:I eagerly await your pleasure, my queen.:
RIK
I hada rough plan sketched out for making sure my queen was well fed—and well loved—before she invited her new sibling to her bed. She didn’t want to drain the other queen too severely, not so soon after healing. Vivian would love to be involved with the queens, so she would be the reserve for later.
Same for me. Since I was the closest to Shara all the time, day in and day out, I felt it was the least I could do to make sureher other Blood had time with her first as often as possible. Especially when they would be excluded for a brief time. I’d had time this morning, and I’d serve as the final reserve if she needed to feed again once she was finished with Leonie.
Some of the Blood were more aggressively demanding when it came to their turn. Cough, Mehen. She had promised to snack on him once we returned from Galveston, though none of us had expected to go after Leonie so quickly. So far, the dragon had avoided being too much of an asshole. Though if he got too demanding, I’d send him and Sekh out on guard duty together.
:Don’t you fucking dare,:Sekh retorted. Though he grudgingly added,:Alpha.:
Coming up with partners who’d tolerate the dragon’s snark and still have a good time was challenging. Daire, of course. Nevarre or Tlacel might work, though Nevarre had already had a turn this morning. Guillaume could deal with anybody, especially if that meant getting a turn in our queen’s bed, though I needed the dragon’s blood for our queen. Not spilled by the knight because he was being a dick. She could still call the blood to her?—
“Can I make a request tonight?” Shara asked as we approached her suite’s door.
I nearly broke my neck jerking my head around so fast. I barely managed not to splutter. “Of course, my queen. Always.”
She laughed softly. “I’d like to give Ezra and Daire some time together, if that helps you adjust the combinations in the queue.”
I gave her a disgruntled scowl. “I thought you said you weren’t picking up on the Blood bond chatter as much.”
“I’m not, usually, but I guess having Leonie join us made me hyperaware of what she might be hearing. Though now that we’re home, and I can focus a little easier, I toned down her access to all of you. I didn’t block her access to me. I just put up a little shadow around your bonds to shield them. I still feel her, so I think it worked.”
:You basically put up a firewall,:Nevarre said.:Her bond to you is a direct back-and-forth connection, but you protected your other access points.:
I wasn’t technically savvy enough to fully understand the metaphor, but some of the subtle tension in the back of my mind eased knowing we had our queen’s bonds to ourselves again.
:Mehen, Daire, Ezra, you’re up first,:I said in the Blood bonds.:Tlacel?—:
:I don’t want to fuck another Blood if I can fuck our queen,:Mehen retorted. Though he also grudgingly added,:No offense, Tlacel.:
:Everybody’d rather fuck our queen if given the chance,:he replied.:Though I’d love to be bound in her hair again all night and just watch until she’s ready for me.:
:Done,:Shara replied.
Tlacel’s bond shimmered in an explosion of blue-green feathers.:I’m sorry, my queen. I didn’t realize you were listening, or I wouldn’t have spoken so casually.:
:As I said earlier, you’re all welcome to speak your mind to me. Always. Especially if you have a need I can meet.:
:You could leash me in your hair and make me follow you around like a dog and I’d love every minute of it, my queen.:
:Same,:Vore, Nevarre, Itztli, and Lew replied at the same time.
I wasn’t surprised in the slightest by their request for restraint, except for Lew. After all, he was Esetta’s alpha, and most alphas didn’t care for submissive games.
:It’s not about submission for me,:Lew replied.:It’s the magic itself and what it means.:
Touching Shara’s hair was as close as he could get to his former queen, her mother.
:Plus, don’t tell me you wouldn’t love anything she did to you, evenif she ordered all the others to fuck you. I wouldn’t believe it for a second.:
:True,:I admitted.
I’d fucking love anything she did or ordered or wanted. As long as she was involved or at least watching.
Guillaume opened the door for her and bowed as she passed through. Vivian stood guard with him. Daire was already in the bathroom, drawing a nice hot bath for her, but she paused and slowly turned to me.
“I’m going to ask you something, and I want your honest answer. This is Shara asking, not your queen. Alright?”
