Fae High Summer Hunt (6 page)

Cruel, but that was Titania. She came up with the most excruciating punishments.

The Queen looked over her statue-still minions. “Somewhere amongst this throng is a traitor. Find him or her, Baylor. Bring him to me. I will slice out his tongue for uttering treasonous words and rip out his heart for his disloyalty. Your Naeme will serve as one of my ladies-in-waiting for the next year.” With her skirts swirling around her, Titania glided from the room. Oberon shot Naeme a speculative glance before he followed in his wife’s fragrant wake.

An entire year under Titania’s thumb—Naeme’s life wouldn’t be worth living.

“Don’t look so glum, lovey. You can stay. Think of all the fun we’ll have.” Valen lifted her up and spun her around.

When Valen set her down on her feet, she griped, “Fun! That harpy will make my life hell. Besides, I am claimed. We can’t play without Baylor’s permission.”

“He wouldn’t be so selfish.” Valen sent him an admonishing glower.

“Wouldn’t I?” Baylor wrapped his arm around her waist and whisked her away from Valen. Naeme laughed at the distress on Valen’s face.

One lover for an entire year? This was a first for her, something she had never considered. But then Baylor was no ordinary Fae.

Chapter Eight

“Must you be so uncivilised?” Naeme glanced over her shoulder, a pang in her chest, as the dancing resumed. She yearned for a bit of gaiety. All the man thought about was his responsibilities. He was Fae, by the Great Orb’s sake, where was his sense of fun? How could she have imagined for one moment that she could spend any length of time with Baylor?

“You haven’t seen uncivilised yet. Don’t you think it’s strange that Puck’s absent?”

“So? He is a satyr. Their preferred activity is to roam the forests chasing every maiden they can lay hands on.”

He dragged her along. Her annoyance at not being given the time to acknowledge the greetings of her friends, past suitors and a few former lovers was growing.

“He’s one of Titania’s pets, he is rarely far from her side—odd bit of coincidence, isn’t it?”

Naeme stumbled when his implication sank in. “You don’t believe he’d betray us? Her? Puck adores the Queen.” She shook her head emphatically. “I don’t believe it. He is harmless.”

“Just because satyrs live to drink and fuck doesn’t mean they can’t be tempted. Especially if someone plants the idea in their head, offers them the right incentive and eggs them on to act.”

Baylor guided her through an unfamiliar corridor. Her curiosity pricked, Naeme studied the area around her. She had never known that anywhere within Titania’s domain could be so bare.

“Well, we understand the Frost Queen’s motives—she resents the jubilations every living creature feels when summer arrives, the time of rebirth and renewal. But why would the satyrs join forces with her?” She wiggled to dislodge the hand he’d planted at the base of her spine. She felt a relentless force sweep her forward.

Baylor halted before a wooden panel, dull and dingy with grime. Didn’t the housecleaning spells work down here? He placed his hand on the wall. It rippled and thinned until it turned translucent. He pulled her over the threshold and the barrier solidified again.

The room he’d all but yanked her into was spartan at best—no shades of pastel, neither silk nor satin to soften the room. The forest-green drapery and bedding with the dark, rich, burled wood should be dull as mud, but it intimated strength and purposefulness. Like Baylor.

He shrugged and his armour disappeared, leaving him clad in a loincloth. Her eyes skimmed down his chest and settled on his groin. Well, maybe she could learn to live in the room if he walked around dressed like that all the time.

“Tell me about this Panos you spoke of.” The quiet tone of his voice had her turning to face him. He studied her with a probing intensity that made her shift with unease.

“What more is there to tell? He was the satyr I kept company with to while away the time.” She frowned. “He was at the battle but stood on the sidelines while his brothers fought.”

“The satyrs fight as a collective. He should’ve been in the midst of the skirmish. You said he acted strangely when you took your leave of him—how exactly did he react?”

“He said I was his, and he would keep me.” Repeating Panos’ declaration, Naeme heard the uncharacteristic possessiveness in the words. “What are you thinking, Baylor?” She had a feeling that Panos was the root of her memory lapses.

“Presumptuous of him. I say we find Puck.”

With a pop, a nude Valen manifested before them. “What—?” He spun around, nonplussed by his sudden relocation. “Couldn’t you have waited five minutes?”

