“Nice room,” Margot says, turning in a small circle and nodding appreciatively. “Yes, I think I’m going to like it here!”
“You haven’t been in here before?” I ask, pressing the door shut and waving my friend toward the bed as I move to a little cupboard built into the wall next to the fireplace. As I open it, a little table conveniently unfolds from within, creating just enough space to mix a cocktail while the shelves above hold a variety of wine glasses and space for more bottles.
Margot gasps, delighted. “This is so cute!” she says, leaving the cheese plate on the bed and scurrying over to me as I pull out a corkscrew and take the bottle from her hands. “And no, of course I haven’t been here. I wasn’t at court in your days, and Beth was…disinclined towards those of my profession.”
I grin at her, opening the bottle with a pop. &ldq
Auden keeps his eyes on his father, ignoring the Alphas, knowing that this is a briefing, not a discussion. The King bangs his fist twice on the table. What murmurs there are in the room fade to silence.“Our armies will move to the Western border with Venda,” Mahl growls, looking around at his Alphas. “We’ll draw our troops back from the Eastern allies to move in force. We will take our time with this, let the Vendans sweat, think we’re moving slowly because we’re bullying them and intend to call for talks at the last minute. But no talks. We will strike.”It’s Auden’s plan, not Mahl’s – one the Prince dwelled over for hours on the road while the children slept. But the way Mahl speaks it with such confidence, he probably does think that he came up with it by this point.“In the intervening months,” Mahl growls, still looking around at all of his men, “we will celebrate our Kingdom’s power and imminent victory. This celebration will culminate in my wedding.”He gestures over to Everl
I’m about to turn to him and plead to be let go when Margot turns her face to me from across the room and gives her head a subtle shake. I hesitate for just a moment and then pause, considering that she may have a better plan than me.Margot laughs at one final thing an Alpha says before she detaches herself from his arm and saunters over to us, the silk of her dress flowing gorgeously over her hips. Mahl and I watch her come, his arm tightening around me, slipping lower so that his hand grips my ass – probably pretending it’s hers.“Highness,” Margot says, dipping into a curtsy and giving Mahl a coy look. “Thank you so much for this fantastic party –““Of course, Margot. I’m so glad you’re enjoying yourself. Though, I can imagine some ways for you to enjoy yourself more…”Margot smirks at Mahl and turns to me next, murmuring “darling” and reaching for me, pulling me into a hug. As she presses a kiss to my cheek, she whispers, her words falling swiftly from her lips. “Just go – I’ll h
“Are you…are you serious,” I whisper, snatching the pamphlet up and holding it close to my face like getting a better look is going to change the words or something. “He’s…is this true!? Is he coming here!?”“Looks like it,” Margot says. I lower the pamphlet to see her grimacing a little. “I can take it that…you and your ex didn’t leave things on pleasant terms?”I groan, dropping the pamphlet and again burying my face against the blankets. Because…bad terms is not an adequate phrase to encapsulate what happened when I called off my engagement to Alpha Wood.Catastrophe would be better. Brink of war? Threats of eternal damnation and the destruction of my family? Each of those is…closer to the point.“Oh, baby,” Margot murmurs, patting me softly on the back. “What could it possibly matter? You’re going to be a Queen now, and you’ve got Mahl behind you. No one can say a word against you. No matter what Wood says or does, you’re coming out with the upper hand.”I take a deep breath, real
I grin, thinking that they very much would. And that I’d die of anxiety watching them hurl themselves around on it, worried about them falling and breaking their bones.“Does it really get cold enough to freeze it solid like that?” After all, Mahl and his court come south to this winter palace because it’s more temperate than the north.“Oh, I’ve got methods to help it along,” Margot says. I turn back to her and she gives a little wink. “I’m a poor little winter girl at heart. I’ve got my methods of having fun.”I tilt my head, smiling at her, betting that she’s right.“So!” Margot says, giving me a bright smile. “How are you feeling about the Night of the Stag?”I groan again and she laughs.“Honestly, Everleigh,” she murmurs. “Don’t you enjoy anything?”“I enjoy peace, quiet, and…predict
Vivi’s eyes are wide as she watches the chocolate melt slowly in the little copper bowl that Auden holds out over the fire. He uses long tongs to keep the bowl suspended so that the flames just barely lick the bottom. Niall watches closely, his eyes moving between his father’s steady hand and the bowl itself.My daughter stays concentrated on the treat. “Can we eat it yet?”“No!” I say, laughing as I kneel next to Auden, likewise watching, loving this. “It has to get all melty, and then we can add some cream, and then dip the fruit into it –“I gesture over to the plate of fruits that I ordered up to the room, ready and waiting on a towel spread on the floor. Coco lays next to it on a pillow that Vivi set there for him, innocently pretending that he’s not sneaking a strawberry every time we turn our eyes to the fire.“Nooo!” Vivi moans, her hands balled into lit
