Page 48 of Beltane

I cleared my throat at this, and all three of them stopped to look at me. “Have you forgotten our life? Have you forgotten who you are?” Lex Fairfax. Son of the president of the United States. Public icon. The definition of American royalty. Hell, there was an entire section of Virginia that had his last name stamped right across it. “Or is the fairy wine already catching up to you?”

Lex leaned back in his seat, the very image of a disappointed king addressing his pessimistic queen.

“I hate to be the bearer of reality, but on the other side of this battle, there’s just more of the same.” I looked between the three of them. “Miri can’t leave the family for the same reason you and I will end up getting married on live television in some undoubtedly more ridiculous circus that has been rescheduled to the most opportune time politically.” I sat up straighter. “If we survive tomorrow morning, this all ends, right? Tomorrowisthe end.”

I held up my hand, bearing the scars that proclaimed our undying fealty to each other.

Until the end.

“We promised each other so much that night…more than we had to give.”

They fell silent for a moment, long enough for Lex to let out a drawn sigh. “What are you looking forward to, Ivy?”

I didn’t know. I didn’t have a good answer. None of the save-the-world initiatives I’d tried to push through Congress had worked. I’d spent the majority of the last few months on a fairy curse and a dying planet, and now, both were out of my control. I had worked so damned hard for an idea of a family that didn’t exist. I’d done so much for my legacy, for my mother, for my name…and none of it made a difference. I tried to focus on the things I could fix, the things in my immediate future.

“Saving my siblings,” I said. “Trying to live with you three for as long as I can, as much as I can.”

“Oddly vague.” Lex’s eyes lit with challenge. “You don’t think we could have it all?”

“I think you’re being too optimistic for the Lex I’ve come to love and loathe.” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat. “I think the queen told you something else, something you’re not sharing with the rest of us.”

Lex pushed back from his seat, clearly done with my shit, and grabbed the leather bladder, yanking out the cork with his teeth so he could swig back a large drink from the jug. He stalked closer, taking it one slow step at a time, his predator gaze narrowed on me, his hips swaying in a proprietary beat.

“I think you’re being needlessly argumentative.” Lex dragged a finger over Carter’s shoulders, who pursed his lips and narrowed his indigo stare on my former archnemesis while Lex trained his gaze on me. “I think you don’t know how to have a last night on earth party, and you’re too ashamed to show it.”

Heat rose up the sides of my neck and into my cheeks, zigzagging across my skin in that telltale X that always gave me away. I gripped the armrests to keep from reaching up to cover it with my hand. Lex would see it anyway. I had to focus on remaining calm, on resisting the bait. He wanted to get a rise out of me, and if this was our last night on earth, I expected nothing less from Alexei “Lucifer” Fairfax, king of demons and things that go bump in the night.

“Did she tell you what the sacrifice was?” I raised an eyebrow, analyzing the almost skip in his step and the tremble in his fingers. “Is that why you’re being sentimental? Because you know what we have to give up?”

There it is.The muscle around his eye twitched as he twisted his lips into a trademark smirk. Maybe he could tell I was lying with my X, but after all these years, Lex’s hazel stare still gave him away.

He kicked the leg of my chair hard enough to scoot me back from the table and twist me around to face him, where he leaned down until we were eye level, his hands gripping my wrists over the armrests.

“X, I’m about two seconds from forcing Carter to his knees so he can blow me while Miri stuffs her pussy in my face.” His words created a visual that sent a jolt of lust between my legs so hard, I had to squirm to keep myself from moaning. “If you don’t drop this, I’m going to tie you to that bed and play with you last.”

He reeked of fairy wine and bonfire smoke and a two-hour trek through the forest, butfuck,I couldn’t resist the tremble that went through me when he gave me that look. Hedaredme to disobey him, to open my mouth and say something that would give him an excuse to do exactly what he promised.

We had agreed that we wouldn’t play like this with the others around. I didn’t want them to know how much I loved the fight, how much I had always loved it, but if this was truly our last night together…well…fuck it.

I took a deep breath, steeled my gaze, and opened my mouth to say, “Did you make a deal with her?”

That was all it took. Lex curled his lips into that cruel smile, recognizing that I’d given my consent, and then he attacked.

18

Lex

Fucking Ivy.

She’d always been able to read me better than anyone, and this was far too close to the truth for me to let it continue.

I grabbed her out of her seat by her waist, throwing her over my shoulder—fireman style. Sure, she was tall for a woman, but I still had eight inches on her and nearly a hundred pounds.

“Lex, damn it!” She squirmed in my hold, wiggling to get free, and when I slammed her down on the mattress, she bounced and tried to right herself.

“DC, maybe you should go easy.” Carter walked to stand next to me, but I focused only on stripping my belt off my pants and wrapping it around my fist so I could approach Ivy.

“Shut the fuck up, Chicago, or you’re next.” I shot him a glare as I fought off Ivy’s attempts to get free, grabbing her wrists and shoving them over her head so I could loop the leather over her forearms.

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