Page 37 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

“I am,” Bael snapped back. “It’s a bit late to claim modesty, don’t you think? I can smell you all over each other. I can see the marks on both your necks?—”

“—and yet you and I are still breathing,” Scion cut him off. “So whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong.”

My breath caught and my mouth fell open. A shred of doubt crept into my mind, as I realized for the first time that Scion and I had done exactly what Bael was warning against…hadn’t we? Hadn’t we marked each other, shared blood, and yet nothing seemed any different. Yet, even as I thought that, my pulse seemed to throb beneath the mark on my throat. My entire body tingled with a sudden awareness that seemed to embed itself in my chest.

“What does he mean?” I asked Bael. “What are you thinking?”

He shifted his gaze back to mine, but his expression was unreadable. “What I’ve been trying to tell both of you for weeks. It’s not only you and I who are meant to be together, it’s you two. The way you’ve always been mine, little monster, you’ve really been ours.”

My eyes widened and words failed me. Was that right? Was it even possible to have more than one mate?

Yes, I thought, answering my own question. It had to be, because I’d heard stories about it. Queen Aisling, for one, had three mates. But then, she was a Fae queen, and I was…just me.

“You’re delusional,” Scion snapped at Bael, his voice breaking through my haze of wonderment. “If that were true, then you and I wouldn’t be here to discuss it, would we? There’s no fated bond here, and no excuses.” He laughed humorlessly. “I don’t understand why you haven’t tried to kill me yet.”

“I think you’re too fucking neurotic to be happy,” Bael hissed at his cousin. “I’d always assumed I was the more fucked up of the two of us, but at least I can recognize my own damn emotions.”

Scion straightened, his face morphing back into its usual mask of arrogant rage. “Careful.”

“No, I won’t.” Bael snapped. “You won’t do shit no matter what I say. You can’t hurt me because it would hurther, and you can’t do that, can you?”

Scion spluttered, words seeming to fail him.

“I’m almost jealous,” Bael continued, “that you seem to have found a way to circumvent a generations-long curse, but I could never hope to be so inherently miserable that I could claim my own mate and not know it.”

“That can’t be right,” Scion replied, his voice rising in frustration.

“No?” Bael laughed without humor. “I’ve been watching how you two look at each other for weeks and all I want is for you to get over yourselves and admit what’s fucking obvious to everyone around you.”

“And what’s that?” Scion demanded.

“You’re in love with her,” Bael practically shouted. “It’s so fucking obvious, Sci. Everyone can see it. Everyone knows except you, andyou,” he looked at me, and I reeled back, not having expected to be addressed directly in what seemed to be a fight between them alone.

“I don’t?—”

“You don’t know?” Bael interrupted, sounded almost mocking. “Then explain how I can’t even think about anyone else looking at you without being ready to murder them, but you’re naked right now, practically begging to be fucked, and the only thing bothering me is how we’re all going to fit in that tub.”

I blinked in complete and utter shock. His frustration had clearly been simmering for some time, and he’d reached a boiling point without my ever noticing there was a problem. This had gone way too far.

I looked over at Scion, and tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. “Shut the door.”

“Gladly,” Scion hissed, taking a step further into the hall.

“No.” I stopped him with the command in my tone. “Shut the door and come over here.”

Bael reached down and ran a hand through my hair, petting me as if to silently apologize for raising his voice. I leaned into his hand.

Scion watched from the doorway, one hand gripping the frame, his body halfway in and halfway out of the room. His eyes were downcast and his face contorted, like whatever was going on in his head had completely broken him. “Rebel…” he breathed, his tone turning almost pleading. “I can’t.”

“Why?” I replied mercilessly.

Bael twisted his fingers more firmly through my hair. “Because somewhere deep down he knows one day the bond will break through even his damaged fucking psyche, and he’ll end up killing us both just to be with you.”

Gods, that shouldn’t have sounded so hot. He was talking about their death, but all I could focus on was the way my pulse throbbed between my legs at the idea of owning anyone so completely.

“That’s not why,” Scion said doggedly, even as he stepped back inside and shut the door behind him. He fixed his too-intense gaze on me, and his silver eyes flashed with rage. “Do I have to fuck you again to prove there’s no bond here?”

My chest screamed as I struggled to take in a breath. My thighs clenched, as I grew wetter at just the idea of that. I knew he wanted me to reject him—to turn away in disgust—just as he’d tried to force me to be the one to say no in the barn.

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