Page 30

I really, really couldn’t dance.

But somehow, in Jules’s arms, I did.

The King of Dawn twirled me across the dance floor, between the Azarasians whirling around us in every direction. I had no idea how we weren’t crashing into people. No idea how I hadn’t fallen flat on my face, only to be trampled under vampire feet. No idea why I seemed to… enjoy myself?

I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled to my lips. The Azarasians danced like they lived, free to do as they pleased. There were no rules, no steps. No ulterior motives. There were no disapproving parents watching from the sidelines, whispering as I stepped on their son’s toes and made a fool of myself.

There was just me, Jules, and the music, living for the here and now.

Jules grinned. “See? It’s not that hard when you have an excellent partner.”

I snorted. “How modest of you.”

Jules’s smile widened at my jab. I hadn’t said it with any vitriol. For once, I was joking with the King of Dawn. It was hard not to when my every muscle relaxed at his touch, my skin tingling.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been modest a day in my life,” Jules said. “Despite what your patriarchs may say, there’s no shame in taking pride in your achievements.”

Wicked, sinful girl. The voice in my head wasn’t my stepmother’s this time, but Patriarch Meallán’s, loud and righteous.

My foot landed wrong, but Jules didn’t miss a step. His grip tightened, steadying me effortlessly. “So you don’t worship the godstars and patriarchs are a sore subject? The Church of the Rising Stars hasn’t changed at all in the last four centuries.”

I frowned at him. “You know, for a second, I was enjoying myself.”

“You still are.”

My frown deepened. He wasn’t wrong. He couldn’t be wrong, not about what I was feeling. “But I’d be enjoying myself more if we weren’t talking about starsdamned patriarchs.”

“I think they’re supposed to be the opposite of starsdamned,” Jules said, his eyes sparking with mischief. “Starsblessed?”

“That’s not a word.”

“How would you know? Have you read the entire dictionary?”

“Yes.”

Jules’s brows shot up. “Why would you do such a dreadfully boring thing?”

Heat flashed to my cheeks. Stars, why couldn’t I have a conversation without turning a progressively worse shade of red? “I ran out of stuff to read.”

His hands slid lower, wrapping around my hips. “Surely that’s an impossible task.”

Before I could react, he lifted me off the floor and spun me in a dizzying circle. My breath hitched as twinkling lights blurred around us, my head tipping back. I squealed, half exhilaration and half sharp pleasure from the plug.

When my feet once again touched the floor, Jules chuckled, low and pleased. “Luc reads something new every week, and we’re five hundred years old.”

I glanced over Jules’s shoulder… and my world narrowed to a single pair of darkening silver eyes. I shuddered. Luc’s gaze had been burning into us this entire dance, but I’d grown used to the heat against my skin. But like the sun, now that I looked at him directly, my vision became him and only him.

I had to breathe deeply to steady my heart rate. You need to calm down, Nessa. But it was near impossible when two hunters had their sights set on me.

“I didn’t have… nearly as many books as Luc has,” I said, trying to shift my focus.

Jules’s lips twitched at my breathlessness. “That’s only a quarter of his collection, too.”

My eyes widened. The library in their apartment must have held thousands of books. “A quarter?”

Jules laughed. “You’re going to die when you see the library in Duskfell. Ooh, and the university.” His head tilted slightly toward the towering castle above us. “Hells, the one on the second floor here might do it, too.”

There was an even larger library in Dawnspear? I almost dropped Jules’s hand and demanded he take me there this instant. But if it was as grand as the rest of the castle, I wanted my first memory there to be of the books, not getting railed into a shelf.

Right?

I frowned. I didn’t know anymore.

“Nah, ah,” Jules pinched the dust-painted skin of my hip, a playful reprimand. “No frowning. If you start, I’ll have to make you smile again.”

I yelped, my heart stuttering. If he only knew why I was frowning. Thank the stars the bond hadn’t shared my exact thoughts… just everything else. If my face wasn’t already flushed red to match the cape draped over his shoulder, he’d probably have noticed and lured the truth out of me.

“I can’t spend all my time smiling, Jules.”

“Why not?”

“That’s not how life works.”

“That’s not how your life worked,” he corrected smoothly. “As our wife, smiling all the time is the goal.”

Wife. I flinched at the word. The movement turned into a shudder as sensation rippled through my core from the plug. I bit back a moan, inhaling sharply. Jules wouldn’t stop saying ridiculous things, not when he knew exactly how his words affected me. Wife. Wife, wife, wife. Maybe if I thought about it enough, I’d become desensitized to it.

But I wasn’t meant to be anyone’s wife. Especially not after the harvest.

I glanced around, but none of the vampires twirling around us stopped to stare. “Won’t someone hear you?”

“Luc and I have a permanent privacy runespell.”

“Oh.” That explained those times on the journey here where I heard them speak but couldn’t understand, no matter how hard I tried to listen.

“We’ll have to add you to that, too, once we tell the courts,” Jules said. “But it excludes anyone not part of our conversation, so only Luc can overhear us now, wife .”

