Page 29 of A Kiss of Healing & Honor (Darkstone Academy #4)

To my surprise, Boreas closed his eyes and returned Gwydion’s kiss with fierce passion.

As they kissed, Gwydion’s hand traced the old aerie mark on Boreas’ arm. Glowing green tendrils of magic swirled around his fingers. I watched in awe as the scar tissue morphed from a jagged flame into the delicate petals of our new hyacinth, surrounded by the symbols for each of the magical elements.

“Dragon brother,” Gwydion murmured as they parted, his voice husky. He patted the broad slab of muscle covering Boreas’ pectoral. “Welcome to your new aerie.”

Boreas grunted, but I could see the pleased glint in his golden eyes. He thumped Gwydion’s lithely muscled back. “Glad to be here, Forest Brother.”

As Gwydion moved away from Boreas with one last, lingering kiss, Tama closed his webbed hands around my waist and lifted me up into his lap, my back to his chest.

Beneath me, I felt his stiff length emerge to nestle between my thighs, and his tentacles wind around my upper thighs.

My arousal throbbed hungrily between my legs as I watched Gwydion climb onto Ilhan’s lap and devour my sweet knight’s mouth with lips and tongue as his hand closed on Ilhan’s tautly muscled upper arm and glowed green.

Ilhan shot me a guilty look. I smiled at him encouragingly. Ilhan’s golden brows twitched in surprise and I felt his relief and pleasure roll through our bond.

Then he cupped the back of Gwydion’s head, his fingers sliding into the Fae’s pale green hair, and returned Gwydion’s kiss with fervor.

Their desire flowed through the bond I shared with them, heightening my arousal. I wasn’t the only one affected.

As I watched Ilhan and Gwydion kiss, the tip of Boreas’ thick manhood rose from the water that covered him only to the waist.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” he growled, gripping his length in his fist.

Tama’s webbed hands cupped my breasts, his thumbs stroking my nipples into stiff pebbles. His cool lips brushed my nape in teasing kisses.

Meanwhile, beneath the water, the tips of his tentacles caressed the sensitive pearl between my legs, tormenting me in the most delicious way. His cool breath brushed my ear as he lifted me and impaled me on his stiff length, filling me.

He thrust into me, hard and fast, hitting a place inside me that sent bright sparks of pleasure with every stroke.

I met Boreas’ burning golden stare as the giant Wind-Walker’s hand moved feverishly up and down his shaft.

Then Tama’s clawed fingers pinched my nipples while his tentacles did the same to my pearl. I gasped and writhed on his lap as a sharp climax tore through the pit of my belly.

When I opened my eyes, Gwydion was standing before me, his wet erection straining against his belly and his eyes dark with desire.

“And now it’s your turn, my sweet Jacinthe.” His smile was tender and wicked all at once. “Ready to receive your mark?”

I nodded.

He pressed his palm over the mark Boreas had burned into my arm last summer and bent to kiss me. When his lips met mine, his magic flowed into me, rewriting the story etched on my skin.

I closed my eyes as Boreas’ release roared through our bond, triggering a renewed pulse of arousal between my legs.

Gwydion swallowed my moan, his tongue stroking the inside of my mouth. Then he broke the kiss and straightened.

He clapped his left hand over his right biceps, preparing to make the last mark on himself.

But before he could invoke the spell, I leaned forward and covered his hand with my own. “I want to do this for you. Show me.”

His smile was radiant as he leaned down and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me off Tama’s lap.

Feeling utterly shameless in my desire, I reached down and eagerly guided him inside me, then wrapped my legs around Gwydion’s hips and my left arm around his neck.

I curved my right hand around the lean, hard muscle of his biceps.

Gwydion’s long-fingered hands clamped my hips and pulled me down one last fingerbreadth, so that the ring of fleshy nubs around the base of his manhood pressed against me.

I drew on the power of Wood. As Gwydion murmured the words of the spell in my ear, I repeated them, holding the image of our new aerie mark in my mind.

When I was done, and the fresh pink lines of scar tissue glowed against Gwydion’s snow-pale skin, I looped my other arm around his neck and grinned at him.

“There,” I said with satisfaction. “Everyone will know we all belong to each other now.”

I looked around at my men and felt their love and desire flowing through my bonds with them. “This is our wedding night,” I told them, my chest tight with the emotions filling me. “And I want to make love with all of you.”

“What do you say, my fellow Jacinthe-spouses?” Gwydion asked, moving against me in a way that made me gasp and clutch at him. “Shall we consummate our new relationship as one?”

“Thought you’d never ask, my mate!” Boreas called, grinning at me through the wisps of steam rising from the pool.

Tama nodded, his dark eyes intense. “I am your mate, Jacinthe. And these are my fellow mates. My clan-brothers.”

My heart pounded with anticipation.

