I need to be strong.
You can’t break yet, Dove.
“I need to talk with my champions. They cannot understand what we are saying.” She waves her hand, dismissing me and heading back to sit on her throne, a crown of multihued shells on her head, showcasing her station above everyone else.
“You have until daybreak. Then we will start going into heat. Decide quickly.”
thirty-three
Dove
“Istillthinkweshouldkidnap the queen. As long as we don’t look her in the eyes, she can’t bewitch us,” Rivern states matter-of-factly. He thinks both our bond and his lack of eye contact with Calypso helped him stay away from her clutches.
Gideon is still refusing to shift out of wolf form. He keeps growling and eyeing me down like I’m some prized catch, gruffing“mine”throughmy head.
I’ve decided I’d prefer him this way over being completely enthralled with the mers. I couldn’t live with seeing him fawning allover them.
If he’s going to start claiming me as his mate in my head, then I’m claiming him right back. Which means I have three males in my life now.One was already hard to come to terms with. Now I have three?Goddess,how you test me.
“There’s got to be another way. I don’t want this to turn into a bloodbath. That isn’t me. That isn’t us. I wanted Fury to help with taking back Haven because the only people who will be hurt are the right people. I won’t hurt innocents.”He also gave me no choice when bonding with him.I may as well use the God.
Rivern leans back on one of the carved grey columns, his foot propped up behind him. I stand to his side, hiding the large endowment he has on full display. He’s unbothered by having the crown jewels on show. I, however, am distinctly bothered.
Gideon is still at my back, boxing us in, and Moyrie is on the other side of Rivern, scowling at the mers. She has been quiet since we entered the throne room, only talking occasionally.
The most curious thing of all is that I’m no longer jealous of her. Here she is, naked in front of Rivern, who is also naked, and my brain barely registers it like it isn’t even a possibility. She doesn’t try to touch him. If anything, she’s completely unfazed by him. Her thoughts seem to be consumed by the blue mers, just as ours are.
“I have an idea,” Moyrie addresses me, ignoring my two guardians. I nod for her to continue. “She said they used to take my people’s males to breed before we found Saff?” I give a swiftyesin reply. “All I know is the old stories. We would scout to protect our borders. We always felt this intense need to protect against the void, and my kind would disappear there all the time. Once we found Saff, we scouted by air only, so her story could be true.”
“Okay,” I say, waiting for her to reach the point.
“What if we don’t have to use these two”—she points at Gideon and Rivern—“What if we can establish a breeding treaty with my people. This time, making it consensual?”
I must look dumbfounded, my eyes falling out of my head. Her smile has a sinister quality to it. “You would do that to your people?”
“I’m not doing anything to my people. They have a choice, and if you haven’t noticed, they like fucking.”
Heat courses up my cheeks. I don’t even need to question it.It’s true. I witnessed it. They do like to do that.
Rivern notices my sudden flushed state, running a glinting finger around my cheek. “There’s only one person I’m breeding.”
A ragged cough comes out of my lungs. “Excuse you?”
He laughs, grasping my head in his oversized fae hands and taking my lips with his, completely flooring me.
A spark alights inside my body, roaming all the way to my core. The gruff beast standing behind me pushes himself against me. Once again, I’m wedged between these two hungry males.
Nibbling at my lip, Rivern finally releases me, my neck straining from reaching up to meet him.
“Moyrie said she’s willing to open up breeding between silvers and mers. This time, consensually.”
Violet eyes sparkle down at me. “Looks like we have a plan, then, don’t we?”
“Yes,” I bite my lip, his thumb stroking my cheek.
Our small entourage goes back to the queen, the mers decidedly more relaxed this time, with two females sitting at Calypso’s feet, stroking her legs, and another hand-feeding her a slimy substance. A hungry pang rolls through my stomach at the thought of food.
I bow before her, eager to make this deal so I can hopefully rest and eat. “Queen Calypso, I believe we have come to a decision that will greatly benefit you.”
