Page 13 of Daughter of the Ninth Line, Part Three

Thirteen

Avalon

I did my best to work beneath the collective gaze of Hayle and Vox.

Not that they made it difficult on purpose.

Vox was making his observations, moving back and forth between the telescope and where he sat across from me, writing in his thick notebook.

Hayle just lay on the couch, reading the book in lighting so low that my eyes would have ached in his position.

“Can you even see the words?” I asked softly, and he gave me a crooked grin.

“One of the benefits of being in the Third Line—we have great night vision.” He cast a quick look at Vox. I knew the Lines didn’t like to discuss their strengths or weaknesses in front of outsiders. Especially if that outsider belonged to a Line that could be considered your rival.

I wasn’t an idiot. Something was going on here, and I wanted to know what it was before I got caught up in some political pissing match. That wasn’t my thing.

I put down my pen. “All right. What in the Goddess’s name is going on?”

Silence echoed around the rooftop as they shared another look. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I wasn’t going to be the only person on this rooftop in the dark.

I speared Vox with what I hoped was a withering gaze. He just raised an eyebrow at me, his chin tilted up. Huffing, I looked over at Hayle, who closed his book slowly. Standing with effortless grace, he came and squatted in front of me so we were eye level.

“Avie, as an Heir of the Third Line, I have enhanced senses.” That one was general knowledge.

They had better hearing, better eyesight, better everything.

They were the ultimate warriors. “Which means that I know that when you look at this asshole, your heart beats faster. Your eyes track his movements.” He leaned closer to my ear.

“And I know that you find him attractive, because I can scent your arousal when you stare at him for too long, like you’re imagining how he’d feel sliding inside you. ”

My eyes felt they were about to pop from my skull, my face flushing red hot.

It hadn’t even been a week since I’d told Hayle that I felt this thing between us just as strongly as he did.

It was one hundred percent the truth; even now, his lips lingering so close to my skin made my heart race.

Resisting the urge to tilt my head toward him and steal kisses from those lips was nearly impossible.

Despite all that, I couldn’t argue with what Hayle was saying. Vox Vylan did make my stomach bubble with butterflies, my core clench with lust. I wasn’t going to insult us both by denying something he could so obviously sense for himself.

Vox looked smug, and I glared at him. “So? There are lots of attractive conscripts in Boellium that make me, uh, moist.” I grimaced. “What’s your point?”

The smirk fell from Vox’s face. “I’m going to need names.”

“Names?”

“Of the other conscripts who make you wet.”

I frowned at him, because what? “Why?”

He went back to looking through his telescope like the conversation was beginning to bore him. At least, until he mumbled, “So I can have them castrated.”

Hayle laughed, pulling me to my feet and gripping my chin with gentle fingers.

“Let me be clear, Avalon Halhed. You are mine. I know right down to the very marrow of my bones that you’re the one for me.

Nothing will change that. Not even the fact that you so obviously lust after this asshole—even if he does walk around like he’s got a silver spoon jammed up his butt.

” Vox gave him the finger, but there was no anger in it.

My lungs had begun to burn from not breathing, but I didn’t want to interrupt Hayle.

“Because as much as I dislike Vylan, I like you far more. Anything in this world that will make you happy, I’ll get it for you. ”

I just stared at Hayle, the earnest truth written all over his face. How could that be true? How could someone tell me they desired me so badly, and still be willing to share with their archnemesis?

I looked over at Vox. “You agreed to this?” Even more preposterous than the idea of one of the Heirs wanting me, was the idea that Vox would be willing to share anything —let alone a lover—with Hayle Taeme. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Instead of answering me, he uncurled from where he was still pretending to look through the telescope and walked over to me. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Hayle, before bending down, gripping my chin, and kissing me.

My eyes fluttered closed as stars burst behind my eyelids. It felt so right. Vox’s lips were familiar, like they were made to brush across mine. When he finally pulled away, something had shifted inside my soul.

I didn’t understand it. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to understand it.

Hayle’s words about the connection between us resonated with both of them. Like my heart yearned for them both like a greedy bitch, as if one of these beautiful men—who were well out of my league—wasn’t enough. She wanted them both.

“You’re both crazy,” I whispered.

