Page 2 of Fool's Bargain

When my glare only intensified, the smirk withered and died and he sped up. He pushed between me and Keagan, went straight to the toilet, and ceremoniously lowered the seat, then took a bow, presenting me with the remedy.

“Your Yule throne, my queen,” he intoned in all seriousness.

A laugh bubbled up from inside me at his expectant look, but I quelled it and stepped toward him, nodding. Ever since our ordeal in Ouranos’ fortress, it was hard to tell when their deference was in jest or genuinely a reflex of their worship of me. I’d become a goddess overnight, and their very instincts demanded they kneel, whether I wanted them to or not.

But when I came close, Llyr’s smirk returned and before I could sit, I burst into laughter. He doubled over, shaking his head with mirth.

“Don’t make me laugh so hard, damn you! I don’t want to wet myself. Now get out so I can take care of business.”

“I’m sorry, sweetness,” he said, standing up straight again. “Truly I am. It won’t happen again.” He bent and laid a quick peck on my cheek before patting my backside and leaving the room. Keagan smiled and shut the door behind them, leaving me in peace.

* * *

Five minuteslater I was back in our bubble of happiness. The bed, for all that it barely contained the six of us, was our sanctuary. My mates could do no wrong here, and as I settled between Bodhi and Rohan, all my remaining tension disappeared.

They had a habit of shifting places in such an organic fashion that I never had to worry about playing favorites. It was as if they had an unconscious arrangement with each other. Whenever one man left the more desirable spot at my side, the nearest one would fill the gap and they’d rotate this way all night. It let me forget all the little things that bothered me outside of this bed, and I wanted to stay here a little longer this morning before facing the reality of the day ahead and the preparations for tonight’s concert.

It would be our first major show in our hometown of Los Angeles, and even though we’d secured the venue last minute, we’d already sold several thousand tickets. The bloodline needed this more than I needed to bask in the love of my five mates, and that reminder threatened to encroach on what should have been a relaxing morning.

Soft footsteps padded down the hall, bringing with them the scent of strong coffee mixed with chocolate. At my back, Rohan chuckled, slipping an arm around me and squeezing as he whispered in my ear. “I love how your mood brightens whenever that smell enters a room. Did you know you have the exact same reaction to watching us get naked?”

“It’s because I’m anticipating something delicious and invigorating,” I said as Ozzie slipped through the door carrying a tray with six steaming mugs.

“Well now you have to choose,” Ozzie said, eyeing us and setting the tray on the bedside table. “Don’t want it to get cold.”

But I knew the second I finished my first cup of coffee for the morning, I’d have to start the day, and the day brought with it too many responsibilities. Today was the winter solstice, and at tonight’s concert, I expected thousands of eager members of the bloodline to show up, hoping our music would lead them to their soul mates. They didn’t know the hounds had as much of a role in the process as the band did, and that the hounds worked constantly regardless of our show schedule. But even if they’d known, the pressure was on us. The pressure was onmebecause of the promise I’d made to Fate.

If at any point I failed in my role as matchmaker for the bloodline, Fate could choose to reclaim all their souls, recycling them into new, untainted humans whose destinies it could easily weave into its tapestries. This was what had nearly happened to Bodhi before I’d mated him. Fate’s own hounds were ruthless killers if commanded by their master, and Bodhi’s very presence as a member of the bloodline had offended the eternal entity.

I hadn’t worked so hard to convince Fate to stand down just to slack off on my job because of a little stress. I couldn’t afford to when all those innocent lives were on the line. I only wished my newfound powers as a goddess and a full-blown chimera had offered me a reprieve, but all they did was add weight to the already heavy burden. We’d just spent the last six months tirelessly touring to make thousands of matches, yet there were still millions more out there, and not all of them could be handled with a simple concert.

I had to balance my need to save all those untethered souls with the very real risk of running afoul of Fate if I found a member of the bloodline who needed a more powerful mate than one of their own kind. Every so often one would come along whose concentration of higher-races blood was so strong they needed a member of the higher races as a mate, and Fate was extremely touchy about which of its own subjects answered a call from Fate’s Fools. It had a very proprietary attitude when it came to certain members of the higher races. I’d nearly lost Ozzie because of it.

It was a risk I had to take, to fulfill what I believed was my own higher calling. I would remain the shield between Fate and the bloodline until the very last person had found their soul mate.

“Baby, you’re stressingmeout with all those thoughts,” Rohan said. “Did Llyr really piss you off that much about the toilet seat?”

I gave him a chagrined look. I hadn’t broadcast my true worries to him, but he could read my emotions easily. Llyr’s look of shame made me reach out to the big satyr.

“No. And I’m sorry for overreacting. It reallyisinconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I just wish we had more time to enjoy being a family. To make this house a place we all love and can be happy in together. I’m just so afraid that if I let my guard down, Fate will know. That it will punish me somehow for not working fast enough.”

Ozzie set down the mug he’d been about to hand me and settled on the edge of the bed. “You know we’re in this with you. This is not just your battle to fight. I should add that Fate’s been around since the dawn of time. You taking a holiday wouldn’t even cause a blip on its radar.”

“Somehow I knew that bastard was a grinch and a half,” Bodhi muttered. “Doesn’t it know it’s Christmas?”

“Fate is also technically family,” Llyr said. Rohan and Bodhi both jerked their heads up to stare at him in shock. I hadn’t bothered connecting those dots for them before, though it seemed the other three had figured it out based on their lack of reaction.

“How the fuck do you come to that conclusion?” Rohan asked.

“He’s referring to the fact that I have four parents who are technically Fate’s offspring. That makes Fate my grand—something. That doesn’t mean it’s suddenly going to behave like it likes me.”

“Szívem, I think you underestimate the effect you have on the people near you. Even the gods recognized your worth. Now, would you like your coffee, or would you like us to show you how to letusshoulder some of your burden for you?”

He tugged the sheet down off my breasts, gazing deep into my eyes as he let his knuckle graze over one nipple. I shot one last longing look at the steaming mugs, then lay back, arching into his touch. I needed what he offered more than I could convey in words. To be relieved of the burden of responsibility even for only a little while would be worth it.

With a little wave of Ozzie’s hand, a dome snapped into place over the tray, glowing faintly with golden light. The coffee would stay hot until we were ready for it.

Bodhi took the opening when Ozzie pulled the sheet down lower, revealing my naked body bit by bit. I arched up toward Bodhi’s exploring fingers where they grazed across my breasts, and he and Rohan both dipped their heads in answer, taking a nipple each and sucking gently. Sighing from the pleasure, I met Ozzie’s gaze and spread my legs. The look in his eyes grew heated and the front of his boxers tented.

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