It had been a foggy day in Otherworld, and Maria was hell-bent on trying something new with Lugh. He had an old wrought iron bed under a forest canopy, where she was tying him up in vines.

It was pretty fun to do with both of them stark naked, her breasts brushing against every hard plane as she made her way around him.

"Oh, come on, Lass, why do you have to tease me?" Lugh pleaded as she straddled his thighs to tie his feet. He deliberately spread his legs a little wider so he could better see what she had to offer.

It exposed her to the chilly air unexpectedly and tipped her forward. Maria laughed and finished tying off his feet.

She decided to "punish" him and crawled the length of the bed to present him with his first duty. "You made it cold so warm it up."

Maria positioned herself so Lugh could French her. The shock of his tongue plunging into her, warm and slick, caused her to jerk forward, impaling herself until his nose grazed her clit. Her skin tingled from the crown of her head to her curled toes from that singular touch as Fey magic began to weave its way through him. He stroked his tongue from just inside her, then back up to her tip, then gently suckled it until she started writhing from sensitivity before dipping his tongue back into her repeatedly until she edged off the shocking high.

Maria damn near came a second time. "Lugh, you're too experienced at this for me!"

His laughter forced him to pull off for a second. "No, I'm not, now let me do this for you."

The plunging depths, being pulled tight against his teeth, the caresses of the swirling wind, it was all too new for her inexperienced body. She shrieked so loud as she came, legs giving out, dragging her core hard against his face.

She hasn't quite recovered when he began speaking against her body, mouth fully muffled.

Maria cried out because it tickled, then landed on his chest in shock. She looked down between her breasts at his reddened face and felt a little pity for the man she adored most in this life.

It was the first time she realized she loved him, not just loved fucking him, and there wouldn't ever be enough time. Her first confession was told to her thighs. "I love you, Lugh. I'm going to miss being here with you so much."

He let his head drop back onto the bed. "Ah, fuck me."

It hurt. He didn't feel the same way. "Are you going to make me leave early?"

He didn't look at her face. "No, Lass, I want to keep you forever. It's just that a Fey loved is a Fey who will raise a child. You're a lovely Lass, and I would love to give you children, but I won't be there to raise them, so we need to stop. I can't ask you to be a single mother like that."

"Couldn't we use protection?" Belatedly, Maria realized that they had not been this whole time, and while she had been on the pill-just in case-she had run out the first week in this place.

"It doesn't work. I'm not ruled by flesh-that is, science and human biology. We have to stop, unless you want my child. I promise to keep my tie to your grandmother."

For the first time since coming to the Otherworld, there was no enticement, no joy to do as he asked.

Even for love, can I do this? I don't want to stop sharing his bed. Maria couldn't shake how this felt much bigger than what he was saying. There had to be a reason she loved him-and by his confession, he loved her. "How badly do you want this child?"

"Very badly. I will see both of you again, for a time, and the thought of a strong Irish son with your dark features will haunt me for centuries."

"But what if its a girl?"

Lugh paused, staring hard at her breasts-not her face. She could tell part of him was impatient to get back to their game. Despite that, he took the question seriously, "Then name her after the only woman worthy of being remembered from my family-Ethelyn would be a modern version of it."

"And a son?"

Lugh laughed. "Anything but Lugh, my love."

She told him her decision by crawling back down his body to ride him to their mutual completion until the sun settled into the twilight mist.

~~~

Maria's love for him had once felt new every time they came together back in Otherworld, but without this one day, remembering each encounter felt more like she was experiencing sex for the first time, all twisted around a dark and dangerous man: a crow, not a God. Why this time? This was all Lugh.

Maria opened her eyes expecting to see Lugh's face and couldn't help that she cringed when she saw Mark's. His only response was a tightening of his lips as he pulled out of her as stiff as ever. Préachán looked at her like he was trying to memorize her features and then he disappeared.

For the first time in this journey, she felt the guilt of a cheater, something long overdue. Maria couldn't tell who she had wronged the most with her choices, intellectually. Turning on her side and curling around her baby bump, she had a sinking suspicion that the person she hurt the most was herself.

Maria cried for a few minutes before the baby started to move. I wish Lugh could see this. No sooner than she thought that, she wanted Mark there, too. "Mark, don't leave me alone after that!"

The crow flitted through to land on her footboard. It made Maria both relieved and angry to see him: at least he came, but he was as distant as when they first started. It was a good thing nothing was within her grasp or she'd have thrown it at the ass. "You're not doing this to me, Mark. Come on."

It was far harder to read his expressions as a bird, but he was clearly reluctant to change-she could see it. "Damn it Mark!"

He changed, much to Maria's relief. Once he stood, he put his hands on the headboard, leaning forward-so much like he was still perching and could hide from his humanity for a bit longer. The look of guilt on his face hurt. He wasn't the one who put her between two men-she did that to herself, from the beginning. Or was it? Perhaps we each played a part in this, which is why he looks as bad as I feel? "Why?"