17. Eighteen Maeve

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN: MAEVE

M y eyelids fluttered open, then immediately slammed shut again. Bright light tortured me, pricking the blessed dark with bright orbs.

"Rise and shine, Princess," Blake whispered in my ear.

I moaned and slapped feebly at his chest. "What time is it?"

"After ten," Arthur mumbled from the end of the bed. "That's the best lie in I've had in months. "

I bolted upright. "After ten? We don't have time to lie in bed. We need to talk to Daigh. I've got to try to get hold of Kelly?—"

"Shhhhh." A hand rested on my shoulder. Corbin's voice tickled my lips. "If you're going to meet Daigh, you need to be magically charged."

When he put it like that, with his voice all gravelly and dark...

I leaned back, surrendering my body to their touch. Hands roamed over my naked skin, lighting trails of fire that had lain dormant for too many days. Skin slapped against skin as they tore off their clothes and mine and tossed them on the floor. The spirit magic flared inside me, hot and angry from her slumber, ready to pull in their energy and make it my own.

My eyes fluttered shut and I drew myself into my body, focusing on the sensations of wet lips closing over my nipples. Two tongues swirled around the sensitive buds, drawing up tendrils of fire from inside me. Another set of lips claimed mine, teasing out my tongue.

A head dived between my legs, coarse hair tickling my legs as a tongue thrust inside me. Arthur. He plunged his tongue deep, before moving to pound it against my clit while he slid a finger inside me.

Earth, fire, water, air, spirit – the five pillars of their magic reached inside me, feeding my own flaring heat that swept through my body like a forest fire. Arthur's rhythm on my clit was unrelenting, the machine-gun rapid fire of the heavy metal drumming he loved so much. My body responded, my back arching, the fire inside my burning my limbs into bright light.

The orgasm slammed into me, driving the air from my lungs and forcing my magic out through my body like a sonic boom. I floated in the moment, buoyed up by the pleasure rushing through my veins, before I could return to my body and my bed and the five adoring faces that watched me with a mixture of love (Rowan), bliss (Blake) and satisfaction (Arthur).

"Come to me, Einstein." Flynn pulled me on top of him. "I'm not going to let Arthur rule unchallenged."

My body still flared with warmth. I flung my arm out toward the bedside table, hunting for a condom, before remembering that we'd taken the tests in London. We'd all come back clean. We could do this without a piece of rubber between us, like Blake and I had done the other night.

My grin matched Flynn's as I settled myself on top of his cock and sank down. Skin on skin inside me. It felt amazing .

Flynn gripped my hips and slammed me down on his cock as he drove up inside me. He bit his lip in this totally adorable way as he focused on sending me to the stars and back.

Arthur moved around in front of me, kneeling beside Flynn. I tried to reach his cock with my mouth, but I couldn't quite bend that way. Arthur lifted his leg over Flynn, who pushed him off.

"Is it too much to ask that a fella gets to stare at Maeve's beautiful face instead of your hairy bollix?" he demanded.

Arthur grunted, but he shifted his leg back. He picked up my hand and placed it on his shaft. I tightened my grip and pumped him in time to Flynn's relentless rhythm. Arthur leaned down and claimed my mouth with his.

The familiar coolness of lube dribbled between my cheeks. Blake's fingers slid through the trail and over my back entrance, eliciting a groan from somewhere deep inside me. Flynn slowed his pace so Blake could position himself behind me, his cock rubbing against me. No finger this time – as Flynn drew out, Blake placed the head against my hole and pushed it home. I gasped as he filled me, working his full length inside me.

Blake's teeth dug into my shoulder as he slid all the way in. Flynn grinned up at me. "You're so beautiful when you take us all like this, Einstein." He pushed himself inside me, his cock rubbing along Blake's through the thin wall that separated them. I threw my head back, my breath coming out in hacking gasps as they started a slow, see-sawing rhythm that sent me to the stars.

So tight.

So full.

So perfect.

Something dark fell across Flynn's chest, tickling my throat. I glanced down to see one of Rowan's dreadlocks snaking across his skin. I rolled my head over. Rowan's head rested on the pillow beside Flynn. Corbin lay on top of him. His hand clasped Rowan's, their fingers knitted together, black-and-white. Their bodies moved in time with mine, their eyes darting between each other and then over to me.