Unsympathetic to Valen’s disgruntlement Baylor returned his glare with one of cool indifference. “Is that all the time you need? Then I can send you back, I have a few moments to spare.”

“The mood is lost. Why have you dragged me to this dreary place? Where are we anyway?” Like Naeme had earlier, Valen surveyed the room and by the disdain on his face, he found the décor not at all to his taste.

“These are my private quarters.” Baylor’s terse reply didn’t deter Valen from looking his fill.

Valen’s jaundiced glance skimmed over the room. “Do you ever try to futter a woman here? This place would banish any amorous thoughts.”

“I never bring women here. There is no need for everyone to know where I lay my head at night.”

“Don’t you now?” Valen shot Naeme a knowing smirk. “What have we done to earn this privilege?”

“I have a need for secrecy and oddly I trust you both. Tomorrow I want to scout the forests but appear to obey the Queen’s edict. Since I’ve been ordered not to leave Havenglade, I need you to do something for me.”

“How may I be of service?” Valen shot Baylor a sexy grin and flexed his pelvis, which made his cock bob in the air.

Baylor fixed Valen with a hard glower. “Will you put that thing away?”

“Killjoy, I thought you were finally going to give me a little nibble.” Valen sighed. “Is he as tasty as he looks, Naeme?” Valen was trying to needle Baylor, who was ignoring his overtures.

“Oh, what little I did taste of him was good, but I am hoping to get a bigger bite later.” Her reply earned her a sharp look promising reprisals from Baylor. He was so easy to irk and temper gave rise to passion. She couldn’t wait to see how far she could drive him. She gave him a sunny smile, which seemed to rouse a wariness in him.

“Ohh, so you haven’t done that thing I taught you, where you wrap your tongue around the head of his cock?” Valen asked, as always interested in the details of anything carnal. A shared interest, she admitted to herself.

“Could we focus on the fact that the Queen is going to throw open our doors to every lordling to watch our ritual loving?” Snapped out like a lash, Baylor’s statement brought them back to reality. “Adding to the problems I anticipate is the fact that our
guests
may or may not be allowed to participate. It’ll breed envy, add fuel to the dissent that’s being cultivated amongst our neighbours.”

The teasing gleam in Valen’s eyes died. He garbed himself in sky-blue velvet with silver piping, his demeanour serious. “Yes, we’ll be at a disadvantage since we’ll all have our pants down around our ankles. It’s hard to defend Queen, home and heart if you don’t have a weapon to hand. At least not one you can use to spar with. What do you need of me?”

“I need you to find Puck.”

“Done, but how will you cover my absence? Oberon is bound to notice.”

Baylor shook his head in denial. “Oberon doesn’t like it when Titania is unhappy. The Queen’s furious. When that happens we all live on tenterhooks.” He bared his teeth, his expression flattened, turned icy. “I have my orders from both our sovereigns, spoken and unspoken. The King expects me to use any and every resource to remove any threats. You are one of those tools.”

“Nice, like a hammer or shovel. And what will you be doing while I’m off to the hinterlands?”

“I’ll be paying assiduous court to our Naeme here at the priming salons, readying ourselves for the gathering. At the same time, I’ll seek to find out if there’s any real plot to dethrone the Queen.”

“Talented as you are, Baylor, not even you can fuck and hunt at the same time.” She wasn’t sure how he meant to carry out his plans. The salons were just a precursor to the sex, which would take place on the night of the full moon.

“Do you know what my alter name is?” Baylor inquired.

Puzzled as to why he’d ask such an odd question, she frowned at him. “Ahh, no, of course not.” Only one’s most intimate companions were privy to that information.

“It is Janus.” With his lips twisted into a grimace, Baylor split into two men.

Naeme’s mouth dropped open. “By the Great Orb of the moon, a Gemini. You are not supposed to exist.”

“We are creatures of myth and magic, Naeme. With us all things are possible. The ability is my most useful weapon. I hope you will guard my secret well.” Both men spoke, the timbre of their voices identical. It was unsettling to say the least.

As if anybody would believe her.

“Well, what an enchanting surprise. Does Naeme get to play with both of you? Because if she won’t I would.” Always irrepressible, Valen chimed in, ogling both men with equal interest.

“Get me what I want, Valen—I may just let you.” One of the Baylors spoke.

And with an exaggerated shudder of anticipation Valen poofed out of the room, leaving her still gaping at dual Baylors.

