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Author's note
As ever, if you have questions feel free to email me or leave a comment. Either way, I'll try to respond in a timely manner.
This is primarily an incest story, but it is also sci-fi/fantasy, and supernatural elements are not incidental to the plot. Additionally, many chapters will feature elements of other categories, particularly group sex and anal.
All sexual acts are consensual and involve parties who are at least eighteen years of age.
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"And this," Hank declared, "is the master bedroom."
Gabriela's jaw dropped.
It was less a bedroom than a penthouse apartment. And it looked nothing like any apartment she'd have expected Hank to live in. Where she'd have thought there'd be bookshelves and statues, hardwood floors and a earthy colors, she found ultra modern furnishings, the latest hi-tech toys, pristine carpeting, and luxurious furniture. Everything was black and silver except for two green throw pillows on the black leather sofa, the cabinets in the small kitchenette, and the small garden that sprouted up from the middle of the floor just in front of the TV. The fireplace was set back in the wall and enclosed in glass, rather than a stone hearth. Two walls were made of glass, granting them a stunning view of the garden as well as the swimming pool. One of the floor-to-ceiling windows had a balcony on the other side, though Gabriela couldn't see how they were supposed to get to it.
"It's...nice," Gabriela said.
"I liked it better before," Nina said. "But, yeah, it's nice."
The way she said it, you'd never have guessed she was using the same word as Gabriela.
"No dragons," Eric observed.
"Well, there's usually one," Hank said dryly.
"And one little dragonrider," Nina said underneath her breath.
"Can I get you something to drink?" the king asked.
He tossed his cane aside. It fell into a pocket of nothingness, disappearing from view. It would never be too far out of hand there, Gabriela knew. Eric did the same with his sword.
With a twirl of his wrist, Hank coaxed a bar out of the floor. It too was black and silver. And fully stocked, not only with liquor and wine, but glassware, ice and everything else.
In short order, soft music was playing, a fire was roaring, and they all had drinks in hand. Nina was dancing slowly with herself, rolling what passed for hips and shaking her flat ass. Even in the skimpy red cocktail dress that made it impossible not to notice her, the effect was somewhat less than impressive.
At least, Gabriela would have thought so.
Eric's eyes had gone wide, and though he was trying very hard not to stare at her, he wasn't fooling her. Even before he spilled a mouthful of beer down the front of his shirt.
"You know he can't help it," Hank whispered, slipping up behind her. His hands encircled her waist so naturally, it was easy to forget how many years had gone by since he'd held her like that. "It's just how us guys are wired. Once he's had a taste, he'll lose interest quickly enough. But for now, she's the one flavor he's never tasted."
Gabriela drew a deep breath.
He was right. She knew that. If any woman could steal her Eric from her, which she very much doubted, it wouldn't be Nina. She was attractive enough, and even Gabriela couldn't help but wonder what a woman with nearly as much power, experience, and confidence as Nina must be like between the sheets. But she wasn't her son's type. Not anymore. He'd outgrown that phase. These days, he preferred his woman to be built like
women
. Those flower stem legs wouldn't do anything for him, and her ass could even fill the palms of his broad hands. Besides, he'd never cared for brunettes. Even before she'd initiated him, Gabriela had never seen his son fall for a woman without blonde hair.
But it sure would be nice if he'd stop drooling.
"Give them some time alone. Let him get it out of his system," Hank continued.
Reluctantly, Gabriela nodded.
As if she'd heard them, Nina gave her brother a sultry look then beckoned Eric over with a curl of her finger. Gabriela watched as her son closed in on his aunt and began to dance with her. Most respectable institutions would have thrown them out if they'd danced like that in public. Eric had Nina's dress hiked up, her panties pulled aside, and tips of his fingers gently teasing her glistening labia as they continued to gyrate to the music.
They only kept at that for a minute or so. Then Nina stepped away, pulled the hem of dress back down, and, without a word, spun on a heel and left the bedroom. A single glance over her shoulder told Eric that he was to follow her, and follow he did.
