Max’s words stunned me. “She…you…”

The tall, dark, handsome man gazed back at me sadly. “Yes. Justin, Finley, Aiden and I were initially recruited and bound by Margaret—Lady Periwinkle. We served her in every most intimate capacity for…some time, until she recruited a new, younger cohort.”

I blazed with renewed fury—this time on behalf of my men, cruelly cast aside for younger men. And it broke my heart to see this man before me, such a strong, powerful man, turned so vulnerable…so wounded. “What, and then she just kept you around for decoration? While you had to watch her with her new cohort?”

He looked at his feet. “It’s not like that. Not exactly.”

I snorted. “It kind of looks like it is exactly like that.”

“We are pleased to serve our lady, in whatever capacity she requires.”

That sounded so much like a forced phrase, I could hardly stand it. “Even if that ‘capacity’ is foisting you off on some other woman, of her choosing?”

Now he looked at me with renewed intensity. “But you can save us—and her,” he whispered. “When we are a bonded cohort, our power can shield her from Mundon and the rest of the demon plane…and you can shield us from her.”

I laughed out loud, deeply startled. Too many shocks in too short a time; I was starting to get punch-drunk. And I hadn’t even had any champagne today. “What?! Me?”

“Yes, you. Your power is undeveloped—it is barely discovered—but it is clear that it will far outstrip hers, when you work it. When you grow it. When you nurture it…with our help.” His eyes shone brighter than ever as he reached out and took both of my hands in his. “Emma. Our Emma. Bind us all together, and your magic will free us all.”

I stared back at him. It sounded good, but…it also sounded absurd. “How do you know I won’t just hold you captive, like Margaret did?”

Max blinked. “You are from a different time—modern times. You don’t share her obsolete values. She comes from an age of liege and vassal, of lords and peasants. There was no middle way; there was no equality, and no way to break free of one’s station in life. You, however: the horror I read on your face at these notions, I can already see that you will be a much gentler mistress to us. You will rule us with such a softer hand.”

I dropped his hands and turned away, striding over to the bookcase. “But…I don’t want to ‘rule’ at all. Soft hand or hard; I don’t want to be in charge of anyone. Heck, I don’t even want to supervise people at work.”

“That’s just my point! Since we are destined to serve, we seek to serve a lady who will be good to us.”

I shook my head. “You and Justin both have said I would ‘free’ you. Being a better boss isn’t making you free. Is there no way to break this enchantment altogether?”

Max now turned away, walking to the far window. He was silent for a while. Then, in a low voice, he said, “There could be.”

I walked over to him, coming up to stand just behind him. I hesitated, then reached my arms around the tall solid strength of him, hugging him from behind. “And how would we do that?” I whispered.

He stood stock-still for another long moment. “Lady Periwinkle is a sorceress.”

“Yes.” What was he getting at?

“And I have told you that you have magic, inborn magic. Strong enough that we can all feel it.”

“Okay.”

“Do you understand what happens when our cohort bond is completed?”

I didn’t…but maybe I was starting to. “I become a sorceress?”

He continued to gaze out the window. “Emma, you already are a sorceress.”

I gulped. Okay. “So…?”

“You have it in you to become stronger than Lady Periwinkle. And you must do that. You must defeat her.”

I swallowed, trying to stifle the fear that galloped through me. My instinctual recoiling at the very idea… “I…I don’t know if I can do that,” I said.

He turned around in my arms, gently enough to let me know that he wanted me to keep holding onto him. Then he reached down and cupped my face once more, turning my gaze up to his. “If anyone can do it, you can, Emma Foster.”

“I thought you all wanted to save her. I thought that’s what this was all about.”

He looked uncomfortable, and his hand dropped away. “Our lives are tied to hers. If she perishes, so do we all.”

“So you need me to replace her.”

He nodded.

“And if I do? Then what? She dies?”

“She has already far outlived her time.”

I stepped away from him, frightened and deeply uneasy once more. “I am not interested in killing her—in killing anyone.” I whipped around to face him again before he could interrupt. “And yes: I know that technically, I would only be sentencing her to death. The demon would kill her. Right?”

Max’s pained look deepened. “That is correct.”

“I don’t want to do that. I’m not a killer.”