"I don't know if I'm okay with this," Flynn frowned at Corbin.

"You'd better get okay with it, or we're kicking your homophobic Irish arse to the curb," Arthur growled.

"Don't tell me you're a prude when you've got another guy's cock practically rubbing against you," I breathed as Blake thrust inside me again.

"That's different. It's all about Maeve." Flynn pinched my nipple and I gasped as a wave of pleasure rolled through me. "That over there is purely selfish."

Flynn tightened his grip on my nipple, just as he and Blake thrust inside me, and I lost control. My fingers clawed at Flynn's chest as my orgasm slammed into me. Rowan's eyes met mine, swimming with joy, and I knew I reflected my own joy back at him.

"See? It makes Maeve happy," Corbin grinned. "How can you be against that?"

Flynn shrugged. "I guess I'm not. Fiddle-le-de." He grinned his compliance before devouring my lips with his own.

The five of us thrust and groaned and moved together, finding the rhythm of our hearts. Arthur shuddered as he came in my hand, squirting his load across my breasts. A few drops landed on Flynn's chest. I expected Flynn to squeal like a pig, but instead he gripped my hips tighter and thrust with renewed vigor, his expression tense and focused and totally adorable.

Blake came next, his body shuddering against mine. "Fuck, Princess," he gasped, his teeth raking my skin as he pulled out and collapsed against the bed. Beside me, Rowan and Corbin locked lips, Corbin holding Rowan tight as his body convulsed with his own orgasm. Seeing them like that, so happy with each other, and knowing the others accepted them and that what we'd created here was a family that loved and understood and gave pleasure selflessly made my heart swell in my chest and my body contract as yet another orgasm ploughed through me, shooting my spirit magic higher and hotter than I'd ever felt it before.

And to think some witches chanted over a cauldron.

As I stepped out from the spiral staircase leading down from my room, I noticed a dark shape standing in front of the mirror in my bathroom, leaning in so close it might've been kissing the glass. A voice murmured words too quiet for me to hear.

My heart thudded in my chest.

Is it Kelly, come back to talk to me?

"Who's there?"

The shape turned and waved a hand through the air. Aline's eyes watered as she met mine. She pulled the dark hood from her head and wiped her hand across her face. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I got bored waiting in the Great Hall by myself."

I wondered if she'd come up to check on me, and the thought of it made me feel both loved, offended, and mortified, especially when I thought about what she might just have heard. "This bathroom is off limits. Use the guest one downstairs in future. What's with the Dracula cloak?"

"Oh." Aline smoothed the fabric down, as if she only just realised she was wearing it. "I found it in a box in the cupboard at the end of the hall. There are a few old things in there from my coven. I used to wear this at rituals sometimes. I thought Daigh might recognise it."

"Good thinking." I stepped closer. "About last night, I'm sorry I snapped at you about the ritual. I was tired and worried about Corbin and I?—"

"Your magic," Aline whispered, her eyes widening. "I can feel it. "

I smiled. "Yeah. Let's just say I'm ready for anything Daigh throws at us."

Aline's eyebrows raised, and she gave me a knowing smile. "You do your ancestors proud, Maeve Moore. And your mother, for what it's worth."

Over a quick breakfast of toasted muesli topped with fresh cream and berries from the garden, Aline explained how we were going to contact Daigh.

I assumed we'd drink the same potion Blake had used to become a temporary shade and enter the underworld, but she shook her head. "This battle is all about power. I don't want to go to where Diagh is powerful. I want him to come to us."

"Hold on. We're currently safe from the fae, and you want to bring them here?"

"Not the fae, just your father. And he won't really be here. This kind of communication is part of my unique spirit magic. I know what I'm doing." She explained the steps of the spell that would open a portal to allow Daigh to talk to us without travelling here to the human realm. I had to admit it sounded like a far safer option.

We packed up our things and left for the sidhe. As I locked the kitchen gate behind us, a raven flew from the parapet above. It's beady yellow eye fixed on mine as it soared into the trees. It stopped on a branch overhanging the path and croaked three times.

