Page 22 of Brutal Fae King (Dark Faevea King #1)

The void rings in its utter silence. I have been walking in this abyss for a long time. There’s nothing to see and nothing to hear. Nothing to set off any of my bodily senses, actually.

Am I dead?

I’m not sure. I do not know where I am or where I am going. I just know that I move.

That is… until I feel something warm. It’s like a ribbon of soft, unburning flame has wound around my body—bringing back the feeling of my body.

It has wound around me from behind and then tightens and pulls on me. A gentle pull. A guide.

Then—

“Vicmar!”

Ebelor?

“Vicmar!”

It is! It is her!

I turn and begin moving toward where I’m hearing her voice, where the warmth is leading me. As I walk, I start to see. A bright glow starts lighting up my vision. But as I get closer and closer, a pain in my right side starts getting more intense. Soon, keeping myself moving is a struggle. A large part of me wants to retreat back into the blackness, where there’s no pain.

Ebelor is on the other side, though.

I keep stumbling on. The pain gets worse… and worse…

***

I open my eyes, and the first thing I’m aware of is the smell of her hair. I open my eyes and Ebelor is curled up next to me. There’s a duvet folded between her—we’re in bed together.

In bed…

Why are we in bed? What about the battle?

I start to sit up.

“Lie down. You’re probably very weak.”

That’s Bruamin!

I look up further. Bruamin is there, but so seems to be half the castle staff. Even the witch is here, looking over me with great interest.

“I’m okay, Bruamin,” another voice pipes up. “I’m not getting up.”

My heart gives a large jolt—it’s her voice!

Bruamin sees my expression and grins.

“Apologies, My Queen,” he replies to her. “But I wasn’t talking to you.”

I put a hand on Ebelor’s shoulder. She flinches from under my hand and whips around at me. Her eyes widen for a moment, and then her entire face brightens up. A huge smile spreads across her lips, and her eyes twinkle.

“You’re awake!” she chirps.

I can’t help but grin back at her.

“Somehow…” I reply quietly. “Although the last thing I remember was falling, stabbed in the stomach…”

I’m coming more to awareness. Everything is falling into place.

“And lightning! What happened? What happened to Dralis? And the army at the foot of the keep?”

I scan my eyes around, looking at everyone’s faces. But no one looks pained or in fear. Bruamin clears his throat, drawing my attention.

“Bruamin?”

“I’m sure your queen can explain everything in perfectly sufficient detail,” he says reassuringly. “But as for now, rest assured that the battle is won for now.”

Oh, thank the gods. I know when Bruamin doesn’t mince words about such things.

“That’s a relief,” I reply.

I look back down to Ebelor. Her petite, pixie-like face smiles at me. Soft rose pink lips…

A hooded, relaxed, desirous gaze looking at me. So beautiful…

And… she saved my life… somehow.

I want to ask her what’s going on—and… perhaps…

“Leave us,” I order them. “We need to talk.”

Ebelor glares at me.

That’s right. She hates it when I order them like that…

“If you please,” I add.

They all start walking out, Bruamin bringing up the rear. He closes the door, and it’s Ebelor and I. But she turns over and rubs her stomach with the lightest groan.

“Are you okay?” I ask worriedly.

“Yes…” she murmurs. “I used our bond to transfer a portion of your injury to me. I’ll be all right.”

I stare at her. She’s done even more for me than I thought…

“You… did that for me?” I ask.

Ebelor shrugs.

“Why?” I press. “Why would you do that for me?”

She doesn’t say anything for a moment. She looks around the room with her beautiful green eyes before she sucks in a small breath and looks back at me.

“I-I care about you,” she says quietly.

Why? I want to press more, but… I don’t want to know the answer. Instead, I just gently wrap my arms around her and bring her into my chest. She sighs and relaxes into me as well.

After a few seconds, I murmur:

“And I remember Dralis was struck by lightning after our fight. You saved me.”

Ebelor laughs gently.

“Well…” She says. “I couldn’t just leave you out there.”

“How did you cause lightning from the secure room?” I ask. “I had no idea you could summon lightning that far away.”

But her eyes duck down, and I get a sinking feeling.

“Ebelor?”

“Um… we never made it to the secure room,” she answers.

