His lips curled as he scanned my face. “Your turn.”
He lifted me up the wall and draped my legs over his shoulders before burying his face between my thighs. His mouth found my slick wetness, and then his tongue was inside me, and words lost their meaning. Water danced over my skin, the thrum, the rhythm heightening every sensation, bringing every inch of my skin to life, as once again, he fucked me with his mouth until I was pushing at his shoulders and begging for his cock inside me. I didn’t want to come like this, not … Oh, God. Oh, fucking God. Heat rose from my toes up to my head, and then I was bucking against him, a guttural cry tearing from my throat as a tsunami of sensation tore through my body.
My thighs were trembling when he raised his head, his mouth slick with my juices, his gold eyes blazing in triumph.
“My turn.”
What?
He lowered me to the ground and spun me to face the wall. “Brace yourself and stick out your sweet ass.”
I did what he asked, my thighs still quaking from the orgasm. “Gideon, I don’t think—"
But he was hooking me around the waist to angle my hips up, and then he was thrusting into me. My cry was involuntary shock because fuck he was big, stretching me almost uncomfortably, and at this angle there was no give, nothing to do but brace as he thrust deep and hard, faster and faster until a new orgasm was building, until my body wasn’t my own, until it was melded to him, rising and falling with his. His hands squeezed my hips so hard they’d bruise, but the pain was a sweet ache, driving me crazy, making me push back into him, and tearing growls from him. I was coming again, tightening around him in waves as sobs clogged my throat. He made a strangled sound and rammed hard into me, holding himself there as he rolled his hips against mine. My hands slipped from the wall, and my knees buckled. He slid out of me but held me up. His hand shoved back into my hair, fingers tightening in the wet tresses. He turned me to face him, and I blinked through the water spray, to look him in the eyes …. His twilight eyes.
Emory?
And then his mouth was on mine, soft and gentle and teasing. I wrapped my arms around him as he slipped his hand between us, down my abdomen to my sex. His fingers slid between my folds, but it wasn’t sexual, he was washing me. He broke the kiss and lifted me up into his arms.
The water shut off, and he carried me out of the washroom.
We lay on the bed, still damp and tangled in the sheets. Long minutes passed, and neither of us spoke. My pulse was slowing down, my faculties returning. And then Emory sat up. He reached out as if to touch my cheek and then paused. Instead, he turned, twisting at the waist, to pluck something off the bedside table.
His gloves.
I touched his shoulder lightly. “You weren’t wearing your gloves in the shower?”
Emory looked down at his hands wryly. “Gideon can control the power.” He tugged the gloves back on. “I can’t always keep a shield up, and right now, after all the exertion … well, I don’t want to invade your thoughts.”
I ducked my head. “How long was it you … in the shower …”
“Gideon was kind enough to let me feel it all.” His tone was tight. “And then he pushed me into the light just before he … we … I’m sorry, I should have stopped, but …”
He looked so torn and out of his depth. This wasn’t the mentor I knew, the neph who was always in control. This was a different side of Emory. One he’d kept hidden for too long.
I sat up slightly, shifting nearer to him. “Emory, I wanted you and … I wanted Gideon.” The admission made my throat tighten. “I want you both, and I don’t think Gideon would hurt me.”
He looked thoughtful. “Maybe you’re right. He could have hurt you in there, and he didn’t … did he?”
I shook my head. “No. He didn’t.”
“But he’s hurt others, maybe more to punish me than anything else. I’ve never tried to understand him. I’ve always sought to control him. Always been taught to fear him, but without him, I’d be dead.”
I propped myself up on my elbow and looked down on him. “Can I touch you? Can I touch you without invading your mind?”
He nodded.
I placed my hand on his chest. “Gideon is dangerous and volatile, and there is probably a part of him that hates you for what you’ve done to him, but it’s not too late to make amends. Maybe we can forge a new path together. The three of us?”
He scanned my face. “You want us both?”
