Last night with Taryn was a revelation. It was so much more than just a scene, more than rope and the gift of her submission. The connection between us was all-consuming and transcended anything I’ve ever experienced with my bottoms before.
Afterward, when she said she was willing to lean in with whatever this is between us, I kept my response casual. Because she’d run in the opposite direction if she knew the truth. That I’m already leaning in so far I’m fucking inches away from falling.
But there’s so much going on right now, it’s hard to know what’s real. I was in the kitchen when Taryn woke up this morning, all sleepy-eyed and adorable. I opened my arms as she approached, and she walked right into my embrace, sighing as she rested her cheek on my chest. There was nothing strange about it, until I kissed the top of her head and the image I’d had yesterday of that exact scenario came rushing back to me. All day I’ve been wondering if it was just wishful thinking made into reality…or something more.
This is only the third day we’ve been together, and it’s crazy how we fell into a combined routine of sorts. She made us coffee while I cooked us some breakfast. After we ate and cleaned up, we worked out in the home gym, content to do our own things with the occasional smack talk flying around like our own form of foreplay.
Unfortunately, it didn’t have the chance to turn into anything. Tiernan got word from Dmitri about rescuing Taryn and he summoned me via bitchy text to get my ass over to the Midnight Manor. As much as I didn’t want to leave Taryn, I couldn’t avoid the lecture forever, and it was better to get it over with.
I let them get their obligatory big-brothering out of the way, then I filled them in on how the rescue went down and about the current situation with Dmitri searching for the traitors within his clan and Taryn staying with me in the meantime. Which meant admitting that I have a safe house in the city they didn’t know about. Luckily, they spared me another lecture about keeping secrets and settled for scrutinizing side-eye instead.
Part of me wanted to tell them about our grandmother’s letter to me, but I want some time to figure out if it actually leads anywhere first. There’s no point in getting everyone riled up if it turns out to be nothing. And I like that this is something Taryn and I are doing together. I don’t want to bring the rest of the world in on it just yet, selfish as that may be.
The last notes of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” plays and the streaming jets of water return to the lake to sleep for the next half hour. Taryn turns her gaze to me, her beautiful smile lighting up her whole face. “I don’t think that will ever get old. This is all so great, thank you for bringing me.”
“It’s not quite the same as the real thing,” I say, indicating our surroundings, “but we excel at making ‘next best things’ here in Vegas. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
“I am. This is the best I’ve felt in a long time. And I’ve been to the real Paris lots of times. This isn’t just a facsimile. It has its own unique energy and feel to it. The whole city does. Your father knew what he was doing when he came up with the idea.”
I take a sip of my merlot then nod. “He was incredibly wise. A good king to our people, and a good father to my brothers.”
Her brows knit together. “But not to you?”
“He wasn’t good or bad when it came to me. He was too busy being king and training Caiden to succeed him, so he didn’t have time for me. My brothers were fifty and fifty-five years older, so they shouldered the male role model responsibilities where I was concerned.”
She reaches across the table and settles her hand over mine, giving it a little squeeze.
“I do have one good memory of him,” I say, brushing my thumb over the top of her knuckles. “I was around fifteen, I think, and I was in our training room, practicing my sword skills. My brothers had cut out early. My father came in, looking for Caiden. I told him that he’d left and expected him to do the same, so I turned around and continued to practice. He took me by surprise when he offered advice on my stance. I made the correction, which pleased him. And then he just…stayed.
“He continued offering instruction and eventually picked up a sword and sparred with me. We were in there for hours, and I soaked up every minute like the desert soaks up the rain. At the end of the day, he told me that I was a natural-born warrior and that if I kept training, someday I would be the best. It was the first time I’d ever felt seen by my father.”
“Is that why you dedicated yourself to mastering so many fighting styles?”
We lean back as a waiter sets our desserts in front of us—creme brûlée for her and chocolate hazelnut cake for me—and tops off our wine glasses. I wait for her to take her first bite, watching her lips close around it and drag along the silver spoon. Her lashes sweep down as a soft moan escapes from the back of her throat, making my cock twitch behind the fly of my suit pants.
