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Chapter Sixteen

Aurelia

I n the small basement room, I light the enchanted lantern and perch on the settee. As I wait in the wavering light for the panel in the wall to open and admit my princes, my hands twist together on my lap.

The image of Marc’s face when I told him I was going to meet them swims up from my memory. His jaw clenched, but he kept his voice even. Why not here, where you’re properly guarded? I should at least come with you.

No one will know I’m there except them. I’ve got nothing to fear, I told him. I’m allowed an occasional private conversation.

The pointedness of that last sentence quieted him. Maybe because he can guess why I particularly need to talk to his foster brothers right now, and why I’d rather he wasn’t around to listen in on the conversation.

I signaled them in the dining room not long ago. It only takes another few tense minutes before the panel whispers open.

They emerge one after the other: Raul looking fierce, Bastien pensive, and Lorenzo concerned. As I stand to meet them, Lorenzo takes one look at my face and strides past the others to my side.

He tucks his arm around me and tips his head close. His warm, tangy scent envelopes me like a second embrace. “What’s wrong, Rell?”

My mood is that obvious, then?

I let out a shaky laugh and hold up my hand as if I can ward off Raul’s instinctive bristling. “It’s not— I’m perfectly fine. There’s no new catastrophe.” At least not of the typical sort. “I just needed to talk to you about something.”

Naturally, Bastien has already noted a key defining feature of this talk. “Without Marc around.”

Raul manages to loom even taller. “Did he try to hurt you? After all his?—”

“Raul.” I touch his arm to stop him. “He didn’t do anything wrong either. This is about me.”

Lorenzo cocks his head to better study my expression and presses a gentle kiss to my temple. “Go ahead. We can manage not to interrupt.”

He shoots a pointed glance at the prince of Lavira, who grunts his displeasure but settles for clasping my hand.

Now that I have the stage and their full attention, my throat closes up. I spent most of the night trying to decide how to broach this subject, knowing I had to, wishing every part of my life wasn’t so tangled.

I drag in a breath. “I need you to know that nothing I say changes our relationship. I love all three of you as much as ever; I want you by my side as long as you’re willing to stay.”

“Then you have us forever,” Raul says gruffly.

I twine my fingers with his. “I know this might sound insane, but I’m recognizing that… there’s a part of me that’s starting to want Marc too.”

Raul can’t restrain a growl.

Bastien’s stance stiffens, but he still manages to speak evenly. “As more than a guard.”

“Yes. I— I’m not going to say he wasn’t awful. But he was never only awful, not like Linus was. There were enough moments, and so much of what happened was influenced by his father and his brother…”

I pause and rub my forehead. “It still seems insane even to me. But the way he reacted when I told him the truth—the fact that he chose me over his brother, over keeping the throne… He’s been cast down to one of the lowest stations in the palace, ordered around constantly, but he hasn’t lashed out.

I think he really does want to be someone better. And he has been.”

Raul grimaces. “That doesn’t mean— All the shit he put you through?—”

I meet his pale gaze. “The three of you weren’t exactly kind to me when I first arrived, and you didn’t have a lifetime of being molded into a tyrannical dictator behind you.

People can change. It isn’t as if I never saw anything appealing about him even before—only that his behavior too often got in the way of any real affection developing. ”

Lorenzo strokes his hand up and down my back. “And now it has developed?”

“Something has. I don’t know…” I shake my head.

“I can’t tell whether it’ll go any farther or whether I want to act on it.

But I can’t deny that the feelings are there.

We had a moment, last night—only a brief kiss, but I initiated it…

I didn’t want to hide anything from you.

Marc has never pushed. You come first. If you can’t stand him being anything more than my guard, then I don’t even need to make any decisions, that’s how it is. ”

I’m not sure how much sense I’ve made with that jumbled explanation, but Raul smiles thinly at my last words. “Then I don’t see why you should even contemplate giving that prick the time of day. We can’t trust him. He could be playing a long game.”

Bastien’s forehead furrows. “I don’t like it.

But I haven’t seen any reason to think he doesn’t regret his past actions.

He’s had plenty of chances to sabotage Aurelia in the past month without taking any of them.

Hell, if he wanted to reclaim the throne, his best opportunity would probably be going over to Valerisse’s side and giving her so much more ammunition against Aurelia. But he’s still here.”

Raul rounds on him. “So you want to see him?—”

“No,” Bastien cuts in. “I said I don’t like it.

But that’s not what matters most, is it?

I didn’t like the idea of sharing our empress’s affection at all to begin with, even with the two of you.

And… strategically speaking, it would work to our benefit if Marc has even more tying him to Aurelia.

Harder to shake devotion that’s returned. ”

The other prince lets out a strangled sound and throws his hands in the air. But Lorenzo speaks up before Raul can keep arguing.

“What’s most important is what feels right to Aurelia.

” He nuzzles my hair. “I don’t want to see you hurt.

Only you can decide how much you can forgive Marc, what you’re comfortable with, how strongly you feel about him now.

If you decide he’s worthy of being a husband in more than name, then I trust you and your judgment. ”

“He’s never going to shove us aside,” Raul snarls.

I catch his gaze again. “I told you, that couldn’t happen.

If he tried, it’d shatter any affection I might have started to feel.