That hollow feeling gets even worse.

“What do you mean?”

“Dralis found us first,” she replies.

My heart jolts when I hear it.

“B-but you never left the castle?!” I exclaim. “Dralis teleported inside the castle?!”

“He did,” she murmurs. “And h-he took me to a tent outside the castle. H-he…” She drops her gaze. “He had me in some kind of illusion and—”

She chokes a little and trails off. I rub her shoulder, but that just makes her flinch.

“He kissed me,” she whispers. “And… I’m not sure I didn’t kiss him back. I’m so sorry.”

I just nod. She rubs her mouth with her hands, tears filling her eyes.

After a pause, she begs:

“Say something, please!”

“It doesn’t surprise me,” I answer. “That sounds exactly like the type of thing Dralis would do—try to get his hands on the lost heir… I didn’t think he’d try to do that, though.”

“Are… you not angry that I kissed him?” she asks.

“If you’d truly betrayed me in that way, then the bond would have killed us both,” I answer. “You said you were kept in an illusion, and Dralis’s expertise is to make someone think something is real when it’s not. Including kissing, if he wanted. I’m just sorry I underestimated him—I genuinely didn’t know he could teleport into the castle.”

I put a hand on her sweet face, and she leans her face against my hand, still crying lightly. When a tear gets close to my thumb, I sweep it across, taking the salt water with it.

“You know what surprises me?” I chuckle. “It’s the fact that you’re so upset that you possibly betrayed our marriage like that. I didn’t even know you cared.”

Ebelor opens and closes her mouth, then shrugs lightly.

I run my hand up and down her face.

“Thank you, Ebelor,” I say. “Thank you for saving my life and thank you for caring. That makes me happier than you could ever know.”

She smiles tearfully. I lean up and embrace her softly. She pulls herself into me and nestles her sweet lips into my neck. A delightful chill runs down me. Finally, she laughs a little.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Whilst you’re thanking me,” Ebelor says, leaning back with a cheeky smile, “you also need to thank me for casting a ring of lightning around the castle and scaring Dralis’s army away. Oh, and spending a year of my life to get the witch to bring you back to the castle when you were injured.”

I flinch.

“What?!” I shout. “You spent a year of your life?! Why would you do that?!”

“To save your life,” she answers.

I suck in a giant breath—I have so much to tell her about what a bad idea that is—but in the end, I just release it.

“Thank you, Ebelor.”

She smiles. She pulls herself into me again, her legs settling on either side of my hips. Again, another sharp chill through me. Her lips move down to my ear.

“I like you so much better now you’re not playing the Cruel King charade anymore,” she whispers.

I laugh at the back of my throat. My hands run up and down her back.

“You know…” She breathes. “Dralis really tried with me. But all he could do to make me want him is to make himself remind me of you.”

I laugh gently.

“Oh, really,” I purr. “Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it?”

Ebelor’s soft lips press a kiss on the side of my jaw.

“I prefer the real thing, though,” she murmurs. “The real king. ”

Another delicious shiver as her hips grind on mine. I’m quickly hardening under her, and I’m sure she can tell. She laughs delicately and grinds her hips into me some more.

Oh, yes.

A moan boils in the back of my throat before I let it out. She matches my moan lightly. I tighten my grip on her and start to lean forward, easing her backward, toward the back of the bed and—

Ebelor shakes herself from our embrace suddenly.

“Ah—no! Not like that!”

“Why not?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”

“I…” She pauses, then says. “I don’t want to be… pinned underneath you right now. Dralis…He…

She trails off, but I put the pieces together quickly and lean back.

“Ebelor... He didn’t-?!”

“I’m okay.” She says quickly, “He just scared me.”

“I don’t want to scare you too. I-” But she cuts me off by putting a hand on my chest.

“I know. And I didn’t say stop. I just… want to know I’m safe.” She says.

“You are with me. Always.”

“Good.” She flashes me a wicked grin and pushes on my chest, “Because You’re going down this time,” she purrs, “I want to see you melt!”

My body shudders in her voice. I’ve never had a woman demand things of me like that.

But a throaty laugh escapes me.

“You’re giving me orders now?” I tease.

