Page 119 of Gemini Wicked

At least, that’s the way she’s been with all us guys. She falls in love like a woman falling off a cliff.

But we’re always there to catch her.

Lucius lowers his briefcase and satchel to the floor and studies the endless rows of fascinating-looking books lining the king’s den with wistful eyes.

Then my headmaster turns away from all that literary temptation with a determined sigh. “We’ll gladly assist you in the search for Asher Aurelius, Your Radiance. Only I’m not certain how much help those of us who are new to Avalon will be in locating your lost prince—”

“No point searching for Ash in Avalon.” Zephyr gives an impatient headshake and rushes over to a bookcase, where he starts scanning the titles on the spines like all our lives depend on it.

Vasili sneers horribly at our host’s averted back, then strolls over to the desk and drops into the ornate royal chair parked behind it (which is clearly some kind of throne and not where he’s supposed to be sitting). Totally undaunted, V drapes his long legs in his glitter jeans across the desk and props his combat boots with their violet soles right on a pile of important-looking papers.

“Well, if we’re not going to bother searching for the winged wonder,” V says coolly, examining his black-painted fingernails, “I could use a manicure before tomorrow’s Ball. My cuticles are getting ragged. Does this kingdom of yours have a beauty salon? Or better yet, a day spa?”

“No. But if Ash is missing, I know where to find him.” Zephyr drags a massive brass-bound book off the shelf with a soft exclamation, rushes over to thunk it down on the desk, then gives V’s elegant sprawl a narrow look. “That chair is an Unseelie relic and a royal throne, Vasili Romanov. It is rightly mine.”

“Apparently, I’m the Unseelie King’s consort.” Vasili frowns over his fingernails. “If you don’t want me sitting in this chair, darling, where exactly do you want me?”

Ronin’s drifted over to check out the massive orrery suspended from the ceiling that dominates the back corner. There’s even a little staircase with a landing he’s climbed to get a better look at a ringed planet. The moons and plants in that orrery are actually revolving around a bronze sun, and the whole fascinating assemblage definitely draws the eye.

But Ronin looks away from that so he can eyeball the unfolding Goblin King vs. Unseelie King dynamic. In a few seconds, it’ll be like Godzilla vs. Mothra in here (I mean, if the monsters fucked while they fought).

Ronin snickers into the suddenly loaded silence.

I guess I’m not the only one who noticed the way Zephyr was ogling V in his black lace panties back at the lighthouse.

Zephyr’s been flipping through the big illustrated book and poring over the heavy volume in a barely controlled frenzy. He’s in such a rush I’m seriously worried he might tear one of those gorgeous hand-painted pages.

Now, hearing V’s loaded challenge, he pauses in his frantic rummage to glance sharply at Vasili.

“If you’re asking where I’ll have you later,” the Unseelie murmurs darkly, “I suspect the St. Andrew’s Cross above my bed will do nicely. For now, get out of my chair.”

Holy cow.

The charged silence that electrifies this room leaves me breathless. There’s literally enough amperage crackling through the dim gloom of this room at twilight (despite them not having electricity in Avalon) to make my skin tingle and my hair rise.

Oh my gosh, the thought of V on that cross…

Vasili shatters the impasse with an eye roll and a rude snort.

“Keep dreaming, little king, do,” that snake hisses. “I’m the dominant alpha in this polycule. If anyone in this harem’s getting spreadeagled over that cross with a dildo planted balls-deep in his derrière—beyond our First Boy, who’s clearly already considering it—that person is going to be you.”

I’m so startled to hear my secret fantasy dragged into the open like that, I almost swallow my tongue.

I let out a mortified little moan that makes Max (who’s pacing the perimeter of this room like a predator) pivot toward me with a hungry growl.

Zephyr gazes up at V in astonishment, then blinks and returns to his reading. “By the moon. At least you are now willing to concede that I belong in the harem. Now get out of my chair.”

Deliberately Vasili leans back in the forbidden chair and closes his eyes with a look of total boredom that makes even me want to smack him. “What do you imagine you’ll do if I don’t?”

“Do you truly wish to know?” Zephyr breathes, in a voice that smokes with danger.

“Wow. Okay.” Zara sounds breathless, and I totally don’t blame her. There’s enough testosterone swirling in here for me to grow a third testicle just from proximity to those two. “Let’s not get distracted. We need to find Ash PDQ, guys.”

“’Tis precisely that task I intend to accomplish,” Zephyr mutters, turning pages in a frenzy. “Ah.”

He stills like a fox who’s just spotted a mouse. I mean, he’s crouched over that book so intensely he’s almost quivering.

At times like this, I remember what Zara always says about how the Dark Fae King’s not actually human and we can’t expect him to behave like one. The Fae aren’t a witching race, they’re a whole other thing. I’m betting that’s why Zara didn’t totally lose her shit when he brought her the severed head of his enemy as a bridal gift. Kind of like a cat leaving dead mice on your doorstep.

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