CHAPTER 15
I wake up the next morning and stretch just before hands grab at me.
Opening my eyes, I realize I’m between Dragus and Matitus.
Their arousal through the bond floods into me.
I gaze softly at both of them, still fast asleep, wondering what they are dreaming about.
Or is it my movement that aroused them? I try sitting up, but Matitus chucks his arm over me, knocking me back down, and Dragus chucks his leg over my abdomen, squishing my bladder even more.
Seriously, they expect me to sleep in their bed, yet I end up squashed and smothered.
I elbow Matitus. He groans, and I think he may wake when he surprises me by pulling me against him.
His hot skin makes me hot and tingly as his bare skin brushes mine.
Hearing laughter, I lift my head. Silas is sitting in the armchair at the end of the bed with a newspaper in his hand, staring over the top of it, amused at my struggling.
“A little help?” I ask, trying to wriggle out from between them.
Only for them to keep pressing against me.
Silas chuckles again and gets up. He lifts Matitus’s arm off me before rolling Dragus off me, allowing me to wriggle out and stand on the bed.
Silas grabs my hips, lifting me over the top of Dragus, placing me on my feet.
Glancing back at the bed, Matitus pats it in his sleep and his hand brushes Dragus and he rips him closer, crushing him against his chest.
I laugh, watching as they keep wriggling and gripping each other.
Silas chuckles, and I see his eyes light up; watching them, he leans down, his voice in my ear.
“They think each other are you,” he snorts, making me glance over my shoulder at him, but his face is still there, barely an inch from mine.
Silas smiles, and my gaze shifts to his lips.
I don’t know what made me do it, whether it was the bond and feeling of Matitus’s and Dragus’s arousal or whether I wanted to.
I kiss him, pressing my lips to his. Silas does not hide his shock; he doesn’t have time.
I’m usually standoffish with him. But today, his lips are warm, and after a second, I try to pull away, when his fingers grip my chin, pulling me back.
His tongue brushes my bottom lip, wanting access, and I grant it, my lips parting.
His tongue slips into my mouth, playing with mine.
Turning to face him, his other hand goes to my waist, bunching my shorts in a fist, tugging me closer.
I place my hand on his chest, loving how warm his skin is under my palm, kissing him harder.
He groans into my mouth, and my skin heats with arousal as I push myself closer to him.
I wrap my arms around his neck, and run my fingers through the hair on the back of his neck.
Someone clears their throat, and I snap out of my weird trance.
My body feels foreign to me, and I realize it must be the bond.
The arousal isn’t just my own, yet I cannot deny how right it feels.
I enjoy kissing him, like his hands on my body, but that doesn’t change who he is and what he has done.
Looking back, I see Dragus and Matitus sitting up.
Dragus yawns, reaching for me but I step back, remembering I need to pee.
“What were you two doing?” Matitus asks, a knowing grin on his face.
A blush warms my cheeks, making him chuckle.
Stepping past Silas, I quickly duck into the bathroom, go to the toilet, wash my hands, and return to the room.
I find all of them in a state of undress as they get ready for the day.
Silas comes out of the walk-in, handing me some clothes and I quickly slip them on, not bothering to hide from them.
It seems pointless, seeing as they have seen me naked loads of times already.
Grabbing my socks, I go to sit on the end of the bed when I am tugged onto Dragus lap.
Lifting my foot, I place one sock on before doing the other one.
Every movement makes me aware of his erection pressing against my ass. He groans, gripping my hips when I try to get up. My belly rumbles loudly, and Silas glances over at Dragus.
“Let her up; she needs to eat,” he tells him gently, and Dragus sighs, allowing me to get up and grab my hand.
Following Dragus and Matitus into the dining room, I find breakfast ready.
I pinch a sausage off one of the plates, biting into it.
I am starving, unable to remember the last time I was this hungry; my body usually never gets hungry.
I have never had much of an appetite until I came here.
Silas walks in a few seconds later and I realize he went and retrieved my grandmother’s book.
He then sits, grabs the necklace, and removes the pendant.
I step closer, peering over his shoulder when he tugs me even closer, making me sit on his lap.
He drags his plate closer and places the book on the table.
I go to reach for it, eager to see what it says, when Silas’s arms go around my waist, his hand going inside my shirt.
