“Tell me something,” the queen said suddenly. “You have taken up residence in a mansion whose wards are strongly infused … so strong I can feel them. Tell me now, Trevor, whose home is this?”
“Er … ah … well,” said Trevor.
“It has Breslyn’s style and scent, so there is no need to tell me.” She shook her head. “It always astounds me that each time he breaks my rules, it turns out for the best.” She sighed and said, “Pestale has remembered everything. The waters of the Cauldron were tampered with, no doubt by his brothers. He did not receive its full strength. The brothers should all have been made to drink at once.” She sighed heavily. “The Dark King has once again found other matters to divert him from his promise. It is always thus, and so we must handle the situation we are left with. I am depending on you, Trevor, and on the Fios McWallen.”
She paused and then softly said, “Pestale has sent me a message. Imagine the gall—he managed to crack open the Prison Wall long enough to shove through a drone who delivered the message before Morgan LeBlanc put it out of its misery. It was galling to have an Unseelie in Tir. It has never happened before, and that in itself was a message. Pestale believes he will be successful in his renewed efforts to take control of Tir and the Human Realm. There is something different in him. I feel it, know it, saw it in the language and style of his delivered message. I believe he has received the means inadvertently from the Dark King to break free with an army. I have assembled my team once more, but I need you to contain Hordly. He and Pestale must not be reunited outside the Dark Realm.”
Once again, Trevor’s arm crossed his chest as he bowed his head. “So it shall be done, my Queen.”
“To do so, you must retrieve the Orb,” the queen said as she faded from sight.
Trevor and Jazz looked at one another, and then without warning he took two long strides to her and pulled her hungrily into his arms as his mouth sought and found hers!
~ Seven ~
HE COULDN’T HOLD back any longer. He had watched her stand before his queen, knowing that everything she had been taught told her to be afraid of the Queen of Seelie Fae.
Jazmine Decker had stood—a brave lass, enchantingly beautiful and willing to put her life on the line to do what she could to stop a force so powerful it could wipe her out of existence with so very little effort. She knew that and was willing. It was as though her soul glowed brightly all around her, mesmerizing him, holding him, drawing him closer.
She had stood, lovely and strong, with those deep blue eyes filled with courage and honesty, and he found he couldn’t control himself any longer.
He wanted her. He had been wanting her and denying it to himself. She was mortal, and he shouldn’t intrude on her life, but even if it was for a short time, he wanted her—had to have her. But did she want him?
He moved in, and when he took her into his arms, it felt so right, it felt so undeniably right, and her lips parted for his. Ecstasy—the immediate understanding that she wanted him as well! Her tongue danced sweetly, hotly, with his, and she was too delicious to deny. He tasted her; she was honey and vanilla and life, and ready and his. She had to be his!
In that moment, he wasn’t just kissing her; he found himself adoring every nuance that was Jazmine Decker, every move she made, every delicious breath she inhaled and exhaled. He felt her take his kiss with hunger and return it with passion, and he felt himself on fire with feral need. He pressed his hard shaft against her body, and she pressed back. Hot, hot, hot, hot—no thought, just hot.
It was as though a net of primal desire had wrapped itself around them, and he couldn’t stop kissing her, tasting her, touching. By Danu, her breasts even through the muslin gown she wore were delectable, and he wanted to lick her nipples and see their fullness and—
She put a hand out to his chest and pushed at him.
He heard her murmur the word ‘no’, and he was jolted, couldn’t believe, but stopped himself nonetheless.
It took such great effort, but he stopped and held her away by her shoulders. He stared down into those blue eyes that kept him captive still and whisper
ed questioningly, “No?”
“No,” she said softly. “My friend Tammy recently told me to have fun, even for one night, just have fun, and if ever a girl could have fun, it would be with you, but I am not about ‘fun’. I should be, but I am afraid I would get lost in you, with you, and we are from different worlds. When this is over, you will return to Faery—your Isles of Tir—and I will hopefully be off for my permanent job as a marine biologist. I am very certain I would compare every man I meet in the future to you, and none would measure up—so, no.” She turned from him, and he released her.
Prince Trevor watched her walk away and followed a few steps after her. He saw her take the stairs to her bedchamber and felt a loss that was so much more than he had expected.
Her words about no other man being able to compare to him had lifted him. Her words about meeting and being with another man in the future had dropped him into a pit of depression.
How could he think of her with someone else?
It was what he had to do—let her go to someone who would be there for her, grow old with her …
She had spoken realistically. One day he would go to Tir, and she would remain in the Human Realm, and she would take a human man who would have what he never could. And this thought brought his fists heavenward as he silently bellowed!
* * *
It had been three days since Trevor had taken her into his arms and kissed her. She could feel and taste him still.
It was all she dreamed about. It followed her everywhere she went, through everything they did. At least she was busy with Frankie most of the time.
She had asked Trevor to return her clothes to her and had also requested him to outfit Frankie with breeches and a shirt instead of a dress.
Frankie had laughed to see herself dressed like a boy but loved the comfort, and Jazz had taken her outdoors and started teaching her the art of self-defense. It was at the end of one of these training sessions that she asked, “Frankie, did your mother have any opportunity to help you grow as a Fios? Do you know what you can do … with your magic as a seer?”