The War of Two Queens (Blood and Ash 4)

And his taste…

Like always, it was bright, like citrus in the snow, and it heated my veins along with that hollow place inside as he moved over me and then inside me, his blood on my tongue, and my name a whisper on his lips. I fell asleep wrapped in his arms and woke in the middle of the night, disorientated from the dream I’d had. I only remembered bits and pieces of it. The back of a woman wearing a crown of black diamonds on her silvery hair, sitting on a throne much like the one I’d seen at the Temple of Nyktos. She had been weeping. There was also a man with sandy-blond hair standing to her left. Something about him was so familiar. He had begun to turn and spoke just a word. But I woke before I could see his face.

Still, the sadness of the dream gathered like tart ale in my throat. The woman… It had been the Consort. I knew it. And the man…

He had felt like Vikter.

But even if he were a viktor, why would I have seen him with the Consort? That didn’t make sense. Slowly, I became aware of the rolled blankets under half my body, and the toasty heat pressed to my front and back. All thoughts of the strange dream vanished.

My cheek was nestled in the crook of Casteel’s shoulder, and I was tangled up with him as if I were some kind of tree bear, my leg tossed over his, and his arm curled around my waist. He held me tightly, as if even in sleep, he was afraid I would somehow slip away from him.

But he wasn’t the only source of heat.

I dragged in a deep, heady breath that carried the scent of spice, lush pine, and earthy cedar and was immediately reminded of the mist-heavy night in the Skotos Mountains.

Kieran slept behind me.

I didn’t know when he’d joined us, but his leg was tucked between mine, his arm just below Casteel’s on my hip. My eyes fluttered open. In the faint moonlight seeping through the canvas of the tent, I saw my hand and Kieran’s, his resting below mine on Casteel’s stomach.

There was no space between the three of us. Not even an inch. I felt each of their breaths, steady and deep, and was sure if I concentrated hard enough, I would learn that like our hearts, our breaths were set to the same pattern.

I knew then, like the night in the mountains, that I had turned to Casteel, and so had Kieran. Casteel had his own gravitational pull that we both responded to in sleep. Also, like that night, nothing felt sinful about how we were…snuggled together. The only thing different now was that it felt natural. Well, that and the fact that we were Joined.

I waited for embarrassment to creep in. Soldiers and wolven were all around us. Many had to know that Kieran had entered the tent, but there was no shame. Instead, it felt as if it were meant to be this way. And thinking that was a sure sign that I should probably make myself go back to sleep.

Or punch myself.

Because it sounded silly.

Could I knock myself out?

Gods, I was almost willing to find out.

I closed my eyes, but sleep didn’t come, no matter how warm I was. Or how safe I felt nestled between them. It was easy to forget what awaited.

Kieran moved behind me, and my breath snagged in my chest. The furs Casteel had tucked around me were between Kieran and me, but the slight shift of his body caused his leg to slide farther between mine. His movement stirred Casteel enough that his arm tightened around me, his fingers pushing into my hip for a few brief seconds. I bit down on my lip as my pulse skittered at the press of Kieran’s thigh and the feel of Casteel’s body against mine. A rush of shivery awareness swept through me. I kept my eyes closed as I…

I didn’t know what I was doing, but my mind had shamefully skipped its way back to the night on the banks of the River of Rhain as my fingers curled against Casteel’s stomach. Kieran settled after a few seconds, his chest rising and falling steadily as I lay there, completely still.

Seconds ticked into minutes, and my mind began to wander with the sound of rustling leaves and the muffled snores of those lucky enough to sleep. Something occurred to me then. Of all the times that Kieran had slept beside me while Casteel was gone, he’d only been in his mortal form once, and that was the night I’d asked him to put me in the ground if I became something to fear. I didn’t know what it meant or if it said anything at all. But nothing and everything had changed between the three of us since the Joining. Our relationship remained as it had been, but there was an intimacy now that hadn’t been there before. A closeness. A bond we were reminded of every time I felt our hearts beating in tandem. I really wished I was asleep and not thinking—