Page 69 of Dark Space
I flushed and stumbled along beside Anna, wondering exactly when our tiny human prisoner had become our captor instead.
‘She kept talking about an imaginary human calledBecky Sharp,’ Vesper whispered loudly. ‘I can’t tell whether she’s had a revelation, or whether her skull computer broke.’
Anna reached back and, without looking, tapped him lightly on the arm.
Everyone left on the ship was waiting on the bridge. They’d changed into their formal uniforms and had somehow found some cloth-of-gold to make ceremonial sashes. Darius had evidently upended a vine growing in one of the common areas to make a wreath; Bryn beamed at him proudly, and I wondered how I ever could have missed the warmth in the engineer’s eyes when he looked at his love.
Someone had found a sash for Callan, too. As my second, he’d painted gilt up the sides of his graceful horns, and lined his eyes with gold. He was so handsome my breath caught; I shook my head slightly at my selfishness.
Don’t play with me, Prince.
Vesper accepted a sash from Octus with a bemused thanks, clearly not expecting to have had any part in the ceremony. As Darius arranged us, though, Vesper found himself standing to Anna’s left, with Callan to my right, the four of us lined up before Darius like naughty bairnlings.
It wasn’t how the ceremony went, but it didn’t feel wrong.
‘Usually, your intended would begin by painting your horns in gold, Majesty,’ Darius said to Anna. ‘But as you don’t have horns, we will skip that part.’
She started at being addressed asMajesty, but rallied swiftly. ‘What about my nails instead?’ she said, holding out her hands, palm down.
Darius blinked. ‘That could work.’
He’d set up a small altar just in front of the wide window of reinforced glass; upon it sat two small bowls, one of gilt, and one of blessed blood. Darius dipped a small brush in the gilt, then offered it to me.
I trembled as I took it, my fingers shaking as I cradled Anna’s hand in mine. She gave me a reassuring smile. ‘It’s all right, Cide,’ she whispered.
I brushed the gilt over the nail of her pointer finger, trying to keep it neat and even, though a tingling spread over my skin at the contact. I switched to her other hand, trying to ignore the way my body was heating and my cock stirring at the clean, fresh scent of her.
When I’d finished, she took the tiny brush back, smiling, and offered it to Callan.
Callan frowned in question.
‘Your turn,’ Anna said.
Darius’ face went blank with shock. ‘Ah, Majesty,’ he said carefully, ‘that isn’t the way this usually goes.’
Anna turned her face to me. ‘I know we didn’t talk about this, and I’m sorry for that. But I think this should be all or nothing, Alcide. It might be a disaster, but I’ll have everyone I want, or no one at all.’ She turned back to Callan. ‘You stole me for a reason, Callan. I’d like to find out what that is.’
My body flushed with heat again, but this time it was because of her words.All or nothing.
I’d pushed Callan away because I’d wanted to be loyal to the one I claimed. Even then, I couldn’t stop myself from looking at him, from craving him. But if I claimedbothof them …
Could I have Anna – and Callan, too?
I straightened, a sense of calm settling over me as I realised that this was the answer. We’d taken Anna’s choices away from her at the start, but she was choosing now, and it wasright. We’d been caught by her as much as she’d been caught by us, as if she’d tied ropes beneath her ribs, and fastened the other end beneath our own –
I inhaled.
Soul tie.
Something instinctual, something unbreakable, something that knows, somewhere deep and secret, that you are made for your partner and they for you.
You stole me for a reason.
I had no idea whether it was possible, but Iwantedit to be. Because I knew that Anna and Callan were mine and I was theirs, already knotted beneath my ribs, the ropes never to be broken. I had no idea what might lie between me and the starling, but there was room for Vesper, too, if he wanted it.
This was going to happen. And everything I’d planned on giving Anna – my devotion, my support, myheart– I could share between the three of them.
I looked up, meeting Callan’s gaze over Anna’s head, aware that the next words that came out of my mouth would change my life. ‘This is the way it goes today, Darius,’ I said quietly. ‘Your Queen-to-be wishes it. I wish it, too.’
