Thane is watching with an expression I can’t quite read. Hungry, yes. But something else. Something like satisfaction.
“Jealous?” I ask him.
“Hardly.” He moves closer, crowding me between them. “I’ve been waiting for you to claim him for months.”
“Claim him?”
“He’s been yours since the night he climbed into your bed and let you sleep.” Thane’s voice drops lower. “You just hadn’t decided to take him yet.”
Stellan makes a sound—not quite a laugh. “He’s not wrong.”
“You two have definitely talked about this.”
“At length,” Stellan confirms. “In considerable detail.”
“Aboutme?”
“About how long it would take you to realize you could have whatever you wanted,” Thane says. “And whether you’d ever actually ask for it.”
The words hit somewhere deep. Because they’re right. I’ve spent so long being afraid to want things. Afraid that needing too much would make everyone leave.
But they’re still here. Both of them. Waiting for me to decide what happens next.
“The wall,” I say.
Thane’s eyes flash silver. “What about it?”
“That’s where you first—” I stop, suddenly self-conscious.
“I remember.” His voice drops into something rougher. “Every detail. The stone against your back. The sounds you made. The way you said my name when you came.”
My breath catches.
“I’ve thought about it every night since,” he continues, stepping closer until his chest brushes mine. “Wondered what it would feel like to take you there again. Properly. Without fear. Without rushing.”
“And me?” Stellan’s voice comes from behind me, close enough that I feel his breath on my neck. “Where do I fit in this?”
“Wherever she wants you.”
The answer is instant. No jealousy. No competition. Just acknowledgment.
I turn to look at Stellan. “Is that true? You’d just let him have me?”
His smile is slow. “Darling, I’d watch him have you. And then I’d take my turn. And then, if you’re very good, we might both have you at once.” He pauses. “Unless that’s too much?”
My thighs clench. Actually clench. Like my body is answering before my brain catches up.
“No,” I say. “It’s not too much.”
“Then tell us what you want.”
I look between them. Ancient. Dangerous. Mine.
“I want to stop thinking,” I say. “Just for tonight. I want to feel something that isn’t dread about tomorrow. I want both of you. However that works. Whatever that looks like.”
The silence stretches.
Then Thane moves.
