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Bound By Magik

C assandra

I never thought magik could be this loud. It hums beneath my skin, curling around my spine like a serpent with nowhere to go. Since arriving in Runic, I’ve been bombarded by color, sound, and sensation. Everything here is amplified—especially the expectations.

The air outside the palace window smells of honey and heat. Somewhere down in the courtyard, a group of Fae nobles is debating whether I’m fit to stand beside their soon-to-be king. I doubt any of them know I can hear every word.

“She’s human-born. That magik is unstable,” a woman says.

“She nearly drained herself saving a boy she didn’t know,” a man retorts, coming to my defense.

“She’s soft.” Venom drips from the woman’s words.

I press my fingers into the stone windowsill. Let them talk, I don’t give a shit what they think of me , I tell myself for what feels like the hundredth time. It does nothing to silence the storm of rage brewing in my chest. How could they be so callous about the life of one of their own?

“Niko’s Consort should be strategic,” someone else sneers. “Not sentimental.”

Though, I’m not sure what part offends me more, that they think I’m weak or that they think I’m unworthy of him. They have no idea what it costs me just to stand still here. What it took to leave everything behind.

I gave up everything on Earth and in Bantry Bay—my home, my coven, my business, and my history. All for a future I never asked for and was never trained to survive. Witches don’t travel through the realms to marry Fae princes. We marry humans or warlocks if we’re lucky.

But I didn’t hide. I chose him. I chose this world.

Even if this world hasn’t yet chosen me.

Runic is beautiful, blindingly so. The palace alone is carved from living crystal and bone-white stone, its towers veined with gold and lit by spell-fire.

Fae courtiers dress in draping silks and illusions like something from a movie.

The servants speak in riddles, or at least it sounds that way to me.

The very walls of this place carry memories of magik older than anything I learned from my coven.

How the hell am I supposed to belong here?

“What are they saying today?” Niko’s voice comes from the doorway. Deep, warm, and dangerous in all the ways that make my knees weak and my pussy flutter.

I don’t turn. “That I’m going to ruin you. That I’m too weak to rule by your side and I will be the downfall of the entire realm.”

He chuckles. “They said that about my father’s Consort too. Right before he and my mother rewrote half the laws of Runic.”

I finally face him. He’s barefoot, shirtless, and his chest still damp from training.

He smells delicious even with the space separating us, but that doesn’t make sense.

The smell of his sweat shouldn’t make me want to lick him.

Do Fae even sweat the same way humans do?

Goddess help me, the man is insanely distracting.

His tattoos glow faintly in the low light. They are wards woven together with past lineages, layered in sweeping script across his arms and torso. He is history made flesh. And he is mine, or he will be soon.

He crosses to me in three long strides, his hand brushing mine. The hum of magik flowing through me stills and recalibrates. It is as centered by him as I am.

“Niko...”

His finger rests against my lips, silencing me. “There’s a Conclave meeting tomorrow. We will announce the merging ceremony date.”

My heart lurches. “Already?”

“They won’t stop until we do, and Quietus is growing bolder every day.” His words are solemn. “Besides, we should have already been merged if my mother had not insisted on putting on such a show. The eclipse will only last so long and we need to complete the ceremony before it passes.”

“It’s important to her,” I reply with a smile. “And it’s part of your traditions, your people’s traditions.”

He grins, leaning closer, his breath stirring the tiny hairs at my temple.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks or wants except you.

I will allow my mother to plan the ceremony she thinks is needed, but this isn’t for her or for our people.

We are merging.” His fingertip brushes along my jaw and my eyes flutter closed as his thoughts slam into my mind.

Dark, erotic thoughts. “I also don’t give a single flying fuck if anyone thinks you aren’t worthy because I chose you, and I know you are.

And we will show them true power once the ceremony is complete. ”

He always makes it sound so simple. As if power were a fire we could simply hold between our hands without consequence.

I glance back out the window, where the moonlight casts faint reflections across the crystalline rooftops.

There’s a part of me that still aches for my coven, and my home in Bantry Bay, for its dirt and grit, for streetlight flicker and the smell of rain-soaked pavement.

There, I knew who I was. Here, I feel like a story someone else is still writing.

Niko touches my wrist. His thumb circles the spot where my binding rune will be inked. “You’re not alone in this,” he says.

I nod slowly. “I just want to feel like I belong before they try to make me prove it.”

He cups my cheek, and for a breath, everything stills. Even the magik. “You already do.”

His lips descend on mine in a bruising passionate kiss. His arm wraps around my back and draws tightly against my body, his erection rubbing against my abdomen. His other hand tangles in my hair, tilting my head back and giving him better access to ravage me.

“Forget about those fools,” he murmurs, his lips running along the column of my neck. “Let me help you forget.”

I know this isn’t the solution, but I nod, needing something to take my mind off our problems. I need to feel alive and connected and that is exactly what he is offering. Niko lifts me into the air, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he walks us onto the balcony.

“What are you doing?” I ask softly.

“I’ve wanted to fuck you in the moonlight since I first laid eyes on you.”

“There are people outside...”

“And if you don’t want them to look up and see you, you’ll stay quiet.”

He places my ass on the stone balcony wall, one hand remaining on my lower back. He lifts the skirt of my lavender dress, exposing my underwear to the cool night air. He pushes the fabric aside before running his finger along my slit, gathering wetness until he reaches my clit.

“You’re so wet, Consort,” he murmurs, staring at his hand as he touches me. “Have you been waiting for me?”

“Yes,” I whisper softly, enjoying the way his fingers work between my legs. “Always.”

“You need to be quiet, Cassandra,” he says, freeing his cock. “I’m a very jealous man and I don’t share. Not even the sounds of your pleasure are meant for another.”

I nod, keeping my mouth shut as he notches his cock to my entrance. He pushes into me slowly, inch by torturous inch, until he bottoms out. He stretches me perfectly, filling every inch of me. I bite my lip to hold back the moan forcing its way up my throat.

“You’re fucking perfect,” Niko says, slowly lowering the straps of my dress and baring my breasts. “I could stare at you every day for the rest of my life.”

“Niko, please...” I beg softly.

“Wrap your arms and legs around me,” he directs.

Once I do as he commands, he withdraws his cock until only the tip remains inside me before pushing back in. He fucks me at a leisurely pace, sending my arousal higher and higher.

He growls against my throat. “I’m not going to last.”

“Harder,” I demand in his ear.

He complies and soon both of us are falling over the edge and into pleasure. Niko’s hand covers my mouth as I moan loudly. Once both our breathing returns to normal, he pulls out of me and helps me down from the wall.

He smiles at me as he fixes my dress. “I’m a lucky bastard. I’ll get to defile you every day for the rest our lives.”

“And I’m just as lucky.”