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“She wants more?” Skadi muttered. Where had he come from? I swung my head to him. Was he upside down?

Goran grunted. “You complaining?” He grabbed my wobbly neck, and everything was right side up again.

A door opened and slammed somewhere down the hall. “Not at all. You might not be able to stand for your wedding ceremony if you donate again, though, little brother. Leave this to her more powerful mates.”

I giggled at the sounds of them fighting, then drew a knife out of one of my pockets and flung it toward them.

“Ow! Brat? What was that for?”

“Sorry, Lach,” I called out. “You know I only stab the ones I love.”

“You stab everyone, Rada,” Kellin drawled, taking me from whoever had been holding me. I tapped him on the nose, accidentally poking his eye a couple of times first.

“But I stab with affection,” I crooned. “Don’t you want me to say I love you in every way I can?”

“Yes. Stab me, little enemy,” Skadi demanded.

Oh. He was holding me now. I smiled at him. I was mated to the handsomest, sexiest, knottiest gods on earth.

He cleared his throat and intoned, “Hide all your blades in me, and I will hide my blade in you; we’ll both scream our pleasure when the thrusting time is through.”

Lusca sighed. “I think we’ve been spending too much time with the Starlakians. Your poetry is an offense, Skadi.”

“It’s better than Goran’s!” he shouted.

Goran snarled. “Better than Dustin’s maybe, but not mine. I wrote a poem last week that made her orgasm.”

“Goran, I was going down on her while you recited it. It wasn’t the poem that made her climax.” I looked up to see Lex’s face hanging over me like a dark moon.

“Hello, my priest.” I grabbed for his belt, but missed.

“Hello, my goddess. You look like you could use some help.”

“What I could use is a drink.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him, in case he didn’t understand what I was hinting at. Then I grabbed his crotch, to be extra certain.

He shook his head, then carried me to the bedroom and tucked me in. I was asleep before my head hit the pillows.

I woke up surrounded by blankets, but not mates, with someone knocking on the door. “Rada! Are you planning to wake up for the ceremony?” Haven’s voice called.

Shit. “Lex?” I shouted.

“No such luck,” Haven said as she bustled into the room. “They’re all dressed, ready, and waiting down on the beach.” She pulled my gown out of the wardrobe. My Aunt Cilla had created it for me, stitching thousands of gemstones provided by my mates in orange and blue. The heavy silk fell in waves that moved like the ocean when I walked. I put on my nautilus pendant, and the moonstone tiara that Vali had given me for a wedding gift.

Wren joined us just as Haven did up the last fastening on the back, carrying the scepter I’d stolen from Lusca the first time we met. “The Empress of all the Seas can’t get married without this,” she said with a sniffle.

Haven pulled an extra handkerchief out of her pocket, handing it to Wren. She’d always had an extra one for every child who might need one, ever since I’d met her. Her soft gray-blue eyes met mine as she dabbed at her own. “I wish your mother could be here to see this,” she whispered.

“You are,” I said, holding out my arms. Haven’s hugs were the best, and I let myself sink into the embrace for a moment. While I was there, I felt her life force. She was growing older, though more slowly than she might’ve normally. She’d insisted she didn’t want to live forever, but I’d let my power heal a few small tears in the cartilage around her knees, and carefully cleared out the main arteries. I’d do my dads later.

After we all wiped our faces clear of tears, Wren smiled, and I took the scepter and then her arm. Haven took my other arm, and they escorted me down to the beach at dusk.

I looked up as we descended the long stair to the beach and smiled. The full moon hung like a giant golden pearl on the horizon over the sea in the east, and the light from it caught on the scepter in my hand, sending sparkles of gold all over the crowd below.

My mates stood at the edge of the sea or just in it, dressed in spectacular clothing. Or half-dressed, since Skadi, Lusca, Kellin, and Lachlan had all decided to wear pearl-studded kelp kilts. Lachlan had his pelt wrapped around his kilt, and Kellin wore a crown almost as extravagant as Lusca’s. I didn’t mind their bare chests at all, though I was pondering a couple of smitings as I noticed more than one or two dignitaries in the crowd staring lustfully at them. Serak, Alexios, and Goran were dressed in Starlakian furs and white linen shifts, with gem-encrusted daggers and sword pommels everywhere, like ancient kings. My mouth watered.

Then I turned to properly take in the guests. There were so many.

I jutted my chin out slightly to stop the tears when I saw everyone on the beach. Vilkurn and my crew beside Vali and King Rigol and their vast herd of children, some of whom were now grown themselves.