Page 69 of Gemini Wicked

He hasn’t really talked to me, he hasn’t made any move to kiss me, and God knows I’m not initiating that shit.

I’m half pissed, half worried, and increasingly suspicious over everything Mr. Taciturn over there isn’t saying.

Zephyr’s cool gaze drifts over my wary huddle, pauses over my various private parts all covered up thanks to my mounting suspicions, then narrows on my guarded face.

I tilt my head and give him a look. “Okay, Your Radiance. Time to spill.”

Nothing.

Nofuckingthing.

Of course.

“Look,” I say through gritted teeth. “If you’re thinking about pulling that cat-got-your-tongue uncommunicative act again, now is not the time. You and Ash were supposed to follow me right back here. Instead you’ve been MIA for weeks. What aren’t you telling us?”

A small sigh whispers past his tight lips.

Then he places my crown delicately on my desk, right over my half-written essay for History of Witchcraft class, and flexes his green-and-gold gauntlets in a way that hints at all that tension he’s carrying.

“The curse is well and truly broken, Zarina Selene Gemini,” he murmurs, so quiet I need my special shifty senses to hear. “Despite the fact you are not crowned queen on the Avalon throne. Still, my late mother’s faction is… dangerously discontent. They tried to proclaim this one—my moon-cursed cousin Lothian—to be king in my place.”

With his booted toe, he gives Cousin Lothian’s severed head on my desk a dismissive nudge. “Well. He’ll rule among the rats and the carrion crows.”

“Dude.” Neo pushes his glasses up his nose, scoots up to sit next to me, and looks scandalized. “Are you telling us you killed your own cousin? That’s messed up.”

Zephyr knows Neo and likes him, so he spares my bookworm a narrow grin that shows a sliver of sexy fang.

“He’s only a second cousin.” Zephyr gives a shrug that makes his supple dragonscale glitter. “Regrettably, he has a twin—Mordred—who is by far the more troublesome of the two. That one is still breathing. The rebels’ treasonous hopes must now shift to him.”

“Ooh, translation: trouble in paradise,” Vasili says, so coyly even I wanna slap him. “Truly, darling, what a shame.”

My fingers drum an impatient tattoo on my bent knees. “And someone broke your scrying mirror too, I guess, huh?”

Zephyr’s gaze shifts to Ronin, who’s knotting his fists in the sheets, and turns even more inscrutable. “I’m not a demon to be summoned with a magical word.”

(Wait, are there demons? Or was that, like, a figure of speech?)

“That’s pretty fucking obvi, isn’t it, mate?” Ronin slants him a sullen look.

Abruptly Zephyr lowers his booted legs and flows to his feet, with that eerie grace all Fae possess. He’s not tall, he’s literally my height and I’m petite. But he manages to command the room without effort like the Dark Fae King he is.

The Fae prowls toward our bed with a deliberate intent that makes Max growl and even Lucius bristle, though my headmaster tamps that shit right down and signals Max with a subtle gesture to hold his peace.

While Lucius lingers anxiously nearby, Zephyr halts beside the bed and levels his broody stare into my cautious gaze.

Now that he’s close enough to touch (if I wanted that) his rich perfume of burnt amber and sun-warmed dragonscale makes my inner dragon purr with interest.

I pull in a long breath and let my gaze drift over him. My chest swells with a powerful longing. A longing to bridge the awkward gap these long awful weeks of silence and distance have opened between us.

To make him mine again.

I know exactly how sleek and supple that green dragonscale would feel if I slid a hand down the hard plane of his chest. I know exactly how he would feel underneath if I caressed the tight flexing ripple of his abs. I know exactly how his eye would narrow and his breath would hitch if I leaned forward to graze the bulge of his codpiece with my lips—

“I am here now, am I not?” he says softly. My gaze veers from his codpiece to his smoldering face. “Zara the Moon-Blessed, Queen of Dragons, Lady of Lightning. The unrest in Avalon will subside once I have crowned my wild Gemini queen. I brought you my cousin’s head as a bridal gift.”

My heart jumps so hard it lodges in my throat. Dragonflies cartwheel through my tummy. Heat races into my face and a complex tangle of emotion crowds my chest.

He’s still claiming me then.

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