Arthur shielded his eyes from the sun as she watched it's graceful arc across the sky. "An omen."

"Good or bad?" Flynn asked.

Aline gave him a sad smile. "Three guesses."

"Bad then." Flynn sighed. "Where's Obelix when you need him?"

"Sunning himself on the first-floor parapets, last I saw him," Corbin said.

"There are no such things as omens," I scoffed. But the bird's piercing eye stayed with me as I followed Aline through the orchard. I imagined it watching me from the trees.

We bypassed the sidhe and gathered behind it, in the shadow of the trees. Corbin had the idea that the villagers might be spying on the field, and we didn't want to give them any more fuel for their persecutions against us. Here there was a large enough clearing to hold our circle and we'd hopefully stay hidden from any prying eyes.

In the centre of the circle, Aline placed a round mirror and a knife. She stepped back between Flynn and Arthur, linking arms to join our chanting while I cast the circle. As soon as our magical protections were raised, she grabbed my hand and drew me into the centre.

"Do you want to do the talking, or should I?"

"He'll be expecting to see me first." I remembered last time I'd spoken to Daigh, how afraid I'd been. I didn't want to show him that same fear today. At least this time was different – I had the pull weight of my spirit magic humming in my veins. "You stay behind me. Don't let him see you at first. We'll use you to catch him off-guard."

"As you wish, daughter of mine." Aline gripped the knife in her hands. She winced as she turned the blade to herself and drew a shape on her skin, a rune. I glanced up at Blake, searching his face for recognition. He nodded, his eyes widening. "That's Daigh's rune," he whispered.

Aline handed me the knife. I stared at her blood coating the blade.

"You have to do it, too," she said.

My hand trembled around the handle as I touched the knife to my skin. As lightly as I could, I drew the blade to copy the lines Aline had done. The cuts stung as the cold air whispered over them, and faint lines of blood spilled over.

"King of the Fairies, Daigh the Chaotic, I call you to me," Aline intoned. She leaned over the mirror, smearing her blood across the glass.

"King of the Fairies, Daigh the Merciful, I call you to me." I copied her, dragging my own arm across the glass. I expected the mirror to feel cool against my hurt skin. Instead, the surface burned. I yelped and whipped my hand away.

From behind my back, Aline touched my shoulder, and a shiver of spirit power flowed through her fingers and jolted down my arm. I added a tiny piece of my own – I didn't want to waste the deep well the guys raised up inside me – and directed the stream of power into the mirror, focusing my will on the face of the fae king. I gasped as a dark mist rose from the surface of the mirror. The mist thickened, becoming long black tendrils, like the fog that seeped from the cracks at the church.

The mists shifted. Daigh's face appeared in the mirror, his emerald eyes wide and searching. The flowers in his crown had wilted, hanging off the twisted vines like the dry skeleton of fall. Instead, jagged bones jutted from the crown – talismans of his dominance in the world of the dead.

My spirit magic tugged at me, drawing me closer to him, holding me in his sway. The power he exuded even through the mirror terrified me. It took all my will not to sink back behind Aline and let her face him alone.

"My daughter, we meet again." His tongue flicked out and licked along his lips. I wanted to throw up.

"Hi. I actually don't want to talk to you, since you're trying to kill my coven and bring the dead back to life to terrorise the world and all. But I figured since you're doing this all the name of some new utopia you foolishly believe is going to happen, I'd better set you straight on a few matters."

"I know you've seen the vision," Daigh said. "You know that we are victorious. This castle crumbles to dust, and all the witches who stand around you burn at the stake."

Behind me, I heard a gasp. I guess the guys know about the vision now.

"You got the vision right, but you extrapolated your victory from it, and you got it wrong. That future is not your world. It will be Liah's."

Daigh snorted. "Liah is one of my most loyal fae."

"Is she? Or is she the fae plotting to steal your crown?" I pressed. "Liah knows that this battle your fighting isn't about returning the fae to their rightful realm or freeing the ghosts of long-felled trees. She knows you've dragged the fae to ruin for your selfish desires."

