By the Magic of Starlight (The Forbidden Realm) (4 page)

He was most likely right. She leaned in close to him, studying the glittering, glowing field. It was like nothing she’d seen before and she had to admit she really didn’t know what to do. Reaching out, she felt the tingle of magic as her hand passed through the field and rested on Kyne’s warm skin. His muscles were taut, tense and nearly bursting with pent-up energy.

He’d not been exaggerating when he said someone was intent on keeping him here. That’s why he’d been brought in at night when no one else was around. That’s why the charges had been so extreme. That was very likely why he’d been given a young, inexperienced advocate. This wasn’t a matter of misunderstanding; she realized that now.

Dorn’s attitude, Swift’s determination, confinement suits, a magic-dampening room with special files… it all added up to one undeniable truth. Kyne was in a whole lot of trouble and he wasn’t getting out of it any time soon. It wasn’t all going to be sorted out in a matter of hours. If she truly wanted to do anything to help Kyne, it was going to take a whole lot more than thinking up talking points.

She was going to have to help him escape.

“Raea… you should go,” he repeated.

“No. I want to help you get out of that thing.”

She felt him shudder as her hands ran over his chest, the magic from the suit zinging through her and making her dizzy.

“You’d better not,” he said, warning filling his voice. “The combination of your hands all over me with this magic wrapped so tight… It’s making me kind of hot for you.”

She felt exactly the same way. Her body buzzed as the familiar hum of desire burned through her. She wanted him. It was wrong, it was foolish, and it was completely beyond her control. Realizing the danger of their situation here only made her that much more aware of him. At any moment someone could come through that door and rip him away from her. Each touch could be their last, so that made every nerve in her fingers demand even more. She ran her hands over the powerful contours of his arms and up across his shoulders.

He smiled. “That feels nice.”

By the Skies, she was getting carried away. They couldn’t do this! She pulled her hands back. “No. This isn’t the time. Right now we just have to concentrate on getting you out of this place.”

As she spoke, she went around behind him to investigate his wings. She touched them, too, and felt the magic that kept them inert. As she brushed them, Kyne groaned with pleasure and she watched him shift in his seat.

“By the Skies, Raea, I swear if I wasn’t tied down in this thing, now would most certainly be the time.”

She felt a quiver dance up her spine to realize that he shared her desire. If only Swift hadn’t shown up tonight, they’d be miles away from here, happily engaged in… but she couldn’t let herself think about that just now. She needed to keep her mind on their business.

“You cannot possibly be thinking of such things now, Kyne.”

“I can’t help it,” he said.

“I only just now walked in the room. You can’t even see me.”

“But I can feel you. By the Skies, if you don’t stop touching my wings I’m going to break out of this suit and give everyone a good show. No doubt they’ve got me under observation.”

“No, they don’t,” Raea said and purposefully stroked the full length of Kyne’s beautiful left wing. “I heard Pimma and Swift in the corridor. They went into some room where magic won’t work. Pimma’s stone would be damaged in there, so she didn’t take it with her.”

“I’m not under surveillance?”

“Not for right now.”

He shifted again. “You shouldn’t have told me that. Now all I can do is think of all the things I’d love to do to you while no one is watching.”

His wings flapped once, twice. He lifted a hand to try to find where she was. She could tell he moved more freely than he had before. Was something happening to the suit? Was it losing its magic?

“I’m over here now,” she said, moving to his right side.

He reached for her, this time his hand raising enough to actually contact her belly. She stood still for him, let him feel his way up until his fingertips brushed over her nipples. Now her body was reacting to his. If only things were different… if only they weren’t here…

“The suit is loosening, I can feel it,” he said.

She could tell it was true. But what could possibly be draining its power? Was there something in the building dampening magic? She reached into her pouch, fingered her dust. No, the magic was strong. She felt the usual tingle. So what was happening to the confinement suit?

“It’s you,” Kyne said, obviously wondering the same thing. “What you do to me. Look, I can move my arms, spread my wings now.”

“But how—?”

“Come closer. Let me try something.”

She obeyed, moving to his side. He was able to touch her with both hands now and the feel of his skin against hers had the usual effect. Passion flared into flame inside her and she knew they had to stop this now before the heat overwhelmed them both and they did things to regret.

“It’s the passion,” he said. “It’s releasing the magic.”

