Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Entering the cottage, I saw Edmund reclining in the tub. No steam rose from the water, which I quickly corrected. He sighed in appreciation and watched my approach.
“I’ve been looking forward to this,” he said.
“I imagine so. It must be difficult to wash your own back.”
He didn’t laugh like any of the rest would have. His hungry gaze swept over my face, and I felt his desire for me grow.
I picked up a cloth, dipped it into the water, and used the soap to create a lather.
“I’m willing to wash every inch of you, Edmund. Slowly and thoroughly. But it won’t end as you wish.”
His brows rose. I felt his worry…and guilt.
“The care you took to prepare me helped, but I still need more time. I feel a bit bruised inside, and though I love each touch and kiss from all of you, I am not ready for it to go further than that.”
He considered me.
“I promise not to do anything without permission.”
Yet, I could feel his confidence that he would bed me before sunset. His desire thickened around me, and my heart fluttered at the thought of denying him what he wanted just for the simple sake of my need to challenge him. I enjoyed baiting Edmund very much.
“Then I will take you at your word.”
He leaned back in the tub as I dragged the soapy cloth over his muscled forearm. His relaxed fingers moved with ease as I washed each digit. But his ease was only a ruse. I could feel his growing tension, his need for me to touch more of him.
Fully embracing the dangerous game I played, I dipped the cloth into the tub and soaped it again.
He watched me as I washed his arms, then his shoulders and chest. An angry, desperate edge honed his need for me and wrapped around me, coaxing my desire for him, making it difficult to breathe normally as he extended a leg for me. He gripped the edge of the tub as I dragged the cloth over his inner thigh and hissed out a breath when I accidentally went too far.
His hunger for me became my own. It fed my need to touch him until it matched his need to be touched.
A part of me knew I was feeling more than I should…that there was a reason I hadn’t wanted to go further with him. But another part refused to walk away from his need for me.
Holding his gaze, I set the cloth aside and reached into the water once more.
His pained groan filled the room as my hand closed around him.
Without warning, he stood fluidly, taking me with him. His mouth was on mine as he pressed me to his wet chest. I met his ravenous kiss and scraped my nails over his back as he stalked across the room and lowered me to a waiting mattress.
His mouth didn’t leave mine as he tugged the ties of my pants loose and slipped his hand inside. He stroked my wet folds and circled my nub until I tore my mouth from his to gasp for air.
Then he removed his hand, and I watched him lick his finger.
My heart stuttered in equal parts mortification and fascination.
“I want to taste you, Trouble. Tell me you want the same.”
My skin felt too hot. Too tight. I needed more of Edmund, but I also remembered why I should fear it. He saw my hesitation.
“I gave my word,” he said. “Only what you permit.”
Holding his gaze, I slowly nodded.
He removed my clothes in seconds. Laying bare underneath him, I watched him dip his head and kiss a trail down my neck and torso. At the V of my legs, he inhaled deeply and made a growling sound.
“Open for me,” he said, not attempting to move my limbs.
The last time he’d tasted me, I’d been unable to move and dependent on their attention to break the spell. I felt his desperate need for me to participate, to show him how much I wanted him to touch me.
Pulse thundering, I slowly parted my legs.
“More,” he rasped, his gaze fixated on what he wanted to taste. He didn’t stop prompting me for more until I could go no further.
“You are lovely, Trouble. I will never tire of looking at you.” The flat of his tongue swept over me, and I sighed my approval. “Or tasting you.”
The second stroke had my eyes rolling back in my head.
“I want your hands on my head,” he said as he swirled his tongue around me. “Show me what you want.”
He teased me, avoiding where I wanted him to focus until I forced him there. I was close to finding my release when he suddenly rolled us. His hands on my torso lifted me so I didn’t fall as I straddled his face.
The disconcerting position brought me back from the edge.
“Edmund, I don’t?—”
“You have more control this way, Trouble. Take what you need.” His tongue flicked over my nub then trailed lower to my opening, which he’d been avoiding. The tip of his nose brushed alongside that sensitive bundle of nerves as he tongued my entrance, never quite breaching it.
My desperation to feel him there slowly consumed me until I could think of little else.
“Edmund. Please.”
“Please what?”
“I need you in me.”
He lifted me and settled me over his hips.
“Then take me.”
His hand captured the back of my head, and he drew me down for a kiss. I tasted myself. It felt wrong and right at the same time as he coaxed me to settle my weight along his hard length. I rocked against him several times, letting the pleasure grow before bracing my palms on his chest and lifting myself.
“Help me.”
He reached between us and positioned himself at my opening.