"And what desire is this?"

"You want your family back," I said. "You want to be a part of a family again. That's why you want me to join you. It's got nothing to do with my power. It's because I'm Aline's daughter, and you loved her."

"You've been reading too many fairy stories, daughter." Daigh laughed. "The fae do not love, least of all the Unseelie. Blake will tell you. I was nothing but cruel to him."

"What about his fae day?" I asked.

Daigh opened his mouth, and shut it again.

"If love is a weakness, then you're the weakest fae of all. You're losing them, Father ," I grinned. "If Liah gets the other fae on her side, she'll never allow you to have what you truly desire. And she's already turning them. After all, her vision is purer than yours."

"If you called me here to gloat over some victory, then you call is premature."

"I called you because I think we can help each other. I think there's a way we can both get what we want, and no one has to die. Mostly, I called you because I met someone who wants to say hi." I stepped aside, giving Daigh his first look at Aline since the night she banished him back to the fae realm.

His reaction was… interesting . His expression remained the same – stony, ethereal. But he blinked . That blink said more than a gasp or a frown ever could.

"Hello, Daigh," Aline flipped her wavy hair over her shoulder and smiled that kind smile of hers and gave him a little wave.

"This is a trick," he growled.

"I am no trick." Aline slid her hands over her hips in a suggestive way. "I am flesh and blood again."

Daigh laughed. "Nice try. You're Blake wearing a glamour. You can't fool me."

Blake stepped forward so he stood between Aline and I. He wrapped his fingers around my hand. With his other hand, he gave Daigh the finger. Flynn must've taught him that.

I grinned. "No glamour. Here's Blake, and this is Aline."

Daigh's eyes widened. "You can't be real."

"I am."

"You told me that you and my mother had a single…" I searched for the right word. "Dalliance, down by the sidhe. But that's not true. You were compelling Robert Smithers for months and months. You tricked her into sleeping with you, into creating a binding. Why didn't you say that before?"

"Fae lie." he smiled, but the smile was thin. I wondered, did he not tell me because he wanted me to think well of him? That was also interesting .

"They do lie," I grinned. "You were in love with Aline here. You just can't admit it to yourself."

"How is this possible?"

Aline stepped forward. "During the ritual all those years ago, Robert Smithers sensed that you were trying to take me away with you, away from him, and so he used his own magic to trap me inside your portrait. I've lived there as pigment and spirit for twenty-one years, until our daughter freed me."

Daigh's eyes darted to mine. "But…how did you know of this?"

"I figured it out. It wasn't hard, given the evidence." I folded my arms. "The same way you figured out I was alive from the fae realm and sent your prince Kalen to kill my family and rob me of my scholarship."

"That was necessary to reunite us. I'm your father. We are blood." His eyes flicked to Aline again. "And now that Aline's returned, it's all perfect. We can be together in the new world we build."

"You killed my parents," I spat back at him. "If you think inhabiting someone else's head while his sperm impregnates an egg makes you my father, than you don't know anything about human genetics, either."

"We are bound magically. Our stories tell of a binding where our magic?—"

"I know what the stories say, but human science has moved beyond your fairy tales. Genetic traits are passed on through chromosomes from the sperm and egg. You being inside Robert's head has nothing to do with that process. According to the science, you're not my father at all."

"Your science is flawed."

"There's an easy way to find out. There's a test we can do to determine whether you and I share any genetic material. All I'd need was a sample of your blood and I could have an answer in a couple of days from a certified lab. No cheating. No lies. I'm betting it's going to give a false result, because there's just no way we're related. But if it comes back true…"

Aline squeezed my arm. "Our daughter has every right to be angry. I remember what you said to me once – anger is just the other side of love."

I glared at her. Daigh told her that line she fed me? She'd better not be trying to suggest I loved Daigh, because that was not a thing.

Aline threw her arm around me. "Our daughter's very clever. She's explained this genetics thing to me, and I think she's right. I can't see how you can possibly be her real father."

Daigh drew a blade from his belt. His smile never left his face as he dragged the knife over his skin. My stomach turned as I imagined Arthur doing the same thing. A thin line of green blood spilled from the wound.

