Lottery King 2, page 23
“I’m not surprised you were able to connect with Poppy that way,” Firo said.
“Yeah, but with horses?” I asked. “Is that… I don’t know… normal?”
“I can’t say, your majesty,” Firo said. “I have never heard of a mind enchantment working on animals before, but your mirror magic may allow you a different scope of the magic than we previously thought. Seeing as we still know nothing about your magical lineage, we can only theorize what you are capable of until you do it.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” I said thoughtfully. “I thought I felt a connection with the gorgon, too.”
“Hmmm.” Firo’s orange eyes narrowed. “Elaborate, please.”
“I didn’t try to connect with him,” I explained. “But… it was like his rage was a palpable presence. It felt like a thick cloud that wanted to consume me. I didn’t pay it much attention at the time… for obvious reasons, but it was kind of weird.”
“Interesting,” Firo said, and his tone made me think of the kind of therapist I’d seen on television. It was like he didn’t want to influence my thoughts by saying too much.
“I don’t know,” I said as I threw another strike at his open palm. “I mean, Poppy is the only person whose magic I’ve really connected with. And a person’s mind is like their personality, right?”
“That’s my understanding.” Firo nodded.
“And that gorgon was definitely angry,” I scoffed. “So it would make sense if his mind was like a thick and hostile soup.”
“I have been toying with a potential theory, your majesty,” Firo said thoughtfully.
“About what?” I asked.
“About how your magic allows you to connect with others,” Firo clarified. “I thought at first it was coincidental. I thought you’d connected with Poppy by pure chance, but I’m not so certain.”
“Okay…” I said slowly, and I waited for him to go on.
“I would think if it was purely coincidence,” Firo went on. “Then you would have connected with someone else through chance by now.”
“So what do you think it is, then?” I asked with interest.
“Perhaps it is strong emotions that create the connection,” Firo suggested.
“Strong emotions,” I repeated, and I thought about that for a moment.
The gorgon with the white-and-red snakes had definitely been feeling very strong emotions from the first second I’d seen him at the race, but I wasn’t as sure about Poppy.
I pondered the idea for a moment as I thought back on the first days of knowing the bubbly fae. Poppy had been so uncertain and nervous with me at first, and she’d questioned nearly everything she’d done. I guess those could be considered strong emotions, too.
Then we’d fallen for each other pretty hard and fast, and that was definitely strong.
“You know,” I said. “I think you might be on to something, Firo.”
“It’s just a theory, your majesty.” The dragon-man shrugged his broad shoulders.
“I think I need to train with more people,” I proposed. “I need to strengthen my ability to connect with others. I potentially have an enormous arsenal of powers at my disposal, but it’s useless unless I can connect with whoever is nearby, right?”
“You’re not wrong, your majesty.” Firo smirked.
“Let me try to connect with you,” I said before I could think through the idea.
Firo burst into sudden laughter that was so unlike the usually stoic dragon-man that it shocked me. His hands clutched at his chest as he chortled with unbridled humor.
“Oh, my apologies, your majesty,” Firo said as he struggled to contain his laughter, and he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “No.”
“Why not?” I asked with genuine curiosity. “What are your powers, anyway?”
“With all due respect, your majesty,” Firo said, and he recomposed his face into a politely casual mask. “You will not have the control or strength to handle my powers for quite some time still.”
I arched an inquisitive eyebrow at the dragon-man, and curiosity burned in my mind. What could his powers possibly be that he wouldn’t even tell me about them?
I wondered if he could breathe fire. He was a dragon-man, after all.
“But,” Firo said, and he drew my attention back to the moment. “I do agree that we should begin focusing on connecting with others. Perhaps Rune is available this morning.”
“Alright,” I said, and then I realized I had no idea what my golden-haired advisor’s powers were, either.
“Nira?” Firo called.
“Yes, sir?” a female shadow nymph who looked like she was about five-foot-nothing appeared out of nowhere.
“Go and see if Rune is available,” my head of security asked the small shadow nymph.
Nira nodded and melted back into the shadows without another word.
“Do you think there are only some emotions that will assist in the connection?” I wondered while we waited. “Like some emotions are inherently stronger than others… Like love, hate, anger.”
“Hmmm,” Firo hummed thoughtfully. “That would seem the most straightforward, but I wouldn’t think it wise to put that kind of limit to it unless we can prove it.”
“Good point,” I said.
“I might think that any emotion…” Firo continued. “So long as it is felt powerfully enough, could act as a sort of… conduit between your mind and another’s.”
“Well,” I sighed. “Let’s hope that’s true, since I don’t expect Rune is in love with me the way Poppy is, and I sure hope he doesn’t hate me the way Alexander does.”
“I promise you, your majesty,” Rune chuckled as he joined us in the courtyard. “I am not madly in love with you.”
“Good.” I smirked.
“Now…” Rune glanced around with vague curiosity. “What can I do for you?”
“His majesty requires a test subject,” Firo said in a bland voice, but there was a spark of mischief in his slitted eyes.
“What?” Rune asked, and his whole face dropped.
