The Land of Snowflakes bordered what used to be Princess Clara's land, but there was nothing more there now than a darkness that would steal anyone's spirit who even approached it. Or so we'd all heard.
Nuss sighed.
"Don't keep secrets from us now, captain asshole." Leb smacked him on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward to the water's edge.
Nuss caught himself just before his boots hit the water. "There's a lot about the Snowflake Court and the Church of the Christmas Star that you don't know."
I thought we were a tight unit. We'd all made a commitment to each other and to Clara. This was all too much like when Konig betrayed us. We'd never been the same since, but we'd made it work. "Like how you're able access Clara and Friedrich's magic?"
"Yes."
"Why are we finding out about this now?" This nervous energy inside me had to get out and if I couldn't use it to keep Clara safe, I was just as happy picking a fight.
Until Clara screamed.
Luckily my training as an elite Nutcracker guard meant I knew how to fight even when my own heart wasn't beating in my chest. I walked straight into the water, but Leb grabbed me from behind and dragged me back to shore. "Look, she's alright."
Clara bobbed in the water and held her arm up, holding some kind of green stringy plant. "Sorry. I'm okay. It's just that this brushed up against my legs. Umm, it's seaweed, I guess? It smells like green apple saltwater taffy."
She took a small nibble out of it and nodded. "Yep. This is such a strange place."
Her laughter was the only thing that restarted my blood pumping through my veins. Tau put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "First thing after this war is over, we're all learning to swim."
It wasn't another moment before Clara reached the island and climbed up on its shores. As she approached the flower, hundreds of smaller buds bloomed at her feet, forming a path around her. She was a nature goddess come to life before our eyes.
"I found them." She reached up to the large candy cane and dewdrop blossom, and I swear it bent to her. The most powerful scent of violets, plums, and peppermint wafted to us, and it acted like an aphrodisiac. My cock went instantly hard, and Tau moaned beside me.
Which piece of the broken crown has she found? I wanted so badly for it to be the Land of Sweets so I could claim her body for my own. But equally needed it to be the Land of Flowers so I could see her and Tau together.
Clara reached up and plucked something from the center of the flower and held it to her chest. Magic like I'd never felt before exploded into the grotto and both Tau and I were yanked from the shore dragged across the water to the island. We tumbled into the soft flowers around her, and she let out an excited laugh.
"Look." She held out the item she plucked from the flower and in her hand were two broken pieces of the seven crowns. The Flower Fae crown with its green and bendy vines that had grown around the purple sparkling sugary crown of the Sweet Fae.
"No wonder you two are so close. The spirits of your people are so intertwined, they can't be separated." She knelt in the flowers in front of us and bent her head. "Help me take the necklace off so I can join them with the other two."
I unclipped the fastening on the chain and the crowns from the Land of Spirit and Magic she'd brought with her from the human realm, and the one Mother Gingerbread had given her from the Gingerbread Kingdom fell into her waiting hands.
She slipped the chain through the vines of the Flower Fae crown right where it met the stylized Sugar Plum of the Sweet Fae crown. Then she put the necklace back on letting all four crowns dangle between her breasts. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she let out a sighed whimper that had both Tau and I rushing to take off our clothes.
"I need you both, right now." A flush rose up Clara's breasts and her eyes went dark with lust. "Is this the effect of finding the crowns?"
Clara reached for my shirt and tried to pull it over my head, but it was a struggle since I was doing the same to Tau.
"Only you and Leb can answer that," I said and just ripped Tau's shirt open.
Leb's laugh boomed across the water. He cupped his hands and shouted to us, "Yes, it is."
Tau pushed Clara's hands away and tore my shirt open as well. "I've never felt so frantic to be with anyone like this in my life. I need to be with you, both and it feels like I'll die if I don't."
Clara was already naked, and I ran my hands down her arms and across her chest, teasing her with my touch, while avoiding her breasts. She leaned forward into me, and her hard little nipples pushed against my flesh, sending a shockwave of magic through me that turned to pure sexuality.
Tau pushed himself up against her back, so she was between us and grabbed her hands, directing them down to unbuckle my belt. They worked together and I did my best to distract them both with kisses and nips to Clara's throat, ear, and finally her lips.
I kissed her like I'd never get enough of her. There was so much more to this kiss than any I'd stolen from her before. It was as if I'd never experienced touching my mouth and tongue to someone else's before. The flavor of her exploded across my tastebuds and every emotion, want, and need I had was amplified times a thousand.
"Stars, I can literally feel what you're each experiencing as if I'm the one kissing her and you and the same time." Tau's voice filtered in low and husky and needy.
Their fingers finally released the fastenings to my pants, and I couldn't get them over my hips fast enough. I wanted both their hands on me now. I felt Tau's fist wrap around my cock first and then he guided Clara's softer hand to do the same just above his. Together they stroked up so slowly, I was sure to perish before her fingers squeezed the head and then went back down again before I was ready.
