Chapter 35

That evening, I watched from a darkened corner in the makeshift infirmary, staring at a candlelit table where five witches hovered over a silently seething Tavion.

He was stripped to the waist, feet bare, face set in unforgiving lines while he stared stoically at the ceiling.

Fine then, the wolf could be as pissed off at me as he wanted so long as this healing spell worked. I didn't much care if the stubborn bastard never spoke to me again. In fact, it would be preferable to the scolding—shouting, really—he'd delivered once he'd heard about Solomon's attack.

As if he hadn't arrived all bloody and bruised after crossing swords with three of the strongest witches of this coven. Dead now, of fucking course, and my husband's arrogance knew no bounds.

Tristan's wyvern had eaten two more and he was currently upstairs in his Fae form heaving his guts up in a chamber pot, probably wishing he'd shown more restraint, but…

We'd survived the attack with only a few gashes and bruises.

The witches chanted in unison, and I fought my rising panic. This reminded me too much of that altar in Torin's room, too much of the night I'd almost been sliced apart like a sacrificial lamb.

"Anaria." I opened my eyes to find Tavion looking straight at me, his stare raw and open and wanting. "Anaria, you don't have to be here. You don't have to watch."

"I'm not going anywhere," I muttered, loosening my fingers. "Worry about yourself, will you?"

"Why should I when you're doing a grand job of fretting for me?" he said softly as Bella shooshed him. One wink, then he went back to staring at the ceiling, a faint smile on his face.

Magic of all colors wrapped around him, a rainbow brought to life, but then he sighed, his body relaxing as if the magic felt…good.

I drifted closer, studying how they positioned their hands, the symbols they sketched in the air, the quiet words I didn't understand. But this magic…My throat bobbed. This power tasted like storm clouds and sunshine and one delicious sip had me craving more.

"Careful," Bella cautioned, her gaze sliding to where I'd stopped a few feet away. "We're almost to the critical part. Don't distract us."

I dipped my head to show her I'd heard, and then, despite my anger, slipped my hand into Tavion's. "This totally doesn't mean I've forgiven you for being a pompous, overbearing control freak," I warned him.

"Of course not." His lips quirked before we both got scolded all over again.

"Torin said thank you,"Raziel murmured when I crawled into bed. "For healing Zephryn."

"I didn't heal anyone." I sank into the pillows, softer and fluffier than I remembered them being the last time I'd actually slept, whenever that was. Raz curled beside me, his hand on my stomach. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was feeding a constant stream of magic into me.

"You arranged things, Anaria," he said softly. "I told Torin you were grateful you could help."

"Such a diplomat. Maybe you should rule Solarys after the Shadow King's gone."

Raz snorted. "That will be the fucking day."

"Well, everyone's awfully eager to toss me up on the throne. Maybe we should take turns." I poked Raz in the side. "Even you, smartass."

"This is the last time we'll be sleeping in a real bed for a long time." Raziel tugged me closer, working his knee between my legs, and the feel of his hard, muscled thigh against my already wet pussy had my body aching for more. "We should really make the most of tonight."

I cupped his jaw, rubbing my thumbs over his unshaven cheeks, whiskers rough and scratchy. "Except I'm so tired all I can do is lie here." Only half a lie since every single nerve ending was sensitive and alive.

"And why is that a problem?" Raz dragged his lips up the side of my throat and my toes curled against the cool sheets when his hand dipped between my legs, fingers sliding through my soaked folds. "You could let me do all the work."

"I could, but…" I glanced to the fireplace.

Tavion was out cold, sprawled in a chair by the embers, covered in layers of blankets. He'd sleep, Bella claimed, for twelve hours at least, his body recovering from the healing and the sheer amounts of magic they'd fed into him.

Tristan was still sick in the next bedroom over, retching up his guts from the sounds of it.

"Not the most romantic setting, I'll admit." Raziel's smile was wicked enough to send a shiver of anticipation through me. "But trust me, I'll make do."

Zorander slipped through the door, his exhaustion turning into a slow smile as he surveyed me, Raziel and the hastily pulled up covers. "More trouble?" I asked softly.

"Not trouble. A…tough decision." His stomach flexed when he pulled his shirt over his head, one long, lean whip of muscle and graceful power.

"Torin spent the past few hours begging me to go after their friend Cosimo instead of the Shadow King like we planned. I can't say I blame her, but she admitted she hasn't seen that pendant for months and has no idea where it might be. For all she knows the astrologer is dead."

"Cosimo was an astrologer?"

