Page 162 of Settle Down, Princess

“You want…?” Silas blinked like a swimmer just emerging from under the water’s surface. “You want me to…?”

“If the plans go awry and I’m brought to the king’s bed, I won’t go untouched.” I snapped that out like a dog might. “I won’t. He doesn’t have the required skills, the reverence.” My head tilted to one side. “But you do, don’t you?”

“Jess.” His hands went to my face, thumbs stroking my cheeks. “We can’t come back from this.”

“Good.”

“I’ll do my best, but it’ll still hurt.”

“You know something about that, don’t you?” My eyebrow rose as I stared into his eyes. “How to make it hurt so good?”

“We do.”

We both turned aside to see Arik crouched beside us but not for long. He moved to slot his body back against mine, directing my attention back to Silas as his hands began to roam. Those calluses on his palm reminded me I had a body as he traced the shape of my stomach, my waist, and then the swell of my ribcage before his hand fitted itself to my neck and then tilted my head back. Blue eyes met blue eyes, a challenge clear in his, right as he snorted and shook his head.

“I know what you want, to snatch something for yourself. I’ve done it myself more times than I can count, so I won’t try to stop you, but… Jessalyn, there’s no coming back from this. If we fail… If you’re inspected…”

“Then I’ll go to the scaffold happily,” I said, grinning then. “Better that than to the king’s bed. He can lop my head off himself and I’ll look him in the eye and smile as he does so.”

“Reckless girl…”

I wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a compliment and I didn’t get to decide. Arik kissed me then, hard and searing in the only way he seemed to know how, but this time I met him kiss for kiss, matching his energy. My lips throbbed and my chest heaved when he finally let me go, allowing Roan to take his place.

“Got any of that for me?” he asked, the cocky way he smiled forcing me to laugh, but both our smiles faded as I leaned in. A gentle kiss at first, then a much deeper one, parting me, opening me up for him.

For them.

“So, are you ready to commit treason with me?” I asked, looking at each one of them in turn.

As if there was ever any doubt.

“It’s a very specific pleasure only a few get to experience,” Arik purred as his hand covered my breast. I had nothing smart to say about that, sharp pleasure spiking through me as his fingers closed around the nipple, tugging it slowly so I felt every nerve ending begin to prickle. “But it can be quite diverting. What say you, gentleman? Our queen has made us an offer.”

“Yes.” I smiled as each one of them said the one word I needed to hear most. “Yes.”

Chapter 93

Arik

Why did I lead Jessalyn down to the stews when we first met? Why didn’t I return her to her father’s care? Why didn’t I tell her who I was, or my band who she was? I was never one for introspection, but I knew this. I tried my damndest to stay ahead of everyone, to keep us dancing out of my brother’s reach, but sometimes, just sometimes, the same zeal that had a younger version of myself considering waging a civil war against my brother came through. So in some ways this moment? It felt like we’d been walking towards it since the moment we met.

Roseblood hadn’t dulled my senses that night, but made clear how well she fit against my body, how perfect she felt in my hands. There wasn’t a single thing that was reticent about Jessalyn, I’d been surprised about that then as well as now. But that little gasp, the way she arched up into my touch, I knew then that despite Roan’s concerns, she had it right.

Magnus would never earn the right to touch a single inch of Jessalyn.

I wasn’t either and that’s why I treasured the way her breast filled my hands, the way her nipples tightened between my fingers. I was well used to grabbing what pleasures I found with both hands, but each time, they felt like they would be stolen away from me the moment I got them, so perhaps that’s why my head dropped down. Feeling her moans vibrating in her throat as I kissed her there, but a sharp intake of her breath had my eyes flicking open.

Roan had pulled away from kissing her, his fingers disappearing between her legs to strum at her pearl, but it was Silas who made her stiffen. The way his arm worked made clear what he was doing.

“Is Silas opening you up, lass?” Her reply was nothing more than a thready moan, a slight hitch to her breath, the frown forming making clear what was happening. “It might be a strange thing, feeling something delve inside you.” She disproved that, her groan going guttural, her thighs spreading wider. “Or perhaps you’re discovering something you’ve always known.”

My hand slid lower, caressing the slight curve of her stomach and feeling the muscles flex there.

“There’s a secret place inside you that came alive that night in the stews.” Her eyes flicked open to meet mine, but her gaze was unfocused. “One that has ached for something since that night, something only we can give you.” When I nodded, she did the same blindly, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip, her cheeks glowing in the lamplight. “But that changes tonight. Silas, another finger.”

“But she—”

“Another,” I insisted, hearing her hiss as he withdrew his hand, then went to push more fingers inside. “That’s what you want, don’t you? To have that aching emptiness filled.”

---