Hungry.
Lustful.
Needy.
I grip Basten’s bicep, digging in my fingers. “I didn’t mean… With Rian…”
I stop short, unsure what I’m trying to say.
Because I think Ididmean it.
When I commanded Rian to show his loyalty to me by kissing my ring, then my toes, it was a simple test. To see if this all-powerful lord, who once held half the known world at his fingertips, would bow to the girl he once tried to dominate.
I meant to end the relentless power play between us—all three of us—once and for all. To have Rian finally confess, with his lips on my toes, thatI’mhis god now, and Basten is his king.
If Rian wants our forgiveness, then he’ll need to beg for it on hands and knees like the dog he is.
I didn’t mean for this game of shifting power to play out likethis.
And yet, maybe the fae in me knew exactly what I was doing.
“It’s okay, little violet.” Basten threads his fingers through my hair at my temple, gazing at me with adoring eyes. “You need this. You’ve refused my blood. Turned away offerings. Even sex…you’re so depleted that I’m not sure I can satisfy you on my own.” His throat tightens, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
Gods, this must be so hard for him.
He leans close and whispers in my ear. “Let me do this for you.”
A bolt of need shoots straight to my core, and I can’t swallow back the moan that pushes to my lips. It’s true. My muscles feel slack. My head foggy. Skin dry, pale. I’ve suffered for longer than I want to admit, and the hunger…damn, this hunger.
Itburns.
But I force myself to breathe steadily. I splay my open hand on Basten’s chest, licking my dry lips as I search his eyes for a clue as to how he really feels.
My voice breaks as I whisper, “I don’t want to deepen the rift between us.”
He cups my head in his big hands, and his embrace is so comforting, like coming home, like I finally feel safe, that I let my eyes sink closed.
He brushes his thumb over my cheek. “The past few weeks have killed me,” he murmurs, “Being apart from you, feeling you slip from my reach. But this?” His hand slides to the back of my neck. “I think this could finally bring us together.”
He leans in closer, breath ghosting across my lips, and continues, “It’s a power play, Sabine. You, me, Rian. So, let’s end it right now. On this fucking throne. Strip ourselves bare—nomore wondering, no second-guessing. Just the truth of what we are and what we need.”
My breath stalls in my lungs, as if I can’t trust what I’m hearing.
Basten exhales, breaking the tension as he whispers in my ear. “You and me—we’re the endgame. It doesn’t matter that you’re a goddess, that I’m a king. We’re Sabine and Basten, always. Equals. Bare to each other as…” he laughs, shaking his head, “…as you were on that damn naked ride.”
A surprised laugh catches in my throat, too.
Basten’s voice deepens. “Rian was right about that, too. He saw the true power in the tale of Solene’s Ride, coming to one another as simply man and woman. And this—” he glances toward Rian, dominance sparking in his eyes, “—this is triumph. Claiming what’s ours. Claiminghimon our own terms.”
Rian, on his knees beside us, shifts. His lips are parted slightly, showing a hint of white, straight teeth. His eyelids are at half-mast, thick with lust and the adrenaline still burning off him.
And something else…the bare, bright-eyed hope of a man who’s been starved too long.
“If I could add—” Rian starts.
“Shut up,” Basten growls.
Rian’s mouth slams closed. There’s no question he’s game for whatever might happen. He’s practicallypantingalready. It strikes me in that moment that this is what he’s always wanted. The three of us. Friends, lovers, confidants, whatever you want to call it. He doesn’t care whose body leads or follows, whose hands command—so long as he’s allowed a place in it.
