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“What now?” I asked Namir.

“Now, everyone goes back to whatever they were doing before Jesh stormed in.” His hips were still swaying with mine, and I wasn’t sure which of us was responsible for the movement.

“And us?”

“We dance until you’re sober enough to go back to our rooms and fuck me.” He nipped at my shoulder, making me laugh again.

“I’m not a great dancer.”

“I’m good enough for both of us,” he teased, earning another laugh from me.

We continued swaying as the musicians made their way back to their stage. My eyes kept drifting to Jesh and Lavee, but their magic made their forms too hazy to really see what was going on.

The music began again, and Jesh finally hauled Lavee out of the bar, holding her with her legs around his hips.

“Shall we dance for real, Love?” my king drawled, spinning me so my arms wrapped around his shoulders. Another laugh escaped me, and I tilted my head back a bit as he pulled me closer, one of his hands capturing mine and the other sliding up my back as he got into position.

“We shall,” I drawled back, earning a grin.

Namir whisked me around the dance floor like it was the most important thing in the world—and for the next few hours, it felt like it was.

Chapter29

When we finally made itback to our room, we crashed together so hard and fast that we didn’t even take our clothes off.

I supposed I might owe Lavee some gold for that, but considering all that had happened that night, I was pretty sure she’d waive the bet.

I dreamed about being chained up in the prison I’d spent so much of my life in that night, and when I woke up panicking and shaking, Namir held me and murmured sweet words to me until I was calm enough to fall back into a dreamless sleep.

I’d never dreamed before I met Namir—the kings of sleep seemed to have given me a pass when it came to dreaming before then. But now that I had a mate, and a home, and more people who loved me, I supposed they had decided that I was ready to have dreams and nightmares as well.

The next morning, we woke up with another set of markings on our throats. My head ached a little, but Namir assured me that the hangover would fade quickly thanks to the throne’s magic.

We spentthe next few days training and preparing the warriors to defend the city without Namir’s assistance, still spending our evenings practicing my reading and writing, of course.

Jesh and Lavee remained absent, but no one had dared try to interrupt them. They were Namir’s closest friends in the court, but they weren’t the top guards, so that wasn’t a huge problem.

When a week had gone by, we decided it was time to leave. There was nothing to be gained by waiting any longer, and Namir was anxious to talk to Espen and hopefully begin working their way toward peace.

Rather than making a spectacle of leaving, we slipped out of the castle before anyone else woke up, heading out with our fingers intertwined and our shoulders brushing as we walked.

A few hours down the road, two figures caught up to us. I glanced over, and did a double-take when I saw the massive man with his huge-ass braid, and his grinning redheaded mate at his side. They wore the single marks on their throats proudly, their hands intertwined like mine and Namir’s.

“I wondered how long it would take you to catch up,” Namir tossed out, flashing them a grin.

“Oh, fuck off,” Lav shot back, making me grin.

Even Jesh grinned at her words.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” I said, glancing up at Namir.

He winked at me. “Didn’t want to get your hopes up in case Jesh really survived that year of sex he had planned.”

“He couldn’t,” Lave agreed. “Doesn’t have the stamina for—” She cut herself off as she erupted with laughter, her gigantic male tickling her sides in revenge.

“My stamina had nothing to do with it,” Jesh growled, though his lips were still curved upward in a half-grin. “Lav’s nauseous already. Puked three times last night.”

My eyebrows shot upward. “Already pregnant?”