Chapter 17
For the first time since the chaos in the ballroom erupted, I allowed myself to truly breathe.
"They won’t follow us here," Prince Kael said, his voice carrying that new quality of authority tempered with understanding.
He moved to a side table where crystal decanters caught the light from the fireplace, pouring amber liquid into four glasses with practiced precision. "At least, not immediately."
"They’re regrouping," Prince Silas observed, moving to the windows to draw heavy curtains across them. The action felt symbolic somehow… shutting out the watching world, creating a space where only the four of us existed. "The general will approach the council within the hour. They’ll debate legal precedent, search historical records, try to find some mechanism to challenge what’s happening. "
Prince Rhex paced the perimeter of the room, his massive frame vibrating with contained energy.
Unlike the others who seemed to be settling into this newfound calm, he appeared to be struggling, not with the Bond itself, but with the temporary inaction it necessitated.
"Let them debate. By the time they reach a decision, it will be too late. "
"Too late for what?" I asked, still standing near the door, not quite ready to move deeper into this intimate space. My body hummed with residual energy from the ballroom, the vial’s release, and the early stages of the Bond’s formation.
I felt simultaneously more alive than I’d ever been and completely exhausted.
All three princes turned to look at me, their attention converging with such perfect synchronicity that it felt choreographed. The weight of their combined focus should have been overwhelming. Instead, it felt...right. Balanced. Each bringing a different quality to their observation.
"Too late to prevent our bonding," Kael said simply, offering me one of the crystal glasses. "Once the physical bond is established, no power in the kingdom can legally separate us. Not even the council."
I accepted the glass without drinking, turning his words over in my mind. "Physical bond," I repeated. "You mean..."
"Not that," Silas interjected, a slight warmth coloring his usually precise tone.
He moved closer, careful not to disrupt the square formation that seemed to have become our natural configuration.
"At least, not yet. Your body is still adjusting to freedom from suppressants.
The heat signature in your scent is unstable. "
"He means the bite," Rhex said, cutting through his brother’s careful explanation with characteristic directness. "The claiming mark. It’s the first step in formalizing what’s already happened between us."
The claiming mark. I’d heard of it, of course.
The ritual bite that established physical connection between Alpha and omega.
Lady Morvane had mentioned it occasionally, always with that curl of disgust at the corner of her mouth, as if discussing some primitive practice beneath civilized consideration.
I’d never seen one up close. Had never expected to receive one.
Had certainly never imagined receiving three.
"Would that work?" I asked, looking between them. "Three marks? Is that even...allowed?"
"Nothing about this is 'allowed’ in conventional terms," Silas said, his analytical mind clearly having already examined this question from all angles. "But the ancient texts mention similar configurations. It’s sacred in ways modern law doesn’t fully acknowledge. The physical marks would serve as an external manifestation of what’s already been established energetically. "
"More importantly," Kael added, "it would create a legal barrier the council couldn’t easily overcome. Their authority extends to many aspects of royal life, but bonding rights are considered inviolable. Even for princes."
I took a careful sip from the glass, the liquid burning pleasantly as it traveled down my throat. The warmth spread outward, meeting the heat that already pulsed beneath my skin from the Bond’s constant presence. "And if we don’t do this? What happens then?"
"They’ll try to separate us," Rhex said, his tone darkening. He finally stopped pacing, coming to stand directly before me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body. "They’ll claim you’re illegal, unregistered.
They’ll say we’ve been compromised by an amplifier omega acting against the kingdom’s interests.
They’ll take you away, and they’ll never let you near us again. "
The thought sent ice through my veins despite the alcohol’s warmth.
Not fear for myself, though that was present too, but something deeper, more primal.
The idea of being separated from these three men, from this perfect balance we’d discovered together, felt like contemplating the amputation of a limb.
"It would have to be unanimous," Kael said quietly, watching my face with that penetrating gaze. "All three of us, and you, in complete agreement. There can be no coercion in this, Nyx. The choice must be yours as much as ours."
