by Eva Chase
“Paintball arena?” I twisted in my seat to give Jude a quizzical look.
He gave me a sly smile. “You’ll see. Let’s go. I’ve got everything taken care of.”
A sign hung on the inside of the door that read, Closed for private function. “That would be us,” Jude announced, and opened the door with a brief casting and a twist of his fingers. He strolled right in, flicking on the lights, as if he owned the place. Which maybe he did for the next few hours, however much cash he’d needed to cough up for that privilege.
Three shoulder bags were waiting for us in the front hall. Jude lifted one and unzipped it to show the heap of paintballs inside. His were all red, a brighter shade than his hair.
“I asked for fifty each, but the owner said we probably won’t get through that many.” He set down the bag to reach for one of the padded black vests leaning against the wall next to them. “Since it’s just the three of us, I figured a game of one-and-out wouldn’t be much fun. We can each take five direct hits. The vests have a spell that’ll scan the rest of your body. When you’ve reached five, the vest will fall off. Last one to keep theirs on wins.”
“And this is going to help us stop the barons how?” Connar said in a doubtful voice, hefting the largest of the vests.
Jude rolled his eyes at the bigger guy without dropping his smile. “A boost in confidence. A chance to shake off all the dire aspects of our situation and refocus. Plus practice at honing our wits in combat and flexing our magical skills.” He tossed one of the balls in the air and caught it. “For our kind of game, we won’t use the paintball guns. We aim them with magic.”
I wasn’t sure this activity would lead to any useful inspirations, but I could see Jude’s point about refocusing. It’d be a relief to play a game that really was a game, just for fun, with people I trusted, instead of the potentially fatal one I found myself engaged in every time I was around my mother or the other barons. And who knew—maybe it would shake something loose in my head that’d set me on a better course.
“I’m in,” I said, sliding my own vest over my shoulders. A tingle of magic rippled over my skin as I zipped it up. It formed a solid but not uncomfortable weight on my chest. I slung one of the bags, this one full of blue paint balls, across my back. Connar grabbed a yellow set, obviously willing to at least give it a try.
We pushed through double doors at the other end of the hall into a space so vast I had to catch my breath as I took it in. The ceiling must have loomed at least twenty feet over our heads. In every direction, walls and boulders made of foam, plastic, and metal jutted from the slightly spongy floor. Several sets of stairs led up to platforms above us, the largest filling about a third of the space with hiding places of its own, the smaller ones no more than ten feet across, with ropes connecting them to each other or allowing an alternate escape route to the ground. A distant whirring carried from the filtration system’s grates high above.
“This place used to be a blacksuit training facility,” Jude explained, ambling farther into the arena. “From what I understand, pretty much everything in it has some kind of magical trick you can make use of. The current owners host regular paintball sessions during the day for people who can never make use of those extras, but they’re always open to private bookings from fearmancers.”
Connar let out a low whistle. “Pretty sweet.” He sounded only impressed now.
Jude grabbed a couple of paintballs out of his bag, keeping one in his hand and tucking the other into the crook of his elbow. “Let’s say five minutes to explore the place and come up with a strategy, then the paintballs fly?”
“Sounds good to me.” I bounced on my feet, warming up my muscles with a growing sense of anticipation. Hell, yes, I was ready to remind myself what I could do when I was the one calling the shots, not trying to cater to someone else’s expectations. Connar nodded.
Jude gave us a little wave, already turning to jog across the room. “Excellent. May the best mage win.”
Connar chuckled and paused to give me a quick kiss on the cheek before he loped off to the left. Figuring it was better to stake out separate territory, I veered to the right. What kinds of secrets did this once-blacksuit-owned facility hold?
The landscape offered a huge variety of options, from simple walls with a few holes you could use as handholds or sniper spots to nooks with shelter on all sides and those higher platforms. I traced my fingers over the metal surface of a narrow pyramid just wide enough to block me from view and found a faint etching in the metal.