"A bit accustomed to getting her way, isn't she?" Gabriela asked.
Hank put a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be back in your arms soon enough." He lowered his voice. "Back in your womb. Doing the job he was born to do."
Her heart raced.
With an awkward laugh, she said, "For a second there, I thought you were giving me permission to conceive my son's child." She let that hang in the air a moment. "Silly, huh?"
"Not really, no," he replied.
"No, that's not silly?"
This couldn't be happening. He was fucking with her. Trying to figure out whether she'd ever thought about having more children. Whether she disapproved of inbreeding. Or maybe just looking for an excuse to laugh at her.
"We're not supposed-"
"We can do whatever we want," Hank said firmly, but without any emotion. "Understand, it's not that I've decided to ignore the rules. I've chosen to change them."
Gabriela dropped onto the sofa, suddenly finding her legs incapable of holding her up. A drink appeared in her hand and she swallowed most of it in one gulp.
The king came and stood before her. "It takes some getting used to, doesn't it?"
She laughed. "Are you kidding? I've been fantasizing about it every day for months."
Hank grinned.
"But you knew that," she said.
Of course he did. Hank's talent for reading Libidos made Nick's seem nonexistent. And her desire to feel her son's child growing inside her was so intense, it was almost paralyzing.
"Your sons," she said.
"Are the real reason I left you," he finished.
That hadn't been what she was going to say, but she was glad to hear it. She still couldn't quite forgive him. He should have stayed with her until Eric at least had come of age. But better that be his reason than Phil's offer to serve as Shadow.
"They must be powerful, to go around looking like that."
After she reached the point where the image of herself that she had in her mind was that of an overweight, middle-aged mortal woman, it had gotten to be easy to keep up the illusion. Took effort to revert to her true appearance, in fact. But, initially, wearing another skin all the time had been hard on her. And it was a modest enough change at first, back before the woman she was pretending to be had begun to age. For his son's to sustain such exotic transformations couldn't have been easy.
"They take after their mother," Hank replied.
"Is that what it's like?" Gabriela asked. "When we mate with each other?"
Her head spun. What kind of children would Eric give her? Little lions? Giants? Or just even more beautiful and powerful than their parents? Perhaps some son of theirs would one day steal her away from Eric. And maybe, just maybe, she'd want him to. If any man was to do so, at least, she'd need it to be their son.
"There's a reason they're all about it in the Eternal Garden and the Shadowed Glade," Hank said. "It's only here in the seasonal courts that it's prohibited."
"They are?" she asked.
It was a stupid question. He wouldn't have said so if it wasn't. But she was too intoxicated by the thought of having her son's sons to think straight.
So she did the only logical thing and filled her glass back up.
"You've never heard of the Unshackled Maiden? Or the Trilateral War?"
When Gabriela gave no other response than sipping her drink, Hank smiled and ran his fingers lightly through her hair.
"I gather I should have," Gabriela said at last.
The king shrugged. "You're in good company. Up until a few years ago, I was equally ignorant. Even now, my sister is one of only two others in the entire First Court of Summer who know the tale."
"You told Annie?"
She'd never been close with Jennifer's youngest, but Gabriela would have thought that the girl would at least tell one of the Hardts. And if she did, Nick would eventually hear of it. Which would mean that Eric would too.
"Not her," Hank said. "I meant Flori Hardt. She was the first to know."
"So she told you?" Gabriela asked.
"Of course not," he replied. "Nevermind who told who what or when they told them. That's not important. The point is, long ago, when there was only one court beyond the original two, some `lesser' immortal dared to dream of walking the Earth. The real one. Not a Playground, or an echo, or a Dreaming, but the home of mortal men and women."
"So?"
Hank dropped down on his haunches, took her hands in his, and looked her in the eye. Even when they weren't glowing, those emerald orbs took her breath away.
"They'd never allow that," he said. "The ancients, who rule over the Eternal Garden and the Shadowed Glade."
"Why not?" Gabriela asked.
"Mortal desire is a powerful thing. Stronger than you can imagine."
