Page 89 of Daughter Of The Ninth Line
Hayle’s words about the connection between us resonated with both of them. Like my heart yearned for them both like a greedy bitch, as if one of these beautiful men—who were well out of my league—wasn’t enough. She wanted them both.
“You’re both crazy,” I whispered.
Hayle laughed, leaning down to kiss me as well, his lips overlaying the spot where Vox’s had just been, their taste mingling on the tip of my tongue. My brain short-circuited as I stood there, my fingertips gripping the table like I’d float away without it anchoring me.
Trying to shake the lust from my brain and think about this logically was more hard work than I’d like to admit. “What will people say?”
Vox sucked his teeth, his eyes narrowing. “Nothing, if they know what’s good for them.” He sighed. “Outside of these moments, I wouldn’t be able to acknowledge you how I would like. My father…” He trailed off. He didn’t need to say more. The last thing I wanted was to be under the all-seeing gaze of the Baron of the First Line. The very idea was terrifying.
“So I’d be your dirty little secret until you move on, go back to Fortaare to marry some Upper Line princess?”
His jaw flexed, and he stared down at me with those mesmerising eyes. “Yes. Trust me, it’s for your own safety.”
It sounded like a poor excuse, a line you’d spin to some silly little girl to get them into bed, and if I was honest, it hurt a little. But I knew enough about his life that I had no doubt it was the truth.
Looking over at Hayle, I chewed my lip. “And you? Would I be your dirty little secret too?”
He reached out and dragged me into his arms. “Never, Avalon Halhed. You’re mine, forever. I don’t care who knows it: Boellium, my family—hell, all of damn Ebrus will know you’re mine.” He buried his face in my neck, giving me ticklishkisses on the sensitive flesh. I honest-to-goddess giggled, but when I looked over at Vox, the longing on his face was truly heartwrenching.
As if he could sense Vox’s sadness too, Hayle pulled back and spun me in his arms, burying his nose in my nape. “I could use a hand,” he said lightly, but that was unlikely. I knew from experience that Hayle could make me pant with little more than his lips and an index finger.
Vox’s eyes caught mine, and I had no doubt he was asking me for permission. I silently granted it with a nod. As he stepped closer, his hands dropping to my hips, I could feel the heat of both their bodies pressing into me from all angles.
He dropped his face to mine, leaning down until his lips were mere inches away. “What magic do you hold, Avalon Halhed, that you have made us yours so completely?”
I just shook my head. I didn’t have magic. But what we were creating right now, well, it definitely felt magical.
He dipped down and kissed me again, not as tentatively as the first time. It was full of yearning that singed my skin. His tongue slid into my mouth, chasing mine, owning me as much as he could in a system that was pitted against his happiness. I gripped the front of his shirt in my hands, especially once Hayle’s palms began to wander between us.
Hayle stroked and petted, and when his fingertips traced the curves of the underside of my breasts, my breath stuttered in my lungs. I could feel his growing hardness at my back, while Vox’s cock nestled against my stomach, making my brain feel like it might explode.
Apparently, they were taking this sharing thing seriously.
Abruptly, in unison, they both pulled away. My skin felt overheated, and I was breathing hard. Vox was staring at me with an intensity that pulsed in my core, his expression so hot, it seared through me.
Hayle nipped my ear, his low, rumbling chuckle like an electric pulse through my veins. “Oh, this is going to be way more fun than I thought.”
“But only if it’s what she wants.” Vox’s firm, yet still soft voice held authority that made my body tingle. “Is this something you want, Avalon? I can’t promise you anything more than right now.”
It sounded like heartbreak, if I was honest. To have Vox and then lose him to the Line system of supremacy. To know how he tasted, the face he made when he came, his laugh, his moans, his whispered words, then to see those stupid portraits one day with his perfect wife at his side? It would be torture.
“Yes. I want this.” My stupid heart didn’t care. I would have him, even if it was just for now. Even if it was only under the shine of the stars or in the darkness of early morning. Even if it was only with the steady acceptance of Hayle at my back.
I wanted it all.
The smile that pulled at Vox’s cheeks was a genuine one. It had been the expression on his face when he’d told me about the stars, when he’d explained his passions. I was now one of those passions, and that was also worth the impending heartache.
Hayle squeezed me in his arms once more, then pulled back, his hands tracing down over the curve of my ass before he turned my face toward him and gave me one soft, final kiss. “Perfect. You’re perfect.” Then he slapped my ass. “Now, the night is young, and you have stars to draw.”
With that, we all resumed our positions, like the world hadn’t just erased and redrawn itself into something that was going to change me forever.
chapter fifty-five
Vox
Hayle’s wordsand Avalon’s taste haunted me all through training and lectures the following day. It did feel like magic, this hold she had over me. Before Avalon, the idea of sharing a table with Taeme would have been abhorrent to me, but now I was okay with sharing a girlfriend? What magic did she hold that she’d taken us under her spell so easily?
My natural scepticism wanted me to suspect that it was all her doing, but the look of dumbfounded surprise on her face when we’d proposed our plan had been too genuine to be faked, unless she was an amazing actor or an even better spy.
