Page 24

R oan squinted out at the great hall and felt bile rise in his throat. “One would think, betwixt the two of us, there would have been at least one good idea.”

But there wasn’t, and the wedding was unsightlier than either he or Maewyn could have imagined.

It wasn’t even taking place on Salen as had been promised, Maewyn’s fragile human body needing an additional fortnight to recover from that elylae bastard’s wounds.

It might have been better if her initial healer had paid closer attention in her training, but then it might have been much worse had that same healer not chosen for Maewyn the stiffest corset dress after being told of the plan to confront a monster armed only with a flower, a locket, and a handful of pomegranate seeds.

But the time had allowed Roan to sit at Maewyn’s bedside and dote on her, to have long discussions about the past and future with her, to argue to utter frustration and then burst into raucous laughter with her, and to know for certain that the tether had brought them together correctly.

The time had also allowed the fae who once lived in Ulric’s manor to recover from the enchantment laid on them.

Each had a similar story to Roan’s if a different ending, finding themselves lost in some barren waste and rescued by a beautiful and wise fae who eventually convinced them that his home was the safest place they could belong.

Their memories after that were naught but a dense fog, undoubtedly Roan and Jynquil’s fate too had it not been for Maewyn.

Ulric’s manor had reportedly fallen into rubble, the wastes beyond it finally exposed, but not immune to magic.

It would be Roan and Maewyn’s first undertaking as husband and wife, to tend the land and return it to its former glory, a task he looked forward to completing together. But that would be after…this.

The flowers were atrocious, Maewyn’s shoes were perpetually wet with rainwater, and there was a surprising number of pink ponies handed out as guests entered the gathering hall, which was delightful for all of ten minutes until the herd needed somewhere to empty their bowels.

But amidst the offensive colors and sensations and smells, one thing was about to go absolutely right.

“Ah, well, we did come up with one good idea, didn’t we?” Roan took Maewyn by the hand and began leading her down the aisle.

“We?” She shot him a delicious scowl as they strode between fae from every court. “I think this was mostly my idea.”

“You stabbed me to try to get out of this, Pumpkin,” he hissed through a smirk.

“And tethered us,” she quipped, squeezing his hand.

Roan inhaled deeply and bent to whisper in her ear before they reached the arch at the aisle’s end. “Fine, I’ve an even better proposal—we skip the reception and return to our private chambers to finally consummate our bond.”

She gasped with faux concern, but her golden eyes lit up with hunger. “What will everyone think?”

“I don’t give a flying fuck what they’ll think,” he said and kissed her.

“There’s something I need,” Maewyn whispered in Roan’s pointed ear. “And you’re taking me into the woods to get it.”

She led him along under the burnt orange and golden canopy, fingers entwined with his own as she hurried ahead.

They had been working on the fallow fields where Ulric’s manor once stood, a crew of autumn fae at their disposal to cleanse the pestilent magic.

The work was long and hard, and bickering often overshadowed the good they did.

Roan had said something pithy about pumpkins, and Maewyn had wanted to slap him, but then she thought of something even better.

So they headed deep into the wood, Roan likely confused as she had been shouting and scowling at him moments prior.

But then she laughed as she slipped her hand out of his, and she heard his dark chuckle from behind.

Maewyn was running then, and with a leap over a fallen log, transformed herself into a fox.

“Maewyn!” Roan called, but she had embodied the exact colors of Tenhaef and darted unseen through piles of leaves.

The tether never let them escape each other, however, and she could still feel him running behind at first and then taking to the air on enchanted wings.

Maewyn shrieked with laughter in her mind, the sound through her snout very different.

She streaked through the forest until she spied the perfect spot and burst back into her human form.

She’d gotten a bit better at transforming, her clothes appearing in a pile at her feet instead of being lost entirely, but she ended up exactly as she intended.

Maewyn pressed her body to the nearest tree, the bark biting into her hands as she fell silent and peeked upward through the branches, waiting. A breeze rustled through the golden leaves and over her bare skin.

“Ha, I’ve finally outrun him,” she whispered as she peeked around the other side of the tree.

“Oh, have you?” Transformative magic prickled over her skin as a hand slid down along the swell of her hip and another crawled up her back as fingers threaded themselves into her curls.

Maewyn’s head was gently tipped back as Roan’s body pressed against hers, his length already hard and nudging her backside as his cidery breath fell down over her face. Her nipples hardened as her body scraped against the bark, sensitive flesh going even tenderer, and she cried out.

“Caught you, Pumpkin,” he rumbled in her ear, easing her more fully against the tree as he tugged her head to the side and dragged his lips down her neck.

