Below the Surface

Chapter Fifteen

“It’s too late, Aerolus,” Cadmus said in a thick voice. “He’s almost gone.”

“It’s never too late,” Aerolus snapped, his control frayed so badly he feared he’d never get it back. Losing his father had been traumatic enough, but losing Marcus would be like losing a part of himself.

He should never have brought the three of them and Tessa to match ‘Sin Garu. But in his arrogance he’d wrongly compared himself to Arim, believing in his strange dreams when he knew he was a fledgeling sorcerer. Instead of conferring with Arim on the matter, he’d blithely accepted his powers as infallible. And now his brother lay on death’s path, the Nocumat bending low to take him in its arms for one final kiss before the Next.

“Dammit, Aerolus,” Cadmus yelled, trying to destroy the red giant hovering over Marcus. “Do something!”

The shock waves and pounds of earth Cadmus shot at the Nocumat had no effect. Its red substance absorbed every slap of force and deflected the soil to the ground around it.

“Nothing’s working,” Aerolus said, tired and sick and despairing, wishing he could trade his life for his brother’s. Tessa lay sprawled on the ground a few feet away, and her heartfelt plea for Marcus before passing out had shaken him to the quick.

He felt his brother’s life sputtering and gathered the most dangerous spell he knew within him. Praying it would save Marcus, he knew he, however, would not survive its aftereffects. Then a flash of white light blinded him.

“Enough already, Oxcen,” a feminine voice spoke, a voice both familiar and strangely alluring.

Aerolus couldn’t understand how, but he heard the Nocumat answer. It used neither words nor thought, yet still it spoke to the woman. He watched in stunned disbelief as she appeared next to Tessa, a vision garbed in white and shining like the sparkle of sun off clear glass.

She looked at Aerolus. “All you had to do was call him by name.” Stepping neatly over Tessa, she walked through the pooling Nocumat before he could warn her away.

Amazingly, the Nocumat, Oxcen apparently, protested her presence like a sullen little boy but did nothing to harm her. Aerolus could almost see it shuffling its globby feet petulantly as it voiced strenuous objections to returning home.

“I don’t care. You shouldn’t have encouraged the fair one to call on you. And wait until I tell your mother what you’ve done. She hates the Dark Lords.”

The Nocumat quickly lost shape, its man form dripping into the puddle from which it had grown, and soon withdrew altogether from the floor, rolling back into itself until only a drop remained before it, too, disappeared.

Marcus dropped like a stone the last few inches to the floor, no longer held by the viscous Oxcen. Cadmus did nothing to catch his brother. Instead he stood frozen over him, as if unable to see or hear anything.

“He can’t hear us or move,” the woman in white said. Her face and form were ethereal, stunning and regal in bearing, reminding him a bit of his mother. She circled him, staring at him from head to foot, until his shock grew to annoyance.

“I don’t know who you are but—”

Her ageless features brightened, their fierce perfection slowly morphing into a younger woman, one of flesh and blood with softer features, and one who made his blood roar as the bright glow around her faded.

“Yes, you do.” She circled to his front again, a broad smile on her full, red lips. “And I’m tired of waiting, Aerolus. But I admit the view’s been nothing but pleasant.”

Her gaze ran slowly over his face to his chest and lower, lingering over his groin.

To his dismay, he felt direct, intense sexual need that lanced something inside of him he’d held distant for so long.

“Finally,” she said, her mouth curled into a knowing grin.

He flushed, his erection evident and entirely inappropriate considering what he’d been through tonight.

“I appreciate what you’ve done with the Nocumat,” he said, though he didn’t understand it, “but my brother is—”

“Waking up from a bad dream.” She shuddered, and he felt like a sex-starved fool for noticing the full shape of her breasts as they pushed against her fine white robe. “I’d have nightmares too if Oxcen wrapped his greedy little hands around my neck. That boy needs a firmer hand.”

“Boy?” He stared at her incredulously. “Dream?” His gaze flew to Marcus, expecting to see the worst, and he caught his breath when Marcus groaned and rolled his head on the floor.

“Tessa?” he murmured and reached out a hand. “I had the worst dream…”

“Oh, and don’t worry about Tessa. She’s sleeping it off, I expect. Quite a woman,” she said brightly, a gleam of approval shining in her violet eyes.

“Who…what are you?” Aerolus stared, conscious of the tremendous power radiating from her slight yet womanly frame.

“Tsk, tsk, Aerolus. What, indeed? How rude. Whatever would Ravyn think?”

He stared, growing more and more aroused, and just as uneasy, as she neared. “What do you know of my mother?” he asked coolly.

She grinned, a dazzling expression that confused the hell out of him. Emotions and sensations coursed through his blood, and the normally unflappable Storm Lord had the overwhelming urge to throw her over his shoulder and show her how rude he wanted to be.

“Aerolus, I know everything about you.” She sighed. “I have to go. It won’t be long before Oxcen lets slip the queen has been here. And since she’s in council, they’ll know something’s wrong.

