Page 206 of Of Nine So Bold

He grinned. “When we make it through this, we’re going to need amuchbigger bed for fucking you. Like, huge. Bigger than giant-sized. Because we’reallgoing to want our hands on you when that simultaneous orgasm thing happens again.”

A laugh burst from me and his grin broadened.

Dex’s hands returned, drawing me away from the ground into his arms. I nestled close to his chest, resting but no longer exhausted. Warmth pulsed through me now, not just from the blood I’d taken from Casimir or the way Lars’s magic had licked away any trace of a chill.

It was the power Roan shared with me, and the thrum of the demon’s bond still quivering through my body, both at the same time. Where his claw marks had left brands on my chest, a small current of energy continuously fed me his strength.

Gingerly, I reached out in my mind, tracing along the threads of sparkling light I could feel more than see. My links to my other men glistened in my mind’s eye, binding us together and giving us all strength. The brilliant ties radiated out from me, and even if it wasn’t like the empathic bond Ozias and I shared, it still let me know where each of them were and if they were well.

But when I looked closer, my breath caught. Tiny orange embers coursed through those connections too, but not coming from the demon.

From me.

His power flowed to me, and out from me to them.

Further strengthening us all.

I looked over at where he still sat nearby. His fiery eyes met mine, and though he still held himself with pride and arrogance, there was something else in his gaze.

Love.

My lips moved, mouthing the words silently. “Thank you.”

He nodded once, regal and yet kind. The dark star at the center of his fiery eyes grew larger as he reached out and took my hand, his gray palm engulfing my fingers.

“The unbroken one and I will always protect you,” the demon said. “This we both swear.”

My lips parted in surprise, a warm, pained, but happy feeling swelling in my chest at the words and the title alike.

Theunbroken one.

A shudder rolled through him, and the demon shifted back into Roan, but the look on his face didn’t change. My somber giant only nodded like he was echoing the demon’s sentiment.

Dex tightened his arms around me. “We all swear it.”

Sounds of agreement came from my men.

My eyes prickled with tears. “And I’ll always protect?—”

A cascade of light suddenly rolled across the symbols inlaid in the walls. A clang like a gong being struck reverberated through the air.

Straightening fast in Dex’s arms, I stared around in shock. “What is that?”

The hard crystalline sense of the wall that I’d spread to all of us shuddered inside me.

And I had the answer to my question.

“Oh gods,” Niko whispered.

I nodded. “My stepmother’s magic is attacking the Wall of Erenelle.”

53

GWYNEIRA

In clothes frantically conjured by Clay, we ran from the grotto tunnel. At the entrance, Ruhl waited, already on his feet with tendrils of black smoke rising from his fur. From the far end of the chamber, Ignatius raced toward us, Brock and a collection of giants on his heels.

The scholar skidded to a stop. “The wall?—”

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