AFFINITY Read online

  Esmerelda pondered the ramifications of being outed as a siren. With the audience in the above gallery spreading gossip as fast as they could, there was no way she could go back to her non-descript life.

  She looked over at Isowyn and found her on her cell phone, talking urgently. It had always been a great mystery to Esmy that the cell phones worked in Realm. She hung up quickly, looked over at the councilor still slumped on the floor, and the audience talking in a muffled roar in the gallery above.

  “May I take her now?” Isowyn was deferential to the female councilors. They nodded quickly. Isowyn grabbed Esmerelda’s hand and pulled her out of the meeting room in a flurry of skirts. She took her to the transportation chamber and keyed open a mirror. Esmy smiled for a moment—Jinx had created the mirror spell specific for the fey transport, Hex had tested it, and George had marketed it to the clans without anyone learning the origin of the extremely handy spell. Before that, only Warders had been able to use the mirrors.

  They stepped through the mirror as it rippled into a silver pool. On the other side, Esmerelda found herself at her grandmother’s house. The elegant proportions and graceful décor gave it away the instant that she saw it. That and the wards that kept visiting neighbours at bay.

  “I think that it would be a good idea if you stayed for a few days. We have some matters to discuss. And we want the fey community to calm down after the grand announcement being made tonight. It has been centuries since a siren walked the halls of Realm.”

  Chapter Three

  “I also need to tell you that your father has been invited here to help us come up with a battle plan.” Isowyn cringed at the words, even though she knew that Esmerelda needed no more surprises. “I called him from the council chambers.”

  “Why? Why does he have to be here?” Esmy had her arms crossed and was scowling at her, a face that Isowyn hadn’t seen since her granddaughter was five.

  “He knows the court, knows the warriors available, and as a parting note, he is your father.” Her arms crossed over her chest as well and she glared right back at her granddaughter.

  “What would we need warriors for? We are not planning on staging a coup.” Her voice was still petulant, her lower lip was out so far, Isowyn was tempted to pinch it.

  “They will come in very handy.” That was the last time they spoke until the door chimed and Erak Elsmeth entered his mother’s home.

  She grabbed his arm and dragged him into her rooms to brief him on the status of his offspring.

  * * * *

  For a mature elf, he was rather petulant. He strode into his mother’s private rooms and grimaced at her where she sat at her writing desk, making a list. “Alright, Mother. What do you want?” Erak stood scowling at the feminine room around him. His mother’s chambers were unmistakable. He walked forward and stood glowering at her as she primped in the mirror on her desk as she paused in her scribbling. There were mirrors in every room—Isowyn loved her own reflection.

  She pinned him with a no-nonsense look. “I want you to do your duty by your daughter.”

  That was the last thing that he had expected. “What? Why would I do that? She is perfectly happy in the human world, and she blends in perfectly.” He had only seen her a handful of times since her birth. She couldn’t have changed that much.

  “Not anymore. The council has ordered her to desist from using glamour to conceal her features. Apparently she has been altering her appearance for years.”

  This was beyond strange. “Mother, why is the fey council giving her orders at all?”

  “She was tested today.” Isowyn looked down and fidgeted.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to stare her down. “What was the result?”

  “You might want to sit down for this.” She looked a little sheepish.

  He sought out a chair and was going to take her advice. “Why?”

  His mother baldly stated, “She has Affinity, for males.”

  Erak missed the chair he had been aiming for and crashed ignominiously onto the floor.

  * * * *

  From two floors away, Esmy heard her father’s roar of rage. “Oh, goody.” She paused for a moment, then continued to create the flower arrangement that she had been working on. She would have to face Erak at dinner, and that was soon enough.

  She didn’t see him until dinner was served, as she had anticipated. He stared at her throughout the evening meal, saying not a word. After dessert, he leaned back and began the inquisition.

  “Esmerelda, how long have you been concealing your appearance? I know it has been some time since we have seen each other, but you looked somewhat different five years ago.”

  “Oh, since I was about eleven. Right about when the hormones kicked in and I stopped looking human.” Her face was bland.

  He leaned forward intently. “What about the Affinity, how long since you developed that talent?”

  “When I was seventeen. I have had the pleasure of hiding from men for the last eleven years.” She shrugged and reached for her coffee. “I understand family members are immune, so lucky you.”

  “So you have no lover at this time?” Erak met her gaze and waited for a response.

  “Uh, no. I don’t get out much. And this is getting weird for a father-daughter chat.”

  “How many lovers have you had, total?” He seemed resigned, and vaguely amused.

  Esmy was reminded quite forcefully that the fey were very open about sex. “You honestly expect me to answer that?”

  “Yes, Esmerelda, how many?” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair.

  “Two. Only two.”

  “Were they both human?”

  “Yes. Of course.” What the hell was he getting at?

  Isowyn looked at her son. “That leaves a minimum of three. Can you choose three?”

