Page 23

Lonan

O leander glares at Kai, the annoyance clear on her face even with the mask.

I slip my body between them, placing a hand on Kai’s chest and one on Ollie’s face. I feel Kai tense up at my public affection. I’ll work on that with him later. Hopefully by shoving my tongue in his mouth on the dance floor.

“What are you upset about, sweetheart?” I ask quietly, as I slip my hand around her waist. She sways into me easily, comfortably, and I thank the Gods for it. I’m so pleased that my little mate is becoming accustomed to my touch.

“Not upset,” she says quietly, sliding around so that she’s between us again. We start to walk amongst the booths. “Just... suspicious. How are you both so able to feel my emotions when we have not accepted the bonds yet?”

We weave through folks in various stages of drunkenness and undress.

I make a noise. “I don’t know. Perhaps the powers that be are forcing the situation.”

She laughs. “You think the Lord and Lady care enough to push on the scales of fate?”

I level a look at her. “Mayhap.” I clear my throat nervously. There is something I need to tell Ollie and I have the feeling delaying it will further annoy her. “Sweetheart, I did something. And I realized after, that I should have spoken to you about first.”

She frowns, eyes going between us as she swallows a bite of pie.

I continue, “I’m not yet accustomed to ruling with anyone, so I gave the order to Korben without thinking about getting your opinion.”

Ollie makes a very displeased noise and I see Kai rub her back again. He stays silent though, the traitor.

“You were sleeping off the effects of your cycle and—”

“Spit it the fuck out, Lonan,” she quietly says.

I take a deep breath. “I, uh, ordered some of Alder’s closest friends murdered.”

Ollie makes a noise in the back of her throat and I solider on. “I wanted to remind him who he was fucking with. This situation at Squall’s End.” I shake my head. “It’s unacceptable and I can’t just attack the men he has surrounding the city.”

I cringe, waiting for her to be upset that I didn’t consult with her, that I even perhaps ordered the death of some folks she might care about.

Her coral eyes study me. Finally, she shrugs. “Kill ‘em all.” And she forks another bite of pie into her mouth as she turns.

Well, that went better than expected. Kai tosses me a look over her head. Yeah, we need to get more about her past out of her. I nod to him.

“Come dance,” Kai says, rather surprisingly, holding out his hand to Ollie. She grins and takes it. I cross to a pole and lean back, watching my mates dance with nothing but overwhelming joy inside me. They move well together. Not surprising.

“Commander.”

I straighten even though it’s only Lilac.

She continues, “So, it’s public knowledge, then?”

I just nod and Lilac grunts. “I suppose she seems nice enough. Her head doesn’t seem to be full of fluff, like most women you bed.”

I chuckle at her correct assessment.

Kai leads Ollie back to me and she greets Lilac.

“You’re summer, Kai is fall, and Lonan is spring, but you have no winter,” Lilac says, obviously trying for polite small talk, which is a good sign she doesn’t hate Ollie.

Ollie’s face falls, her gaze turning inward. Remembering something. I frown.

“Come, sweetheart, it’s my turn,” I purr, holding out my hand. She smiles and takes it.

I lead her on the dance floor just as the music changes to a reel. She laughs and we line up the rest of the dancers. She’s across from me but as the dance starts we all change partners, laughing and teasing and having a wonderful time. When Ollie makes it back to me, breathless, she says, “Quick! Let’s escape before another starts!” and giggles.

I sweep her off the dance floor but Kai takes her hand and tugs her back. I watch, grinning, as they share another dance.

We dance and eat, and I make out with both my mates to varying degrees of publicness. But as the evening wears on, I take Ollie’s hand. “Come, sweetheart.”

I nudge Kai, who is finishing a beer and I lead them around the keep. The leaves have turned more red and yellow and it complements Kai perfectly. He follows behind us, keeping an eye out. Even though our Keep is secure and we’re surrounded by friends, Kai is on alert, keeping us secure. It makes me even more devoted to him. I lead us down the path where Ollie caught Kai spying on us.

As we enter the little open glade, I turn to her. “So, sweetheart, how did you sense Kai that day?”

She giggles, relaxed and happy. “The mother trees told me.”

Kai cocks his head even as he wraps his arms around her from behind in the dim light. “They speak to you?”

She shrugs, “Kind of. It’s more... ideas. And their sense of time is different so information is often late or hard to tell when it happened.” She smiles fondly, as if speaking of an old friend.

She leans back, melting into Kai. He starts a small fire in the fire pit without taking his ardent eyes off our mate.

“Oleander,” I hesitate, a little concerned I might ruin her good mood. “What... what is your power?”

She turns in Kai’s arms, kissing him deeply. “I’d rather talk about your cocks,” she purrs.

Kai grumbles, holding her at arm’s length and her face goes pouty.

“Perhaps you’d rather speak of what happened when you were a faeling?” He raises his eyebrows.

She huffs. “You two are awful.” She crosses to one of the log benches and sits. Her eyes take us in on the other side of the fire.

I drop to my knees and grin at her. “Your pick, princess. Tell us about one, and after, we’ll talk about your pleasure.”

Kai smirks and eases to his knees next to me.

Ollie licks her lips but crosses her arms over her chest, looking smaller.

I watch her chest rise and fall, and, eyes locked on the fire she says, “I’m a Toxa.”

