“Con, is this your little human friend?” a petite blonde said tartly as she approached and touched his arm.
Con gave a heavy sigh and squeezed Em’s hand. “Sorcha, this is my Fated One, Em. Em, this is Sorcha.”
“An old friend,” Sorcha said with a slight leer.
“Ah, well, we all have old friends. I’m his new friend.”
Em watched Sorcha’s face change as the sickly sweet demeanor gave way to fury. “Look, human, I was fucking him before your kind crawled from the primordial seas.”
Con started to say something but Em stepped close to the other woman. “Look, bitch, I don’t care. He’s with me now and that’s the way it is. Deal with it or don’t, it’s all the same to me. As for you fucking him when the human species was nothing more than amoebae, I can’t imagine why that should impress me.”
She heard clapping and a musical laugh. “Well done! Sorcha, begone. I do believe you were told to be on your best behavior. Out of my sight before I remember that I used to be a goddess of vengeance.”
Everyone bowed to the woman that Em guessed was the queen. She followed suit.
“Do stand and come through to my personal chambers,” she called to them as she fluttered out of the room.
They followed in her wake, Con wearing a big smile. He liked this side of Em—she had taken on Sorcha like a raging lioness and the news would spread like wildfire. She’d gain respect for that. As for those who wouldn’t like her for it, they didn’t like her to begin with so it wasn’t like she’d created new enemies.
Aine turned to them and waved at a chaise. “Sit, sit, don’t bow and scrape.”
Em sat tentatively and Con put his arm about the back of the chaise, keeping her close.
“Sorcha is such a bitch isn’t she?” Aine laughed. “You handled it well, Em. You know you’ll have several such interludes. Con was popular before he met you.”
Con stiffened and started to say something but Em waved him quiet. “Please, Con, you can’t be indignant over the truth. I can feel everyone but you—I can feel the story. They lust after you, yes, but mainly, they respect you. Some fear you, a few hate you, but even the ones who hate you respect your abilities.”
Aine watched the human woman and her heart expanded. She could see straight into Conchobar MacNessa and see how much Em had healed his self-imposed emptiness after his father’s murder. Em’s love, or rather loving Em, made him stronger. Yes, Em Charvez would make an excellent Faerie as well as an excellent partner for Aine’s most trusted advisor.
“You’re an empath, yes?”
Em nodded. “I can’t feel you, though, you’ve got an awful lot of power. It’s blinding.”
Aine smiled. Em was so genuine, there wasn’t anything manipulative about the statement. It was refreshing to not have to be on her guard and wonder what the other person wanted from her. “Why thank you! I’m awfully jaded these days. I don’t think I’ve been truly flattered or surprised or even impressed for at least forty thousand years. It will be a pleasure to have you around, Em.”
With a flick of her wrist, two drinks appeared within reach of Con and Em and she took a sip of her own glass of berry wine.
Em sipped and it was so delicious she drank the whole glass in a few gulps. “That was lovely! Con, we need some of that at home,” she said, delighted.
“Welcome to the Tuatha De Danann, Em,” Aine said and Em felt her insides explode into bright light. Her back bowed and she would have fallen to the floor had Con not caught her and brought her to his body. He stroked a hand over her hair, murmuring in Gaelic until she came back to herself moments later.
She looked around the room and everything was brighter, sharper, more vivid and colorful. She could see the life emanating from the plants, from the water. Aine’s aura was even more blinding and Con was more beautiful than he’d been through human eyes.
“Did you change her?” Con asked, worried.
“I did. How do you feel, Em?” Aine asked amused and very touched by the way Con was so concerned.
“Fantastic, Your Majesty,” Em answered, continuing to be amazed.
“Please, call me Aine. You have Freya’s mark, would you like to meet her?”
“The goddess…angel…whatever that made the Compact?”
“Yes.”
“Sure!”
Aine crossed to her but Con put himself between them. She raised a brow. “Do you think I would make her immortal and then harm her?”
