24. Sage

CHAPTER 24

Sage

The man getting Ember a drink pushed through the crowd, parting it to return to her side, giving Ember a perfect view of Talon and Lord Quill sitting at their table in the corner. Her smile grew even brighter, and she confidently strode up to Talon, not even giving Lord Quill a second glance.

A hint of something that I wasn’t going to call jealousy twisted around my heart.

Really, it was really anger that she was outright ignoring quiet, charming Lord Quill and not because she looked like she wanted to devour Talon. Neither man was mine and weren’t ever going to be mine no matter how much I couldn’t stop staring at them. That, and Talon’s magic was probably drawing her to him. She couldn’t help herself, just like I couldn’t.

Except her expression wasn’t of someone caught up in the magic of Talon’s allure, it was of someone determined to have her way with him.

And as if thinking about it gave it strength, the remnants of Talon’s magic inside me surged, drawing a soft moan from my lips and making Fantasy man hum in pleasure.

“This should be entertaining,” he whispered. His hot breath feathered across my cheek and spiraled around my Talon-inspired desire, sinking straight to my aching core. “Ember has been trying to get Talon since her marks appeared.”

“But not his friend?” I moaned.

Shadows! Fantasy Man and I were still having our playful banter, but our desires had taken control of our bodies.

“He’s not as striking… as Talon,” I said, my thoughts starting to muddle, “but he’s still handsome and he… looks kind.”

“He is.”

Fantasy Man’s fingers rose higher to the neckline of my dress and skimmed over my exposed marks. Light and heat flared from them, and searing, liquid heat pooled low within me.

“Quill is a good man. Perfect mate material except for the fact that he doesn’t have any magic.” A hint of sadness crept into Fantasy Man’s tone. “Even if Ember wasn’t interested in having the prettiest men in the Garden, she wouldn’t ever consider him.”

Which was absolutely cruel, and it made my heart hurt to think that most women probably ignored him because of his lack of magic.

Had he even been with a fae woman, or did they all treat him like Ember did? Was that why he was so interested in me — as Sawyer’s sister — because he was never going to have a relationship with a fae woman and he’d resigned himself to having one with a human?

Of course, if no magic meant he’d never be mated, he was someone I might be able to turn to for sex if I couldn’t purge the rest of Talon’s magic from my body.

Ember said something and trailed her fingers up Talon’s arm. A spike of jealousy — shadows be damned it was jealousy — made me grind my teeth, despite my rising desire for Fantasy Man.

Great Father, I was losing my mind. Talon wasn’t mine. I’d just gotten an enormous dose of his shadow’s magic. That was all. Besides, his body language was clear and I had no reason to be jealous. Talon wasn’t interested in her despite Ember doing her best to get him in bed with her.

I clutched the railing and Fantasy Man slipped his fingers inside my dress and palmed my breast.

My need snapped and everything within me focused on him. I reveled in the feel of his body pressed behind me, his erection hard against my rear, his hand hot and demanding on my breast. It could have only gotten better if Talon, with his intoxicating magic, joined us.

Through my partially closed lids, I saw Talon shake his head. Ember leaned closer, her palms on the table giving him a perfect view down the front of her dress, and light flickered from her yellow mating marks.

But instead of looking interested, he looked upset and said something that made her jerk upright, looking like he’d slapped her, reminding me of how sharp he’d been when he’d found Rider talking to me.

“I think that might be a record,” Fantasy Man said with a chuckle, the sound vibrating through me, filling me with light and heat. “Talon’s sharp, but he’s usually not that sharp that quickly.”

“I’d beg to differ,” I moaned, letting my eyes fully close on the courtyard and focusing solely on the sensations Fantasy Man was building inside me. “His only words to me were sharp and he said them right away. But it’s nice to know I’m not the only woman he’s rude to.”

“Oh, he’s rude to every woman. He doesn’t want a mate but he’s too pretty for his own good.” Fantasy Man plucked my nipple.

With a gasp, I leaned into him, rolling my head back onto his shoulder and giving him my body.

“So, you tried to get him in your bed?”

I wish I had?—

No.

No, I didn’t.

Because the only version of me he was possibly interested in was Sawyer and after his shadow attacked me, I had a feeling whatever we had was going to be over. The version of me in the Garden hadn’t even had a chance at a friendship let alone anything more.

Except Lord Rider and Talon had said no one else knew about his shadow, and while I suspected he’d be able to hide it for a little while from a lover, I doubted he’d be able to hide it forever. Which was why he was rude to women.

He didn’t want a mate because he couldn’t risk her or her other mates not understanding the nature of his shadow. And unlike Quill, his magic made him a possible mate. Did that mean he couldn’t even indulge in a casual relationship?

“I was actually with Lo—” I bit my lip, stopping myself before I put lord in front of Rider because he wasn’t a lord in the Garden. “I was with Rider. It was my first night here and I honestly thought it was all a dream. He was kind and… well, Talon wasn’t.”

“Rider was kind?” Fantasy Man asked, his voice thick with his own desire as his hand on my thigh slowly inched my dress up. “I’ll have to mark that in my calendar. How many words did he manage to say to you?”

