Page 81 of Liminal

“Lambert?” Kyrith’s voice is silky smooth, and my cock, which had just gone down, hardens painfully again.

He swallows. “Yes, boss lady?”

“If you win…”

He’s actually holding his breath. To be fair, I would be too if Kyrith was considering giving me a lap dance.

“You’ll flash me?” he asks hopefully, bouncing on the soles of his feet. “Strip tease?”

Kyrith presses a hand to her mouth like she’s either aghast or about to lose it. “No one has seen me naked in five hundred years. What makes you think you deserve to?”

Lambert shrugs. “I’m a connoisseur of beautiful breasts and thick, juicy thighs?”

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Even Galileo is leaning forward, his fingers steepled beneath his chin as he watches their interaction with interest.

Kyrith’s tinkling laughter breaks through the room, and Lambert grins.

“I’ll take it,” he says before she can respond. “You laughed. That’s my good luck charm. Prepare to unlace your petticoats…or however you get out of that stuff.”

Before she can correct him, he spins on his heel, takes command of the hold North has on his arm and drags the two of them towards a wide yellow door in the middle of a bookcase.

“UAA Magiball cloakroom,” he announces, knocking twice and shoving through.

When he’s gone, Kyrith’s shoulders slump, and she sighs.

“Come sit down,” I suggest, shifting so a cushion covers the very evident arousal tenting the grey sweatpants that appeared in my wardrobe this morning. “The game will start soon.”

“If the necklace works,” Dakari mutters, taking a seat on the other edge of the sectional, leaving Kyrith the larger corner spot.

“It will.” I hope it does, anyway. College magiball seems like as good a way as any to break up the restlessness that’s wearing on me.

I’ve been jogging—well, walking—laps of the upper floors with Dakari to rebuild my strength and working on catching up with the world in between resting. I’m grateful for Kyrith and the Arcanaeum’s protection, and I don’t really want to leave, but I’ve been cooped up for the last ten years of my life, and the urge to do more with what time I have left is ever present at the edge of my mind. If only my body would just cooperate…

My thoughts cut off as she settles in the spot between us, her back rigid—and not just because of her corset.

“Relax,” Galileo orders from his armchair, ignoring the book perched on his knee in favour of studying her.

But Kyrith’s eyes aren’t on him. They’re glued to the scene being projected onto the wall.

My brows rise as I realise Lambert’s mistake.

He took North to the locker room, and Kyrith is now getting treated to an up-close-and-personal sausage-fest. Because of the enchantment on the necklace, we can see through his eyes, and although he’s not ogling the players, he’s not averting his gaze, either.

Oh shit. Is this making her uncomfortable? People back in her era were super repressed, weren’t they?

“You don’t have to watch,” I suggest, blushing scarlet.

Kyrith snorts. “I amnotmissing this.”

The unexpected response draws all of our focus to her, and Dakari is the one who asks what we’re all thinking.

“You’re not upset?”

Kyrith rolls her eyes at him. “I’m dead but notthatdead. I can still look.”

I chuckle under my breath, kinda liking that she’s so bold about it. Besides, it confirms what I already knew—shewaschecking me out earlier. “Looking isnae going to hurt; besides, North is leaving.”

But not before Lambert rips off his shirt, and Kyrith… Okay, normally she’s hard to read. Not now. Her mouth pops open on a sigh, and her pupils dilate.