AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Many, many years later
Ash
“So what are we playing for, if not favours?”
Taking Lonan’s hand, I side-eyed him with a salacious grin as we walked towards the towering oak tree in the centre of the empty meadow.
“I can think of a few ideas.”
He huffed, his mouth tipped up into an amused smile. “Let’s hear them then, Oak King.”
“Well, I mean, I haven’t thought of them yet,” I said with a chuckle. “But anything that involves you being completely naked is a contender.”
“If we were back at the cottage or the palace instead of in this field, I could already be naked,” he pointed out, bring us to a stop as we reached the tree sitting alone in the centre of the unseelie meadow, purple heather blanketing the ground and wildflowers swaying in the gentle breeze.
The air smelled faintly of lavender and smoke, and the late afternoon sky was swirled with pale pink and lilac. I always loved unseelie during the Mild Months—warm and alive, but without the sometimes-stifling heat that settled over seelie land in the summer.
Chuckling, I turned to face Lonan and slid my palms under his loose white shirt to stroke his sides. “Remember when we did this? Here? And that night, we argued on the walk back to the cottage, before you…”
“I remember, Oak King.” Lonan gave me a wry smile, hands creeping onto my ass and tugging me closer until our hips were flush. “We could just skip the game and get straight to that part. Without the arguing, of course.”
“Indulge me. It’ll be fun to do it again when we’re actually on an even footing and you don’t just let me win.” Smirking, I asked, “Did you do it just so you’d get to tussle with me?”
He flushed, but raised one brow in a haughty expression before admitting, “I did get hard when you were on top of me. I was humiliated.”
“What?” I burst out laughing. “You never told me that.”
“You never asked,” he shot back with a sly smile, then leaned in to press a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth. “Still just as beautiful as you were that day.”
“So are you.” I grinned and reached up to finger one of the strands of white that now streaked his black hair. “You just had a little less white in your hair then.”
He gave me a stern look. “Don’t forget that you gave me my first white hair when you disappeared for over a week on your little jaunt to Hybra.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Lonan smiled to let me know he was only teasing, lifting a hand to cup my jaw. He smoothed his thumb over my chin. “So, Oak King. What are we playing for?”
I didn’t answer at first, my gaze too busy roaming over his wonderfully familiar face. He had aged—we both had—but he still looked youthful and as beautiful as the first time I’d ever seen him. He was still pale, but there was a flush of pink and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose from the two weeks he’d just spent with me on seelie. The white strands in his hair and the crinkles that appeared at the corners of his eyes when he smiled were the only things that gave a hint of his true age. I loved them. They were a wonderful reminder of all the years I’d gotten to spend with him, and a peaceful reassurance that there were still many, many more left.
“I don’t know,” I finally said with a sheepish smile. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead when I dragged you out here.”
“Hmm. Something simple then, so we don’t stand here for hours bickering over the right prize.” He tapped my chin, then gave me a wicked grin as he smoothed his thumb over my lower lip. “How about a kiss?”
Even though I had kissed him thousands upon thousands of times over the years, my pulse leapt with excitement. “Yes.”
“Then it’s a deal.” He gave me a sly smile. “Fight well, Seelie King.”
I grinned and stepped back. “And you. Now, clothes off.”
Lonan froze in the middle of tying back his long hair. “Pardon?”
“You don’t remember all those ‘fae lessons’ you gave me that you insisted I be naked for?” I smirked at him and gestured around us at the empty field. “I’ve only done this the once, years ago, and I was shit at it. So I think this counts as a lesson, don’t you?”
“Acherone.” His husky voice was stern, which made me shiver. He knew what it did to me when he called me that. “The Folk cannot stumble across their kings naked in a field.”
I huffed and rolled my eyes. “As if we haven’t almost been caught in a similar situation hundreds of times already. And no one comes out here anyway. They definitely won’t today. They’re all getting ready for Idony and Sanya’s joint birthday party.”
The pair were now old friends who loved spending time together when Sanya visited unseelie. They would go for long walks in the forest, foraging and visiting Orna’s market, or spend time with Sloga in his sidhe. The Higher Spirit was rarely without visitors. Lonan and I often spent long evenings with him, staying up late to eat and talk and hear his never-ending supply of stories from the history of his long, long life.