"The Fae King's official astrologer, apparently. He marked the stars' patterns, possessed a variety of magical abilities, and could read and decipher every language ever spoken in the history of this world. But choosing the fate of one person over the fate of tens of thousands…"

Zor shook his head, kicking his boots off as he crossed the room, but clearly, he was done talking about tomorrow. "I told her we were going to Solarys. End of story."

I must have made a noise because Raziel nuzzled my throat. "It's the right choice, Anaria. We've planned out how to infiltrate the Keep; we know the layout and patrol schedules. We can't afford another wild goose chase, not when your mother wasted so much time already."

"And nearly got you killed," Zor growled, shedding his trousers followed by the heavy thump of a fully loaded weapons belt.

For a second all my thoughts disappeared into the fuzzy arousal of having Raz nibbling at my throat. I gently pushed him away with a hand pressed to his chest. "But what if…"

Zor slid into bed behind me, calloused palms dragging down my sides, my hips, and moving my hair so he could fasten his mouth on the base of my neck and sink his teeth in the barest pinch. Gods, when he did that…I ached for him to be inside me.

"Solarys. In the morning. And I'm done talking about this." Zor's rough voice turned impatient, his hands gripping my hips, erection poking between my arse cheeks. "I'm starving for you, princess, like I've never starved before, and I intend to give you as much pleasure as I take."

"Zor's lonely," Raziel murmured, his eyes dancing as he slowly wound my loose braid around his hand and pulled me closer. "You're all he talked about when we were gone."

"Like you talked about anything else, arsehole." Zor went back to suckling my neck and cupping my breasts, rolling my pebbled nipples between his thumb and forefinger while Raziel's eyes gleamed, tongue darting out over his lips.

"Did you really?" I searched his beautiful face, lines harshly etched in the light and shadow. "Miss me?"

"Every fucking second, princess." And it wasn't Raz's words, at least, not only the words that sent a hungry ache threading through my heart. All that undiluted longing and weeks of yearning exploded.

I caught him and pulled him to me, kissing that smile right off his face. Kissing him until I couldn't breathe and didn't want to. Zor was at my back, two sets of roving hands holding me in place, two pairs of lips devouring, tongues lashing, and the teeth…fuck, Zor's teeth clamped down on my shoulder in such a powerful show of domination I moaned straight into Raziel's mouth.

This.

Them.

Not thinking just…feeling.

Raz lifted and moved underneath me, all thick churning muscle and straining hardness as he split my thighs and spread me over his cock. I sank onto him with a ragged growl, never breaking our kiss, my wet pussy sliding down and down and down, stretching around him in the most delicious way, wiggling my hips until he was fully seated inside me.

Only then did I pull my mouth away, leaving his lips wet and open, his eyes hooded and feral when I rose up above him. He reached for my breasts, and I gripped his wrists, pushing them deep into the pillows and pinning him down.

Ridiculous, given he was ten times stronger than me, but then a little sound slipped between Raz's lips. A ragged moan that sent pleasure shivering through me, dark and dominating and a little bit wicked.

I lifted my hips then slammed back down. Hard. Possessively.

As if I could claim him the same way these males had claimed me.

"Fuck…" Raziel stared at me like a male possessed. "Again. Do that again."

"You like it when I'm on top?" I asked, trying to decipher this new power dynamic.

"I like it when you're in charge." He thrust his hips and drove so deep he bottomed out, both of us groaning as I breathed through my nose, my channel locking down around his glorious length. "You're so fucking tight. Like heated silk against my cock. It's all I can do not to come right now, to fill you up, Anaria."

"Wait," I murmured. "Wait until I say you can come."

I pushed up, almost to the tip, then slid back down, savoring how perfectly he fit inside, the glorious way his chest heaved, and the sweat that slicked his wrists as I held him in place.

Zor's face was open and raw, one hand stroking his hard length as he watched us move, his fist moving in time with my hips, mouth parted as he panted.

"Fuck. You look like a goddess." Zor's voice was ragged, "A fucking goddess."

My aching breasts tightened, my nipples painfully hard, my hips churning as Raz gripped them.

"I want to see you, Anaria. Straighten your back," Zor commanded. I pushed up and Raz hit me deeper at this angle, stretching me in ways he hadn't before. "That's it. Does his cock feel good inside you?" Zor's dark eyes skated down my body, pausing on my breasts, so I reached up, palming one, twisting my nipple between my thumb and forefinger.

Zor's groan was agonizing, guttural, needy. His hand stroked faster, a pearly bead of precum gathering at his tip. I licked my lips and he threw his head back. "Fuck. Fuck, you are killing me."

I just grinned and dragged a hand slowly back down my body. "Wait your turn, General. I want you unleashed, so…" I was drunk on control, and my smile turned evil. "You will wait your turn like a good boy."

