Page 78 of Exquisite Monster
It brought a smile to my face despite everything. Outside, the light turned to gold, heralding the sunset. “Endre wouldn’t show me part of the beach.”
“Good.”
I laughed. “Where are we going?”
Sirrus pointed behind me. Zovai was already on his way. I hadn’t spotted the second door on the bottom floor of the tower that blended into the wall. Z opened it, and it disappeared into utter darkness, the few steps I could see descending into black, the tunnel flooded with the scent of water. It looked so much like being back underground with Gleym that my throat began to close and my vision darkened. “We’re going in there?”
Zovai wrapped his arms around me from behind, soothing me with his presence. They could feel my immediate hesitation and fear. “I didn’t think about the similarities. This leads down to the hot springs in the caves by the ocean. You can walk out onto the beachfrom there, and you can even see the sky. We are not going completely beneath the earth.”
My heartbeat slowed, and I allowed myself to release the breath I’d swallowed. “Can I—” I worked through the fear and embarrassment while they waited, and I felt nothing but love. No judgment and no reason for shame. “Can I close my eyes?”
“Yes.” Zovai swept me off my feet and up into his arms. “I’ll tell you when there’s light once more.”
It smelled different from Evrítha. Gleym’s caves had smelled like water, but darker. There wasn’t wind in her caves. It was the scent of water that had gathered and stayed, not ebbed and flowed. That difference alone helped.
A thought popped into my head. “Did you see Gleym’s punishment?”
“We did,” Sirrus said. “Though we were all fairly young at the time. Because we were the Heirs, they took us with them when she was executed. Or so we thought.”
I frowned but kept my eyes closed. “Is there any way to separate a dragon from their magic?”
“Not that I know of,” Zovai said. “Why?”
“Gleym’s power controls the relationship between things. Even herself and other objects. If her power was known, and there’s no way to alter a dragon’s magic, then would the Elders know she would be able to stop her own fall, no matter if they clipped her wings?”
Silence answered me along with the sound of their footsteps on the stairs. Finally, Endre spoke. “It is my first instinct to say no, but knowing what I know about them now, it’s possible.”
“Do you think they know she’s alive?”
“Even if they do know,” Sirrus said, “they do not care. If she cannot escape herself and has no desire to return, they’ll be happy to let her rot.”
Still, something didn’t seem right. Of course the Elders would conceal their true intentions, but why let her live? The Elders were evil, but they were not fools. Not in the way Andaros was. If they’d wanted Gleym dead, they would have killed her. So why was she still alive?
“You can look now,” Zovai whispered.
I opened my eyes and gasped. The stairs in front of us were lit with the pink glow of sunset. A few more steps and I could feel the wind. See the pools that bubbled from beneath the surface of the earth, painted with that same glow. “They’re beautiful.”
Zovai set me down, and I immediately went and touched the water. Itwaswarm. Deliciously so. It would almost be too hot for most humans. But for three dragons and their mate? It was perfect.
The sun set on the other side of the continent, so the pools reflected the pure color of the quickly fading sky. I didn’t waste time stripping off the too-large clothes and sinking into perfect heat. I groaned.
“That feeling?” Zovai said as he followed me. “It’s exactly what it feels like when our cocks are inside you.”
My body was already heating and my face still flushed. I leaned on the rocks, looking out at the ocean. This close to the surface, it felt like I was staring at where the sea met the sky. Beautiful deepening blues.
A hand stroked up my back, and sudden nerves gripped my stomach. It had been months, and I’d only really been with them twice. I didn’t know how to let go of the anger and fear enough to justbe.
Zovai’s hands ran up my ribs before he lifted me, spinning my body and laying me back on the rocks. If I tilted my head back I could still see the sky. “All you have to do is say yes,” he told me. “And if you’re not ready, say no, and I shall still be happy that you’re in my arms. But never doubt that we want you, and there is no need to be nervous.”
A kiss pressed directly to the center of my stomach, and I gasped the word. “Yes.”
Through our bond I felt the sharp turn of their desire and their possession. Without words, I knew that they savored every new experience they could bring me, and they loved that I would only ever know their bodies. Their mouths and their cocks.
I watched the sky as Z’s mouth drifted lower, dragging hot kisses that contrasted with my wet and cooling skin. Until he reached the apex of my thighs. He groaned before his mouth was on me.
There should never have been any worry. The second his tongue curled around my clit, need bloomed beneath my skin. Every night that I’d spent without them didn’t matter because we were herenow.
And they felt the same. The sensation ofcoming homestreaming from Zovai nearly brought tears to my eyes. He devoured me. Consumed me. Dragged me toward brutal, bright pleasure, and I was entirely willing.