“There will be death no matter what you do,” he said, darkly.

“What do you mean?”

He walked over to me, but did not touch me. “If you walk out of here now, with our bond unfinished, Mundon will prevail. The lady, all four of us, and everyone else in this house will perish. You can tell yourself you are going back to your life, and you can pretend to believe it, but you will always know.” His steel-blue gaze drilled into me. “I know you that well already, I can see it in your heart. You will always know that you have killed us all.”

I snorted in frustration, fighting down panic. The only way to control my fear was with anger. I was trapped, and these people had put me here. “So I have no choice, then? That’s what you’re saying? I either kill her, or I kill her and all the rest of you? Thanks for respecting my agency here!” I turned away from him once more. I didn’t want to see his handsome face, the fear and doubt in his eyes.

Then a thought occurred to me. I turned back around. “How can you even be telling me all this? If you’re still under an enchantment to protect her—how does she not control what you’re saying?”

“Her power is sorely taxed, leaving her control over us fragile to the point of breaking. It frightens us all.” He took a step forward. “We are desperate, and terrified. We don’t want to be taken by Mundon.” Max reached for my hand; reluctantly, I let him take it. “Please, Emma. Don’t sentence us to an eternity in the underworld.”

I stared back at him, searching his face for the truth. He was absolutely sincere: I could see he believed what he was saying. But it was all too much. If I truly had magic in me, couldn’t I find a different way out of this?

I dropped his hand and folded my arms across my chest. “I need…I need some time to think, I need space.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll be back.” I turned and fled his gorgeous room.

~*~*~*~

I did not know this house, not really; I had been in the gallery downstairs in its several incarnations, and a certain particular guest room—the Magenta Room—on the first floor, and Finley’s rooms on the second floor. Justin had told me that his quarters were outside the house, on the grounds somewhere. I hadn’t even explored those grounds, nor did I want to right now; it was still pouring rain, even harder than earlier.

And I didn’t want to talk to Finley, or to Justin. Or even to Aiden, with whom I had not yet even been alone.

No, there was someone else I needed to talk to before any of this went any further.

I stood in the center of the gallery. It was now arranged as a cold marble hallway, lined with priceless statuary and formal portraits of unknown royalty. Assuming any of this was real…because it was time to admit to myself that, whatever else I might be willing to believe of what my men were telling me, this room was a hub of magic. Sorcery. Enchantment. This was far more than just clever décor and use of lighting. This room literally shifted shape and size.

“Margaret, Lady Periwinkle, whoever you really are: I need to talk to you. I have questions, and only you can answer them.” I spoke the words softly. Though I was alone in the huge room, I felt certain that she could hear me.

A few moments later, she walked in, appearing from an unseen side door. “Emma,” she said warmly, coming toward me with her hands outstretched. Her dark hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and she was wearing a purple dress with no adornment, and low shoes, practically slippers. “I have been wondering when I would hear from you.”

I did not take her hands; I just gave her my strongest look back. I could not afford to appear frightened of her, no matter how I actually felt. “I need answers.”

She gave a beautiful, innocent smile. Her dark eyes shone, guileless and pure, a stark contrast against her bright blond hair. “Of course. Shall we talk here, or would you rather somewhere else?”

“I don’t care where we talk, as long as you will give me the truth.”

She appeared to think for a moment. Then she waved her right hand, and the room changed again, this time before my eyes. Now we were in a small parlor, with a pair of armchairs arranged before a roaring fire. The rain still beat down outside the windows; I could feel the heat from the fire. “Please,” she said, indicating the left-hand armchair as she stepped toward the other.

I stayed standing. “If your power is so precarious, should you really be throwing it around like this?” I motioned to the magical ‘room’.

She stood before her armchair, gazing impassively back to me. “Who says my power is at all diminished?”

“Justin, Finley, and Max have all told me you’re in danger. Max just now said you’re barely holding everything together, and that this demon Mundon is going to kill everyone if I don’t bond with them—and Aiden—and take over.” I held her gaze. “And defeat you, somehow. Which I told him I would not do, in case you were wondering.”

Lady Periwinkle smiled once more. “Please, take a seat. We are not enemies.” She sat down herself; I hesitated a moment, then followed suit.

