Page 77 of Temptation Unleashed (Talaenian Fae #3)

All in good nature. Cael stepped back, smoothing down Thaddeus’s shirt. He cleared his throat, making a vague motion toward his hips.

“I love you, brother. But not in that way. Think that’s for Rori.”

Thaddeus lunged at Cael, teeth bared like a feral beast. Cael leaped back, his eyes twinkling as he spun around and herded Cassy and Brandon from the room.

“That animalistic side of you is something I’ve missed,” Rori said, bringing Thaddeus back to her.

Thaddeus laughed, curling one of her waves around his fingers.

She drank in the perfection of his face, all sharp and severe angles that softened when she was near.

The Artic blues of his eyes melted into pools of warmth as he gazed upon her, wonder and affection and more love than she could ever weigh brimming shamelessly. “How are you here?”

“Magic.”

“You know what I mean.”

Thaddeus nodded. “I do, and the answer is still magic.” He cast a glance around the anteroom and wrinkled his nose. “This won’t do.”

Rori had no time to prepare for the weightless sensation of the sift before she stared up at Thaddeus as he laid her in her bed at Cael’s and climbed in beside her. She crooned as he drew her into the familiar cradle of his arms, the security she had yearned to experience swelling with satiation.

“Promise me you won’t leave me again,” Rori murmured. “Promise me this isn’t temporary.”

“Nay, ’tis not temporary, beloved. ’Tis for as long as we live our natural lives.”

“How did you escape?”

His fingers curled in her hair, his leisurely strokes calming.

“I didn’t escape. I handed myself over after I destroyed Grison’s hideaway and, reluctantly, allowed Dagda the honor of killing his two High Fae traitors.

The plan I proposed to Shaye was constructed in such a manner that it would protect him and his family from association with housing me and protect you and my brother from further attacks.

Shaye took it upon himself to plead on my behalf for a pardon that same eve before you were abducted.

He did not go into detail about what he pleaded, just that he made his case and Dagda agreed to strike the execution order.

“Then you were taken, and I changed the plans. ’Tis why Shaye had been rather frustrated.

He feared I’d act out in such a manner that his plea would be wasted effort.

Aye, I destroyed the entire hideaway. Did away with Grison’s men, but left Grison and Cecir for Dagda, as ’twas Dagda’s order.

Alas, I surrendered myself and suffered punishment for my crimes, of which I’ll spare you the details.

I still bear scars on my back in slow stages of healing from iron poisoning, but they’ll be well soon enough. ”

“Iron?” Instinctively, she played her fingers over his back. She felt them now, the welts and bumps, raised lines and rough edges of healing wounds. Thaddeus captured her hand, brought it forward to kiss her fingertips, then lowered her palm to his chest.

“I’ll heal, love.”

“I know, but…” She sighed. “He just…let you go?”

“Dagda is a fair King, storín . He does not care for excessive punishment, but I deserved death for what I did. Though my sentence was lightened, I still suffered tremendous punishment. Dagda asked for a blood bond, one where I would swear loyalty to him as King, and promise to do him no harm. I agreed, before he confided that he had pardoned my execution. Upon release to Shaye for healing?—”

“Shaye knew you were alive?!” Rori screeched, pushing herself up while staring down at him. Thaddeus’s brow furrowed. “He was here three days ago, when I found out about the baby, and never once said you were alive !”

Thaddeus cupped the back of her neck and pulled her down, tucking her in his arm. “Time moves different here, remember? A couple of days there would be a few weeks here. So, although you have been suffering for months, ’tis only been about a week in Faery.”

Rori huffed. “I should’ve stayed in Faery, then.”

“Mayhap.” He rested a kiss to her head. “Alas, Dagda placed one last restriction on me. I shall not have the freedom to travel to Faery without escort or his personal invitation.”

“He exiled you?” She tilted her head and gazed up into her Faery man. She’d expected to find a hint of sadness, being forced out of the realms he had known all his life.

“In a way, aye.” He smiled, tracing her brow.

“I’m content with his ruling because I’ve been given a second chance to mend all my wrongdoings.

And I have you.” He tipped her chin and placed a gentle kiss to her mouth.

“Rori, naught matters in all the realms if you are not by my side. I would gladly give up Faery for you. I’d relinquish my powers and magic for you.