With Valen’s departure Naeme found herself left with two familiar strangers. Feeling an unusual skittishness, she took a veiled glance from under her lashes at the two of them. Her eyes widened at what she read in their expressions.

The blatant hunger she saw in their eyes had her flustered. She took a step back and they moved with a predatory grace to flank her. She was cautious, but the imp in her filled her mind with the possibilities. Baylor times two, his virility and stamina doubled—it begged to be explored.

She licked her lips, not from nervousness, but from a sudden rush of desire. “Don’t you have duties to perform?”

“The Queen hasn’t returned to the ballroom. Oberon is with her, so unless she calls me to her side I don’t need to attend to her. I have planted instructions in my most trusted lieutenants’ minds to watch and listen for any significant activities that seem suspicious.” They gave her a teasing smile. “No reason why we can’t linger here for a short while.”

“That’s not like you to leave such an important undertaking in your subordinates’ hands.”

“My absence will be noted, true, but as I said I have my eyes and ears in place.” Both men inched closer. Her body reacted to the heat emanating from their bodies, softening, preparing itself for sex. Her breasts felt weighted down. The tissues in the cleft between her thighs pulsed and dampened with that sweet painful ache that accompanied arousal.

“You know there are still things I want to do that I haven’t done. For obvious reasons, I couldn’t reveal my ability to just all and sundry. So I’ll grasp the opportunity to indulge in two unfulfilled desires.” His fingers slid under her hair and caressed the sensitive skin on her nape. A hand cupped her tit and pinched her taut nipple. A bliss-filled shudder racked her body, and she braced her hands on the chests of the men on either side of her to steady herself.

“And what would that be?” she asked facetiously, her voice raspy.

Two very hard bulges pressed into her hips, hot fragrant breath eddied over her earlobes and Naeme’s body grew tense with carnal expectancy. “In this dual incarnation I want to fuck you while I suck your succulent clit. You can suckle on my shaft as you ride me at the same time. I will feel it all because after all I am one man. I should warn you, though, my needs are twofold what they usually are, and they take twice as long to sate.”

Naeme’s breath hitched in her throat. She couldn’t tell if it was from the lack of air or the images that Baylor’s words etched into her mind.

She’d taken more than one lover to her bed before, but it had never evoked such virulent passion in her. A fever of lust raced through her. She could deny him nothing, and no demand would be too outrageous. To do so would be to deprive herself of a unique experience.

“Will you grant me a small boon and help realise my wish?” His seductive voice put her on the cusp of enthrallment. A wide palm cupped her ass, her mons cradled in another. Blunt fingers pressed into her moist flesh.

Naeme’s lips twitched. She swallowed the lump in her throat to choose her words carefully. “Well, whatever I can do to help you.”

Masculine laughter rumbled above her ears, a little smug, a lot satisfied. “Then we’d best get started.”

Naeme lifted her hands to stay their actions. “Shouldn’t we wait until the Queen has retired for the night? I’d hate to begin only to have an untimely interruption.”

“I know Titania’s moods, she’s sulking. Since our current crisis is of Oberon’s making she’ll make him grovel a bit before she deigns to forgive him. They both thrive on the tempests they create. Now where were we?” He crowded her to force her backwards, until the backs of her legs hit the bed.

Sent off kilter, she stumbled and dropped onto her back with her calves dangling off the mattress. The duo fell on her. With no regard for her gown’s finely crafted material, they dragged her bodice down to her waist. Her breasts were immediately taken in hand, eager lips covering the nipples and drawing them into their mouths with a greedy rapaciousness.

Naeme wrapped her arms around both dark heads, held them close and gave herself over to the sensations swamping her. The tug and release on her breasts sent sharp pleasure-driven ripples down her belly and into her core. Her hungry puss clenched and relaxed reflexively, working the muscles within her channel, giving her some measure of gratification.

The men bundled her skirts up over her hips, grasped her legs and slung her calves over their hips. She was wide open and positioned for any urge they wished to fulfil.

Callused hands slid up her inner thighs. Tiny goosebumps rose on her delicate skin. They teased her folds until, unable to help herself, she wiggled her hips, striving to draw their attention to the centre of her arousal. Any small caress would give her a little surcease. She let out a relieved sigh when one set of fingers peeled her folds back, while a different set of digits fondled her clit, labia, and teasingly circled her core.