Page 9

I looked at him, and if the situation hadn’t been so serious I might have laughed.

“You know, old friend, you’re starting to sound like a snob.

” I turned and went to the river, where I knelt and splashed water on my face.

It was cool against my flushed skin, and I released a pleasured sigh as I patted it down my neck.

“It’s a terrible idea to stay on this side of the Covenant,” Helios muttered, drifting to my side. His body cast a small, bright circle on the darkened ground.

I rolled up my sleeves. “I don’t have a choice. I have no money and no magic. And I can’t ignore the Dokimasi.”

Helios frowned. “Maybe we should return to Lum Laras. You can rest in the palace and start over.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t work that way. Besides, what would people say if I showed up without the sunstone? The entire kingdom is counting on me.” As his frown deepened, I stood. “The Dokimasi led me to Andulum, and this is where I have to stay.”

His small chest expanded as he sighed. “Fine, but does it have to be with them?”

“They’re human. At the very least, they can help me navigate the human world.” I gazed around at the trees. “I don’t know much about this place.”

Helios huffed. “I’m not sure they do, either.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “Maybe not, but they know more than we do. And right now, they’re all I’ve got.”

He was quiet a moment. Then a determined look settled over his features. “I’ll be watching them every second.”

Rising from my crouch, I nudged his spectacles higher on his nose. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

A half hour later, Helios and I returned to camp to find Dain and Nikolas stretched on separate beds of ferns. As I picked my way toward the fire, Nikolas lifted his head and pointed to a third bed.

“You’re there, my lady.”

The title put heat in my cheeks. Correcting him risked opening doors I wasn’t certain how to close, so I murmured my thanks and stretched on the ground.

The ferns were dry and surprisingly soft, and it wasn’t long before sleep tugged at my eyelids. The Dokimasi was a low hum in my chest, and I couldn’t resist slanting a look in Dain’s direction.

He lay on his back, his thick fingers folded over his broad chest and his lashes against his cheeks. Somehow, I knew he wasn’t sleeping.

Whatever connection bound us together, I’d unravel it in the morning. Turning onto my side, I pulled my cloak over me and let sleep tug me into its arms.

The next time I opened my eyes, the fire was nothing more than a few glowing embers. Moonlight flooded the campsite. Stars winked in the sky.

And Nikolas and Dain were gone.

I bolted upright, my cloak puddling at my waist. Helios slept propped against a tree, his chin on his chest and a soft snore rumbling from his nose. Like the sun, he wouldn’t rise until daybreak.

Panic gripped me as I stared at the sky, trying to gauge the time. Why would Dain and Nikolas just leave ? Where could they have gone? Instinctively, I patted my bodice for my coin purse, only to remember the villagers had stolen it.

And now two other thieves had left me stranded in a strange, human forest. Helios was right.

I’d been stupid to trust the men. And now I was alone in Saldu Kuum.

For all I knew, Nikolas and Dain were working with the villagers just like the sheriff.

They were probably on their way back to the clearing to fetch?—

The sound of splashing water halted my runaway thoughts. I peered into the shadowed forest, straining for more sounds.

There. The low rumble of male voices, followed by more splashing. A soft chuckle.

Curiosity—and something else I didn’t want to acknowledge—pulled me to my feet. With a final glance at Helios, I gathered my skirts and crept through the trees, careful to move as soundlessly as possible.

A few moments later, I paused behind a thick stand of trees a dozen steps from the riverbank. My breath caught—and it wasn’t because of the striking landscape.

No, the striking part was the two nude men standing in the river. They faced away, the water reaching to their knees, which gave me a clear view of their thick, powerful thighs and round buttocks.

Dain’s hair was unbound, the wet mass reaching the center of his back. He bent forward, splashing water over his arms and chest, and his heavy sack and thick penis dangled between his thighs.

I clapped a hasty hand over my mouth. Turn around , a little voice in my head urged. I had to turn around and go back to camp. This was a private moment, and it was wrong to watch.

But my feet didn’t move. My heart galloped like an unbroken horse as I leaned forward, fixated on the men.

Nikolas angled his body toward Dain, his elegant nose and firm jaw in profile.

Moonlight silvered the water droplets clinging to his chest, making them glitter like stars against his skin.

He was leaner than Dain but no less powerful, his biceps flexing as he ran his hands through his wet hair.

A bead of moisture traveled a slow path down his stomach.

I followed it, digging my teeth into my bottom lip as the droplet bumped over the ridges of his abs. It disappeared in the thatch of tight, dark curls above his dick.