“I need someone new to try and connect with,” I explained with a friendly roll of my eyes in Firo’s direction.
“I thought fear might be a useful conduit,” Firo explained with believable innocence.
“Right,” I laughed.
“Okay, well,” Rune relaxed. “Where do you want me? What do I do?”
Firo instructed Rune in relaxing his mind and trying to open himself up to me, and I followed along with the deep breaths as I tried to locate the presence of Rune’s mind.
I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind in search of Rune, but it was like trying to see in the dark. I struggled for several minutes, and I even tried it with my eyes open. But being able to see Rune didn’t help me to find his mind at all.
“Ugh,” I sighed with frustration. “This isn’t working.”
“What am I doing wrong?” Rune asked, and there was genuine worry in his teal eyes.
“Nothing, Rune,” Firo assured him. “I think this is only adding to the theory we’re working with.”
“What theory?” Rune asked.
“We think strong emotions help me connect with another person’s mind,” I explained.
“Oh…” Rune mumbled, and his eyes lit up with understanding. “Maybe it is my fault, then.”
“What do you mean?” Firo asked.
“Well, I thought you needed me to be calm.” Rune shrugged his shoulders. “So I was focusing on feeling nothing and calming my mind. I’ve been practicing meditation the last few months, so I went into a full zen mode.”
“Alright, perhaps it is your fault,” Firo grumbled good-naturedly.
“What if he tries to think about something else?” I suggested. “Something that makes you angry… or happy?”
“I can do that,” Rune insisted with renewed energy. “Yeah, I know just the thing.”
“Alright,” Firo cleared his throat. “Let’s go again.”
“Hang on.” I raised one hand to stop them. “What are your powers, Rune?”
“Well, I can do mirror portals,” Rune said. “But that’s true of all faes who take the time to strengthen the skill.”
“What’s special to you?” I asked.
“I’m glad you asked, your majesty,” Rune said in a playfully boastful tone. “I’m quite special…”
“Rune,” I chuckled.
“Very well.” My golden-haired advisor grinned brightly. “I can adjust the proportions of my body.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes with confusion. “Like… you can make yourself taller?”
“Yes,” Rune pursed his lips thoughtfully. “I can change my overall size while maintaining this proportion of my limbs, but I can also alter individual body parts as well.”
“Ooooh!” I gasped with admiration as I remembered when I’d seen Rune entertaining all those ladies on the beach. “You did make your shoulders broader on the beach! Didn’t you?”
“You saw that?” Rune asked, and he rubbed at the back of his neck self-consciously.
“I sure did!” I laughed. “I thought I was hallucinating!”
We shared a quick laugh about that before Firo cleared his throat a bit like a coach trying to get his rambunctious athletes back on track.
“Shall we try again?” the dragon-man asked as he pushed his flame-colored hair off his forehead.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” I agreed, and I looked at Rune. “Are you ready?”
“I am, your majesty.” Rune nodded, and his bumblebee wings twitched with excitement as he bounced on his toes a little.
I grinned, took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. My mind cleared easily after weeks of practice, and I started to search blindly in the dark for Rune’s mind.
He appeared as a tiny golden spark of light, like a train at the end of a pitch-black tunnel, and I coaxed the light toward me. It bounced and danced away like a firefly, and I got the feeling Rune’s mind was going to appear as playful as the fae himself.
I encouraged the golden light closer, and it zigzagged forward and bounded around like a super ball. Finally, the golden spark darted right at me and it nearly caught me off-guard.
With a sheer force of will, I retained my focus and urged the golden light into my mental grasp, and it felt like diving into a swimming pool made of light.
The golden light flowed all around me, but I had no idea what to do with it next. I figured I should just go for it, and I pictured my body shrinking.
“Oh!” Rune sucked in a sharp breath of surprise.
“What?” I asked as my eyes flew open, and I realized my voice sounded like I’d been sucking on helium all day. “Is that my voice?”
I stared up at Rune and Firo several feet above me, and the grass of Lady Helena’s courtyard that now came up to my hips.
“What the fuck!” I shrieked with utter shock.
Chapter 14
“King Michael!” Rune covered his mouth with his hands, and he hurried back a few steps like he was afraid he’d step on me.
Which was a pretty real concern now that I was the size of a fucking G.I. Joe action figure.
“Well done, your majesty,” Firo praised me in that quiet way of his. “That’s very impressive.”
“It took me nearly a year to figure out how to keep my body in proportion in a size reduction that severe!” Rune grinned with admiration.
“Thanks,” I squeaked, and I covered my face with my palm. “Okay. So how do I get back to normal now?”
“Well,” Rune chuckled. “It’s sort of a force of will… but I’ve found that picturing it really helps eliminate errors.”
“Okay…” I sounded like I belonged in an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.
“Try imagining yourself normally?” Rune suggested in a less than helpful voice.
“Right.” I pressed my lips together.
I cleared my mind again and searched for that bouncing golden light, and it was much easier to coax the playful thing to me the second time. In a matter of seconds, the golden light swirled all around my body, and I focused hard on what my body was supposed to look like. Intrusive thoughts about what my body could be tried to sneak their way in, but I put up a firm wall and willed my body to return to its natural size.