I didn't know why I said it, grinding on Raziel like a wanton, but then Raz's fingers dented my hips, and he bucked up, hard. My gasp tore out of my mouth, along with a fast, hard shock of pleasure as Raziel and Zorander watched me with hooded eyes that burned so hot they branded me.

I rode Raziel until beads of moisture trickled down to the small of my back, until my thighs shook from the effort of churning over him, circling my hips because that's what he liked best going by his breathless grunts, and because he felt so fucking good inside me.

Raz trembled with the effort to hold himself back, as if my words were the only thing preventing him from exploding and filling me with hot spurts of seed.

Or rolling me over onto my belly and pinning me down like I had him pinned, then turning himself loose.

My skin tightened at the thought, my orgasm surging through me with such force the crash left oblivion in its wake. My pussy clenched around his cock, tightening and fluttering as if this wave would never end. As if I could continue this mind-blowing pleasure by sheer will alone. Raziel worked one hand free, rubbing his thumb over my clit, and I cried out his name, "Raz, Raz, Raz," while everything disappeared into the roaring climax.

Then I was curled on his chest, hands like limp birds folded beneath him, wetness slicking where we were joined.

Zorander raised his head, the pulse pounding at the base of his throat. "Fuck."

I breathed out a sigh at that word.

At the sheer amount of breathless want it contained.

Without a word, Raziel moved me off him and laid me belly down on the bed, arranging me—I couldn't have moved if I'd wanted—legs spread, arms over my head. Then he lifted my hips so my knees fell into place.

His seed dripped out of me, coating the insides of my thighs.

A mess. I was a fucking mess, and I really should…

"Fucking beautiful. So fucking beautiful." Zorander's deliciously rough hands smoothed over the curve of my arse, up over my back, fingers tracing the mark along my side before one hand cupped the back of my neck, fingers digging in.

A firm, gentle warning not to move.

I closed my eyes and sighed, his fingers spreading my folds apart, pushing inside one, then two…then three.

"I can't be gentle." Zor's thick, guttural voice broke on that last word. "I can't be. I'm sorry."

I just smiled when he lined himself up and took me.

Eight inches deep in one hard, hungry thrust, his groan one of pain not pleasure, of animal need that had me curling my hands into fists as he pounded into me. Like he couldn't stop if he wanted to, and I never wanted this to end. For the delicious slide of his powerful body inside mine to continue forever.

Raziel laid beside me, running his hand through my hair and taking my mouth in a kiss that stole my last rational thought.

He plundered my mouth with the same purpose Zorander plundered my pussy; two powerful, possessive males determined to own every last piece of me.

And I wanted to give them everything.

Every last part down to my very soul, and I knew they'd do the same for me.

Raziel's kiss grew softer as if he'd heard my thoughts, his thumb brushing my cheek, and I opened my eyes, looking at him through a haze of tears and pleasure, his features outlined by the dying fire as if they were rimmed in gold.

Zorander cursed, fucking me harder and gripping my hips with vicious desperation. The very same frantic wildness I experienced every time I looked at them wondering if this was the last time we'd be like this. Together.

Loving each other.

No, deeper than love. We were forged to each other now, like metal melted into a single bladed weapon, fused together so tightly we'd never be undone by anything except the fire hot enough to melt us back down.

"Anaria," Zorander hissed, one hand plunging into the mattress beside me as he bowed over me. "Oh gods, oh gods, Anaria."

He went over the edge with my name on his lips and I went with him, falling and falling like two stones, plummeting down a well that had no bottom, only these endless ripples of pleasure and shuddering heat.

When it was over, when we lay together, tangled in a mess of sweaty limbs and bodies, when I didn't quite know where I ended and they began, I squeezed the tears from my eyes one final time.

Tears because they were mine and I didn't know how much longer this would last.

Or how I was going to protect them from the dangers ahead.

I would protect them until I couldn't fucking wield my magic, until I couldn't draw breath. But survival wasn't enough. I wanted a future. We deserved a future, godsdamn it, and we wouldn't have one as long as Gelvira and Corvus existed.

They had to die. We had to figure out how to kill them.

Cosimo could speak and decipher every language ever spoken in this world.

I turned Zorander's short conversation over in my head for far too long, and the longer I did, the more I swore there was a phantom hand between my shoulders, guiding us away from Solarys and pushing us north.

The second they started snoring, I slipped out of bed, creeping to the top of the staircase, then down to the library where Bella was already perched at the table, books piled in front of her.

"This could take all night," she pointed out, lighting another torch while I pulled the small, black book over and flipped to the proper pages, dipping the quill.

"I know, but whatever time we have, we have to make the most of."