Page 24 of Light Fae's Love
“I don’t know, exactly.” I shake my head, trying to banish the tearing sensation inside me, though it won’t go. “It feels… like you and Lucca’s magics are tearing me apart.”
Quinn’s deep concern for me helps him thaw. He inhales a long breath to steady himself and is at last calm as he extends a hand towards my chest. “May I?”
“Sure.” I nod, understanding that he wants to search my power to find out what’s wrong.
Quinn moves to me and lets his fingertips touch my chest—then presses his entire palm to my breastbone. As he closes his eyes, I feel him spiral to a place deep within that is silent like the grave, with no distractions so he can clearly evaluate my magic. He sends a dark, smooth wind inside my veins as he does, trying to figure out what’s wrong with our trio’s bond and how it’s affecting me right now.
He finds the place inside me that’s tearing from Lucca’s and his contentiousness. I feel shock hit Quinn then; he had been so wrapped up in his own aims today that he didn’t feel it before—but he feels it now.
He understands Lucca and I have consummated our bond, strengthening it until a bright blaze fills my heart.
A replay of our lovemaking in the waterfall field flows to Quinn now, though I didn’t intend it; Quinn feels how Lucca’s and my hot sex and Fae revelry matured the bond between us this afternoon, far beyond anything that existed before.
Jealousy flares in Quinn then, as he finds out Lucca and I finally had sex. But part of his jealousy is that Lucca was with me—all of it done without him. Even as his possessiveness flares, however, Quinn spreads his magic wider, needing to know more to figure out what’s going on inside me. I feel him know that my new, deeper connection to Lucca comes with intense love for our Fae Prince.
In the same way I love Quinn.
As he finally understands what’s going on, I also feel Quinn know why our Revenant demonstration today was such a resounding success—even though he had been prepared for it to be far more difficult. It’s because Lucca has been pulled much deeper into our bond by what he and I shared today, and it made it far easier to raise the Music between us than ever before.
Amazement shocks Quinn now, however, as he sees my memory of Lucca’s Bloodsign being replaced by flowers from our trio’s bound might. As that happens, I feel him finally get to the deepest truth of why I feel like I’m being torn apart. It’s because I feel terrible that Lucca and Quinn are warring after the deep love I shared with my bound Fae Prince today, and Quinn these past few weeks.
Their bonds are matched inside me.
I love them equally and cannot choose a side.
A dark sadness devours my heart now as I discover the truth of what I’m feeling. As Quinn’s energy strokes that intense sadness now, a blaze rushes up within me and I gasp, feeling Lucca’s and Quinn’s energy fight once more, like rabid wolves inside my veins. They pull and heave against each other, as if both of them have one end of a piece of meat in their jaws, and I’m the meat.
It rips me apart with their equally formidable power—and equally close bonds to me.
“This is not good,” Quinn says at last as he pulls his hand away. I’m shuddering, my heart throbbing with a deep pain as he escorts me to the dinner table then pours me a wine, extending it. As I take it, he pours one for himself; lost in thought, he swirls his wine as I drink mine, needing it. At last, he sighs, setting his glass down and plucking mine from my hands, setting it upon the table.
“Forgive me.” Quinn holds my hands in his, warmer than before but still marble-chill from all the emotions he’s trying to process without letting them spill out all over me. “Lucca’s and my ancient warring is tearing you apart right now, and I don’t know how to stop it. He and I have very old wounds, Ariana… and I wish that bonding you had simply obliterated those differences, but it isn’t so. We must work through our wounds if we are to work together. I fear we must find a way… or watch our contentious power rip you apart, and fling you into even more unstable territory than you were in before.”
“Why did Lucca get so furious with you just now?” I ask, wondering what the hell is really going on here.
“You have to look at my machinations like a Fae, I’m afraid.” Quinn beckons me to have a seat, pulling out one of his high-backed ebony dining chairs for me. As I sit, he pushes it in like a gentleman, then goes to his place at the head of the table and sinks into the seat there.
Quinn’s still pensive, though, as he serves me chicken fettuccine and salad plus a smattering of cured antipasto. He’s gone so deeply within that by the time he serves his own plate, I have to prod him back to our conversation.
“Like a Fae?” I ask.
“Yes.” He nods as he takes a bite of fettuccine, chewing thoughtfully. His Vampire metabolism rarely needs much nourishment, but I notice Quinn’s loaded his plate tonight—as if his fight with Lucca, or our demonstration with the Revenant, has made him hungrier than usual. “Like Vampires, Fae are clannish and enjoy stability. They become suspicious of new developments and can react strongly to new information. That’s why their rumor-mill is so vastly effective in their society, spreading new hearsay and gossip like wildfire.”
“Gossip like someone having seen our Revenant demonstration, and understood Lucca was bonded to a Dark Fae and a Vampire with his magics.” I understand, though I still feel confusion about where all this is going.
As my heart gives another dangerous throb in my chest.
“Indeed.” Quinn stares out the windows, watching the night. “Saving your power from exploding in the middle of the city is one thing; Lucca fears that if his people found out how we bonded with our ritual, however, they would turn away and no longer follow him. Lucca did what he did out of love, Ariana, when he bonded with us; but after centuries of propaganda by his father against the Forbidden Lineages, many of his people do not share his love for Dark Fae and Vampires. Your Fae parents are unique in that they champion Dark Fae equality. Because many Fae don’t feel that way.”
“Lucca worries that if we expose our bond by doing a public Revenant demonstration before the Fae, his rebellion is lost.” I sip my wine, eating a few bites of fettuccine as well. My heart is finally settling from its previous tense beats. Relief fills me that at least Quinn’s energies have calmed inside me now.
Though Lucca’s still churn through me—hot and bright with wrath.
“Yes.” Quinn swirls his wine as he regards me. “For Lucca, that is far more important than messing with magics we do not fully understand. The Summer Fae King has put us in a tight spot, however, and Lucca has not thought it through yet. If we do not come up with some way to convince the King that we can get his people back to Rome, we lose our peace treaty. If that happens, you go back to being on the King’s hit list, and any Fae who associate with you would be put to death.”
“My parents.” A quick breath leaves me as I understand what Quinn’s getting at. Fear sweeps through me as I worry suddenly that King Bellari might get to my parents in the human world where they’ve hidden from him for decades.
And kill them.