Needing to keep things PG—at least for now—I answer her question and hope my voice doesn’t sound as strained as what’s in my boxer briefs. “That’s exactly why. I figured if I had a natural ability—one prominent enough for my father and the Night Court King to comment on—I might as well hone it. Fighting is the only thing I’m good at.”
“I think I can confidently say it’s not the only thing you’re good at.” Taryn peers up at me coyly, letting the tip of her spoon tease her lower lip. “I mean, with all your knowledge of knots, I bet you’d be excellent at sailing.”
Little minx. She laughs, her husky voice twisting up my insides even as I laugh with her. I’ve discovered she’s genuinely funny. Once she stopped guarding herself with me, her true personality started coming through a little at a time, and she’s constantly surprising me with humorous one-liners I didn’t expect from her. I’m glad we’re doing this scavenger hunt together, because I’m thoroughly enjoying getting to know her.
“What about you?” I ask her. “Do you have a favorite childhood memory?”
Her mouth curves up in a soft smile as her eyes get a faraway look. “I do. When I was nine, my father took me on a trip to the Cindercrest Mountains to see the Scorched Sky.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s similar to the Northern Lights of this realm, but it only happens once every millennium in Tír Tairngire. It’s said that as the goddess of fire, Brigid sets the night sky ablaze as a reminder of the day she gifted us with her power.
“The entire Summer Court celebrates with a huge festival, but my dad said he knew a better way to experience it, so I pestered him until took me, which I’m sure was his intent the whole time.”
She smiles to herself as though remembering the moment, and the nostalgia makes her eyes shine. “We flew up to the highest peak and laid on our backs, watching the violet flames undulating across the sky like a fiery sea. It felt like we were so close that I could touch the magic if I stretched my arm up. We stayed like that for hours, taking it in while my father told stories of the gods and the creation of Faerie.”
“That sounds amazing.”
Taryn meets my gaze, her smile growing wider. “It was. When it was over, I was so disappointed. I said, ‘The fire is gone.’ But my father replied with, ‘Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. You must believe that it is.’ Then he cupped my face in his large hands and said, ‘Believe in your fire, Taryn, and you can do anything.’ I never felt closer to him than I did that night.”
Listening to her, I have a sense of coming home that shouldn’t be possible. I’ve never been to Faerie, and I never will be. That right was stripped of me long before I was born, and ironically, the person who did it is the mother of the female sitting across from me.
Clasping my hands in front of me, I lean in slightly. “Do you believe in fate or destiny?”
Taryn chews on the corner of her lower lip and seems to contemplate the question carefully before answering. “I don’t like the idea of events happening that are out of our control. I’ve always believed that bad things are preventable with the right choices and good things are achievable the same way.”
I sit back, vindicated someone else thinks rationally like I do. “I completely agree. I’ve never subscribed to the idea either.”
“Except now I’m not so sure.”
It takes me a second to process her words. “What makes you say that?”
“You read the same letter from Moira that I did. ‘When Luna casts her shadow without Rhiannon’s consent’ was the eclipse that wasn’t supposed to happen. She said it was the night when destinies collide, and it happened when you and I were touching my Armas at the same time. That’s a little hard to ignore, don’t you think?”
I take my time thinking about that and how to respond. “I’ll admit that I’d been helping your brother look for you for months by the time I had your Armas. But it wasn’t until I held it for the first time that my need to find you was so strong that it became a compulsion. I never would’ve stopped.
“Whether I was being influenced by some kind of spell imbued in the necklace or because our paths were meant to cross, I can’t say. I believe my grandmother saw certain events happening that are now coming to fruition. I’m just not sure what all of it means yet.”
“Well, Mr. Cynical, there’s only one way to find out,” she says, pushing her chair back and rising. “Let’s go solve us a riddle.”
Smiling, I get to my feet and gesture in front of me. “After you, my lady.”