“But we’ve never noticed that before.”

“Neither of us has ever been bound in a confinement suit before.”

He seemed to be a bit more intrigued by the notion of that than he should have been. She ignored him.

“So… what do we do?”

“I think you know what we do.”

Oh yes, she wanted to do exactly that! But not here, not now… not when council officials could walk in on them at any moment. Swift and Pimma were just up the hall, and as soon as Pimma left that special room she’d collect her Watcher Stone again. She would see Kyne, see Raea and… but no, she wouldn’t.

Raea glanced at herself, or tried to, at least. Nothing. Her invisibility was still holding up just fine. Maybe they wouldn’t be seen. If Kyne could simply hold still perhaps she knew how to get him released. In more ways than one.

“Can you see me?” she asked softly.

“I wish that I could.”

“Well, don’t. No wishing. Here’s what we’ll do, but you have to follow my instructions no matter what.”

She was moving beside him, he could feel the heat from her lithe body, the brush of air from an occasional wing flap. He could sense the distinctive, sweet smell of her. And then he could feel her. Her skin was against his, her hands on his chest, and he felt her thighs slide over him.

She was straddling him! By the Clouds and the Air, he could feel her warm and willing against him. Rather than providing a barrier, the confinement suit that held him pinned to his chair served to heighten every sensation. His cock went hard and strained at his clothing.

“Shhh,” she urged him, her breath brushing his lips. “No one will know that I’m here. We can get you out of these bonds and use my dust to get free.”

“These bonds are the only thing keeping me from tossing you onto the table.”

“Stay silent, and hold still. If anyone does start to monitor the room, they must suspect nothing until you are free. Now… let me try this.”

Her delicate hand slid under the layers of fabric that constituted his clothing. She took hold of his rock-solid cock and gave it a squeeze. He did exactly what she told him not to and jolted in his seat.

“By the Skies,” he growled. “It won’t matter if this suit is gone or not. I’ll be good for nothing if you don’t stop this immediately.”

“I can feel it, the extra magic. It’s… amazing.”

Then she had the nerve to run her hand back and forth, up and down his cock slowly and deliberately. He tried to keep silent, to give no indication of what she was doing to him. The suit tingled around him, as if her body already engulfed him. His arms could move freely now, yet he kept them at his sides, helpless against her motion.

“This is no magic I know,” she said, her voice tight and breathy.

She grasped his cock more firmly, urgency starting to show in her actions. His heart pounded in his chest and he struggled to maintain his control. It was too soon, too soon to let loose.

He was not held fast as before, he had room to shift, to raise his arms if he dared, but he was not free. The magic in the suit still held him to his chair. He was trapped there, forced to endure Raea’s caresses.

He could feel her body rocking against him, following the movement of her hand as she stroked and squeezed. He wanted to see her, to gaze at her form and watch as passion took over her eyes. But all he saw was the room around him, the empty air where he knew a panting, hot fairy actually was. He could feel her breathing, feel her going moist against his leg as she slid back and forth.

“I can’t take much more of this,” he murmured, digging his fingertips into the chair in a desperate attempt not to grab her and pull her just inches forward, just enough to impale her with his huge, throbbing cock.

“Hush. You can take it. Just a little bit more… I feel the suit slipping…”

That’s not all that was slipping. He was rapidly losing control, falling under the waves of passion that would soon take him over, and they’d both be helpless against the outcome. And the outcome wouldn’t be silent, nor could it be contained in this room. One thing Kyne knew about passion, it brought out his human side. And that meant he grew. Not just the important part of him, either.

“Stop, Raea. You’ve got to stop,” he begged her.

“No… Almost there now…”

“I can’t… You don’t know…”

“It’s working. Hold on just a bit longer.”

He knew she was right. He could feel the suit losing its hold, he could feel freedom taking him over. But freedom was nothing compared to the passion. It was too late to hold back. Her sighing, her caressing, her rocking… it had sent him too far.

He shifted in his chair and reached for her, instinct taking over and passion ruling every part of him. He pulled her to him. She arched in his arms and with an audible groan he sank his cock into the warm, wet center of her. She gasped, clawing at him as her rocking continued. The passion had taken her over, too.

