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  He groaned and pulled back. Ash cried out at the surge of pleasure spiking through her flesh. Lucas pushed again, deeper, and withdrew. And Marek watched, his eyes dark, endless, and it had her wet, her belly tight and so eager for Lucas to fuck her that she dug her fingers into Marek’s thighs and pushed back against Lucas’ cock.

  He growled and quickened his thrusts, his hands hard on her hips. He muttered words in an unknown language and it sparked something in Marek. His fingers threaded through her hair and he looked down. “I want your mouth, Ash.”

  She blinked, following his gaze to his erect cock. Her belly tightened. “I haven’t…”

  He eased her head down and it tilted her ass up to Lucas. The man groaned and rolled his hips, sinking deeper, the increasing friction firing through her flesh. He fucked her in a slow rhythm now, his soft moans mixing with her short breaths. She crushed her eyes shut against the throb of need filling her belly and each thrust brought her closer, closer…

  “Open your mouth, Ash.”

  The smooth head of Marek’s cock brushed her lips and she gasped, taking him into the heat of her mouth. Lucas’ hands flexed at her hips and he buried himself deep, deep in her ass. Her low moan flowed over Marek’s cock, the salt-sweet taste of him firing through her blood. His fingers tightened in her hair and he eased back, his hips meeting the dip of her mouth.

  “So right…” Lucas’ voice burned through her and he pulled back, forcing a low groan from Marek at her reaction. Ash tasted him, her tongue teasing over his skin, wanting him to feel the wild fire that Lucas drove into her flesh. “I have to take her, Marek.”

  He sank into her ass and Ash mewled, the thought of him fucking her making her dig her fingers into Marek’s thighs. Lucas teased the slick wetness of her pussy with his balls and Marek’s quickened thrusts forced her breath short, her thoughts spinning. She wanted him to say yes, to let Lucas take her, bury himself in her ass, fuck her.

  “Take her. Then, Ash, your pussy is mine.”

  His low growl tightened her belly and then Lucas stroked into her, each thrust chasing the next. Her heart pounded, Marek’s hand guiding her head as she licked and sucked him, taking him deeper as Lucas fucked her. The tension tightened between her thighs, her empty pussy aching as liquid fire chased up her spine. Lucas’ low moans and the tight grip of his hands on her hips, holding her as his body slapped hard against hers again and again, forcing her to swallow Marek, drove wildness into her mind, shook her body. She wanted, she needed them both, needed their mouths on her skin, buried inside of her, taking her, taking—

  A long moan surged from her, a wild heat bursting over her body, and Marek shuddered and groaned. She swallowed and then he was lifting her mouth from his cock and kissing her, his tongue cool against hers, tasting her soft, panting breaths…and still Lucas fucked her.

  Hard and fast, he stroked into her ass and the tendrils low in her belly tightened again, becoming quicker, more intense. Marek pulled back to look at her and she held his gaze, wanting him to see how his secondary spun joy though her flesh.

  “Yes…” The soft word heated her damp skin. “So beautiful.”

  “I want you, Marek.” Behind her, Lucas groaned and the pressure, the need in her flesh to scream and let go had her gasping. “Fuck me.”

  Marek’s wicked smile fired through her body. “I will,” he said.

  Ash cried out, another hot release surging through her flesh, her body shaking with the fierce heat rushing through her. With a final deep thrust, Lucas found his own release, chasing new heat in her ass. A long, shuddering sigh escaped him and he pulled himself free.

  Marek eased her trembling legs over his and sat Ash on his lap, folding his arm around her. Her heart hammered and she rested her face against the arch of his throat, trying to gain some control. The priests had twisted that wild rush into a defense, binding it to protect a stupid box. She pressed a kiss to Marek’s damp skin and let out a soft sigh. She wanted to enjoy the moment and not dwell on how they had just made themselves enemies of the emperor.

  Marek brushed her sweat-tangled hair from her face with gentle fingers and she leaned into his touch. Beside him, Lucas sank onto the bed, but Ash was barely aware of him. Her wet pussy slicked up against Marek’s cock and the need to wriggle, to let herself sink onto him, flared new heat low in her belly.

  Lucas’ soft laughter snapped her gaze to him. He’d half-sprawled on the bed and he watched her, his dark eyes still hot with need. His knuckles brushed her thigh and goose bumps ran over her skin. “We’ve formed an insatiable creature.”

  Ash smirked at him. “You’re complaining?”

  He grinned and the unexpected…affection…wrapping around him caught her by surprise. She could almost see his emotion.

  “Never.” His fingers skimmed her thigh and teased the crease so that she twitched, pushing her against Marek. “I intend to be a most committed secondary.” He glanced up. “And you’ve accepted what you are.”