I settle in next to Auden, handing him the glasses of wine we set on the bedside table forever ago and promptly forgot about.“This is nice,” Auden murmurs, glancing at me before taking a sip of his wine. “I used to do this with my mom. It’s…nice to do this again with them.”Warmth spreads through me at that idea – I love that this little activity lets him relive such a pleasant memory. And again, I wish quite desperately that I could tell him the truth…But. I don’t know. Even after my failure, a big part of me realized that opening that secret to Auden would be very complicated. How would I even convince him that my words were true – that he is their father – if he has absolutely no memory of that night?Would he just…write me off as some kind of madwoman? Or my attempt to convince him of his paternity as some kind of new scheme?I would
Auden narrows his eyes, turning fully to me, his hand tightening on his wine glass. “You can’t seriously think I’d change my mind about this, Everleigh.”I just stare up at him, anger starting to stir in me. “You haven’t let me in on anything –““And the first thing you jump to is that I’ve quit? That says much more about you than about me –““Hey,” I growl, stepping closer, lifting my chin. “There is no reason to make this personal, Auden –““You did that!”“I asked a question! You’re the one who got mean!”He snaps his mouth shut and turns away from me for a moment, looking down at the ground. I exhale slowly, glancing inside, not wanting the kids to have noticed mom and dad fighting. But luckily, they’re still distracted by their treat.Even if Co
Auden looks down at me with a frown. “Seriously?”I frown too, shaking my head. “Yeah, Auden. Seriously.”His confusion increases. “What the hell does that old man have to do with anything?”I laugh. “Auden, he’s younger than your father –““Yeah, but he acts like he’s about eighty. Eighty and content to sit in his tower all day, counting his coins. He’s not a threat, Everleigh – why on earth would we need to talk about him in secret?”“He’s…not a threat?”Auden shrugs. “Wood’s desires always lean towards the largest profit. He’s predictable and easy to appease. Why would you care that he’s here?”A slow smile spreads across my mouth when I realize that…Auden has no idea. But even as I grin my heart sinks because…those first three months of my pregnancy being h
“I’m sorry, little bride,” Mahl murmurs, all grumbly and low and heated. “That I have not had the time for you that I would have wished. This war is…consuming.”“That’s all right,” I say, my voice a little tense as Mahl’s fingers tighten possessively on my flesh. “I…understand. War is…hard?”Pathetic. Pathetic and panicked, that’s all I am.Mahl smirks at me and turns me toward the table, walking forward a step until my rump hits the edge. To my surprise he then lifts me so that I’m seated neatly on the table, my legs spread wide to accommodate the breadth of him between my knees.“My sweet little Queen,” Mahl murmurs, shaking my head like I’m adorable as he leans closer to me - so close I can feel his breath on my face. “Don’t you worry about this war – let daddy handle it –“My eyes do flare a
I push gently at the door to Mahl’s chambers when I hear his deep voice call for me to enter. Immediately my stomach tightens at the sight of him raising his eyes to me over the table spread with papers, maps, and little carvings that must represent his troops.A deep growl rumbles in his chest as his eyes rake over me. I exhale slowly as I step into the room, looking around at the five or so men who have gathered with him. My eyes flash wide and I go completely still when my gaze lands last on a very familiar face.Alpha Wood’s brows draw together. He glares at me from beneath them, a great deal of hate and ire gathering there.Yup. He has…not forgiven me for the disgrace I brought him in flatly refusing to marry him five years ago.“Leave us, men,” Mahl murmurs, low and rough. I snap my gaze back to him, gulping a little, wondering if he saw the look between Wood and I –But the serious way that he stares at me lets me know that
And it’s not nearly as intense as that – Everleigh’s scent is nowhere near as good as Evie’s had been - but certainly this draw to a woman is the strongest he’s experienced since he lost his mate and failed to find her after she vanished.But a series of anonymous women in his bed had helped him still the grief of Evie’s disappearance, though he’d certainly had to fuck his way through half the women in the army camp to free himself of her grip.Maybe…maybe another lover will do the same thing here.“Auden.”He turns at the door, meeting Everleigh’s eyes, gripping the handle hard to pin himself there, to keep from striding back to the bed and grabbing her to him, ripping that ridiculous robe right off her body.“I’m sorry,” she says quietly.He opens his mouth to protest, to say it’s not her fault – because he honestly believes her when she says she didn’t know.“Will you just let me be sorry?” she says, interrupting, her blue eyes hug
Auden swallows hard, his eyes moving over Everleigh as he sits across the bed from her. His eyes take in the way she’s sitting there, all tense and prim, holding that teacup so tight it will probably snap at any second. Wearing that ridiculous robe that she so clearly picked because she thinks it’s not sexy.But it is. Of course it is. Because it’s so obvious – she’s working so hard to cover herself up to in the hopes that he will forget everything that’s beneath that robe. But all it does is make him remember it –The feel of her long smooth limbs beneath his hand, her leg wrapping up around his back –God, fuck – the feel of his cock pressing into her and then pounding deeper again and again, his teeth sinking into her neck - marking her – begging her to call him Alpha, to say he’s hers –Auden closes his eyes, clearing his throat and shoving the memories away.