By the Skies, she felt good. He thrust into her and felt the last constraint of the suit fall away. One more thrust and she came against him, her cries loud and unfettered. He felt his own body respond, felt the humanity surging and knew he had to act now. He couldn’t let himself lose control now, not here, not this way. He hadn’t been fully honest with her, hadn’t confessed the truth of what happened to him when passion took hold and climax roared over him. For her sake, now, he had to stop.

It was nearly too late. Raea’s skin felt blazing hot where she touched him, her body demanding all that he had and then more. He was helpless under her spell. Completion was coming over him with tidal-wave force, bringing with it all the aspects of his humanity he struggled so hard to contain. For her sake, he had to stop.

By the Skies, but it hurt down to his soul to push her away. It was either that or give in to the climax and become human right here, destroying Council Hall and possibly Raea in the process. It took every bit of resolve he could find, but he did it. He moved her aside and found her pouch with the Wish Dust. Digging in, he grabbed a sloppy handful and tossed it into the air.

“I wish we were far away from here, someplace safe,” he said with a desperate gasp for much needed air.

Instantly the magic took over and the room around them changed. For a moment he was falling, then he landed in something soft, damp, and earthy. The world around them illuminated from the glow of his wish and he could see they were in an unfamiliar forest. They were safe. His passion was distracted and, thankfully, he was still in his usual fairy form.

Raea lay in his arms, sprawled over him. He held her, still partly stunned by the wish and partly sedated from passion. After a moment, she stirred, brushing his aching cock and making him want her even more than before.

“Where are we?” she uttered, shifting invisibly over him.

“A forest—I don’t recognize it, but we’re away from the Council Hall. And we’re alone, I hope.”

“Yes, it appears that we are. We seem to be all alone here… safe, with no one to interrupt.”

She was kissing him again, sliding her body back into position to continue where they had left off. He was more than eager to cooperate, but he knew he didn’t dare.

“No, we can’t.” He tried to caution her, though she didn’t seem to hear him. “Raea, stop, please. There’s one thing I haven’t mentioned.”

By the Skies, he wanted to see her. He felt for her dust pouch again, desperately trying not to be aware of her tempting curves and the heat radiating from her now sated body. He tossed another pinch of dust into the air and wished again.

She sparkled into view.

“Now why did you do that?” she asked.

“I want to look at you.”

“And I want to keep touching you,” she replied. “Please, Kyne. I’ve tried to deny it so long, but I can’t anymore.”

“No, I need to tell you something, Raea.”

She slid off him and rolled onto her side, the soft moss and ferns of the forest floor cradling her in their way. Her eyes were huge, nearly violet in the shadows of the thick woods. Her chest heaved and her breasts rose up and down, tantalizing him.

“All right. Tell me.”

He took a deep breath and prayed she wouldn’t hate him for his confession. “You know about my parentage.”

“Of course. Your father was a human who seduced and then betrayed your mother. But it makes no difference to me, Kyne. You are fairy, through and through.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Well, technically yes… I guess you do have a special, um, gift. But then again, all fairies possess the ability for passion, Kyne. We just usually behave ourselves and ignore it.”

“My gift, as you call it, is a little bit bigger than most.”

She smiled a wicked smile and reached for him. “Yes, I see that. You’re still bursting out of your clothes.”

“And that’s exactly the problem.”

“It doesn’t seem like a problem to me,” she said, running one finger along the full length of his cock. “At least, not one that we can’t solve if we work together.”

“I’m afraid that solving it takes a little more magic than you know.”

He appreciated that she’d instigated this lovemaking as a way to get him out of the confinement suit, and he was thrilled that their passion had obviously removed many of her usual inhibitions, at least temporarily. He knew she’d come to her senses soon enough. It was a shame that he couldn’t simply take advantage of her uncharacteristic willingness just now. But he couldn’t. He needed to tell her the truth about this before she found out the hard way. And by the Skies, it was hard.

“Please listen, Raea. You need to hear me.”

“What is it? Are you worried they’ll find us?”

“No, I’m not really sure where we are, so I don’t think they have a clue, either. It’s just… really, Raea, you’ve got to stop staring at me like that.”

“Well, you aren’t letting me touch you, so staring is all that I can do.”

It was the most difficult thing imaginable to see the desire in her eyes and hear the yearning in her voice, yet not welcome her back into his arms. She needed to know what she was dealing with, though, so he forced himself to continue.