“I’m your wife,” she answers back. “I’m the only one who can. ”

She gets closer. Her soft mouth plants another few kisses on my jaw, on my neck. Every moment of contact sends another wave of electricity down me. A small groan of delight escapes me.

“Besides,” Ebelor murmurs against my skin, “you said I saved you. Aren’t I owed gratitude? Isn’t this how that works?”

I laugh—but she leans down and clasps my shaft loosely in her soft little hand, and that laugh blends into a moan. Ebelor leans against my chest, and I feel her breasts push up against my chest, her hardened nipples poking into me. Hot pleasure pulses through my stomach. She keeps pushing her petite little body against mine, and I shuffle down until I’m on my back. Ebelor slides herself up my body. Her thighs drag over me, either side of my hips, as she slowly grinds onto me. I’m already squirming, her hand slowly working up and down my length. I gasp. She gives me the most desirous grin, and then presses her fingertips into my chest. The sparks crash through me, my muscles clenching and unclenching, flashes behind my vision – but every spark sends a bolt of sweet adrenaline cascading through me, mingling together with the pleasure to create something sensational .

I let my head fall back and I let the moan spill out. My eyes are closed, but I hear her giggle, a sweet sigh of pleasure leaving her lips as well. I reach forward to touch her, but her thick dress is in the way. I try to work my hands under its hem, but from this position, I can’t. But Ebelor gently moves my hands aside, settling herself over me, and once she has her balance, she bunches up her dress and then pulls it over her head. Her beautiful breasts are freed, the glorious orbs released, her light brown nipples getting even more erect in the air.

They’re so amazing.

I lean up a little, and my mouth finds the nipples, just like I know she likes. I toggle the hard little jewels with my tongue. Ebelor gives a yelp of pleasure, and her fingernails rake down my wings. The warm trail of light pain sends another shocking bolt of arousal up me. I grunt as she does, releasing her breast from my lips. I can feel the sparks of power as they dance up and down her body – rattling inside her, from just under her skin, touching mine in sharp, pleasurable little stings.

Then, Ebelor grabs my shaft more firmly—almost too hard. I open my eyes as slits. I watch her bite the corner of her lip in arousal as she lowers herself onto me. I fight the urge to thrust on my own as I feel her warm, tight little body wraps around me.

I settle for my hands snapping to her hips, crawling down until I have a thick handful of her buttocks in each hand. Ebelor gives a breathy moan, and then I feel her lean back. I feel her rock up, the drag of her body shuddering through me.

Oh, gods! Yes!

She bounces up, and the pleasure crackles through me. The powers inside her sinks into me – those sharp sparks crackling through me in delicious pain as we join. She moans, and the sound of her pleasure almost pushes me over the edge. It builds; I can feel it inside me. I sink my fingers into her, and she grips my wings in return. Feeling her touch my wings—it’s like she’s draping her tongue over the inside of my thighs. So sensitive. So good!

It builds more. The orgasm is coming; I can feel it. With every bounce, a breathless moan escapes her—a melodic song of pleasure. It controls me, that sound. A sweet, whimpering utterance, a begging. I feel like I have to answer her call.

With every moan she gives, the encroaching orgasm shudders in thick, hot waves through my body.

Oh—I-I-!

White fire bleaches my gaze as I orgasm. My hands grab her by the hips as I fill her with my seed. She melts onto my hips with a loud cry, her head throwing back as she orgasms as well.

After a moment, she folds forward, resting her hands on my chest. I’m trying to catch my breath despite her weight on me. It's not working, and I surge up and grab her.

“Vicmar!” she giggles.

I turn over, taking her with me until I’m spooning her. She titters breathlessly, taking hold of my arms around her with her little hands.

“Look at that!” she laughs. “I did what no one else ever could!”

“And that is?”

“I took down the Cruel King!” she giggles.

I laugh back. I dip in and give her neck a little nibble.

“Maybe you won this battle—but you won’t win this war!” I growl playfully.

She nuzzles her face into my arms.

“Stay with me,” I say. “We both got horribly injured, so we ought to stay here until we feel better.” I pull her even tighter around me. “Entirely better.”

“I’d like that,” she murmurs, but I think she’s already falling asleep in my arms.

I take a look at her, all curled up in my arms, and I am genuinely shocked by how happy I am.