“He’s a part of you, and you’re a part of me. I guess it’s a package deal. I don’t know Gideon yet, but there’s an attraction between us I can’t deny. And you … I know you, and I want you as more than a friend. When I thought something might happen to you, my heart almost stopped. I think … I think we have something.”
He brushed my cheek with a gloved finger. “I don’t deserve you. I’ve done some awful things.”
“You did what you had to in order to survive.” My lips found his in a soft kiss. “I want you, Emory. I want you, and if you want me too, then there’s no reason we can’t do this.”
“What about Micha and Lyrian?”
“They know how I feel. Micha knew before I did.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “He made it clear I had his and Lyrian’s blessing to court you.”
“Court me? I wouldn’t call what we just did courting.” There was a twinkle in his eyes now.
“Maybe that can be our code word.” My lips hovered over his. “Emory … will you court me?”
Emory reached up to trace my lips with his gloved fingers.
I gripped his wrist. “Take off the gloves, Emory. Take them off and touch me.”
His throat bobbed. “I can’t. What if I lose control of the shield?”
“Then you’ll be safe in my mind.” I pulled off his glove before turning my head and pressing my lips to his palm. I flicked out my tongue and licked it.
His jaw tensed, and a soft moan fell from his parted lips. I took his index finger in my mouth and sucked gently on it, swirling my tongue around it.
“Fuck.” He pushed me onto my back and covered me with his body. “My turn.”
Chapter 18
Micha
“What do you mean communication is down?” Trust shit to go wrong when Emory isn’t here. “What did Bane have to say about it?”
Lyrian has that look on his face, the one he gets when he smells bullshit. “He doesn’t seem too bothered. Said they should have it up and running in a few days.”
I study him from my cozy position on the couch. I want to ask him about Echo and his bond. I need to know if my suspicions are correct and if what Echo is feeling is reciprocated. If so, then I need to know why he’s acting like an idiot and giving her the frost shoulder. But now isn’t the time. His mind is on other things, and I need to help him work through those.
“Lyrian? What’s going on? You’ve been off ever since Echo left. I thought maybe you were missing her, but it’s not that, is it?”
Lyrian begins to pace, his signature I-have-bullshit-to-tell-you-about move.
“Spill it.”
“I think there’s something wrong here at the Hive. The night before Echo left, we were hiding in the pantry of the kitchen and—”
“You were hiding in the pantry?”
He gives me this flat look, like what the fuck, Micha, that’s not even important, but it is important, because what the fuck were they both doing in the pantry?
Damn, this sharing thing is going to take some getting used to, and despite what I said to Echo, I’m still getting my head around it all.
“I was getting food,” Lyrian says. “But listen, we overheard Bane and Ryker talking. Something about having to act and looking for breaches and stuff, and that, coupled with the rumors about missing humans, has me thinking …”
Where is he going with this?
“I think they’re being taken. I think … I think the Sanguinata have something to do with it. Maybe they got sick of bagged blood, who knows. They
’re predators. Can you imagine a bunch of Draconi living with humans?”
He has a point, but, “It almost happened, remember?”
“Yeah, but it didn’t, and this was one of the top reasons. Too tempting, but the Sanguinata … they just need blood. So, they come up with the bagged blood and boom, it’s a deal. Let’s all live together in the Hive, but what if they’re fed up of that, what if some rogue sucker is taking humans?”
“Then the council will deal with it.”
Lyrian shakes his head. He’s not convinced. “Then why haven’t they, eh? Two more missing humans last I heard. They told Chamber H there was sickness and if people didn’t come home, it was because they’d been quarantined.” He locked gazes with me. “Why lie to the people? Why not take action and shut the Sanguinata in the neph chamber?”
Fuck, he has a point, and he’s been dealing with this by himself for the past week?
“I think we should bring the kids here,” he says. “We should just keep them here until Echo gets back.”
“The deal was the weekend; they have school.”
