Page 53 of Quest for her Knights (The Lost Souls of Dyconia #5)

“It always tugs at me when we’re separated,” Ranger adds, laying a hand over his heart.

I look up at Draven and he smiles. “I always knew you were the most important person in the world to me.”

“Well, you should have said so earlier. We never would have kept you apart if we knew that,” King Ian says in exasperation.

“Alright, now let’s move this along properly. Elora? Please come with me. I promise I won’t keep you apart for long, just long enough to get you changed and get them ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“You’ll see, now, come along.” She holds out her hand again and this time I take it, waving over my shoulder as her and Freya lead me away from all the men.

“How did you get them out of the dungeon?” I whisper to Freya at my side.

“All the knights are pretty loyal to the princes. Someone let it slip that they were down there. Besides, they were rooting for your guys to win. ”

I shake my head as I’m led back up to my room.

No matter how many times I ask, the queen won’t tell me what’s going on, she just tells me to wear something pretty after I get cleaned up, and wait until someone comes to get me.

Before leaving, Freya helps me choose a simple light pink dress.

Pink doesn’t go great with my hair, but it’s one of my favorite colors, plus the dress is simpler then most of them with only a single layer of fabric.

I can wait until I have some time to get my hands on it so I can trim it above my knees.

I pace my room as I nervously wait for someone to come get me. I hope this isn’t a ruse like last time. But eventually there’s a knock at the door, and when I open it, I find Blaze standing there, in clean clothes and a broad smile. My heart leaps in my chest at the sight of him.

“You look breathtaking tonight, as usual,” he greets reaching for my hand and bending to kiss my fingertips.

He stands back up and I frown at him. “I haven’t seen you in a month, and that’s how you greet me?”

He glances at the knights standing guard on either side of my door then quickly lifts me up, making me squeal. He steps into my room and slams the doors shut behind him. He spins around and presses me against the door, his mouth finding mine instantly.

“Mmm,” I moan against him. He yanks up my dress and shoves his hand into my panties as he groans against me .

“You’re already soaking wet for me.” He starts to kiss down my neck as I suck in some much-needed air.

“You were gone for a whole month, Blaze. My body has been craving you.”

“A whole month without any orgasms?” He asks and I nod. “My poor, little darling. I guess we better start making up for that, shall we?”

“Uh-huh,” I nod eagerly and he grins, moving us to the bedroom where he drops me on the end, pushes me back, and rips off my panties in mere seconds.

He drops to his knees and dives face-first into my pussy.

I grab his hair and cry out, “Blaze!”

“Fuck, you taste phenomenal!”

As good as it feels, I want to feel his cock inside me more.

“Blaze, I need you. I need you inside me!”

He stands with a smile, shoves his pants and boxers to his knees and lines himself up, clearly not wanting to waste any more time.

I reach for his neck and pull his mouth to mine and he sinks in deep. We both groan and soon he’s pounding into me with a rhythm that sets my body on fire, and when we both come together, our bodies shaking as one, my heart calls out to him with happiness.

Three minutes later, we’re walking hand-in-hand downstairs and into the dining room, where the royal family is all seated.

But I barely notice them, my eyes are immediately drawn to my other three knights as they come to greet me.

Ranger tries that same finger-kissing nonsense, so I grab his face and pull him down for a real kiss.

The other two catch on and greet me properly.

“Come sit down,” the queen says excitedly. Ranger pulls out my chair, and I notice the table is set more formally than usual, which is saying something, because I already thought their everyday china was the fanciest thing I had ever seen.

While we eat, the queen talks about strange topics like which flowers will be in bloom soon and which garden has the biggest space. The princes smirk in amusement, and my knights just wink at me whenever I look at them in question.

Eventually, the queen makes some excuse about needing to get to bed and ushers her husbands, the princes, and Princess Freya away.

Once they’ve cleared out, it's just the five of us. I glance around at them and ask, “Okay, someone, please tell me what’s going on? What was all this about? Why was the queen being so weird?”

Blaze clears his throat before answering. “I’m not sure how it works where you’re from, but for royalty, they like to have an engagement dinner with the family before the relationship moves forward.”

My eyes widen in surprise. “We’re engaged?!” I mean, I knew the contest was for marriage, but I hadn’t really had a chance to put two and two together yet. Then I frown, realizing I missed out on the best part.