“You decide the pace, Trouble. Bed me as you wish.”
His words teased my need for him. Desperate to feel him fill me, I slowly sank down. He stretched me, but not unpleasantly so. His intrusion eased the ache instead of adding to it, and I sighed in satiation. When I couldn’t sink any further, he lifted me and let me slide down onto him again. And again. Until our hips met.
His hands stroked over my sides and fondled my breasts, tweaking my nipples until any lingering ache eased.
“Are you ready for more, Trouble?”
I nodded, and he growled as he rolled us again. Underneath him, I lost myself to his slow and steady rhythm as my pleasure climbed and then shattered. Outside, a few curses echoed my low wail. Then Edmund drove deep inside of me and stilled. His release bathed my insides and triggered secondary spasms of pleasure.
Rolling to the side but not withdrawing, he held me as our breathing returned to normal. I felt his spent member slowly leave me and the wash of his release on my thigh.
“I could spend every day for the rest of my life with you just like this,” he said, brushing the hair from my sweaty brow and kissing it.
“I would never walk again,” I said.
He chuckled and pulled me close.
“You wouldn’t need to. I would carry you everywhere. Like this.” He rolled so I was on top of him and rose with me in his arms.
I grinned as he walked toward the tub.
“Do you want to change the bathwater?” he asked.
“It’s already clean and heated.”
He glanced at it, grunted, and then lowered me into the tub. The hot water soothed the soreness between my legs, and I leaned my head back to relax. Edmund used the cloth to wash all of me and then his fingers to slowly probe my channel.
“Any discomfort?” he asked softly.
“None. It feels quite nice, actually.”
“Then I’ll continue until you tell me to stop.”
I didn’t push his hand away until I found my release a second time. Too languid to care about the cooling water, I let Edmund lift me out and dry me with Eadric’s help, which involved more pleasant fondling and kisses.
“It looks like I will need to feed you tonight,” Eadric said.
“You always feed her,” Daemon said.
“Ah, but this time, I might have to open her mouth for her.”
He sounded giddy at the prospect. Uncaring why, I let him do as he pleased. And it did please him. I felt his fascination with my mouth grow with each bite of stew he fed me.
When I finished, Liam swept me away to tuck me into bed and held me from behind.
I fell asleep before seeing who I would use as a pillow.
* * *
I dreamt of sex. Not involving myself or any of my men but with people I didn’t recognize. Young and old, the couples writhed against each other. Their sexual need fed my own. I ached to be touched and scanned the people for the ones whom I wanted to touch me. But I couldn’t find them. They were gone.
A tightness squeezed my chest. Where were they? My very bones ached with my need for them. With them, I could be free. Free to do what I wished…feel what I wished.
Then someone touched me. A tongue stroked through my folds, and I looked down at Garron’s head.
Joy filled me, and I rocked against his tongue, seeking the pleasure I knew would bring relief to this heaviness blanketing me from the inside.
You need the others, something whispered.
I woke partially on my side and partially leaning back on Liam’s chest. Eadric’s face was buried between my splayed legs as he licked and sucked with abandon. He slipped a finger inside of me and tipped his head to meet my gaze as I moaned.
“Good morning, Sparrow. Are you hungry?”
Already breathing heavily, I shook my head.
“Maybe you’re just not hungry yet,” he said, adding a second finger.
My lips parted, and he winked at me. I knew what that meant. He was going to do something to test his brothers. I wanted that. Desperately.
“Or maybe you just need to taste something delicious. Like this.” He dipped his head and licked me again. Then he withdrew his fingers and offered them to me. “Let me feed you, Sparrow.”
He nudged my mouth open and slipped his wet fingers inside. Several soft curses erupted within the fire-lit cottage, and I felt their desire surge. It fed my own as I tasted myself on his fingers.
“Look at how perfect you are,” Eadric said. “If you lick them clean, I’ll feed you more.”
I didn’t need to look at Edmund to know he was fisting himself. I could feel it—his burning desire with that hard, controlling edge. He wanted to push Eadric out of the way and feed me something else. He wanted me to take his length into my mouth. So did Brandle. So did they all.
Stunned, I stopped sucking Eadric’s fingers. The ache for them didn’t dissipate with my shock, though.
“Would you like something more?” he asked. He shifted his position, sprawling out so his legs were near my head.
Eadric wasn’t wearing anything.
My eyes rounded as I stared at his hard length near my face. He chuckled then lifted my leg over his head and buried his face between them, licking me hungrily.
The sounds he made fed the hunger that had woken me.
