A Shift in Tides [AUDIO]

Fate can be broken.

I am the Merfolk Queen. Through blood and sacrifice—and a little blackmail—I earned my title. Fate led me here and I willingly followed the path set before me because I have a secret...

I know when the world ends.

But more importantly—I know how to stop it. Nine fae are destined to betray us all. They are the key to preventing the end of our realms. This time anyway. Have I mentioned there is more than one apocalypse in the works? No? Don’t worry about it.

I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. Unfortunately, these aren’t just any fae—they’re the Tuatha Dé Danann. The most powerful of all the sidhe. I need help if I’m going to pull this off and still be alive when the dust settles. Fortunately for me, a powerful fae warrior just so happens to owe me a debt. Granted Connor won’t be happy about getting involved with me, but his honor won’t let him walk away from this.

But there’s another secret I’m desperately holding onto. And if he learns what it is... he might tear out my heart. Again.

“Dragon love spat,” I declared and pointed towards the group of stars directly above where I was floating in a distant sea beneath a starry night sky.

“Okay,” Connor drawled from where he was floating next to me. “Assuming I’m willing to give you the dragons—which I’m not entirely convinced about, by the way, because I don’t see anything that could be wings—where are you getting love spat from?”

I turned my head to the side, and he did the same. “Your lack of imagination is truly disappointing sometimes.” I sighed.

“That’s not what you said earlier,” he replied smugly. “I’m pretty sure you said something about how my use of that high-backed chair had been truly inspired.”
For a second, my brain went offline as the memory of being perched on that chair while Connor slammed into me over and over again at the absolute perfect angle took over, echoes of the pleasure he’d ripped from my body rippling through me.

“That’s not playing fair, prince.” I scowled at him. “You won’t distract me with your nefarious ways.”

“I won’t be a prince for much longer, so you’ll have to come up with some other nickname.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Preferably one I don’t hate. And you like my nefarious ways. They’re your favorite thing about me.”

“True.” I nodded, a coy smile playing across my lips as I batted my eyelashes at him. “But you’ll always be my prince.”

“I’m not sure if it’s possible to drown a mermaid,” he half-heartedly growled, “but I’m willing to try.”

“So touchy.” I laughed before turning my attention back to the sky. “See the two lines of stars that look like they’re weaving around each other?” I traced my finger through the air. “The dragon on the left is trying to do the old ‘let me nuzzle your neck’ trick.”

“‘Nuzzle your neck’ trick?” Connor asked, amusement clear in his voice.

“You know the one.” My lips quirked up into a grin. “It’s when you know you’re in trouble with your lover, so you brush your nose against their neck. Maybe plant a few light kisses while inhaling their scent, but don’t do anything beyond that, because you want to get them worked up enough that they forget why they were mad at you in the first place.”

“Wait, you did that to me last week!”

My grin blossomed into a full smile. “Sure did. Worked like a charm too.”

A wave splashed across my face.

“Rude!” I sputtered, moving until I treaded water. I glared at Connor, who was still lazily floating, bobbing up and down in the gentle waves.

Some seaweed drifted by, and I seized the opportunity, summoning a wave and sending the clump of seaweed directly onto Connor’s face.

I immediately dove. His roar of outrage cut off when I slipped below the surface, swimming away as fast as I could. My tail beat fast, propelling me through the water, and I nimbly wove my way around the coral reefs that decorated the shallow sea floor. I didn’t dare glance behind me—I had no doubt Connor was hot on my tail.

My magic flashed at me in warning a split second before I whipped around the outside of a particularly large coral colony. Connor was suddenly there, and I squealed, sending bubbles rocketing to the surface. His hand snapped out to grab me, but I moved back fast enough to avoid his grasp and took off like a rocket towards the shore.

As soon as it was shallow enough, I shifted, my glittering blue tail giving way to legs, and after a couple of stumbles, I raced towards the sandy shoreline. Then the world tilted as strong arms wrapped around my waist. They lifted me up until I lay on a hard body, once again staring up at the night sky.

“Connor—”

Seaweed slapped me across the face, and I shrieked between laughs.

“You know I hate seaweed!” he grouched and slapped me with another slimy tendril.

“Nobody likes seaweed.” I gulped for air as my laughter became hysterical and swiped the offending plant away from me. “You started it!”

“You’re such a brat, Ash.” His hands on my waist drifted to my sides.

“No, Connor.” I struggled to get free. “Don’t you dar—”
He tickled my sides just beneath my ribs, and I absolutely lost it.

“Did you just snort?” The tickling paused.

“No!” I tried to scramble away from him, but his arms wrapped around me like iron bands, my back locked against his broad chest.

“Pretty sure you did.” His tone told me he was smirking.

“Did not!” I totally did.

