Page 33

Chapter Twenty-Five

Bastien

T here’s no audience to cheer on our newly confirmed union. No celebratory feast waits for us down the hall. But the memory of the first marriage ceremony Aurelia participated in is burned into my mind, even if the anger and pain I felt watching it has dwindled.

I raise my free hand, the one that now carries the light but noticeable weight of my new wedding ring. With a touch of her cheek, I draw Aurelia’s mouth to mine.

We’ve kissed so many times, but this meeting of our lips comes with an exhilaration unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. There’s something a little sweeter still, a little more satisfying, about kissing a woman I can call my wife.

In the heat that passes between us and the soft noise that works from her throat, I taste the certainty that no matter how far away I go, nothing can truly tear us apart.

That thought knots my gut all the same, because I do have to go. In a matter of hours, I have to leave behind the woman I love and the daughter we brought into this world for gods only know how many days. I have to ensure my family treats her trust as a gift rather than a tool to unseat her.

And I will. I’ll bring back the means to fend off this latest threat. We’ll stand up to the traitor soldiers and the treacherous godlen and prove once and for all who’s meant to rule the empire.

I deepen the kiss for a few beats of my heart before finally pulling away. Raul tugs Aurelia to him a moment later, with a mild huff that I got there first. As he claims her mouth in his demanding way, my gaze slides to the man who ruled the empire before her.

Marc is watching our intimate confirmation with a tightened jaw and an uneasy heat simmering in his dark gray eyes.

It’s never been easy to read my imperial foster brother’s expression, and the unnaturally smooth discoloration of his face hasn’t helped matters, but I don’t think he’s exactly joyful .

He offered us this validation despite his misgivings. I don’t know how official anyone outside this room would consider the marriage given that Marc’s current imperial status is questionable… but he clearly believes in it, and he’s the one with by far the most to lose.

From the way he spoke, it sounds as if he genuinely doesn’t see himself as losing anything. Nothing more than he’d already lost when his cruelty sent Aurelia into our arms to begin with.

He’s acknowledged how important we are to her, how fiercely we’ve fought for her and defended her. Has he truly gotten to a place where he can appreciate our presence in her life?

It feels a little ridiculous to ask that question when he’s just turned his own wedding band into rings to honor our love.

All the observations I’ve made over the past few months whir like clockwork in my head. While Lorenzo steps in to claim a lingering kiss of his own from Aurelia, I keep watching the former emperor. A sense of resolve that’s not entirely comfortable rises in my chest.

It’s not until Marc speaks next, as Lorenzo eases away, that I’m sure.

He bobs his head to all of us, his gaze still intense but his tone relaxed enough. “I think you know where the bedroom is. Consummate your union for as long as you’d like.”

Raul blinks at him, as if Marc’s acceptance of our physical intimacies is somehow a step farther than making us Aurelia’s husbands alongside him.

A trace of a flush touches Aurelia’s cheeks—and the slight smile that crosses her face as she looks back at Marc is as sweet as the kiss we shared.

After what he’s just done for us, I can’t resent that smile or the fondness in her eyes. He’s earned it.

No one’s hurt her as much as he and his brother did… but not even the three of us can say we’ve sacrificed anywhere near as much either.

“Is her first husband going to deny his wife a kiss of approval?” I ask, calm and even.

Marc’s expression twitches. His attention snaps from me back to Aurelia. “I…”

Raul shifts on his feet but doesn’t protest. Lorenzo watches with a smile of his own curving his lips.

He might have suggested this himself if he hadn’t been worried about how Raul and I would react.

Where our hands are still entwined with the silk sash, Aurelia squeezes my fingers. Then she holds out her other hand toward Marc .

I sidle over to make room for him to approach. His expression remains difficult to read, but there’s no denying the elation that’s lit there along with whatever else he’s feeling.

He takes her hand in a gentle grasp and leans in.

I can’t say no jab of jealousy runs through me watching them kiss.

Aurelia sways slightly closer to him to accept the act, and part of me wants to punch him right off her.

But that’s a significant change from how I’d have felt even a couple of months ago, when all of me would have been completely for punching—and stabbing and gutting—if I’d thought I’d survive the attempt.

Marc has acknowledged everything we’ve done for Aurelia and how happy we make her. It’d be awfully hypocritical of me to deny that he’s started to make her happy too.