His fingers run across my abdomen, sparks dancing over my skin wherever they brushed.
“Eat first; the book can wait,” he says, stabbing a piece of tomato and bringing the fork to my lips.
I let him feed it to me before biting into the sausage I still hold.
“God, I love watching you put things in your mouth,” Dragus groans, making me look at him. My face warms at what he said.
“So innocent,” Silas chuckles, rubbing his thumb over my blushing cheek.
“You two seem cozy,” Matitus states.
“Hmm, I feel different. Besides, I am doing what I promised I would,” I answer.
“Because Dragus marked you, your body will want you to finish the marking process. I wouldn’t be surprised if you actually went into the Dragon heat again tonight,” Silas tells me, making me nearly choke on the sausage I was eating. Silas hands me a glass of water and I drink it down.
“I have something you can choke on,” Dragus says, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I roll my eyes, grabbing the fork and devouring everything on my plate, when Silas pushes his toward me.
Why am I so hungry?
“Last Dragon heat, that’s why. Your body will burn at unimaginable temperatures when it hits again now that you bare two marks,” Matitus answers my thoughts.
Fear consumes me at what he said. Hotter? I thought it wouldn’t kill me now?
“It won’t but you will probably wish for death,” Dragus answers.
“Stop doing that,” I look at the pair of them, annoyed. My heart is pounding in my chest with fear.
“Both of you stop it, you’re scaring her,” Silas tells them, glaring at them both.
“Since when do you care about scaring her?” Matitus retorts and Silas shrugs.
“If you want, I will make sure the power is restored today, even if I have to do it myself. Then I can mark you before it gets too bad,” Silas tells me.
“What about the book?”
“It can wait. I’ve waited hundreds of years to find you, just over one hundred years to find that book; another day won’t hurt,” he says, and I nod.
“Wait, but if you mark me, won’t I go into the next stage of the heat?” I ask.
Silas nods. “It probably won’t be for a few days after you wake up.”
After breakfast, Silas, Dragus, and Matitus leave the castle grounds and I wander into the library and retrieve the journal of Silas’s I had been reading.
Skimming through the pages, I stop when I come to a drawing inside of the book.
The woman looks so similar to me, and I stare down at her.
The only actual differences between us were her hair being curly and her face a little fuller, but everything else was similar, including the Aziza eye coloring.
On the bottom of the page is the name I am assuming of the woman. Blaire.
Sitting at Silas’s desk, I go back a couple of pages.
My mind is reeling. Is it possible Silas was telling the truth that the Aziza’s started the war, that my bloodline was the reason for all this destruction?
Mostly I want to know who the woman was to Silas.
I read, completely consumed in Silas’s thoughts.
But the only thing I can figure from his writing is that he loved her.
It doesn’t say what happened to her or where she went.
I return the journal to the shelf. I search for the next year, hoping to get some answers, when Silas comes in.
“There you are. I have been looking for you,” he says, moving to sit on the edge of his desk. Glancing toward the windows, I see the sun going down and hadn’t realized how long I had actually been sitting reading. The entire day seems to have passed.
“What are you looking for?” Silas asks, standing behind me.
“The next year,” I tell him while going to retrieve the next one. He stops my hand from grabbing it and I see worry in his eyes as he looks at it.
“What?” I ask. Maybe he changed his mind and didn’t want me to read them anymore.
“Nothing, it didn’t bother me then but there are some things I don’t want you to know now,” he says, staring down at me.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because before I didn’t care if I upset you, that you knew. But now that you’re sort of trying, I don’t want you to change your mind. I don’t want you to hate me more than you do,” he says, grabbing it from the shelf. “This wasn’t a good year,” he says, flicking through the pages.
“Why?” I repeat.
“Because that’s when the war started, when the treaty was broken and when…” He doesn’t finish. But I know what he didn’t say.
“Blaire?” I ask, gazing up at him. He nods and his eyes dart away from mine.
“I won’t read it, then,” I tell him. I see how upset he just got over her name. His jaw is tense and his knuckles white, clutching the journal just at the mention of her name which confuses me.
“I know you loved her,” I tell him, taking the book from him and placing it on the shelf. Silas doesn’t answer, just stares back at me.