Page 45 of Gemini Hunted
“Right.” Ronin scoops up his fallen leathers with an agile foot and offers them to Zephyr. “These’ll look wicked on you, Zeph. Good to wear in a scuffle too. Go on, then. I’ll mind your swords for a tick.”
I find it highly unlikely the Unseelie will yield those swords for any amount of time in his enemy’s presence. But Ronin’s powers of persuasion are potent.
Especially when he is naked.
Zephyr drills the demon lounging in our doorway with a hard look, then jerks his chin in a short nod and snatches the pants. While he shoves his legs into the leathers and wrestles the garment over his hips in a silent fury, Zara hurries to fill the charged silence with a few jumbled sentences of hasty explanation for the demon’s presence in our bedroom… a summoning ritual, the magical artifact retrieved, then the biting… that I am barely able to absorb.
When I do, I jolt to a halt and whirl toward Vasili. His graceful frame skulks against the glass doors, face cast fully into shadow, beyond the circle of light from the bedside lamp.
“You.”I scowl ferociously at my foolish mate. “You dared to summon this infernal creature out of Avalon into our world without consulting or warning any of us… and then you bit him?”
“I’m running out of ways to say this.” Vasili’s tone drips with acid. “But let us try once more,do.”
“Indeed.” Zephyr buttons his leather trousers with aggravated motions and glares under his spill of green hair at Vasili.“Let’s.”
“That.” V jabs a finger precisely toward the demon’s love-bitten neck. “Is not. A mating bite. He isn’t joining the harem, he’s hired help. For fuck’s sake, he’s brought us the Horn of Ceres! Snatched the prize of the whole contest right out from under Cleo’s nose. If he hadn’t, both this contest and this delightful little rebellion we’re leading would be over. They’d be crowning Cleo queen of the witching world as we speak.”
Zara taps her sparkly toes on the carpet and looks thoughtful. Of course, this is presumably not the first time she has heard this argument. She does not feel angry in our mating bond.
She is listening to Vasili.
And she is thinking.
Hard.
“For moon’s sake. I should have known.” With a look of abject disgust, Zephyr snatches his swords back from Ronin and swings the harness across his bare shoulders. As his single eye drills into Vasili, his tone shifts from wrath to bitterness. “Another of your twisted plots to punish me for the so-called misdeeds of my past with Ronin. With any luck, you must’ve fancied my demonic cousin would slay me and spare you the trouble. I knew ’twas too much to hope you might finally have begun to tolerate my presence.”
“Well, since you mention it…” Vasili murmurs, his face still in shadow. “You have a cock that won’t quit, I’ll give you that. You fuck like a porn star. But there’s still no place for you in this harem.”
Zara’s dragon voices a chirp of annoyance.
This is one of the evocative bird-like sounds my queen has begun vocalizing since she has grown accustomed to her dragon. Her turquoise eyes narrow and her sparkly toes tap.
Her annoyance with Vasili crackles through our mating bond like static.
“Bloody hell.” Ronin too swings around to give Vasili an irate look. His tawny face ignites with wrath. “You still feeling threatened by Zephyr then? Better not be for my sake, mate. Because him and me, we’re solid. We’ve worked it all out. He’s forgiven me for knifing him in the eye. And I… I’ve forgiven him. For all of it.”
“Until the next time he ghosts you for four years and lets you believe he’s dead.” Vasili sneers. “Have you alsoforgiventhe role that guilt over his supposed death played in your sister’s suicide?”
Dragging the late Gwendolyn Pendragon into this mess is a very low blow. Even for Vasili.
Ronin’s shoulders hunch and his face goes tight in a rictus of old grief.
Even I stop glaring at the demon long enough to glare at Vasili.
How could he ever hurt Ronin?
As for the Dark Fae King, he bristles with barely contained fury. “Serpent, hold thy wicked tongue. The state of affairs between Ronin and myself is naught of your concern, Vasili Nikolayevich Romanov.”
Now Zephyr is lapsing into ancient Fae. And he is threatening Vasili. Neither is a good sign.
“The devil it isn’t,” Vasili says shortly.
Ronin crosses his muscled arms over his chest and scowls at Vasili. “You know what, mate? I don’t bloody need your protection. Not against Zeph. So you can drop this angel of vengeance bullshit and piss off.”
Saints of the northern steppes.
By this point, no one (except myself) is even watching the demon. As for that spawn of Satan, now leaning comfortably against the wall, Mordred appears ready to settle in with a bowl of popcorn (assuming he eats popcorn, because krakens typically consume raw fish) and enjoy the show.