It helps that the moment she pulls back from him, she turns to me and kisses me even more passionately than before.

By the time she’s released me, my breath is coming short. Raul is already unwinding the strip of silk to allow us more room to move.

He dips his head to nip the corner of Aurelia’s jaw. “Are you ready to take this to the bed?”

An airy laugh tumbles out of her. “Yes, please.”

As our hands finally separate with the fall of the ceremonial sash to the floor, I turn to Marc again. “Do you think you can handle witnessing the consummation?”

His stare back at me verges on a glower. We both know my question is more a challenge than an invitation.

But Aurelia is watching for his answer too, with no objections. This marriage won’t mean much if he can’t tolerate all its implications .

“She’s yours,” he says, a little hoarsely. “I’ve ratified it before the gods.”

“And we’re hers,” I reply. “Are you?”

His gaze slides to Aurelia, and that hopeful light comes back. As if there really isn’t anything that could mean as much to him as her welcome. “Every part of me.”

“Then come along.”

I don’t wait to see if he’ll follow my order. Tucking my hand around Aurelia’s arm, I join my other foster brothers in leading her into the imperial bedroom.

The furniture there has been draped with more protective sheets. With a nudge of my gift, I send the fabric covering the massive bed gusting off into a pile on the floor. I know Marc’s still with us from the choked guffaw behind me.

Raul seems to have decided he’ll just ignore the former emperor. He shoots me a glance with a teasing glint in his pale blue eyes. “Show-off.”

I grin back at him. “Unlike your completely modest self.”

“Hey, it takes one to know one.”

He extends his hand into the darkness that cloaks the room nearly as thoroughly as the sheets, and a magic-blessed lantern on a side table flares on to bring the space into clearer focus.

“I won’t be adding my gift to the atmosphere,” Lorenzo says, slipping his arm around Aurelia’s waist. “No illusion could be as incredible as the reality we’re celebrating.”

He ducks his head to kiss the side of her neck, and Aurelia leans into him with a pleased hum.

The giddiness that’s been building in me since Marc started the ceremony sweeps every other concern from my mind.

This is my woman, our woman, and we’re going to worship her as if we’ll never get another chance.

I won’t think about how true that possibility might be .

I stroke my fingers along her hip and up her side. As Aurelia clutches at my shirt, I tease them over the swell of her breasts through the thick fabric of her dress.

Raul tugs at the ties, pausing only to steal a kiss here, a squeeze of her ass there. The moment her bodice is loose enough, I dip my hand under to caress her skin to skin.

A gasp breaks from Aurelia’s lips. She drags me in for another kiss, her grip on my shirt tightening as I strum her nipple to a stiffened peak.

My cock strains against the crotch of my slacks, painfully hard already. Great God help me, it’s been too long since I was completely enveloped in the hottest, slickest part of her.

The gown slides from Aurelia’s shoulders and collapses around her feet. We help her step free of it, pressing closer around her as we do.

I send the silk fabric drifting aside with a puff of breeze and graze the moving air over every inch of her bared skin our hands aren’t caressing. Her moan is my reward.

I haven’t forgotten her fourth husband, though. As Lorenzo turns Aurelia’s head toward him for another kiss, I glance over at Marc.

He’s stopped just inside the doorway, his arms loose at his sides but his posture stiff. Taking in our wife in her thin underclothes, his eyes smolder.

We’re all with her now. All for her now—him included.

Why shouldn’t he prove how well he can stand beside us as well as beside her?

I let my voice get a bit tart. “Don’t hang back. You want to see her as pleased as she can be, don’t you?”

Marc’s gaze flicks to me. I can’t tell how much he’s surprised that I want him involved and how much offended that I’m daring to order him around.

Either way, he only hesitates for a second before striding to join our cluster .

When he’s right in front of Aurelia, he pauses again. His hands flex at his sides.

“Tonight is supposed to be about the three of you,” he says in a tone as stiff as his stance. “I don’t want to overstep.”

With us or with her, I’d imagine.

I don’t know how far Aurelia is comfortable accepting his affections now either, but I trust she’ll encourage him as she sees fit.

I’m just giving him the first brief shove.

“It is about us—and knowing we all serve her better in collaboration. You can let us take the lead and still… enhance the experience. So, let’s see you contribute. ”