He moved back. “I beg your forgiveness, Majesty.”
“As you should, Conchobar. In any case, it’s sweet of you. I’ll bring her to Finn’s when I’m done.” Aine took Em’s outstretched hand and they sifted.
This time, Em felt the mechanics of the sift and understood it. The magic of it was like a mathematical equation and she calculated it. It clicked in her head, made sense. Wherever they had gone though, Em understood it was beyond her abilities to get there.
“You are correct, Em. There are many pockets between worlds and realities. I believe that human quantum mechanics addresses this concept as space-time, although it’s more than that, and less than that.”
Before Em could fully grasp that Aine had read her mind, another person came into the room.
“Aine, how lovely to see you.”
Em turned and saw a woman so brilliantly beautiful that it hurt to look at her. The woman pursed her lips and turned her lights down a bit and Em was able to get a better view.
“You are a Charvez! Delightful. I met your sister, she’s a strong one. Over the generations, you each inherit certain of my own gifts. With her, it’s as if she got the biggest helping. My magic, my raw power. With you though…” Freya walked around her and examined her carefully, “you got my intuitive powers, my powers of translation and understanding. You feel, don’t you? People and things, books, magic.”
Em nodded. It was unreal, standing there in some alternate universe, talking to a goddess. She had so many questions!
“You haven’t begun to tap into them fully, lovely girl. You must. Now that Aine,” she looked up at the queen and winked, “that naughty girl, has made you Fae, you will be able to do so more easily. Your empathic abilities will be tenfold.” Freya took her hand. “The shadow is still there. Your sister defeated part of the last threat but the threat remains.”
“The demon lord,” Em said matter of factly and Freya nodded. “What is it? What can I do to stop it? We got the book away, what else could it be?”
“Angra was not the only one who serves. Keep in mind, Em, that people serve the same master for a whole host of reasons.”
“Okay, so you’re saying the demon lord has more people out there trying to break the Compact. Who? How can I stop it if I don’t even know where to look?” Em began to feel a bit panicked. Her family was at stake.
“I cannot be more specific. I am sorry but as I told your sister, there are rules that even I have to obey. Just be vigilant. Protect yours and be aware. That is the key.” Freya kissed her forehead and Em felt a rush of pleasure.
“We should go, Em. Con is expecting us back and he is nervous about your safety, even with me,” Aine murmured into her ear.
“Wait! I have so many questions to ask!” Em’s natural curiosity burned through her. The desire to know, to learn and understand, was like an addiction for her and this goddess had to have so much to teach.
Freya laughed and Em had to close her eyes for a moment against the beauty of it. “Em, there will be other times. You’re immortal now, you have thousands of years to learn. I will be here from time to time. For now, go to the man you love, a Joining awaits.”
Aine grasped her hand and suddenly they were standing in a meadow ringed by thick forest and at the center a deep, clear lake. A beautiful home dominated the space. The transition from wherever Freya had been to Tir na nOg was a bit jarring and Em slowed her breathing down until it passed.
“This is Finn and Magda’s home, Con’s brother and his wife. I suspe
ct his mother is here too, the snob,” Aine sniffed.
“I take it you two aren’t the best of friends,” Em said quietly and Aine laughed.
“So refreshing. Please, do come and see me often or I will track you down myself. I will be going. As you have so astutely realized, Titania and I are not friends. She’s always felt that I wasn’t good enough to be queen. Too bad for her, I’ve been queen for sixty thousand years and I’m not dead yet. She’s not a big lover of humans but she’ll see, as I do, that Con is deeply in love with you. You two are fated and now you are no longer human anyway, you’re one of us. Blessings upon the both of you,” Aine said with a brief touch of her lips to Em’s cheek and shimmered away.
Hearing laughter coming from the direction of the house, Em walked toward it. She came around the back of the house and saw the full expanse of the lake down a grassy embankment. It smelled so clean and fresh. She felt the joy and the love and it reminded her of her own family get-togethers.
