Page 34

Turns

So, apparently, the kings took turns with me.

By tradition (of course), until the First Claim baby was born, shared queens split their time between their kings’ palaces.

Like many rituals, it made a strange kind of practical sense.

Throughout the Irish Bears’ history, this had meant that if a queen’s kings didn’t get along, they didn’t have to share—or watch their queen be shared by another.

“But what happens once the first baby is born if they don’t get along?”

Both Declan’s and Tadhg’s faces clouded at that question.

And Declan declared in his kingly tone, “No dark history lessons to start off the new year.”

Luckily, Declan and Tadhg did get along.

They proved just how well over the entirety of the first week of January.

If Declan was still upset about my unexpected delivery ruining his plans for his next six quarters—“ at least ”—it didn’t show.

We filled our days with large meals, long naps, and even longer conversations while I whittled a five bear set to give Brigid as a gift.

To my surprise, the High King was still an excellent listener in human form and incredibly easy to talk to for hours.

“It’s a good skill set to have as a CEO,” he explained one evening when we looked up from what was supposed to be a short picnic lunch to find the sun dipping below the lake.

“And it’s much more interesting talking to you than sitting in endless meetings about numbers.”

As angry as I’d been at the wedding I’d cut short with what Declan still referred to as that “dead-sexy temper tantrum,” this felt like having my bear confessional back again.

Only better.

Because this rhubarb bear kissed and licked and punished and had a seemingly unending list of things he wanted to do to me.

Including rolling me over and wrapping one of my legs around his waist to make love to me on a picnic blanket while the sun set behind us.

Love .

We both gasped when he filled me up.

Then groaned. I still hadn’t adjusted to his size, and the tightness of my channel made him have to stop and breathe, “So I don’t embarrass myself.”

But maybe we were getting used to each other, because he began moving on top of me after only a few held moments.

“By the gods, I love you,” he whispered, dropping tender kisses on my lips.

“And I swear to you, I’m going to earn your bite.”

As he rolled his hips between my legs on that blanket, he told me his intentions.

That he would send me to the Shadow Castle, then to the Mountain Fortress.

That he’d spend the next two weeks plotting ways to woo me into wanting him inside my head.

“Oh, have I got plans for you, álainn .”

Plans .

Uh-oh…

As Declan kept reminding me, I was a great ruiner of those.

And it felt like the most natural thing in the world to maw my teeth and sink them into the space between his shoulder and neck before he was ready.

But as I soon found out—when all his emotions and history downloaded into my mind—he was never ready for me.

He doubted there’d ever be a time he’d look at me and consider me anything less than a surprise.

“The best surprise,” he corrected, right before he seized up on top of me…

And sealed our official bonding with a cum.

It was Declan’s week, but Tadhg was the one who walked me over to the Shadow Castle the next night, stopping for several lingering kisses when we reached its lowered drawbridge.

“You’ll have to tell me what it’s like in there when I return to pick you up,” he said after the third or fourth goodbye.

Not for the first time, I wondered about the absence of our bond bites.

Tadhg hadn’t even brought it up, despite having practically moved into the palace during Declan’s turn.

But right before I was about to disappear for a week was probably not the time to introduce the subject.

“You’ve never been inside the Shadow Castle?” I asked instead.

Tadhg shrugged. “Like we said, when he’s not throwing the whole kingdom sideways to make you his queen, he’s a proper hermit, so he is.”

His gaze drifted over my shoulder, and my nose filled with the scent of lemons.

I turned to find the Shadow King standing at the halfway point of his drawbridge.

He wore a pair of leather pants and nothing else.

His chest, bare and carved like stone, had a fresh tattoo inked directly over his heart:

Shadow Queen , our mutual bear bite bond relayed, written in the strange, ancient language of his gods.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed him until I was running, loosening the front of my wrap dress so my chest was also bare by the time I leapt into his arms and wrapped my legs around his waist.

He’d missed me, too.

That was why he wore no shirt—he wanted to feel my skin against his.

And thank goodness I didn’t have a bra that went with the green dress yet.

