Homelands Pt. 12

Her lips tightened, and not in a playful, melodramatic way. "You're not going to hold that over my head forever, are you? How bout we don't forget that I'm the only reason we're not all subjects of Winter right now. Or dead."

True enough.

She turned her back to him. "You know what? I've said all I need to say. Go to your mother. Play Daddy. Get all the mistakes out of your system, learn what you can from her, ignore the bad pats of her advice, and be ready to do it right when our baby arrives."

Slap. Slap. Slap. He wasn't even sure where to begin.

"I won't stay mad," she said, the edge softening. "I'm gonna make you work to smooth things over, because I deserve that, and it'll be fun, but I'll totally be win-over-able." Then her tone grew serious again. "When you get back. Right now, I wanna be alone."

Frank wrapped his arms around her narrow waist, pulled her against his chest, and kissed the top of her head. Her back went stiff and she didn't purr the way she sometimes did. Or melt against him or moan softly or anything. So he tightened his grip in a parting hug, kissed her again, slowly, allowing the smell of her hair to linger for a moment, then vanished.

Nat was sitting at the stone table against the wall, sharing a cup of floral tea with their mother. When he appeared out of nowhere, giving both of them a slight start, his other sister-his only full-blooded sister-pushed her wooden chair back and smiled at the woman sitting across from her by way of excusing herself.

As she strode towards him, she looked like she might just walk on past without a word. If she had, that wouldn't have been terribly unusual. Nat understood the chemistry he and their mother had. Could sense the electricity in the air when their mutual need reached its most unbearable. But at the last second, she jilted left, leaning in close, and said, "I don't mind leaving the two of you alone right now, but if you don't fuck my gorram brains out sometime soon-like, tonight or tomorrow-I'm gonna tell everyone you've got a small dick." She pulled back, gave him a wicked grin, then added, "Well, okay, half the fey and most of Summer already think that. Cuz of the rumor I started. But whaddaya expect?"

Frank laughed. What did he expect, indeed.

It was nice to know that some things would never change. They'd have their differences, particularly while she was queen, but the remarkable woman his sister had become was still, deep down, the girl who used to tease him in front of her friends. And though she'd just told him she wanted his cock, bad, he still flashed back to the days when she was in high school. But in a good way now. The mockery, which he knew she didn't mean, actually served of turned him on. He looked forward to hearing the little bitch who thought she was too good for him scream her lungs out as she experienced one powerful orgasm after another. To feeling her nails tear his back up. Because that much had changed. He remembered the brat she used to be, and to some extent still was, but the woman she'd become was fully aware of his sexual prowess. And she craved it.

But no more. Which was nice.

Much as he enjoyed-despite also hating-being in love with both his mother and Iva, he appreciated that Nat didn't want the same from him. They'd long since moved past the point where either could say with a straight face that there was nothing between them besides sex, and the usual sibling rivalry-slash-friendship, but they were at least closer to that end of things. His sister was, at the end of the day, an incredibly horny woman. Even by the standards of their kind. And Todd simply couldn't fulfill all her needs. She might have deeper feelings for Frank, and it wouldn't surprise him if one day she finally felt comfortable telling him things she couldn't even tell their brother, but her interest in him began with a desire for someone to fill the gap between her demand and Todd's supply.

"Nice Firefly reference," he said.

Nat snorted.

That was what made Nat so great. Well, one of the things. She'd watch really nerdy sci-fi and fantasy stuff with him, the type Todd didn't have the patience for despite being more drawn to the geek side than he wanted Holly to know, but she'd never talk about it. Or admit that she got the jokes he made, unless Todd wasn't around.

And then every once in a while, she'd make one of her own.Only to pretend nothing had happened a moment later. That used to bother him as much as the fat jokes, but not anymore. It only fed the adolescent fantasy of proving to every stuck-up girl from high school that he was a stud after all. A fantasy he should have let go of long ago, and maybe even would have, if not for his sister, but thanks to Nat still held some appeal.

