Page 87 of A Dance of Shadows

Bastien keeps my injured shoulder in place against my side and trails his other hand up over my chest. As Lorenzo and I buck together, he pinches my nipple through my bodice.

I arch into Lorenzo, welcoming him even deeper. His head bows over me, his mouth seeking out my other breast.

He grasps my ass and pushes even deeper into me. I revel in the joint embrace, locked between the two men and enveloped in a flood of pleasure and heat.

“Come for us,” Bastien commands by my ear. “Come for us like there’s never been anyone else, Star.”

His scorching tone tips me over the edge. I buck with Lorenzo once more and quake apart at the next slam of his cock.

Lorenzo’s breath fractures. As I clamp around him with the force of my release, he drives into me with a few more erratic thrusts and spills himself inside me.

Bastien presses another kiss to my neck. “And that’s what our woman deserves every time.”

I sag into him, still clutching Lorenzo’s shirt to keep him close too. We drift in that shared bubble of warmth for just a few more minutes before the carriage jerks to a halt.

Chapter Thirty-One

Aurelia

It only takes a matter of seconds to wriggle back into my drawers with Bastien’s help. But I clamber out of the carriage with my cheeks flushed and my dress apparently still a little askew, because Raul takes one look at me from where he’s hopped off the driver’s seat and lifts his eyebrows. “Got started on the fun without me, did you?”

His gaze ticks to my shoulder, where the neckline rests off-center after my other lovers’ eager fondling, and his expression darkens in an instant. “What the fuck happened to you?”

He strides closer and eases back the fabric to reveal more of the bruise he spotted. My throat closes up for a moment at the fury that radiates from every inch of his massive frame.

I thought I’d seen Raul angry on my behalf before, when he and the other princes found me lying broken and bleeding in the woods during the trials. That fierceness was nothing compared to the rage rolling off him now.

“Linus,” I start. “He dislocated my shoulder, but Marc set it back, and?—”

“That fucking prick!” Raul lets go of my gown to clench his hand into a fist. “We can’t just stand by— He keeps hurting you worse— The next time I see him, I swear I’m going to?—”

I touch his face, bringing his searing gaze back to mine. “No. You’re not going to lay a hand on him. Because you couldn’t anyway, because before you got close enough, his guards would knock you down and then string you up. Don’t youdareget yourself killed thinking it’s going to help me.”

Raul’s fury simmers down just slightly. His voice lowers, but it’s still rough. “I don’t know how much longer I can stand seeing him shove you around the way he does, Lamb.”

It’s hard for me to tell him he shouldn’t feel that way when there’ve been plenty of moments I’ve fought the urge to pour poison down my husband’s throat.

I lower my hand to stroke my thumb over his scarred knuckles. Can I simmer him down enough that tonight’s escape won’t end with them freshly bandaged? “My position isn’t really secure until the baby is born. We’re not quite halfway there yet. I’ve made gains with Marc. Heapologizedto me this morning. With every incident like this, he gets closer to ending his brother himself.”

“And then you end him.”

“And then I end him,” I agree. “By whatever means are safest for all of us. At least he hasn’t tormented me in quite the same ways as his twin has.”

Bastien’s mouth twists. “It might get worse. I know why you’ve been stirring them up against each other, but the way you’ve praised Linus, encouraging him to get bolder… He could turn that arrogance against you even more.”

I shiver. “Or against the people whose countries we’re calling on. I’m doing my best to strike the right balance. But you’verecognized that the Darium court is starting to see him as outright unhinged too. The more relief they feel when he’s gone, the better it is for me.”

The brawny muscles across Raul’s shoulders flex, but his stance relaxes slightly. “All right. I’ll summon more of theincrediblepatience you’ve inspired in me. He’d better not beat you right in front of me, though, or I can’t make any promises.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” I squeeze his hand. “I’m a shepherdess more than a lamb, remember.”

A rough chuckle escapes him. “To be sure you are.”

He bends down to kiss me, hard and so hot I’m tingling all the way down to my toes by the time he draws back. He aims a wicked grin at me. “I can tell Bas and Lore already looked after you well, but I promise I’ll give you a send-off to remember before we’re done here.”

That’s a promise I know Raul can make good on.

Now that the prince of Lavira isn’t on the verge of exploding, I let my gaze drift away to take in our surroundings. We’re standing at the edge of a pebbled beach, just steps from a spine of stone that juts from the ground to our left. Beneath the half-moon and the star-speckled sky, the waters of the narrow lake lap at the shoreline with a soft warble.

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