Leisha and Samira exchanged reticent looks at her suggestion that made Kadeesha bristle. Very carefully, Samira said, “Your father wouldn’t like it with your wedding ceremony taking place so early tomorrow morning. He’ll want you looking like a well-rested and radiant bride. We should also consider … how it might appear if you leave the palace at this late hour on the literal night before your marriage to Rishaud and stir up whispers about your activities.”
Kadeesha scowled. Perhaps it was the wine making her excessively bold because she snorted. “Maybe we should consider that I don’t give a shit. If I am to be chained to some male I do not wish to marry in the morning, forced to consummate some marriage I do not want tomorrow night, and then forced away from my own home shortly after, I will enjoy one last night in my city beingme, unattached, and beddingwhomI choose.”
To Leisha’s credit, she stood at once and clapped Kadeesha on the back. “Then you’ll have that night, sister.”
Kadeesha grinned; she’d won the battle. If they were united two against one, Samira had no choice but to cave and step away from her preoccupation with decorum and the rules for one night. As Kadeesha had guessed, Samira sucked her teeth but stood from the armchair she’d occupied.
“Let’s go.”
THE THREE OFthem soon found themselves lounging on a settee in Kadeesha’s favorite pleasure club, Oleander House. It was an establishment she loved because she discreetly owned it, having bought it from its previous ownerfour years prior. Over that time, she’d sunk enough money and resources into the venture to have transformed it into one of the most infamous and lavish pleasure clubs in all of Nimani, and she was appreciating all that hard work now, pushing aside the thought that she wasn’t sure when she might ever come back here.
Kadeesha sipped on the special blend of spiced cognac that was aged in koppa barrels and a major export of the Aether Court. It felt terrific to swap out the palace’s sweet wine for something with more of a kick. The music around them was merry, played by a quartet of bards who were masters with a baritone dulcian, high-pitched stringed mandora, bass cittern, and koppa drum. The symphony of sounds wove a spell among Oleander House’s intimate parlor and the many patrons enjoying themselves for the night. A voluptuous woman with dark red hair, walnut-colored eyes, and deep brown skin the color of dawn lilies was the musician who plucked the strings of the mandora. She crooned out words about eternal revelry, the vibrancy of life, and everlasting joy, making it impossible for Kadeesha to slip into a sour mood. She’d always appreciated the talents of bards, the subtle sway of suggestive magic threaded into their songs, and this beautiful songstress was providing Kadeesha with the exact reprieve she needed. Flame dancers who were additional entertainment were scattered about the parlor too, weaving their own enchantments with their seductive, fluid body movements and roiling aether fire, and tonight she was infinitely grateful to be in the presence of such mesmerizing artists.
The bards ended their current song and started up a more raucous tune. Leisha let out a whoop at the change of pace, slammed her goblet down, and hopped on top of the table nextto it to dance. Like Kadeesha and Samira, Leisha wore nondescript garb that marked her as neither a Nkita nor a noble. That said, it wasn’t exactly camouflage, as Leisha’s evening gown was a vibrant scarlet that perfectly accentuated her attention-grabbing auburn tresses, fit her as tight as her flying leathers, and just barely covered her ample backside. In comparison, Samira was dressed more modestly in a knee-length white sheath dress, which was as subtle as her ash-blonde hair. Kadeesha, leaning entirely into unchecked inhibition for this last taste of freedom, was clothed in a black sleeveless sheath dress that stopped at mid-thigh and was made of an iridescent material that molded to her curves and turned sheer when the light hit it at just the right angle. She had come to play inside a sex club after all, and she planned on enjoying the exact services it provided at some point before she departed. Her gown selection seemed the perfect complement. Despite Samira’s concerns, she wasn’t worried about detection. Oleander House was hers, and she’d turned the club into a clandestine airtight establishment where nothing about its members’ identities or activities inside ever traveled beyond its walls—all accomplished by a ward that left patrons remembering their business and their business alone when they passed out of the club’s doors.
“Dance with me!” Leisha shouted at Kadeesha and Samira over the music. She held out both hands. Kadeesha held on to her goblet but got to her feet. She placed her free hand into Leisha’s and let her sister pull her onto the table. The pair of them looked at Samira, who gazed back with exasperation.
Kadeesha cackled. “You know you want to,” she teased. “Stop fighting it.” Samira wasn’t nearly as uptight as she liked to present herself. It simply took a bit of persuasion to get her to drop the primness she wore at court like armor. The corners ofSamira’s lips lifted into a smile. She shook her head even as she grabbed Leisha’s hand and jumped onto the table. They danced and danced and danced, Kadeesha feeling the most joy she’d felt in weeks, never wanting the dawn to rise.
Another woman and man ended up on the oversized table with them. Soon after, Leisha became enviously sandwiched between a gorgeous redbone woman with light brown skin and gold hoops decorating the points of her ears and a pretty man with skin such a dark brown it nearly glittered black. The man, who was in front of Leisha, swept the sleek curtain of her hair to the side, angled his head downward, and kissed her neck, long and sensually. He grazed her throat with his teeth, lightly and teasingly. However, as any sensible person would, he refrained from breaking skin; it’d be crossing a dangerous line that was taboo even in a sex den. A different person might’ve snarled at his bold move, but Leisha got off on dancing on the edge of recklessness. She arched her neck, encouraging his teasing.
“If he slips up and bites her, she may get that unfortunate man killed.” Samira tutted. Kadeesha winced because Samira wasn’t wrong. Passion nicks had long gone out of fashion among all of faekind because the act could potentially allow one person unfettered access to another’s power, which they could then siphon away. Inexplicably, sometimes this ruinous consequence happened, and other times it didn’t. Leisha might’ve been fine playing with fire, but Kadeesha watched her dance partner closely and didn’t relax until he finally lifted his head from her neck.