I kept my body loose, refusing to react this time. “Stop calling me that.”

Jules leaned in, his breath warm as his lips hovered just over mine. “Make me.”

A flutter shook through my chest. Bastard. I glared at him, that beautiful, wicked face less than an inch away. “I can’t.”

Jules clicked his tongue. “Probably not, but you didn’t even try.”

“Why waste time trying to achieve the impossible?”

“If you never try, it will always remain impossible.”

Of course a vampire would think that. Jules had been born powerful. If he set his mind to something, he could bend the world to his will. Meanwhile, I had spent a decade just trying to survive without a future, a family, or even a working body.

“Stars, you’re infuriating.”

Jules chuckled. “That’s what Lucey says all the time. But am I wrong?”

I narrowed my eyes—

“I said no frowning.”

My hands tightened on his shoulders. “You—”

Jules crawled his fingers up my bare spine to my upper back and dipped me.

I tumbled back, a short scream escaping my lips. But Jules’s hands remained hot on my skin, guiding my fall. For a moment, my world flipped into the twinkling night sky above.

What a sight.

Then warm lips pressed to my throat. Jules kissed a slow, teasing path up my neck… then found my mouth.

Every thought vanished.

His lips moved against mine, soft and coaxing. I melted into him. Jules teased the seam of my lips with his tongue, seducing his way in where Luc had commanded. I opened just as easily.

He instantly deepened the kiss, claiming me, devouring me. I dug my hands into his silken blond hair. A low, desperate sound escaped my throat.

As his tongue dominated mine, he pulled me upright and tight to his chest. His skin was hot, solid, perfect. My nipples rubbed against him, dragging another shudder from deep inside me.

Jules swallowed the sound.

His hands slid lower, over my waist, over my hips. The dust on my skin smeared beneath his touch, marking him just as much as me. Through his thin trousers and the chains of skirt, he hardened against me, thick and long and hot.

Stars, his cock would be inside me tonight. Another flare of pleasure ricocheted through me as my ass clenched around the plug. I fisted my hands in his headdress—

Jules gasped softly, breaking the kiss.

Luc had wrapped a hand around the back of his neck.

The King of Dusk held him in place, his back to his chest. For once, I wasn’t the one trapped between two bodies, but Jules sank into it, entirely at ease. His tongue flicked out, licking away a smear of gold dust.

I couldn’t help but do the same. A sweet taste exploded on my tongue, some exotic fruit I had never tried but desperately craved now.

Jules leaned into Luc and smirked over his shoulder. “No cheating, darling. We promised not to interfere with each other’s orgasms.”

Luc must have tightened his fist, since Jules shuddered. “Your cock’s still in your pants, Julien. You’re nowhere near orgasm.”

“Are you sure?” Jules angled his head until his lips nearly brushed Luc’s jawline. “Why don’t you reach down and check?”

“It would be far easier to ask our bride.”

Jules hummed, dragging his heated gaze back to mine. Then he ground his hips, slow and deliberate. I couldn’t hold in my gasp. His thick length rubbed against me, the friction of his trousers sliding through the delicate chains and against my skin. “Tell Luc how hard I am for you, lovely.”

Luc released his grasp on Jules’s neck before I could figure out how to form a sentence. He wrapped that hand around his soulbound’s jaw, wrenched Jules’s head to the side, and claimed his lips.

My mouth dried.

Fuck.

My world became their lips, battling and nipping and licking. It had always been impossible to ignore the kings, but now they overwhelmed my every sense. Became my every sense. Jules bit Luc’s bottom lip, luring a growl from the King of Dusk.

The brat. He couldn’t help but misbehave.

Luc deepened the kiss, a stark reminder of Jules’s place. But the King of Dawn never submitted easily. He always made me work for it. Always made sure I knew his control was a gift, one he could reclaim at any moment.

But when he did surrender, it was perfection.

Jules melted into my chest with a sensual groan—

I shuddered back into myself at the sound, my skin prickling as heat washed through me. I had leaned into the soulbond again. But this time, I hadn’t just known what Luc was thinking.

Those were his thoughts.

I should have been afraid. I tried to be. We had been soulbound for less than a day and I was already slipping into their minds. But the bond drowned out every fear, refusing me any emotion beyond lust and safety when I was wrapped in the Butcher’s arms like the Conqueror had him in his.

Our connection was new and blossoming. If this was how I felt now, what would it be like when our soulbond settled? When we became true heartmates? My craving for these monstrous kings already itched under my skin.

Nothing else in the world mattered.

Only that I needed them.

Luc pulled away slowly, gold dust brushing his lips. From my lips to Jules’s to his. I shuddered at the sight.

Jules tightened his arms around me, leaning lazily into Luc. “Now can we go?”

Luc smiled fondly down at his soulbound, so at odds with the unyielding mask of the Conqueror. “You’ll have to ask our bride.”

Both luminous gazes turned to me, their pupils swallowing more of their irises with every passing second.

I swallowed. “Does it matter what I want?”