  “Sure, I have had some in mind since you informed me. The first is a safe start at any rate.”

  “Three, three what exactly?” This was getting out of hand. What were they talking about?

  They both paused and looked at her as if she had no business interrupting their discussion.

  “Three candidates for your consort. If you are to avoid every single horny fey who wants a fantasy fuck, you will need someone in your bed.” Erak was amused. “Your grandmother called me in because we need to make a list of worthy males, contact them to see if they are willing, and choose the candidates.

  “As your parent, I have the privilege of selecting the candidates. In fey families, the parents usually pick the first five lovers—you have had two—that leaves us three to choose for you.”

  Her head was spinning. She couldn’t believe it, her father and grandmother were actually pimping her out for her own safety. She dropped her head into her hands and breathed deeply to stop the blushing. The fey society was a little too open for her peace of mind.

  With a chipper falsetto she asked from her hidden position, “So how are you going to lure these specimens into my clutches?”

  Isowyn looked over at her like she was a slow child. “We will have a dinner party of course.”

  * * * *

  After dinner Esmy went for a walk in the garden out back. She had to admit, the fey knew their gardens. Flowers that never bloomed at night were shedding radiant fragrance through the still warmth of the night, and the night flowers had a soft glow to illuminate the pathways.

  “How is your mother?” Erak had slid to within a few feet of her without setting off her personal wards. It was something only her family and the club could do.

  “She is fine. She knew that I was going to be in trouble when I agreed to the appointment.”

  “Did she know about your glamour?”

  “Of course. She is my mother. That and the fact that Mom can smell magic a mile away, she has known for years. She even showed me how to cast my first illusion.” Esmy smiled in remembrance. She didn’t know why she had wanted to look like the sofa, but her mother had helped he
r to make it happen.

  Sarah had always been supportive of her daughter. Even when the elven blood had outed itself.

  “Father, why did you choose Mom? There must have been more attractive women there—it was a fey festival after all.” She had never asked that question before, and the fact that she had asked it now spoke to her unsettled state of mind.

  “Your mother had a smile that brought the room to life and invited one to laugh with her. I wanted to bask in that light for that one time.” His hand reached out to ruffle her hair. “I had no idea that she was fertile at the time.”

  Esmy shifted from foot to foot. This was the hard question. “Do you regret my birth?” She turned to meet his golden eyes with her clear green ones. Neither of them looked away as they took the measure of each other.

  He answered, “No. I regret the circumstance, but not the result. You have always been an honored member of this family, and have brought honor to us by your very existence.” A wicked smiled broke free. “Plus, knowing that I am a fertile male has made me very popular in the intervening years.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. This was the father that she had always known. Consumed with the pleasure of the moment.

  * * * *

  Erak spent the better part of a week finding males who were interested in being his daughter’s lover. Her human blood made it more difficult than it should have been, but still he managed to lure the required three with images of his daughter sent via the mirror.

  He then had to face the inevitable. Explaining to his daughter about taking feys as lovers.

  Chapter Four

  The first candidate for her affections was named Aegar. He was extremely dark, and very handsome. His talent was speed. In battle, none could move faster than he. Esmy really hoped that he didn’t translate his speed to the bedroom.

  His eyes were black within black and his hair was a rippling navy blue that wound past his shoulders to his hips.

  Across the length of the table, his midnight eyes met hers, and smiled. She smiled back. The polite conversation worked on throughout the evening, and when Aegar announced that it was time for him to leave he held out his hand for her to join him.

  Perplexed, she took it. She followed him out into the night. A horse of midnight with flaming eyes was waiting for him. For them. He lifted her into the saddle and swung up behind her. Seated thusly, with her thighs plastered on top of his, she could definitely feel his interest. While one hand controlled the reins, he let the other roam over her breasts and belly.

  “What are you doing?” Her voice was a little breathy, even to her own ears.

  “Taking you home with me. Your father has asked me to take you as my lover. I have accepted the honor.” His mouth was bent near her ear and his breath snaked inside to send a shiver through her.

  “Well, as long as we are clear on the details.”

  His laughter rang out across the crystal clear night. He spurred his steed to increase speed and her laughter joined his while their hair whipped around them.

  The heat of the animal and the elf beneath her thighs had her blood singing in her veins. A suspicious dampness made itself known to her and she blushed, glad that the wind gave her cheeks an excuse for their rosy glow.

  Soon they reached his home. A stone edifice rising out of the nearby hills. The full moon was rising behind the house and gave the whole night a surreal feel.

  He carried her off the horse and through the dark house, into his bedroom. Very romance novel cover.

  He carefully laid her on the bed, then loosened her gown and slid it off of her shoulders. It caught on her breasts and he stopped to admire her caught in her own clothing. She gleamed in the dim starlight coming through the windows. A few brief tugs and the gown was off, her only defense was a scrap of silk between her thighs and a lacy bra.

