Page 34 of Queen Takes Triune
“She does have a point,” I said. “I’d rather—”
Mehen whirled around to stalk toward me. Head lowered, eyes blazing with fury, nostrils flaring wide with each breath, fury pumping in his veins. Oh, my sexy, wicked dragon. “You can’t possibly mean to let her touch these priceless artifacts. They’re mine. I claimed them for you.”
His dragon reasoning made perfect sense to him, even though I owned the nest itself. “Can’t you share?”
His eyes bulged with fury as if I’d called him a sniveling pussy. Hands fisted, his shoulders corded with strain, he opened his mouth. Shut it. His throat worked, as if he was trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t offend me as his queen.
I allowed my eyes to smolder as I stepped closer to him. Heat rolled off him and I could feel the tension singing in his muscles. He ached for a fight. He burned to protect his hoard. It was his instinct, as basic and necessary for him as breathing.
I simply had to turn his mind to other equally compelling instincts.
I laid my palm on his chest, enjoying the way he hauled in every breath like he’d just run a marathon. “I loved listening to you read in a French accent. Maybe you saw another book we could read? Something… sexier?”
“I’m listening,” he rasped out. “What did you have in mind?”
Uh… I had no idea. Mom had homeschooled me before her death. After that, I was on my own and always on the run. I’d enjoyed reading when I was a teenager, but I couldn’t worry about carrying a bunch of books with me.
A modern romance wouldn’t hold Mehen’s interest for long. He needed something elegant, interesting, old-fashioned…yet erotic as hell. Something that would hold his interest, even if Carys was touching his Shakespeares.
“I don’t know if you’d be interested,” Carys drawled. “But I did see a copy ofLes Liaisons Dangereuseson that shelf behind you. Third row up on the right.”
Ezra retorted, “What does that mean, for us cretins in the back?”
“Dangerous Liaisons,” Carys replied with a smug smile. “I think that may intrigue our queen.”
I wasn’t familiar with the book, but Carys said,:You’re welcome,:in our bond, so I was pretty sure it would check all of Mehen’s boxes. Playfully walking my fingers across his pecs, I asked, “Would you read it for me? Please?”
He bent down enough to hook his arm beneath my butt and swooped me up against him. Striding furiously across the floor, he scanned the shelves and snagged the much-loved tattered copy of the aforementioned book, as well as another. He let out a low grunt of satisfaction. “The Marquis de Sade too. This ought to be fun.”
“Not so fast, dragon.” Ezra came closer to look over the shelves. “We all ought to be able to pick out a book to read to her.”
Mehen let out a derisive snort that rattled his chest against mine. “The bear can read? Color me shocked. No fairytales, Goldilocks.”
“Shut the fuck up, lizard breath.” Ezra stretched up and snagged one book off the shelf. “Ah. This will be good.”
Mehen glanced at the book in his hands with a sneer twisting his lips. “You can not only read, but you can read in German? Now this I have to see. I can’t imagine our queen enjoying guttural mumbling as much as musical French, although that’s the perfect book for you.”
“What?” Daire asked, popping his head around Ezra’s back to see. “Das Parfum?”
“Gesundheit.” Mehen practically chortled. “Smelly fucker.”
Though his mirth quickly changed to a groan when I nipped his earlobe. “Anyone else who wants to pick out a book to read to me, grab one and let’s head upstairs.”
There was a stampede toward the shelves, though Mehen headed for the stairs, determined to be the first to read to me.
Leaving Carys to enjoy his hoard. At least for now.
11
Shara
Ilost at least three days in the bedroom while my Blood read to me. Not that I was complaining in the slightest.
This was what I’d sacrificed so much to gain. All the pain and worry and danger faded away beneath their sing-song voices and pure enjoyment in the literature they’d selected for me. Everyone took a turn, while we puppy-piled in my bed. The bed was definitely huge, but with twelve people…
Some stacking was involved to get everyone close.
Even Vivian joined the pile, which warmed my heart. When she’d first come to me in New York, she’d been as prickly as Mehen and Ezra combined. But my guys made every effort to ensure that no one touched her inappropriately or made her uncomfortable in any way, so she gradually relaxed.
