Page 93 of Daughter Of The Ninth Line
I knew Boellium had a library, one of the most impressive in all of Ebrus, second only to the one in Fortaare, but I’d never been. I smirked up at Vox. “This hellhole has a library?” I teased, and he nuzzled at my cheek.
“Of course it has a lib—oh my fucking Goddess, what thefuckwas that?” he screeched, scrambling out of the bed, taking the blankets with him.
There, lying between our bodies, was Epsy. He yawned and stretched, then somehow twisted himself into something resembling knotted bread, and licked his butthole.
“Uh, that’s my pet stolt. He doesn’t bite.” As if to contradict my very words, Epsy bared his teeth at Vox, but when I picked up the temperamental little furball and put him on the other side of me, he curled back up and went to sleep. “Come back to bed, Vox. There’s time for a quick nap before the food hall serves breakfast.”
Vox grumbled beneath his breath. “One day into an agreement with Hayle, and already I’m in bed with something that’s probably covered in fleas.” But he still wrapped me in his arms, tucking me beneath his chin.
And when I woke up two hours later, he was still asleep wrapped around me, with Epsy draped across his neck like a fur scarf, snoring gently.
chapter fifty-seven
Hayle
“I thinkwe should start our research over in that dark corner between the shelves,” I murmured into Avalon’s hair. “I’ll start by studying the way the current youngest daughter of the Baron of the Ninth Line blushes when I stick my tongue deep inside her p—” She slapped a hand over my mouth, her cheeks flushed, but I could smell her desire. She liked the idea.
“Stop. The Librarian scares the shit out of me, and I don’t particularly want to bring her wrath down on our heads.” Her eyes flicked around, like the woman in question would just appear. “Besides, we have to wait for Vox.” When I frowned, she shrugged. “His rule, not mine.”
“What do you mean?”
Someone coughing politely behind me had me looking over my shoulder. The Heir to the First Line moved like a ghost. It was irritating. “She means that she’s a virgin, and while ultimately, the choice is hers,always”—his tone dared me to argue—“I thought that perhaps it would be best if her first time was with someone who could give her the commitment she deserves.”
Avalon crossed her arms over her chest. “AndIsaid that if I had to choose, then I would choose both of you.”
My brain was emitting a low hum of white noise. The beast inside me rose up to take the reins. I picked her up and set her on my lap, kissing her with more ferocity than I’d intended, but she met my lips with her own desperate need. The primal part of my brain was ecstatic that she would only ever be mine, that I would be the first person to taste her and that one day, long into the future, I would be the last person to taste her too, Goddess willing.
My hands gripped her ass, kneading the firm flesh. If I lifted her a little higher, I could drag her pants down and push my fingers inside?—
Vox kicked my knee hard, and I pulled back enough to growl at him. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking behind me.
A throat clearing had me going still, and Avalon stiffening in my arms. “Mr. Vylan, Mr. Taeme, and Miss Halhed. What a surprise to see you here in my library. Together, at that.”
Dragging my face from Avalon’s, I set her on the bench seat beside me and turned my most charming smile on the Librarian. She was a no-nonsense woman, but I hoped my charm would get us all out of this predicament. “Librarian, you look lovely tonight.”
She rolled her eyes. “Save the charm for someone else, Mr. Taeme. What do three Heirs require inside my library this late at night? I can assure you, there are better places to have an illicit rendezvous.”
She was watching us intently, but I had a feeling she was also teasing us. I didn’t have a lot of experience with the Librarian, especially not being subject to her hawk-eyed glare.
Luckily, Vox was used to his charm not working, mostly because he had the personality of a wet socks most days. “We are merely here to research, Librarian, of that you have my word. We are researching the historical magics of the genealogical Lines. For a research assignment.”
The Librarian didn’t blink. She stared at the Heir to the First Line in a way that would have gotten her head removed if she’d been staring at the Baron. Giving her head a small shake, she sucked the back of her teeth. “I see. I’ve got some texts prepared. Stay here.”
She disappeared, and Avalon slapped my arm. “I can’t believe you got us caught making out in the library. Fuck, if looks could flay, I’d be fileted on the floor right now.”
I nuzzled her neck, unable to get enough of her. I wanted to fight her battles, wage her wars, and fuck her senseless. I wanted to be her everything. “Nah, she totally bought Vylan’s pretty lies.”
Vox slapped the back of my head. Once upon a time, that would have ended with my hands around his throat, but it was hard to find anything close to animosity when Avalon was pressed against my side.
Rolling his eyes, Vox sat down too. “They weren’t lies. That’s what we’re here to research.” He quietly told me of their suspicions. About magic potentially creating the bond between us, that maybe there was some ulterior motive to the feelings that bubbled between us.
I could see his point of view. It felt too right, too familiar, like life had been lining us up to take the fall and we’d been moved into position like the pawns we were. But I also knew that what I felt for Avalon was greater than magic.
Though maybe this new-found tolerance for Vylan had its roots in magic. That would make sense.
Staring between the two of them, I decided to take a leap of faith. “It’s definitely a magical bond between me and Avalon,” I said softly, my eyes catching on Avalon’s wide pupils and holding there, like I was drowning in their deep blue of her irises. “The Third Line believes we are the favored children of the Goddess, mainly because we have been gifted with soulmates.We call them our Soul Ties, the other half of ourselves. Our one true love. We know them viscerally, deep in our chests.”
I gripped her hands as her lips parted. “You’re that for me, Avalon Halhed. When I say I’m yours until the day my heart ceases to beat, it’s because it belongs to you, and every pump of the muscle is at your whim. There will never, ever be anyone else for me.”
