Page 160 of Gemini Kings
For all involved.
As for myself, my wolf and I haven’t laid a paw on Maxim, nor will we until some of the more pressing matters in our shared bed are settled… which isn’t entirely to say I haven’t been tempted. I’m rather waiting to see first if Vasili goes into heat from that bite he insisted that I administer in secret to force his shift. The gambit certainly paid off in the skies the night Zara rose.
All the same, Vasili adamantly maintains that, sexually at least, nothing at all has altered.
Still, I harbor my dark suspicions. My alpha can lie like Lucifer when it suits him, and his telepathic barriers have remained suspiciously high while he and Maxim navigate the perilous complexities of their new arrangement.
Then there’s the matter of Vasili and this dear boy trudging up the snowy lane at my side.
I steal a look at Neo’s clean-cut profile, his head bent thoughtfully as he trots along. His new earring gleams in the electric light of a nearby streetlamp.
“How are things with you and Vasili?” I venture.
He flicks me a sidelong look through his spectacles. Then the words tumble out far too quickly. “Um, we’re okay—I mean, you know, we’re not fighting or anything?”
“I see.” And I do see, rather clearly, all that still lies unsaid between my alpha and my prize pupil. “You do realize, I trust, that our snake has grown rather… besotted with you?”
“So, um, yeah,” he mumbles, his face heating up. “That’s an old-fashioned Lucius way of saying V wants to jump my bones and add, like, a Neo-shaped notch to his bedpost. If I ever gave in and just gave him what he wants, he’d be over me in a week.”
“Isn’t it possible that you’re being a bit unfair to him, my boy? As well as rather unjust to yourself?” I ask gently. “There’s quite a bit more depth to Vasili than he permits the world to see, and you greatly undervalue your own considerable appeal if you believe all he wants from you is the ego boost of an easy conquest. I suspect you’re far more than a longed-for fuck to him, Neo.”
He blushes to his hairline to hear the matter put so bluntly.
Still, he stays stubbornly silent.
“Is there something in particular you’re waiting to see from him before you decide whether to trust him?” I probe with care.
“Well, for starters, how about an actual apology for being a complete and total shit my whole time at this Academy until the exact moment he fell for Zara?” Neo bursts out, pulling his hand from my pocket and whirling to scowl at me through the snowfall. “He’s always been a villain and a snake, and excuse me for daring to question how fast he’s shed his skin. I’m not a Valyrian telepath like Ronin and Zara, I’m just a plain old Kryll. I don’t share a whole two-way double mating bite bond with him like you do. I didn’t grow up with the asshole like Maxim did… practically. How am I ever supposed to be sure I can trust him?”
Even when he’s furious, he’s adorable, standing there barking at me in the street like an indignant puppy. I have to remind myself not to smile at his entirely genuine frustration.
Instead, I cup his flushed cheek in my gloved hand. “By giving him the chance, sweet boy. Just as you did with me.”
“You’re nothing like him,” he mutters, ducking his head so his magenta curls tumble forward in his eyes. His hair is growing longer, because Zara enjoys that, we all do.
I tuck a thick wing behind his ear so I can gaze into his mutinous eyes. “Why not give him a chance to earn your trust. I’m well aware the two of you were mortal enemies once upon a time. But you’ve both changed, haven’t you, since you chose to join this harem? Our queen needs us all to be in accord. All I’m asking you to do is to consider forgiving him for the sins of his past.”
It’s clear to me that my First Boy remains reluctant, but he’s generous and forgiving by nature, not typically inclined to nurse a grudge, and genuinely eager to please. This means I have these fundamental qualities of his character in my favor.
Patiently I wait until, finally, he heaves a conflicted sigh that seems dredged from the depths of his soul.
“Okay then. I’ll think about it. But only to help Zara. And only because it’s you asking.” He rubs his face affectionately into my palm, then resumes his climb up the zigzag stairs. “Anyway, we better get a move on. Zara’s still finishing her heat. She thinks getting bitten by Max during their mating flight kinda… prolonged the whole thing? She’s gonna want us together with her and the guys tonight.”
My own step quickens at this delectable prospect.
Despite these simmering tensions and unresolved conflicts in our queen’s harem, there’s nowhere on this earth my wolf and I would rather be tonight than together with our mates—all five of them—in Zara’s old-fashioned bed.
Besides, her succession ceremony will be broadcast live to the entire witching world in less than twenty-four hours.
Although my generously financed intelligence collection efforts continue, my inquiries to date regarding the identity and location of this mysterious rival have been spectacularly unfruitful. This means we’re going to need all the trust we can possibly build among us, between now and tomorrow night, to defeat our still-unknown enemies.
I maintain this to be the case because, with a spectacle like the one we’re about to broadcast, there’s no way on earth they aren’t coming for her.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Zara
Almost time to hit the stage, showgirl,I encourage my nervous inner dragon.We can do this. I mean it.
