Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Aurelia
T he air has cooled with the coming of night, more than it normally did back in the capital farther south. I’d find the breeze that licks across my skin and through my dress more refreshing if it didn’t put the heated ache between my thighs into sharper contrast.
Arousal pools in my drawers with the friction of my steps. I try to focus only on the stone wall ahead of me, looming in the darkness.
My feet whisper across the tiled path that leads between the trees and shrubs. The warble of the fountain should drown out the sound to anyone not right next to me.
I shouldn’t need to worry about anyone at all wandering these grounds or peering from the windows that overlook the garden. The only people currently in residence in the imperial apartments are myself and my unconscious husband .
The inner barrier that separates our private gardens from the more public courtyard stands lower than the pale walls of the palace around me but well over my head. As I approach it, my pace slows. I strain my ears.
One or another noble might have drifted away from the court revelries to steal a private moment in the gardens. As soon as I’m on the other side of that narrow wall, I’m not guaranteed of my privacy.
And then there’s the matter of getting to the other side in the first place.
I left the logistics to my princes and their gifts. When I’m just a few steps from the wall, I ease into one of the thickest patches of shadow and wait.
Raul must be able to sense my arrival. It’s only a moment before Lorenzo’s illusionary voice resonates inside my head.
“All’s clear on this side, Rell. We’re the only ones in the gardens, and I’ll be conjuring an illusion so it’ll look as if there’s no one here at all if anyone glances out. Bastien can carry you over. Knock if you’re ready, then stand still and straight.”
My heart thumps faster. I rap my knuckles against the stone surface, just loud enough that I’m sure the sound will reach the other side.
I’ve just drawn my posture taller when a forceful wind whirls around me. It whips through my loosened hair and catches under my armpits. As it tugs my feet off the ground, a strong gust pushes at the soles of my feet.
My breath hitches with a gasp. The moving air solidifies around me as if it’s the supplest of cushions. It lifts me right up over the wall in its invisible embrace, so swiftly and smoothly the sensation isn’t remotely frightening, only exhilarating.
In the dimness on the other side, the three princes gaze up at me: Raul grinning with a pale glint of his teeth, Lorenzo’s face set with determination, and Bastien following my descent with so much intensity in his dark eyes that my pulse wobbles giddily.
The prince of Cotea lowers his hand to direct the currents of air he’s shaped with his gift. I glide down with them as if I’m some sort of godlen entering the realm of mortals from on high.
The moment my feet touch the ground, the solidified air wisps away from me, teasing across my limbs as it does. The heat between my legs flares.
I didn’t need a reminder of how much worthier of my trust Bastien is than the unpredictably cruel man I married, but this one act couldn’t have served as a better one.
I propel myself forward and yank the prince into a kiss.
With a rough sound, Bastien kisses me back, tugging me tight against him. My arms twine around his lean frame, one hand delving into his rumpled hair as if I could pull our mouths even closer together. For those first fleeting seconds, all I want is to drown in him and welcome him just as deeply into me.
Could we couple right here in the gardens—on a bench or up against a tree or down on the earth?
The thought sends a thrill through my veins. To let go of all the control and caution we’ve needed over the past several weeks and give ourselves completely over to passion…
I recover enough sense to ease back and glance around. My roving gaze picks out every sheltered alcove and sturdy trunk that could support such wildness.
But it also catches on Raul’s massive form where he’s watching us with just as much passion blazing in his bright eyes. On Lorenzo, his mouth curved in a dreamy smile even as his posture stays tensed with the concentration needed to work his gift.
A different sort of desire clangs through me more loudly than the call of my body. I want all three of my men with me. It’s been too long since I felt any of their touches.
I can’t resist claiming another kiss from Bastien where we’re still entwined. Then I ask, a little breathlessly, “Where can we go that Lorenzo can relax too? We should all be able to enjoy this night.”
Bastien beams at me without the slightest hint of jealousy that his foster brother’s happiness matters to me just as much. “Whatever our signal star wishes, she should have. I think his chambers are the closest to the doorway.” He glances toward the other man. “Can you keep us out of sight the whole way to your rooms?”
Lorenzo nods, his features tightening a little more. He flicks his hand through a few signs. And back here when Aurelia has to go.
In careful silence, we find the nearest path and hustle along it to one of the doorways into the palace. Bastien keeps his fingers tucked around mine, his thumb stroking over the back of my hand, sending fresh tingles up my arm with every tiny caress.
Raul steps closer to rest his own hand on the small of my back. The protective gesture stirs even more heat beneath my skin.
The burn of desire builds and builds until Lorenzo is opening the door to his chambers. The second it shuts in our wake, I pull Bastien back to me, crushing my mouth against his.
Raul chuckles and teases his fingers down over my hip. “So eager tonight, Shepherdess. Your needs have been neglected for too long.”
My cheeks flush. I can’t stop my body from swaying with his touch, seeking out all the contact it can get.
“I— The fertility potion I brewed. I think it’s… fanned ce rtain flames.” A little growl escapes me. “You have no idea how hard it’s been to wait .”
