Page 142 of A Game of Veils

For what purpose? What could they do if she lashes out at me during the trial?

After all the turmoil we’ve been through, can I really ask any of them to step in and intervene directly if it comes to that? Why should they stick their necks out and risk their own safety?

Just yesterday they were all furious at me at one point or another. I can hardly expect our alliance to be secure, no matter how much I crave the certainty of knowing they have my back.

Bastien reaches out to grasp my hand. Raul peers past him, his gaze smoldering into mine with enough unspoken passion to send heat blooming over my skin.

When Lorenzo leans in to kiss my temple, a flare of inspiration lights inside me.

There might be a way to solidify whatever connection they feel to me. To ground the idea of us and the bonds we share in a totally concrete way, so they’ll believe it’s worth contributing everything they can safely offer.

It may not make enough of a difference, but at least I’ll know I did everything I could.

And if my heart leaps a little too giddily at the possibility, I won’t examine that fact. Why shouldn’t I want more—want everything I can get while I still can?

It isn’t as if they wouldn’t get plenty of satisfaction out of the experience too.

Once the idea has taken hold, I can’t shake it. It quivers through my nerves, and the next thing I know, my mouth is opening. “Is there a room we can reach through these passages where there’s no chance we’ll be disturbed? My chambers hardly feel secure now, and my maid always has access.”

Bastien cocks his head in thought and then beckons to me. He squeezes past Raul to take the lead in the opposite direction.

We wind through the narrow passages, around corners, up a few steps, down several more, through a few turns, and then descend a tight spiral of wooden stairs.

At the bottom, we emerge into a space that’s totally dark other than the thinnest haze seeping from the staircase behind us. Bastien gropes through the blackness and flicks on a lantern.

The glow fills a cozy space where the furniture is draped with sheets. Unlike the unused bedroom above, it’s clear no one has been keeping this room clean. Dust blankets the covers and the floor, with indents of footsteps where at least one of the princes must have ventured here sometime in the past.

“I think this used to be a sort of sitting room for servants who needed to be especially on-call.” Bastien motions toward the doorway kitty-corner from the stairs. “It’s totally blocked off from the inside now. No one will be coming in from the regular staff areas—no one should be close enough to even hear us.”

Beyond the doorway lies an even smaller room. At the far end of that, strips of metal have been fastened across the wall from the floor to a couple of feet below the ceiling—forming a barrier where the main staff entrance to the passages must have been.

It does look secure enough, if not the cleanest of spaces. I tug tentatively at one of the sheets, which appears to be draped over an armchair.

Warmth fills my cheeks. “I’m not sure if this is the best setting…”

“For what?” Raul asks, arching his eyebrows.

They’re all standing close enough to me that the heat of their bodies envelops mine. I can’t help thinking of the moment yesterday when both Bastien and Raul were caressing me with their hands and lips…

My blush deepens. For all the hungers stirring in me, for all the other reasons I have to want this, I’m hardly a practiced seductress.

I reach up to touch Lorenzo’s jaw and press a light kiss to his mouth. As he loops his arm around my waist, I turn in his embrace to face the other two princes.

The man who’s already been my lover shows no sign of disapproval when I tease my fingers up Bastien’s arm. When I stroke them partway down Raul’s chest.

I make myself meet their eyes one after the other, the desire gleaming there sparking more inside me, and lean into Lorenzo to show he’s just as much a part of this conversation. “Tomorrow, my life as I know it is going to be over one way or another. I only have a little time left. I’d like… I’d like to know what it feels like to be as cherished as I can be, while I have the chance. While I can be with the men I actually want, no matter how briefly.”

Bastien’s eyes widen. Raul lets out a low growl and steps closer.

Lorenzo’s arm tightens around me, but not to ward them away. His illusionary voice fills my head. “You’ll still have us. We’ll be here, even if you have to marry him.”

I can tell from the tightening of the other men’s expressions that he’s extended his gift enough for them to hear too.

I swallow thickly. “I know you’ll want to be. But if I make it through and become Marclinus’s wife, I’ll be guarded so much more closely. Everyone will be watching. I’ll have to share my room with him… I don’t want to put any of you in jeopardy. As anything more than acquaintances, the association between us will have to end tomorrow.”

Raul makes a scoffing sound and cups my cheek. “We’ll see about that, Princess. If you need us, I think we can find a way.”

I rest my hand on his forearm. “I’d rather go without your attentions but still see that you’re well than risk losing you completely. But tonight—tonight could be ours.”

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