“She’s not a Novice, and she knows all she needs to about merging, Gav,” Mikhail said, popping a grape in his mouth and staring at me with heat. “I can promise you that.”
“Don’t kiss and tell, honey bear,” I growled out, as Righteous drew a sharp breath.
Gavriel got the runaway conversation back on track with a comment that surprised us all. “Speaking of knowing, it’s time for you to ascend, Righteous. We need to get that stain off you, so that when Mikhail and I are gone, you’ll have full authority.”
“Oh, did you figure out how to get it off?” I beamed at Righteous, who looked flustered. “I thought it was stuck forever.”
Gavriel scowled. “Haven’t you told her yet?”
“Told me what?”
Righteous fidgeted, which made me suspicious. “This isn’t the time. You’re right, I can hold the Guides off for a few more days. We’ll plan the formal ceremony and I’ll ascend when you get back,” he said to Gavriel, ignoring me. “I’ll… I’ll talk to Feather about the, um, incident, which should clear up the… thing. And I’ll make certain she gets the individual tutoring she needs in… the ins and outs of merging.”
I was going to die of embarrassment. “Sunny can tell me,” I blurted out. “She’s a real merger. Merges all the time, with all sorts of groups. She’s known for her inventive merging.”
Mikhail reached across the table and covered my mouth with one hand. “Righteous is Head Protector. I’m sure he’ll take care of it.” I gave him a weak thumbs up.
Gavriel stood. “Mik, meet me in the Flight Hall.” He shot me an odd look as he left, and practically ran to the door. Mikhail gathered me up into his arms for a hug and a long, passionate kiss.
While Righteous watched.
I sputtered against his lips, and Mikhail purred into my mouth. “Remember, in Sanctuary we merge in public, sweetness. It’s almost considered deviant to do it alone. A little kiss won’t shock a big boy like Righteous.” He emphasized the wordsbig boy, and I started plotting how I was going to punish him for embarrassing me. “Gavriel needs me,” he said with one last, clit-tingling kiss. “I’ll be back soon, love.”
“You’d better be,” I said, trying to act like I wasn’t about to drop to my knees and do something. Probably just beg him to stay. Yeah, I’d go with that. “Righteous will get me up to speed. You go to work, and I’ll go to school. When you come back to Sanctuary, we can play naughty schoolgirl and Daddy Bear.”
“Little minx!” He pinched my butt as I skipped away. “Run along to your room now. Remember, if you get in trouble at school, I’ll have to punish you.” My mouth went dry at the stern expression on his craggy face.
Behind me, Righteous whispered, “Fuck me,” and I broke into nervous giggles when Mikhail muttered, “Not unless she asks you.”
Then he picked up the soul knife from the table and handed it to Righteous, before leaving the same way Gavriel had. The Hall echoed with awkwardness, and I fidgeted, looking anywhere but at Ry.
“What did he mean by that?” Righteous said at last. “Not unless you ask me?”
I didn’t have an answer—at least not one I was willing to say out loud—so I blew a raspberry and ran as fast as I could, my useless wings flapping behind me. “No idea, gotta go! I’ll catch up with you later!”
I sprinted for the hallway, glad Ry had decided to drop the subject, though I knew he could have caught up to me if he wanted to. I was not ready to have that conversation with him, no matter how kinky my mate was turning out to be.One dickat a time, Feather. Save the angel orgies for your second week back in Sanctuary.
And now I was thinking about orgies. And dicks.
I zipped down the hallways, as if I could outrun my memory of Ry’s massive trouser snake. I took a few wrong turns on my way to my room, but once I got close, I recognized the white on slightly-less-white walls, and the ecru floors that were only found on my hallway.
Everything inside was just the way I’d left it: a bed with a mattress straight out of a princess’s wildest fantasy; hand-painted, vibrantly colorful tables, chairs, and a chest of drawers; and endless expanses of white walls and floors, though there was an almost alarming amount of glitter in the corners. And of course, Sunny was there, sitting in the middle of my bed, playing a solid gold kazoo. I was pretty sure the song was a Frank Sinatra one, but she was very, very bad at the kazoo, so it was hard to tell.
“Hey, birch!” I threw myself onto the mattress, almost embarrassing myself by groaning at the softness of the sheets. “You hear I’m going to school now? I sort of can’t wait. Please tell me there’s a uniform with knee socks and a plaid miniskirt.”
“There is if we make one tonight.” She grinned like the Cheshire cat, tossed the kazoo away, and started unpacking the drawers full of sewing and crafting supplies. “Oh, Feather. I can’t wait to see their faces when you fly in.” I cocked an eyebrow. “Er, walk in,” she amended, flinging swaths of fabric on the floor. Sure enough, she found a nice navy and forest green plaid, about enough for two handkerchiefs, or one miniskirt. “Though that might be a problem.”
“Why?” I asked, pulling my sheets around me. I cooed to them; I’d missed them so much when I was unmade.
“Because the classrooms are all on the third level.”
I sat up. “There’s a third level?” I knew about the bottom floor, where the biggest Halls were, and the second level, with the private rooms and The Merge, Sanctuary’s very own sex club/rave.
She nodded. “And a lower level.”
“A basement?”
She crinkled her nose. “Well, it’s more like a few rooms. Cells.”
