Page 79 of Hearts of Stone

“He’s a faun!” Daniel whispered, not so quietly, finally coming out of his reverie. “Like, I admit to reading some Mr Tumnus smut—”

“What? That’s a character from a kid’s book!” I shot back.

“Rule 34, bitch. Look it up,” Daniel said.

“Satyr,” Silenus corrected. “Fauns are ridiculous little nature spirits that haunt Roman woods, whereas I am a whole lot more…”

His hand slid down and I made the mistake of letting my gaze follow its path. Whoa!Eyes up top, Jade, I told myself.Eyes up top.

“So, Silenus, I told Daniel all about your amazing wine.” I had actually told him about it, on the walk to the tavern. “And we thought—”

“Say no more.” The satyr moved behind the bar. He had poured three glasses and was handing ours to us with a flourish when the gargoyles arrived. We’d lost them in the crowd, as we were able to weave between people with far more ease than they could.

“Jade—” Graven said, in that grumpy tone of his.

“Your next words better be: ‘get as drunk as you like, fated mate, because I will fly you home to your bed when you’re done’.”

Daniel looked at me as I imitated Graven’s deep voice, then burst out laughing.

“Well, if he won’t, I will,” Carrick said, stepping forward. “And I’ll have one of those too, while you’re at it, Silenus.”

“A party?” The satyr’s eyes gleamed. With a broad smile, he grabbed a brace of wine glasses in one hand and then tucked a couple of bottles of wine under his other arm. “This is the kind of occasion I can rise to.” He shot Daniel and I a slow wink as we sat down with our drinks in our hands. “Yamas!”

I had no idea what that meant, but I raised the wine glass in salute before putting it to my lips and tipping my head back. The sour sweet flavour of the wine slid over my taste buds and down my throat, and I wanted to get to the point where I could forget the look in Wulfstan’s eyes: imploring, blank with trauma, shining with a manic light that frankly terrified me. With each sip, I swallowed down every image etched in my mind of the gargoyle.

Several glasses in and I could barely feel my face, which was just the way I wanted it.

“Soo…” Daniel was leaning way too far across the table as he peered down at Silenus’ lap. “How does that work? Because Jade has gargoyles with these stone things in their dicks.”

“Exactly as you think, pretty one,” Silenus replied, smiling slowly. “Though perhaps a hands-on demonstration might be more… illuminating than verbal instruction?”

“So, they’re totally gonna fuck tonight,” I announced, my head swinging loosely on my neck as I turned around to address the gargoyles.

“Licentious creatures…” Seneca said, his eyes narrowing.

“Probably.” Carrick shrugged before smiling in a quite licentious way across the table at me. His dark eyes held mine as something long and prehensile slid up my leg. “Though, as muchas I like your friend, it’s not the wayhewill spend his night that interests me.”

“What? Oh!” I twitched on the bench seat as something… his tail? Whatever it was, it wended its way higher and higher up my leg until it slid against the crotch of my jeans. “Carrick!”

“Show some self-control,” Graven growled at the other gargoyle, then cast his dark gaze across the other tables. I looked where he did, seeing each one filled with a cornucopia of creatures, all drinking, laughing, chatting with each other.

“I am.” Carrick’s growl dragged my attention back to him. “I haven’t spread my mate across this table and poured wine over her naked body, have I?”

“You could do that?” Seneca asked, peering more closely at me.

“Pour it straight into that cute little belly button of hers, then slurp it out with your tongue. It’s the best way to drink wine,” Carrick replied with a wink. “Of course, together we could have even more fun.”

“Carrick, that’s enough,” Graven growled.

“Whyyy?”

Where the hell had that come from? Oh, me. The head of Carrick’s tail inched up higher and as I squirmed, I felt a rush of wetness. A gasp escaped my lips, because I’d never done anything like this.

All around us, beings were caught up in their own little worlds, unaware of the fact that mine had narrowed down to a steady throb between my legs. Part of it was the ache left behind by both Seneca and Carrick, part of it was a need to repeat that experience and become lost in that same bliss.

Because otherwise I’d dwell on everything that happened tonight.

I shoved the more recent memories away. It was just for tonight, I promised myself. I couldn’t help Wulfstan right now,as Agnes had made clear. Instead I could… Carrick’s smile widened as his tail started to rub me right where I needed it, his rhythm only faltering a little when he saw my lips fall open on another gasp, and my eyes half-close as my head dropped back.

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