“Why are you upset? Do you not want this?” Arrow asks, looking hurt.

“I just realized I’m engaged, but I didn’t even get a proposal!”

His hurt melts away as he laughs. “Well, that’s because you’re not engaged yet.”

“I’m not?” I ask in confusion.

“Nope. But the night’s still young, who knows what could happen?” He pushes his chair back and offers a hand to me. “Shall we go for a walk?”

My mouth drops open, stunned into silence. That was a lot to take in at once. So I’m not engaged… yet. I snap my mouth shut and place my hand in his as we follow Ranger down the hall to a door that leads into the garden.

It’s lit with lanterns like the one we visited at the festival, and I take a deep breath, enjoying the peace that surrounds us for once. We enter a part of the garden with some trees that look a bit like cherry blossoms, their tall trunks reaching over thirty feet high.

We turn a corner, and as soon as we are out of view of the castle, I’m suddenly moved around, my back to Arrow, who’s leaning against one of the large tree trunks, with Ranger in front of me.

He strokes a finger down my cheek, looking down at me with a predatory gaze that makes my heart beat faster in excitement .

“Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, baby.

” He steps in close, pressing my body between him and his brother, as Draven and Blaze step up on either side.

“You will marry us and let us spend the rest of our lives taking care of you.” My eyes widen in surprise.

Not exactly the proposal I was expecting, but Ranger acting so dominant is a major turn-on and I’ll do pretty much anything to keep his attention on me.

“Do you understand me, Elora?”

“Y-yes,” I stutter, my wide eyes fixed on him as his fingers trail across the bruises on my throat. “I won’t allow anybody else to ever touch you again. You’re ours now. You know that, right?”

“Uh huh.”

He shakes his head in disappointment. “I need to hear it, baby.” He leans down and sucks on a spot below my ear, making me moan with need.

He pulls back and sighs. “I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

“Wha—” I start to ask, but he cuts me off.

“Arrow, lift her up.” I’m lifted by my thighs, so I’m in a seated position. Ranger lifts my dress, moving it aside so he can see my panties. “Hmm, these are gonna get in the way. Draven?”

A knife flicks open, making me gasp, then Draven moves in, carefully slicing my panties right from me. Ranger runs a finger through my folds, stopping to circle my clit.

“Mmm, much better. Now, are you ready for your lesson? ”

“Lesson?” I ask, forgetting what we were talking about as Ranger drops his pants and fists himself before rubbing his hardness through my wet folds.

I groan in approval as he says, “Yes, I think I was teaching you a lesson about… something… Listening to me? Wasn’t that it?”

I shake my head trying not to laugh, but he’s as lust driven as I am right now, forgetting what we're even talking about. He starts to push himself inside me, and my fingers dig into his neck, as I cry out, “Ranger!”

“Fuck baby, you’re so tight,” he groans as he pushes himself all the way in. “Fuuuck,” he moans before kissing me.

His hips start pumping as Arrow holds me open for him, but I soon feel different hands take the place of his and he moves behind me until I feel him press at my rear.

His fingers move around me, gathering my wetness to coat himself with until he deems himself lubed enough, and that’s when he starts to push into me.

I’ve done this with all of them, in all the positions but it never stops being amazing. When he finally gets all the way into me, I’m held against him as Ranger starts to thrust harder and harder, impaling me on Arrow with each thrust.

“Ranger?” Draven says, making him slow down.

“What?”

“I think you’re forgetting something?”

Ranger frowns as he turns back to me. “Was it a lesson?” Arrow laughs, making me hiss as his dick twitches inside me .

“You were trying to get her to agree,” Blaze reminds him.

“Right!” Ranger’s eyes go wide as he remembers what started all of this. “I was trying to tell you that you’re ours now.”

“Uh-huh,” I give him the same answer I did last time.

“I want your words, baby. Will you be ours?”

“Always.”

“Will you marry us?”

“Is this a proposal?” He growls at my response, and his pace picks up speed as the angle on me is slightly shifted, driving my need up even higher.

“Yes.”

“Marry me, sweetheart?” Arrow asks, his teeth grazing over my shoulder from behind.

“Darling,” Blaze uses a finger to turn my head towards him, kissing me sensually and slowly as Ranger continues his thrusts. “Marry me?”