The shape of the groove sent a prickle of recognition through me. I murmured a casting word, nudging a little jolt of energy along its path.
With only a whisper of sound, the spire tipped over to provide a ramp up to a platform that had no stairs or rope at all. Not a bad spot to be staked out if no one else figured out the trick to getting up there.
I scrambled up it, finding shallow grooves in the surface to help my balance. From the platform above, I could see over most of the structures on the ground level. Connar was weaving between some boulder-shaped ones by the far wall. I caught a glimpse of Jude’s copper head before he ducked out of sight to my right in the middle of a mess of twisting walls that formed a sort of maze.
This was a good vantage point, but I wasn’t sure I had the aim and speed to hit either of the guys at that distance before they could dodge. I scanned the room once more and then slid down the spire.
As I righted it to remove that path until I decided I needed it again, a tone pealed through the room. That must be our signal that it was time for the battle to begin.
I grabbed a couple paintballs from my bag like Jude had and secured the rest against my back. Then I slunk through the jungle of artificial landmarks in the direction I’d last seen him. Connar was the Physicality expert—I’d rather get a little practice in before I went up against him.
My feet only made a faint rasp on the spongy floor. No other sound reached my ears now that the tone had faded out. I rolled the paintball in my hand, adjusting my grip—and a blur whipped toward me from my left.
I flinched and jerked backward, a squeak slipping form my throat, but I wasn’t fast enough. A scarlet blob of paint exploded against my shoulder. I spun around just as Jude darted out of sight behind a nearby wall with a triumphant chuckle.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I called after him, but I had to smile. The impact hadn’t hurt, and the smell of the paint was pleasantly tangy, reminding me of the plastic sculpting clay I’d shaped my little figurines out of, back before I’d known I could simply conjure sculptures out of magic. Invigorated, I crept after Jude.
I studied the structures I passed, watching for more magical symbols. There was one under a shallow overhang. I crouched to reach it and sent a whisper of magic over the carving.
The air around me blurred. Some kind of shield—or an illusion to hide me from view? Either way, it couldn’t hurt to linger here for a minute or two and see…
It didn’t take long before Jude slipped into sight, his head swiveling as he watched for me. He spun his next paintball between his fingers. His gaze slid right over my hiding spot. My mouth stretched with a grin. I drew back my arm and murmured a casting word to guide my aim.
The blur in the air shattered as I flung the paintball through it. Jude’s eyes snapped back to me, but my ball was already smacking into his chest with a blue splatter.
He sputtered a laugh and lunged toward me. I threw myself around the structure just in time to hear paint splash against the wall I’d been standing by. Jude’s footsteps thumped after me.
I dashed onward, ducking left and right in the hopes of losing him. The curve of a magical carving rippled across the floor up ahead. I pushed myself forward with a little more speed and sent a rush of magic through the etching just as I reached it.
An unexpected force flung me upward. I found myself soaring through the air, over the tops of several structures, and landing with a thump partway across the room. Th
e breath jolted out of me—and Connar poked his head out from around a wall.
I fumbled for my next paintball. He flicked his toward me with a sparkle in his light blue eyes. A smack of yellow caught me across one side of my vest, but I managed to clip him in the shoulder just as he pulled back into shelter.
Okay, I’d taken two hits, which left three more before I was out. The guys had at least one each. Maybe I could get them to face off against each other for a little while to give me a break and even the playing field.
I scrambled in the opposite direction from Connar. Jude had probably headed this way, following my magical leap across the room. What could I find around here to make use of and maybe nudge the two of them closer together to set off a skirmish?
I ducked around a set of stairs and came up on one of the boulder-like structures with a series of lumps along its base. Interesting. Circling it, I discovered another carving on its far side.
Should I activate it now or later? As I crouched there, debating, Jude’s lean form darted between two walls in the distance. He’d already caught up—and he was heading toward me.
All right, now it was. I whispered magic along the lines of the carving, and the boulder vibrated. With a sudden rattling, the lumps on the other side peeled off and rolled across the room like the start of a landslide.
