Page 22

Before Nickolai could reply, Rebecca hurried back into the room with a flat clear disc in her hand. “Here it is.”

My lips pulled down into a frown at the disc and the interruption. “That’s a tracker?”

“Yes,” she breathed heavily as if she had run to get back to me. “It’s magically undetectable so you wouldn’t have even noticed it unless you knew what to look for.”

She held it out to me to inspect. “I suggest we destroy it though, I suppose the queen is out of the bag so to speak.” Rebecca’s eyes swept across our guests with a haughty air.

Blake snorted. “I do not know if it is a relief that the woman we knew as Rebecca is a fake or to be worried that you were able to fool us so easily.”

“You got that right,” Luke jumped in, eagerness making his hair bounce slightly. “When Gage said you had Eva, we were completely blown away. I couldn’t believe it. None of us could. Like, of all the people in all the world, you would have been the last person we would think was hiding our Eva.”

My heart warmed and sank down to my toes at how easily he claimed me as theirs. “Believe me,” I murmured, letting my appreciation for the woman who saved me flow through my eyes, “it was a surprise to me too.”

Rebecca ducked her head to me. “Should I?”

I waved a hand for her to go on.

The disc dropped to the ground and met with the heel of Rebecca’s stiletto. A small crack filled the air and then the disc was destroyed.

“Well, that’s covered. No one else will be able to use it to find you. You’ll have to figure out what to do about them,” Rebecca tossed a hand at our guests, “and the others know about us. Perhaps we should move?”

I leveled a look at the mages who had done more than save my life. They had filled it with more than just revenge. “No, I think we can stay. They won’t tell.”

The amount of love that came barreling at me from all three of them almost knocked me out of my seat. I hadn’t said the words but I felt them. Was it nice to get a big declaration of love? Yes. However, just them being here, showing up for me, said far more than words ever could.

“Before we get into what Sentinel Nickolai thinks you should–” Zane began, pulling his glasses off to clean them.

“Call me Nick. Nickolai is so formal.” The council member crossed his leg over one side, leaning back in his chair. “If we’re going to start a rebellion, I think we can at least drop the formalities.”

My lips twitched. “A rebellion, huh? Alright, Nick. Zane?” His name came out of my mouth like a prayer, like a plea for him to forgive me.

“Nickol— Nick.” Zane cleared his throat. “Would you and Rebecca give us a moment alone?”

Rebecca exchanged a look with me and then gestured to the council member. “Have you seen my garden, Nick? It’s absolutely breathtaking.”

She looped her arm through Nick’s and led him out of the house, leaving me alone with the three mages who had found a place in my heart.

“Eva.” Zane took up the chair Nick had vacated, placing him close enough to reach out to touch my hands. “About what happened last night and, I suppose, the other day as well...”

“Look, Zane.” I sighed, slipping my hands out from his. “I don’t know what Gage told you—”

His lips curled up into a wicked grin. It startled me enough that I searched his gaze for the telltale signs of the demon in his eyes. Except only Zane looked back at me.

“Gage didn’t have to tell me what happened, Eva.” His tongue swiped out across his lips and my face heated at the implications. “I could taste you on my tongue. I just wanted you to know I’m not mad.”

I arched a brow and glanced over at the twins. Who only watched in silence. “You’re not? But I used you to get to your demon.”

Zane chuckled. “Yes, you did. And initially, I was angry. Only because you were putting yourself in danger.”

“I wasn’t in danger. I can handle him .”

The smirk on Zane’s mouth made me want to kiss him. “Yes, I gathered that. In fact, it seems the demon is quite taken with you. He hasn’t acted up ever since that time in the chapel. If anything, he keeps pushing me to see you.” He angled his head to the side, letting his hair fall partially over his face.

“Oh,” I breathed. “Oh!”

The demon in Zane hadn’t seemed too upset that I called upon him last night. Now, after what Zane had just said, it made more sense that he hadn’t tried to give me as much grief as before. It definitely tipped the scale in my favor to know the demon actually wanted me.

“Eva.” Zane scooched forward in his seat, his knees bumping against mine. “You have no idea how much relief you have given me.”

I stared at him.

