Chapter 38
Gemma
“O nly if she wishes,” Azur said.
Despite Kythel’s cold tone, there wasn’t any rigidity in my husband’s shoulders. He wasn’t threatened by his brother. By his twin . Why would he be? He’d told me they were close, though this was the first time I was meeting him.
“Of course,” I said, finally finding my tongue. Azur handed me off, and Kythel’s palm clasped mine, the strong grip warm and familiar. “I’d be delighted to.”
Kythel’s gaze flickered to the bite mark on my neck, and then he shot his brother an unreadable look. “Subtle,” he drawled, the word tight.
Azur stepped away, holding my eyes, and I watched him go with a flicker of panic. Kythel drew me into the circle of his arms, breaking my gaze.
“Kythel,” I murmured, not able to relax, my spine stiff, though I was proud when I followed his lead when the music started up again. The name was a statement, a fact. Not a question. I kept his eyes, though everything in me wanted to shrink away.
He didn’t smile. Instead, Azur’s twin studied my face. I had the distinct impression that he was memorizing every last freckle, every last line. That he could draw me from memory alone, a perfect likeness, and I nearly squirmed under the scrutiny. I was proud when I didn’t.
Kythel was just as intense as his elder brother. It was like going back in time. To meeting Azur again for the first time when he’d stood next to me in a Nulaxy courthouse, as rigid as a statue.
I wanted Kythel to like me. Of course I did. He was Azur’s twin .
“I’m gratified to see my brother hasn’t broken you yet,” came the unexpected words.
I stiffened.
I didn’t quite know how to respond to that. Kythel’s eyes left me. They narrowed around the room, observing the couples around us, flickering to the crowd that watched us, to the musicians playing in a lonely corner.
“I’m not a wild animal that needs breaking,” I shot back, unable to hold my tongue.
Kythel’s gaze returned to me. The corner of his lip lifted in a smirk that was nearly identical to Azur’s. Seeing it made me reel.
“My apologies, sister,” he said smoothly. I nearly jerked at the familiar word on his lips. “I didn’t mean to imply that. You must understand that when I last saw my brother, he had vengeance in his soul and fire in his blood. I expected the worst when I returned to Laras this night.”
I didn’t dare breathe.
“And why is that?” I asked softly.
Kythel’s expression smoothed. He turned me expertly and I spun briefly, the room going dizzy, before he caught me again.
“There are no Kylorr living in the Collis, are there?” he asked instead. “That is where you are from, yes?”
“Yes,” I replied, breathless, wondering if I would finally discover the answers I sought from Azur’s brother—and wondering if I should feel guilty for that or not. “I am.”
“Because humans would rather raze their colonies to the ground than let Kylorr live among them,” Kythel murmured. “Especially after what happened on Pe’ji.”
“Pe’ji?” I repeated softly.
“How do you find Laras?” he asked me, changing the subject swiftly as he spun me again. On purpose, perhaps, to make me feel off balance. When I landed in his arms again, he was peering at me carefully, not out of breath in the slightest. I’d seen ancient butterflies pinned to boards in museums. Butterflies from Old Earth that had been preserved for centuries and centuries. I felt like one now. My butterfly wings spread wide, his eyes watchful, catching every twitch across my features.
“I like Laras very much,” I answered. “Everyone has been welcoming.”
When Kythel guided us in time with the music, my eyes briefly caught on Azur, listening to a Kylorr female, whose smile up at him could only be described as coy. Azur’s gaze was on me , however, and I didn’t have a moment to feel a prick of jealousy before Kythel had reclaimed my attention.
“But not my brother,” Kythel guessed. “Not at first.”
“No, not at first,” I said quietly, meeting those glacier eyes. “He wanted me to fear him.”
“Mmm. Azur is many things,” Kythel told me. “But once you have his loyalties, you have them forever. I do not need to decide if I like you, Gemma of House Kaalium.” My breath hitched. “My brother has already decided for us. I trust his judgment. I know his mind as well I know my own. So you can relax in my arms, sister. I will not bite.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. Kythel didn’t smile. Or laugh. He glided me across the ballroom, and I caught sight of Ludayn, hovering near her mother, who was chatting animatedly with Estee, the Hindras clothier. Ludayn looked beautiful tonight in her silver dress which made her midnight-blue hair shine.
What must the other brothers be like if Azur and Kythel were this intimidating?
