68. Caspian
Caspian
Icould get used to mornings like this.
The kind where I don’t wake up choking on flame. Where no one’s bleeding out, making plans to kill me, or deciding what torture I’ll get for stepping out of line.
The kind where I wake up tangled in limbs, Kel’s arms wrapped around my waist, my face buried in Fare’s hair that smells like cinnamon and apples.
Rosalina’s laughter rings in the air, and I can’t stop staring at her, tucked on Dayton’s lap, mouth against his neck, cheeks flushed.
I shift on the mattress, still half-hard from the dream I was having. Farron’s hand is under the sheet now, probably feeling up Dayton. Lucky man. And Ezryn is watching Rosie like he wants to paint every part of her with that tongue of his.
And me? I’m just grateful.
Grateful that the flames are quiet. Grateful that when I reach for my power, it listens. That when I look at my family, I feel the truest version of myself I’ve ever been.
“You’re smiling,” Kel says beside me, voice still hoarse with sleep. His hair is a mess and his arms are crossed, but he’s watching me.
“I know. It’s gross, isn’t it?” I lean in, pressing my shoulder to his. “Must be the afterglow of not being an emotionally repressed monster.”
He huffs a laugh but doesn’t move away.
I glance across the bed again, at Rosie, at Dayton, at Farron’s hand, which is definitely not still.
My body hums. I want in.
I crawl closer, the sheet dragging low on my hips. “Well, if we’re starting the morning with a bang,” I murmur, “I’d hate to be left out.”
Rosalina glances at me, eyes heavy-lidded, lips slick from whatever she’s done to Day’s throat. “And what do you want, Caspian?”
“Everything,” I say. “But I’ll start with you.”
Her breath catches. Farron growls low. Ezryn’s grip tenses on her waist. Kel shifts behind me, and the air tightens with promise.
Rosalina watches me with those big, dreamy eyes, lips parted. I crawl closer, leaning over Farron and bracing myself with a hand on Dayton’s thigh. I cup her face.
“Tell me to stop,” I whisper, brushing my thumb across her bottom lip.
She doesn’t.
Instead, she leans forward and kisses me.
Soft at first. Testing. Then she presses deeper, her fingers tangling in my hair, pulling me in. Her mouth opens against mine, and gods, I sink into her like I’ve been starving. Like she’s sunlight and honey and everything I never thought I’d be allowed to touch again.
When we break apart, breathless, I don’t move far. I press my forehead to hers.
Dayton lets out a low, amused hum. “You’re going to make Farron jealous.”
I look below me. There’s Autumn’s golden prince, flushed and biting his lip like he wants to say something but isn’t sure he should.
My heart skips. Because I want him too.
I turn to Dayton and Rosalina. “May I kiss your mate?”
Rosie doesn’t even blink. “Yes.”
Dayton’s smile is lazy, but there’s a fire in his stare. “If he’ll allow it.”
I shift again, crawling back until I’m facing Farron. He sits up, breath shallow, his gaze darting from my mouth to my hands to my eyes.
“You sure?” I ask.
“I’m sure,” he says, barely above a whisper.
I hold his face, warm and familiar. He’s shaved his beard and looks much more like the prince I first met all those years ago. The one I always thought had such an adorable charm.
So I kiss him.
It’s different from kissing Rosie. Where she melts, Farron meets me. He pushes back, lips parting, hand sliding to my waist. It’s warmth and hunger and a flicker of something wild. His fingers knot in my hair, and he groans against my mouth, tugging me in like he’s waited a long time for this.
And maybe he has.
The kiss deepens, slow and scorching. It’s his own heat, not that of the Baron, and damn if that isn’t a powerful thing.
When we part, I drag my tongue along his jaw. “You’re delicious, like cinnamon and pumpkins.”
Farron gives a breathless laugh, pulling me in until we’re nose-to-nose. “And that’s just my lips.”
Rosie sighs and Dayton murmurs something profane. Ezryn shifts closer. The bed moves behind me, a low growl vibrating against my spine.
A second later, I’m dragged backward by the waist, a strong arm yanking me flush against a very familiar chest.
“Mine,” Kel mutters, voice rough with sleep and something else entirely. His hand sprawls across my stomach, fingers digging in like he’s afraid I’ll vanish if he lets go.
