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Chapter thirty-two

Roisin

B randon was right. I couldn’t consider anything that I’d done as a mistake because it had resulted in him becoming a Fae. In him being my fated mate. We dressed and hurried outside. What I had in mind would take a wide-open space to perform.

I had it in my blood. I just had to tap into the power of the Sirens.

We walked back to the fountain. Inside, the ice sculptures of Mother and Father were twitching, their powers too great to be held forever by my magic. Could they see Brandon and me through the ice? Their eyes were open, and I was suddenly glad we’d had sex in the library where there was no one around.

“What’s the plan?” Brandon asked.

“Singing.”

“Singing?”

“Downstairs, when I made that noise,” I whispered. “I cracked the ice.”

His eyes lit with understanding.

“My Fae powers create ice, but the Siren powers in my blood cracked it downstairs.”

“It’s worth a shot, otherwise we’ll need an enormous flamethrower to reheat Earth,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood in the way he always did with his teasing ways.

“What is a flamethrower?”

“One day I’ll show you all Earth offers.”

“And I’ll show you the Summer Court and all its magical beauty.”

“I need to go back to the Winter Court and talk to my father, too.”

“Of course. I’d like to visit the Autumn Court and my Siren relatives, too.”

“We’re going to have a lot of traveling in our future.”

“We are,” I said. “Will we ever settle?”

“You’re my home. Wherever you are, then that’s good enough for me.”

I pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Good enough for me too. Besides, who wants to live forever in one place?”

Brandon laughed. “You lived fifty years in the Summer Court.”

“True, but I didn’t have a choice. Now we do. All of us do.”

“Are we going to stand here and talk all day? Because I’d like to put a mating mark on your chest.” He leaned closer and whispered, “Can I do it while I’m inside you, too?”

My cheeks heated as I nodded.

“All right, step back.”

“I’m immortal now, love, you can’t kill me. ”

I smiled. He was. I didn’t have to worry about losing him.

I opened my mouth and sang the highest-pitched note I could make. Around us, ice fractured and then broke. Wave after wave of the note echoed into the air. The icy ground under my feet broke. Mother and Father staggered free from their icy prison. Mother stepped to my side and joined me in song. Every person in the garden broke free and fell to their knees. The ice vanished beneath our feet. We kept singing though, sending the note out into the rest of the realm, breaking the icy tomb I’d placed on everything in my despair at losing Brandon. But I didn’t lose him. The hope and love for him came through the note and soon the Earth was free from my powers. Mother stopped singing, and so did I. She hugged me.

“I’m so proud of you.”

I shuddered in her embrace. “Proud of me fixing what I made?”

“I’m always proud of you and your brothers and sisters, no matter what you do.”

We parted and turned to look at Father talking to Brandon a short distance away.

“What do you think they’re talking about?”

“I’m sure your father is being kind,” Mother said. “We saw everything that happened.”

“You did?”

“Aye.”

“Will you tell Lorcan and Pepper?”

“I’ll leave that honor to you. It was Dia who told you, after all.”

“We’ve had enough surprises in the family now.”

Mother laughed. “We certainly have. I’m ready for the peace and happiness Dia promised.”

“Me too.”

Brandon’s mother interrupted his talk with Father and embraced him. She sobbed, touched his crown, and sobbed some more. I walked over to them to offer him support in any way he needed me.

“I’m still me, ma,” Brandon said. “Think of it this way. At least I’m immortal now.”

She dashed away her tears and hugged him again. “I’m glad if I never have to see you dying before my eyes again.”

They parted and Alister hugged him next. His grandfather pursed his lips and then nodded his head as though he’d expected Brandon to become something great.

“This changes everything,” Alister said. “If God made you Fae… then…”

“I’ll still help the Fellowship. I trained for years, and I won’t give that up because I am Fae now.” Brandon clasped Alister’s shoulder. “This will bring us even closer together.”

Alister nodded. “The two will become one again.”

“We still need to fix Earth for that to happen fully,” I said. “I made a promise.”

“It will take a combined effort from all of us,” Father said .

“I was thinking when I was singing how much easier it would be if there were multiple places on Earth having the same power thrust into it. If all of us take a different place on Earth and use our power to meet in the center, then they should all combine to fix everything at once. It’s like I can see it in a painting, all our colors and powers swirling and mixing and making it beautiful once more.”

Mother clasped my hand. “Let’s arrange it with your brothers and sisters.”

After convincing Brandon’s mother we would return, we left for the Summer Court where we’d left my brothers and sisters. Everyone had once again converged in the grand dining hall except there was no food. They all stared at me and Brandon as though we were an illusion after I’d explained everything that had happened and all the secrets that were no longer secret.

“So, Dia, the Dia, made Brandon a Fae?” Aislinn asked.

“Aye,” I said.

“And Pepper is a descendant of Dia?” Lorcan asked.

“Aye.”

Lorcan looked at Pepper, whose face was pale white.

“Pepper, that’s pretty hot.” He slid a hand around her shoulder and kissed her open mouth.

“And Mother is a descendant of the Siren Queen and a Rage Demon?” Briana asked.

“Aye. ”

She rocked back in her chair.

“I think it’s awesome we all have this extended family now,” Sledge said.

“What does that make Ailbhe, then?” Saoirse asked.

“Special,” Arrow said.

Everyone murmured their agreement.

I met Rian’s gaze over the table. “What’s your question?”

“Have you two marked each other?”

“Well, that’s personal.” I folded my arms.

“Personal or not, we appear stronger when we’re with our fated and marked mate.”