And it could be years before I’m sure of whether that affection can overcome everything else.

I won’t— Nothing else will happen unless I’ve talked to all of you first. I shouldn’t have let it go even that far last night. ”

My massive prince looks mildly mollified. He swoops in and claims a kiss so scorching I think he must be aiming to sear away any traces of Marc on my lips. As he pulls back, a flush tingles over my skin.

“You’re ours—and we’re yours,” he declares. “Until he can say the same with his whole being, he doesn’t deserve anything.”

I don’t think this is a good time to mention Marc’s offering of body, mind, soul, and heart to my authority. Raul probably wouldn’t believe it anyway.

Bastien steps in to caress my jaw, his dark green gaze steady. “Like Lore said, I trust you . He is your husband—we’re lucky to have you at all, hard as that may be to accept.”

My throat constricts all over again. “I think I’m the lucky one, having the three of you.”

“Then it’s luck all around.” He leans in for a kiss that’s more tender but no less passionate than Raul’s and gives me a bittersweet smile. “I suppose you have to get back to the business of running—and not losing—an empire. We’ll keep fighting right beside you.”

“Yes,” I say, thoughts of all the meetings and appearances and plans I need to make rushing over me. But as Bastien and then Raul head into the secret passage, something in me balks against following them.

Lorenzo glances back at me when he reaches the panel, taking in my stance. He hesitates. “ Do you need to go right back?”

My mouth twists. “I probably should. There’s so much— It’s just a relief to be away from all the expectations for a few minutes.”

Heat sparks in the prince of Rione’s eyes. He closes the panel and returns to me .

As he sets his hands on either side of my waist, he dips his head for a lingering kiss of his own. “Then let’s make it a little more of an escape. You deserve all the love in the world, Aurelia. I don’t want you ever to forget that.”

It’s impossible not to melt into his embrace. I give myself over to this kiss I don’t need to question or doubt from the man who devoted himself to me first, the man who’s always wanted to see the best in me.

A hungry sound reverberates from Lorenzo’s chest. As I loop my arms around his neck, he pulls me tighter against him. “You always feel so good.” His hands skim up my sides so his thumbs can trace the curves of my breasts through my gown. “Do you want— Are you recovered enough ? —”

I can taste what he’s asking in the desire that ripples through his illusionary voice. In that moment, there’s nothing I want more. It’s been too fucking long since I’ve been fully adored by any of the men I love.

“Yes,” I murmur in answer to both questions, and dive into another kiss.

Lorenzo nudges me toward the settee as his deft fingers loosen the lacing on my gown. He eases me down on the cushioned seat, sliding the bodice down my body at the same time.

He kisses me at the same time as he kneels on the floor in front of me. His hands cup my breasts fully, palms swiveling over my sensitized nipples to provoke the sweetest jolts of pleasure.

I gasp against his mouth and kiss him harder. Heat floods every particle of my being around a knot of my own hunger.

I’ve missed this. I almost forgot how much.

Lorenzo bends to suck the tip of one breast into his searing mouth. At the nip of his teeth, I whimper and curl my fingers against his thick hair.

As he works over my chest with lips and teeth and one set of clever fingers, he tucks his other hand beneath my skirt. It grazes teasing patterns over my skin all the way up my calf and thigh, until I can’t restrain a moan.

My hips sway toward him impatiently. Lorenzo hums, the vibration tingling through my breast, and strokes me through my drawers.

Fuck, yes—but I need so much more. The intimacies I’ve had to set aside, the pleasure that might have brought too much pain before—I’m starving for it.

The flames of need flare higher as he eases aside the silky layer to caress me skin to skin. I yank his head up so our mouths can meld together once more and then mumble, “Please. I’ve been waiting too long for this already.”

Lorenzo’s chuckle tickles through my head. He kisses my cheek before yanking my drawers right off. “Whatever you need, Rell. Always.”

I reach down to fumble with his trousers. It takes a few excruciating moments to free his cock. Once the rigid length rests in my hands, I can’t resist pumping it in my hand, feeling it twitch with a desire to match my own.

Lorenzo muffles a groan on my shoulder. He tugs me to the edge of the seat where he can line himself up against me perfectly.

As he plunges into me, I lean toward him. Our mouths collide again. His shaft fills me with the blissful burn I was craving, not a shred of discomfort in the sensation.

A moan tumbles out of me. I clutch him tighter, rocking to meet his thrusts, urging him deeper. “I love you. So much. So good.”

Lorenzo lets out a ragged breath. His lips skate along the edge of my jaw and down the side of my neck. “I love you too. No matter what you decide you want, no matter who you consider letting into your heart—it should always feel like this, Aurelia. Never accept anything less than this good. ”

That’s a promise I think I can make.

He presses against the sweetest spot inside me, and I can’t hold back a cry. We crash into each other again and again, mouths and hips, every collision sending me soaring higher.

I careen over the edge on a final surge of pleasure, clinging to Lorenzo as if he’s my anchor in a storm. A few thrusts later, he follows me with a shuddered exhalation.

In the aftermath, we stay entangled, our breaths falling into a matching rhythm, his warmth wrapped all around me.

I don’t know where else my heart will lead me, but what I feel for this man and his fellow princes has never been wrong. If I use that as my standard, I can’t help but find the right path, can I?