“Fuck school,” Lyrian snaps. “I have a bad feeling, Micha.”
That’s enough for me because Lyrian’s bad feelings are legendary. They’ve saved our lives more than once on the battlefield.
I pull myself up out of my seat. “Fine, let’s go fetch the kids. But you’re going to have to sweet-talk Verona. Just flash her a smile, and give her a twinkle of your frosty blues.”
But Lyrian is already out the door.
Chapter 19
Rydian, Emory, Deacon, and I were alone in the dining room, but there was enough food laid out for ten more people. Emory had finished two plates already. The attack and the copious amounts of sex had him ravenous. Me, not so much; my stomach ached for Rydian, for the sadness in his eyes and the smile that didn’t fully bloom on his lips.
He’d lost his father, then his mother, and now … Now, he was forced to take action against his brother, the only family he had left.
“What did you decide about Julian?” Deacon asked.
Straight to the point that one, but the question made me uncomfortable, and I tapped on the staff I’d placed on the table in front of my plate.
Rydian didn’t even flinch. He’d probably expected the question. “There are only two options: execution or banishment. I have chosen to banish him. He arranged to have me killed. Paid guards to aggravate an eel to attack me. He knew where I’d be, and that I’d be alone with only Echo to aid me. He knew she would be unable to use her arcana. He didn’t bank on her self-sacrifice.” Our gazes tangled, and my cheeks warmed. “He attacked Emory believing that I was dead and that there would be no repercussion. He was wrong.”
I had no love for Julian, none, but … “Isn’t there some way around this? Maybe a jail sentence and then a pardon? Maybe he’ll realize he fucked up.”
Rydian’s smile was wry. “You have a kind heart, Echo, but I don’t forgive that easily. If he wanted me dead, he wants my crown, and that kind of lust for power doesn’t die overnight. I love my brother, but I have a duty to this kingdom. It cannot be ruled by a deceitful, backstabbing king. Julian cannot be forgiven.”
But he wasn’t happy about it, far from it. The whole situation was hurting him, and there was nothing I could do to help my friend.
“It may be best if you cut your stay short and leave tomorrow,” Rydian said. “The atmosphere will take a distinct dive after the banishment.”
“You’d let your queen leave, just like that?” Emory’s eyes were narrowed with disbelief.
I’d filled him in on the ring situation, and although he’d been less than pleased, he couldn’t argue that a live Echo who was queen to the sea realm was better than a dead Echo.
“Echo must continue her duties,” Rydian said. “Maybe once more guardians join the team, she’d like to come stay … for a while?” His gaze was on me, warm and tentative.
As much as going home appealed, as much as I wanted to get back to work on the scuttler project and see my siblings, Micha, and Lyrian again, I couldn’t leave Rydian in pain like this.
“I’d prefer to stay if that’s all right with you?”
Deacon shot me an arch look, which I ignored.
Then the doors to the dining room flew open, and a guard came running in. His dark green hair whipped out behind him, and then he fell to his knees, head bowed.
“Your Majesty, a scout just arrived on the atrium. He’s hurt, injuries like we’ve never seen.”
Rydian rose to his feet. “Excuse me,” he said to us.
But I was on my feet too. “I’m coming with you.”
He didn’t argue, and we followed the guard back out of the dining room and through the high-ceilinged corridors of the palace, down a ramp and into the atrium, a rectangular space made entirely of glass. A man lay on the ground unconscious, his torso bloody, and another guard was busy wrapping the unconscious dweller’s arm in some kind of seaweed wrap.
“Show the king,” the guard who’d alerted us ordered.
The guard on the ground made a strangled sound and then gently unwrapped the arm, except there was no arm. It was just a neatly cut stump. A clean cut.
“What kind of animal could take an arm so cleanly?” the guard on the floor asked before wrapping the guard once more.
Deacon fell into a crouch and sniffed the air above the stump. “Electrical heat residue.”