“I’ll be around, but if you really want to find me, look for me the next time you cross planes. And whatever you do,” she paused as her face turned serious, “don’t tell Arim or the others about me. They won’t understand, and you and I aren’t nearly ready to convince the Aellei to leave the Storm Lords alone. It’s bad enough one Dark Lord has them rethinking their position on interfering. But then, maybe it’s not just one.”

“What?” The ‘All-ay’? Dark Lords?

Her face screwed in irritation. “You know, this would be a lot easier if I had help. I changed my mind. Stop playing around and find me, mage. I’m getting tired of watching and sleeping alone.”

Aerolus blinked but before he could demand answers, she flared to a brilliant white again and vanished.

As if time had not just stood still, Cadmus swore in disbelief. “What the hell happened? Two seconds ago he was covered in Nocumat shit, and now he’s asking for Tessa?”

Marcus opened his eyes, confused. “Why the hell are you leaning over me? Where’s Tessa? And why am I on the floor?” He sat up slowly with Cadmus’ help. “I feel like I’ve been beaten with a stick.” He stared suspiciously at Cadmus, then frowned. “You look terrible.”

Aerolus saw the perplexed look on Cadmus’ face and started laughing. Both his brothers stared at him in astonishment, but he couldn’t stop. Marcus, who should be dead, wasn’t. Cadmus, one moment a Storm Lord and the next a Djinn, was complaining already. And Tessa, lovely, powerful Tessa, slept like a baby while their enemy had vanished into the Next, or hopefully Hell, at the hands of a rebellious Djinn.

“Aerolus?” Cadmus asked hesitantly, his eyes haunted but sincere with concern. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Aerolus said honestly. He felt alive, deliriously happy and surrounded by brotherly affection. Within him resonated Darius’ satisfaction that all was well, and he turned to Cadmus with a smile. “Let’s go home.”

Tessa murmured for Marcus and smiled when she felt him running strong hands up her thighs. Succumbing to her superb lover, she spread her legs wide and sighed with pleasure when his hands found her.

One finger penetrated while another rubbed her hardening clit. She writhed as her body pooled with want. A warm mouth covered one aroused breast, and when he nipped lightly, she arched up with a moan, completely at his mercy.

“Yes, sertia, more,” he rasped and added another finger, widening her passage. His fingers slid in and out easily, coated with her slick need that continued to grow as he played.

With amazing skill, he coaxed her to a quick orgasm. Unable to stop, she shuddered and came, tightening around his fingers as she rode his hand.

“That’s it, sertia.” He withdrew from her body and began kissing his way up her belly.

She could feel his cock hot and hard against her leg, and just the thought of him wanting her sparked her desire.

Marcus, however, would not be rushed. He kissed her gently, touching and stroking until he’d built her need once more. And he refused to let her touch him.

“If you touch me now, I’ll lose it,” he warned in a thick voice. “I want this to last. I want to watch you come around me when I spill inside you. I need to see your eyes when we’re one.” His blue eyes deepened to black.

“I love you, Marcus,” she whispered and circled his neck to bring his mouth to hers.

He deepened the kiss, his tongue seeking and sliding along the recesses of erotic zones she hadn’t thought existed in her mouth. But each swipe of his tongue against the roof of her mouth made her breath hitch, and when he thrust his tongue against hers, her sex quivered, wanting his shaft deep inside.

She arched into him, pressing her breasts against his chest and scraping the hardened peaks in slow circles.

“Tessa,” he groaned, reaching between them to position his cock on her clit. He rotated the head of his shaft, applying pressure to her sensitive area, sliding closer but never close enough to allow penetration.

He was killing her.

Not wanting another orgasm without him, she took charge. She battled and assumed control of the kiss, pulling and pushing at his tongue until he was panting and thrusting against her clit in time with her mouth’s rhythm.

“More, Marcus,” she commanded, spreading her thighs further and wrapping her legs around his waist.

Her wet heat coated his shaft and snapped an invisible thread on his control. Her skilled and considerate prince suddenly vanished, replaced by the frenzied lover she desired so very much.

“Fuck,” he snarled and thrust inside her in one long, deep stroke. “I tried so hard to be patient,” he said as he continued to pummel her without mercy. “But you won’t let me. You won’t let me protect you,” he said, and she couldn’t stop the rush of euphoria gathering in her womb.

“You won’t let me care for my affai as I should,” he gritted and thrust harder, making her cry out as she came.

He continued to drive, working her as she throbbed and spasmed around him, her mind drugged with rapture so intense her vision dimmed. Then suddenly he tensed and pressed deeper, and she could feel him shuddering as he spilled inside her.

“Ah, Tessa,” he groaned and pulled out, only to sink deeper once more as her body milked him. He kissed her deeply, his energy binding, seeking hers naturally, just as she accepted him without reservation. “I can’t believe this is real.”

