Chapter 13 Then There Were Three
THIRTEEN
THEN THERE WERE THREE
I don’t tell anyone about my small meeting with Creatchin. But I do take my place here more seriously.
It takes no more than three days for me to go from eating greasy pork/beef/possibly human meat among the others to dining at the Prince’s side, sipping from his glass still held intimately in his hand, and finally, being invited to a private evening.
My stomach turns sickly the moment Avian tells me the good news.
“He wants to see you,” he repeats as we linger on the sidelines of the arena. Two men fling their weapons in violent blows at one another while I imagine the violent blows the Prince might have in mind for the two of us tonight.
This is what I worked for. This is what I wanted.
I should be happy.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” My palm falls to the exposed skin between my pants and tight shirt, and Roman’s attention follows that move.
The concern is there in his bright brooding eyes. Zilo seems oblivious or simply caught within the darkness of his own mind. And yet, we all hold our silence.
We let these thoughts fester until they’re bleeding out and drowning us in the darkness of what’s to come. I hate it. I hate pretending, and I hate feeling nauseated by what all my pretending is leading to.
But I can’t stop.
Not until that man is dead and the rightful ruler is crowned.
I don’t realize I’m still staring at Roman until he clears his throat harshly and quickly looks away… He was staring at me just like I was staring at him.
Maybe both of us feel that pressing dagger that’s stuck through my throat and heart.
I swallow down the pain of it all, and I don’t say another word before I’m storming back to the safety of our little bedroom. That’s all I do anymore: dig myself further into the hole of flirting and leading on the Prince and then pout about my day’s good deeds in the bedchambers.
But after tonight, the pouting might be real tears. Real torment and real pain.
My boots pound over the black-bricked sidewalk, through the side entrance of the castle, and the echo of my anxious steps follows after me as I stride down the dark hall and slip into the safe haven of the last door hidden in the corner of the castle.
My bedroom—I mean, their bedroom.
A pressing breath shoves out at that thought too. This isn’t my home. Someday I’ll find my place in the world, but first I have to help these men.
No matter what it costs. No matter how much of myself I give away in the process.
I tell myself that over and over again as I slip beneath the sheets. I snuggle down so deep the warm blanket covers my head, and I just soak in the comfort of the silence.
“Cersia,” someone says, stomping all over that sweet silence.
The beast inside me huffs with annoyance. My lashes lift slowly to the darkness beneath my den of covers.
“Yes?” I have to put real effort into not growling out that little word.
The bed dips. My weight jostles. A hard chest presses against my private cocoon. I don’t dare move.
Maybe—just maybe—if I stay still enough, he’ll go away. He’ll get the hint of the burial-like blankets I’ve submerged myself in, and he will leave me to rest in peace.
“Cersia, I think we should talk,” Avian says, clearly not understanding my hints.
I really did think he was the smart one too.
A sigh leaves my lips, and I close my eyes once more.
I don’t have the energy today.
The blanket remains over my face, but I listen to his sweet words. I couldn’t ignore him if I wanted to.
“You know you don’t have to move this fast? It’s barely been a week, just take your time. Earn his trust slowly… I-I—”
Whatever sentiment was on the tip of his tongue, it’s pushed aside as the bedroom door bangs shut and another bossy male stomps all over my private little quietness.
“I canceled your night with the Prince,” Roman announces, his voice hard with assertive sureness.
At that sudden statement, I fling the blankets down and sit up with ramrod straight posture. “You did what?!” I can’t keep the annoyance from grating my tone.
“I told him you weren’t feeling well.” Roman lifts his bronze shoulders with a careless shrug that I want to shake right out of him.
My legs tangle with Avian’s as I climb over him, his silver eyes wide with stunned surprise. Surprise, bitch, I’m gonna kill your friend right in front of you.
I shove off of him, and my bare feet slam over each board as I bring myself inches from this little empty skulled man.
“You fucked up my plans? You canceled the date I worked days to get?” My anger flares hot between us, and his pretty eyes darken as he looks down the straight line of his nose to glare properly at me.
“I saved you. I. Saved. You. Say thank you, Beautiful.”
“Thank you?!” My voice shakes so hard I nearly choke on it.
“You’re fuckin’ welcome.”
Oh no, he didn’t.
