Page 72 of Gemini Queen
Because I’m a rotten prick, I’m not guarding my randy thoughts.
At all.
And because she’s Valyrian, odds are she can hear my every salacious thought.
Her soft lips pop open with indignation and color floods under her Malibu tan. “For cripes’ sake, I’m not looking for a tutor forthat. I’m looking for someone to teach me to, you know, shield my thoughts. For privacy. To shut down all the back-and-forth with Neo. And not broadcast my every thought to anyone with a scrap of telepathy on the whole damn island.”
“Bollocks.” For some reason, she’s actually managed to surprise me. Not because she doesn’t want to broadcast her secrets to the masses (because who would, with this lot?) I went through that whole public broadcast phase myself a few years ago when my power rose, and it’s a bloody nuisance.
But I’m surprised as fuck she wants to shut out Neo after that mating we all heard last night.
In fact, I’ve got to check, because I’m not sure I’m following. “Come again? You want to shut down the bond with your precious fated mate?”
Her eyes narrow dangerously. “Why is that surprising? I believe I’ve been pretty effing clear that I reject the whole concept.”
“Even though you didn’t reject the actual bloke? You aware you blew out half the lights in thedomuslast night when you got your rocks off?”
She colors up with a rosy blush that makes her look more than ever like a ’50s pinup girl. I want to see her bent over a vintage Chevy wearing a polka-dot dress and cherry lipstick just for me.
“Neo can be very… persuasive.” She nibbles that bitable lower lip of hers and looks troubled. “He knows it doesn’t mean anything. He knows I don’t plan to stay. We talked it through before we started. We agreed it was just, you know, a hookup? And I’m really sorry about the lights.”
“A pox on the blooming lights, love.” I bark out a short laugh that’s high on astonishment but low on tact. “I don’t think you know the first damn thing about that bloke you just shagged.”
Now the girl’s definitely flustered, and she’s starting to look downright pissed. “Look, forget I even asked, all right? I’ll find someone else—”
“Someone else to do what?” Suddenly the bloke himself is looming at her shoulder, Neo Mercury in the flesh, popped up from God knows where, because I’m way too focused on the Gemini girl to give a shit about anything else going down in the commons.
“I missed you this morning, babe. For real.” He wraps his big hands around her tiny waist and nuzzles her neck with his sexy lips.
Which is a fairly effective greeting for both of us.
Zara’s angry mouth softens and her eyes go all misty and she leans into his touch with a murmur and (in my opinion) a bit of a guilty look. For my part, I’ve never seen Neo put the moves on anyone, because he’s always been waiting for her.
Turns out watching him stake his claim now is sexy as fuck.
I’ve never conflated the concepts of Neo and sexy in the same sentence because Vasili hates his guts, and what with me being a telepath and Vasili’s boyfriend, it’s hard to see past all that hostility when we’re in the same room. But this big lug’s clearly got the little queen all sexed up.
And what’s working for her seems now also to be working for me.
No doubt it’s this mating fever fucking with my libido. An inferno of fiery heat’s spreading down my torso, and my dick’s shoved up against the zipper of my trousers hard enough to hurt.
“Neo,” she murmurs, turning to kiss his cheek and detaching from his grip at the same time. She’s going to give him a fucking complex with all those mixed signals she’s sending. Hell, she’s practically givingmeone. “I’m looking for a telepathy tutor. To help me, uh, manage some of the… spillage?”
I’m interested to note she doesn’t specifywhosespillage she’s so keen to manage.
Which makes me all the more certain she and Neo aren’t exactly on the same page regarding their mating bond, and clearly she knows it.
“Oh, are you projecting?” Neo asks, one arm slipping comfortably around her waist like he’s been doing it his whole life. And, yeah, confident Neo is sexy Neo. Who knew? “Then Ronin can definitely help. He’s one of the strongest telepaths at the Academy. Along with Master Zerxes. But you definitely don’t want Zerxes.”
The Mercurys have zilch in the Valyrian DNA department, so Neo can only share thoughts with his fated mate and no one else (except a Valyrian like me). But he’s been round the four races his whole life, so he grasps the essentials of hereditary telepathy.
Looking hopeful for her sake, he adjusts his glasses and blinks his bright green eyes at me.
I actually feel some sympathy for the chap. Maybe he’s not such a bad sort, except for his sycophantic royalist tendencies and his annoying habit of polishing Teacher’s apple.
The only one I want polishing Lucius’ apple is me.
Though Zara can help if she likes.
