Page 27 of Gemini Queen
This morning, every piranha on this island must be smelling blood in the water.
I groan and drop his hand to cover my face with both of mine.
“Don’t worry, Zara.” He has a deep rumbly voice, low and earnest, and his hand’s still warm when it burrows under the blankets and cups my knee. “You’re in Villa Augustus, with Master Aries’ cohort. There are six of us students in thisdomus, including you, plus Master Aries who’s our headmaster for the residential college. He reports up to the Dean. Because we share your roof, we’re the seed of your royal court. Although it’s your right to take others too, as many as you choose.”
Yeah, no. I don’t want the few courtiers I’ve already apparently got.
And I’m getting the hell off this island on the very next boat.
“Boats don’t come here,” Neo says with a frown. Great. Apparently he’s reading my mind too. “They can’t get past the wards. We’re mostly self-sufficient. But what we do need is supplied by air.”
Then I’ll hijack a fucking plane. Even though I don’t know how to fly one.
“And the reason I can read your mind is because we’re fated mates,” he adds helpfully. “Otherwise I couldn’t, because I’m not Valyrian. The Mercurys are almost pure Kryll.”
Of course they are. Of all the four races, the Kryll are the politicians and the merchants. They’re good at managing money and they’re brilliant at swaying hearts and minds. And we don’t seem to be getting anywhere fast on resolving this whole fated mate business.
Anyway, if we really are fated mates, shouldn’t I be able to read his mind too?
“You will, Zara,” he says, low and earnest, “once you fully accept our union.”
Which I’ve already told him will never happen.
We both sigh in unison.
Neo’s solid hand is wrapped around my knee, warming me even with my pajamas between us. He smells sharp and fresh, like hand-milled soap, with notes of sage and juniper. I peek at him through my fingers to find another of those slow smiles breaking over his face like it makes him so goddamn happy just to look at me he’s ready to burst into song.
Those smiles of his are messing with my head.
I sigh and lower my hands, then do up a couple of shirt buttons and flop down again on the mattress, wondering what on earth I’m going to do next.
Like that’s the sign he’s been waiting for, Neo draws the nest of blankets slowly down my legs. Then he slides both warm hands from my ankles to my knees with equal leisure.
I prop one arm behind my head and eye him suspiciously. “What are you doing?”
He eases my knees apart and crawls between them to face me. “Touching you.”
His voice is a velvety growl and he gives me an upward look that smolders with green fire. He holds my gaze and rests one hand on my thigh, a touch that makes me tingle, while he drags down his zipper to give me a peek at the black briefs he’s wearing underneath.
Stretched over an absolutely jaw-dropping bulge of impressive proportions.
That’s a preview of coming attractions right there, if I want to let it go that far. Which I really can’t, since it’s hardly going to help clear up this whole fated mate confusion.
“Um, Neo.” I clear my throat. “Why are you taking your clothes off?”
The look he gives me is pure seduction. “You wanted me to tongue you awake, didn’t you?”
Holy shit, I did ask him for that. At least twice. But that was when I thought he was Xiao. Still, the way my nipples pucker and my clit swells and moisture slicks between my thighs tells me my body’s fully onboard with the original plan.
Even with this new wingman.
I unfold one finger in careful illustration. “One, I thought you were someone else.” I unfold a second finger. “And two, you don’t have to take your pants off for that.”
Neo’s lazy grin does things to my heart I’m not ready for. “I’m an incurable optimist.”
It takes my caffeine-deprived brain about six seconds to work through that. When I finally manage, I’m not sure whether to laugh or scream.
“We’re not having sex here,” I say out loud for both our benefits, even if he can read my mind. “The fact that I’m here at all is a fairly significant crisis, okay?”