I smirk, not turning around yet. “Jealous?”
“You’re crawling all over the bed kissing everyone but me,” he grits out. “Of course I’m jealous.”
His hand trails lower, sliding over my bare skin with maddening slowness. Mapping every inch of me he missed in the months we were apart.
And fuck, I let him. I crave his touch.
“Thought you were too tired,” I murmur, tilting my head back enough to feel his breath on my neck. My long hair sprawls over his shoulder.
His lips find my throat, kissing the skin right beneath my ear. “I’ll never be too tired for you.”
His hand drags up my chest, splaying wide across my heart before slipping down again. The other arm tightens around my waist, pulling me flush to his hips. And gods, he’s already hard.
“You kissed Rosie like you worship her,” he whispers. “You kissed Farron like you’ve dreamed of it for years.”
His touch slips lower. Lower.
“What about me, Cas? How will you kiss me?”
I turn my head and meet his eyes, frost-blue and burning with desire.
“You?” I whisper. I’ll kiss you like I love you.
His mouth crashes against mine before I can say another word.
It’s fierce and hungry, like he needs to prove I’m his. The kiss is teeth and tongue and breathless groans, his hands moving over me like they can’t decide where to land.
And maybe they don’t need to decide.
They land everywhere.
Over my ribs. Down my thighs. Palming my ass and yanking me tighter against him until there’s no space, no breath, no room for anyone else but him.
I can barely think. Barely breathe.
He breaks the kiss, panting against my lips. “Next time you kiss someone else,” he rasps, “I expect to be invited.”
I grin, biting down on his bottom lip. “Next time, you’ll be first.”
He growls and pushes me beneath him in one smooth motion, pressing down until I feel every inch of him.
“Damn right I will.”
Kel plants his hands on either side of my head, his body a wall of heat and muscle and need. The ice in his veins might be cold, but against me, he burns.
“You going to let me take my time with you?” he asks.
I arch up, wrapping my legs around his waist. “You’re already taking it, aren’t you?”
His mouth finds mine again. Rougher. Like he’s trying to carve himself into me from the inside out. His hips grind against me, slow and deliberate, his hand sliding up my chest, over my ribs, then down, down, until he throws off my pants and grips my cock. It’s so hard now.
I gasp, my back bowing. “Fuck, Kel—”
“I want to see you fall apart,” he mutters against my skin. “Do you want everyone to witness how you come?”
Gods, I do.
He grips a hand along my thigh and lifts my hips. I feel the tip of his cock at my entrance. Are the others watching us? I don’t know. I can’t look away from his gaze.
But even through the haze of pleasure, I catch it.
Movement.
Soft sounds. Breathless ones.
I turn my head to see Rosie’s eyes fluttering closed, Ezryn’s hand cradling her jaw as he kisses her. His body is curved protectively around hers, fingers tracing a slow path beneath her sleeping gown. He meets my gaze.
“Alright, Prince of Thorns, I’ll give it to you,” Ezryn growls, collaring Rosie’s throat with his massive hand. “You do look pretty when you’re about to be fucked.”
Fuck the High Prince of Spring. If he makes me come early, I’ll kill him. “Pretty enough to kiss?”
He ignores me, tongue halfway down Rosie’s throat.
Beside them, Farron has disappeared. He’s under the covers now, curled between Dayton’s legs.
Dayton’s head is tossed back, but he’s watching me, mouth open in a soundless moan as his fingers twist in the sheets.
His other hand reaches for Rosie, finds her thigh, squeezes.
It’s a mess of limbs and mouths, all of us out of control.
Kel pulls my focus with a low sound. He slides inside me with one smooth, devastating thrust.
I gasp, sharp and involuntary, and he stills, just for a second, watching me with those storm-blue eyes.
“Mine,” he whispers again, voice cracking with something deeper than lust. “Always mine.”
“Yours,” I breathe, dizzy with it. “Fuck, Kel, I’m yours.”
He moves, really moves, each thrust sending sparks shooting up my spine, grounding me even as the world spins.
My nails dig into his back, my breath shattering against his shoulder.
I give myself over to him, to the rhythm of his body against mine.
He knows how to touch me from all our years together.