Raul laughs again, low and full of promise. “You don’t have to wait any longer, Lamb.” He tugs my chin up so he can capture my mouth for himself.
I do feel more lamb than shepherdess right now, wanting nothing more than to be ravaged. I grope at Bastien’s shirt and then Raul’s.
Before I can turn to soak up Lorenzo’s attentions too, he brushes a kiss to the back of my neck. His deft fingers work over the lacing I hastily tied down my back. “We’ll make sure you’re every bit as satisfied as you could imagine. You have all of us, always.”
As the gown’s bodice loosens, I spin to meld my mouth to his. A rush of Bastien’s conjured wind ripples beneath my dress.
His even voice takes on the commanding air that often emerges when our meetings turn intimate. “Our empress needs us immediately, and I think she should have all of us at once. Did you bring the oil we talked about, Raul?”
I feel Raul’s wicked smirk against my shoulder as he tugs aside the fabric of my gown. “I couldn’t forget that.”
“Let’s bring her to the bed, then.”
More wind licks beneath my gown and tugs it right off me when Lorenzo eases back. His dark brown eyes gleam with amusement as he strokes his thumb along my jaw. “He can be awfully bossy, can’t he?”
A giggle tumbles out of me. “I can’t say I mind.”
As the prince of Rione guides me to the bed, more air swirls around my body. The eddies flick across my skin like the most teasing of touches. My drawers flutter with a current that strokes right across my sex.
I gasp at the pulse of pleasure, and Raul clicks his tongue at Bastien. “You’re just torturing her like that. Our woman needs a firmer hand.”
He delves his fingers beneath my drawers to cup my folds. I outright groan, rocking into his hand.
He curls two fingers right inside me and then brings them, slick, to his mouth. Watching him lap up my juices sends a shiver right down the center of me.
I can’t forget why I’m here, why I took the potion in the first place. Bastien has already made it to the bed. I grasp at the fastening on his trousers, and he strips out of them and his drawers at my urging.
His cock ruts toward me, rigidly erect. I wrap my fingers around it to pump it up and down, and Bastien’s hips jerk. A bead of liquid forms at the tip.
He sprawls on the covers on his back and beckons me to him. His tone has gone rough but no less demanding. “Come ride me, Star.”
There’s nothing I want to do more. My sex throbs as I squirm out of my drawers and scramble after him with a heady sense of desperation. Raul and Lorenzo follow me.
As I brace myself over their foster brother, Lorenzo sets a steadying hand on my side and brushes kisses along my shoulder blade. Raul twines his fingers in my hair. “Do you think you can take us all at the same time, Empress?”
I sink down over Bastien, taking his rigid length into me with a very undignified whine and a panted breath. Bastien answers for me. “Of course she can. She needs everything we can give her. Make sure she’s ready.”
His voice breaks as he fills me to the hilt. He catches my neck and tugs me down for another scorching kiss.
But when I arch my hips against him, Bastien grips my thigh to hold me still. “Not yet. Not until we’re all together.”
Raul lets out a dark hum and traces the cleft of my ass. “I think you’d better be the one to take her here, Lore. I won’t make her try to fit me on her first go. But I can prepare her so it’s nothing but bliss.”
I stay tipped farther forward, my head bowed next to Bastien’s, as Raul spreads a slippery oil across my back entrance and then inside with a dip of his fingers. The unfamiliar pressure makes me gasp, but the hunger inside me intensifies.
“Such a good little lamb for us,” Raul murmurs. “Is this how much you want to be filled? I can do even better.”
His fingers retreat, but only to graze across my entrance again. A second later, I understand why.
A smoother pressure solidifies inside me. Raul eases it in and out, expanding the substance in his grasp slightly with each iteration.
He’s grasped the shadow from right inside me and is bending it to his will to pleasure me.
“There you go, Shepherdess. Look how nicely you stretch for me.”
The growing pressure and the slick friction flood my whole body with heat. A strange mewling sound seeps from my lips.
Bastien catches it with a kiss and slips his hand between us to massage my clit. I barely hold myself back from grinding against him.
As Raul keeps pumping his shadowy plaything into my ass, Lorenzo kicks off his trousers. He strokes his hand along his cock, watching the scene before him as avidly as a starving man before a banquet table.
“You’re gorgeous, Aurelia. And you’re ours, as we’re yours. Even if no one else knows it. Even if Marclinus acts like you’re his. We belong to each other first.”
The devotion in his words brings a swell of affection into my chest, as overwhelming as the pleasure that’s quivering through my nerves. I find my words amid the maelstrom of sensation. “Yes, we do.”
Bastien has been watching my face. A pleased smile creeps across his lips. “I think she’s ready to be fully possessed. Get over here, brother.”
Raul lets out a rumble of agreement. He releases his sculpted shadow and moves to the side to make room for the other man. “Slow and steady to start is the way to go.”
