“Sleep, Daphne, you’re safe,” Malachi says as his arms scoop me up and I curl against his chest as he moves with me. I drift into unconsciousness, trusting in my knights to keep the monsters at bay.
ChapterTwenty-Two
I’m dreaming of giants and their enormous feet descending from the sky after we fail to chop down the hundred beanstalks that sprout up after I trip over a bucket of beans and send them sprawling across the gardens of the Hallows Palace. I guess the place could do with a little chaos. Everything there is just too organized. With clean lines and pressed linens, there are no wrinkles in the narrative to keep it interesting. I’m a blessing.
“What do you imagine she’s dreaming of?” a familiar masculine voice pierces the barrier of sleep and a huge warm pillow snuggles me closer. No wait, pillows didn’t snuggle people. People snuggle people, and if I had to take a bet, then I would say I’m wrapped around a golden fiery dragon. Theo seems to run a few degrees warmer than the rest of us, plus he has the addictive wood smoke scent on his skin.
“Perhaps how to choose which of us to sleep with given you muscled in on my cuddle time with her,” Malachi says. I can almost imagine him pouting.
“None of you should be in bed with her,” Hart snaps.
“Give it a break, Hart. You are just jealous that we’ve had more time with her,” Theo rumbles under my cheek. His rumbles are nice, like a comforting vibration.
“How would this work?” Hart asks. His voice is a little closer, and I imagine him sneering at me. “There will be fall outs, jealousy, arguments. We cannot afford to be divided right now. I won’t give that up for a clumsy maiden who has ensnared your minds.”
I keep still and focus on making my breathing even, because I need to know the answer to this question. Also, if I open my eyes, I won’t get an honest response.
“Daphne is a breath of fresh air in a stuffy world lacking in color or creativity,” Malachi mutters as the bed dips at my feet and his hands land on my calves. “We were going through the motions, merely existing. Now I feel like we have a future, a purpose beyond the knight’s legend where one of us takes the crown and others sit at the table of power, not really enacting any change. Daphne will turn that on its head.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Hart mutters. “They wrote our futures long before she came into our lives and tore apart the path we are on.”
“The path remains,” Theo says. “But now it includes her.”
“And when she favors one of us over another?”
“She won’t. I trust her to make sure none of us feel that way,” Nash declares as a door creaks open.
“This will end in disaster,” Hart grumbles.
“You don’t need to be part of it,” Malachi says, squeezing my calf. “But you need to accept her.”
Nobody speaks for two whole tempos as we await Hart’s answer.
“Fine, but she needs to know everything.”
Malachi lets out a little whoop. What is everything? There is more than a secret dragon? Oh boy, what have I let myself in for?
“No sex,” Nash states. “Yet.”
What, why? He’s proven the mythical orgasm is a reality—now he wants to hold me back from that bliss? Floof pooper.
“Why?” Malachi asks.Thank you Mal, at least we agree.
“Sex complicates an already complicated situation,” Nash declares. “It shifts the relationship to a different level.”
“If you expect me to keep my hands off this female that falls apart so fucking beautifully, you are asking too much,” Theo says, holding me a little tighter against him.
“No,” Nash says. “I don’t expect that. But this needs to move at Daphne’s pace, not ours. Once she’s broken that barrier, we will all want that level of intimacy. She might not be a virgin, but she’s as innocent as they come.”
My skin heats. All four of them? Oh, my Idols. I mean, that’s not anatomically possible, right? One, two, three at a push. And that is an overwhelming thought. Perhaps we could work up to it? Build it up one knight at a time?
“Perhaps you should stop trying to control her,” Malachi advises. “Just let what happens, happen. Don’t manage the intimacy like one of your schedules.”
I mean, I could go for a schedule. I might need one if I’m managing four knights and their egos.
“What about Father?” Hart asks. “She will become a target once he realizes she has wormed her way into your hearts. She’s a weakness, a vulnerability we can’t afford.”
“We can keep her safe,” Theo rumbles.