“I don’t think I’m your enemy,” I told her.

“Brandy?” she asked, waving her hand once more. Snifters of brandy appeared on an elegant side table between us. She picked hers up and sniffed it, so I did the same. It smelled amazing; that, plus the roaring fire, made this feel like the coziest room that ever was.

“Thank you.”

“To not being enemies,” she said with a sly smile as she reached her glass out for a toast.

I touched her glass with mine, and then we both sipped. It tasted even more spectacular than it had smelled, and warmed me to my toes.

The lady took a second sip of her brandy. “It is true that things have moved very fast this week, and that I have not been afforded the chance to speak with you as I would have liked to. As I have done for my other cohorts. I do apologize for that.” She set her glass down. “So I am glad that you have called to me today.”

“Uh, sure.”

“It has never been my intention to leave you so in the dark. I invited both you and Edwin to dinner last night because I wanted to begin discussing the situation openly. Unfortunately, Edwin decided to be hostile and intransigent, and I sensed you were not yet ready for a full disclosure, that your mind was not yet opened enough.” She gazed at me, the firelight picking out answering deep colors in her eyes. “It was later in the evening that you communed with Finley and Justin together, was it not?”

I blushed, then picked up my snifter again to cover my sudden discomfort. “Yes.”

“That was an important step—far larger than you likely believe, or understand. I was very happy to know about it.”

Did my men tell her everything that we did, or did she somehow…spy on us, magically? Either way, it gave me a shiver of discomfort. I didn’t really want to know. “I haven’t…communed with Max yet,” I told her.

She nodded. “I thought not.” She gazed into the fire. “Poor Max.”

“Poor how?” Though I didn’t disagree with her assessment…such a strong and beautiful man, living in his astonishing attic apartment…and so lost and unhappy.

Lady Periwinkle looked back at me. “He told you that he, and your other three men, have been a cohort before, with me as their center?”

“Uh. Yes. He did.”

She gave a quiet sigh. “Yes, I thought so.”

“Is it true?”

“Yes. And no.”

“What does that even mean? I thought you were telling me the truth—”

She raised a slender hand to stop me. No enchantment behind it—at least, not so I could tell—but I stopped talking. “Though you have magic inside you, you do not have any experience with it, nor understanding of it. And of course you could not have: who would have taught you? No one. I am the first sorceress you have ever met.”

I blinked. “Okay.”

“So I will need to be the one to teach you, to introduce you to the rest of yourself.” She leaned forward a bit, warming to her topic. “The reason all four men are so happy to bond with you as their mistress is not only because they sense the powerful magic in you, which sings to that within themselves. Though that is certainly a powerful element of it, they are also so ready to do this because they were already introduced to the cohort concept, years ago. They have been working, living, and loving in this manner for long enough that it feels natural to them. I doubt any of them would care to be monogamous at this point, even if it were possible.”

“Your magic will free us all…” “They aren’t trapped, enchanted, right now?” I asked.

“They live under an enchantment, yes, but it is not a trap. It is the same enchantment that you will join, when you complete the binding. It is protective only—of yourselves, and of me; of the whole household. It is what enables us all to live here in safety, wealth, and comfort.”

“Why ‘poor Max’, then?”

She shook her head sadly. “Max is a wounded soul. I knew he was wounded when I first met him, and I have tried to heal him, but…” She took another long sip of her brandy, then held the snifter in her cupped hands, warming the beverage with the heat of her body…or perhaps more magic. “There are some places within him that can never be healed, I fear. I do not believe he will ever trust another, not all the way down. Fundamentally, he believes himself alone in the world.” Then she looked over at me again. “Perhaps you have met men like him before?”

On the one hand, I had never met a man anything like any of my four. On the other hand, I knew just what she meant. I nodded slowly. “I have.”

“He believed himself in love with me. When I joined him with Justin, Finley, and Aiden, I explained to them all just what was—and was not—involved. I told them that we would be finding a true center for them, and that they would love and serve her for all their days.” She smiled. “They will love and serve you.” Her smile faded. “Though this was made clear, Max chose to love me with as much of his heart as he had ever dared to give to anyone…so when it was time to let them go, to find and train the next four, he felt lost and betrayed. There was no way for me to make him see that he had brought this on himself…not without making things even worse than they already were.”

