Knight's End: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Tangled Crowns Book 3), page 19
I moaned and rubbed my thighs together, wanting more friction.
I tried to pull him closer to me, but he wouldn’t budge. He was too busy imagining pressing my breasts together, sliding his thick dick between them and rutting into my mouth until he sprayed his cum across my body.
His lips moved to my neck and he slowly nibbled on my pulse. When he realized how rapidly my heart was beating, he pulled back and looked at me.
“Your thoughts are leaking," I told him breathlessly.
Instead of growing embarrassed, his smile widened. Oops.
I grinned and laughed when I realized he'd done it on purpose. “You need to get inside me. Now!”
Blue rolled on top of me and I spread my thighs so I could feel his tip at my entrance. This time, when he kissed me, he thrust his tongue into my mouth and used his thumb to swipe across my nipple. His thumb slowly circled until my peak was hardened. Then he slid down my body and captured the little knob in his mouth. He latched on and sucked hard as his fingers trailed down my ribs and across the tops of my thighs.
He placed a hand on either side of my opening and spread it wide. I felt the cool air of the room against me before his hot fingers slowly started moving my folds in opposite directions, one side up, the other down. My lips slid against one another easily. The friction took everything to another level. When the fingers of his left hand sought out my clit and gently rubbed, I was done for. I howled at the ceiling with all the wild abandon of a wolf howling at the moon. Blue didn't stop working my body, his hand grew faster and he moved his lips from one nipple to the other and exchanged his sucking for quick flicks of his tongue. His increase in intensity doubled my orgasm and instead of trailing off as usual, another orgasm exploded inside me. I went mindless with pleasure.
That’s when Blue shoved inside me, pumping hard and fast. He sent me every thought he had—the sight of my breasts jiggling as he held me down and rode me, my post-orgasm face that filled him with such a sense of pride, the sight of his dick sliding in and out of me.
A thought I don’t think he intended to send me slipped through, too. Right before he came, Blue thought, I’m falling in sarding—
He finished before he could say the ‘l’ word, but as he collapsed on top of me, I couldn’t help but feel joy.
“Blue, you’re the best animal turned husband there ever was.”
He laughed.
I moaned. “I’m so blissed out right now, I don’t even want to think about war—”
But fate had other plans.
Just then, colored smoke filled the room.
Blue grabbed my hand and yelled, “Run!”
Chapter Nineteen
We ran. But we couldn’t outrun smoke.
My heart felt like a house of cards that had toppled. Pure panic pumped through my veins and kept my feet moving.
The purple hazy smoke invaded my lungs as Blue and I darted naked through the halls, shoving frozen courtiers out of our way. I started to cough, and tears streamed from my eyes as the colored smoke darted back and forth. Blue screamed in my thoughts, Quinn! There’s an attack!
Djinn solidified all around us in the hallway and the smoke dissipated. Eight soldiers, wearing loose pants and armored black chest pieces emblazoned with a ring for Raj’s house walked forward. Their arms were uncovered, heavily tattooed and muscled just like Blue. Throwing stars, knives, and scimitars glinted on their waistbands as they closed in on us.
Shite! Raj knows I’m alive, I thought, as I skidded around a corner.
That probably meant he knew the capital wasn’t destroyed either. Everyone was in danger.
“Donaloo!” I screeched.
I shot a stream of peace behind me. The green light hit two of their soldiers, who stopped dead, dazed and blinking, temporarily uninterested in the fight.
We turned and ran in that direction, shoving the stunned half-djinn aside.
Blue pushed me ahead of him, so he could block any attacks from behind. He read their thoughts, grabbing my shoulders and making us both dodge left as a throwing star buzzed through the air to our right.
He shoved me down to the ground when a wish whizzed overhead, a golden jet of light that smashed into the wall and disintegrated it.
Oh shite. Thank the gods that hadn’t hit us, I thought.