Because I knew what was happening this time, I felt the shift in my body as my size expanded out to my six-foot self. An uncomfortable whoosh that reminded me of the aftereffects of a rough elevator ride crashed through my chest. The sensation of the change completed, and I opened one eye to peek around.
“Phew,” I sighed with relief as I saw Rune standing nearly eye to eye with me.
Firo nodded appreciatively a head above me, and I knew I’d returned to my proper height. A quick glance down at my body confirmed that my shoulders, chest, and limbs were the right sizes and lengths as well.
“That was fucking wild,” I said, and I was very pleased to hear my voice back to its regular baritone.
“It was most impressive, your majesty.” Firo nodded and glanced around. “I believe that’s a suitable place to end our session for today.”
“Yeah, oooh,” I blew out a long breath as I realized how aggressively hungry I was all of a sudden. “Wow, I’m starving.”
“Oh, yeah,” Rune said in agreement. “Huge changes like that always make me soooo hungry. I went big once, and I couldn’t get enough to eat for like three days.”
“Wow,” I chuckled.
I remembered that scene in Captain America: Civil War when Antman went huge, and how he then needed some orange slices to refuel. I wondered if there were any paranormals who’d worked on that project, but my stomach grumbled loudly to interrupt that line of thought.
“You need to eat, your majesty,” Firo instructed. “You used a lot of energy just now, and your body needs fuel.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured my head of security. “I was just thinking the same thing. I bet Poppy and Lady Helena are on the veranda having breakfast right now.”
“Yes, your majesty,” Nira’s rasping voice answered from nearby.
“Thanks,” I chuckled as her white eyes disappeared back into the darkness. Then I turned to Rune. “And thank you for helping us out this morning.”
“It’s an honor, your majesty,” Rune said with a respectful nod. “And it’s my job to assist you.”
“Good point.” I gave the golden-haired fae a wink before I walked back into Helena’s mansion.
I strolled through the foyer and back outside to the veranda where the ladies were doing exactly what I’d expected. What I didn’t expect was the girlish giggling I overheard as I walked through the door, or the way it became immediately silent when they looked at me.
“Uh… hi?” I furrowed my eyebrows at the ladies.
Poppy blushed furiously, and they both erupted into another burst of giggles. Helena covered her mouth with an elegant hand, and Poppy tried to plaster an innocent smile on her face.
“Good morning, my king,” Poppy greeted me, and her tone was oddly high.
“Hey,” I murmured in a confused tone. I gave her a kiss, and then I smiled at Helena across the table. “What are you two giggling about this morning?”
“Nothing,” Helena answered a bit too quickly.
“Oh, I was just telling Helena a few stories,” Poppy said as her cheeks turned bright red, and her wings fluttered shyly behind her.
“Riiiight,” I murmured.
I didn’t believe that for a single fucking second, and I wondered what Poppy possibly could have said to make them both blush so hard.
“Good morning, Helena,” I said as I sat down at the table.
“Good morning, Michael,” Helena cleared her throat, and just the slightest bit of pink lingered on her tanned cheeks. “How did you sleep?”
“Hard,” I said.
Helena smothered a coy smile at my choice of words, and I could have smacked myself. The Grecian harpy definitely knew exactly what Poppy and I had done after she’d shooed me away last night, and now I had a better idea of what my fae lover had been sharing.
I gave Poppy a lovingly accusatory look, and she dissolved into blushing giggles. Which was all the proof I needed to be sure my lover had been telling Helena about some of our more intimate moments.
Holy shit.
Helena could have intimate details about the way I fucked now. I would have expected it to make me feel completely exposed, but I found only smug satisfaction at the prospect.
It was sort of hot to think about Poppy confessing to Helena how I made her cry out in pleasure, or how I made her cum over and over.
“I was very tired,” I said, and I let the innuendo seep heavily into my voice.
The coffee was strong, and I sipped at it slowly as I held onto Helena’s hazy stare. The Grecian beauty’s lips fell open just the slightest bit, and her ample chest started to rise and fall with obvious arousal. Then she shifted in her seat as she cleared her throat, and she picked up the newspaper from the table to fan herself.
“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath.
Watching Helena’s arousal heighten so forcefully was sending my blood thumping through my veins as well. I knew I needed to divert the conversation before I started fantasizing about fucking them both right here on the breakfast table. I also knew that fantasies like that wouldn’t remain solely in my head for very long if I indulged in them.
“Mrs. Baros makes a good cup of coffee,” I said as I sipped the strong blend.
“Yes!” Helena grabbed onto the topic as if she were drowning, and I’d thrown her a life jacket. “Her coffee cake is incredible, too.”
“I love coffee cake,” Poppy said.
I looked at my fiancée and found that she’d brought her giggles under control, but her eyes were still bright with mischief.
“Oh, and Nyxx and the others arrested Alexander,” I said. “The leader of the radical group?”
“That’s very good news,” Helena said.