I gently wrapped my hand around his shaft. He groaned and thrust his tongue into my channel. A moan escaped me, and I licked my lips. The air in the cottage grew heavy with their collective need for me to taste Eadric as he tasted me.
Liam’s hand found one of my breasts and started kneading it as I leaned toward his brother and licked the head of his shaft.
Eadric gripped my hips and rolled us so I straddled his face like I had Edmund’s. While he feasted, I slowly licked every inch of his length and ground down on his tongue. The pleasure I needed remained beyond my reach. I hungered for Eadric. I hungered for all of him.
When he pulled away, I whimpered against his length.
“I know, Sparrow,” he said soothingly. “You’re hungry and need more.”
He turned me so I straddled his hips. “Just like last time. Take it all.”
With a low moan, I slowly sank onto his length and rocked against him as his hands guided me. He stretched me as Edmund had, but it felt so good. Gripping his shoulders, I sank deep, seeking the release I knew he could give me.
When he sat up and suckled my chest, I clenched around him and shattered. His release flooded me as I pulsed around him.
“To be clear, I did not feel forced to bed you. I could think of little else when I woke up to your fingers teasing my skin,” Eadric said against my temple. “I didn’t press for more than you were willing to give, did I?”
“No,” I said, forgetting in my blissful daze what we’d done. When I did remember, I burrowed more firmly against his chest.
Laughing, he tipped my face up to his and kissed every inch of it.
“Thank you for allowing me another first. Now, into the bath you go. Darian won’t forgive me if we’re late for their coddled eggs and tartlets with biscuits and cream.”
My gaze darted to the side, and I saw we were alone.
“If you ever change your mind, they would be willing to stay,” Eadric said, kissing my brow. “Watching one of us taste you is almost as good as tasting you.”
I shook my head at the mischievous grin he gave me and tried to pull away.
“Wait. Give me another moment. I like feeling this connected with you.”
His hands wandered over my bare back, reeling me in again until I rested my head on his shoulder. I liked the closeness of being connected too. And I realized that, while the feel of him inside of me was the center of our connection, it wasn’t our only link.
I could feel his energy, too, surrounding me, like it was trying to find a way in.
“Eadric, could I try something?” I asked.
“Anything.”
I closed my eyes and focused on the energy around me. Each bit—the floor, the earth behind it, the air, the mattress, our blanket—glowed to varying degrees. Eadric glowed the brightest. His energy radiated from inside of him, which I imagined was his well. The energy I thought I felt, though, I couldn’t see.
Curious, I nudged the lid off my well while watching. Even behind my closed eyes, I could see the flare of light from Eadric’s amulet. Its light blinded me from seeing the glow of his well.
I closed myself off and opened my eyes.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I just looked. I’m not sure what for, but it felt—feels—like there’s something there.”
“There? Where?”
“Around me from you. I thought it was energy, but it’s not. Not really.”
“How can you tell?”
“When I opened myself to it, it didn’t flood me.”
“Hmm. Would you like to look again while I distract you like Daemon did in the caves?”
I snorted and kissed the tip of his nose.
“I can feel their growing impatience. You’ve tested them enough for one day, I should think.”
He sighed with mock woe. “I will leave you to bathe in peace then. Unless you require my assistance?”
I shook my head and smiled as he stood with me and carried me to the waiting water.
“Wash quickly, or you will have company.”
Heeding his warning, I finished with haste and donned the gown they’d purchased for me before any of them could intrude. Filled with anticipation and concern, I opened the door and looked out into the yard.
Edmund was covering the fire with dirt, something I’d never seen them do. Supplies and packs waited in a pile beside a table filled with plates of food.
“Come eat, Sparrow,” Eadric said, holding out his hand for me. His hair was wet, likely from a recent washing at the well, and my cheeks flushed as I recalled why he’d needed to wash.
Darian swept me into his arms while I was distracted and carried me over to the table. He didn’t place me on his lap, though. He seated me on the bench between him and Eadric. Everyone else took a seat, too, and I eyed the incredible amount of food they’d made.
“We made what would spoil and moved the rest of it into the trees for your father,” Brandle said. “I expect we won’t be returning here for some time.”
I nodded and filled my plate. Though Eadric was more than willing to feed me, he focused on his own food while I quickly ate mine.
Garron was the first to finish and took his plate to the well. I helped him wash while the others completed the preparations to depart.
“It must be hard leaving your home,” I said, feeling Garron’s sadness and worry.
“While it’s the only home I’ve known, I know it’s not my true home,” he said.
“Do you have any family left in Turre?” I asked.
“No. We are the last of our family,” he said.