“Awww,” he cooed. “Is the big, bad, merfolk spy mad?”

“Yes!” I elbowed him in the ribs, but I was pretty sure I hurt myself more than him. Stupid muscly merfolk. “I’m mad at you!”

“Hmm.” He repositioned me just enough that could I feel his hardness against my ass. Suddenly, I was feeling a lot less motivated to break free. “Well, I suppose it’s lucky for me that someone explained a surefire way to get out of this.” His lips brushed against my neck, and I bit back the gasp that almost escaped.

“Not going to work,” I said, my husky tone undermining my declaration. “Still mad at you.”

“I’ll just have to work harder then.” He nipped me just as one hand squeezed my breast, his thumb brushing over my hard nipple. This time, I couldn’t hold back the moan, and he chuckled. “Still mad?”

“Outraged,” I breathed out.

“Hmm.” His legs wrapped around mine, pulling them apart, and his hand that wasn’t toying with my breast painted a blazing hot trail down my stomach before dipping between my thighs. “Strange.” Two fingers slid through the hot slickness, and I groaned, my hips bucking up in response. “This doesn’t feel like outrage.”

I whimpered. “Connor . . .”

“Yes?”

“I’ll forgive you if you put that princely cock of yours to good use.”

I yelped as his hands gripped my waist, and he easily lifted me up until I straddled him, my back to his face. Before I could mouth off again, he raised me enough to slam his cock in, all the way to the hilt, one hand wrapping around my long, blue hair and yanking it, forcing me to arch my back.

“Fuck,” I let out with a strangled moan.

“You keep it up with the prince nonsense, and I’ll find something else to fill your mouth with,” he growled as he continued to pound into me.

“Promises, promises.” I found his rhythm and started meeting him thrust for thrust. The fingers wrapped around my hair tightened as his other hand slipped around to toy with my clit.

“Come for me,” he demanded.

“No,” I panted. “I’m. Bored.”

Water wrapped around my waist, yanking me off him, and my back gently landed on the sand, the watery strands shooting out to pin my hands above my head.
I could have broken them, but what would be the fun in that?

Connor grasped my legs and threw them over his shoulders before his cock slammed home in one thrust, tearing a scream from my throat.

“Still bored, love?” He gave me a cocky smile that had my pussy clenching around him.

“Sorry, are you”—a strangled moan slipped from my lips as he pulled back before burying himself even deeper inside me—“doing something?” I gasped.

“Guess I’ll have to try harder.”

A retort died on my lips as Connor’s fingers dug into my thighs, pulling me against him in time with his hips snapping forward.

Some of the water pinning my wrists split off and raced down my body to circle my clit.

“Eyes on me,” Connor demanded.

My eyes flew open; I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them. Connor’s moonlight-pale eyes look down at me, and I couldn’t have looked away if I’d tried.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I writhed beneath him. The water swirling around around my clit glided over it and pushed down.

I erupted and screamed up at the stars as the climax tore through me, followed by Connor’s deep grunt a second later.

The water he’d been using sank into the sand. Connor gently lowered my legs and leaned over me, his broad chest poised over mine as he kissed my lips, his cock still buried inside me.

“Less mad at you now.” The words came out a little breathy as I smirked up at him.

“If I promise to use my creative and nefarious skills again later, will you forgive me?” He brushed another light kiss to my lips.

“I suppose,” I said solemnly, my lips twitching as I tried to stop them from widening into a smile.

“Pointy promise?” He held himself up with one arm so he could raise his other hand up, all his fingers except his pointer finger folded into a fist.

My resolve broke, and I laughed at the sight. On one of our many nights floating amongst the waves, he’d asked me what I liked so much about humans. I told him it was many things, one of which was all their bizarre customs. Pinkie promises had been mentioned, which led us to a long conversation about why that particular finger was the one used for these promises and if others could be used instead. Thumbs were too awkward, so we settled on the pointer finger.

I looped my finger with his. “Pointy promise.”

His laughter joined mine, and after one final squeeze, we unlooped our fingers. Connor dropped his arm back to my side and leaned down to nuzzle my neck. “Soon, my father will be stepping down and someone new will take over. I’ll be free of any duties I have to the throne then, and we can do this all the time. It’ll be nice to have no ties to the throne for the first time in my life.”

The warm feeling of contentment that had been coursing through my blood went ice-cold.

“Yeah,” I said a little weakly. “No ties to the throne.”

He nuzzled my neck one more time before pulling out of me so he could lie down and tuck me into his side.

“Lokis arguing over a bet,” he declared and pointed up at a cluster of stars. I made a noise of agreement, even as my thoughts were elsewhere and my magic pulsed beneath my skin.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fucking fair that he was my fate. He was my everything, but I had another fate as well, and that one was going to tear him away from me.

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