Page 73 of Atop the Faerie Throne
“Redcap, if you try to bring those into this bed, I will personally shove them up your ass one by one,sideways.”
Lore whistles innocently. “What if they’re my emotional support arms?”
Turning in the sheets, I try to suppress a giggle-grimace. He’s holding three different arms against his chest, all of them severed and missing several fingers.
“Don’t get your furry knickers in a twist,” Lore continues, after a long moment of stony silence from Jaro. “They’re a treat for Wraith for being such a good puppy.”
Wraith, at the end of the bed, opens one sleepy eye, nose twitching. The barghest deliberates for a second, then flips onto his back, his lupine lips parting to let out a hearty burp before returning to sleep.
Lore pouts. “No fair, I picked the best ones for you, you ungrateful?—”
“Why don’t you get cleaned up and then come and snuggle me?” I ask, not quite managing to keep a hint of my earlier vulnerability from creeping into my voice. “It’s late.”
Those vivid red eyes shine in the gloom, and he blinks away. It only takes him a handful of minutes to return, still damp and completely naked.
Jaro lets out a deep sigh as Lore jumps onto the bed, then blinks beneath the covers, his skin cold against mine. The redcap’s hand instantly searches between my thighs, searching out his mark and covering it. Jaro does the same, kissing his mark on the side of my neck.
Despite my earlier belief that I might be physically unable to sleep, the comfort seeping through our bond from both of their touches helps.
Tiredness weighs down on me, and I’m almost asleep when Lore’s lips find my ear, kissing the point before whispering.
“I collected their heads for you, pet. They’re hanging from the city walls in pretty garlands.”
I’m exhausted enough that I don’t even question it.
Twenty-Four
Rhoswyn
Iwake to soft hands running down my spine, caressing the curve of my ass, bringing me to wakefulness with a slow, lingering kind of sensuality that makes me melt.
How is it I went to sleep snuggled between Jaro and Lore, and now I’m waking up beside Drystan?
“Good morning,” I murmur into the pillowcase.
I try to bring my arms down so I can turn over and embrace him, only to pause when I realise they’re bound to the headboard. His low chuckle is completely humourless as I tug against the rope.
“Want to rephrase that, huntress?”
There’s a level of lethality underlying his voice that sends a shiver running from my spine to my wingtips. A silent query flutters down the mating bond, checking for consent, and he relaxes when my arousal answers for me.
“Good morning, master,” I groan, finally blinking open my eyes to watch as his lips caress my shoulder blade, replaced by the scrape of teeth against the juncture of my neck and shoulder.
What did I do this time?I wonder silently as my body arches towards the punishing onslaught.
And that’s what this is. Punishment. I can feel the darkness in him radiating down our bond, coated in an ice-cold layer of steely control.
His hand cups my ass and squeezes, making me gasp. A second later, he releases it, spanking me hard enough to make the flesh heat.
I blame it on the fact that I’m still tired that I don’t notice the glimmer on the pillow until he does it again.
My engagement necklace.
It must’ve fallen off when I died, and in all the chaos, I forgot to look for it.
Drystan notices where my attention has gone, and my next spank is considerably louder, the sound echoing around the room.
“You promised you’d never take it off.”