The bed creaks beneath us, sheets twisting as Kel drives me higher, faster, until my vision blurs.
The bed rocks. Ezryn moans. Dayton gasps.
But all I can think about is the way Kel’s kissing my collarbone like he’s sorry for every time he ever hurt me. The way he grips my hip like I’m the only anchor he has left in the world.
And the way I love him for it.
Kel’s rhythm deepens, rougher now, more purposeful. Each thrust strikes a chord in me I didn’t know I had, unraveling me bit by bit. My body arches, chasing him, needing him.
“Fuck, Kel—” I gasp.
I’m close. So close. My perception narrows to the places our bodies meet, to the sound of his breath in my ear as he desperately whispers my name.
He lifts his head, brow slick with sweat, hair a tangle. His voice cuts through the haze, sharp and low.
“Rosalina. Here. Now.”
I barely have time to blink before she moves. Flushed from Ezryn’s touch, dazed and beautiful, she slips across the sheets. Unfortunately, still clothed in that nightdress.
Kel doesn’t stop moving inside me. If anything, he fucks me harder. But he reaches out, grabs Rosie by the hair, and pulls her in for a brutal, claiming kiss.
She whimpers, body trembling. “Yes, Kel?”
“Lips down here,” Kel growls, dragging her head with gentle force, guiding her mouth lower. “He’s close.”
She doesn’t hesitate.
Rosie slides between us, eyes flicking up to meet mine, and I swear the moment her lips close around my cock, soft, warm, perfect, I shatter.
It’s too much.
I can’t last much longer.
Rosie’s taking me in her mouth, her tongue circling as she hums softly. Kel’s hand is fisted in her hair, holding her in place, knowing she’s his to command and mine to worship.
I come with a broken, ragged cry, Rosie’s name on my lips, Kel’s name on my tongue, my whole body convulsing as white-hot pleasure explodes through me like lightning splitting the sky.
Kel kisses the side of my face. “That’s it,” he whispers. “Let go, Cas. Let us have you.”
And I do.
I give them everything.
Rosalina pulls off me, pearly white coating her lips.
What will happen with the bargain?
Ezryn’s watching her like a hawk to see if any briars will pop up through his perfect bed, but just as the last time she made me come here, she’s too close to Kel for that.
A slight haziness clouds her vision, and she shakes her head. “I told you I’m getting better at resisting it.”
I look at the frosted bracelet on my wrist. I’ll never fall out of love with him. I’ll have this bargain for the rest of my life. But we’ll find a way to make it work.
I’m still trembling, when Kel kisses my temple, slowly moving inside me. His deep, deliberate thrusts cause me to whimper from the overstimulation and the craving for more all at once.
“You thought I was done?” he murmurs against my throat, biting the skin. “Not even close.”
Rosalina licks her lips, hand running along my sweat-soaked stomach. “You can take it, lover.”
I groan, touching her neck, fingers sliding down to her breast. My hips lift to meet every punishing stroke. I’m wrung out, but fuck, he makes me feel alive, like the world could collapse around us and I’d still be here, shaking in his arms, begging for more.
I’m moaning again when Dayton gives a sudden, gasping cry, his hips bucking, body arching off the bed.
Farron’s head emerges from beneath the covers a second later, smug and flushed, his mouth shining.
Dayton drapes an arm over his eyes and laughs breathlessly. “Gods. Remind me to forget everything I ever said about hating to get up early.”
My cock is hard again, pulsing, muscles clenching with each stroke. “Ruin me the way no one else can.”
Kel loses it.
His rhythm falters. His grip tightens. He buries his face in my neck with a raw groan and shatters inside me. I hold him through it, nails dragging down his back, whispering his name.
“Cas,” he breathes. “You feel so good.”
The room is thick with heat and breath and the gentle shifting of bodies. Sheets tangled. Skin slick.
One by one, every gaze turns to her.
Rosalina.
Lying beside me, her hair a mess of curls. Her chest rises and falls in steady anticipation. Ezryn’s eyes are locked on her. Dayton reaches to brush her knee. Farron turns his whole body toward hers.
All of us are looking at her.
Wanting.
“Well, Princess,” I say and drag my lips to her ear. “Tell us all. What do you desire?”