Page 1 of Monster’s Consort (Blackthorn Academy for Supernaturals #18)

Violet

“Shhh...” Bane’s heated lips brushed against my neck, his hands tangling in my hair with equal parts ferocity and tenderness.

How one man—one gancanagh —could possess such duality was beyond me.

But I loved it all the same.

Desire culminated in my core, spreading like wildfire as I fluttered my eyelashes.

“Wouldn’t want anyone to hear you screaming my name and soaking up all that lust,” he groaned as I held onto him.

I tightened my thighs around his hips, the sun filtering through the stained glass windows of the Castle of Lir.

Home.

A deep grunt escaped his throat and I could feel the fire emanating from his skin. I let my head fall back against the stone crevice as he continued to bite, suck, and lick at my neck, his fangs grazing me where he’d laid claim to me only mere months ago.

“Then perhaps you must find a way to swallow my screams,” I whispered.

His heavy thrust rattled the wall just as his mouth found mine.

“Violet! Are you in here?” Delaney called, and we both groaned.

“Hurry up,” I whispered into his mouth. “Before she finds us attached at the hip.”

Bane growled against my throat as his thrusts turned erratic. I fluttered my eyelashes as the warmth spread throughout me and I came undone in his arms.

He buried his face in my hair as he stilled, his tight knot sliding against my insides in a way that sent tremors throughout my entire body.

“Violet!” Delaney called out again.

I tried to catch my breath, his heavy heart beating against my chest just as rapidly.

“When will I see you again?” he whispered, his voice full of longing and sadness.

“Soon,” I told him, not wanting to disconnect from him at all. But Delaney’s footsteps drew closer, and I did not wish her to discover me with my anam cara and his pants around his ankles in the middle of the library.

“I’m not sure how much I longer I can take this, Violet,” he breathed as he slipped out of me, carefully lowering me to the ground.

I was still quite wet from the mixture of my own arousal, and his release, my head spinning the way it usually did after we savored one another.

“I know,” I whispered as I kissed him.

He worked on hastily putting himself back together as Delaney’s voice grew louder.

“But it will be just a few more months.”

His eyes shone with that golden glow I’d become so fond of. That golden glow that could settle all the storms inside me.

“Just a few more months and I can complete my Ardaim . Until we can be confirmed.”

Being as my first Ardaim was, er... interrupted, by circumstances beyond my control, my mother said I needed to complete the ceremony in order to be fully aligned with my heritage and be able to take my rightful place on the throne of Lir one day.

I supposed I understood, in theory. But I hadn’t known in addition to my Ardaim , that Bane would have his own “requirements” to ascend alongside me.

Requirements that were driving the both of us quite mad.

He sighed as he righted himself once more. “I do not see why we must spend every aching hour apart until then,” he grumbled.

I stroked his chin softly. “Because I’m a princess, and there are rules when you are bound to a princess.”

Bane rolled his eyes. “Archaic rules.”

I laughed as I kissed him and he relaxed. I despised breaking away, not wanting to let him go, knowing we both needed to part.

“We can still see each other,” I reminded him. “Just... not alone. Until the ceremony.”

He kissed me feverishly and I giggled.

“Yet you still find ways to seduce me. To feed me,” he said, kissing my cheek.

“You are not the only one who needs to be fed.”

He kissed me chastely on my lips in response. “And they think I’m the lust-hungry monster.”

I couldn’t help my laugh as his voice softened. “Go, my little spark. Before Delaney finds us and tells the entire kingdom about our sinful transgressions.”

I kissed him quickly before slipping away in earnest.

When I turned around, he was gone. Faded away into the shadows like a bat in the night.

“Violet—”

I turned the corner and nearly ran straight into her.

“Oh! There you are!” she mewled. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

I straightened my dress nonchalantly as she reached for my hair.

“Bad hair day, huh?” she asked as she smoothed it with her fingers.

I fought the urge to smile. “Something like that.”

She gave me a knowing look. “Mhmm.”

“So...” I blushed, trolling forward. “What did you need me for?”

“The Squid Squad have officially arrived,” she breathed calmly.

When the academy officially broke for the summer, there was no question where I would be going, now that I’d discovered my true lineage.

I’d had but merely two weeks to go home—to my mother and father who raised me—and explain what had happened.

My mother, Queen Amaranth, had come as well, and though it was tearful and joyous as it was heartbreaking, I knew it was best.

But part of me wished I was there still, in my tiny bedroom, hiding from my neighbors and reading books all summer long rather than being sequestered in a giant castle and thrust into the middle of a world I knew nothing of.

I barely understood the basic history of Lir—my exposure to what was my kingdom had only been through what I’d learned in my history classes at Blackthorn, and my visions.

Discovering I was a long-lost fae princess was not on my bingo card when I stepped foot on the grounds of Blackthorn Academy.

And I certainly hadn’t expected to get tangled up with a gancanagh —an incubus—who would steal my heart along with my virginity and save me from death itself.

