Chapter 24
Alexander
I awoke with Quinn still beneath me in my mind. One drop of sweat hit her breastbone, and my lips followed, tasting her heat and salt. Lust. Her. Pure sex. I wasn’t the dominant one, but I woke Ezra and took him like she was the one beneath me.
The wave of my need cleared, and Ezra’s purple eyes looked up at me. I burst into tears.
“I’m so sorry, love.” I tried to control myself, but I was a mess. This woman’s heart beat next to mine, and I wanted to be a part of her life so badly that I’d used my lover. “It wasn’t you I saw; it was her.”
Ezra cupped my cheek and rolled us so I was cradled in his arms. ‘I was too.’
I’d never needed those three words more. Ezra captured my lips, and this time, he used me, whispering exactly how he wanted her between us. Reminding me of her little moans as we touched her until both of us were a spent mess.
I’d given Quinn time with her friends to prove her choices were her own. Today, I needed to talk about us: her, Ezra, and me. Not just touching and hoping, but actual communication.
I slogged through the morning, counting seconds till our one-on-one.
As usual, she slipped into the Alun right after me, and we began. She caught on fast but struggled to juggle the tasks. With one new instruction, the last fell out of her grip.
After several failures, she let out an exasperated cry. “It’s like reading and walking; some people can, some can’t. I can’t.”
I shook my head. “You can. You need practice.” An idea hit me so hard that I flinched.
“What?” Quinn asked.
I vehemently shook my head. “It’s nothing.”
Quinn leaned forward and put a hand on my knee. It was the first time we’d touched since she had teleported. Our eyes locked.
Quinn didn’t pull away. “You had an idea. Tell me.”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times. “Are you still studying the families?”
Quinn removed her hand and blinked a few times. A blush rose to her cheeks. “Um, not, um, so much… It’s not like there’s a book at the library.”
“There’s not.” I leaned forward. “My book’s full of private research. No one else touches it.”
Quinn nodded slowly, still trying to figure out if I’d changed the topic or not.
“I want you to practice focusing on two things at once.” I placed a hand on her knee this time and rubbed a circle with my thumb. “We miss you.”
Quinn blushed and pulled back. I followed, slower.
“Both of you?” Quinn asked.
I knew Ezra used their evening workouts as an excuse to show her everything he couldn’t say. I felt how much she enjoyed it.
“Yes.” A shy smile I wasn’t used to twisted my lips.
Quinn combed her fingers through bits of her sparkling hair. A brown stain on her wrist had me pulling her hand forward. Her nails were uneven, and her palms unexpectedly rough.
“What happened to your nails, and what’s that spot?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
Quinn pulled her hand away. “I’d trashed my nails getting here, but what few I had, broke again working the train.
Nails don’t grow that fast. The stain, I’m pretty sure, is from leather dye from the stables.
Horse tack is rancid; I had no idea. I swear I’m bathing regularly.
It’s just fading slowly.” She ducked. “Does it look that bad?”
My family did that. My choices. This woman from the past had stumbled into my castle, and I’d put her to work. I shouldn’t have told Morgen to admit her. I should’ve said: treat her like a goddess until I could sweep her off her feet.
“No. It’s barely noticeable.” I almost fell over myself to reassure her.
She hid her hands under her crossed legs, eyeing me with quiet suspicion.
“Really. I’ve been preparing for my Mixer, which involves a lot of details and planning, and some of my heightened observations slipped into our training. That’s it.”
“What’s your Mixer?” Quinn asked.
I circled my hands in the air and said, “It’s a multi-day festival opening with a big party.
I want the world to witness a better path.
My family stands with me by their own will, not because of any power I wield over their minds.
That is the example I offer.” Our eyes locked; pride threaded my voice, arrogance brushing the edges, but every word was true.
“It’s going to be a very special event this year. ”
Quinn narrowed her eyes. “Why this year?”
I bit my lips shut and made a big show of zipping them up and throwing away the key.
Quinn laughed.
It was a big deal because of my plans to take The Mile, which was need-to-know only. And because Quinn would be there. The woman from the past.
I picked up a quartz stone. “Fill this with magic. I’m not giving you another precious stone until you can fill something less expensive without exploding it.”
Quinn stuck her tongue out at me, but got to work.
Her focus was better than mine.
My Mixer would be her first exposure to other families, unless I gave her the ever-growing stack of Intentions sitting in my office. I hadn’t opened them, but I knew what they promised: land, slaves, riches, and more—anything they could find to draw her away from me and into their family.
But me? I made her work, starved her, and now acted like training paid for her bed when all of it should have been free.
Not just free. A gift to get into her good graces.
I’d wanted her to understand the families before I overwhelmed her with options…
but I’d messed that up as well. I wasn’t handling her much better than Ezra had while I slept.
She made a frustrated little grunt and batted the unchanged quartz away from her. “I hope your little secret for your Mixer has nothing to do with me, because I’m useless.”
I sighed and took her hands. “You’re learning, Quinn, and the opposite of useless. People want to meet you.”
And tempt you from my side. But I couldn’t say that because she wasn’t technically with me. Why hadn’t I filled her dorm with Morgen’s entire greenhouse? Or given her any number of gifts?
Because I was a mentalist. I didn’t ask for what I wanted. Everyone in my life needed to show their work—free will, fully documented, including me.
“Join us tonight?” I squeezed her hands. “If nothing else, we can work on focusing on two things at once.”
Quinn’s cheeks blazed. I hadn’t intended the double entendre, but I wouldn’t take it back.
“I have training with Ezra,” she pointed out.
I needed my clever tongue. The one that turned enemies into allies. “Lucky for you, I’m best friends with the Architect, and partners with his first in command. I think I can get you off the hook.”
Quinn shifted her hips and chewed on her bottom lip. “You and Ezra tonight? You’re not keeping anything from your partner, right, Knowledge Daddy?”
I swore my dick ripped through the material of my pants. “Quinn, we’ve talked about this… that. Just. You shouldn’t use that nickname.”
Quinn grinned. “So hard not to, Knowledge Daddy.”
“Such a brat.” I pulled her fingers to my lips and kissed every one of her uneven nails.
It wasn’t the conversation I wanted, but she’d admitted her feelings. It was a start.