Page 142 of A Palace of Smoke & Mirrors
Batre floated the notion that it might have been Gregor, but Morgoya was dubious. I enquired about Blythe’s relationship with Lucais and his parents back then, but again, the High Lady was not convinced there was a motive. According to her, Lucais’s parents had not integrated well into the political landscape, but that was a good thing for their social lives. It meant they were on friendly terms with all of the other rulers because they were never equipped to take point on contentious issues—so they never made enemies within the Courts.
Eventually, we drifted back to my magic training, though the atmosphere was a little darker and more suffocating than it had been before our conversation.
“Visualise something that you want to bring into the room with us right now,” Morgoya suggested. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”
I stared at the chalk cross she’d marked on the stonework as a guide for our summoning practise, and my mind went blank. We’d tried vanishing to no avail, and I wasn’t having any greater luck with its counterpart. Destruction was next, but I was afraid to even attempt it in case I finally succeeded.
“I’m frustrated,” I admitted after a moment. “How do you materialise frust—”
Lucais appeared in the middle of the cross and sketched a bow. “I heard you were summoning the things you want,” he announced, winking.
“That’s how,” Batre muttered, and I covered my mouth to conceal a small laugh.
“Iknowthat I did not just magic you in here,” I stated, forcing my lips to flatten. I shot him a reproachful look, pointing at the chalk. “I wasn’t even thinking about you.”
He gave a slight shrug. “Perhaps it worked backwards, then. I was thinking about you.”
The space between my hips heated, a molten liquid pooling in my core. “I’m busy.”
“You’re about to be, yes.” With an atrociously attractive wink, he whirled on Morgoya and Batre. “If you don’t mind, the High Queen is required to attend to some urgent business before dinner this evening, so I’d like to take her to go and…finish it.”
Morgoya frowned at him, but Batre began to pack up the supplies from the magical cart.
“Wehavebeen at it all day.”
That was all Lucais needed to hear, but I didn’t miss the urgent look that crossed Morgoya’s face before he snatched my hand and we disappeared.
When we materialised in his bedroom, I wasn’t at all surprised. The three of us had slept in the High King’s bed every night since the afternoon we had spent in the training room together, but nothing else had happened, and I’d barely seen either of them during the days.
Morgoya and Batre kept me busy from dawn until dusk with their magic exposure therapy. According to the faint grumblings that came out of Lucais’s mouth whenever he traipsed into his room late at night and collapsed into bed next to me, Enyd had been doing a similar exercise with him and Wrenlock, demanding they spend lengthy meetings together to discuss their plan of attack for the Malum and the Court of Earth. Wrenlock was equally fatigued.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t ask me for this again,” I reminded him, even as my voice strained while I watched him undo his pants with haste. They fell to the floor, and the sight of his erection springing free had me sighing unbidden.
“I thought you said I broke that promise,” he countered.
“Technically, no.” I adjusted my shoulders as my nipples hardened, incredibly sensitive against the fabric of my shirt. “I askedyoufor it last time, but this”—I gestured to him as his hand went to his length, stroking it once and then again as he stifled a groan—“looks a lot likeyou’reasking.”
Lucais pumped his fist along his shaft and grinned at me like a man on the verge of total chaos and collapse. “Take it or leave it, bookworm, but I am going to stand here and get myself off to the sight of you right this fucking second because if I don’t, I am going to commit a murder.”
“Enyd?”
He closed his eyes. “Do notspeakthe wretch’s name.”
My eyebrows elevated as I pulled in a deep breath, but I gradually lowered myself to the ground. It was cold and hardbeneath me as I crawled towards him on my hands and knees, preparing to surprise him by taking him in my mouth.
“Fine. What has the wretch done to you now?”
He stilled, and I almost thought he was listening to me approach until he finally said, “She’s taking me away from you.”
“Oh?” I tried to suppress the tremble in my voice. “I would’ve thought you’d be thanking her for that.”
“Maybe before,” he allowed, still fisting his cock. “Not anymore. I can’t think when I can’t see you, even if I know where you are. We had to move our meeting room all the way over from the other side of the palace to be closer to you because I was going out of my fucking mind—” He let out a small gasp as I stopped at his feet and licked the slit on the head of his cock, causing a dribble of arousal to trickle out.
I licked that, too, and then I sucked his tip into my mouth and moaned a little, “Mmhmm?”
“I cannot stop thinking about you,” Lucais admitted as I wet the entirety of his length with my tongue. “I’m in these damned meetings all day being pushed to make hasty decisions. Wrenlock wants me to draft proposals to our prospective allies, and Enyd is demanding I make commitments to an invasion strategy should we fail to talk sense into Gregor, if we can even—” Lucais broke off, groaning as I pushed his hand away from the base of his shaft and slid my mouth along it, taking him as deep as I could manage. When I felt him nudge the back of my throat and my eyes watered, I compensated with my hand for the inches I couldn’t quite fit any further down. “Fuck, Aura, forget it. Keep doing that.”
Pulling him all the way out of my mouth, I kept one hand around his girth and tilted my head to peer up at him. “No,” I protested. “I want to hear about your meetings. I want you to tell me why you were so desperate to kidnap me from my own commitments.”