“Why does he think you are weak, though? Why does he think we are all in such danger?”

“He is not entirely wrong about the danger, though he greatly overestimates its severity and its urgency. He has managed to alarm Justin as well, I’m afraid. The demon Mundon is powerful, and his servant Edwin is an unpleasant sort, but I have struggled against far greater powers in my time and prevailed.” Now her smile returned, and looked almost feral. “What neither Edwin nor Mundon—nor, I fear, my vassals—understand is that I haven’t reached this age without learning a great deal about survival. About camouflage and protective coloration.” She looked at me with a new intensity. “As a young woman, you likely understand at least this much: sometimes it is strategically advantageous to appear weak. If one’s enemies underestimate one’s power, they can practically be goaded into defeating themselves.” With that, she leaned back in her chair and stared into the fire, still holding her brandy snifter.

I held my own glass, turning over her words in my mind. Yes, I did understand what she meant, though I was not proud of the times when I had been so manipulative as to pretend a weakness I didn’t have, for strategic advantage. Of course it was better to be honest and straightforward, but it was the sad truth that life didn’t always allow that. “So…let me see if I’m getting this right,” I said at last.

She gazed over at me with a slight nod, indicating I should go on.

“If I complete the binding and create the cohort, I don’t have to then somehow defeat you and take over.”

She chuckled. “No, and if it is all the same to you, I would really rather that you did not try.”

I smiled softly. “And if I choose to walk out of here right now, I’m not sentencing you—and the whole household—to death. That was just something Max is afraid of?”

She paused a moment, clearly choosing her words. “You would absolutely not be sentencing us to certain death, no. What you would be doing is interrupting a momentum that is already in play, and that can have risks. I am strong—far more powerful than I have let on, to pretty much everyone—but I am not invincible, and your pulling out at this point would cost me. Of course, you are free to do whatever your heart tells you is the right choice. I will not compel you, nor even try to persuade you beyond telling you that you would put me in some difficulty if you walked out right now.”

“I see.” I took another sip of my brandy. It was interesting how my mind still felt sharp and alert even as the liquor caressed and warmed my belly. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

She nodded. “I will say only one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“If you do walk away now, without having communed with Max, that will underscore for him his sense of isolation and abandonment. It will confirm what he already fears: that he is not worthy, that no one will ever love him. He will feel justified in his belief that he cannot trust anyone.” Lady Periwinkle caught my gaze, her eyes now earnest and sincere. “Please know that I am not telling you this out of any wish for emotional manipulation or coercion. I know how it sounds, but it is simply the honest truth, and it should be considered in whatever decision you come to.”

“I understand.” And I did. I sat back in my chair, staring at the fire. “Max did seem…different than my first two men. He wanted to talk first, not jump straight into bed.”

The lady chuckled. “That’s our sensitive Max.”

“Doesn’t he feel the pull as strongly as I do—as strongly as the rest of the men do?”

“Oh, he most certainly does; perhaps even stronger. But he struggles to manage it. He wants to be master of himself, not slave to forces he has no control over.”

I shifted in my chair, suddenly uncomfortable. “I think we all want that.”

She smiled again. “Well, of course…but don’t we also want to be swept away on the wings of passion?” She turned to look at me intently. “Shouldn’t the carnal act be one of wanton delight, joy—release? You don’t seriously believe that lovemaking should be an intellectual exercise, cold and analytical, all the boxes checked and spreadsheets tallied.”

I shook my head. “There’s a difference between losing oneself in passion and being under some sort of magical compulsion.”

Lady Periwinkle raised an elegant eyebrow. “Is there?”

~*~*~*~

How long was I with the lady? When she left me, I shook my head in confusion. The rain had abated somewhat, though it was still dripping off the house’s eaves.

But it was nearly fully dark outside. How had so many hours passed?

Max must be beside himself. I’d squandered so much of his time…our time.

I hurried out of the grand gallery—now a cold and formal lobby-like space once more, the cozy parlor having fallen away when the lady left—and back to the staircase. When I reached the top floor, I could see very little light, just the flickering firelight and a small reading lamp by the barrister’s bookcase.

“Hello?” I called out. “Max?”