I freeze, sure I misheard. She looks so lost and alone. She continues, “Alder knew. He’s much older than me, was near an adult when I was born. He took control of me as soon as he could, that is after our father and him killed all the Gaeba, and then he killed our father. My mother disappeared, as did my maid. I was sixteen. He told me later that he killed everyone that had knowledge of me. He locked me up, under the castle.” Her voice is mechanical and her eyes are locked on the fire, far away. “He and some of his advisors...” Her voice breaks, and instantly Kai and I are at her side. I pull her into my lap as Kai presses himself to her back.

She sniffs but before I can say anything she continues, “They experimented on me. Tried to reproduce the poisons I can produce. They... did worse things.”

The rage I feel from Kai is strong enough that it hurts, his heat pressing into me. I flick him a look to get it under control.

Ollie whispers, brokenly, “I didn’t touch grass again until I was twenty-five. I... I had to learn to control my magic on my own.”

It had to have been fucking miserable. Learning to control your magic, as a strong user, was hard in the best of times, what with puberty hormones raging, let alone locked up in a fucking cage without a teacher. Fuck.

“They used my poisons to kill Lennox, my only older brother left alive. And...” a sob escapes her and I cup her head, tucking her against me tightly, “The babes. My father had sired them all within a year of taking the throne, before Alder killed him.” She lets out a sardonic laugh, “Well, probably not Alder himself. He never did like getting his hands dirty.”

The air around us crackles, static getting it, now that I’ve sucked all the water out of it. I take a breath, trying to control myself. Control my anger. I look up, expecting Kai to be similarly struggling, but tears well in his eyes for a moment before my magic drinks them down.

She snuggles into our touches and is silent. For a long time, we stare at the fire and let our nearness be a comfort. The fire crackles merrily and occasionally we catch the sound of music drifting in from the Festival.

Finally, Ollie stirs on my lap. “You told me you’d see to my pleasure,” she says softly.

I purr, letting my hand drop to her thigh. “If you’re still in the mood, yes.”

She laughs quietly, “I’m rather always in the mood.”

Both Kai and I groan at that.

He asks, “Is that pretty little pussy of mine already wet for us, baby?”

She grins and pushes off my lap, standing with her legs spread. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

“Fuck,” I breathe, sliding off the log to kneel at one of her legs. Kai does similar and our hands drop under her skirts. We slowly slide our palms up her legs. Kai moves a little faster than me.

He growls, “Naughty little mate, no panties.”

Ollie wiggles and Kai moans, his face against her hip.

“She’s dripping Lo,” he whispers thickly.

“Let me feel,” I retort, but his hand doesn’t move. I feel gingerly around and discover he has two of his thick fingers inside her. I grin.

“You asked what our cocks would feel like. Did you enjoy Kai’s earlier?”

She whimpers, “Yes. And I feel so miserably empty without it.”

We both groan and I work my hand next to Kai’s. “Take this, sweetheart. Not quite the same, but it’ll help.” I press two of my fingers inside her along side Kai’s.

She gasps, hips pressing forward. “Oh, fuck, that’s good,” she whispers.

He grabs her emerald green skirts and raises them. “Lick her clit, Lo. Help her cum in our hands.”

She moans, hips shift and I feel her grip our fingers. I lean in and she spreads more, rolling her thighs out a bit. I dive into her cunt, kissing and turning my head back and forth a bit to get to her clit.

She cries out as I nip it. I lathe it with my tongue quickly in case it stung too much and she purrs.

“Alright now, baby, you’re gonna cum for us. I want your pleasure to soak us,” he pauses, a thought hitting him. “Do you squirt, Ollie?”

She shakes her head, “I’ve never.”

The sound he makes is thoughtful, “We’ll have to work on that, princess.”

I work her clit harder and she squeaks. I feel Kai’s fingers curl, aiming for the thick pleasure spot inside her. She looks down, her green mask glinting in the fire light. She looks feral, wild, beautiful.

“Cum for us, cum in our hands like a good girl. Like our needy little mate who needs her pussy taken care of by us every day. Do we need to start making you kneel and finger fucking this little cunt every morning?”

Ollie’s breathing is fast and I can feel her tense. I lick her harder, rhythm steady as she approaches the edge quickly.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, so good, don’t stop,” she gasps. Kai chuckles and I know he’s now planning a future edging session. But we don’t, we continue as Oleander takes her pleasure from our bodies. She screams, clenching down hard. Kai catches her as she loses her balance. We both gently pull our fingers out of her as I lean back and wipe my face. Kai eases her to the log next to us.

“The mouth on you, Kai,” she says weakly and we both chuckle.

She looks to me, “And you, Lo.”

“Mmm, sweetheart, I love making you cum. I’m more than happy to do as Kai suggested and make sure you get off as often as you want. But...” I pause, there’s no polite way to ask this. “I’m dying for you to suck me off.”

She raises an eyebrow as she checks her hair and mask.

“I told you, I’m giving you consequences for letting that Ordained lick me.”

I blink, stunned, but Kai manages to ask, “What consequences?”

“I’m not sucking your cocks until I’m no longer mad about it.” She shrugs. “Suck each other off if you need it.” She smirks before turning and heading back to the festival.

“Well, fuck,” I grumble, rubbing my aching dick over my pants. We both stand, brushing off.

“We need to add a healer to our inner circle,” I say to Kai.

He nods, agreeable, but asks, “Why?”

“Because I want Alder yanked from the peaceful oblivion that is death multiple times before I let it take him.”