A small boy with reddish-brown hair toddled toward her. “Hi, lady!” he called out gaily.
“Hi, mister,” she called back with a smile. Con was standing nearby and turned when he heard her voice. The smile he gave her made her knees weak.
It wasn’t until then that she noticed the small crowd of people who had all turned to look at her. The meadow suddenly exploded in flowers.
A woman with blonde ringlets came toward her as Con did. “You must be Em! I’m Magda, sister-in-law to Con.” The little woman pulled her into an embrace. “You’re even more beautiful than I’d imagined. I always wanted black hair, yours is the color of a raven’s wing.”
“Nice to meet you, Magda,” Em said with a smile. There was a glimmer of mischief in Magda’s eye and Em responded to it with a grin.
Con leaned down to kiss her lips and swing her around. “Em, a ghra, this is Finn, my older brother.”
The other man was nearly identical to Con. The small differences were that his hair was a bit more red and rather than the whiskey gold of Con’s eyes, Finn’s were a startling ice blue. He grinned and kissed her cheeks. “Welcome to our home, Em. Welcome to our family and to our world. You’ve made Con so happy we can’t help but love you already.”
Em gave him a smile and before she could respond the small crowd parted and she was face-to-face with a regal golden blonde-haired woman who had to be their mother.
“Mother, this is Em. Em, this is my mother, Titania,” Con said, giving his mother a look over Em’s shoulder that she couldn’t see.
Em could feel the other woman quite clearly. She thought Em was beneath her son but she also saw that fate had meant for the two of them to be together. Em gave a mental snort. It sucked when fate threw you the opposite of what you wanted.
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Con has spoken of you with great love and respect,” Em said, holding out her hand.
The other woman gave her the once-over and gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes in return. “I’m pleased Con is happy,” she said with a nod and moved back away.
Con narrowed his eyes at his mother but Em touched his arm to stop him from speaking. Her family had just savaged him the night before. It didn’t matter, they were together and everyone would simply have to get used to it. She saw that Jayce was there and gave him a wave and her head spun as Con introduced her to the rest of the group.
Finally, he turned to her, “Em, last chance before I snap you up forever. If you haven’t changed your mind, shall we speak the Joining?”
“Joining?”
“It’s like a marriage.” He hesitated a moment, looking for the right words. “Well, a bit more complicated than that. It’s like a ritual, we speak the world and our souls weave together,” he said, golden eyes twinkling.
“I’m game if you are,” she said with a grin and he led her to the center of the group. Of course she couldn’t wait to hear it, to learn a new spell and a new kind of magic.
“Finn will serve as finné, the witness,” he said and his brother stepped forward and had them clasp hands and placed his over theirs.
“May the blessing of light be on you—light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine on you and warm your heart ‘til it glows like a great peat fire.”
Con smiled at his brother and then down at her. “Tá mo chroí istigh ionat go deo.”
And she understood. She didn’t quite know why but the Gaelic was as understandable in her brain as English and French were. The spell was there, her part to speak came to her as if she’d known it all her life. She’d really have to marvel at that later. “My heart is within you forever as well, fear cheile,” she repeated back.
“You do me a great honor to call me husband, bean cheile,” he said in his silky voice.
She reached up to kiss his chin. “I like you calling me wife.”
Finn grinned at them both. “Joined in light and in love for eternity and a day.”
And it was as if he’d pulled her to him and into his heart and mind. She felt him like he was a part of her own heart. She looked up into his eyes and saw her face reflected there and understood that the spell had worked and that more than just a marriage of two lives, their very beings were joined to the other.
The gathered people cheered and Con swung her up into his arms with a whoop of joy and kissed her.
As the day wore on and the light changed, they danced through the flowers and Em got to know her new family and friends. She respected Con even more once she’d met the people in his life, and even his mother had warmed up to her as the afternoon passed.