He did not answer…but I had the sense that he was in the room. I stepped inside, wondering what I was feeling as I let my eyes adjust to the dimness.

“Max?”

The feeling that he was here grew even stronger in me. I stopped in the center of the huge space, questing out…was this my magic? It was like the pull I felt to all my men—lust, heat, desire—coupled with an awareness that went beyond any of my other senses. I just…knew he was in the room. Closer with my every step.

He was in bed.

I walked over to the bed, my footsteps quiet on his plush carpets. And as I approached, my sense shifted and I knew more. He was asleep, and he was having an uncomfortable dream. I couldn’t read his mind or anything, nothing so clear as that; I got no details from the dream. I simply felt his discomfort, and knew that’s what was happening.

“Oh, Max,” I whispered. “I am so sorry.” I undressed quickly, dropping my clothes on the floor beside the bed, and crawled in beside him.

He slept with his back to me—to the room at large. So I snuggled up to him, spooning him from behind. He was naked, as was I; our bodies curved together like they’d been built as a matched set, even though he was so much larger than me.

Max sighed in his sleep, and I felt his dream shift. Again, without knowing any details, I somehow knew that he felt eased. Comforted. I held him close, thinking about everything we had talked about, and all that the lady had told me. I thought about taking care of this man. Healing him.

And it was not long before I fell asleep as well.

~*~*~*~

A delicious sensation woke me. The room was darker than before; the reading lamp was out, and the fire had died to embers. I was stretched out on my back…and the most marvelous thing was happening.

Between my legs.

“Mmm,” I purred, shifting and opening my legs a little wider as I reached a hand down to caress Max’s hair.

He lifted his head. “My apologies. I woke with your arms around me, and I…I just had to taste you.”

I gave his head a little nudge, urging it back downward again. “Never, ever apologize for such a thing. Only apologize for stopping.”

He chuckled, and lowered to his work once more. His tongue explored me, seeking and slipping inside, then back out to stroking my clit, then back inside. It was delectable; I rolled my hips, moving with him, trying to curb my impatience. Letting him take this at his speed, even if I wanted to gallop on to release.

My pleasure built, and built, and built. He licked and tasted me at an unhurried pace; not teasing, just taking his time. Getting to know me…without conversation.

As the heat grew, my breath began coming in shorter gasps. He increased his pace just a bit, now sucking my clit gently. The sensation almost undid me; I bucked my hips, reaching for him. “Oh, Max,” I sighed, between sharp inbreaths. “Oh, Max.”

He hummed against my clit as he plunged his tongue inside me, and I exploded in an orgasm that caught me by surprise. I knew it was coming…I didn’t know it was here. “Oh my god!” I screamed, reaching down and grabbing his head, holding him to me, on me, in me, even as I arched my back and rocked my hips. “Oh my god.”

The waves crashed through me harder than ever before, touching pieces of me that had never been touched… If each climax is going to be huger than the last, this magic business is going to kill me, I thought.

But what a way to go.

I don’t know how long I flew before I collapsed back onto the bed, panting, sated and depleted. “Wow,” I said, oh so cleverly. It was all I had.

“Was I all right?” he asked, looking up at me, his blue eyes puppy-dog sad, uncertain.

I gaped at him. “What? Come up here.” I reached down, putting my hands on his shoulders, as if I could manhandle him up to me.

He scooted up the bed and lay beside me. I rolled over to lie atop him, gazing down into those amazing eyes. “You were not all right.” His face fell, and I could see the beginnings of an emotional shutdown. I immediately went on: “You were amazing. You were incredible. I have never been awakened like that, and I have never been given such amazing oral sex in my entire life.” Including from you, Justin, I added silently, though that had been spectacular. I felt that Justin would understand. This had an astonishing emotional content…or maybe even a magical one.

Max’s mouth tipped up into a fragile smile, and I again felt my heart break at how this man had been wounded. “Thank you. I just…I’ve never done that before either, but I woke up and…somehow, it seemed like the right thing to do.”

“It absolutely was.” I had been lying flat on top of him; I now moved to wrap my legs around his waist, straddling him. Feeling his hardness beneath me, pressing at me. “And don’t you dare apologize for that either,” I said, squeezing and pressing back at him. “I’ve got plans for that.”