“We’re asking, aren’t we?” was Luc’s silken reply.

Yes. No. Maybe. Stars, I wanted them. But no matter how many times the soulbond suppressed my fear, it flared back again.

What would it be like when the kings’ bodies were over mine, rocking into me, claiming me? Would I be too enraptured with their skin brushing mine to care that they were murderers? That they were the Conqueror and the Butcher, Imperium of the Azarasian Impire?

Would that finally be enough to silent the stubborn emotions for good?

Did I even want them silenced?

“Nessa.” I stiffened at the rumble of Luc’s voice. “Your answer?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn’t even know what. An answer slipped out before I could stop it—

“Yes.”

Jules grinned, delighted. “ Yes ?”

Fuck. I had said yes . I tried to step back. I knew I shouldn’t. Never run from a vampire. But Jules’s hands were already on my hips. I didn’t get far. That didn’t stop the kings’ luminous irises from darkening, shadow swallowing the remaining silver and gold.

I forced myself to go still, but it was too late for that.

I had said yes.

Someone cleared their throat.

All three of us frowned instantly, a hint of the kings’ irritation sizzling across the bond, intertwining with my own. I glanced past their shoulders. Behind them, Cédric bowed, the golden stars stitched into his scarlet overcoat a perfect complement to Sabas’s ruby brooch.

But instead of his soulbound at his side, Maire curled into her master’s arms, draped in a gauzy black gown that didn’t hide the shimmering gold painted over her lithe body. Her gaze caught mine for a moment before returning to the floor. It took her a second longer to hide her shock.

Because of the new collar around my neck, one no Mortal Bride had ever worn before?

Or because the Kings of Dusk and Dawn held me in their arms as they held each other?

Cédric didn’t let the silence stretch. “Your guest is here.”

Guest? There were already a thousand vampires here at least. But whoever the kings had invited, Jules’s brother deemed it important enough to interrupt.

Jules released a long sigh and reluctantly untangled himself from Luc’s arms. “Sorry, lovely,” he drawled, smoothing a hand down my side before stepping away. “We’ll have to delay the fucking ever so slightly. It does give you more time to run, though.”

The faint chill of the night tickled my skin without his warmth, but the moment his words sank in, it disappeared just as fast.

More time to run .

“Excuse me?”

He brushed his thumb against my dusted bottom lip. “We’ll give you a ten-minute head start.”

“Twenty,” Luc interrupted. “You can’t just throw your Rising gift at the courts.”

Jules pouted. “Why not?”

Luc only arched a brow in reply.

The expression made Jules release another forlorn sigh. “Fine. Twenty minutes.”

I didn’t want to know. I did want to know. “Twenty minutes to run where?”

“The game is simple, bride.” Luc circled me, black eyes intent on my face. His voice was pure, dark promise. “Where we catch you is where we fuck you.”

I gaped. My face flushed scarlet all the way to the tips of my ears. Damn skin, always giving me away. Not that my galloping heartbeat wouldn’t betray me just as easily. “What?”

The corner of Luc’s lips quirked. “I don’t repeat myself.”

“I—you—what—”

Jules huffed a laugh. “Don’t pretend you’re not intrigued by the idea.”

I twisted sharply to shoot him a glare, but his eyes weren’t on my face. They were on the painted buds of my hard nipples, peeking out between the chains. I had been aroused half the day, but Luc’s words were fuel to the fire.

I crossed my arms across my chest. “We’re outside at night in spring.”

“It’s nearly summer,” Jules said, his grin widening. If Luc wasn’t standing behind me, I was sure I’d see his smirk sharpen, too.

“Stay here if you wish,” Luc said, his breath against the back of my head. “Jules and I have no qualms about taking you before our courts.”

I spun back, this time with a jolt—

I whimpered. Damn plug.

Those silver-lined black eyes heated to blazing.

Getting fucked in public, in front of the entire Courts of Dusk and Dawn, was another inevitability in this new life of mine. Over the past hour, more and more vampires had stripped their thralls and fellow Azarasians of what little clothing they wore, their bodies pressed together on chaises, against tables, on the floor.

Even heartmates, monogamous as they were, had joined the revelry. In the corner of my vision, Tristan had Estrella pushed against a marble column, their bodies moving in perfect synchronicity. The revelry raged on around them, but they didn’t care.

But I couldn’t. Just couldn’t. The kings were gorgeous, their bodies carved perfection, and next to them, my flawed, soft flesh would be painfully apparent. My stomach swirled at the thought, a jumble of nerves and fear… and the tiniest smidge of interest.

But only the tiniest smidge.

“It’s closer to nineteen minutes now, bride,” Luc said.

“How is she supposed to know that, Lucey?” Jules traced a finger along my bare arm, but I didn’t turn back again. “Help our poor bride out.”

Luc flicked his fingers in the air. Count . When he pulsed his power into the rune, the shadows flared and twisted, turning into numbers.

18:53.

18:52.

18:51.

Shit.

My very own countdown.

The chase had begun.