“I’ve been terrified the demon would come out and hurt you or worse.” His fingers rough against mine, stroked along my knuckles. “I’ve always held myself back from getting close to anyone because of the demon. You have dashed all those worries and fears away in a span of a few days. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. And as far as taking advantage of me...” he smirked, side-eyeing the twins. “You have my full permission to use whatever part of me you want as long as it keeps that demon happy and off my case.”

“But...” I stopped, opening and closing my mouth, getting myself together. “I don’t understand. I was using you to get information about the council. Doesn’t that bother you?”

Zane shrugged. “You didn’t have to fuck me to get the demon on your side and yet you did. That means something doesn’t it?”

I licked my lips, the sound of the prim and proper cleric saying fuck, made my insides twist in delight. “He told me... that you were in love with me?”

The fear that welled up in me. Hearing the demon say it was one thing. Actually, hearing Zane say it was another.

Zane cupped my face between his hands, his eyes peering into mine. “Eva, I love you. It may be too fast for others. But not for me. I love the sweet shy Eva. The one who kissed me in the kitchen and blushed furiously about it.”

I giggled slightly.

“And I love this version of you. This confident ‘takes what she wants, fighting for those who can’t’ version. The version who literally battled my demon for me.”

Blake snorted.

I gave him a curious frown.

“I don’t know if letting him bed me counts as battling him.”

Zane grinned that wicked smile of his.

“And,” Luke interrupted before Zane could go on, “not to piggyback off of Zane’s confession, but... Blake and I... well...” his face turned beat red, his golden eyes blinking up shyly at me. “We love you too.”

My eyes locked with Blake’s single golden one.

Blake didn’t shy away from the full force of my stare. He nodded. The only confirmation that what his twin said was true.

Well, it wasn’t a declaration like Zane’s, but it did answer some questions that had been bothering me. If the old me had known that one day not one, but three, mages loved me, I think that she might destroy everything in sight.

Standing, I moved into Zane’s grasp, sliding into his lap, my arms around his neck as I peered down at him. My mouth brushed against his pursed ones. “I love you, Zane.”

Zane pinched my chin between his fingers and deepened the kiss. His tongue stroked and folded with mine until my body heated and I squirmed. Too soon the kiss was over.

I swept out of his lap and moved around the table. My hand curled into Blake’s hair, tipping his head back to me until my lips found his. Blake nipped and bit my lips until my knees grew weak.

“I love you, Blake.” I breathed against his lips.

Before I barely moved away from Blake, I was jerked by my dress and landed in Luke’s lap. I laughed, my hands on his chest. “Well, hello.”

Luke wrapped an arm around my waist, cupping my face before devouring my lips. My hands delved into his hair, holding him close, my body catching on fire as it molded against his chest.

Zane cleared his throat, chuckling.

Breathless, I pulled away from Luke. My lips were swollen and sore. “I definitely love you.”

Luke squeezed me closer with a dark chuckle, the aftereffects of our kiss evident against my butt. I wiggled against it slightly. Luke groaned, filling me with a feminine satisfaction.

“This isn’t going to start being a competition between who loves me more, now is it?” I glanced between them barely restraining the lust in my face. “Because I would be okay with that.”

The male laughter that followed made my heart swell. This moment was perfect. Or almost perfect. I tried not to let the disappointment of who was missing ruin this moment.

“Now, that we have that settled.” I shifted to move out of Luke’s lap, but he held me tight. “You’re going to have to let me go eventually.”

Luke’s boyish grin was contagious. “Not if I can help it.”

“Yes, well, it won’t look too queenly, me sitting in your lap when talking to Nick, who’s coming this way with Rebecca.” I pointed toward the open patio door.

His hands smoothed up and down my back, his other hand creeping up my exposed leg.

I grinned, pushing his hand away as I stood. “Stop that.”

Rebecca arched a brow at me, taking in my disheveled form.

I ignored her and focused on the council member that could be the very turning point of this battle.

“Eva,” Nick began and paused, a quizzical look on his face. “Or do you prefer Your Majesty?”

I waved him off. “Either is fine. Please have a seat, and we can talk all about our revolution.”