Page 32 of Seduce

My heart clenches at the truths she’s telling me. I want to burn the world for what’s happened to her. A straight up killing spree is starting to sound really good right now. As black dots start to litter my vision, I remind myself to breathe. Passing out because of hysteria and raw, unadulterated anger isn’t very awe inspiring or helpful.

“Sidney may be able to add some herbs to a bath later if you’d like the help,” I say instead. It’s not my damn place to push. I’m going to accept what she wants to tell me, and wait to see if anything else comes.

“That’s a good idea,” she says absently, already pulled back into what she’s doing. Grayson is in the kitchen with Ayden and Sidney, and I’m not sure where Andrya is right now.

As she comes in with wet hair twenty minutes later, I realize she went to take a quick shower, and is in pajamas.

“Can you grab Ayden for me so I don’t have to yell for him like a caveman?” I ask Andrya as she strolls in.

Nodding with a smile as her eyes drift to Silla working diligently, she ambles over to the kitchen.

“What's up, you two?” Ayden asks, stretching as he walks into the room.

“Want to help us with some research?” I ask, raising my brow.

“Yeah, let me grab my computer,” he murmurs, walking to the desk. Sitting across from us, he wakes up his device. He was checking for any accidents earlier today when Silla didn’t arrive on time. We were all a bit on edge.

“Can you pull a roster for guards that work on the Queen’s Guard, royal officials, dignitaries in Forbach and…. ummm I think that’s it for now,” Silla says, glancing up from her work. “Oh! What do we know about the leader of the Underground? Anything?”

Ayden shakes his head at how fast she’s talking. “Okay, zoom zoom girl,” he chuckles. Silla simply smiles at him, batting her eyes. I can almost imagine that everything is normal, and we’re not traitors to the queen as they banter. This is such a different Silla from the one earlier. Is she compartmentalizing? What’s happening in her mind? “To start with your last burning question,” Ayden continues, “I don’t think anyone knows who leads the Underground. I think we may need to set up a meeting to get that information. Also, they seem like an organization that is truly concerned with the state of the kingdom. I did a search on some of the closed blogs on the Interwebs, and have found a lot of disgruntled people.”

“Disgruntled how?” Silla asks, frowning. “I can’t afford the prettiest and most expensive handbag unhappy, or food and housing is a stretch unhappy?”

“Food, housing, foreclosures from the Queen’s bank after missing a payment by a couple of days, kinds of issues,” Ayden explains with a sigh. “None of this is reported to a news source though, probably because Cinder is controlling it.”

“I don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Silla agrees. “When I was at the camp, Isaac and I came across a job where he was asked to find out who was trying to assassinate my step-sister. I wonder who else she’s pissed off,” she says, lips twisting in thought. “I know she’s not a good person by any stretch, but I didn’t think she’d do this to her kingdom. Cinder used to be a good queen.”

“She was,” Ayden drawls. “However, I’ve been taking weekly meetings with her since I returned to the camp, and she’s been a bit crazier than usual. She encouraged me to masturbate while she was fucking Lana. My dick is broken, well mostly, but her eyes have had this manic gleam lately.”

“I’ve noticed that,” Silla says, lips pursed. “She’s typically angry or disappointed with me, so I figured that was it.”

“You’re perfect.” I sigh. “I don’t know how you could possibly be in trouble, unless that person was being overcritical.”

Shrugging, she blushes. “What do you mean, your dick is broken, Ayden? That’s like a travesty to all female kind.”

“It turns out, my cock only wants you, Kitten,” he says, looking down at his pants as he palms it in wonder. “It appears it’s woken up due to your disappointment. Huh. Tell me I’m a bad boy, and I need to be chained up. Maybe I’m developing a degradation kink.”

Snorting, I hide my smile. His cock has simply missed the woman next to me, kinks be damned. The throaty laughter coming from her makes even my dick twitch. Fuck me, she’s beautiful.

“My dick isn’t broken!” Ayden throws back his head and crows. Grayson’s head pokes into the room, his lips twitching.

“My cock decided to look alive the moment I saw Silla,” he chuckles. “I was harder than a damn rock. Dicks get hard around you, Dangerous Girl, just know the ball is entirely in your court.”

“Can we add Silla to our puppy pile snuggles?” Ayden asks, jutting out his bottom lip. It’s ridiculous and adorable.

“Erm, the what?” Silla asks in return.

“Remember how we all sleep snuggled in a bed together? He wants you to come sleep with us. Just sleeping,” I confirm. “Cocks get hard, we know how to behave, it’ll be hard for us all to sleep knowing you’re under the same roof and not sleeping with us.”

Weighing the decision in her head as she rocks her head back and forth, she nods. “Yeah, I can do that. If I have a nightmare, I may wake everyone else though… maybe that’s not a good idea,” she retracts quickly, second guessing herself.

“I apparently still have nightmares a few times a week,” Andrya says, having been listening to us at the doorway. “The guys really don’t care. We’ll all help you back to sleep. Trust me, it’s better than doing it alone.”

As the doorbell rings, signaling pizza, she nods. “Anything has to be better than that,” Silla says softly.

Ayden stares at her for a beat before going to grab the pizzas. Knowing Sidney and Ayden, they ordered for an army.

“Dinner time,” I murmur, putting my computer on a side table. “We’ll knock this out after we get some food in our stomachs."

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