Page 109 of A Palace of Smoke & Mirrors
You really are interested in this, he realised through the bond.Aren’t you?
I gulped, but my mind immediately flashed back to the way it had felt to know that he’d been watching when it was only Wrenlock and I in the hallway during the start of the carousal, and I couldn’t quell the spike of arousal evident in the way my heart raced and my skin flushed.I don’t know.
Bookworm, he crooned.Tell me you want this. Tell me how badly you want me to fuck you with Wrenlock in the room. Do you want him to watch? Do you want him to touch you while I make you come?
A wash of dizziness hit me like a speeding truck, and I swayed, falling forward to brace myself on the edge of the table.My head was so hot it was drying out my mouth, and I couldn’t think in a straight line. I’d never done anything like that before. I’d never even seen something like it happening on a screen. I’d only ever read about it in books.
And yet…
“Fine,” Lucais said abruptly. He must have found his answer somewhere on my face. “Go on, Wrenlock. Tell us how we’re all going to fuck each other without causing irreparable damage to our relationships and psyches. Aura’s intrigued, so I’m listening.”
Wrenlock made a low scoffing sound before folding his arms over his chest and answering the question in earnest. “Aura and I have already explored some intimacy, and the two of you have a mating bond, so I don’t think it’s going to be all that difficult.” He made a good show of sounding convinced despite the fact that he didn’t look it when I glanced at him over my shoulder. “You don’t want to touch me,” he said to Lucais. “Do you also prefer that I don’t touch you?”
I could have sworn my eyes bulged out of my head like a cartoon cat at the implication, but there was nothing comical about the flood of arousal that began to drip down between my legs. I tried to resist, but I was compelled by hypercharged interest to turn to the High King and gauge his reaction. He looked gobsmacked.
“I…” He glanced at me as if he was seeking my advice, and it was honestly a nice change of pace for the two of us.
I merely shrugged. “You are a free agent.”
Lucais scrunched his nose up at me, but said to Wrenlock, “I suppose I don’t mind. I’ve never really thought about it. Are you saying you want my—”
“I’m saying you should stop being an idiot long enough for us to set some safe boundaries, if you really want to do this for Aura.”
The High King sneered. “You know I’ll ruin you for other men.”
“Should I leave?” I interjected, trying to sprinkle some humour into the mix to diffuse the extremely potent tension that seemed to have a dozen different traceable causes.
Wrenlock raised an eyebrow at me. “I literally have no boundaries,” he announced, which surprised me a little bit. “Aura?”
I gaped, and Lucais smirked at me. “I…” I mumbled. “Well, I…”
Truthfully, I’d never thought we’d get to that point. I wasn’t foolish enough to think that hooking up with Wrenlock when I was fated to be with Lucais was going to come without its complications. But they didn’t seem all that intricate when the line between love and hate was skewed in favour of the latter.
I looked between the two of them. Light and dark, night and day—and for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with their physical appearances. I felt an undeniable pull to both men, a sensitivity that only they could access, and the longer I stared back at them, the less insane the idea began to seem.
“Uh…no, you’re right.” I nodded once in Wrenlock’s direction. “We’ve kind of already been together, and you…” I trailed off, meeting the High King’s hot, assessing stare. “We’ve been on the brink of it for months.”
A flash of satisfaction lit up his eyes, but I caught myself checking Wrenlock for signs of jealousy or hurt. I found none, which was strangely validating.
“So…no real boundaries then,” I concluded. The group activity that the three of us were proposing to do was really the only thing coming to mind that I’d never done or considered doing before.
Lucais leaned forward, scrutinising me with an extremely sexy half-smile on his face. “But what about other things?” he asked. “What do you dislike? What do youlove?”
I had an intensifying feeling that he’d be the reason I discovered the full extent of both of those things, but I didn’t dare say it aloud. Instead, I thought back frantically to all of the books I’d read after Dante’s closed for the day. Short of providing them with an extensive list of ticks and crosses…
“I like the way you kiss me,” I told Lucais. He was an expert with his mouth. “And I like the way you talk to me,” I added, glancing up at Wrenlock. “I’m open to most things, I think.”
“Well, that settles it,” the dark-haired man said under his breath.
A jolt shot through my heart, crash-landing like a meteor between my legs.
Indignantly, Lucais exclaimed, “Excuse me, what about my boundaries?”
“You already told us,” Wrenlock said flatly. “How many boundaries can you, of all people in the world, possibly have?”
“Not mine.” The High King pointed to me with his eyes. “Hers.”
“Mine?” I asked at the same time as Wrenlock echoed, “Hers?”
