing me to the fence and boxing me in with his arms, making me hyperaware of how big he was — just like all the fae men I'd encountered so far.

Unable to escape, I dropped my gaze, instinct kicking in and making me behave demurely. "I didn't mean to pry."

"You're not," he murmured, hooking a finger under my chin and urging me to look up again.

I didn't fight him, but I didn't open my eyes, either.

"If Lark wanted privacy, she'd have picked one of the fully walled-in rooms. But she doesn't care if someone watches and two of her mates get excited at the thought. This room, where someone can peek but isn't out in the open, is her compromise with the two of her mates who are more modest." He chuckled. "It's all right to watch. It's all right to be excited by watching."

Lark released a long, sensual moan, and my eyelids flickered open of their own volition. One of the men still sucking on her breasts had slid two fingers inside her, while the other one rubbed her sensitive nub.

"Blaze really likes to watch." He nudged my chin, turning my attention to the man on the couch. He'd fully freed his large, thick erection, and was gripping it tightly. "He'll try and hold out for as long as possible, working himself up but refusing to come until he's buried inside her. Which with this being the first time in a season that he's been able to be in the Garden in physical form with her, isn't going to be long."

The thought sent another shudder rushing through me. He — Blaze — practically vibrated with need, his body tight, his eyes filled with a hunger that promised an overwhelming assault of sensation when he finally broke and made love to her.

"Hmmm, you like that," the man behind me purred… and for some reason his purr didn't scare me like it had with all the other fae men. It turned me on.

But then I was watching sensual, erotic lovemaking, and we were in a private, intimate alcove. Perhaps this was what I needed to embrace my dream and fulfill desires I knew would never be fulfilled in real life.

"I like what that promises," I replied.

"Hard and fast?"

"Powerful. Consuming." Worshiped. Loved.

"You like to be dominated?" he asked, his breath caressing my cheek and neck again.

The thought of being dominated by Blaze made my core ache… but the thought of being dominated by someone like Edred twisted cold in my gut.

"Ah, it depends on the man," he murmured, as if he'd heard my thoughts. And with this being a dream, he probably had. "Blaze's kind of desire does require Lark to completely trust him. What about the others?"

My attention jumped from Blaze back to the bed where the man with the short brown hair was sensually sliding his fingers in and out of her. Her breath had picked up, her moans coming faster as her pleasure grew making my own desire swell.

The man who'd been kissing her before had traded places with the one who'd been sucking her nipples and she had her hands clenched in his hair as her body rocked with her rising need. Then she tensed and cried her release.

My need tightened in response, my body aching for that same kind of pleasure. A soft moan escaped my lips, and I leaned back against the man who'd captured me against the vine-covered fence, my body searching for its own release.

"Do you want me to touch you?" he asked, his voice soft with no hint of a predatory purr, giving me the sense that even though I was pressed against him, if I said no he wouldn't do anything, and he wouldn't press the matter and try to convince me.

But I did want him to touch me. I wanted him to make me feel how it looked like Lark was feeling. I wanted to satisfy the craving Talon had awoken that had filled my dream from the moment I'd opened my eyes in this beautiful, strange garden. I was never going to get anything so incredible in real life because sex wasn't like that, and I wasn't a woman that men desired, so I might as well get it in my dreams.