My palms land on the smooth panes of his chest, and I shove him with all the strength I possess.
He stumbles back, but he recovers fast, and he reacts even faster.
Strong arms wrap around me like a vise, and my hair flings over my face as he spins me until my back is against his front.
He holds my arms crisscrossed against my breasts, and I’m seething from the manhandling he seems to think he’s entitled to do.
Why do they hold me like this? All of them constantly spin me around like a princess, just to wrap me into submission. And I fucking hate it!
My foot lifts, but I quickly realize he’s wearing boots, and the pain there won’t be enough.
So, my head flings back in the matter of half a second. Pain sears through my skull as I crack that blow against his perfect little nose.
“Fucckk,” he hisses like a sweet secret against the back of my neck. “Why do you hate my nose? Why? Fuck, Cersia!”
Fuck indeed.
“Okay, let’s calm down.” Avian stands, and though Roman is still cursing, he hasn’t released me yet either.
Impressive.
“She’s right,” Avian draws every ounce of my attention, and I look up at him through a tangle of hair hanging in my face. “Don’t put yourself in the Prince’s way again, Rome.” The intensity in the shifter’s gaze is as daunting as it is worried.
He’s worried about me as well as Roman.
“You can’t protect everyone, Av,” Roman grinds those words out, his hold on me wrapping around me in more of a touch of comfort rather than aggression.
Is he…is he hugging me right now?
What. The. Fuck.
“And if you don’t watch your step, you’ll be as cursed as the witch.” The ominous darkness that clings to Avian’s low-spoken warning crawls over my skin.
“The Night Witch is cursed?” It doesn’t occur to me that I’m still having this conversation while Roman snuggles me from behind like I’m the slut puppy’s favorite chew toy.
“She’s…exiled from hell.” Avian looks from Roman to me and then back again, and I can tell there’s so much more they can’t say. “That’s not the point. The point is, Roman’s going to stop playing hero before he gets his throat slit.”
“He wouldn’t kill me. He enjoys watching me suffer. But he’d gladly have you kill me just to watch you suffer. You gonna do that for your Prince? You gonna take my life, Avian?” Roman snaps back with cruelty cutting into his every word.
A scent of rage stings the air, and in a flash of dark magic, Avian’s chest collides with mine. His hand reaches high, and he grips the other man’s neck so fast I don’t realize what’s happened until Roman and myself are both pinned against the wall.
“Don’t talk to me like you talk to them. Don’t parade around your little I don’t give a fuck attitude like you do for the rest of this kingdom.” Avian seethes the words out with his face just inches from mine, his anger breathing down Roman’s throat.
While I’m stuck in the middle of them. I stand between the two men and try not to make a sound.
But I can’t help it.
I can’t fucking help the gasp that slides from my lips.
Because during the heat of their threats, both of their bodies meld into mine from both sides, surrounding every possible inch of me within their burning warmth.
I think the little breathless sound falling from my lips made them realize the same thing at the same time. Because suddenly there’s a hardness forming against my lower stomach…and now against the curve of my ass.
The heaviness of their breaths wash across my neck on either side as they suddenly stare down at me like it’s the first time they notice I’m even here.
Neither of them acknowledges the lust I feel washing through all three of us with me at the center of it all like a boat caught within the reckless waves of a raging riptide.
Drown me in these waters. Let me be born again in this rushing current of these beautiful emotions.
Avian senses it first. I don’t know how. I’ll never understand his intuition.
His lips part, and then his head dips down.
He’s focuses on me. My thighs shift as I try to find my footing between them.
Uncertainty is firing through me just as fast as all the neediness I can’t seem to hide.
Avian’s hand that’s no longer around Roman’s neck slips down to the bare strip of skin at my hip.
A line forms between his dark brows as he seems to consider the way my skin feels beneath the back and forth drifting of his thumb.
Is he testing himself? Testing me? Or is he…trying to make some kind of decision?
Whatever it is, his mind seems to decide sooner rather than later.
Ever so slowly, he leans closer. His nose skims along mine as the warmth of his breath sears over my lips, and I breathe him in like all I want is a single taste. Our bodies shift against one another for more. Our lips nearly brush. Our hearts pound as one.
And then he pauses.
He’s going to back away.
He’s going to run out of this room and away from me like they do time and time again.