His smile broadened, and he reached up to pull me close. His hands skimmed over my back, reaching down to my ass. Still tentative, still a bit unsure, but he was starting to relax.

There was really only one way to fully reassure him, I figured. I tipped my hips up just a bit, getting him positioned exactly right, and then sat down again, drawing his hard, eager cock inside me.

He shuddered and moaned, his hands squeezing hard on my ass as he pumped up into me, harder, deeper. I rocked back and forth, drawing him in and out, setting the pace—but he eagerly matched it. I felt the heat between us build and build, as magical as before but deeper now, that we were joined, that he was inside me.

I fucked him like I’d been fucking him all my life, like I knew his every moan and sigh, and what it meant. He clung to me, driving his hips upward as I claimed him.

And then the real magic started: I felt it in my chest, blossoming. It was the same sense I’d felt when I knew he was in the room but could not see or hear him; only this time it was deeper, far more profound. It emanated outward from my heart, spreading down through my belly and my core and down my legs, up and out through my arms and into my head. It was an astonishing sense of rightness, and delight, and connection, and power—but none of those words do it justice. I knew Max, I knew his heart and soul, and I knew how to heal and save him; the knowledge echoed back within me, and now I knew Finley and Justin the same way. How had I managed such amazing lovemaking with them when I hadn’t had this?

“You had it,” Max whispered, though I hadn’t said anything, I’m sure I hadn’t.

“I…what?” I opened my eyes and looked down at him. We were still connected, still thrusting, gasping and climbing, but also—connected at this other level. He had somehow heard my thoughts.

“Your magic,” he said, and then sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh god. I feel it, it’s pouring through me. It’s…it’s…”

He must not have had words either. I couldn’t talk any more; I drove down onto him, letting him fill me, demanding that he take me up, up, over the edge…

My climax melded the magic within me and between us with the physical sensation of his amazing cock in me. I screamed with release, with the astonishment at such ecstasy and the rightness of this bond. Max held me tight, shuddering as he came an instant after, holding me tight to him as if we could be one person, bound forever.

Because in a way, we would be.

“Oh. My. God.” My core clenched and clenched, draining every last bit of his essence, never wanting to let go…until I finally found my way back to my senses, my release at last finished. I mock-collapsed, tumbling off to lie beside him on the bed, yet rolling him with me so we stayed connected.

He was breathing as hard as I was. We just panted at one another for a long minute, grinning, and then I started giggling. I couldn’t help it: delighted laughter was the only possible response to such mind-blowing, world-changing sex.

Max looked momentarily puzzled, but my laughter was infectious and then he was laughing too, in between kissing me—on my neck, my ears, my face.

I finally got hold of myself, taking a deep breath and kissing him back. I pulled him closer to me, holding him tightly as I explored his mouth.

When we came up for air, he said, “We’re doing this all backwards.”

I giggled again. “Is there a guidebook I forgot to study?”

“I don’t know. Let’s write one.”

I pulled him close once more and kissed him deeply, tasting myself faintly in the mix.

Once again, he seemed to know my thoughts; he drew back, suddenly self-conscious. “Are you sure you want to kiss me, after…?” He glanced below, where we were still joined.

“Do I look like I have a problem with it?” I drew his mouth to mine again. “All I taste is us.”

We kissed, and kissed, and kissed some more. His bed was warm and dark and cozy, and I felt like we were floating on air. After a long while, I felt him slip out of me, though he still held me close.

“I have no idea what time it is,” I whispered.

“Late.” More kissing, lazy and snuggly. “I’m glad you came back. I wasn’t sure.”

“Of course I was coming back.” Again my heart ached for his vulnerability. “I spoke with the lady. She answered a lot of my questions.”

He pulled me closer. “I’m glad.”

Somehow, I had the sense that he knew all that had transpired between Lady Periwinkle and me…and that he was okay with it. Okay with me knowing how fragile he was, how he had loved unwisely, or at least rashly. I didn’t dare to speak of it, though; I couldn’t yet trust this magic in me. Feelings had deceived me in the past…I didn’t want to upset this newfound comfort and ease between us.

There would be plenty of time for more talking later.

Assuming we didn’t all get killed by a demon first.