Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

EMBER

" R emind me again why I agreed to have a girls' night tonight?" My voice cuts off on a moan, and I reach down to run my fingertips through Jianyu's short-cropped hair, arching upward into his exquisite tongue.

After a few rounds of athletic, enthusiastic sex, a room-service dinner, some more sex and a shower, I was starting to get dressed to go. But then I bent over to grab a pair of underwear out of the bag full of clothes Amy was so kind as to procure for me, and apparently the sight of my ass sticking out was too much for my men to resist. The next thing I knew, Rafe was behind me, his hot cock pressing into my bare skin. I barely had time to brace my hands against the wall before he was driving into me once more, and there went all my plans for leaving.

After Rafe and I shared earth-shattering orgasms like that, Malik picked me up and threw me on the bed. Lying on my back, staring up at him, I spread my thighs. He thrust himself into me without a moment's hesitation, splitting me open with his massive cock. I wrapped my legs around him and curled my fingers in the sheets as he drove me to yet another climax.

Malik might not have been here the first time Rafe, Jianyu and I christened this room, but he's been doing a great job making up for lost time.

Before Malik was even done, Jianyu knelt on the bed beside me, plucking at my breasts and slipping a hand between me and Malik to press hard on my clit. Malik and I came as one, my entire body spasming.

And it didn't matter that I'd been fucked a dozen times in the space of a few hours. When Malik rolled off and Jianyu moved around to take his place, I welcomed him in with open arms and open legs. He took me deep and slow, his mouth hovering over mine, our breathing one and the same.

It was only after we'd shared a rolling, fathomless peak, and he'd gone to fetch a washcloth to help clean me up, that I spread my arms out to the side. Utterly limp, I wondered aloud what had even been the point of taking a shower.

At which point Jianyu had dropped to his knees between my spread thighs. He'd tenderly cleaned me up with the washcloth before staring deep into my eyes and licking a hot stripe all up the length of me.

"Wouldn't want you to have to go to your friend's house messy, would we now?" he rasped.

And now here I am, being coaxed up toward an impossible pinnacle yet again, wondering why on earth I have to go to my friend's house at all. Jianyu's mouth is soft and wet against my tender flesh; I feel like I've barely come down from my last orgasm, and yet I'm careening upward yet again.

Rafe comes to sit on the bed beside me. For the first time in hours, he's sort of dressed, which is disappointing to say the least. Leaning down, he kisses my brow. "Having friends is good for you."

Moaning, I push upward into the lush pressure of Jianyu's tongue. "So is this."

Jianyu slips a couple of fingers inside me, and I shudder, clenching around him.

Panting hard, I concentrate, chasing the gathering tendrils of ecstasy gathering deep within me. I'm exhausted and wrung out; my muscles don't want to work, but I find the strength.

"One more," Jianyu murmurs against my pussy.

My final orgasm splinters me into a million pieces, and I drift on its shattered wisps for what seems like forever. When the shimmering pleasure fades, I drop my legs from around Jianyu's neck. They're made of rubber, and the rest of me might be, too.

"Thanks," I mumble, patting his shoulder.

Jianyu chuckles and parts wetly from my spasming flesh. He leaves a slick kiss on my inner thigh. "Any time."

"Come on." Malik gathers a fresh set of clothes for me and sets them on the bed. Jianyu grabs a silky, black pair of panties and helps me into them.

I pout, but my heart's not in it. Before Rafe distracted me, I was excited to head over to Amy's for a much-needed girls' night.

Settling the waistband of my underwear against my hip, Jianyu brushes his lips over my skin. His dark gaze meets mine. "Can't wait to take these off of you again later."

My insides flutter. Part of me wants to stay here forever in this room with these men. What we have is all-consuming, so intense that I can scarcely think of anything--or anyone--outside of it

With a groan, I force myself to sit up.

But that's the precise reason why they're right.

The healthier choice--at least every now and then--is to leave.

"Another round?" Freya asks, holding up her empty martini glass.

Amy downs what's left in hers, leaving her with a vodka-infused chocolate-milk mustache. "Absolutely."

"Just one more," I allow, swirling my glass before taking a sip.

I've had a couple already, and they've left me pleasantly buzzed, but I don't want to tip all the way over into drunk. As it is, I'm lightly melting into Amy and Rhiannon's couch.

"I'll help you," Rhiannon agrees, following Freya into the kitchen.

"Be right back," Grace says. She gets up and heads to the bathroom, leaving me and Amy alone in the living room for a minute.

And it's...nice. Like, really nice.

A warm glow suffuses me. Back in Wynrath Crest, when I had exactly one friend and one secret boyfriend, I always fantasized about a carefree life like this. Hanging out with girlfriends, enjoying handcrafted adult beverages, chatting about romantic partners.