Though I could hear a panicked edge to his thoughts, Blue mentally said, Remember, these are half-djinn. They’ll use wishes when their commander orders it. They won’t have a choice. But, whenever one of them grants a wish, he has to pay a price. It typically disables them. Makes them easy targets to kill—
The ground beneath our feet rumbled. Sinkholes appeared behind me.
I screeched and shot forward, scrambling as stones disappeared beneath my feet.
What the hell is happening? I asked Blue. Is that a wish?
He didn’t answer. Just shoved me forward.
Vines shot out of the holes in the floor and latched onto several of Cheryn’s soldiers. The vines dragged the soldiers down out of sight, to the floor below.
Their screams rang in my ears but were cut off.
I gulped. I didn’t look back. I didn’t want to know why they’d stopped screaming.
One of the soldiers unsheathed a gleaming scimitar from his waist and ran up onto a wall, kicking off to avoid a sinkhole. As he ran at us, he said, "I'm disappointed, Abbas. I thought you'd be faster."
Blue ignored him even though I glanced behind at the blade.
Blue’s thoughts filled with the picture of an older soldier who floated in midair behind us, legs still not materialized, next to the man wielding the sword. "Captain?" Blue asked.
I recognized the man from Blue’s memories; he was the same man who’d greeted Blue the first day the prince had arrived as a soldier.
The captain shook his head. "You know the consequences." His voice was harsh.
But as the captain said that, his eyes darted sideways toward the man holding the curved sword.
Blue nodded. "I understand." But in his mind, he said, Bloss, he's gonna create an opening for us.
The captain gave a signal and one of the part-djinn soldiers at the back started to mutter a wish. Blue whispered rapidly, “I wish I was faster than the wind."
Another soldier in the back mouthed, “Granted,” to his compatriot, but Blue had finished speaking first. Blue’s wish had been uttered before the other man’s. So, as the soldier who granted the wish collapsed with boils erupting on his skin, it wasn’t the other djinn’s wish that came true. It was Blue’s.
Hell sarding yes!
He’d stolen a wish!
I wanted to fist pump. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.
But a second later, Blue scooped me up as the captain appeared to stumble into the side of the soldier wielding the scimitar, knocking them both off balance.
The building blurred as Blue rushed away with me.
Why didn’t you wish for them to all disappear back to Cheryn? I asked.
They’d just wish themselves back seconds later. I needed an advantage. Speed is something I know. He ran down a stairwell so fast it appeared to be just a dip in the stone floor.
Seconds later, I saw Quinn next to us in full armor. He was running too—at full speed. It was disorienting to see Quinn clearly but the world around us was just a smear of color. My knights zigzagged through the halls.
Quinn mentally yelled at me, Right about now would be a great time for you to wish something.
No! I thought back at him. If I wish something, it's gonna be thought out. I'm not gonna waste a wish.
I saw another sparkling golden haze shoot toward us.
You sure we can afford that? Quinn asked.
We ducked around another corner and the wish magic shot past us, surrounding a frozen butler in glimmering light.
"It's not sarding fair that wish magic is so beautiful!" I complained as one of our butlers turned into a wooden puppet.
Donaloo appeared down the hall with a mirror shield in his hand. Dini was notably absent from his forehead.
He ran forward with more speed than I expected. “Traitors have betrayed my spells, let them in and cut the bells. Go!” he yelled at us—raising the shield so that a new stream of golden light reflected back at the djinn.
For once, I knew immediately what Donaloo meant. His spells should have made Raj see a broken capital; a castle destroyed by explosions. The wizard had carefully maintained those spells each day. How could Raj have seen any different? Someone had told the sultan it was all an illusion. My blood ran cold. I listened, but Donaloo was right. We were under attack, but no alarm bells sounded in my towers. No piercing toll roused the guards down in the city to come to our aid.
We’d been betrayed.
Blue hefted me higher as he ran. I watched over his shoulder as the wish magic rebounded from Donaloo’s shield to hit one of the djinn soldiers. The man was encased in a gold cloud for a moment before he turned into a stumbling newborn lamb.