Daigh tossed the knife at the mirror. The glass shattered as the blade drove through it flew through the air. I froze as it sailed for my head. Arthur reached out and grabbed the handle.

"Keep that safe," I told him. "Don't let the blade touch anything else. Corbin's got a ziploc bag." Corbin stepped forward with a bag held open and Arthur dropped the blade inside.

"Was that all you wanted, daughter?" Daigh asked, his expression smug.

Aline looked at me for permission. I nodded. We might as well give it a shot.

"We propose an alliance," she said.

"An alliance with humans? How intriguing, especially considering your pathetic race is only days away from extinction at the hands of your own dead."

"We're not worried about the Slaugh," I said. "Aline stopped you once before, and this time we have a powerful weapon on our side – one you couldn't even conceive of."

"I think you're talking out of your arse, daughter." Daigh's eyes flicked over mine. I knew I had to hold his gaze at all costs. If I looked away, if I blinked, he'd never believe me.

"I know it's hard for you fae, but look at this logically . You've seen me dreamwalk into your realm. You now know I can bring the dead back to life. You tried to hurt my coven in the church, but I saved them all. I'm more powerful than you can imagine, and I haven't even got started yet. If you hurt anyone else I care about, you will find out what I'm capable of."

"These are empty threats," Daigh waved his hand as if he was flicking away a bug. Blake squeezed my hand. His dark eyes burned into mine.

You've got him, Princess. Blake's voice landed in my head. He's worried. I can see it.

"It's your prerogative to believe that. You can come at me with the Slaugh and be beaten back and have the fae turn on you and tear you limb from limb and devour your bones while they praise Liah's name." I shrugged. "It's all the same to me. You're not my father. I'm just offering you an alternative."

"Which is?"

"You call off the Slaugh and return the fae to Tir Na Nog . We will direct our weapon to destroying Liah and her faction of dissidents. You will rule the fae unopposed."

"Apart from my life, what's in this for me?" Daigh narrowed his eyes. "What good is a kingdom inside an iron box?"

"In return, we will give you back the wild places of the earth," Aline said. "We will throw open the gateway so the fae can return to dwell in the forests and on the glades and in the caves and upon the meadows. You will have dominion in these places, the only rule imposed on you that you may not harm a human."

"That doesn't sound like any fun."

"Fun is where you find it," Aline smiled at Daigh.

I glanced up at Aline. Could we really make an agreement like that, one that concerned the whole world, without consulting anyone?

Daigh threw his head back. "Why would I take this sorry deal, when in a few days I will have the entire world at my mercy?"

"Because this way you get exactly what you want – what you claimed this battle was all about." An idea popped into my head. I can't believe I never thought of this before. I pressed on. "I know Blake told you about the rest of the vision – the burned and cracked earth, the sky on fire, the air poison in your lungs. Do you know what that is? It's a nuclear weapon – it will turn the earth into an uninhabitable wasteland for at least five-thousand years. It's what the humans will hit you with once they see the Slaugh coming. I know fae live a long time, but can you really wait five thousand years before you ever hope to see a forest again?"

Nice one, Princess.

I know. I cast my mind back to the dream that had haunted me for so many nights. I'd been focusing on the stakes, I hadn't even considered the ruined landscape. Now that the idea had occurred to me, I knew I'd guessed correctly. The fae didn't have the power to do that kind of damage – and even if they did, they couldn't turn it against the natural world. I highly doubted it was the hand of a witch. No, it was the kind of destruction only humans were capable of.

"As dramatic as your tale is, I think I'll take my chances." Daigh swivelled his gaze to Blake. "You shouldn't have left, Prince. You chose the losing side."

"I think you did, old man."

"You will join me before this is over, daughter," Daigh flashed me that cold smile of his. "We will be a family. You will see."

A black cloud rose from the sherd, tendrils swirling around us. Aline shoved me back just as one reached for my ankle.

Daigh's face disappeared into the black mist. The mirror shattered to pieces. I fell to my knees, my stomach lurching as his cold, cruel laugh rose from the mirror and echoed through the wood.