  Marek pulled in a slow breath and his palm pressed against her other thigh, idly stroking over her sensitized skin. “There’s something,” he murmured and his gaze held Ash. “Something about you,” he snorted and glanced at Lucas, “and you, that feels…”

  “Right.” Ash finished his sentence for him. She stroked a finger down his chest, muscles twitching under her light touch. “And needed.”

  He wet his lips and her need spiked again. “Maybe. Now…as a virgin ward, you’re breached.” His gaze darted around her face, seeing…something…but she couldn’t seem to read Marek as easily as she read Lucas. What he thought, felt, escaped her. “The box is open.”

  Her heart twisted. Was this it, was it over? He had promised…

  “What are you really, Ash?” His hand stroked down over her spine to tease the length of her birthmark. “Who did the eunuchs rescue from the Street of Cries?”

  “The goddess guides the priest’s hand. It’s Her whim who he picks.”

  “You have this marking you.” He traced his fingers unerringly around the smooth edges of the stain flowing over her spine, easing a warm and unexpected heat between her thighs. “The priests are versed in magic.” His head tilted. “I wonder if their choice was deliberate.”

  Ash blinked. “That’s not their way.”

  “I think the Priests of Fausta are playing their own game, Ash. As are too many others.” His eyes darkened. “But right now, I need to fulfill a promise.”

  He eased her over his cock and Ash gasped at the slick slide of him against her wet flesh. He kissed her, something soft, gentle, a melting of his mouth against hers. He tasted… Marek swallowed her sigh and she threaded her fingers through his hair, wanting him…always.

  She used her knees against the mattress to rock against him, working his cock over her pussy, the blunt head pushing, stretching the thin resistance. Marek guided her, his hands tight on her ass, urging her down, to let him sink deep and hard into her body. Then she would belong to him, to both of them, and they would be hers, a bond broken only by blood.

  The thoughts spiraling through her mind drove heat through her flesh.

  “Almost…” Marek’s groan burned against her mouth. “I should’ve done this days ago.”

  Her laughter broke into a gasp as Lucas’ fingers teased over her spine, her ribs to cup her breasts. He knelt up behind her and his mouth ran hot along her shoulder, distracting her…

  And she cried out as Marek thrust hard, his hands guiding her, easing her down slowly, so slowly onto his cock. The pain flared away under Lucas’ hot mouth, his hands and the molten desire in Marek’s dark eyes.

  His rapid breaths blew hot across her cheek. “The minute I saw you.” His thumbs teased over her mound and her pussy clenched around his fullness. He groaned. “I should’ve yanked up your shift and fucked you right there.”

  “Yes.” The image burned through her thoughts, of his hard hands on her untouched body, his cock buried in her and none of the waiting, the unnatural want
ing that had gripped her for the days she’d lived with him. Ash pushed up and slid down again, Marek stretching her, the pleasure of him inside of her coiling fresh tension in her belly. She held his gaze, her heart beating hard. “Why didn’t you?”

  “Is that what you want?”

  The quiet question sank into her flesh and her mouth dried. He could do it. Spin a new dream, change her history, give her something incredible. The heat in her belly tightened and she rolled her hips, drawing a soft moan from both of them. “You’ve made me wanton.”

  Marek laughed. “It was already in your blood.” He paused. “Ready?”

  Before she could reply, the shadow and lamplight of the atrium swept around her and she waited as she had four mornings before. Nelek and the slaves stood near, the box held tight to the eunuch’s chest. She couldn’t help but stare at the treasure that had unknowingly been tied to her life for so long. It didn’t appear to be anything special. A well-made, plain box, the golden light warm over its slight sheen. She fought the urge to rip it from Nelek’s long pale fingers and open it. She was in Marek’s dream. The box would be empty.

  Heavy thumps sounded against the outer door and Nelek waved one of the slaves towards it. Ash unhooked the strap of her satchel from her shoulder and gripped it in a tight fist. The ache low in her belly made her heart pound. Marek had come.

  The slave struggled under the weight of moving the heavy bars and the other slave scurried forward to help him pull back the thick door. Light inched into the atrium, a long slice of gold, growing with every heavy breath from the slaves, with the squeal of metal, and the groan of wood, until the door thudded back against the stone wall and opened the temple to the city.

  Marek was a tall and familiar dark shadow in the high archway. Ash bit her lip. He stood straight, his outline against the brightness lean and strong. He had made his dream too real because Nelek cast a suspicious glance at her and she controlled her breathing.

  All thought wiped away as he strode towards them. Ash felt the pull of her first impression of him. A man in his prime, with an angled, male face browned by the sun. His eyes and thick hair were the same color, as dark as shadow, matching his wool cloak and solid leather boots. Marek’s beauty caught her again and she let the heavy pull of need low in her flesh flow through her.