I’d become the closest thing to a mortal, as long as I have you here.

In my arms, in my life. The Goddess gave me the perfect woman to be my anam cara , and I want for no other than the woman lying in my arms right now.

The woman who will carry and care for our child. ”

“The curse? On your magic?

Thaddeus smiled. “It reversed with Cecir’s death.”

“You sure you won’t miss Faery?”

Thaddeus shook his head. “Not a bit, if I have you.”

Rori slipped her hand up to his nape, rolling him onto his back as she leaned over him. “Then you owe me a blood bond, Faery man.”

The wicked grin that melted his smile teased her libido awake. “’Tis unbreakable, storín .”

In the palm of his hand, the familiar ornate dagger appeared. Rori took the hilt and slid it from the sheath, a resonant hum of power licking up her arm.

“Dagda returned your blade?”

“My dagger was forged with my blood. ’Tis an extension of my person, and belongs with me, for in the wrong hands, it can be my demise.” He traced her jaw with a single finger, his voice dropping to a sensual husk. “Be certain of your decision.”

She tilted the dagger, admiring the gleaming silver blade. She lowered her eyes to Thaddeus, whose pupils widened and eyes smoldered as he watched her with his blade. “Are you certain of your decision?”

“You would have had a blood bond a long time ago if I had any hope of a pardon. You have naught to worry about.”

“Good.” Rori threw her leg over Thaddeus’s hips, straddling him as he pushed upright. “Moira said we cut our palms and vow ourselves to each other for eternity.”

“Aye.” He gently removed the dagger from her grip and replaced it with his hand, folding his fingers between hers, all the while watching her like a man torn between an insatiable hunger and a desire for tenderness.

He separated their palms and slipped the tip of his blade between them.

“’Tis but a second, a sting. You tell me when you’re ready. ”

“I’m ready,” she said without hesitation.

Thaddeus paused.

Then pulled the dagger back.

Rori sucked in a sharp breath as the sting of the cut spread up her arm.

For a moment.

The pain melted into a tingling warmth, a soothing peace.

She sighed as the sensations ran through her like a wave of warm honey.

The pulsing bond that entwined with Thaddeus stretched and swayed, finding the free-flowing wound along their palms. It blazed with renewed force, thickening, shimmering, forging a strong, unbreakable connection.

Rori closed her eyes, listened to the steady beat of her heart, echoed by another in perfect synchrony.

She pressed her hand to his chest, felt the deft rhythm that matched her own.

Threads of power laced around their entwined hands, branches from their bond.

A faint shimmer of golden light encompassed them, the slow-burning arousal coiling tighter and tighter.

“ Mo ghrá álainn , anam cara , this is my oath to you. From this day forth, until the end of eternity. Through all trials and tribulations. My heart is your heart. My soul, your soul. My body for you, to find comfort, security, and pleasure. I shall forever be your shield, to protect you from harm, to ensure your safety. My strength is your strength, to lift you up when you have fallen. I shall forever love you, cherish you, provide for you, shelter you. You shall want for naught, need for naught, desire naught within my care. With my blood, of heart and soul, to you I pledge my oath.”

Rori moistened her lips, his gaze darkening, encouraging. How many nights had she imagined this happening? Speaking an oath of eternity with Thaddeus, believing her chance as lost as he?

The Goddess granted you your chance now.

“To you, my infuriating Faery man, my oath. To love for all time, through this life and all that follow. To cherish you, support you. To provide a home within my arms, a sanctuary within my heart. My loyalty is to you, my undying devotion to you, my eternal gratitude for the gift of you and in all you have bound in blood to me, I shall pledge to you.”

Thaddeus cast his dagger to the floor as he rolled her onto her back, capturing her jaw in the palm of his hand, and devouring her in a kiss that snapped the coiled arousal and had her craving anything and everything Thaddeus could offer.

“I forgot to tell you,” he breathed against her lips, lifting their folded hands and pinning them above her head. “Forging a blood bond ignites that insatiable hunger between soul mates.”

Rori arched into his body, his wicked mouth stirring wild desires alive. “More than we already experience?”

He lifted himself over her, his hair tumbling around her head in a white-gold cape. “We shall have an eternity to find out.”

Catching the back of his neck, she guided him down to her. “I’m feeling quite insatiable as we speak.”

“Alas, storín , so am I.”

THE END