Hayle laughed, leaning down to kiss me as well, his lips overlaying the spot where Vox’s had just been, their taste mingling on the tip of my tongue. My brain short-circuited as I stood there, my fingertips gripping the table like I’d float away without it anchoring me.

Trying to shake the lust from my brain and think about this logically was more hard work than I’d like to admit. “What will people say?”

Vox sucked his teeth, his eyes narrowing.

“Nothing, if they know what’s good for them.

” He sighed. “Outside of these moments, I wouldn’t be able to acknowledge you how I would like.

My father…” He trailed off. He didn’t need to say more.

The last thing I wanted was to be under the all-seeing gaze of the Baron of the First Line. The very idea was terrifying.

“So I’d be your dirty little secret until you move on, go back to Fortaare to marry some Upper Line princess?”

His jaw flexed, and he stared down at me with those mesmerising eyes. “Yes. Trust me, it’s for your own safety.”

It sounded like a poor excuse, a line you’d spin to some silly little girl to get them into bed, and if I was honest, it hurt a little. But I knew enough about his life that I had no doubt it was the truth.

Looking over at Hayle, I chewed my lip. “And you? Would I be your dirty little secret too?”

He reached out and dragged me into his arms. “Never, Avalon Halhed. You’re mine, forever.

I don’t care who knows it: Boellium, my family—hell, all of damn Ebrus will know you’re mine.

” He buried his face in my neck, giving me ticklish kisses on the sensitive flesh.

I honest-to-goddess giggled, but when I looked over at Vox, the longing on his face was truly heartwrenching.

As if he could sense Vox’s sadness too, Hayle pulled back and spun me in his arms, burying his nose in my nape. “I could use a hand,” he said lightly, but that was unlikely. I knew from experience that Hayle could make me pant with little more than his lips and an index finger.

Vox’s eyes caught mine, and I had no doubt he was asking me for permission. I silently granted it with a nod. As he stepped closer, his hands dropping to my hips, I could feel the heat of both their bodies pressing into me from all angles.

He dropped his face to mine, leaning down until his lips were mere inches away. “What magic do you hold, Avalon Halhed, that you have made us yours so completely?”

I just shook my head. I didn’t have magic. But what we were creating right now, well, it definitely felt magical.

He dipped down and kissed me again, not as tentatively as the first time.

It was full of yearning that singed my skin.

His tongue slid into my mouth, chasing mine, owning me as much as he could in a system that was pitted against his happiness.

I gripped the front of his shirt in my hands, especially once Hayle’s palms began to wander between us.

Hayle stroked and petted, and when his fingertips traced the curves of the underside of my breasts, my breath stuttered in my lungs. I could feel his growing hardness at my back, while Vox’s cock nestled against my stomach, making my brain feel like it might explode.

Apparently, they were taking this sharing thing seriously.

Abruptly, in unison, they both pulled away. My skin felt overheated, and I was breathing hard. Vox was staring at me with an intensity that pulsed in my core, his expression so hot, it seared through me.

Hayle nipped my ear, his low, rumbling chuckle like an electric pulse through my veins. “Oh, this is going to be way more fun than I thought.”

“But only if it’s what she wants.” Vox’s firm, yet still soft voice held authority that made my body tingle. “Is this something you want, Avalon? I can’t promise you anything more than right now.”

It sounded like heartbreak, if I was honest. To have Vox and then lose him to the Line system of supremacy.

To know how he tasted, the face he made when he came, his laugh, his moans, his whispered words, then to see those stupid portraits one day with his perfect wife at his side? It would be torture.

“Yes. I want this.” My stupid heart didn’t care. I would have him, even if it was just for now. Even if it was only under the shine of the stars or in the darkness of early morning. Even if it was only with the steady acceptance of Hayle at my back.

I wanted it all.

The smile that pulled at Vox’s cheeks was a genuine one. It had been the expression on his face when he’d told me about the stars, when he’d explained his passions. I was now one of those passions, and that was also worth the impending heartache.

Hayle squeezed me in his arms once more, then pulled back, his hands tracing down over the curve of my ass before he turned my face toward him and gave me one soft, final kiss. “Perfect. You’re perfect.” Then he slapped my ass. “Now, the night is young, and you have stars to draw.”

With that, we all resumed our positions, like the world hadn’t just erased and redrawn itself into something that was going to change me forever.