Of course, I never imagined having three partners--much less that I would be working on a scheme to sneak into hostile territory to try to find my fourth. I also never imagined that the entire weight of the dragon world would be on my shoulders, or that I'd be at the center of some kind of ancient prophecy.

I chuckle quietly to myself--but maybe not as quietly as I think.

Amy shuffles closer on the couch and then nudges me with her elbow. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. Or maybe everything." I wave a hand around expansively. "Life."

Through the doorway, I watch Freya and Rhiannon start mixing up that next round of martinis. As they do, they share a couple of shots of vodka, and I shake my head. Unlike me, those two are serious heavyweights.

"I'm not sure I'd call your life funny," Amy muses, giving me a knowing glance.

We've spent the evening catching up on the events of the past few days. Freya and Rhiannon filled us in on more details of the investigation into the bombing of the summit and their efforts to rebuild, and Amy and Grace gave a full rundown of their harrowing escape from the Fire Kingdom. I apologized about a hundred times for accidentally abandoning them there, but Amy just rolled her eyes.

Before long, the spotlight ended up on me, of course, and I got to tell the entire story of meeting Malik, getting kidnapped by the Shadow King's minions, and escaping from the Citadel. I'd already hashed all of it out with my mates, but it was different, explaining what happened to Amy, Grace, Rhiannon and Freya.

Amy kept interrupting to ask questions--a lot of them about my relationship with Malik and my new life with three mates. But she wanted to know details about the Shadow King and his fortress, too, and I caught the same flickers of dark knowing in her eyes that I found in Rhiannon's.

Amy knows about their heritage now, but I'm not sure if anybody else does, so I haven't had a chance to ask her how she feels about it. Considering we have a moment to ourselves, it occurs to me that there's no time like the present.

I glance her way, and then off toward the kitchen again. Delicately, I begin, making the conversation about me at first instead of about her. "I will say--the whole half Shadow Dragon thing threw me for a loop."

"Right?" She laughs, high and free, and I look over in her direction.

Apparently, I shouldn't have worried so much about bringing up the subject.

She grins and lightly kicks my ankle. "I always knew we had something in common."

"Yeah, but did you think it would be this?"

"Not in a million years." Leaning her head back into the couch, she plays with the cool, chunky rings on her fingers. "I always knew there was something, though, you know? Something Mom wasn't telling us? Considering she was so open about living in this huge, free-love commune, I never looked at it too closely, though. I mean, what could be a bigger secret than that?"

Guilt still gnaws at me. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I felt so bad keeping it--"

"It's fine. I get it." She waves my concern away. "It does explain a lot, though. About both of us."

I've thought that, too. "Do you think it has something to do with your dragon not Emerging?"

"Maybe. All the rituals we tried were generic, you know? It was one of the things Mom was always squirrelly about. She didn't exactly lie, but she said that she wasn't fully Air, Stone, Fire or Water, so none of their specific Emergence rites were likely to help."

Yeah, that's not a lie, but it's far sight from the full truth, too.

My heart leaps a bit within my chest. "Maybe there's some Shadow Dragon Emergence rite that would help."

"I've been looking into it," she agrees. "Apparently, their Sorceress does something with a pure black flame, but there are, like, zero details, even in my mom's super fancy magic books from the shop."

I sit up straighter. How could I forget? "I stole a bunch of old scrolls and stuff from the Citadel. Maybe there's something in there?"

"Ooh, stolen Shadow Dragon artifacts?" A gleam appears in Amy's eyes, and she rubs her hands together. "Sign me up."

"I gave them to Rhiannon to put in the vault." They seemed secure enough with me when I was hanging out with my mates, but they should really be under lock and key. "Also..."

I bite my lip, unsure how much to say. I don't want to get her hopes up based on a half-baked theory.

"Yeah?" She lifts a brow and waits me out.

"I stole something else. A..." I let out a rough breath. "A Soul Sphere." I already explained the concept when I was telling them about my escape from the Citadel, but I left out the part where I took one with me. "When I released the others and destroyed the tower, there was one that just...didn't want to be set free. And I think..." I swallow hard. "I think it said your name."

Her eyes flare wide. "Wait--"

"What if it's your father?" I blurt, and wow, so much for trying not to get her hopes up.

Her father was a wizard, and he and the rest of Rhiannon's mates--including Jett's dad--stayed behind to defend their commune when the Shadow Dragons attacked. Rhiannon barely managed to get Amy and Jett to safety. By the time they were able to go back, the place had been destroyed, and none of Rhiannon's mates were ever seen or heard from again.

Ever since I met her, Amy's been trying to find her father.

