Page 55 of Gemini Queen
Our eyes collide. Abruptly, her chewing stops.
She swallows and licks her lips, and my dick gets harder. Never breaking my gaze, she wipes her fingers with her napkin, then reaches for my beer. Hers is on the bedside table out of her reach, and I would gladly have gotten it for her, but I’ll just as gladly give her mine. She claims my bottle without any protest from me and tilts it back for a long swallow, her lips resting on the glass where mine just were.
I’m in top shape physically, but my heart is pounding like I’ve just run a ten-mile marathon.
“Zara,” I breathe, just to say her name.
“Yes, Neo?” She’s still holding my bottle, and she can definitely have it if she wants, but I wonder if she’s saying my name too because she likes hearing it.
I suck in a breath and wade in with a rush. “I’m so sorry I screwed everything up. I meant to protect you by enrolling you here, I really did, but I know you’re used to making your own choices and I should have consulted you first even though you’re really hard to reach and your address is always changing and you don’t typically respond to e-mail or answer your phone.” I come up for air and try to slow down. “It’s just that I wanted you here—so much—you can’t imagine how much I’ve wanted you here. With me.”
I want to talk about how she’s my fated mate and we belong together, but I learned something from our fight this morning.
I know she’s not ready to acknowledge this bond we share.
Her forehead puckers and she heaves a sigh. “I gotta admit it’s hard to stay mad at a guy who always seems so freaking happy to see me. But you really do need to let me make my own choices. That’s the only way we can be friends.”
I want to be more than friends, so much more, but friends is a place to start. Earnestly I nod and hold her gaze. “I can. I will. I’m learning, I am.”
Her mouth softens in a rueful smile. “You’re supposed to be the smartest guy in the school, aren’t you? Top of the Dean’s List? I shouldn’t be too hard for you to figure out.”
She’ssomuch harder to wrap my head around than my Honors Science of Witchcraft class, which is by far the toughest class at Icarus. She’s especially hard to understand when I’m making a concerted effort to stay out of her head like I have been all night. I actually can’t understand at all why she doesn’t seem to get the existential crisis the witching world is dealing with.
We’re literally dying. And she acts like she doesn’t even care.
That can’t be true, can it?
I know I should leave it alone for now, and just be happy she’s not mad at me anymore. But I’m a pretty driven guy myself, and this issue is way too urgent to ignore. So I clench my fists and the words come tumbling out.
“It’s just… you heard Master Aries in class, so you have to understand. The arcane races are dying, Zara. We’re going extinct. It’s not only that the races are all crossbred and commingled with each other. We’re also crossbred with earthbound humans. There are only three purebred witch families of the original twelve left, the others are all diluted with human DNA, and the shifters are already so far gone it might not even be possible anymore to stop their decline. You’re the only purebred female with enough witchcraft to ascend, if you’ll only embrace your power—”
Her face darkens while I talk. Now she crushes her napkin in her fist, leans forward to toss her plate on the nightstand, and points her longneck bottle at my chest. “No way, Neo. You’re not pinning the extinction of the arcane races on me. That downward glide started way before I came along.”
“I’m not saying it’s your fault, of course it’s not,” I assure her, leaning forward, desperate to persuade her. “But don’t you see? If you believe the theory, you and I together, that means we can stop it! We can save our people.”
“The Theory of Royal Culpability?” She huffs out an angry laugh and swigs more of my beer, which is now her beer. “It’s a load of bull and a big fat guilt trip. I don’t buy it.”
“It’s the only theory that even comes close to explaining what’s happening to us!” Frantic to make her understand, I lean forward to grip her knee. “Zara, you can save us! Just by accepting your witchcraft! You’re the Gemini queen! You and your—” I barely catch the fatal wordmatebefore I say it and spoil my chance with her for good. “Your consort. Or consorts.”
Her head tilts to study me. Interest flickers in her face. “Yeah, I heard that in class. That I’m supposed to pick my… uh, consort… or consorts… for the good of the races. It sounded like I could pick more than one.”
“You can.” I scoot forward a little (you know, the better to convince her) and tighten my grip on her knee. Because she might be borderline angry, but she still hasn’t moved my hand. “Babe, I’m not going to lie to you. I swear I’ll never lie to you. I’ll be thrilled if I can be everything you need. But I’ve been raised for this from an early age. It’s a queen’s right to choose her m—uh, her consorts. As many as she wishes.”
Her gaze drops to my hand on her knee. “Does that mean you’d be willing to share?”
I swallow hard. “I would. I’ll share our bed with whoever you say.”
“Of any gender?”
“Yeah.” Gently I tease the near-empty bottle from her hand and take the last swallow myself, because at this point I really need it. “Any gender.”
“You seem to have watched me pretty close,” she murmurs, “if you know my favorite pizza. You have to know I’m biandpoly, right?”
“I know.” In fact, I more than know. The thought of her being pleased by multiple lovers is a major turn-on and a fairly significant element of my sexual fantasies. “I, uh, I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?” Light as a falling snowflake, her hand lands on mine, fingertips coasting over my knuckles. “How many lovers have you been with, really?”
My gaze slams into hers. “None. I’m yours. I’ve been waiting for you.”
