Now, with Shay’s addition, it was almost a perfect split between the old ways and the new, experience and fresh eyes. I hoped they’d shape Ebrus into what she was meant to be: a country of cooperation, of free trade and open borders. Where we didn’t rank citizens by their powers and strength in magic.
There was soft applause, and I looked over at the beaming face of Hayle, who was clapping like Shay was a member of his own Line. And in a way, I guess she could be. She and Lucio were both in a committed relationship with Acacia, so I guess that made them a couple by default. I knew for a fact that Lucio loved Shay, maybe not in a romantic way, but he’d lay down his life for hers. If that wasn’t love, what was?
Lierick sat beside the Baron of the Second Line, their place at the Conclave table once again assured. They’d begun moving a lot of their people back to North’s Edge, though many had stayed in Ozryn too. Above the Herelean Cliffs had been no man’s land for so long, and so difficult to get to, that no one protested the extension of their historic Barony borders.
As they all got down to business, Vox and I snuck out of the room, and he grabbed my hand as we walked down the Hall of Ebrus. “How are you feeling?” I asked.
Vox shrugged, but he smiled softly down at me. “I feel… free?” He turned, backing me into a small alcove. “I feel like I could make love to my girlfriend in this historic building, and no one would know.”
Someone cleared their throat. Looking over my shoulder, I could see the amused expression of Zier as he leaned against the smooth stone wall. “I’d know.”
Vox lifted me and pressed me back into the wall, his hands beneath my dress as they gripped the edges of my underwear and pulled them down to my knees. “I guess you could join in, and then it’d be a secret again,” he murmured. His tongue dipped out to trace mine, as he kissed me like he owned my heart, which he did. I could already feel the hard line of his cock against my stomach.
Zier moved into the alcove, ensuring the curtains were closed, before sitting down on the small devotional chair in the corner. He unbuttoned his pants and pulled out his cock, and I licked my lips.
He grinned as he saw the direction of my gaze. “Maybe I’ll just watch,” he said airily, reaching out to drag my underwear the rest of the way off and dropping them to the floor of the alcove. Still, I pouted.
Fortunately, Vox knew what I wanted, and he’d tear down the world to get it for me. That was the beautiful thingabout Vox’s love. It was all-encompassing. “You could, but unfortunately, this is a no spectator zone.” He walked me over to Zier and dropped me onto his lap, making the chair beneath him strain beneath our combined weight, and his freed cock rub along my bare slit.
Zier groaned and thrust against me shallowly. Guess he wasn’t going to be a spectator after all. I grinned over my shoulder as he gripped his dick and lined it up with my entrance. I pressed back, letting him slide inside me in one long stroke, which was bliss. I moaned loudly, praying no one was walking past.
Vox was standing in front of us, his cock in his hand. “Noisy little Ninth. Maybe I should put something in your mouth to keep you quiet?”
I nodded eagerly, reaching for him, and he didn’t try to deny me. Stepping closer and holding his dick out to me, he watched me with those burning blue eyes as he slid all the way into my mouth. He grunted loudly, and if I didn’t have my mouth full, I would have snarked that perhapsheneeded something to keep him quiet too.
All quippy thoughts left my mind, though, as Zier thrust up into me, the motion sliding me back and forth on Vox’s cock. I was filled and fucked, and all I could do was hold onto Vox’s thighs as pleasure rolled over me in waves.
All too soon, I was coming around Zier, my muffled moans vibrating against Vox. He held my hair tightly, grunting his pleasure as he pulled back slightly and came on my tongue in hot spurts.
Not one to be left out, Zier pulled me back against his chest, hitting entirely different places and making me scream out my pleasure until I whacked a hand over my mouth. I felt impossibly full. He was everywhere. He thrust shallowly up inside me,lifting and dropping my hips until he was coming too, emptying himself inside me in jerking waves.
Panting, I flopped back against Zier’s chest, and Vox tucked his cock back in his pants. He leaned over to kiss me, uncaring that my tongue probably still tasted like his cum.
“Love you, Avalon Halhed,” he murmured softly.
“I love you too,” Zier murmured in my ear, pushing the sweaty hair back from my forehead.
I looked over at the statue of Ebretha in the corner of the devotional alcove, and thought that she probably would have enjoyed this particular type of tribute, because what honored her more than the love and happiness?
“I love you both too.”
Epsy was curledaround my neck as we rode north-west from Fortaare. No one would tell me where we were going, but they all seemed to know. We seemed to be heading to the Pillago Pass, so maybe we were visiting the Second Line? It had been a while since Lierick had been back at North’s Edge, and I always enjoyed my time up there.
Instead, we turned further west, and the horses plodded along a small trail between the mountains, which had probably been made by wandering livestock and not humans.
“Are you guys going to tell me where we’re going?”
“Nope,” Hayle called from the front, and Lierick chuckled from where he sat behind me on the horse.
“Not even a hint, Lierick?” I purred, wiggling my ass back against his crotch. He groaned, but curled an arm around my waist to keep me still.
“Dirty tactics, but just wait.”
I felt like I’d been waiting forever, but still, I settled back into his chest and let the soft voices of the men I loved wrap around me. It had taken Zier a little longer, but it wasn’t any less perfect for being slow. It was nice to be courted by someone like Zier, without the fate of an entire country weighing on you.
Finally, the cliffs opened up into a small valley. As far as I could see were rolling woods, and then beyond that, the Alutian sea. It was a view that stole my breath. “Oh, this is beautiful,” I breathed, and Lierick nuzzled my cheek.
“Doesn’t hold a candle to you.”
