Scorpius is here to play.
Just as that thought registers, Scorpius starts to pull back. Irritation begins to ripple in my gut, and I know at once that there will be noplayingright now. I sigh, already suspecting what’s about to come spilling out of his mouth before he can bother to open it.
“Let me guess, you’ll fuck me until I can’t walk, or remember my name, or know how to talk at all, but not now, becausenowwould be tooconvenientand we have other shit to do,” I grump. With a huff, I step away from him, tired of being the one they walk away from. I’m starting to acquire a distaste for being left with desire dripping down my thighs and racing thoughts that try and fail to work out whylaterfeels so much like rejection.
I know there’s information waiting for us, that it could be something that points us in the direction of where I come from, or it could outright tell us who I am altogether, but these Scorpions keep getting me worked up at the most inopportune times. For males who’ve been posturing about me being theirs and what they plan to do to my body when I’m ready, they sure are lacking on the fucking follow-through.
I’mnotimpressed.
I shouldn’t be focused on that at all, but they make it so hard to concentrate on anything else at the moment. It also probably doesn’t help that I just might be stalling. All I’ve wanted for so long is answers, but there’s a part of me that’s not ready. What if I learn something that changes everything? I don’t know if I want that anymore. It was one thing to daydream about it in the ludere or when I first woke up here, but now, now that I’m just starting to find my footing, just starting to see a life with them, to want it, I’m not ready for all of that to come crashing down. Not when we’ve barely even started.
I seethe internally at how ridiculous I know I’m being. I hate that this weakness still exists in me, that I’m nervous about what might be waiting on the other side of what I thought was an impenetrable veil. It’s my fault that I’m feeling so fragile right now, but I can’t help feeling like the Scorpions are to blame for it too. This is exactly what I didn’t want, to compromise on what’s best for me because of some pretty-faced fae. What’s more confusing though is that the Scorpions were starting to feel liketheywere what’s best for me, and if that’s true, where does that leave everything else?
“Hey, where’d you go?” Scorpius asks me, leaning down so that we’re eye to eye while he reaches up and strokes my face.
I step back, breaking the contact.
“Does it matter?” I snip, and then I put even more distance between us. “Right. So where are we going?” I ask, as I try to regroup and focus.
Scorpius stares at me for a beat, but I refuse to look at him in hopes that he’ll get the message to drop whatever is smoldering in his eyes at the moment.
“Why don’t you kiss Skull and me like that after we’re done being glamoured?” Bones demands with faux outrage, his hands planted on his hips.
It’s the distraction I’m desperately in need of, because Scorpius huffs out a hollow laugh and turns his attention to his brother.
“Watch out, Skull, I think he’s playing favorites already,” Bones jeers with a wink.
“Ididn’t mind the show,” Skull counters, and even though his hickory-toned eyes are now black, I can practically feel the heat coming off them.
The tiniest smile twitches at my lips. Bones points at the two of us, like we were just caught doing something naughty.
“Iknewyou were up to no good earlier, I fucking told you, Scorpius! Was it the daggers or the ax that convinced her?” Bones asks, and I can’t decide if I’m annoyed by his question or amused by it.
The easy banter between the Scorpions lightens the ache in my chest in a way that nothing else could. I’m reminded that each of them has faced their own battles and nightmares to get here. Their scars run as deep as mine, in some cases maybe deeper. They are the unwanted bastards of kings from different realms, but it doesn’t make them anything less than the brothers they are. The three of them have gone head-to-head with their pasts and come out better and stronger on the other side. If they can do it, so can I.
“Let’s go, I’m ready,” I declare, and each of their black eyes flick to me.
“You’re almost ready,” Scorpius corrects, and my glamoured brow furrows. “First, you need a name.”
Bewilderment has me ready to remind him that Ihavea name, and then I realize what he means.
“Okay, so give me a name,Scorpius.”
“One is not simplygivena name, one ischosenby a name,” Bones corrects, his tone laying on the omnificence a little thickly.
I snort at his antics.
“And how doesonedo that?” I snark.
“With a very ancient and revered ceremony,” he answers immediately, the twinkle in his eyes giving me pause.
I have no idea what it could be, but I’ve come this far. I knew before I walked into this room to be glamoured that there was no going back from here. I may not have said the words, but my actions are speaking loud and clear. I’m all in, and I can see in the black depths of each of the Scorpions’ piercing gazes not just that they know it, but that they are too.
Three predatory grins stretch across the maws of three skeletal faces, and all I can think as I look at them isbring it on.
ChapterForty
“Ahood?” I ask, incredulous. “Your ancient and revered ceremony is pulling a name from the hood of a cloak?”
