Page 85 of Daughter Of The Ninth Line
His snort was dismissive. “Find another new conscript to fuck, Taeme. I happen to like the little Ninth, and she’s very… handy.” His pause was exaggerated, and the beast inside me rose up, the urge to rip the throat from our rival almost overwhelming.
“You will speak of her with respect,” I snarled, making the smug expression on his face falter.
He inclined his head. “I meant no disrespect, Taeme. I find Avalon refreshingly without artifice.”
Whirling away, I paced, trying to burn off the rage bubbling in my chest. “She’s more than refreshing to me, Vylan. She’s more… everything. We have a connection.” It was as close to the truth as I’d allow, and even that made me vulnerable.
He paused. “Perhaps I understand the feeling more than you’d think.” He sighed. “Stop prowling around. We can have a civilized conversation about these things.”
I wasn’t convinced we could. Still, I sucked in a deep, calming breath and sat down on one of the long couches that dotted the rooftop. “I’m not sure there’s a solution here, unless you agree to release her from whatever arrangement you have going on.”
He slumped onto the couch beside me. “Scared she’ll like me more?” I snorted, but didn’t say anything, and he shook his head. “I understand what you’re feeling perhapstoowell. It’s like she’s dragging you toward her, even though she hasn’t done anything but simply exist?”
He couldn’t possibly feel what I did, because the First Line didn’t have Soul Ties. The idea of mates was exclusively a Third Line thing. But did the First Line have a similar concept?
I dismissed the idea immediately. They married off their females for political gain, like they were worth the same amount as two mules and a bag of grain. They definitely didn’t believe in the idea of divine-ordained soulmates.
Despite that fact, I couldn’t discount Vylan’s feelings.
Maybe I should just murder him. I could make it look like an accident, right?
“Whatever you might feel for Avalon, nothing can come of it, and we both know it. All you can offer her is heartbreak. Or do you think Daddy Vylan is just going to accept a girl from the Ninth Line as an acceptable wife for you? An Heir she might be, but we both know that your family wouldn’t accept her.”
It was rhetorical. We both knew they wouldn’t. The way Vylan’s jaw audibly cracked from the way he was clenching it told me everything I needed to know.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, and yours would?”
I gave him a smug-as-fuck expression. “Absolutely.”
Vylan was an annoying bastard, but he was smart. He knew there was something I wasn’t saying; it was in the calculated way he looked at me. I knew there were things he wasn’t saying as well, but I respected the pompous fuck enough not to beat the answers out of him.
“You’re right,” he said softly, and honestly, I would’ve been less surprised if he’d taken a swing at me.
“What?”
He huffed something that might have been a laugh. “I said, you’re right. Anything I could have with Avalon would have an expiration date. My family wouldn’t accept even an Heir from the Ninth.” He leaned forward, his hands on his knees. “Even if she’d been from the First Line, she probablystillwouldn’t be acceptable. I won’t have a choice in who I marry. I’ll be forced to spend my years with some conniving little social climber, or some poor soul who doesn’t want to be with me either, and we’ll resent each other ‘til death do us part. There’s no chance of anything as fanciful as love or desire, or even mutual like.”
He waved a hand at the rooftop. “These short years are the only freedom I will get, Taeme. This is what has to sustain me for the rest of my long, miserable life. And if that means I have to fight with you to spend time with a woman who makes my blood sing in my veins—for reasons I don’t fucking understand—then I will.”
His eyes weren’t like ice chips anymore. Something was burning inside Vox Vylan, a rage that spoke to the beast inside me. I slumped back against the couch, shaking my head in disbelief. Did I feel pity for him right now?
Unlikely.
Well, maybe. I’d met his family. Met his father, who was a cold, cruel psychopath. Met his mother, who was about as maternal as a dishmop. Met his brother, who made me shudder with revulsion. There was no question in my mind about why Vox had turned out so cold, even though there appeared to be something human left inside him.
However, there was no level of pity I could feel, no amount of empathy in my heart for him, that would make me give up Avalon. I’d rather give him my left hand than step back from my Soul Tie. We only had a year left here at Boellium. Then we would go off to our respective Lines and only ever see each other at Conclaves.
I couldn’t step back from Avalon Halhed, but could I share her?
I wet my lower lip, really examining the idea ofsharingAvalon with Vox. I imagined her hands on him and gritted my teeth.Maybe not.
Then I imagined him pleasuring her with his mouth, or holding her legs open with his elemental magic as I fucked her.
My cock twitched.Well, okay, maybe then.
I couldn’t believe the next words that came out of my mouth. It felt like someone else took possession of my lips and tongue as I said, “Well, I guess we could share her for the next year.”
For the first time in my entire life, I saw Vox Vylan truly shocked. His jaw fell open, his eyes went wide, and he puffed out a soft whoosh of air. “Excuse me?” His voice must have gone up an entire octave.