"Oh my god." She reaches for my hand, her eyes going glassy. "You really think it could be?"

"I don't know," I tell her honestly. "But it was vibrating like crazy in my bag this morning when I hugged you. Whoever's spirit is in there, it has some connection to you."

"Wow." Letting go of me, she sits back. "Just...wow."

"I can try again to set it free. When I released my parents, I was able to talk to them. Not for long, but it--" My parents' ethereal faces float back to me in my vision. "It meant a lot."

She shakes her head. "I don't think I'm in any kind of state to be even thinking about having a once-in-a-lifetime chat with my dad's ghost--or anybody's ghost for that matter--right now."

Okay, yeah, good point. "Freya's chocolate martinis aren't messing around."

"Seriously." She lets out a breath and nods, decisive. "Even if I weren't tipsy. That's something a girl needs to get her head around."

"Anytime you want." I glance toward the kitchen. "Also, I'm guessing if I could figure out how to release a spirit from a sphere, your mom might be able to, too."

"I have no doubt." She goes quiet for a moment.

Before she can say anything else, Sister Grace returns. As she approaches, she must sense that we're having a deep conversation. Grace lifts her brows in question, and Amy nods, beckoning her over.

"Did I miss anything?" Grace asks, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Amy.

"I'll fill you in later," Amy promises.

She leans into Grace, and Grace loosely wraps an arm around her. They've clearly gotten more comfortable with each other over the past few days, and I'm happy for them and their new relationship.

"Actually," Amy says, focusing on me, "I was going to mention that Grace and I have been doing some research of our own. About my situation"

I crinkle my brows. "Oh?"

"Yeah. The whole half-dragon, half-witch thing. I like your idea about looking more into Shadow Dragon Emergence rites." Her throat bobs, and she darts a quick glance back at Grace. "But we've also been exploring the opposite idea."

"Oh." My stomach sinks.

Sister Grace is--or was?--a disciple from the Grand Stone Temple in Shítou. She has dragon ancestry, but she's mostly human, and a skilled practitioner of the witchly arts. Even back in the Stone Kingdom, she was dazzling Amy with stories of the Sisters and their millennia of separating their bloodlines from those of the dragons. She believed it made them more powerful.

Jett and I weren't so sure.

Conspiratorially, Amy leans in. "There may be a way to excise my dragon half."

My dragon recoils, a rush of fire filling my lungs.

" What ?" I say it too loud, and Freya and Rhiannon cast looks at us from the kitchen. I smile to reassure them before lowering my voice. "Amy, that's--"

Messed up. Wrong. Even thinking about it tastes like chewing glass.

"I just said we were looking into it," Amy hisses. "Not that we're going to do it. Especially if there's another way." Her shoulders drop. "It's just--being both dragon and witch feels like being neither. I don't want to have to choose between them, but if I can't access my dragon, I have to at least explore the possibility that she's just holding back my inner witch."

"And you support this?" I ask Grace, trying not to sound accusing, but I can't help it.

"I support Amethyst in exploring her nature however she chooses," Grace says carefully. "All I can bring to the table is my own experience as a Sister."

"Well, as a dragon, just..." I turn to face Amy more fully. "Promise you won't do anything without talking it through with me, or your mom or Jett or just--someone, okay?"

Amy frowns, but she nods. "I promise."

"Promise what?" Freya asks, returning with a tray of fresh drinks.

"Nothing." Amy flashes a smile and reaches for a martini glass. "Thanks, these look great."

"No problem." Freya passes the rest out.

With her own glass in hand, Rhiannon sinks back into her seat. She's regarding her daughter as if maybe she heard a little more of that conversation than Freya did, but if she did, she's choosing to hold her tongue.

After a few moments of relative quiet as we enjoy our beverages, Freya clears her throat. "So. Is it time to discuss the elephant in the room?"

I glance around as if she's being literal. "Which one?"

A half-smile on her face, Rhiannon slowly twirls her glass. "I believe the one you'll be riding into the Air Kingdom this week."

Oh, right. That one.

Freya and Rhiannon share a conspiratorial glance. It seems like they were having private discussions of their own when they were in the kitchen.

"I don't know," I say, trying to deflect. "An elephant doesn't sound like the stealthiest way to cross the border."

Freya flexes her jaw. "There is no stealthy way to cross the border."

Oh boy, here we go again. First Zahra and Obi tried to talk me and my mates out of going; apparently now Freya's taking a turn.

"We have to go to the Air Kingdom," I insist.

Rhiannon nods. "Of course you do."

My brows scrunch up, and I look from her to Freya and back again. "But you were just saying..."

"There is no stealthy way to cross the border," Rhiannon continues. "But I may have a different idea."