“Oh, no,” she feigned, but this was her favorite part, the part where his hand slid around to the front of her body and sank into her eager wetness.

“Oh, fuck,” she moaned as his body further trapped her against the tree, itchy pain melding with the pleasure he was coaxing out with perceptive fingers.

“Is that what you want?” He nipped at her shoulder. “You want me to fuck you?”

She nodded though his hand was so wrapped in her hair it was difficult—easier, though, than finding the words.

He let her go then, and when she leaned away from the tree another chilly breeze teased goosebumps all along her flesh.

She might have tumbled to the forest floor if his hands hadn’t found her hips again, spinning her to face him.

Viper-colored eyes drank her in for a painfully long moment before he fell to his knees in the amber and orange leaves and pressed his mouth to the place she needed it most.

It was Maewyn’s turn to weave fingers into hair and pull, scratching at Roan’s scalp as he coaxed her legs open to lap at her entrance.

Her back fell against the tree as her legs trembled, and Roan slipped an arm beneath her thigh.

He lifted her and delved deeper, a finger pressing inside her core and making her cry out into the wood like an animal.

She looked down on her prince as he worshiped her on his knees, his gaze finding hers and demanding without words she come for him. It took only another slow circle of her entrance and a curl of his finger, and her release shattered through her body and into his eager mouth.

Half limp, she felt herself be raised up and draped arms over his shoulders. What a good idea this had been, she thought languidly. Much better than bickering some more.

“Don’t surrender just yet, Pumpkin,” he purred, the sound of him tromping through fallen leaves filling up her dizzy, satisfied mind. “Now I’ve got to get what I need from you.”

Maewyn was tenderly placed back on her feet and maneuvered so that her hands found purchase on a mossy surface.

She took a deep breath of damp air and blinked blearily into the colors of the forest, a lazy grin crawling up her face.

Roan was not standing before her but everything that he was was still there in the autumn wood’s colors—the fieriness of his passion and the golden glow of his heart. A heart that was hers.

And then her eyes widened, and the forest sharpened as Roan’s length teased at her entrance from behind.

She squealed with delight as a hand took her by the waist, the other pressing into her back so that she bent over the boulder beneath her.

Smooth, cool stone scraped against her skin, and his cock easily slid inside her then stopped.

Maewyn wriggled backward, but there was nowhere to go and no more pleasure to be had, not trapped still and in such a precarious position. She felt him breathe long and low, and that gave her the slightest thrill, but he remained firmly in place.

“You bastard,” she snapped over her shoulder.

“What? I’m only giving you what you asked for,” he huffed and deliberately dragged himself backward at the pace of a snail.

“No, you’re not.” She widened her stance and attempted to take over, but both of his hands gripped onto her waist and held her still.

Roan descended into her wetness again with a painful laziness. “You know what I want to hear,” he groaned.

Her body quivered around him with another slow stroke in and out, but she kept her mouth shut tight.

“Come now,” he rasped, falling still. “Just the once is good but twice is much better.”

Maewyn whimpered at her prince’s crown sliding out of her and teasing her entrance, refusing to fill her up again until she gave him what he wanted. “Fuck me,” she commanded, wiggling her hips.

Roan released one of her hips and reached between her legs but only pet her with the softest of caresses. The fringe pleasure of his circling fingers and his throbbing cock made her breaths come short and her legs tremble.

Stomach clenching and muscles twitching, begging for release, Maewyn huffed and lifted herself up to scowl over her shoulder.

Roan was half delirious with lust himself, eyes burning into the back of her.

His clothes had been abandoned, and his pale skin caught the dappled light through the trees, warm freckles like the first fallen leaves.

His form moved with deliberateness, another excruciating stroke as he pushed inside her, but only just. His lips curled upward when he caught her eye, and he held still, halfway through a stroke that would never come unless she gave him what he wanted.

“Give me your spectacular seed,” she growled, and Prince Roan buried himself to the hilt.

Maewyn cried out, and Roan matched her as he rutted, pleasure coursing through her veins and driving her to wildness.

He drew back and drove forward, and she clenched around him, urging him on faster, harder.

She threw back her head and his hands encircled her body as they both came before collapsing onto the forest floor.

They were barely breathless heaps for an uncountable time until Roan dragged her up against him there on the earth. “My future queen,” he mumbled into her hair. “You’ve undone me.”

She shifted in the soft fallen leaves so that she could fully see his face. “Don’t be too undone—we still have quite a lot of work to do.”

Roan groaned irascibly.

“Come on,” she said, lifting up onto an elbow.

But he grabbed her and dragged her back to the forest floor. “Stay with me,” he pleaded, emerald eyes gleaming in the autumn light.

And so, she did.