"Luella." The sound of her name told her how serious this was. "That is not true. I thought you knew," Vale stressed, shifting his hold to grip her hands. "We thought you knew."
The magic within her pulsed, and she felt how desperately it wanted to break free; a small whimper fell from her lips as she struggled to keep it caged.
They must have thought it to be a sob, for Tharen moved back until he sat on his haunches at her side, head tipping against the wooden wall, leaving Vale in clear view. The King’s expression was unreadable to her, but she did not need to read it—not with how she felt him. Their thread was wrapped tightly around her heart, tugging. Each tiny pluck of the strands of their bond was filled with wretchedness. Possession. Consuming ownership. And an inner turmoil that reminded her of her own. A constant war to keep something greater than yourself leashed.
His dragon. Vale knew what it felt like to cage an untamable force.
"Solis was corrupt. We did not realize how much until we understood that the King and Queen made a deal with the Tenebrae for you. Immunity from his Umbra, in exchange for harboring a glamored fae babe. But the Umbra still snuck through the cracks. They were in hiding. Only a few. But that is all the Tenebrae needs. Just one." Vale held her eyes as he spoke, the darkness giving the three of them a strange home to speak their innermost thoughts. "One turns to two, to three. Until there is nothing left, and you will never know because they hide so well."
She shivered, finding her body leaning closer to Tharen. His snow-like scent burned her nose with every inhale, but she relished the sting. It woke her up.
"It wasn’t your army that hurt the females?" Luella whispered.
"No," he said emphatically. "I will not lie and tell you the army of Serpentis is all good. They are not. They’re soldiers. Made to fight and hurt and conquer. I cannot tell you that one of my soldiers has never hurt an innocent before. Because they have, but they are dealt with." Violence tinged his tone, but it made her feel safe. His words rang true in a place deep within her. "That night, the females you saw, that was not my army acting of their own volition. It was the Umbra trying to turn others."
"Turn? You said something before… I thought they bite. Are they like rabid animals?" Her sluggish, drunk mind worked to remember the day when she and Az had fled. When she had come face to face with a shadow-eyed Umbra. Graves had found her and been so worried that she had been bitten. And again, in the chaos of the throne room, when revelers had turned on each other.
"Not quite. They can hide, completely unknown, and come out whenever the Tenebrae demands it."
That was terrifying.
Tharen spoke, and she jolted. She had almost forgotten he was there. "They can turn another through bodily fluids. Biting is the easiest." Her head felt too heavy for her neck as she stared up at him. Even seated, he was still so much larger than her. She blinked to clear the darkness at the corner of her eyes. "Sex is another way."
An invisible weight released her from her shackles. "Oh. That makes sense. I may still be naive, butthatdoes involve… fluids?" The words kept spilling out, and her eyes widened with every one.
"That was supposed to be an inside thought," Tharen commented. Maybe it was the liquor, but she sensed fondness in his eyes, displayed in how his side leaned into hers, holding her up, wrapping around her, and keeping her safe.
"I didn’t mean to say that," she agreed slowly. "You’ll keep me safe, won’t you?" She looked to Vale, then Tharen.
"We will keep you safe, darling," Vale murmured. He moved until he sat at her other side, and she was trapped between them both, but in her inebriated state, found she wanted for nothing less.
Her pounding head dropped to Vale’s shoulder.
"You don’t want to hurt me?" she asked, her voice barely above a breath.
The dragon shifter hummed, a sound suspended betweenyesandno.
"Not in the way you’re thinking," Tharen answered lowly. "If I hurt you, it’ll be with your permission, even if it’s whispered through tears. And you’ll love it. I promise."
"Tharen." Vale’s voice sharpened. "Mind your tongue."
Luella scooted down until her head could rest on Vale’s chest, her legs outstretched, with one foot settling on Tharen’s thigh. "You’re so grumbly," she murmured, cheek pressed into Vale’s shirt. He smelled of salt, wind, and smoke. "You smell better than the alcohol. I could get drunk on you."
"You have to admit, she’s so much more fun like this."
Vale’s hand landed on top of her head, and she sighed as his fingers sifted through the strands. "I will not admit anything."
"It’s okay, you know. She won’t remember come morning." Tharen rolled up the hem of her flowing pant leg as his calloused fingers brushed over her calf in soothing strokes.
"But I will."
The steady rocking of the ship made her heavy lids flutter shut, and nestled between a dragon and a warrior, she drifted off into sleep, only just aware enough to feel how the well of magic within her grew content in the presence of these males.
22
WANTS OF THE FLESH
GRAVES
