Page 45 of Midnight Kingdom

“The Unseelie kingdom, to rescue Aima and Kolvar,” I answer. Flumph flies down the stairs and I notice his wing seems a little crooked. Not broken, but definitely not right. Pyre sees it as well, but Flumph waves us off.

“What happened with Kolvar and Aima?” Pyre asks.

“Noni an’ I was checkin’ on ‘em an’ we hears the Unseelie pricks talkin’ ‘bout killin’ them withsoulfire. We tells the others, an’ they run off to go save ‘em. Cambion been comin’ an’ goin for the past three fuckin’ days, leavin’ me here to babysit the Mother Heifer while she sleepin’.”

“Oh, I’m not sleeping anymore.”

I turn to face the direction of the voice and I’m surprised to see the Midnight Queen awake, much less moving around. Pyre appears surprised, too. She smiles at me and pulls me into a warm embrace.

“Are you feeling well?” I ask her.

“I’m feeling better than before, but I fear I won’t see much progress if I can’t get my power back. Where were you? I expected to be questioned when I awakened, but everyone seems to have gone elsewhere.”

Pyre casts me a strange look and I decide not to tell Morrigan the truth—about the spire. I’m not sure why, but I keep that information to myself. “There was trouble in the Ashland. Harpies were attacking spirits, so Pyre and I went to take care of it.” I lower the neck of my tunic to show the long gash left behind by the harpy. “Sadly, I didn’t walk away unharmed.”

I get Pyre’s nod of approval and he pulls me aside. “I need to go get the others. You have to track down Cambion and…” He takes a deep breath and I realize my pheromones are very strong in the air between us. I duck my head and try to tamp down the hunger building inside me.

“Eilish,” Pyre breathes. “Go find Cambion. You need to talk to him.”

With that, he disappears through the doorway, and I see him tear open The Veil and step into a portal. The Midnight Queen watches with interest. I feel uneasy leaving her alone in Pyre’s home, but I need to trust her. But, then again, Silvanus warned me not to trust Morrigan. And yet, can Silvanus be trusted? Either way, I need her here in order to figure out what’s going on.

Cambion’s footprints mark the ground everywhere I look. I follow the path that’s the most worn. Clearly, the forest has become his escape in the spirit world. His gait is uneven, however. He must not have healed completely. Whatever weapon Variant used to wound the former Seelie King must have been very powerful to slow his healing to such an extreme. I continue down the path until I catch a strange scent on the wind.

Lust.

It’s thick and succulent, calling to me like the magic at the Echoing Spire. It’s Cambion. I know his scent anywhere. I allow it to wrap around me, to lure me closer to my would-be-prey, were I inclined to seduce him.

Would he let me? Would Cambion allow me to take what I need from him and give him pleasure in return? I pause for a moment and squeeze my thighs together, feeling a throbbing ache where I need him most. I want him desperately. And, if the tantalizing aroma in the forest is anything to go by, he wants me, too.

I remember the first time I felt him inside me—in a vision. I can’t recall when or how it came to be, but I know the way he felt as he stretched my walls to their limits and bathed me in his seed. Sex with Cambion is sweet but not gentle, slow but passionate, and it lingers in a place within me that nothing else can touch. I want him to tell me he loves me, to shower me in adoration and look at me with eyes that never stray. I don’t understand these yearnings.

This honey-eyed man looks down at me, watching me. I’m lying on a bed and he’s above me, his hands on either side of my head. His hair is disheveled and he’s out of breath. A thin sheen of sweat coats his entire body, causing that bronze skin to glitter. I can feel the heat coming off him. I watch as his muscles tense and release as he moves above me. Within me.

Yes, he’s buried deep inside me.

His eyes never leave mine as he thrusts himself into me repeatedly, each drive deeper than the last. I hear the sound of my own moan, which causes a smile to seize his mouth and he pushes into me even harder. “My King,” I say to him, and I can feel my smile.

He is beaming. “My beautiful Queen.”

Can succubus love? Can we feel something other than lust?

Maybe? But I’m not just a succubus, am I? No, I’m also an angel. I’m the taker and the giver, the temptation and redemption, brimstone and spring rain. That’s what I am—but notwhoI am.

I’m Eilish.

And I’m tired of hiding.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CAMBION

The Veil

“Cambion? I was worried about you. Are you okay?”

She appears like a siren in the mist, sauntering toward me with a hypnotic sway to her hips. The air is tinged with her fragrance, her delicious musk that causes me to swell in my trousers. My palms itch to touch her. My tongue desires a taste of her sweet flesh. I want to sink my teeth into her and mark her so that no one else can.

“Yes,” I manage. She nods and we both stand there for a second or so and then I decide the force is too strong, my need too great. I close the distance between us and grab her around the waist, pulling her into me. She appears shocked at first but then lust clouds her blue eyes. I don’t stop her as she runs her fingers down the length of my tunic, just barely missing my wound.

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