Don’t look lower , the little voice—which sounded a lot like Helios—said in my mind.

I looked—and froze at the size of him. His shaft was long and thick, the surface traced with veins visible even with the distance between us.

“Want me to help you wash your hair?” Nikolas said, one corner of his mouth quirking in a grin.

Dain stooped and sent a handful of water toward Nikolas. “And get my scalp ripped off? No thanks.”

Nikolas dodged the spray with a deep chuckle. “That’s not what you said last time. I believe your exact words were magic fingers .”

“I was being polite,” Dain said, but his tone was warm. He faced Nikolas, and the two of them drifted closer, water lapping around their knees.

A tingling awareness settled over me as I looked between them. They were friends…right?

Nikolas rubbed a big hand over his mouth, the edges of his smile peeking around his palm. But the look in his eyes was anything but amused as he ran his gaze down Dain’s body. “I thought you appreciated a firm hand.”

Dain snorted, and his cock bobbed as he lifted his arms and wrung water from his hair. A single drop of river water clung to the tip of his rounded shaft. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.” Nikolas moved forward until they were nearly chest to chest. “Turn around,” he said huskily. “I’ll be gentle this time.”

My pulse quickened, and I pressed my hand harder over my mouth. They were both hard, their dicks straining.

Straining toward each other . Nikolas wasn’t talking about washing Dain’s hair.

Dain seized Nikolas’s hips and yanked Nikolas into him. Their cocks met, and they hissed in unison. Dain’s ass flexed as he ground his dick against Nikolas’s. “You think you’re getting my ass tonight?”

A wicked grin split Nikolas’s face. “I know I am.” He slid a hand into Dain’s hair and yanked his head back, exposing the taut column of Dain’s throat.

“Unless you plan to stop me. But we both know you won’t do that, will you?

” Nikolas ran his free hand around Dain’s hip to one muscular cheek.

He slipped his fingers into Dain’s crease, and Dain grunted, his throat glistening in the moonlight.

“Bastard,” Dain rasped, his lashes fluttering as Nikolas did something between his cheeks.

My face flamed hotter than the campfire. Hotter than any solar magic I’d produced. I had to leave. I had to turn around and march straight back to the camp.

Instead, I stood frozen as Nikolas lowered his mouth to Dain’s neck, his white teeth flashing as he scraped them down the tendon that stood out from under Dain’s skin.

“Your bastard,” Nikolas corrected, swirling his tongue over the hollow of Dain’s throat.

He slid his hand deeper into Dain’s cleft, and Dain gave a low, masculine whimper.

They worked their hips against each other, their shafts sliding together in a sultry rhythm that sent heat spiraling through me.

Nikolas bit at Dain’s jaw, a growl rumbling from his chest. “That’s it. Open up for me.”

Dain moaned, his eyes sliding shut as Nikolas worked his hand deeper. I couldn’t see exactly what Nikolas was doing, but I didn’t need to. Relationships between men were common and readily accepted in the Summer Court. From what I knew of Saldu Kuum, the human kingdom was the same.

But it was still wrong to watch something I wasn’t supposed to see. I had to leave, except I couldn’t make myself turn away.

Dain shuddered, his thighs trembling. “Fuck,” he gasped, rocking his hips.

“That’s it,” Nikolas murmured, watching Dain’s face with bright eyes. “A little more. Let me in.”

Dain’s mouth fell open in a silent gasp as he pushed back against Nikolas’s hand. Water darkened his hair to the color of old coins, the long strands sticking to his back.

My nostrils flared above my palm—the same palm Dain had healed. The Dokimasi was silent now, as if the magic knew it couldn’t urge me toward Dain. Not when he was…occupied.

“Now,” Dain growled, tipping his head down. He whipped a hand up and gripped Nikolas’s nape. “Enough games. Either fuck me or turn around.”

Laughing, Nikolas pulled his hand from Dain’s cleft, then spun him toward the riverbank and slapped Dain’s ass. “Hurry up, then.”

They stumbled to shore, sending water flying in their haste to leave the river.

My throat went dry as their cocks swung and muscle rippled under their skin.

Dain went to his hands and knees on the grass, his body parallel to the river.

For the first time, I noticed the men’s clothing on the riverbank.

One set was folded in a neat pile. The other was strewn on the ground like its owner had flung it aside the moment he removed it.

I didn’t need to ask who the second set belonged to.

Nikolas.