The prince of Lavira has done his job well. Lorenzo slides into my oil-coated entrance one inch at a time, filling me with a tingling pressure that’s only got the slightest edge of a burn. A burn that makes the bliss of it that much sweeter.
His breath stutters, and he dips down to press a few kisses along my spine. “You feel so good, Rell. It’s an honor to be this close to you.”
The ache of need has flared from my core again. I’m dying to rock between these two men, but it’s not quite enough.
I glance around to seek out Raul’s gaze. My tongue darts out to lick my lips in a gesture that feels shockingly provocative a moment after I’ve done it. “I was promised all three of you.”
His grin returns, so heated it could melt me. “What our woman wants, she shall receive.”
He strips off the rest of his clothes in a matter of seconds and kneels near my head.
I ease up and down both of the cocks inside me at the same time, reveling in the rush of combined pleasure. Lorenzo traces his fingers along my side encouragingly, and Bastien swivels his thumb over the tip of my breast to add to the giddy sensations. “Go on and take Raul too.”
I turn my head and flick my tongue over the head of Raul’s cock. He groans, pumping it at the base where his flesh only holds the faintest of curves after his sacrifice. “ Never met a woman who could come close to you. You’ll be my shepherdess as long as I live.”
I reward him for his loyalty by sliding my lips right around his erection.
His salty, musky flavor floods my mouth. A shudder of pure delight wracks my body.
I’m really doing this. I’m fucking all three of these glorious men in tandem.
My tenuous hold on my urges snaps. I buck between my princes, seeking out every pang of bliss they can send through my body. Soaking up the strokes of their hands, the thrust of their shafts, and the worshipful words murmured between increasingly fragmented breaths.
It feels so right, it’s hard to believe I can’t remain here always. That I have to pretend to belong someplace else for gods know how much longer.
I’m so primed for the act that it doesn’t take much time. As I sway between my men, their thrusts turn jerkier and faster.
My pleasure roars through my veins like a tidal wave. I buck and whimper, chasing it up, up, up?—
My climax crashes over me, sparking through every inch of my body. A sharper cry breaks from my throat.
Bastien lets out a strangled grunt and comes with me in a hot gush. Moments later, Lorenzo pants against my back and quivers with his own release.
I suck down Raul as hard as I can, determined to draw him over the edge with the rest of us. His grip on my hair tightens as he bucks against my mouth. “Lamb, I’m going to?—”
I don’t need the warning. I swivel my tongue around his shaft, and it erupts with a musky spurt I swallow without hesitation .
“Fuck,” Bastien mutters, as if he can’t quite believe the act he orchestrated.
A joyful laugh spills out of me. I duck down to kiss him hard, and he receives my mouth heedless of the taste of my other lover that must linger there.
Lorenzo withdraws and tugs me over into his embrace as if staking a claim. I sag into the bed between the three men with a sigh that’s nothing but contented. The desperate burn of desire inside me is finally quelled.
I’m sated enough that I start to drift to sleep nestled in their warmth. Bastien trails his fingers over my hair, but he’s never been one to totally forego caution. “How soon do you need to return?”
There’s a reluctant note in his voice. He doesn’t want me to leave any more than I want to go. But every minute I delay is a greater risk that my disappearance will be discovered.
Grimacing, I push myself upright. “I suppose I should go now. But we’ll meet up at least once more. We should give this month every possible chance to get the timing right.”
Lorenzo steals another kiss. “You know we’ll be here for you however you need us.”
Raul grins. “And this kind of ‘help’ is hardly a chore.”
We scramble into our clothes, Lorenzo lacing my dress in a few swift motions. He stands near the door, his deep brown face settling into its mask of concentration.
At his nod to confirm he’s constructed the illusion to hide us, we slip through the halls and back across the garden. By the wall, I soar over on a final waft of Bastien’s directed wind.
In the smaller private garden on the other side, I simply stand for a minute among the sculpted trees to gather myself. After several steadying breaths, I set off toward the path.
I’ve nearly reached it when a rustle draws me up short. My head jerks toward the sound—in the other direction, off near the wall of the palace opposite my apartment.
Is someone else out here?
My pulse lurches. Keeping myself still and silent, I strain my eyes to see through the moonlight.
There’s a soft rasp as if of footsteps over stone, but they’re heading away from me. As I crane my neck, I think I catch a glimpse of short pale hair between the far-off foliage.
Who could be strolling the imperial-side gardens? One of the guards, thinking Marclinus and I must be too occupied to notice?
What will he think if he sees me sneaking around in the night?
My heart is outright hammering at my ribs now. I stay where I am until the click of a door closing reaches my ears. Then I dart along the path to my chambers as swiftly as I can.
I ease my door open to the sight of my husband still sprawled across my bedcovers. I don’t think he’s moved more than a tilt of his head toward the pillow.
When I sink onto the bed next to him, a faint snore warbles from his lips. My racing pulse slows.
Whoever was wandering the gardens didn’t appear to see me , which is the most important part.
The next time I seek out my princes, I’ll have to be that much more careful.