Everything had moved rather fast. After my lineage had been announced and the Kingdom of Lir restored, there was much work to be done. There was truly no hiding the truth about my bond with Bane. My magic marked him in the same way it marked Delaney, Norman, and Wanda.

They were touched by my magic in one way or another.

But it was more than apparent to everyone that Bane and I were entangled in more ways than one, and after the night of the spring dance, when he’d claimed me...

Our bond was irrefutable.

A claim for a gancanagh is a very deep, powerful thing. Bane explained it as the equivalent of being given a ring of commitment.

A sign to illustrate to the world that we were bound. That I was his.

But apparently doing so caused quite a disturbance within Blackthorn and the Kingdom.

Because now that I was a princess, there were rules of engagement we needed to follow.

For me to truly be able to take Bane as my consort—for him to be given the title from Lir and rise to the throne , alongside me—we both needed to ascend through the Ardaim .

And the Kingdom also needed to be able to confirm that Bane was viable to be my consort.

Meaning the Kingdom needed to ensure that he was capable of not only handling his title for diplomatic reasons, but capable of giving me an heir, which I wasn’t sure how I felt about such a thing, being so young.

Yes, plenty of women had children in their early twenties, but with two years left at Blackthorn, I certainly did not want to interrupt my studies with a. ..

I swallowed harshly, shoving the thought away.

If you can’t say the word, Violet, perhaps you should not be climbing your gancanagh mate like a thirsty sailor. Spelled or not.

I shook my head, dispelling such thoughts. Delaney was not psychic by any stretch of the word, but she was most observant and I did not wish to give her any sort of inkling to my inner turmoil.

In theory, I knew I should abstain from feeding off my mate, but...

When the alternative left me feeling so content and warm inside, how could I resist?

I did not think even hell itself could keep me from my anam cara. My soul’s mate.

The moments we stole were far and few between, and I was counting down the days until my Ardaim , and until the Kingdom confirmed Bane as my consort, officially.

Until we would be bound before all of Lir.

“Have you told Bane?” Delaney asked carefully.

“About what?” I asked as I strolled alongside her.

“About the Squid Squad joining for Hot Royal Summer, of course.”

“Is that what we are calling it?” I asked with a grin.

“Mhmm. Someone’s going to have to turn the fun up a notch. Besides, how else will you maintain your sanity during all this courting ?” she mewled and I couldn’t help but blush.

“Unless...” Delaney’s mouth opened just the slightest as I hushed her before she could get the words out.

“Unless you and your little incubus are?—”

“Oh shush!” I said as she giggled. “But I digress, you are right about one thing,” I responded as she grinned wickedly.

“Oh, and what’s that?”

“This will be the best summer ever. Hands down. Now that I have you here.”

Her bright eyes softened as she patted my hand, which I’d laced through her arm.

“Whoever says flattery gets you nowhere is a liar,” she said with a laugh.

“Still, you should probably mention to Bane that his conniving siren ex is going to be spending the summer with us.”

I stopped for a moment as her words hit me. Bane had told me, numerous times, that he did not care for Wanda in any sort of romantic way. Their relationship was purely a sexual one, not a romantic one.

Still, Delaney’s words settled on me and I felt the beginning of those old insecurities threatening to rear themselves all over again. I tried my hardest to push them away.

Wanda and Norman were two peas in a fishy pod. A siren and a Kraken who couldn’t keep their hands and tentacles off of one another. Surely, there was no love lost there...

Right?

I nodded at Delaney’s words, and she gave me a rueful smile.

“I mean, he is quite protective of you, when it comes to them,” she cooed thoughtfully. “After that whole leeching your lust thing last year.”

I cast her a wary look, and she sighed. “I’m just saying, you and I both know that people change. After all that’s happened, all we’ve been through...”

She stopped, turning to me.

“I just want us all to get along, you know?”

I did know, and her words settled on my heart heavier than they should have.

I should have told Bane about their arrivals. I knew that. I had meant to, but...

I’d gotten distracted, I will admit.

Perhaps I was worried he’d try to dismiss them, knowing our history. But Delaney was right. What was in the past was in the past. Bane and Delaney weren’t the only ones who came to my aid all those months ago when I’d been taken.

Wanda and Norman had been there, too.

Because we’re all connected.

Those were the words Headmistress Blackthorn had uttered to me during my debriefing after I’d returned.

She’d told me my signature had touched them and therefore we would all be forever bound.

For the light of a faerie is bright and life sustaining in itself, is it not?

Perhaps our alliances were just as fated as our hearts.

“And we will,” I said, taking her hands in mine as we came to the courtyard. I took one look around the landscape, my gaze settling on my mother—the Queen—and a familiar face.

Headmistress Blackthorn.

My heartbeat quickened and I got the feeling something was amiss. But I was not sure just how much I was privy to, yet.

For all I knew they could have been talking about my impending second year and not something ominous.

Right?