He grabbed her and kissed her the way he probably should have Iva. His hands grabbed her fat ass, squeezing those ripe butt cheeks through the fabric of her chocolate brown yoga pants. And his mouth assaulted hers and his hands kneaded her lumps like dough, he flooded her with energy. It went directly into her Libido, and targeted specific parts of her body as well. Her pussy would be throbbing, her nipples vibrating, and her fingers and toes tingling. He made her head feel light and sent wave after wave of pleasure through her ass. As expected, it took her all of five seconds to explode.

The rush of energy-from a Libido that couldn't really spare it-nearly put him on his ass.

When she recovered, settling back to her bare feet, she said, "That doesn't count."

Frank smiled.

"It was nice. But you only get, like, half a brownie point for it," she said with a lazy smile. "I still want some serious dick."

"What about small dick? Cuz that's all I've got. Apparently."

By way of response, his sister trailed her hand down his chest and over his abs. When it arrived at his crotch, she patted the bulge in his jeans. "Nice shirt by the way."

He wiped imaginary dust and lint off the silk.

"I meant the one beneath it," she said, and he got the impression she might even have meant it. It was always hard to tell, though, since sarcasm was the default setting for them. "You know, you don't really need to walk around topless all the time for us to know you've got great abs. Leave a little something to the imagination from time to time, you know?"

"What you really mean is you don't like seeing my chest hair," he teased, seeing as he'd slipped out of the sleeker version she and Iva preferred into the hyper-masculine one their mother favored the moment he'd left their half-sister standing on the rooftop.

She shrugged.

Frank gave her a quick peck on the lips, then a slap on the ass, because whaddya expect, and then promptly turned his attention to their mother.

"I'm sorry, don't let me interrupt," she said, sipping her tea.

"Ma," he said. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Nat was already gone.

"No, no, it's okay. I understand. You have things to do," she said, sounding almost as though she meant it. "Sisters to make out with. Mothers to ignore."

He wasn't sure why, but Frank's only response to that was a slightly exasperated sigh. He went and took the chair his sister had just vacated, reached across the table, and took his mother's hand in his. The one she'd been holding the ceramic cup with.

And her frustration melted away.

Maybe Iva was perfect for him. Maybe the only reason he still thought he and his mother had something special, something even his half-sister couldn't offer, was because he'd been telling himself that for so long that he didn't know how else to see the world. Or maybe it was because, if nothing else, they had a stronger physical attraction than any couple in the history of ever. There were lots of things they found frustrating, maybe even disappointing, about one another as people, but he couldn't even imagine what it would mean for a woman to look better than his mother. And he felt sure she felt the same way about him. That only went so far, of course. It couldn't make up for everything. But it wasn't nothin'.

Nor was it all they had going for them.

Just sitting in her presence, looking into her eyes and holding her hand, Frank felt a powerful calm settle over him. And a goofy smile spread across his face. Yes, they had their problems. Their incompatibilities, one might even say, though he wanted to believe that was too strong a word. And the feelings he had for Iva were going to present a problem. Again. She was more jealous of Nat than she cared to admit too, no matter how often she tried to draw a distinction between the sort of base emotion she was allegedly above and her principled dislike for all things Farrier. Other than Gus, of course.

But in that moment, none of that mattered.

He even forgot about the mysterious case of the disappearing children. The dinosaurs that might or might not have shared the forests with the ghosts of their ancestors, or whatever the heck was out there. The gnawing guilt he felt over abandoning countless immortals to Daphne, which he worked so hard to pretend he was unaware of, even lost some of its bite.

His mother was smiling at him. And that meant that all was right with the world. With all the worlds. From the Hinterlands to Winter, the Garden and the Glade, suffering ceased to exist. How could it not, when a goddess such as she was happy?

"I love you, Mom," he said.

Her smile broadened.