Page 78 of A Pact of Blood

Then he gazes down at me, all heated determination. “We’ll make it right. Whatever it takes, however long it takes.”

As he sinks into me, he brushes his lips against mine. Gripping the sides of his face, I return the kiss through the feeling of fullness and the bliss that expands from the spot where our bodies have joined.

He fills me completely, withdraws, and plunges forward again, faster this time. My knees rise as if of their own accord to urge him on.

With each thrilling thrust, our mouths collide. Raul and Lorenzo stir even more flames, pressing their lips and trailing their hands over my arms, my neck, my shoulders, my chest.

Bastien’s breath has gone ragged, but he shows no sign of flagging despite his sacrificed lung. He ducks his face to nuzzle my cheek between kisses. “You are mine. You’reours.And we’re yours.”

Raul lets out a gruff sound of agreement. “I love seeing you give yourself over to us,” he mutters in my ear.

At the same moment, Bastien pushes even farther into me. His cock strokes the most sensitive spot within, and my jaw twitches with the deeper burst of pleasure.

My teeth scrape across his lower lip. With our next kiss, a metallic flavor seeps into my mouth.

I brace my hand against his chest to stop him, peering at his mouth. Blood is welling from a nick on his lip.

Guilt dampens the rush of my desire. “I bit your lip—you’re bleeding.”

Bastien flicks his tongue across the spot without any sign of concern. A starker determination firms his expression.

“You’ve bled for us. Why shouldn’t we bleed for you?”

“But I don’t?—”

He cuts off my protest with another kiss, soft but still passionate. “I swear by it—I swear by my blood—we’ll end Marclinus together, or I’ll die trying.”

The second part of that oath sets off a jab of panic, but there’s no denying how emphatically he means it.

Raul’s gaze darkens. He snatches a pocketknife he was carrying from his trousers and pricks the blade against his thumb. “We’ll all bleed for you, as much as it takes.”

He lifts his hand to my face, and I part my lips to let him brush a drop of his blood across my tongue to join Bastien’s.

“All of us,”Lorenzo says, holding out his hand. When Raul passes the knife to him, he repeats the gesture with his own thumb.

Bastien lowers his head again, washing the metallic tang of their vow away with the sweet force of his kiss. He picks up his pace again, driving into me with renewed urgency.

I rock with his thrusts again and again, opening myself as much as I can, welcoming him deeper. The pulses of delight swell and surge until I’m trembling under him.

Lorenzo slips his hand between us and swivels his fingers over my clit. Once, twice, and the headiest wave of pleasure crashes over me.

I cling to Bastien as I shudder harder, every particle of my body singing with my climax.

Bastien groans and pulls me tight against him. His last few bucks send me spiraling higher before he sags against me with his own release.

I hug him tightly, nestling in between my men. Hoping that we’ve sparked more than pleasure here tonight—that inside me might soon be growing a new life that will lead the way for so many more lives to be saved.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Bastien

Iflip through the leatherbound tome, careful with the aged paper. The magic the imperial archivists embed in the palace libraries’ holdings protects the books from basic wear and tear, but the pages can still rip if handled roughly.

There’s supposed to be an account of Emperor Malvius and his wife’s joint march into battle toward the end here… Ah, this chapter.

In the thin light that filters this far between the shelves from the library’s windows, I skim the text to confirm it has at least a little detail about that past empress and then tuck it back into its spot, leaving it protruding just half an inch farther than its neighbors.

So far, I’ve given six other books the same treatment. Only a couple have more than a chapter or two regarding one of the empresses—there’s a slim volume that’s one of theearly ruling empress’s journals, and a treatise on the initial attempts to regain the western half of the continent that regularly mentions the empress who ruled during much of them.

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