Ice trickled through my veins. “This isn’t an animal attack.” I looked from Deacon to Emory and saw the same conclusion on their faces. “This is Genesis.”
“No, it can’t be possible,” Rydian said. “Genesis couldn’t attack underwater. If he could, he’d have attacked a long time ago.”
“You’re right. But things have changed.” I filled him in on the Run attack and the harvest attack. I filled him in on the attack on Haven and how Genesis had used potential souls to get through the dead zone. “Things have changed. You need to lock this place down.”
“The council kept this from us.” Rydian’s face was tight with anger. “They failed to inform us of these attacks.”
I gripped his arm. “And you can yell at them once we save your people. We need to lock this place down.”
But even as I said the words, my gut told me it was a futile gesture, and Rydian’s next words confirmed it.
“There is no point,” the king said. “If Genesis is here, there is nothing stopping him smashing through the domes to get to his prey.”
My mind was ticking away, trying to find another solution. “Then we make it harder for him. Emory, is there any way to convert arcletic power back to arcana?”
He frowned. “Not without the heart to do the conversion.”
“What about the arcana in me? Can we tap into that and amplify it somehow?”
His smile was small and sad. “Not without the risk of killing you.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to—”
“No,” Rydian said. His tone brooked no argument.
Shit. “Fine, evacuate as many dwellers as you can. Take them into the tunnel and lock it down. Is there somewhere that the ones who can’t breathe above water can go to hide?”
“Yes,” Rydian said. “There are catacombs beneath the palace.”
“So, we have a plan.” I looked to Deacon and Emory. “Get the breathers and the king out of here.” I turned to the guard. “You sound the alarm and gather the dwellers that can’t survive on land and get them to the catacombs. Do it now.”
The guard looked to Rydian. Rydian grasped my wrist and held up my hand.
“Obey your queen, soldier. Do it now.”
The guard’s eyes widened in shock, and then he was off.
I turned to Rydian. “This ring binds us, right? It allows me to breathe underwater?”
“Yes,” Rydian said. “You have my power now. You share my abilities.”
“So, I just … breathe. Breathe in the water?” My heart fluttered.
“I’ll be with you. I’ll show you how.”
“No, I can do this. Genesis could be here any moment. It’s best if I cut them off. I need my staff.”
I made it as far as the door before Rydian intercepted me. “I won’t let you go out there alone.”
I set my jaw. “It’s not your decision. This is who I am, this is what I do.”
“You’re also my queen.”
“By accident, not design. But you’re a king by blood. Your people need you to live.” I glanced over his shoulder. “Deacon, Emory, get the king to safety.”
Emory opened his mouth to argue, but Deacon slapped a hand on his shoulder. “She’s got this, and if it gets to be too much, she’ll retreat. Won’t you, Echo?” He gave me a pointed look.
I nodded, tamping down on the fear unfurling in my stomach. “I’m not suicidal. Trust me.”
“We should all retreat now,” Emory said. “Genesis will find no one to attack and leave.”
God, that sounded so divine, but if I did that, I’d never be able to live with myself. “And what about all those that don’t get the message to evacuate on time? This is the way it’s got to be. Now go.”
I left them and ran back through the palace to the dining room where my staff still lay on the table, and then straight to the airlock. Oh, shit. This better work. I hit the button to allow the water in before I could change my mind. It hit me full force, and the terror kicked up a notch. What the heck was I doing? I wasn’t a fucking hero.
Breathe. You can breathe in the water. Just take a breath. But what if it was a lie? I held my breath, afraid to let go, and it was like drowning all over again. The fear and the panic were followed by the burn in my lungs, which was chased by the crash and roar of blood in my ears, followed by that moment where the edges of my vision turned black, and finally the death gasp. Except it wasn’t a death gasp because I could breathe. I was breathing in the water, and I wasn’t dead. Motherfucker.
I took a moment to accept this, this new, borrowed power, then swam out into the blue and turned west. Time to kick some Genesis arse.
Dead Sea Page 11
