Page 117 of Gemini Kings
Zara blows into the room like a hurricane.
My dragon coils up to sit and trumpets a welcome.
My queen is always a revelation, no matter what she wears. Tonight she is glorious. Her teal curls are swept up in a regal pile on her head. Platinum lightning bolts flash in her ears. She has abandoned her innocent schoolgirl uniform for attire that screams sex. Her showgirl curves are poured into a strapless electric blue latex dress that clings to her lush breasts and tiny waist and barely covers her curvy hips, paired with sleek go-go boots fashioned from silver leather.
She isn’t wearing stockings or a brassiere.
I am not even certain she is wearing panties.
Abruptly I lose all interest in my essay. Ronin growls under his breath and undresses her with his burning eyes. Even Vasili closes his book and sits up with a predatory gleam in his basilisk stare.
“Everyone get dressed,” my queen announces. Her eyes spark cobalt with energy and her bubblegum lips curl in a grin. “You too, Maxim. We’re going to a party.”
“What party is that, darling?” Vasili drawls. “I’m already wearing my party dress.”
“Yes, you are, bad boy.” She swanks over and drapes herself sexily across his villainous lap. “You lookverypretty tonight, Goblin King. Way too pretty to waste on a Friday night at home. The cohort at Villa Hadrian is having a birthday bash for Mallory McSnicker. RT just told me. She and Dez are both going.”
“The Hufflepuffs.” My teacher sneers, which is not easy to do while he is also simultaneously purring because Zara is nuzzling his neck. “Those hapless halfwits have never thrown a proper party in the history of the Icarus Academy. They’re hardly going to begin now, playingSixteen Candlesfor Mallory McSnicker. Besides…” Without warning, his spiteful gaze swerves to skewer me. “I’m not taking the Siberian kissy monster to the freshman dance.”
“The… what?” My face burns with an uncomfortable heat.
Saints of the northern steppes. I am blushing.
“You heard me.” Vasili sweeps me a look of utter disdain. “For all I know, you’ll kiss me again.”
“If I do, you will kiss me back.” Now I am provoked and scowling. “Again.”
The next time,I swear to him in ferocious silence,I will not kiss you. It will be you who kisses me.
“Mmmm, big guy, sign me up for that,” Zara murmurs, squirming in Vasili’s lap in a way that must be giving him a ferocious boner.
I wonder if she is hearing me through our bond.
I clear my throat and open my mouth to ask.
“Silence!” Vasili’s eyes flash atomic with rage. “Mr. Rasputin, utter one more scurrilous syllable and I’ll clap you in detention.” His nuclear stare shifts to Zara and he softens. “Sorry, darling, but I’m staying in.”
“But why?” Zara looks adorable when she pouts.
If she were in my lap, I swear I would fuck that pout right off her.
“Need you ask?” Vasili slides a slow finger along the upper swells of her breasts, which makes her shiver and floods the air with our queen’s mating scent. “Aside from the fact that I can think of nothing more tedious than another Hufflepuff party? Lucius is going into heat. He’s resisting it, of course, but nature will find a way,et cetera. In case it’s escaped your notice, all is not exactly sunshine and roses between Lucius and me these days. He’s been holding me off. Tonight, that’s going to change.”
“Shit.” Zara’s pout vanishes and the witchy light in her eyes dims. “You’re right, of course you’re right. I was thinking it would be good to show my face in public after that magazine piece. You know everyone on this island’s seen that rag by now. I want to show the whole school we’re strong as fuck, and we’re not going anywhere, and anyone who goes up against us should be fucking terrified.”
“Too right,” Ronin mutters.
He slips up beside me to appreciate the sight of Zara and Vasili entwined and overflowing from the wingback—my nemesis wrapped in rose velvet and sneering horribly at me with the tips of his fangs peeking through glossy lips, my sovereign sleek and confident in electric blue latex and kilometers of suntanned skin.
“Anyway,” Zara sighs. “I can’t pry Neo away from his books until after midterms. And Lucius would never go to a student party. You’re right that he’ll need you here tonight, Goblin King. I should’ve thought of that, but I’m not really thinking straight myself. It’s all these hormones. We’ll all just stay in—”
“I will go with you to this party, my queen.” I seize my moment like a gift from God and arrow across the room to press my essay into Vasili’s suddenly reluctant hand. “This one can grade my essay and tend to Lucius’ heat.”
Vasili gives me a poisonous look. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Rasputin—”
“Your strategy is a sound one. And you should not stray far from at least one of your alphas tonight, my sovereign.” I gaze down on the sight of my half-naked queen tumbled across my rival alpha’s lap. “There is your own heat to consider, yes? So if you wish to go to this party, I will take you.” I turn to include Ronin. “I will also take you.”
“It’s not a bad notion to be seen,” Ronin says into the fraught silence my words have opened. “For all the reasons you’ve just mentioned, love. With Dez and Racetrack and Max and me, you’d have half your court beside you.”