The male then squeezed Leisha’s waist with an invitation in his gray eyes. She smirked, nodded, and turned to the woman behind her. “Are you joining this party too?” she asked her second dance partner.
The woman bit her bottom lip and nodded, lust brightening her brown eyes. Leisha grinned, looping her arms around both her paramours and hopping off the table. “I’ll be in my usual room upstairs,” she called over her shoulder as she hauled them away.
Admittedly, Kadeesha was jealous. Her own desire for smoldering sex flared.
Yeah, it was time to find her own romp.
Samira shook her head and cleared her throat, staring after Leisha making her way to the stairs along the back wall of the parlor. “She never wastes any time.” Samira spoke it in her usual manner of ridicule of Leisha’s impulsiveness, yet there was a hitch to her voice. Kadeesha’s dear friend was horny too.
Kadeesha laughed, elbowing her sister in the side. “You’re not fooling anyone.”
“What?” Samira asked, the picture of bewilderment.
Kadeesha ignored Samira acting purposely obtuse. She caught the eye of a male across the room—he was broad-shouldered with tawny skin, pronounced cheekbones, and a jawline that made him pleasing to the eyes. He came over, walking like temptation on two legs, when Kadeesha crooked her finger toward herself.
Oleander House was the place to go for amazing trysts with strangers that blew your mind, so there was no question about why Kadeesha had called him over when this particular stranger reached them. He grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it. “Whatever type of time you’re looking to have tonight, the answer is yes,” the male told Kadeesha.
Satisfaction hummed through her at the confirmation of his interest. She chuckled. He was delectable. But she’d find her own fun after she took care of her sister’s months-long dry spell, theresult of a rough parting with her last lover. Kadeesha tugged her hand out of the male’s grasp. “This is my friend, Sonya,” Kadeesha said, using Samira’s code name for Oleander House while pointing to her. “You’re a beautiful man, and she’d love to bounce on your cock for a few hours.”
Beside her, Samira made a choking noise. But she didn’t refute it, which was all the encouragement Kadeesha needed. She’d convinced her father to send Leisha and Samira with her to her new home to be part of her Queen’s Council, her own inner court of noble fae ladies she’d be expected to establish as the high queen. She hadn’t wanted to tie her friends to a new life she damnably did not want, but, refusing to abandon her, they’d pestered Kadeesha until she’d caved and asked the Aether king to bequeath them noble status so they could accompany her to the Hyperion Kingdom. So, this was the last night of true freedom forallof them, and enjoying what they’d established and cultivated at home seemed the only way to make the future bearable. Leisha was already among the upper levels snatching one last hurrah for herself before they had to give up the Nkita and be dignified noblewomen, within a society that restricted the freedoms of women far beyond what went on in their own lands, no less. Kadeesha would see that Samira enjoyed the same uninhibited send-off; she owed her sister that much.
“Shall we head upstairs, beauty, or give the parlor a show?” the male asked Samira, mischief in his light blue gaze. Kadeesha liked this one; he was deliciously wicked. Oleander House was known for its sumptuous private rooms that held many delightful toys, but it was also known for the tantalizing couplings that you could witness, or participate in, throughout the common spaces, if that was your fancy. The establishment had an eclectic collection of patrons, and the secrecy ward Kadeesha hadpurchased for the building was powerful enough that it allowed them to indulge in any desires without the need to be subtle about what one liked inside its walls.
And yet both of them were still standing on the table. So Kadeesha winked at Samira, daring her to turn down the delectable morsel she’d gifted her. Samira wasn’t a fool, though, and she had eyes. Plus, she’d been without an orgasm that she didn’t bring about herself for months—hencedry spell.
“Will you be all right by yourself?” Samira asked, clinging to stubbornness.
“I would, but I don’t plan on remaining by myself for long,” Kadeesha assured her friend. “Now please get out of here so I don’t have to worry about leaving you behind.”
Samira rolled her eyes, but she finally let go of the reins entirely. She stepped down to the floor beside her lover for the night and linked her arm through his. “I’m a girl who prefers privacy,” she told him.
“Then I will privately make it so it’s hard for you to walk out of here—figuratively and literally.”
Kadeesha laughed at the proclamation, all while hoping it was more of a prophecy for her friend. Once Samira left, Kadeesha found herself sitting back on the settee, sipping a goblet refilled with liquor and eyeing Oleander House’s patrons, ready to see to her own horniness when she spied someone who would do quite well entering through Oleander’s doors. He was a fae male of impressive height, seven feet even by her estimation, while the average male was about six foot five. He had dark copper skin the color of the spiced cognac she drank, dark brown locs styled in narrow twists, broad, powerfully built shoulders, and muscles the length of his body that were sculpted so well she could see the definition of his chest and abs beneath thesimple black tunic he wore. The corded muscles of his biceps and forearms were on clear display from its short sleeves. The man paused after stepping inside the parlor, surveying the space as if he was looking for something or somebody. Four men and one woman had entered with him, all with the sturdy build and mien of personal guards. The body detail meant he had to be someone of relative importance. Either an extravagantly wealthy merchant or a traveling noble from one of the other kingdoms, perhaps even here for her nuptials tomorrow. She considered he might’ve been a pirate lord, but he wasn’t gruff enough. Oh, the ruthless undercurrent was there cloaking him like a second skin, but he carried himself with too much urbanity and lacked the coarseness most pirate types sported.