She sighed and nuzzled the underside of his stubbled chin. So sexy, and so mine. “I can’t either.” She tensed as memories invaded, dark, fearful visions of a life without him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, running his hands along her sides to calm her.

“You almost died,” she said softly, her temper growing as she recalled how willing he’d been to die for her. “You were willing to kill yourself for me. And I have a problem with that,” she snapped, pushing him off her.

Rolling to the side, she sat up, heaving with anger. When his gaze settled lazily on her breasts, she fumed and grabbed a shirt from the nightstand. Obviously his, the way it draped over her. The T-shirt made her warm and fuzzy, and she had to fight to hold onto her mad.

“I’m a little hazy on the details,” Marcus said as he laid back on his pillow and placed his hands behind his neck. “I’m remembering bits and pieces, but not the whole. The last thing I remember is you standing up behind the couch, walking right through our protection spell that should have been impenetrable.” He kept his voice light and she couldn’t tell if he was angry or merely rehashing the incident.

“Don’t even try blaming me for any of it,” she said defensively. “I spent hours alone with that monster and woke up from Jonas’ mind zap with a raging headache. But I survived. I’m no delicate princess,” she used the word deliberately and scored a hit when he frowned, “who needs pampering and protection.” She thought about that. “Okay, so maybe I could have used a little protection.”

“We haven’t been using any, you know.” He grinned, throwing her off. “Protection, I mean.” He laughed at the small ‘o’ she made.

“I, we, I mean, you—” she stammered, feeling like an idiot, but her hands crossed her abdomen in an instinctively hopeful gesture. “That’s not the point!”

“What is the point, affai?” he asked lazily, staring at her chest until she could feel her nipples grazing the cotton fabric, arousing her once more.

“The point, River Prince, is that you were going to die. For me.”

He shrugged. “And for Tanselm and my brothers.”

“So what, I’m chopped liver?” Fury washed through her, that he could be so casual about this. Her eyes filled and she grew even angrier. Dammit. He’d made her cry, and she never cried.

“Oh, Tessa.” He immediately sat up and cradled her stiff body in his arms. “I’m sorry, sertia. I’m just so happy to have you safe and sound, I can’t worry any more about what happened. I love you so much.”

He kissed her, a meeting of hearts that kicked their desire into high gear again. Marcus groaned and shifted her so that she sat astride his erection with the sheet between them.

“Marcus,” she protested, needing to air her concerns. Though when he rotated his hips like that…

Marcus sighed. She was right. His cock could wait, her answers couldn’t.

“Tessa, when I couldn’t find you after work I went a little crazy. I’ve been afraid I wouldn’t have what it takes to defend what I prize most. But I did.” He felt a moment’s pride that he had, in fact, passed his own test. “It’s my job to protect you. Wait, I’m trying to explain something difficult for me to say.” He could hear the stiffness in his voice but couldn’t help it. “I make mistakes. I’m not perfect.”

She stared at him, amazed, and broke into laughter.

“It’s not funny,” he said coolly, not amused when she laughed harder.

“Hell, Marcus. I could have told you that from day one. You’re bossy, conceited, too free with your affections, but that’s stopped now, so I’ll let that one go.”

He waited for her to finish, and when she continued his vast litany of faults, he sighed in defeat. “Okay, okay. That may have come out wrong.”

“No, it didn’t. You don’t have to be perfect all the time, Marcus. Your father told me all about you months ago. I thought it was all a dream at the time, a Freudian joke for having spent so much time at work both fantasising and disliking you. But now that I think about it, with everything that happened, it might not have been a dream after all.”

“You saw my father?” He swallowed around a dry mouth.

She nodded. “His name is Faustus, and you have the same shaped face, the same chin. He’s very proud of you by the way.”

“I know,” Marcus said, his voice thready. “I used to think I’d never be good enough to be king, to be even a fraction as good as my father. But I know better now.” He hugged her tight, pleased when she squirmed against his still-hard cock. “You make me whole, Tessa. With you I can be me, just Marcus. And I don’t have to pretend.”

“Oh Marcus, you’re not as good an actor as you think. At first I used to think you were an arrogant jerk because you believed yourself better than everyone. But as we grew closer, I could see you used that ‘kingly’ tone as a front. Don’t you know I love you because of your many flaws?” she teased.

“I wouldn’t say many.” He felt somewhat defensive. “Maybe one or two, perhaps.”

She shifted the blanket away from his hips and sank down over his rock-hard shaft. He groaned, his mind emptying of everything but the feel and scent of Tessa.

“You talk too much,” she said and lifted up, only to sink heavily over him again. “If it weren’t for my brother’s advice to go with you to Tanselm and be deliriously happy for the rest of my life, I’d leave you in a minute,” she gasped.

“Three faults, but that’s my final offer,” he murmured and swallowed her laughter.

She rode him hard, all teasing aside when he found her nipples and toyed her into submission. Watching her take him, he couldn’t help thinking her perfect for him, and thanked the Light for sending him to this place.

With or without Tanselm, Marcus’ life finally felt complete.