“What are you thinking?” Kythel asked after a brief lapse of silence. I swore I heard amusement in his tone.
I said honestly, “That your mother must have been an angel with saintlike patience.”
That brought a laugh up his throat, husky and soft. So much like Azur’s that I softened because the sound made me feel safe.
“That she was,” Kythel agreed. “To put up with us and our father. Kalia was her blessing. Her reward. Perhaps Thaine too, for he never gave her much trouble.”
“Kalia has been a wonderful friend to me,” I said.
Kythel inclined his head, his eyes skimming the crowd once more, before flickering back to mine. “You’ve won her over. She told me you’re both working to restore the starwood blooms along the terrace.”
“That’s right,” I said with a small smile. Over Kythel’s wing, I saw a group of males gathering around Kalia. Azur included, who’d finally broken away from the female he’d been speaking to. I watched as Azur clasped one male on the shoulder, pulling him forward to whisper something in his ear.
His other brothers, I realized, my heart picking up speed. The remaining three of them. Kaldur, Lucen, and Thaine.
And they were all looking at me, dancing with Kythel, Azur included.
“She didn’t want to like you at first,” he told me. I frowned, turning my attention back to him. “Then again, Kalia has always had a big heart. It’s Kaldur you will need to sway the most. He won’t make it easy for you.”
“Why?” I asked quietly. I took a wild guess, a stab in the dark. “Because of my father?”
Kythel’s features darkened. I held my breath and felt my heart skip when he inclined his head. “Yes. Your father. And Aina.”
Aina?
“Did my father do something to House Kaalium?” I asked softly. “Was it a debt? Credits? Is that what this is all about?”
Kythel paused. He gentled our dancing until we stood still in the middle of the ballroom, and he regarded me with an expression that resembled caution. His gaze lifted to the group of his siblings, but I knew he was only looking at Azur.
“You’ll have to ask your husband,” Kythel finally said. “Come. They’re waiting to meet you.”
Frustration thrummed through me, but I let Kythel lead me off the dancing floor, bringing me back to Azur’s side.
My husband wrapped his arm around my waist, his wings flaring slightly behind me, giving the group of siblings the illusion of privacy in a crowded room as I drummed up a smile for the three brothers I hadn’t met yet.
“Gemma,” Azur murmured, gesturing to each brother in turn as he said, “My remaining brothers. Thaine. Lucen. And Kaldur.”
The weight of their eyes on me was equally as frightening as Kythel’s had been. For some strange reason, I’d envisioned his brothers to be younger. More like Mira’s age.
But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, three grown Kylorr males stood before me, and my heart felt like it would pump clean out of my body with the sudden flood of nerves.
All were incredibly handsome, with sculpted features and imposing jaw lines. All were incredibly massive, towering over me and Kalia like Azur. All were incredibly daunting .
“I’m very pleased to meet you,” I said, my voice revealing none of this, smiling. “Azur and Kalia have spoken so fondly of all of you.”
Azur’s hand squeezed at my waist.
“A diplomatic response,” Thaine commented, raising a brow, giving me a smile that couldn’t quite be considered warm, but one that was infinitely better than the scowl on Kaldur’s face. “I’m sure Azur has said much worse about us.”
“Not at all,” I countered, shaking my head, feeling Kythel come to my other side. I felt tiny and small in the circle of brothers, but thankfully, Kalia gave me an encouraging grin and I saw her bump her wing into Kaldur’s, who pinned his glare above my head. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to meet all of you, but I have been looking forward to it. To putting faces to names and stories.”
All of them had different colored eyes, I realized. Azur’s were red, Kythel’s blue. Thaine had piercing green eyes that were incredibly watchful as Azur pulled me tighter against him. Lucen’s were gold. And Kaldur…his were gray. So light, like molten silver, that they almost resembled mirrors. I swore I could see myself in them when I met his gaze.
Kalia, however, shared her eye color with Azur. A blazing, fiery red, hot like her temper could be at times but warm like her kindness.
“And we have been waiting to meet you, Gemma,” Lucen said quietly, inclining his head to me when I glanced his way. “For a long while.”
“They’ve all decided to stay for a few days before they return to their respective territories,” Azur informed me, cutting in. “We were just discussing the room arrangements.”
Smiling, I said, “That would be wonderful. Being here for a single night seems so short considering how long you’ve traveled to get here.”
