“Your fiancée was touching my naughty parts,” Trubble said, standing up and then crouching low with his front paws in a stretch, his bushel of fluffy tails up in the air. I had to admit, they were enticing as hell. I just wanted to pet the flub out of them, run my fingers along their furry lengths. But as a person with wings, I had to remember that sometimes body parts were more than they seemed.
“Are you okay?” Air asked, looking as tired as I felt. Spirits weren’t supposed to look so damn exhausted. I reached out my hand for his, tangling my warm fingers with his cool ones. Gods, if Air were alive right now then everything would be different. Jas and I would be sharing a room in the dorms, waking up excited to start the second day of class. We’d rush down to the courtyard and meet Air, looking all spiffy in his Royal College uniform, blonde hair catching the sunshine. He’d smile at me with this pointed teeth of his, catch me in his arms and twirl me around …
“I’m fine,” I said, giving his hand a squeeze before letting go and sitting up. When I glanced down at Vexer, I found him sleeping soundly. His brunette hair was fresh and shiny, his face clean-shaven. He’d taken the time to bathe before crawling into bed with me. No wonder my nightmares had stopped. Something about his warm breath, his smell, the steady beat of his heart, it all kept me sleeping soundly, kept my dreams light. “Did you freak out when he came in here?” I asked softly.
“I ordered him to, before he just went and did it,” Air replied, his voice a near-whisper. “At least then it felt like I had some semblance of control.” The prince chuckled, but the sound wasn’t a particularly happy one. He kept his pastel green eyes downcast, raking his fingers through his hair. He wasn’t exactly corporeal, but at least there was some color to him.
“Vex isn’t your enemy,” I said, my voice husky and low, thick with emotion.
“Don’t forget: you still have an audience,” Trubble said with a yawn, flashing his tiny pink tongue at me. “Try not to get all lovey-dovey when I’m in the room. I’m allergic to excessive amounts of emotion.”
Air narrowed his eyes on the little shadow, but chose to ignore, redirecting his attention back to me.
“What happened on that mountain …” he started, licking his lower lip. “I think you should be restricted to campus for a while.”
“What?!” I choked out, throwing my feet out of bed and startling Vex awake with a growl. His lion’s tail wrapped around my waist before I blushed and pushed it away. According to Trubble, Vex just curled his very long, very furry penis around your waist. Ugh! I was so not good at juggling all these men. I’d only really ever seen myself with Airmienan. Well, I hadn’t expected that to actually happen, but I was so busy fantasizing about it than I hadn’t thought about having so many gods-damn—feather pop—boyfriends around. “Now you want to put me on house arrest, Air? What the flub?”
“Brynn, you almost fucking died up there,” Air said, rising to his feet and puffing out his chest. Uh-oh. Here went the prince act. “You were this close to losing your life … and all of us in the process. Brynn, if you die, the chances of us ever being together again are slim to none. My mother will have the rest of you exorcised and I’ll be waiting around for years while that idiot, Ame, tries and fails at the resurrection spell.”
“Don’t be dramatic,” I grumbled, rubbing my hands down my face. Although, I had to admit: Air had a good point. I was starting to get the idea that Everess found me to be an annoyance, an obstacle for her son to overcome. She might’ve taken both of my parents as lovers, but me, she didn’t like. “A bath, that’s what I need,” I said with a yawn, rising to my feet and stumbling slightly. Both Air and Vex tried to steady me, and I ended up with a warm hand on one side, and a cold one on the other. “Before I can talk, bath.”
Pushing past them both, I found myself in the hallway facing Elijah.
“I’m glad you’re awake,” he said, slouching lazily against the wall, his ice-blue eyes locked on mine. Staring at him now, it was hard to forget the feel of his cock inside of me, his hot sweaty skin so close to alive that I was almost fooled. Almost. It’d been three nights since we’d first had sex and yet, because I’d been passed out for two of them, it felt like it was only yesterday.
I had no idea what to say to him, standing there in his academy issued boots and jacket, his wings stretched out behind him, his dark hair catching the light. After a few more seconds of silence, Eli smirked and stepped close to me, putting his warm hands on my hips and pulling me close.
“I know we have a lot to deal with today,” he whispered against my ear, making me shiver. “But if I don’t kiss you first, I might go crazy.” With long, skillful fingers, Eli tilted my chin up and leaned down to kiss me, slanting his hot lips across mine. I couldn’t help myself; I rose up on my toes and put my hands flat against his torn Royal College jacket as our tongues slid together and heat bloomed between us. I felt it in my core, in the empty space between my thighs, in the peaked hardness of my nipples, the ripple of my dark feathers.
“That was so much better than thinking of something to say,” I mumbled against his lips, smiling as Eli chuckled and nuzzled against me. Holy bleeding Hell. I was really into the prince’s cousin. I mean, for a ghost, the guy had serious swagger. “Hopefully I’m a better kisser than I am a conversationalist.”
“You’re an amazing kisser,” Elijah said, wrapping his wings around us—quite the feat in the tight space of the hallway. But then … I remembered that he was a ghost, and probably blending into the wall just a bit. Still, I cuddled up close to him and kissed him until I heard Jasinda clear her throat behind me. “Enjoy your bath.” Eli stepped back and folded his wings behind him again, crossing his arms over his chest as I turned to Jasinda.
“Do you mind if I join you?” she asked, smiling softly and lifting up a pair of fluffy towels. “I think we could both use a moment. Besides, I’ve been dying to try out this private bath since the moment we moved in. Talk about luxury.”
“And it’s close enough to the house that I can leave all my spirit friends behind for a moment.” I grinned as I followed Jas in the direction opposite the main staircase and out a back door that led to a private courtyard—this was the queen’s personal residence, after all. My grin didn’t feel warm or genuine though, not even with the warm fuzzies from Eli’s kiss buzzing around inside of me. I couldn’t get my mind off of Talon and what he’d done for me. He’d risked his spirit to save my life.
“Eighty feet feels both short and long simultaneously, doesn’t it?” Jassy said as she held open the wooden door with the curved top and let me into the tiny stone bathing chamber. On the other side of these thick stone walls, the dormitory bathhouses were located, probably filled with students at this hour. But even though they were so close, they felt so ridiculously distant. I guess what Jas was saying made perfect sense, didn’t it?
“This is supposed to be our second day of school,” I moaned as I shed my nightie and tiptoed through the steam to the edge of the pool. The water was heated naturally underground, directed up through a series of pipes and cooled by a water whisperer to safe levels before it reached the actual baths. Even so, it was still hot enough to make my skin ripple with goose bumps. I pushed through the pain and slid in anyway.
I flubbing needed this.
“Technically, this would be our fourth day of school,” Jas said, sinking into the water with a groan and then meticulously unbraiding her long, dark hair. “If we were going, that is.”
“You know what I mean,” I said, sinking down until only my eyes and scalp were the only parts of me that weren’t wet. I even made sure to drop my wings into the steamy waters, tucking them close to my back and trying to process everything that’d just happened.