Despite everything I’d endured, Rowan shirtless and collared, by choice, under Xan’s hand, dragged my imagination somewhere filthy.
‘Are you okay?’Xan asked.
‘No. I’m denying. This tests my limits.’
My lover chuckled.‘Rowan’s very straight.’
I put a hand on my lover’s knee.‘But watching him with Quinn, all of us working together, will be incredible.’
A shiver ran through my lover, which destroyed what little focus I’d created. My hand slipped from his knee to inside his thigh.
“Do we need to leave the two of you?” Cayden looked pointedly at my hand.
I slowly rotated my hand back to my lover’s knee and met Cayden’s angry glare with my usual stoic mask in place. “Maybe you should join.”
Cayden jerked back, and I gave him a toothy grin.
Rowan rubbed at the collar, staring at my face. “I didn’t know you could grin.”
I schooled my features.
“Get on with it.” Rowan flexed his back. “I can’t feel the world. Everything’s deathly still. I’m not doing great here.”
I pulled my hand off of Xan. Memories from my time as a slave once again killed my hard-on. “Yes. Now.”
No one argued with me. As we practiced, Cayden and I cleared our minds and channeled our magic into Xan. I didn’t truly understand what my lover did, but the result should be the collar falling off. With a click and a pop, it loosened.
“Thank the Sun God,” Cayden breathed. “We can do this and can get ahead of Alex.”
Xan nodded, though concern still knit his brow. “It’s a start. I want to make some changes, and you need to be less stingy with your magic. All four of us are keyed to the collar; we must have all our magics in equal value to unlock it.”
“You only need my signature,” Cayden insisted. “Yes, equal amounts, but that amount is minimal…”
I listened to Xan and Cayden argue and waited, occasionally sharing looks with Rowan. Cayden was clearly not a mentalist, but he was smart, and his years of book learning and work with runes made his mind process information creatively. Their frustration didn’t slow them; it fed the fire.
“You think a rune can isolate Alex’s mind?” Xan asked skeptically, though excitement filled his baby blues.
“Yes. Runes focus power. Majekah wasn’t unique in my family; you adapted to the system, or you died.” Cayden grimaced beforepoking my lover in the chest. “You started this Majekah-mixing mess. Now roll in it.”
Xan arched an eyebrow. “I’m still the Architect.”
“I’m not calling you, sir. You rolling or not?” Cayden asked.
Rowan snorted, and the tension I hadn’t noticed filling the air snapped.
‘If I’m not careful, you might replace me,’ I said in my lover’s mind.
‘I hate him, Ez, don’t you dare think anything else.’
My lover turned to Cayden, and light-blue and forest-green magic began streaking the floor. Thirty seconds later, Rowan and I were forgotten once more as the two disagreed on the meaning of lines and runic language.
Infuriating. Exhilarating. Like watching shadows tear themselves apart.
Once they finally agreed, we collared Rowan and tried again. We got it off him to various degrees six more times. The afternoon waned. I wasn’t good at sitting still, and I found myself restless. My attention wandered. The magic of the Alun seeped into me, amplifying everything. I traced Quinn’s shadow as it moved through different lighting, more aware of its depths and shapes. Her shadow vanished, swallowed by something coffin-shaped with only a sliver leaking out.
I closed my eyes, trying to understand what it was, when wisps of emotions that didn’t belong to me washed across my skin—pain sank into my back, followed by releasing pressure. A man’s shadow combined with Quinn’s in the coffin-like square. Her Majekah boiled under her skin. The pain moved up my back, and muscles popped, and tension snapped. A wave of unease washed across me, followed by pleasure.
I snapped my eyes open. Something was happening to Quinn, something bad.
