“Now,” Caspian groans, voice cracking. “Now, I’m—fuck, I’m going to?—”
It happens like lightning.
Keldarion growls my name, slamming into me one last time as he explodes, heat flooding inside me. Caspian cries out, his body shuddering violently as he follows. Keldarion’s fingers dig into my hips so hard they bruise. Beneath me, Farron swears, his own climax tearing through him as his arms lock around my waist.
Ezryn gasps—low and desperate—and I taste him as he spills into my mouth, my tongue coaxing every drop. Dayton comes in my hand seconds later, his seed warm on my wrist as he moans something I can’t even hear over the roar in my ears.
And when I finally break, it’s like a million stars shattering inside me. Feeling all of my mates’ pleasure coat me, inside, over my skin, down my throat…It’s an indescribable pleasure.. My whole body shudders with waves of ecstasy.
We collapse together in a tangle of limbs and sighs, breathless and boneless, our bodies sticky and glowing in the golden spill of morning light.
My heart pounds. My skin hums.
Caspian is the first to speak, his voice low and reverent as he brushes my damp hair from my face. “You’re so good, Rose,” he murmurs against my shoulder. “So good.”
Farron nuzzles into my side, pressing soft kisses beneath my breast. “Our perfect girl.”
I smile through the haze, letting my head fall on Caspian’s chest, his heartbeat steady beneath my cheek. Gentle fingers trail down my spine. Dayton, probably, and someone pulls a blanket up over my bare hips.
“I don’t think I can move,” I mumble.
“You don’t have to,” Ezryn says, his cool palm cupping the back of my neck. “Just rest. Let us hold you.”
Keldarion’s arms wrap around me from behind, solid and sure, his chin hooking over my shoulder. “You did so well,” he murmurs, kissing the crown of my head. “So strong. So brave.”
Their voices blur together, low praise, soft laughter, the occasional teasing groan from someone shifting too fast. I feel Ezryn press a kiss to my temple. Farron intertwines our fingers. Dayton mutters something about swallowing a cherry blossom. Caspian brushes the side of my knee.
I sigh in contentment. I’ve never felt so safe. So full. So utterly, undeniably theirs.
Ezryn’s hand finds mine beneath the covers. “Sleep, Rosalina,” he whispers. “We’ll be here when you wake.”
Even as my body begins to drift, I feel them all pressed close, warm skin, soft kisses, tangled limbs. My mates. My loves. My family.
Home.
72
Rosalina
Goose bumps ripple over my arms. I’m wearing only a whiteT-shirt and black leggings, with the boots I haven’t touched since I first entered the Enchanted Vale, though Marigold’s shined them up. I take a step backward, trying to get out of the shadow and into a beam of sunlight filtering through the thick canopy of thorns that makes up the Briar.
Kairyn shifts with me, and once again, I’m engulfed in shadow.
Scuffing my toe in the dirt, I chew on my bottom lip, wondering if there are any words that will make this experience less awkward. I don’t believe so, so I might as well embrace it.
“So, uh, what do you think she’s doing there?” I ask, looking up—wayup—to catch his red gaze.
Kairyn keeps staring straight ahead, into the thick tangle of thorns, blossoming with black roses that shimmer with prismatic colors, like an oil slick. “I don’t know.”
Okay, so that won’t be our conversation starter. I let out an exhale, blowing away the curl that’s fallen in front of my face.
I never pictured myself deep in the Briar with only my mate’s brother, the same man who imprisoned me, forced me to fight inhis twisted games, and tried to take over the Spring and Summer Realms, but I’ve come to expect the unexpected. A strange truce has formed between Kairyn and me—one that began when I saved his life in Hadria and he passed the blessing of Spring to me—and he and Ez are working to mend the decades of hurt between them.
So when Kairyn knocked on Castletree’s door early this morning saying he knows where Wrenley is, I was the first to invite him in.
Even though he won’t meet my gaze, I keep looking at him. He has Ezryn’s rugged handsomeness, but there’s a youthfulness to his face Ez has long lost. His hair, longer than his older brother’s, curls in a similar way, and his tawny skin is streaked with dirt from the road. Regardless of the strange underfae features—horns, red eyes, and enormous size—he’s still beautiful.
Maybe sadness suits him.
