Page 76 of Dragon Fight

“No one duchy could be that lucky.”

“The queen has plans, certainly,” Brom said, ostensibly cutting into the meat on his plate, but that didn’t hold his focus. “And we need to ascertain what they are. Her attempts on Pippin’s life aren’t likely to lessen now we’re back and then there’s the lads.”

“They aren’t in the castle anymore,” I said.

Glimmer clambered up my leg and onto the table, shooting me a baleful look when she saw all the meat was cooked, but helping herself to a platter of sliced meat, nonetheless. Under the guise of peering at her, all my men leaned in so I could explain.

“The bitch movedthem as soon as Draven returned,” Ged growled, eyeing the tables next to us, as if they were spies seeking to overhear what was said. “She’s one step ahead of us.”

“But moving the lads is also dangerous. They can’t be anywhere in the castle, otherwise Draven would discover them,” Soren said and we all fell silent, each of us wanting to believe his words, even if we weren’t sure we could. “And moving them somewhere else means potential witnesses.” He scanned the whole table then. “Witnesses we need to find.”

“So attend a dinner with three of the four most powerful men in the fucking country to find out what seditious shit they think they’re going to pull, but before that, find whoever the hell saw four young lads get transported from the dungeons to gods knows where in this cesspit of a city?” Ged looked up at me as he stabbed his fork into some potatoes, transporting them to his plate. “Can we go back to Dragon Home? It was a lot nicer and had less people proposing bloody revolution.”

“We can’t be lolling around in luxury while cadets suffer in some hell hole,” Soren grumbled, a real note of command rising in his voice. “We find those boys, then secure the realm, make sure there’s something for them to live for.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Ged said, holding out a tankard.

47

Ishould have felt guilty the moment we got back to the room, because it wasn’t Lance or Jenkins I thought about as soon as the door closed. My wing was similarly focussed, the world feeling like it narrowed down to just these four walls. Glimmer slipped past us with just a nod, retreating back to my room, because she knew. A skin hunger rose inside me, inside them, the need to reach out, to touch…

“Gods above, I’ve been itching to fucking touch you all day,” Ged growled, breaking the holding pattern we were all in, shoving me back against the door as his mouth crashed down on mine.

Gods, Ged…

My hands moved of their own accord, raking across his stubbled scalp, smoothing down his shoulders, secretly thrilling over their broad sweep. But when I went to slide them around his chest, other hands took mine. I pulled away from Ged just enough to see Flynn had linked his fingers with mine and then used them to tug me free.

“You’ll need to learn to share,” Flynn growled, plastering my back against his chest, then his hand slid up my neck, tilting my head back and to the side so he could bestow a slow kiss upon my lips.

I felt like a woman dying of thirst and they were all the water in the world, my mouth claiming Flynn’s just as thoroughly as he did mine, my skin heating. One kiss led to another, so addictive I couldn’t pull away for a second, not until Flynn did and offered me back to Ged. But as the other man stormed forward, Soren spoke.

“We need to talk about this.” I heard the strain in his voice, saw the tension in his body, but he was every inch the drill sergeant right now. “This isn’t like the night of Zafira’s mating, can’t be blamed by a dragon heat.” His eyes softened when he met mine, that gruff exterior seeming to melt before my eyes and that had me pulling against Flynn’s grip, wanting to get closer. “It’s just us, just Pippin this time and she’s… She’s our lady.”

While I never felt like I was anything other than a woman, one of the few things I’d enjoyed about being a pig herder was being free of the constraints of being a lady. Ladylike behaviour was like trying on an old dress, one that no longer fitted. For someone else it would suit well, but not me.

“Do you care for me like I do you?” I asked Soren, trying for strong and cursing the waver in my voice. Some small part of me feared his answer.

“Of course, lass, that’s why—”

Flynn let me go and I placed my fingers against Soren’s lips, rubbing my thumb against the full bottom one for just a moment and then looking into his eyes.

“Then I don’t much want to be treated like I’m made of spun glass. If I was truly a lady, I wouldn’t put myself in this kind of situation.” I glanced over his shoulder to Brom. “Married to one man legally.” But they flicked back to Soren as I smoothed my hand down his chest. “Bound to the four of you in reality.”

“In truth, lass?”

That note of vulnerability in his voice was like a balm on my soul, allowing me to fully exhale. I nodded and then pressed my head against him. My eyes closed for just a second as I breathed him in.

“No one would blame me for going to my husband’s bed tonight,” I replied in a small voice. “To crave to do so would even be lauded so… To me it makes no difference that there will be the five of us in it, not just Brom and I. I wear his ring, but each of you have left your mark on my heart.”

“Can you accept it now, old man?” There was amusement in Flynn’s voice, but it was far outstripped by something raw and real. “We don’t throw ourselves upon Pippin like wolves from lust.” I felt his hand on my shoulder now, resisting the urge to arch my back up into his touch. “It’s because every moment we don’t touch her that it hurts like hell, because the only pleasures in life are to be found when we’re close to her.”

“You’ll cherish her,” Soren grumbled. “You’ll treat her with respect and…”

“Love?” Flynn found the word to fill the gap that Soren couldn’t, then turned me around and stared down into my eyes, with his mask slipping, just like Draven’s had. What I saw beneath it made me wonder if it could ever be hidden again. He reached out and touched me like it hurt not to, rubbing his thumb across my cheek, and it was only then I noticed a stray tear had fallen free. “I was forced to read many a sonnet in my education, odes to women’s beauty, free verse that described the agony of being separated from the object of your affection but…”

He shook his head slowly.

“They never said anything about how fucking savage it is, this need to get closer to you.” I stayed pressed against Soren as Flynn moved in, my hands going around his neck, which drew a low groan from him. He nudged at my lips, seemingly not content to kiss me until I was open and ready for him, which took only seconds to achieve, but right when I thought he’d strike, Flynn spoke. “I burn for you, Pippin, every moment of every day.” He grabbed my hand and placed it over his heart so I could feel the rapid, heavy beat of it. “You’re in me so deep I can’t see you ever working your way free, so be aware of that before you agree to anything. I can try for pretty words to describe it—”

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