“I accidentally marked him, but we haven’t had a chance for him to mark me. We don’t have time for me to be in the Quiet.”

“He doesn’t have many years of memories for you to experience, Roisin,” Rian said. “You won’t be in the Quiet for long.”

Sophia slid her hand on top of Rian’s, silencing him.

“He’s right,” Ciara said. “You need to let Brandon mark you before we fix Earth.”

“But I promised Dia.”

“Did he give you a time limit?”

“No, but…”

“But Malachi and I believe your plan will work but not unless we’re all united and at our strongest,” Ciara said. “I suggest everyone return to their rooms and get some sleep tonight and tomorrow, if Roisin is awake from the Quiet, then we’ll all go to Earth and fix it. ”

“Agreed,” Father said. “It’s a lot to absorb and we all need a moment with our mate to take it all in.”

“We both love you all so much,” Mother said. “We’ll meet back here for breakfast.”

Everyone stood and left. Brandon sat by my side, waiting for me to make the move.

“Roisin.” He brushed my hair from my shoulder and kissed my neck now we were alone. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want me to mark you?”

“I do. Never consider I don’t want you.” I turned in my seat.

“Then talk to me.”

“What if Dia decides I took too long to fulfill my promise, and he takes you away from me?”

He cupped my face in his warm, firm hands that had suddenly glowed with his new power, sending a delicate sky-blue glow over his palms.

“He won’t take me away from you. I promise.”

“How can you know that for sure?”

“Did you look around the table tonight?”

I frowned. I’d seen my family.

“Did you see how glad everyone was to be with their fated mate? The strength they took from each other and returned it tenfold? No God would take that away. Not the one I believe in.”

I placed my palms over his hands and let my power flare a small fraction into his. The pure white of my power merged with his blue, making it appear as though a cloudy summer sky hovered between us.

“That tickles,” he said .

“Are you ready to learn everything about me?”

“Am I ever.” He kissed me sweetly on the lips, then urged me to stand. “More than ever am I ready to be inside you again.”

I laughed and took his hand in mine and led him through the grand marble hallways of the palace.

“How big is this place?”

“Big enough.”

“It’s bigger than the demon castle, but I wouldn’t mention that to them. They’d take offense.”

I laughed, then paused outside my bed chambers.

“It’s a little messy inside.”

“I only care about you.”

I opened the door and pulled him inside with me, cringing at the mess I’d left of half-finished sketches, poems, and paintings on every available surface. Finished works of art hung from the walls.

Brandon walked around the room, studying each piece of art one at a time. Finally, he turned to me and said, “You are talented.”

Heat worked its way to my cheeks.

“I love it when you blush.” He stepped closer. “So how do I mark you?”

“Your power should do it for you instinctively.”

I lifted his hand and placed it on my chest. “Here. This is the place you’ll put it.”

His hands flared with power, and he yanked them away. “Damn, that was strong.”

“Our powers are strong. ”

“Let’s get you naked,” he said, bending and gathering the hem of my dress.

I lifted my hands over my head and let him undress me.

“You take my breath away every time I look at you.”

My skin pulsed with the need for him to touch me. To put his mating mark on my chest and make me his. Slowly, he lifted his hands to his clothes and undressed.

“This feels like our first time again.” He let out a husky chuckle.

I stroked my hands down the muscular expanse of his chest, then wrapped a hand around his cock. His hips jerked forward into my palm.

“You feel so good,” he whispered, bringing his mouth to my neck and backing me toward the wall.

My back hit the wall and his body kept coming until he squashed my hand between us, and I couldn’t move it like I had been.

“I’m coming in you while I mark you,” he said. “And you’ll be coming too.”

“Is that a promise or a threat?” I smiled.

“Promise all the way.”

I lifted a leg and hooked it around his hip, trying to line his cock up with my slick core.

“In a hurry for me?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m so ravenous without you.” I rolled my hips the tiny fraction I could with him pinning me to the wall.

“Same, love, same.”

He lowered his head and kissed me. Our lips joined as though we’d kissed for a thousand years. Dancing and molding to the other. Frustration bubbled up that he was so close to where I wanted him most. He trailed his lips down my neck and then lowered to the swell of my breast. His mouth closed over the firm peak of my nipple, and I cried out from the instant connection to my core.

“Lift your other leg and let go of my cock.”

I did as he said. The new position put him straight at my entrance and I wanted to sing with happiness, but his mouth moved to my other nipple, sucking the peak until it was hard and wet. Then he switched back to the other nipple.

“Brandon,” I begged desperate to have him fill the ache inside me.

“You want me?”

“Aye. Now.”

He shifted a fraction, so his cock slid inside me. I shuddered knowing this was what I needed, what we both needed. His hips thrust into mine, hitting many pleasure spots. My hands clasped his muscular shoulders, but his firm hands kept me up with ease. Each suction on my nipple joined with the friction of his cock rubbing along my inner walls. My legs shook around his waist, but I refused to let go. One of his hands lifted to my chest and warmth filled my heart. My entire body.

The tension released from my body, and I came on his still-thrusting cock. My chest seared with the pain of his mating mark. I’d deliberately kept that part from him. He didn’t need to grasp he was hurting me. He wouldn’t have suffered the pain of my mark when I’d marked him while he was so close to death. My vision wavered as images of Brandon as a young child filtered into my mind.

“Hurry,” I said sensing I only had a second left before the Quiet claimed me.

Brandon came with a shudder, sending another wave of pleasure inside me at the pulsing of his cock. His mouth lifted from my nipple and the last thing I remembered was his lips brushing my forehead in a tender kiss as I gave myself over to his memories and fell into the Quiet.