My chin is turned in the opposite direction as Draven dives in, kisses me hard. He bites my lower lip then sucks it firmly. “Marry me, kitten?”

“Elora?” I turn back to Ranger. “Do you want to come now?”

I nod my head eagerly, a whimper escaping as he continues moving. Hands pluck at my nipples and I grip arms on either side of me tightly as my looming orgasm builds higher and higher.

“Then tell me you’ll marry me. Marry us.”

“Yes! I’ll marry you! Just let me come!” I beg .

“That’s my good girl. I want to feel you come all over my dick…

now.” His words trigger my release as my entire body shakes, and I scream his name.

His mouth covers mine, somewhat silencing me as he continues pounding into me.

Wave after wave of release rolls through my body, and when I feel him and Arrow come inside me, it extends my own orgasm.

I whimper against him, and he finally slows his movements.

We stay pressed together, panting heavily, until we finally pull part. Someone finds something to clean me up with, although my panties are no longer usable.

I brush my hands down my dress to smooth it out and when I look back up, Draven is holding out a ring towards me.

“Better make it official,” he says with a smile.

“It’s beautiful,” I tell him as I step close and take a better look. It’s a gorgeous, deep green stone set in a platinum-colored band.

He slides it on my finger and I grin up at him. “Thank you.” He leans down and kisses me. I take turns thanking each of them as they lead me around the garden.

“You know, I feel kind of bad for some of those lords,” I tell them, thinking about all the effort they went into to come here and compete in a tournament.

“Why?”

“Well, it seems like women are few and far between in this world. Where would they find someone?”

“You don’t have to worry about them. Now you’re married, they’re the most eligible people in Dyconia,” Arrow tells me .

“And unlike you, they can marry commoners," Blaze adds.

“Oh, well that’s good.”

“If you’re gonna feel bad for anyone, feel bad for the Lonelings.”

I remember Blaze telling me about them months ago. “They’re men with no brothers, right?” I ask. “Like you and Blaze?”

“Technically, we were, but you lose that status when you become a knight as it’s supposed to mean you are putting yourself out of the running for having a mate.”

“You never wanted a mate?”

“It wasn’t that we never wanted it, it was just we never thought it’d happen.”

“Yeah, if you’re a loneling and really want a wife, you’d have to join the mating hunt.”

“What the heck is that?” I ask imagining women running through the forest as they are hunted down.

“It’s a very primitive practice that takes place in the South. Men and women who want to be wed, sign up for it. If a group of men catch a woman, they get to keep her.”

My eyes practically bug out of my head. “What, like she’s some prize to be won?”

“Women sign up for this willingly. It’s not easy to win, there are hundreds of men who participate. To win means you would be the strongest, fastest and smartest of the bunch.”

And most dangerous .

“Well, I’m glad I don’t have to participate in anything like that. The tournament was crazy enough for me.”

“Me too,” Arrow says, placing his arm around my shoulder and pulling me to his side. “Now we just have to decide where to live.”

“I didn’t realize we had options.”

“Freya said we could live at her family’s castle…”

“Where they tried to kill me with a curse? No thanks!”

“Yeah, we crossed that one off our list, too,” Blaze says. “We could stay here, we’d live in your suite.”

I wrinkle my nose. “It doesn’t feel like ours.”

“The other option is we could just travel around, see if we find a place or a piece of land we like, and build something on it.”

“The kings and queen won’t force me to stay here?” I ask, hopefully.

“No. They already told us that since you aren’t going to be ruling, your brothers will, you don’t need to stay here. But they’d like us to stay close.”

“I guess we get to go house shopping, then!” I say with excitement.

Arrow laughs as we continue our stroll.

I think back to how everything started, whining to Ari after getting fired by my matchmaker. I never thought I’d meet anyone who could fill all my crazy needs, nor did I think I could be with someone without fitting them into a preconceived category.

Ranger might have dom tendencies, but he was so much more than that. Just like Arrow was more than a golden retriever, Blaze was more than a cinnamon roll, and Draven was more than a bad boy.

Those were just some of their traits. What really mattered was how they made me feel, how they treated me. Even when tensions were high and they were trying to do the right thing by staying away from me, they always treated me with kindness, devotion, and tenderness.

They are each unique in their own way.

And they are just… mine.