But I noticed Ilhan’s hesitation. Through our soul bond, I sensed his whirlwind of conflicting emotions—desire, excitement, and a deep-seated uncertainty.

“Ilhan?” I asked softly. “We don’t have to if you’re not comfortable.”

My other three soul-bonded companions had been my lovers for months now. I’d even shared one memorable tryst with Tama and Boreas, letting the two of them pleasure me at the same time.

I’d thoroughly enjoyed having them make love to me as a team. Now, I wanted the team to include Gwydion and Ilhan, too.

The thought of consummating my marriage to all four of my soul-bonded at the same time made my heart pound and my breath come fast.

I wasn’t sure I could satisfy all of them, or exactly how it would play out, but I looked forward to experimenting.

“I… I want to.” Ilhan swallowed hard, a blush creeping up his neck. “It’s just… I’ve never…” He shrugged and spread his hands.

I sent a wave of love and acceptance through our bond. “Neither have I. We’ll figure it out as we go along.”

“Or I, Friend Ilhan,” Boreas confessed. “But I’m looking forward to trying it.”

“As am I,” Tama added. “My experience with such things is also… limited.”

Gwydion blew out his breath, then grinned at Ilhan. “At risk of ruining my reputation…this will be my first time, ah, sharing a partner. I’ve fantasized about it a lot, though,” he added. “Our sweet girl riding one of us while another takes her delicious ass, and a third uses her mouth.”

“What does our fourth aerie member get?” Boreas demanded.

“Her hands. While he waits his turn,” Gwydion said promptly. He winked at Ilhan. “Or my mouth.”

Ilhan’s blush deepened. “I, uh, wouldn’t object to that,” he managed.

I looked at him in surprise. My sweet knight isn’t as innocent as I thought.

“And then we switch places. And keep switching places until we’re limp and exhausted. In the meantime, we make sweet Jacinthe ascend the heavens so often that we’ll have to carry her out of the pool because she can’t walk.” He looked around at us. “How does that plan sound?”

Ilhan’s shoulders relaxed. “If that’s what Jacinthe wants, then I’ll help give it to her.” He was still blushing, but I felt how much Gwydion’s description had aroused him. “I trust all of you. I just want to make this good for her.”

“You will,” I said confidently. “Because I love all of you, and I know you’re excellent and caring lovers.”

As if on cue, Boreas, Ilhan, and Tama surged forward and surrounded Gwydion and me.

As Gwydion captured my mouth in a deep, slow kiss, I felt the hands of the others exploring me, caressing and teasing with reverent care.

Boreas’ large, hot palm cupped my breast, his thumb brushing over my nipple. I gasped at the sensation, arching into his touch.

“So responsive,” he growled approvingly. “I can’t wait for my turn with you.”

Tama’s cool, webbed fingers cupped my backside, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “You are exquisite,” he murmured, leaning in to place a tender kiss on my neck.

Gwydion’s icy fingers tightened on my hips, keeping us joined as he bent his knees and sank into the water.

“Let us worship you, sweet Jacinthe,” he purred. “Let us show you how much we adore you.”

He accompanied each word with a long, sliding thrust that ended with a wicked caress from the protrusions at the base of his cock. I was overwhelmed by sensation, each touch igniting sparks beneath my skin.

Ilhan hesitantly petted my hair. I could sense how much the sight of me impaled on Gwydion’s length aroused him, and how badly he wanted me to touch the stiff, flushed length that bobbed invitingly at eye level. I turned my head and smiled up at him.

“Come closer,” I invited. “I want to taste you.”

His blue eyes darkened as he stepped closer. Taking himself in hand, he pressed his broad tip against my mouth. I licked him, a slow, swirling caress, and savored his gasp. Then I opened my mouth and let him slide inside.

He and Gwydion took me from above and below, our bodies undulating in a sensual dance. Boreas’ mouth teased one of my breasts while Tama attended to the other.

The sensation was overwhelming, each touch, each caress, a symphony of pleasure. I moaned, tightening around Gwydion’s cock as Ilhan ravished my mouth.

Afterwards, I remembered only vivid bits and pieces of what followed.

Riding Ilhan’s shaft as Gwydion conjured thick, slippery lubricant and took me from behind…

Tama filling my mouth and Boreas’ thick length sliding through my hands…

Floating on my back with Tama’s face submerged between my thighs, pleasuring me while Ilhan and Gwydion tormented my breasts and I fisted their erect lengths and Boreas wrapped his hair around his hand and filled my mouth…

I quickly lost count of how many times I climaxed. My arousal never subsided, the feedback through our soul bonds feeding the flames of desire within all of us.

We spent the next few hours in a sensual paradise, exploring every inch of each other’s bodies. The bathing chamber echoing with our moans and laughter.

I went from one peak to the next, with only brief pauses while I caught my breath and my men changed positions.