“Yeah,” I say, sighing hard, the word completely lame and doing absolutely nothing to encompass the full travesty of this situation. But it’s kind of…all I’ve got right now.Auden suddenly spins back to me, reaching out and wrapping a hand tight around my upper arm. I pull against his grip, baring my teeth on instinct.“Did you tell her?” he snarls, giving me a little shake. “You spent all day with Margot – did you tell her!?”“Tell her what!?” I cry, angry at him when he doesn’t loosen his hand. “That I got dream-spanked by the crown prince!?”His mouth falls clear open in shock, his face turning nearly purple with mortification – but his hand loosens and I tug my arm away, stepping back.“No, Auden!” I snap. “Of course I didn’t! I would never do that! This is fucking private, all right!? I’m sorry it happened – I never meant it to – and it was never supposed to! Margot said that the co-dreaming isn’t supposed to happen unless you’re actually in the room with someone else so I don’t
I stand, the kettle hanging lamely from my hand as I slowly walk to the door. But when I get there I don’t open it, instead just…staring up at Auden’s beautiful, desperate face. He stares down at me, slowly starting to shake his head.“Everleigh, let me in,” he demands, his words muffled by the pane of glass between us.I blink, watching him for a moment, considering that…he doesn’t really need to ask to be let in. Today Mahl shattered an entire table with his fist alone and Auden is every bit his son. Less brutal but every bit as powerful - just as physically strong and threatening, should he wish to be.He could break through this glass in a second.And yet here he is, asking me to let him in.He sighs, the breath chased by a frustrated growl. “Would you just let me in?” The words are clipped short by frustration.I stare at him for a moment longer before I lift my hand to the lock, deftly twisting it.I step back as Auden comes into my room, looming over me and looking down into my
But this – this. The truth that we’re attracted to each other, when we’ve worked so hard to pretend we’re not? That we’ve fucking slept together in this dream, which is as good as life –That the sex was so fucking good – god damn earth-shaking sex – not just some stupid drunken quickie with a handsome man –The kind of sex that – that changes things –My face falls. I can’t help it. And slowly I shake my head at him.Because we can’t. We can’t. We – we can’t make that change in our real lives – too much depends on it. Beyond our sanity, the children –He groans, leaning forward, studying me. “This is…this is real, isn’t it?” he whispers, his face falling too. “You’re – you’re really here in my dream – this is some ki
My eyes flare wide as I stare at Auden standing before me.Auden’s narrow. “Why are you so upset?”I clutch the blankets tighter to my chest, my head spinning side to side as I take in the usual dream state – the bed, the breeze lifting the streaming bits of silk from the four posts, the gorgeous night sky above, the rippling shush of the barley all around.Yup, everything precisely the same.Which means that this is in some ways real – that this is actually Auden standing before me – in spirit if not in body.Even though his body is…very real here, in some ways.And we’re going to fucking remember this in the morning.Immediately I shift my clothes, replacing my usual slippy nightdress with a long baggy dress made of rough blue fabric, tight at the wrists and neck.Auden cocks his head. “Why did you do that?”I rais
I shake my head at him. “Don’t do that! You have no right to demand to see the inside of my mouth!”His little lips fall into a terrible frown. “I’m sorry, mama. I was just playing –“My hands loosen immediately and I sigh, shaking my head as I gather him close. “It’s okay, baby,” I whisper. “I’m sorry too. It’s all right, we’ll just forget about it.”He nods against me and my wolf howls her panic, dashing back and forth in my soul.“All right, to bed,” Auden says, reaching for Vivianna, his face still stern and businesslike. Vivi hops up and jumps into his arms, Coco squawking and fluttering to the bed, following his little girl.Niall looks up at me, worried. “We’re not fighting, are we mama?” I snuggle him close. “Me and you?” I give him a big grin. “Not a chance, baby. We’re best friends.”He laughs and then nods, well pleased by that.“Okay, night, mama!” Vivi calls, held high in her papa’s arms and very happy about it. She waves to me, showing no intent of getting down.I sigh