I wanted what he wanted, without ever needing his words.

We stood like that for nearly an hour, just holding each other and letting our scents merge, before he finally set me down and took my hand to escort me inside…

.

…only to escort me back out, what felt like mere moments later.

But this time he was dressed in a black-on-black tuxedo with full tails paired with a silver crown that gleamed under the glowing, red god-tech symbols on the castle’s exterior wall.

I found Tadhg in his usual jeans, t-shirt, and open button-up, waiting on the other side of the drawbridge.

“Did you decide to come early?” I asked, brow scrunching in confusion.

“No, you were definitely in there for a week,” Tadhg insisted, offering his hand as he helped me down from the lowered drawbridge onto the solid ground.

“Longest one of my life.”

But not mine.

I turned to wave at my moon god, but he disappeared from the castle’s entrance, and the drawbridge was already closing with a soundless, electronic speed.

“What was it like?” Tadhg asked again, this time more sincerely, as we circled the lake toward the Mountain Fortress, walking side by side.

“ Alice in Wonderland ,” I answered.

He waited. Then, when I didn’t elaborate, asked, “Did he at least have furniture?”

“Not the way you think of it.”

Tadhg tilted his head.

“Furniture is furniture.”

“Yeah, kind of, but… There’s not a lot of gravity in the Shadow Castle. So it’s more like hooks? And the occasional strap? Also, an altar?”

“There’s no gravity?” Tadhg repeated, brow furrowing.

“No, there is. Just… not much of it,” I said, tipping my head toward the stars the Shadow King had programmed into the sky.

“That’s the thing about gravity. It’s technically the weakest of the four fundamental forces, but it still holds galaxies together. Moons. Bodies. And we don’t actually know why it exists. Or what it wants. It’s like the universe’s quiet gift. Or maybe a doorway to some kind of next-level knowledge. I don’t know. It blew my mind.”

“Yeah, well, you sound like you’re on drugs, Strawberry. Can I just say that?”

“Drugs!” I snapped my fingers.

“That’s what I should’ve said instead of Alice in Wonderland . Drugs! I’m not, don’t worry. But that’s actually a better way to describe the Shadow Castle. Yes, drugs !”

Tadhg rubbed the back of his neck.

“Just so you know, my Mountain Fortress is nothing like that. No drugs. No fairy tales. No floaty straps.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” I took his large hand in both of mine.

“I had a great time—or what he calls ‘paragraphs,’ for reasons yu’re probably not going to understand. I barely do, and I’ve got the bond bite going with him. But my body is wrecked from not having the gravity I’m used to for… however long I was in there.”

I gave Tadhg an apologetic look.

“I don’t want to confuse you more than I already have—or myself. But he’s running some pretty crazy time experiments in his clean-room lab, and I’m still not sure our whole week didn’t get compressed into one of his paragraphs.”

“Does the lab have gravity?” Tadhg asked, looking as hopelessly confused as I didn’t want him to be.

“Of course. I mean, I think. I wasn’t allowed to go in any of his labs.”

“How many labs does he?—”

I waved that side question away before he could finish asking it.

“Main point: sex in 16.5% of Earth’s gravity is… a lot.”

Tadhg raised both eyebrows, then let out a low chuckle.

“Well, I look forward to throwing you against a wall and pounding you back into reality as soon as we get there.”

There.

Not home.

We weren’t bonded by bites, but I noticed a tightness in his shoulders now that hadn’t been there when he walked me to the Shadow King’s castle.

Which made me hesitate to ask the question I’d been saving for the kingdom’s self-proclaimed Logistics Guy.

But of course, he read me.

No bond bite required.

“Got something you’re wanting to ask me about, Strawberry?”

“Maybe we should save it for tomorrow,” I hedged.

“Or after you show me around your fortress.”

“Not much to show. Just your room—where most of the visit will take place.” His face went completely neutral, and I couldn’t tell if that meant he had no feelings about showing me the Mountain Fortress…

or too many.

Either way, he insisted, “Tell me what’s on your mind. You know I want to hear it, first things first.”