Three of our royal guards appeared then. They gave war cries as they ran toward the fight carrying mirrored shields just like Donaloo had.
As we went down the hall, I saw plenty of people who hadn’t been lucky enough to have reflective armor. Frogs hopped, worms wriggled, two baby deer cowered behind a statue. The djinn might not be able to wish for death, but they could wish for other things. Worse things.
Did they wish for my soldiers to change consciousness when they wished for them to change their bodies? Or were the men’s human minds trapped in an animal form? Would a wished worm still dry out in the sun?
How devastated would their families be if they returned home as animals?
These random questions filled my head as we rushed down the hall.
Our trio entered the Great Hall, where the rest of my knights were already engaged in battle. Blue set me down between himself and Quinn when we reached the hall, their bodies shielding me from the fight.
Quinn tried to offer me his shirt, but he was attacked from the side and had to whip around the man, using his speed to trip the half-djinn and make him fall onto his own sword.
The clash went on all around us. Hundreds of bodies were engaged in battle. Swords were flying, and a golden haze, like the aftermath of dozens of wishes, floated above everyone’s heads like smoke.
The tiny purple warrior fairies that Donaloo had created for the mage’s tower swooped down on the djinn, targeting one at a time. They worked en masse, covering a man’s entire body, until he ended up howling and bloody, their tiny swords sticking out of his body like a hundred metal toothpicks.
Ryan and Declan stood off to the side. Ryan was using a chair to lean on, supporting himself on his good leg. But, like any true general, he couldn’t stand to be left out of a fight. I had no doubt he’d threatened Declan into bringing him up here.
The djinn who tried to get near them ended up collapsing on the ground, clutching their heads in their hands and crying. Some of them unsheathed their knives and slit their own throats.
Declan must have been using his magic to drain their will to live.
Ryan shot yellow magic out across the room, toward the front doors, where more half-djinn soldiers tried to storm the castle. He blocked them with a giant wall of dirt. I watched Declan whisper to him and slowly the dirt heated, growing molten.
Behind the two of them, Connor watched our soldiers. He shot pink rays of healing magic toward our men whenever one of them fell.
My heart swelled with pride. We were fighting the djinn soldiers. And we were holding our own, even with my knights’ swapped powers. They’d worked so hard, trying to learn what they could—
Ryan’s molten dirt wall collapsed as a spear flew at him. He ducked, clumsily, because of his injured leg.
And suddenly, my need to get to him intensified. If it came down to running away, he couldn’t do it.
I had to be with him. I couldn’t watch him fall.
Pony! I screamed in my mind. Where were our gargoyles?
They’re fighting outside, Quinn responded to my thoughts.
Pony came smashing through a window, tumbling down on top of a pile of soldiers. He sprang up, at attention, his tongue lolling in front of his tusks, like he was some overgrown pup, and this was a play date, not a battle.
Smash the djinn! I told him. They’re toys—chew them up.
Pony dove into the fray and beheaded the first djinn he came upon. He spit out the head and batted at it.
My stomach churned, but I felt better having him in the mix. And he blocked part of the way toward Ryan and the others.
We tried to make our way toward the other knights, but the room was crowded, and enemies were everywhere.
I shot peace magic at two of Cheryn’s soldiers who came near us. They slowed, dazed, but didn’t stop. I should have shot more, but I was naked still, and I felt vulnerable. I didn’t want a roomful of djinn to see the price of my magic. They might just wish I used it until I had nothing left.
I watched as one of them started to mutter a wish. Taking Blue’s tactic, I whispered, “I wish I was clothed in mirrored armor.”
As one of them whispered, “Granted,” I felt the armor click into place over my wrists. I glanced down and saw my entire body was encased in form-fitting armor that was as shiny and reflective as a mirror. It was completely badass. But I hadn’t wished for any godsdamned undergarments. The metal was right up against my skin. I took a step and could tell immediately that my nipples were about to be chafed raw.