“Or much too long,” Kaldur’s voice came, tilting his head at me as he watched my smile die, “depending on the disgraceful company we keep.”
His voice was smooth. Surprisingly gentle for his harsh words, and I realized that he wasn’t at all what he seemed.
Kythel had been right. Kaldur was the one who I’d truly have to win over, though I didn’t even know my crime to begin with. But Azur did. They all did. I was just the fool left in the dark.
“Kaldur,” Azur growled. “ Enough. ”
There was a lump in my throat and I grew stiff against Azur’s side.
Kaldur’s glare went to my husband. “I’m not going to stand here and pretend that any of this is right,” he rasped, that gentle voice becoming rough and raw. “ You made a vow to us. To our family. To our mother.” His hand flicked in my direction. “And rather than using her blood—”
“Kaldur!” Kalia gasped as my heart pounded in my chest, my face drained of color. “ Stop. ”
“—to guide Aina back from Zyos, you’re fucking her instead.”
Azur began to thrum beside me, throwing off shocking heat, and I shot him a worried look, flinging my hand to his chest because I feared he’d go into a rage right there and then. Kythel stepped into the middle of the circle, shielding Kaldur’s glare from us.
Guide Aina back from Zyos?
Gods, this was who Azur had been searching for.
But what did I have to do with it?
“Outside,” Kythel bit out to Kaldur. “ Now. This is not the place.”
The swish of Kaldur’s wings sounded and the heavy stride of his boots struck the stone as he left the circle.
“Azur, please don’t,” Kalia said, her voice tinged with apprehension. Her expression flew to me, desperation and worry in it, though I noticed all the siblings kept their distance, even Kythel. “He can’t go into a rage right now, Gemma.”
Azur’s gaze was pinned to Kaldur’s back, tracking him across the room.
I stepped forward, reaching to clasp the back of his neck. It took effort but I finally pulled hard enough to make him meet my eyes.
“Azur,” I said softly. There were guests looking on, surely, though I heard Kalia break away from the circle, trying to distract from it, loudly asking for a dance partner with a gleeful chiming laugh. Males stepped forward, all too eager, and she made a grand show of picking one, making the crowd laugh. “Azur, there are too many people here. Please.”
I’d watch him take down a kyriv in a rage. What would happen to this ballroom?
Kythel stepped toward us, clasping Azur’s forearm with his. Leaning close to his ear, I heard his twin murmur, “I’ll deal with Kaldur. Why don’t you take your wife and go cool off in the smoking room?”
I felt the shudder go through Azur’s body.
“I will,” came his voice, rough and raw. “Let’s go.”
Azur dragged me away from the three brothers, tracing Kaldur’s footsteps out of the ballroom. I worried that we’d run into him on the way out, but the path was mercifully clear, only the dwindling line of people waiting to get in greeted us.
Azur managed to nod at all who called out to us in greeting, and I plastered on a smile that I hoped looked convincing enough, though my hand was clutching tightly on his arm.
The room Azur led me to was down the entrance hallway and, thankfully, not very crowded.
But nothing prepared me for the haze of silvery-blue smoke that floated over my tongue when we stepped inside. I squeezed his arm, a gasp winding up my throat, when I felt heat pulse between my legs, the reaction entirely unexpected and shocking. The smoke smelled like cinnamon, warm and spicy. This was what I’d been smelling throughout the keep all evening. It was lore smoke.
That was when I remembered that it was a stimulant for humans. An aphrodisiac. Manufacturers throughout the New Earth colonies used lore in pleasure drugs and tonics and fertility treatments. They made a fortune off lore .
Gods. This was not the right time, but I clenched my jaw tight and followed Azur in.
His shoulders immediately relaxed and he released a breath in a rush. There was a Kylorr female tending a counter where we stepped in.
“ Kyzaire ,” she greeted, smiling through the haze, seemingly unaffected by the lore like I was, “and Kylaira . What would you like me to prepare for you?”
“K10098,” Azur rasped out. He was perhaps more relaxed than he’d been in the ballroom, but he wasn’t off the edge of the rage yet.
“Wonderful harvest year,” the female commented, chatting happily. “One of my favorites too. The season that year was abnormally warm, was it not?”
“It was,” Azur said, his tone tight.
When a throbbing wave began to spread between my thighs, I turned to Azur while the female crouched to retrieve whatever he had requested.
