as the pleasure pushed me up and over the edge, the grind between them pulling orgasm after orgasm out of me, and I drank until I damn near blacked out from the raw pleasure.
We collapsed in a pile of naked limbs, bodies tightly intertwined, and they rolled onto their sides to keep me pinned between them. Fin didn’t knot, but he didn’t soften much, and seemed trapped within me thanks to Maddox’s knot. There was something so fucking decadent about that.
Tiny kisses rained down on my face and shoulders. The whispers and loving words cosseted me, but I burrowed deeper away from them. I already cared too much.
I couldn’t afford to care more.
But I could give them this goodbye.
They deserved that much.
Chapter 3
“Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out but to see who cares enough to break them down.” - Socrates
The party began before sundown and well after Fin left. I refused to say I missed him, though I did notice his absence. Maybe even more because the keep teemed with people. Maddox arrived at my door to walk me down to the party. Well, better stated, Maddox crossed to his room and changed before he returned and watched me get ready. I’d have complained, save for the avid sparkle in his eyes as I slipped on the dress.
Much to my disgust, it was comfortable as well as stylish, though I loathed the chain around my neck. I considered all the ways I could remove it, but I’d have to skip this dress entirely if I did. At least it wasn’t heavy, and no magic sparked off the metal as it draped my skin.
At my doubtful look, Maddox said, “I wouldn’t have allowed any enchantments. Not after what happened to the shackles.”
I made a face, and he shot me a rueful grin.
“I haven’t forgiven you for those yet.”
The slit of his eyes went pure dragon, and he gave a careless shrug. “It just means I must work harder. I have never minded a challenge, Kitten.”
The last bit of the dress was a pair of killer heels. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said someone had raided my closet. Though if Fin had been right, nothing of mine remained at all. Likely, it was all swept away by the same hand that dismissed me to Nightmare and tried to pretend I didn’t exist.
Something else I needed to stab Isaac for.
As for my erstwhile escort, I really couldn’t complain. He wore black jeans and a loose green silk shirt. It matched my dress perfectly, so it was no accident. Despite the fact that the clothes were an upgrade, he looked as comfortable as he had in the black guard’s uniform he’d worn when he arrived in my cell. Which was to say, he also looked gorgeous. His hair fell neatly with its asymmetrical part, and the glint in his hazel-green eyes seemed equal parts a promise for playfulness and a warning.
Telling me not to do something was almost always a surefire way to make me do it, if for no other reason than to spite the person trying to control me.
Yes, sometimes I wasn’t all that complicated.
He held up one last box as I faced him and propped it open. Inside were emeralds. Gorgeous, stunning emeralds fashioned into a bracelet, a ring, a pair of earrings, and a necklace. I raised my eyebrows and then looked at him.
“For you—no magic,” he murmured. “I promise.”
“That’s too much,” I told him and went to close the box, but he caught my hand and slipped the ring onto my finger. It was set amidst a smattering of diamonds, and the band was an infinity loop, twisting dark and light metals together. The ring itself was warm on my skin. It slid right over the index finger of my right hand.
“Wear one?” he asked, his tone cajoling. “This one?”
The index finger wasn’t a matrimonial or mating sign, right? Or was it for dragons? Fuck. I didn’t know anything about dragons, except mine could be grumpy and sweet. It was an irritatingly attractive combination. “Is there some meaning to wearing this ring?”
“Yes,” he answered, his smile slow and sly.
Eyes narrowed, I glanced from the stunning gem to him, then back. The emerald was near flawless from what I could tell. They all were. There had to be hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of gems. I wasn’t an expert. I liked shoes and clothes, but jewelry and I weren’t that well acquainted. “Will