They careened straight into Jude’s path. I only got a brief look at him before he yelped and swerved to avoid them. Then there was a smack of paint and a shout of protest, followed by the thump of running feet.
Mission accomplished.
I hurried after them to see if I could get a shot or two in myself, only to run into Connar, dripping red paint from his stomach, having doubled back around. He hurled one of his paintballs at me and threw himself behind a structure at the same moment. The ball burst against my side. Shit. Only two more left now.
I raced up a flight of stairs and hunched low to try to stay out of sight as I watched for the guys from the raised platform. In quick succession, I managed to fire off one and then another paintball at Connar and Jude. My cover now blown, I skidded along a rope to flee, but Jude managed to catch my back with one of his projectiles. Paint dripped down my vest to patter onto the floor.
Down to my last chance. I’d managed to get myself out of immediate danger, though. Scuffling sounds and a little shout carried from farther away as the guys must have clashed again.
I crept through the room, more cautious now that I was nearly out of the game. The sounds had faded away. Wherever the guys had ended up, they were staying stealthy too. I wet my lips, peered around a wall, and dashed from there to the shelter of a partly carved out boulder. A symbol etched on a slightly raised circular slab of floor just a few feet away caught my eye.
That might be helpful—or it might fling me right into danger. I considered for a minute, my ears perked. Hell, what was the point of playing if I didn’t give every special feature I came across a try? I scanned the walls around the area one more time and then sprinted for the slab.
Apparently I hadn’t been the only one debating coming this way. Jude leapt toward that spot at the same moment, vaulted by some magic from farther away. We were both moving too quickly to backpedal.
I smacked forward my hand that was clutching a paintball, and he pressed his toward me just as quickly. We collided with each other in the middle of the circle, paint popping between us and mashing into a purple mess. My feet skidded, and we ended up falling on our asses.
Both our vests popped off. Jude laughed and reached for me, drawing a line of cool paint down my cheek. “Mutual destruction,” he said with amusement, and kissed me.
Adrenaline was still thrumming through my veins alongside my magic. Desire hit me harder than any of the paintballs had. I kissed him back, smearing paint across his neck, hungry for more. Jude pulled me closer to him and tipped us onto our sides on the foam-like surface.
A mildly disgruntled sound brought me out of our next kiss. When we raised our heads, Connar had come over to the edge of the slab, his eyebrows slightly raised. Four splotches of paint decorated his vest and the shirt beneath.
“Looks like you won,” Jude said, beaming at him. “Somehow I don’t feel as if I’ve lost, though.” He trailed another line of paint from my jaw down to the collar of my blouse just above my breasts. My pulse skipped a beat.
“Maybe not,” Connar said with a smile. He shed his own vest, his muscles flexing beneath his shirt, and an even larger wave of desire swept through me.
It was still difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I could want and care about all four of my fellow scions this much. As the only Bloodstone heir, I couldn’t have anything permanent with any of them except Jude, who’d been set up falsely as a scion thanks to his father’s machinations. The others would have to give up their barony to be with me. But we all wanted to enjoy the affection and passion we felt for each other for as long as we could.
Jude drew me into another kiss, and Connar knelt by my back. His solid hands eased up my blouse to run over my bare skin. Then he bent closer to kiss me there, softly charting a path up my spine.
Pleasure shivered through me. I fumbled with the silky fabric, and with the guys’ help I managed to pull the blouse right off while barely needing to pull away. As I kissed Jude again, I got to work on the buttons of his shirt, paint slicking over my fingers. I streaked it across his slender but toned chest the way he’d painted on me.
Connar tugged me toward him, and I rolled over so I could kiss him on the mouth. With a rustle, Jude pulled off his shirt. He nibbled his way along my shoulder blade as he detached my bra. His nimble fingers stroked over my naked breasts, and my breath hitched against Connar’s lips.
