Mated to the Mad Marquess: Gaslamp Fantasy Romance (Fae Tricksters Book 4) by S. L. Prater

Author:S. L. Prater [Prater, S. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2023-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Malcolm

Malcolm awoke from a vivid dream of bedding his mate. A dream that wasn’t a dream—not entirely. Waking with a stiff cock wasn’t so unusual. Waking up rock hard, sac full and aching, certainly was.

Solis floated into the room then, looking smug.

“You fucked her,” Malcolm accused. “Without me.”

You fucked her first, without me, Solis snapped.

“It wasn’t planned. It just happened.” Malcolm adjusted himself as his soul lounged beside him on the bed.

My time with her wasn’t planned either. She needed comforting, so I went to her. Perhaps we should make a deal. We fuck her together from now on.

“Deal,” Malcolm grunted.

She’s . . . sad.

Malcolm ran a hand down his face. “I know.” He hated it. Hated duty and the burden of keeping his word, the burden that would hold him stationary while his mate responded finally to the call of her god-blood. He’d cast it all off if he could.

It tears at me, her sadness. But we could just keep her, yes? We don’t have to let her go.

“Maybe we can change her mind, but I can’t keep her prisoner forever.” He rubbed the grit from his eyes. “I need to think about all of it and figure out what to do.”

I can’t bear her melancholy. Leaving us makes her sad, so we just keep her. Then she won’t be sad.

“Holding her in a cage would make her hate us. If we were smart, we’d send her away now to a place where angry mobs may never reach her and deal with the king ourselves. This is our land. The monster is our responsibility. And if we wait any longer for her to leave us, that pain will only grow. Hope could make us desperate. You especially so.”

No, Solis whimpered. Not yet. We want her with us. At least let her stay while she’s willing!

“I need to ponder every outcome and pick the one that is best for us, for our mate, for our people. You only ever act on sentiment, always thinking with your heart or your cock. There’s no in-between. Just like . . .” He let the words he didn’t want to dwell on fall away, but of course his soul knew them anyway. There had been a time when he listened to Solis always.

You still haven’t forgiven me for that, have you? Solis said somberly.

Malcolm scratched at the scruff on his chin. He’d missed his morning shave yesterday, thanks to the attack on the fortress. “I thought we should visit home more. But you said—”

Our parents are immortal. They aren’t going anywhere, Solis remembered. Malcolm had given him a name after that. He couldn’t bear thinking of his soul as entirely himself anymore. That would mean he was just as responsible for the bad choices they’d made.

“We drank and chased giants and every skirt that smiled at us while our mother watched her true mate slip into madness and die here in these walls. Alone. Then she succumbed to the mate sickness. Alone.” But of course, he was just as responsible.

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