I looked between them again… these three men who had been strangers days ago and now felt more essential than breath. The Bond hummed between us, connecting four points with invisible lines of energy. "And the bite itself? What does that entail?"
Something shifted in Rhex’s expression, not quite discomfort, but a momentary break in his usual intensity. "It’s necessary," he admitted, his voice rougher than usual. "But it can be… painful. The skin at the back of the neck is sensitive. Three bites in succession, even more so."
My stomach tightened at his words, old fears rising unbidden. Pain had been a constant companion in Lady Morvane’s household… not always physical, but present nonetheless. The thought of willingly accepting it, even for necessary reasons, made something inside me recoil.
Rhex must have scented my fear. His expression softened, the battle-hardened warrior giving way to something gentler, more careful.
"It doesn’t have to be that way," he said, reaching out slowly to brush a strand of hair from my face. The contact sent electricity skittering across my skin, the Bond amplifying even this simple touch into something profound. "With proper preparation, you’d feel so much pleasure that you’d barely notice the pain. "
"Preparation?" I repeated, the word emerging more breathless than I’d intended.
Prince Silas stepped closer, his gaze carrying that new warmth that had transformed his analytical gaze into something both perceptive and compassionate. "The claiming bite is traditionally part of a larger bonding ritual," he explained. "Not just functional, but intimate. Sacred."
The word hung between us, weighted with meaning beyond its syllables. Sacred. Not a term I’d ever associated with my omega nature, with the body Lady Morvane had taught me was defective, wrong, something to be hidden and suppressed.
"We would make it as pleasurable as possible for you," Kael said, his voice dropping to that lower register that seemed to vibrate directly through my bones. "All of us, together. The way it’s meant to be."
I swallowed hard, suddenly aware of how the atmosphere in the room had shifted. The air felt thicker, charged with potential that made my skin prickle with awareness. The Bond between us pulsed stronger, responding to the change in all four of us simultaneously.
"Yes," I heard myself say, the decision made somewhere deeper than conscious thought. "I choose this. I choose all of you."
The princes moved with that perfect synchronicity again, forming a loose circle around me without touching, without crowding. Creating space that invited rather than demanded.
Silas approached first, his movements deliberate but gentle. "May I help you?" he asked, gesturing toward my elaborate gown. The garment that now felt too constraining, too formal for what was about to happen between us.
I nodded, turning slightly to allow him access to the hidden closures at the back.
His fingers were warm against my skin as he worked, each button coming undone with careful precision.
I felt the fabric loosen, felt cool air kiss newly exposed skin with each opening.
The gown slipped from my shoulders under his guidance, pooling at my feet in a whisper of expensive fabric.
I stood before them in only the thin slip beneath, suddenly aware of my body in ways I’d never been permitted to be before. Not as a burden to hide or a defect to minimize, but as something worthy of the reverent attention now focused on it.
Kael moved next, approaching from the front while Silas remained behind me. His hand cupped my face with such deliberate gentleness that tears sprang unexpectedly to my eyes.
"Beautiful," he murmured, the word carrying no artifice, no calculation. Simple truth, spoken by a man who trafficked primarily in certainties. "You’ve been denied so much, for so long. We want to give it back to you, Nyx. Everything that should have been yours by right."
His lips met mine in a kiss that started gently but quickly deepened, heat blooming between us as the Bond amplified every point of contact.
Behind me, Silas’s hands settled on my hips, steadying me as my knees threatened to buckle.
His lips found the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder, the contact drawing a sound from my throat that was swallowed by Kael’s continuing kiss.
Rhex approached last, dropping to his knees before me with a grace that belied his massive size.
His hands slid up my calves, over my knees, coming to rest on my thighs with careful pressure that asked rather than demanded.
I nodded, unable to form words as sensation overwhelmed me from three directions at once.
His touch trailed higher, pushing the hem of my slip upward as he went. When his mouth met the inside of my thigh, hot and precise, I gasped against Kael’s lips, my body arching involuntarily into the contact.