The Stormhurst scion kissed me harder but still tenderly. His fingers slid across my belly as Jude continued to spark bliss across my chest. I didn’t care what anyone outside our pentacle would have thought of our shared intimacy—not my mother, not the other barons, not our classmates. Every tingle of sensation that ran through me told me being with them like this was good. Right.
Jude’s hands dipped down to my pants, flicking open the button at the top. As they roamed farther, Connar lowered his head to my breasts, sucking one nipple into his mouth with a swirl of his tongue. I moaned, arching into both of them.
Reaching behind me, I felt for the fly of Jude’s slacks. His cock twitched through the fabric, already so firmly erect the feel of it set off a giddy jolt between my legs. I stroked it as I tugged his zipper down. He groaned and teased his fingertips over my clit. Connar slicked his tongue over my other breast, and for a second the sensations overwhelmed me.
It wasn’t enough to satisfy the ache of need building inside me, though. When Connar drew back, I squirmed out of my pants and rolled back toward Jude, nudging him onto his back. His eyes gleamed eagerly as I straddled him. With a jerk of his boxers, I freed his cock to press against my sex.
Connar sat back on his heels as if he thought his part in this interlude was over. He traced his fingers over the etching that had tempted me onto the circle in the first place and murmured a tentative casting. With a faint hum that vibrated through the surface beneath us, the slab began to rise up into the air.
My breath caught. I slipped my fingers between my legs with a whisper of the protective casting and sank down onto Jude as we all soared up together. He plunged into me with a rough sound in his throat. His hand came to rest on my thigh as I started to ride him, each flex of my hips up and down provoking shudders of pleasure from my core through the rest of my body. The other cupped my breast, his thumb flicking my nipple to even stiffer attention.
I swallowed a moan and looked toward Connar. I wasn’t done with him yet either. While I braced myself against Jude’s chest, I motioned the Stormhurst scion closer and reached for his pants.
“Rory,” Connar murmured, sucking in a breath when I peeled down the fabric. He brushed his fingertips over my hair as I palmed his rigid erection. Jude steadied me over
him, and I found the right angle to bring my mouth to Connar’s length while continuing to meet my other lover’s thrusts. The salty, smoky flavor combined with the pleasure flaring from my sex made me dizzy with bliss.
Connar pumped into my mouth with a groan, his fingers tangling gently in my hair. “So fucking beautiful,” Jude muttered, rolling the tip of my breast to produce a deeper pulse of sensation. He arched into me as I rode him, my tongue swiveled around Connar’s cock, and it was hard to think of anything except the passion we generated between us, racing toward its peak.
My body started to shudder first. My lips closed tighter around Connar, and his fingers tightened against my scalp. Jude thrust up into me so hard it left my mind spinning.
As I tumbled into the flood of ecstasy, Connar’s hips jerked. His release filled my mouth as he let out a choked breath. Jude bucked into me over and over, propelling me higher, faster, and then he came too, clutching my thigh like a lifeline.
I sprawled on the platform between the two of them, too blissed out to do anything but snuggle into their warmth. As the hazy afterglow eased back, I realized the spell had carried us up above even the other platforms, the ceiling lights twinkling starkly down on us.
Jude’s and my shoulder bags were still lying on the circle near the edge. Connar pulled a leftover paintball from one of them and held it up. “Why let the materials go to waste?” he said with a shy smile at me, and spoke a few casting words under his breath.
Between his fingers, the ball shifted, the thin surface merging with the paint. Then the paint molded together into a solid blue substance that formed a small blue dragon with its wings spread. A lump filled my throat as I watched.
“Pass me a red one?” I said.
Connar handed me another ball. I turned it in my hand, the lump changing into a pang of homesickness. I used to make my figurines every week back home in California. I’d done a little conjuring since I’d come to Blood U, but there’d been so much chaos and conflict in my life that I hadn’t been able to get absorbed in my art the way I used to. I hadn’t even realized how much I missed it until this moment.