“I think you’re being too hard on him.” Sure he was a gruff, tough commander, but he was also extremely protective. He hadn’t needed to help me my first two nights in the Garden nor send me to my room after Talon’s shadow attacked me. “I think everyone is. His sister and Talon both gave him a hard time just for talking with me.”

“That’s because he never talks to women.” Fantasy Man reached the hem of my dress and slipped his hot hand up my bare thigh, heading straight to where I needed him. “He’s as interested in a mate as Talon is. Or at least he was…”

Given how quickly Rider had vanished when I’d asked him to show me the Garden— “I’m pretty sure that’s still the case.”

Fantasy Man teased his fingers into my curls while his hand on my breast worked my nipple into a tight aching bud.

I arched into his touch, clinging to the railing and fighting the urge to let go and touch him.

“Oh Fa—” I gasped, swallowing the rest of the word so I wouldn’t invoke the human’s deity.

“Are you sure he’s not interested?” Fantasy Man teased, dipping his fingers into my soaked folds and groaning in pleasure.

The sound shuddered through me, and my breath hitched. The heat and pressure from the mating marks I shouldn’t have had swelled and the remnants of Talon’s magic only made it stronger.

“Shadows. Can we please stop talking about Rider and Talon and all the men in the courtyard? I need you.”

“I know, Red,” he murmured against my neck. “The compulsion from your marks is powerful, but I’ve got you. I can ease some of the pressure until you’re ready to go down there.”

He pushed a finger inside me and rubbed the slickened pad of his thumb against the sensitive nub at my entrance.

I moaned and squirmed against his grip, not caring that someone could look up from the courtyard and see us. My need was too strong. It overwhelmed everything, my worry that I wasn’t behaving like a fae woman, my fear of the sexually hungry men below, and my dread that my soul might bind one of them to me.

Fantasy Man worked me up quickly, thankfully not torturing me this time by bringing me to the edge of a release but not letting me crash over. I trembled in his embrace, my legs barely holding me up, my grip on the railing turning my knuckles white.

With a soft, sensual groan, he pushed the back of my dress up and ran his hands over my naked butt.

“Goddess, you’re so beautiful,” he said, his voice aching with a longing that made my heart break.

But before I could make my mind work enough to ask him about it, he tugged my hips back, nudged my legs open, and pressed the tip of his cock against my entrance.

My breath stalled completely and the light and heat for my marks blazed, lighting around my face for a moment.

Talon glanced up, thankfully the only one who seemed to notice, but his attention locked on me for a heart-pounding moment as if, even though the light from my marks around me had dimmed and the light in the courtyard was shining in his eyes, he could see me.

Then Fantasy Man pushed into me in a slow, sensual stroke and everything vanished with the incredible feeling of him filling me.

Oh, yes. Oh Great Father, yes. I trembled, overwhelmed by him, his presence, his heat, his cock, and pressed my forehead against my hands, fighting to stand against the onslaught of sensation.

He buried himself all the way and stopped, his breath as ragged as mine, washing over the back of my neck.

“Come here,” he said. “I don’t think either of us will be able to keep standing.” He wrapped a strong arm around my waist and lowered us to the couch thankfully right behind him.

I ended up straddling him, my legs spread wide, and he grasped my hips. His large hands were big enough that he could easily steady me while I rose and fell in rhythm to his thrusts and tease the nub at my entrance.

I mewled and gasped, trying to keep my noises quiet, but I spiraled faster and faster toward an incredible release and it became impossible to concentrate on anything.

Talon’s magic entwined with whatever magic was in the mating marks, and my need roared into an inferno around my heart and in my core as Fantasy Man’s thrusts grew faster and harder.

My breath came in short, sharp gasps and my desire spiraled tighter and tighter and tighter, until I crashed over the edge, stars exploding behind my lids.

I bit my lip, fighting my cry of pleasure, and Fantasy Man thrust fiercely, chasing his own release. He tensed, and with a long, low, masculine groan that sent me soaring to new heights, he came hard inside me.

“Oh wow,” I gasped, the world spinning around me even though my eyes were closed and I couldn’t actually see it moving.

“I told you I’d take care of you, Red,” he said, holding me tight against him.

“I knew you would.” I relaxed against him, a warm comfortable heaviness sinking in me even as my throat tightened with sadness.

This had to be our last time. I couldn’t risk accidentally binding him to me. But Great Father, I didn’t want it to be.

Maybe if I never saw him or never learned his name we wouldn’t be able to accidentally mate. If Talon’s magic was going to continue affecting me along with the mating marks I had in my spirit form, then avoiding all men in the Garden was going to be hard.

I didn’t know if I had it in me to resist the compulsion and I couldn’t risk my will power breaking when I was with someone who’s life I could ruin.

“It’s all right,” he murmured as if he sensed my worries. “Just let it go.”

Except it wouldn’t be all right. I craved him more now than I ever did before.

But the darkness of exhaustion called to me, and I slipped back into my body in the Black Tower, fully satiated, no longer cold from Talon’s magic, but more confused than ever about what I should do about Fantasy Man and the Garden and everything.