The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,18
played in it by moonlight."
Thao reached a hand out to me, and Cosmo pushed me to float in his direction until I reached Thao. The waterfall misted the air as I grew closer, and I moved shyly forward.
"This is just what you need tonight, Bryony," Wendell said, turning so that I had to slide between them.
I gasped as the water struck my arm, heavy and almost reminiscent of the strike of a fencing blade. But the pressure elongated, becoming soothing, pounding at my tight muscles. I moaned as I stepped fully under the water, turning to angle it onto my shoulders and sighing. It was almost as good as when Owen would work his fingers into my muscles after I finished sparring with Thao.
Gentle hands cupped the back of my thighs, and I opened my eyes to find Daniel sinking down in the water before me. "I used to spend days swimming. Let's see if I can still hold my breath as well," Daniel said.
He slid under the water, and Thao and Wendell braced me between them with my arms over their shoulders, their mouths landing on my throat as Daniel found his place between my thighs.
"It was a long journey south, princess," Aric said, stepping into the water, holding my eyes as he skimmed his hand through the water, bubbles popping up on its surface, my favorite faint scent of violets rising on the steam. "Take tonight for yourself."
I might've protested, but Daniel's lips already held me in thrall, gentle and slippery beneath the water. The spiraling tension of the journey unwound in the bath with my Chosen. There would be many days of fighting and positioning and planning ahead, but here, with them, I could surrender myself. They were my Chosen and I had claimed them and made them almost like property to myself and my Hunger, but I was in their control during moments like these, relieved to be used and shared and cradled back into bed when they'd had their fill and I'd had mine several times over.
Aside from my new suite, the castle was as I remembered it, vast and beautiful, often quiet. There were fewer courtiers in winter, with even less now that my grandmother was on her sickbed, and the halls were remarkably empty as I passed through with Cresswell at my side, the rest of my Chosen still arranging the extra rooms in our suite to their liking. We'd delivered strict orders to the guards that no one, including my sister, was permitted entry to the suite while I was gone, and I tried not to think of what might happen if the guards couldn't be trusted.
"Where do you and the others sleep?" I asked Cresswell.
We were on our way to my grandmother's tower, my hand tucked into the crook of Cresswell's arm. I didn't miss the way guards in the hall took brief glances at us. Guards in the castle generally remained almost like statues, shuffled into the corners of rooms where they were less likely to catch the queen's eye, or the Hunger's attention. I could vaguely recall my mother pulling one of the guards away from his station at a ball once, the pair of them disappearing together, but it wasn't a common occurrence, and most of the guards we passed weren't much to look at.
"I took a room in your suite," Cresswell said. "The others have beds in the guards' wing. They got word this morning that they're to continue to report to me."
"That's good news, isn't it?"
Cresswell nodded, thoughtful as ever. "Seems to be. I plan on getting to know Head Guard Amos better if I can, but for now, he seems to be interested in doing his duty to keeping the queen's line safe, no special alignments with either you or your sister to consider."
"You could sleep in the main bedroom, you know," I said, bumping my hip against Cresswell's.
"I don't like to sleep while you and the others are. It leaves you too vulnerable."
"You have to sleep sometimes, don't you?" I asked, trying not to laugh. I was worried he really might try and avoid it altogether.
"I sleep while you are??ccupied with your Chosen, and the others are on duty," Cresswell said, lips twitching.
I couldn't restrain the laughter now. "You sleep while we're fucking?"
"It's easier than standing outside the door and listening," Cresswell growled, ducking his head but stopping himself before he snatched a kiss from my lips.