I took a deep breath.

“So… you know my birthday’s coming up.”

“I do know that.” His shoulders relaxed slightly.

“The Shadow King actually deigned to text us about it. Wanted to make sure we didn’t forget. And I’ve been told not to spoil Brigid’s gift.”

I laughed.

“After a week at the Shadow Castle, I don’t think I’m up for any more surprises. And you know she’d spoil the surprise if it were the other way around.”

“You’re right." Tadhg gave in with a conceding nod. “That dose is getting you a whole wardrobe from that store you two like in town.”

“I’m going to love that,” I told him sincerely. “I can’t wait to act surprised.”

I squeezed the hand I was still holding in both of mine. “And I hope it’s not too much to ask for one more thing.”

“You’re never too much, Strawberry. We’ve been over this,” Tadhg said, his tone gently chastising. “And if it’s about our promise to check on Naomi, we’re working on it.

“The Wolf Kings aren’t answering any of our messages at the moment. But the Shadow King’s got some god tech workaround. He can hack into their digital wall if?—”

“No, it’s not that.” I cut him off, a bit guilty that this request had nothing to do with my best friend. “It’s something else.”

Tadhg stopped walking and reversed his hold, wrapping both of my hands in one of his. “Anything you want. It’s yours. You only have to name it.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Good. Because I know we were talking about going into full hibernation mode after my birthday, but before we do, I want to go to St. Ailbe.”

He went still. Face shuttered.

“Just for a little while. One, maybe two weeks, tops.” Maybe because we weren’t bond-connected, everything I’d been holding in came tumbling out. “I keep thinking about how the Secret Kingdom has all this history, and I have… nothing. Not a clue who my father is. No idea why my mother kept my true nature from me. Maybe if I went back to Canada and confronted her, I could find out. Or at least get a name. An explanation?—”

“No.”

Now it was my turn to wait. But the explanation didn’t come.

He just let go of my hand and started walking again, like that one word was final.

I had to jog to catch up with him. “But?—”

“I said no,” he snapped, cutting me off before I could even get more than one word out.

“Why? You said anything.”

“Because I didn’t think you’d be so idiotic as to actually believe we’d let you go anywhere with the future of our kingdoms in your belly.”

Idiotic. The insult sliced clean through my chest. He’d never yelled at me before. Never called me names.

Also…

“Let me?” I repeated. “Maybe I shouldn’t have put it as a request. Since you kidnapped me away from my passport, I’d love your help getting back to Canada so I can get the answers I deserve after all of this.”

“Do not go here with me, Sadie.” He stopped again to point at the ground between us. “This is a boundary that will not be crossed. You’re staying here. And you are not leaving until we say you can.”

“And when would that be?” I demanded.

He glowered. Silent. But his silence felt loud. Aggressively loud. Especially when he just turned and started walking again without giving me an answer.

Not knowing what else to do, I fell into step behind him, wishing I had saved this discussion for the morning when we were both fresh.

The Mountain Fortress did not at all resemble the palace. Or the Shadow Castle.

It was all reinforced steel and depressing grey stone with nothing but shadows on the walls of the entrance hall I followed Tadhg into.

However, the bedroom he showed me to after that… either he or Brigid had clearly prepared it with care.

It was warm, cozy, and softly lit by a fake-fire hearth, like the one in the café. There were no digital walls, but one entire side of the room was covered in living evergreen moss. A huge armchair—perfect for reading—sat by the hearth, and colorful plush rugs brightened the cold stone floors. Everything was anchored by a lovely canopy bed in the center of the room, its linens faintly emitting the scent of heather.

My heart softened toward him at the sight of it. Other than the total absence of windows, it was a perfect room.

“Did you do this for?—”

“I’ll be down the hall if you need me.” He cut me off before I could finish.

Then he left. No kiss. No hug. No goodbye.

Once again, I was left alone in a strange room he’d escorted me to. But this time felt worse than the first day I landed in the Secret Kingdom.

Because somehow, this time, I actually was starting to feel a little trapped.