Long after the stars began to wink in the sky Con grabbed her hand and shimmered them home.
“Thank you for such a lovely day,” she said softly to him.
“Thank you, Em, for being my wife. You’ve won the hearts of all of my family and friends, you know,” he said with a grin as he slid his hands down her thighs and then reversed, pulling the hem of her skirt upwards.
“Except for your mother.”
“I’m sorry about that, but she’s already beginning to come around.”
She waved it off and her breath hitched as he reached the waist of her panties and tugged them down. “Let’s not talk about her now,” she moaned and he chuckled. “Show me if making love as a Fae is different than as a human,” she challenged.
He fumbled with her blouse but it wouldn’t cooperate and he took both hands and yanked it open, the buttons hitting the walls and the floor. Her eyes widened and then slid halfway shut, the sheer violence of his passion shocked her system and moisture flooded her pussy.
Her hands yanked frantically at his pants and she just imagined them both naked and they were.
“Nice,” he growled as he leaned down to bite the flesh where neck met shoulder. His hands smoothed down her back and the curves of her ass. When his fingers brushed the wet flesh of her labia they both moaned. “So wet. Oh, Em, gods, you are so beautiful.”
“All for you, Con, only for you,” she gasped and practically climbed up his legs and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Fuck me, oh god, please, Con. I need you inside of me right now,” she begged, moving her hips to graze his erection with her pussy.
Keeping an arm banded about her waist, with her ankles locked at the small of his back, he carried her into the bathroom. There were mirrors everywhere and he gave her a look so lethally sexy that she nearly died from it. “I’m going to fuck you in here so I can watch you in the mirrors. I want to see as my cock as it disappears into your body over and over, I want to watch that pretty flush work its way up your body, to watch your nails dig into the flesh of my shoulders,” he said in a low voice, backing her against a full-length mirror on the wall. He surged into her and she arched her back and cried out in pleasure.
The fullness he gave her felt so good, so familiar. She was home. He was her home. She looked up into his face and smiled. “I love you, Con. I’m so glad you stalked me for six months.”
He threw back his head an
d laughed, thrusting hard enough so that they both grunted. “I love you too, mo fiach, so much that it should scare a former confirmed bachelor like me.”
She quirked a smile and then gasped as he licked across her collarbone. She leaned in and grabbed the tip of his ear between her teeth, flicking her tongue across it.
“Gods I love it when you do that,” he murmured.
She watched him in the mirrors as he fucked her, his buttocks hollowing as he plunged inside, the muscles on his back rippling as he pulled back out again. She saw her breasts move from side to side with the motion. She watched his hand on her bottom, holding her up. It was a turn-on, watching him fuck her. She looked at herself and was surprised. Who was that woman, that sultry, wanton woman with her legs wrapped around this man’s waist, begging him for more? She smiled and raked her nails down his back, delighting in the groan of pleasure he gave in response.
“Touch yourself for me, Em,” he said, his eyes bright with passion.
She leaned back against the mirror and stroked her hands up her body, cupping her breasts. She felt him harden inside her as she did, eyes locked to her hands as her thumbs flicked over the nipples and then squeezed. She slid one hand down her stomach and stroked along his cock as he thrust into her and back up, finding the swollen bundle of her clit. She stroked it with a featherlight touch.
“That’s it, baby, gods, you’re so sexy,” he gritted out, “I’m close, come with me, Em.” He looked down in between them to watch her and she watched him watching her. She clamped down on his cock and felt his heartbeat throb inside her.
“Oh yeah. Like that. That. Feels. So. Good,” he said, slamming his cock deep inside her.
As her climax hit, she began a long shuddering moan, the pleasure rippling over her like waves. She put her head on his shoulder and rode each crest. Her skin felt like a thousand fingertips were stroking it, the pleasure was wringing her out, pulling endorphins from her cells. It was nearly so much she couldn’t stand it but she never wanted it to stop.