“You need to be listening. I have to tell you the truth.”

“Truth? I hardly think there are any secrets left between us, Kyne.”

“There is. A big one.”

“That’s hardly a secret to me.”

“No, there’s more. What you think you know… what we did that night… Do you remember it?”

“Of course! I’ve tried all this time to forget it, but I can’t. What you did that night changed me, Kyne. I only want more and more of it, even though I know it’s wrong.”

Yes, he was afraid of that. She’d lived her life without any temptation, without experiencing the passion he struggled against every day. He should have known that luring her into his arms would only make her want more. It was why there were such strict laws against this sort of thing to begin with; magic and passion were an intoxicating mix. There were good reasons such things had been forbidden for so long. He should never have been so selfish to drag her into this with him.

“I’m sorry, Raea. This is why Co-Mingling is such a serious offense.”

“Co-Mingling? But that is not what we’ve done, Kyne. Yes, giving in to passion as we have is wrong—I’m well aware of that—but it isn’t nearly as bad as actual Co-Mingling. Swift was wrong when he accused you. You haven’t done that.”

And now she would hear the truth. He took a long breath before delivering the blow.

“But you have.”

Her pink brow furrowed adorably and she bit her lip in confusion. “What? No I haven’t. I’ve never done anything like that with a human.”

“But you’ve done it with me, Raea.”

“And you are a fairy.”

“Not when I make love.”

“What?”

“Don’t you remember? When we did it before, we’d been helping that human. We’d used Sizing Dust to take on human form.”

“Yes, but that was merely for convenience. We had to become human size to communicate with them, to accomplish our task. We weren’t Co-Mingling with them. By the Skies, Kyne. Why are you so stressed about this?”

“Because you thought it was simply the effect of the dust that kept me that size when we made love, Raea.”

“Yes, and I was still human-sized, too. That doesn’t mean—”

“You were that size because of magic, Raea. I was that size because it is my natural form when I… well, when I make love.”

“What? But back at the Council Hall we were making love, and you’re still a normal-size fairy. All right, maybe you’ve grown in one particular area, and maybe you are a little bit taller and maybe your shoulders are a little wider than usual, but you still look like a fairy to me.”

She wasn’t making this easy for him. Why was it taking her so long to grasp what he was trying to tell her? He guessed he’d just have to blurt it out in all its sordid detail. Then she could hate him and regret coming to his rescue tonight.

“It doesn’t exactly happen when I make love, Raea, it happens only when I
come
. When I reach climax. It doesn’t matter what form I’m in then, I always become huge.”

“Always? You mean, you do this a lot? You have sex with other fairies everywhere you go?”

“No, of course not.”

“With humans, then. You
are
guilty of Co-Mingling!”

“No, not with humans, either,” he said, and stopped her before she could go on to ask any more embarrassing questions. “And not farm animals or mermaids or anything like that. I… I’ve found ways to release the tension that builds up over time.”

“Tension?”

“What we were feeling a couple seconds ago—
that
sort of tension. Sometimes I just need to get away and be alone for a while. With myself. And my… needs.”

“Alone?”

Damn, but he was going to have to spell it out for her, wasn’t he? Well, she deserved full honesty, finally. It was the least he could give her after all that she’d given him.

“Yes. I pleasure myself sometimes, Raea, and that’s how I know exactly what happens to me. When I climax, I turn human. I become huge and my magic is gone. I can’t fly. Dust won’t work for me. I’m totally human then. As human as any of those selfish, vulgar creatures we work so hard to avoid.
That’s
what you made love to.
That’s
what I am in my core. And
that’s
why I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you.”

He watched the glow of passion fade in her eyes. She pulled back from him just enough to let him know she finally understood.

“You were… so when we… it wasn’t just the Sizing Dust? You actually became human?”

“Yeah. That’s what happens.”

“And back at the Council Hall?”

“If I hadn’t wished us out of there when I did… well, I would have exploded that tiny little building. No telling what I would have done to you.”

“And you knew this about yourself, even that first night?”

“Yes, but we had the Sizing Dust and—”

“And you still let me give in to you!”

“It was what we both wanted. We knew it was wrong that night.”

“You knew it was more wrong than I did, Kyne.”

“And I didn’t care. I wanted you, Raea. I still want you.”