  He bent over her, fully clothed. His shirt rasped against the soft flesh of her belly as he kissed her. His hands smoothed away the scrap of fabric at her hips, whisking it off and to the floor.

  In reflex, one of her hands tried to shield her secrets. The other was mysteriously fisted in his hair. Holding him close for their kiss.

  His long fingers tangled with the defenders to the gate at the juncture of her thighs. Sliding between them and touching the mysterious flesh within. Her hand relaxed and his fingers stayed with hers, learning her folds and how a grazing touch on her neck sent a surge of wetness to the core of her. He kept up his ministrations to her mouth, teasing his way inside and stroking her tongue into joining the play.

  Her bra disappeared sometime after she began to twist in his arms. His fingers were on their own now, delving into her velvet heat to draw out the moisture. She was flushed and panting. When he finally discarded his own clothing and returned to her, gleaming bronze in the moonlight, he covered her with his body and entered her with a groan. She herself groaned at the release of the feeling of emptiness within her. Until that moment, she hadn’t understood the craving within her to be filled by a hot and hard cock.

  He began to thrust deeply into her, stroking her breasts and gnawing at her neck as he plunged his hips in a steady beat. Soon she felt him moving faster, and took matters into her own fingers. She slid two between their heaving bodies and began to caress the nub at the top of her sex with every shift of his hips. A few moments later, she was bucking and crying out her satisfaction, and he followed shortly after grunting and shuddering with his own crisis.

  He let his torso collapse onto hers and she wrapped her limbs around him as their heartbeats returned to normal. Aegar lifted his head after long minutes and gave her a sweet and tender kiss, then disengaged their bodies in a slow slide.

  He tucked her against him and fell asleep.

  When she woke in the morning, she turned to look in the mirror and sighed. Her eyes had changed and her midnight hair had golden streaks running through it. Her breasts were the same, but her narrow waist was even narrower.

  He was not the one for her. She had transformed into his ideal, and it was not what she wanted in a long term mate.

  She kissed him awake, explained her transformation and asked him to take her back to Isowyn’s.

  She briefed her grandmother when she got back and waited for the next candidate to be presented.

  Chapter Five

  Tyne was even more handsome than Aegar. His talent was darkness—he could summon it at will. He was pale, with piercing blue eyes and golden hair. His features were stamped with arrogance and cruelty.

  Esmerelda was hesitant about leaving with him, but all transpired as it had before. This time they transported through a mirror into his home. He led her to his bed, and things began to get a little weird.

  He stripped her completely before laying her down on the bed. He spread her legs slightly and moved her arms out to her sides. He then removed all of his clothing and stood at the foot of the bed looking at her. He had not said more than a few polite phrases to her all night, and now he was looking at her as if he would consume her. A coil of fear snaked through her.

  Suddenly, shackles of darkness wove themselves from out of the shadows around the bed. They pulled her arms out to their full extension and dragged her heels apart until her thighs were straining for mercy.

  “Tyne? What?” was all that made it out of her mouth before a strip of darkness gagged her.

  The cruel lust in his gaze at her helplessness infuriated her. His member twitched at the picture of submission she presented and began to flare up and out.

  He called another strip of darkness to him—he beckoned to it, stroked it and set it between her thighs.

  Esmy felt the touch on her outer lips and felt the worming sensation of the darkness against her. It was cool and seemed to take the heat from her flesh. Steadily, it worked itself against her, rubbing and twisting in the most delicate region of her body. It would retreat, and her flesh would relax and warm, then it would return and although she was beginning to get moist with her own slick honey, the fe
ar pushed aside and she was beginning to get angry at Tyne.

  As the anger flared in her eyes, the darkness pushed against her. Sliding into her in one quick motion, it moved in a parody of sex that drove Esmy’s rage higher. At the same time, her hips were beginning to work against her control, moving with the thrust of the darkness and shadow inside her.

  Suddenly and completely surprising to Esmy, she climaxed. Her mouth gagged, she could only moan as ripples of satisfaction flowed through her.

  She glanced down her body to Tyne, and found him stroking himself to completion. Walking closer to the bed as he came closer to releasing his cum, his hold on the shadows weakened. She drew one fist against her body and called her power to her. He was going to jerk off and spew his spunk onto her body. That she could not allow. Not after coming to him in good faith.

  As his balls began to tighten, she watched his hand and cock closely. The second that his head fell back and his hand used short sharp jerks, she struck.

  As the ropy cum began to exit the engorged head of his cock, she sent a wave of power toward him that sent it up into his face.

  He fell back, his concentration shattered. She jumped up off the bed, grabbed her gown and underwear, and ran for the mirror. Quickly she chanted the spell to open it, then ran through it.

  Arriving on the other side, she locked the mirror from entrance. A shimmering of the surface told her that someone was trying to follow. She had run to her own home out of reflex and didn’t want that creep anywhere near her.