Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 93948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Siobhan clenches around me. “Yes!”
“Give the lady what she wants, Bastian.” Nox is pure temptation in my ear, their voice as desperate as the feeling burgeoning inside me, one I thought long buried. “Don’t make me…” They moan, low and long, grinding into me with a frenzy that I can only match.
I thrust hard into Siobhan, keeping up my steady stroking of her clit. Each retreat has me thrusting back onto Nox’s cock, still moving inside me with a purpose that has pressure shooting down my spine and gathering in my balls. “I’m going to…” And then I’m coming, pounding deep into Siobhan, getting pounded deep by Nox. My orgasm seems to last forever, draining every bit of myself.
I can’t even collapse properly at the end of it because of my current position, kneeling between Siobhan and Nox. “Fuck. I—fuck.”
“Yeah.” Siobhan shivers, her eyes still closed.
“Give me a second.” Nox is pressed to my back. I feel every single one of their rough inhales and equally ragged exhales. Their cock slowly shrinks and then eases out of me. From the way Siobhan twitches, they’ve done the same to her. Nox brushes a kiss against my spine and slumps over to the side. “Damn.”
Now it’s my turn to disentangle myself. My thigh tries to cramp, but I do my best to ignore it as I carefully lie down on Siobhan’s other side. She’s got a small smile pulling at her lips, and I can’t help but kiss it.
I look up and meet Nox’s gaze. Pleasure makes their lids heavy, their expression relaxed. Even with all that, there’s a growing guardedness on their face. I open my mouth, but they hold up a tired hand before I can speak. “Let’s just keep things simple, yeah?”
Simple.
The very idea is laughable. We’re three people with an increasingly complicated and tangled relationship, which would be challenge enough if that was all we faced. But it’s not.
We’re sailing into certain danger—possibly even certain death—as we speak. I refuse to believe that we’re going to die, no matter what Siobhan and Nox fear. The horn is the answer, and if we don’t know the exact details of how it works, it’s enough hope to survive on. We just need a plan and a small, solid team.
I want to tell Nox that we’re going to live, damn it. I want to challenge their fear and replace it with hope.
But I know better. For some, hope can be summoned with the right combination of words. Most people want to hope, rather than give in to despair. But Nox isn’t most people; neither is Siobhan. With the lives of so many people resting on their shoulders, they can only respond to facts and actions, not dreams.
I want to tell them that I’ll dream enough for the both of them. I don’t. Neither of them will thank me for even saying it.
So I don’t challenge Nox’s words. I just nod. “Sure. Simple.”
They relax instantly, the tension bleeding away from their shoulders. “Thank you.” They kiss Siobhan and then slide off the bed to start working on getting the strap off. “That was good. Really, really good.”
For a moment, I’m certain they’re running again, but then they kick the strap off and climb back into bed to settle down next to Siobhan. She immediately pulls them close and tucks them against her side. It strikes me that it could always be like this…that I want it to always be like this.
Chapter 28
Nox
I sleep better than I have in months—years—and wake up sandwiched between Bastian and Siobhan as if, even in sleep, they fear I’m going to panic and bolt the first chance I get. I wish they were wrong. I’ve never felt more conflicted. I convinced myself to stop fighting my attraction and feelings for them under the assumption that we’d be dead long before a broken heart became a real risk.
Except waking up listening to their steady breathing has true fear roiling inside me. I’m not prepared to lose either of them. I wasn’t before, but now that I know how Siobhan tastes, have been reminded how sweetly Bastian comes? Now that I’ve had a night of feeling cared for, I crave it with an intensity that scares me.
I slip from the bed like a thief in the night, easing from under Siobhan’s arm and sliding past the leg Bastian tossed over my hip. Neither of them stirs as I dress in hurried, awkward movements. I’m not doing anything wrong, but the need to leave the cabin before either of them wakes up is nearly overwhelming. I take a moment to summon my magic to remove the salt from Siobhan’s and Bastian’s clothing.
I take my first full breath of the morning as I step into the faint sunlight. I should have been out on deck the whole time, ensuring my people were as safe as they can be in this situation. The vote yesterday wasn’t only putting their faith in me as captain, but in the mission as a whole. And yet…I can’t regret a single moment.