We tried positions I’d only ever fantasized about, and some I never knew existed. The sensations were overwhelming, but in the best possible way, and through it all, my lovers were attentive and attuned to my every need. And I to theirs.

In between bouts of lovemaking, we’d break to catch our breaths, and we’d laugh and tease each other.

For this one magical afternoon and night, we ignored the world outside our warm cave. All that mattered were the five of us, bound by love, desire, trust… and magic.

As Gwydion predicted, Boreas had to lift me out of the bathing pool when we were all finally satiated and blissfully exhausted.

Gwydion gently dried me off with the towels piled in a niche next to the bathing pool while Ilhan combed out my hair with gentle care. Tama draped a robe around my shoulders and left the cave, returning with a supper tray that had been delivered to the sitting room.

Then Boreas carried me to the sleeping chamber with the Wind-Walker-sized bed and settled me comfortably while Tama perched next to me and fed me savory tidbits of roasted meat and sips of spiced wine.

The others fetched their trays of food from the sitting room and joined us in an impromptu picnic.

As I ate, surrounded by the men I love, I felt a sense of contentment I’d never known before. These men had become my part of my family over the past nine months. I could no longer imagine a life without them.

We all fell asleep together, our limbs entwined.

∞∞∞

Accompanied by King Menelaus and several dozen Wind-Walkers, Mama and I departed the royal aerie of Hierapolis two days later, heading north to the capital. Ilhan, Tama, and Gwydion rode with me on Boreas’ back, while Mama and Mage Armand rode Menelaus.

In his Wind-Walker form, clad in shining black plumage, my father was even bigger than Lady Aeolia. His wings were edged with brilliant scarlet feathers, matching his proud crest.

Now, after four long days of flying, our journey north was finally at an end.

As we soared over the sprawling city of Neapolis Capitola, I gazed down at the imperial capital city stretched out before us, straddling both banks of a broad river.

Dozens of graceful stone bridges arched over the water like the stitches of an elaborate tapestry. Temples and civic buildings of polished marble gleamed in the afternoon sun, their columned facades and ornate friezes a testament to the city’s wealth and power.

Marble mansions of the nobility lined the wide boulevards, their lush gardens spilling over high walls.

On the south bank of the river, the vast imperial palace complex gleamed like a jeweled crown, surrounded by a vast walled park.

“Just look at it,” Mama shouted from her seat from atop Menelaus. “I never thought I’d see this place again. And not like this!”

I saw the wistful expression on her face as she leaned forward and patted Menelaus’ neck with a fond gesture.

Behind her, Mage Armand also cast longing looks down at the imperial palace.

Returning to the place where they’d both been born and raised must be dredging up painful memories of their long years in exile.

Then the thunderous roar of cannon fire and the distant clamor of battle caught my attention.

In the distance, to the east of the city, I saw smoke rising.

“There’s a battle nearby!” Menelaus exclaimed. He sounded eager.

We banked and soared over the outskirts of Neapolis Capitola, then followed the river downstream.

There, on a vast plain less than a day’s horseback ride from the city, two armies clashed in a brutal, chaotic struggle.

As we passed overhead, I saw imperial forces, their sapphire-blue banners bearing the imperial golden eagle, locked in desperate combat with the rebel troops, who marched under the silver and black double-mountain standards of Duke de Norhas.

From my vantage point on Boreas’ back, I saw the tide of battle had turned against the imperial army.

The duke’s forces, bolstered by fearsome war machines and wagon-mounted cannons, pushed relentlessly forward, driving the imperial soldiers back towards the defenseless city.

The sight of the wounded and dying, their blood staining the trampled grass crimson, made my stomach churn with horror and despair.

“We have to help them,” I croaked, my voice raw with emotion. “All those soldiers down there!”

Boreas snorted and curved his long neck to look at me, his muscles tensing beneath me. “Is that really what you want us to do?” he asked.

Tama added, his cool tone heavy with irony, “Shall we swoop down and pluck the injured from the battlefield one by one?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, feeling helpless and frustrated. “But we can’t just let them die without doing something!”

Mama, riding on Menelaus nearby, called out to me. “Jacinthe, dearest, I know it’s hard, but we have to stay focused on our mission. If we don’t stop the Duke de Norhas here and now, he’ll take the city and the imperial throne.”

I knew she was right, but that didn’t make turning my back on the wounded any easier.

Every fiber of my being screamed at me to rush to the aid of the fallen, to use my skills and healing spells to stem the tide of death and suffering below.

But Mama was right. If we failed to turn back the duke’s armies today, if Neapolis Capitola fell, then thousands more would suffer and die.

Below us, I saw the imperial forces losing ground, their lines buckling under the relentless onslaught of the enemy.

Have we arrived too late?

Even with the Wind-Walkers at our side, could we still turn the tide of this battle?