“Sarding magic,” I muttered under my breath. Apparently, wishes were quite literal.
Once they saw I was a bit safer in the armor, my two fast knights took turns rushing at djinn warriors and stealing their weapons then cutting their throats. They almost seemed to be making a game of it. Who was faster. Or so it appeared to me, anyway.
I tried to steal another wish, this time, not for myself or my nipples.
“I wish all my soldiers that have been wished into animals were human again.”
But nothing happened. I must not have overlapped anyone else’s wish.
Shite.
I started to uncomfortably clank over to my other knights. But the armor impeded my vision. I didn’t see the djinn bastard on my right side until it was too late.
His scimitar arced down and I could tell it was well-aimed. I could tell it was going to hit my neck. I could tell I wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to get away. I shot peace at him—so much that my thighs ripped open. But it was too late to slow the sword.
I love—I started to tell Quinn, to tell my knights that I loved them.
But then the floor sank into the ground and swallowed up the half-djinn. A huge vine arose out of it, thick as my entire waist. It was covered in thorns like a rose bush, but the thorns were as big as my hand and looked as sharp as any knife. The stem undulated and moved, and a red bloom popped out at the top. This bloom had beautiful, soft petals, but the center of the flower looked like a horrific set of jagged green knives. The vine writhed as it grew large enough for the flower to bump the ceiling.
Fighting paused as everyone turned for a second to watch this plant grow as big as a dragon.
Shite! My own heart leapt into my throat as I watched the beast-sized plant.
Just like a dragon, the plant struck quickly. The flower plunged down and the petals closed over the torso of the djinn closest to Quinn. The man screamed as the flower devoured him, gulping until his boots clattered to the floor. The flower’s stem bulged, like a snake that had just swallowed a mouse.
My pulse pattered in my chest.
Holy sarding hell!
Shite! Blue was at my side in an instant. What the sard is that?
The flower turned its massive face toward us. The green knives in the center flexed in a threatening way. My hand tightened on Blue’s arm.
And then the Flower squeaked, “Where’s Donaloo?” in a voice that was far too innocent for the act we’d just witnessed.
Blue just pointed down the hall as I stared, aghast.
“Dini?” I asked.
The flower twirled her petals at me before diving to eat another djinn. Eating them seemed to fill her with power, because two new shoots unfurled. One cut right through a crowd of soldiers battling, her thorns slicing through armor like butter. The other shoot went toward the hallway Blue had indicated, and dipped around the corner, as if searching for Donaloo.
Djinn magic blasted against Dini’s stem, but she seemed unaffected. The golden droplets simply slid off of her and puddled harmlessly on the floor.
Cheryn’s soldiers realized that and started to run.
My knights made it over to me and, as Dini grew more blooms and started to dominate the battle in the front hall, we ran toward the courtyard to see if we might help there.
Outside, there was a bloodbath that matched the gory sunset. There were bodies all around. Cheryn’s soldiers had scaled our walls and were jumping off of the rope they'd lowered over the side. Most of our archers had been forced to retreat up into the towers and they didn't have great angles as they shot their enchanted arrows. More often than not, the red streaks they unleashed from their bows plied the dirt instead of the djinn. Overhead, a rainbow-colored twist of smoke churned like a tornado.
Fear sliced through my stomach. Somehow, I knew that Raj was at the center of that tornado. I just knew it.
An eerie laugh echoed off the cobblestones. Goosebumps rose on my skin.
Blue accidentally shot us all his thoughts. Most prominent was the image of his father—a close up of the sultan’s face as he whispered, "You fail me, and your end will be the most painful thing you could ever imagine."
Shite.
My eyes searched for Blue; he was frozen at the back of our group, still naked, staring up at the whirlwind that started to descend on the courtyard.
I stepped back to stand beside him. I shoved off one arm of my armor and let it clatter to the ground. I laced my fingers through his.
"He's coming for me," Blue said. “Get away.”