I felt his surge of fear. It had layers. Fear for his brothers and what they would face in Turre. Fear that I would run. Fear that I would hate them for withholding the truth. Fear that?—
“Snow?”
Realizing I was staring at him, I focused on the plate I held as my thoughts raced.
They weren’t telling me something. Why? I considered asking then decided against it after recalling Brandle’s caution from the evening before. Knowing that I could feel what they felt had to be intrusive to them. Yet, they had never once admonished me for unintentionally delving into their feelings. That did not mean I should do so without consideration for their need for privacy. So, while I couldn’t help sensing their feelings, I could choose to ignore them.
“Kellen?” Garron said when I didn’t answer.
“I apologize. I’m feeling a bit disconcerted. For my sister’s sake, I’m happy to leave. However, I worry about what we might face in the days to come. I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”
He dried his hands on his pants and pulled me into a comforting hug.
“We know to be cautious and how to not draw attention. Trust us. Please.”
“I do, Garron. Completely.”
He brushed my temple with a kiss and then sent me to help the others.
Once we were all in the yard and double-checking the weight of our packs, Brandle closed the cottage door for the final time. Edmund and Eadric stood behind him, each placing a hand on his shoulder. Daemon and Darian placed their hands on the twins before them. Then Garron and Liam.
The love they felt for one another filled my heart and touched something deeper within me. The need to protect them as I did Eloise rose swiftly and fiercely. They feared what they would find in Turre. They feared I would leave them. However, that was now as impossible for me as it would be to abandon Eloise. It would never happen.
But how could I prove that?
Watching them and seeing their bond, I knew of only one way.
I sent my love to them, visualizing it as a barrier around them like the one surrounding the glade. So long as I lived, nothing born of man or magic would ever harm them. I sent my intent outward into the air, and the glade exploded in a vibrant kaleidoscope of multi-colored particles. They floated toward the men I held so dear, condensing and swirling.
Garron glanced up then back at me.
“Snow?”
“I love you. All of you.”
They turned toward me, and any confusion on their faces was quickly changed to surprise.
“Is the air glowing?” Eadric asked.
“You can see it?” Garron asked.
They all nodded.
“What is it?” Brandle asked.
“It’s Kellen,” Garron said, watching me.
“It’s not me but my love for you. Welcome it, and it will bind us together.” I felt Edmund and Brandle’s worry. “It means I won’t run from you. No matter what secret you’re still hiding, I won’t run.”
“Then I welcome it,” Eadric said, opening his arms wide. The colorful dust settled on his skin and disappeared.
“His amulet didn’t flare,” Edmund said.
“Because I didn’t directly cast on him. It’s an indirect cast like the healing tea. You can accept it or not as you choose. And if you choose to accept it, there are no conditions you must meet for this spell. It binds me to you, not the other way around.”
“I wouldn’t mind being bound by you,” Darian said with a smirk. Eadric cuffed him for a change, which made me smile.
“Shall we go?” I turned my back on them so they could choose as they wished without any guilt. However, when I went to pick up my sling bag, Brandle’s hand closed over mine.
“I packed it for you before you woke.”
I tipped my head back to smile at him.
“Thank you.”
“I found the letter from the king of Drisdall.”
“And you wish to know how I came to have such a letter in my possession?”
“Why didn’t you go to the king to save your sister? With that letter, he would have helped you.”
“Maeve didn’t use her amulet like you do yours. She invited men into our home for dinners— noblemen or men of significant standing in the kingdom. Men who likely had the king’s ear in one form or another.
“With barely a word, she had them under her spell. Yet, for all appearances, she was an upright, moral woman of standing.
“We had no proof of her wrongdoings, Brandle. And I feared that approaching the king was exactly what she wanted. But not us. Her.
“In the days prior to my departure, she searched all my father’s documentation and used tidying as an excuse to do the same in the attic. By chance, I found the letter and some correspondence between my mother and a caster named Elspeth—a name my mother never mentioned to us.
“Though you have questions, I doubt they compare in number to the questions I have. Why was a letter from the king and several from a caster in our attic? What did my mother have to do with a caster in a kingdom that forbids magic? And what was Maeve searching for? If it truly was this letter, then why did she want it? What ill intentions does she have planned for Drisdall and its people? And how do Eloise and I play into those plans? For, without a doubt, we do. Why else keep us alive when Maeve killed or sent away everyone else?
“I didn’t intentionally keep the letter from you. I have it in safekeeping, fearing Maeve’s intent.”
“Thank you for explaining.” He placed the sling over my shoulders. “Let me know if this becomes too heavy.”