“I don’t know if I can stay in here,” I whispered in his ear. My hand curled into his vest. I felt him stiffen against me, a low growl reverberating in his throat, and I wasn’t sure if pleasure would help dull his rage or not. My priority was making certain he was all right and keeping him calm. What Kaldur had said in the ballroom… That was another conversation that could not happen right now.
My eyes caught on the other patrons of the smoking room. Mostly Kylorr. But I did see a couple humans from the village. A human male in particular had his hand on a Kylorr male’s thigh and was kissing his way up his neck.
Another human female was perched in the lap of a Killup, his gray skin gleaming, as he took a drag of his pipe, burning blue at the tip. I watched the human—with curly black hair and light skin—bite her lip with the imperceptible movement of her hips grinding down into him.
There were others watching, but most didn’t seemed fazed. There were two Kylorr kissing in the corner. Another older couple was laughing together. A handful of younger males, friends by the looks of it, were chatting good-naturedly around a high table in the middle of the room, pausing intermittently to take long drags on their pipes.
No one seemed to notice that we had entered the room at all, and for that I was supremely relieved. Especially when I felt my knees begin to tremble and slick arousal begin to wet my inner thighs.
The Kylorr female presented Azur with a gleaming pipe, stuffed full of dried lore .
She turned her knowing eyes to me. “Anything for you, Kylaira ?”
“No,” I said, clearing my throat when the word came out a little breathless. She knew—she had to—what effect the lore was having on me, a human. “Thank you.”
Azur didn’t waste time in lighting up his pipe. He flicked a switch and the end burned blue. His hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me tight against his body, taking a steady draw of the smoke.
His shoulders released even more tension as he blew out the silver smoke, and I nearly whimpered, squirming in place next to him, trying to get relief from the punishing ache that had begun to strum through me.
“Azur,” I pleaded, biting my lip.
“Let’s go,” he rasped, leaning down to brush his lips against my temple. “I’ll take care of you.”
I thought we might slip back to our rooms.
Once we made our way back down the private hallway, however, guarded by the keepers who pulled open the doors for us, I couldn’t keep my hands off him.
Azur blew out another puff of silver smoke, one that loomed around us like a fog, and my hand went to his finely tailored pants, trying to find the clasps with my fingernails.
“ Vaan ,” he cursed, his voice dark and raw, when I tugged impatiently. The threat of his rage seemed to have passed. While he still hadn’t quite lost the tightness around his eyes, his muscles weren’t straining to rip his vest open anymore. “I never quite knew how you would react to it.”
His words held a raw edge. The lore , he meant.
A drip of arousal trailed down my thigh. I could feel the slide of it like a touch, and I moaned in the darkened, empty hallway, the music in the ballroom faint. I could smell him beneath that cinnamon scent of the lore . Gods, I could feel the heat of his cock, just below the material of his pants, and I needed him. I needed him so desperately. I didn’t care about his brothers. I didn’t care about the ball. Nothing else mattered right now except getting that heat into my hands and into my body, however I could.
I didn’t know if it was safe for his rage or not, stoking up his pleasure like this when he was on the cusp. But I didn’t care. I could handle it. I’d handled the aftermath of his rage before, and we were well away from gossips and onlookers.
It was incredibly silent in the halls of the keep. I managed to get the clasps undone, making his waistband loosen, the dagger sheathed at his hip sag.
“Gemma,” he gritted, his voice guttural, the pipe hanging loose between his fingertips, watching me with a heated expression that nearly made me climax on the spot. His cock sprung from his trews. All thickened, veined heat, the scent of him mingling with the lore , making my mouth water and my nipples scrape against the light material of my dress. There was metal sewn just over my nipples, and I wiggled, trying to find the stimulation I so desperately needed.
Azur groaned when I dropped to my knees before him, his eyes narrowing when he allowed me to push him back against the hallway. His head turned, briefly, toward the doors to the main entrance. They were closed. The guards were on the opposite side of it. We were alone. That didn’t mean someone couldn’t walk in at any moment—a keeper. Zaale. Kalia. Or his brothers.
Even that didn’t stop me. With frantic, grasping hands, I tugged on his cock, making him hiss in pleasure.
A harsh cry left his throat when I wrapped my lips around his slick tip, hollowing my cheeks as I sucked.
“ Fuck, ” he growled. The burn of the lore laced through my veins, as potent as the venom from his fangs. “ Gemma! ”
I couldn’t get enough of him.