  “Marek.” Nelek hustled forward and gave him a short bow. Marek returned it with his usual fluid, physical grace and Ash’s heart beat hard. Damn, he was following the meeting exactly. Anticipation had her skin hot. “Everything is prepared.”

  Marek’s dark gaze moved away from the first priest to slide over her, impersonal, assessing, and Ash held her breath. Her pussy clenched and she wanted to see something in his gaze, something that said he wanted this as much as she…but he played the Marek she’d first met far too well.

  “Nothing was said about a ward.” His voice was as dark, as strong as the rest of him and undercut with a hint of anger. “This changes everything, Nelek.”

  “The goddess has spoken and the emperor has placed his seal upon this action.”

  Ash pushed Nelek’s light voice out of her thoughts, her gaze fixed on Marek. The muscle jumped in his lean jaw and the flare of bitter anger caught her breath.

  “Show me.”

  “Marek, you doubt—”

  “Show me.”

  The words were a low growl that lifted the hairs on the back of Ash’s neck and tingled down her spine. Her birthmark burned and the reaction forced her to bite at her cheek to keep back her gasp. She still had to play the game, because it had her hot and wet and soon, soon she would have him.

  Nelek clicked his fingers at one of the slaves. The man gave the priest a quick nod and ran back through the smaller door into the priests’ compound. Within moments, he returned with a scroll, around which curved the blood red and gold of the emperor. Marek took it, broke the seal and scanned the contents. He frowned.

  He smacked the scroll back into the slave’s open palm and moved past Nelek.

  Ash’s heart hammered as he approached her. He stopped close enough for her to breathe in his scent, a mix of leather, unknown spices and male skin. He leaned in. She willed her spine straight, though her fingers crushed the woven strap of her satchel as his mouth hovered over hers. Not yet. She had to wait and her body throbbed at the delay.

  “Marek!”

  Ash ignored Nelek’s shrill voice. Marek’s dark eyes speared her, and she almost lost herself in their endlessness. Her lips parted and she tasted his breath, sweet, hot, and the temptation of his lips… Ash’s body flared with desire. The need to tease her tongue over his full bottom lip, knowing that he tasted as good as he did in her wildly spinning imagination, drove heat hard through her flesh, tightened her breasts. She ached to press herself against the lean hardness of his body, for him to—

  “And this is the best ward you have?” His words spoken against her skin, his lips catching hers in a light caress, broke a gasp from her. “I could bend her over and fuck her here.”

  Ash’s cheeks flamed and she staggered back from him, her spine hitting the cool stone of the atrium wall. Her satchel hit the floor with a dull thump. She mouthed the silent word, “Yes.”

  Marek lifted an eyebrow and his eyes gleamed, his gaze roaming over her body. Something flickered in his gaze, a wry knowing. There was an edge to his voice as he muttered, “Yank up your robe.”

  Two strides and he almost, almost pressed against her. His male scent, the strength of his body, pulsed through her, bringing with it a raw need. His lips teased the shell of her ear and liquid fire flickered low in her belly.

  “Want me to breach you, ward?”

  Ash groaned as he cupped her, his fingers pressing against the hot, aching flesh between her thighs. His hard smile tightened her belly. “All right, let’s give the eunuch a show.”

  “Marek!”

  Nelek tugged at his arm, but Ash knew it was as if the first priest tugged at iron. Marek shoved the priest away. His finger curled and the sudden sharp flare of almost overwhelming pleasure arched her into him. “Are you a ward?”

  He growled the words against her lips and the ache for him to kiss her, the surge of heat tearing up through her flesh made her heart pound. She didn’t want to talk, she wanted to taste him, thread her fingers through his thick hair and crush his mouth to hers. She resisted just that little bit longer. Anticipation was everything.

  “Are you?” His finger pressed a slow circle into her flesh and she had to grab at his shoulders, her breath little more than pants. “Show me. Show us all.”

  She found his mouth, her teeth grazing his bottom lip, teasing him, tasting him. A tremor ran through her body. He tasted incredible. Sweet and spiced and the strange prickle of his bristled chin sparked fire in her veins. The pulse low in her belly deepened, expanded, the heat surging—

  “Oh no, you’re not coming yet.” He yanked at her shift, exposing her, and grabbed her ass. He pushed her up the wall, holding her open. He pulled his cock free of his breeches and pressed it against wet flesh.

  Ash stared at him, breathing hard. The fierce need in his molten gaze mixed with her own and she wrapped her legs behind his ass, the press of cool leather a shock to her hot skin. It drew him closer, pushed the blunt head of his cock hard against her pussy. She groaned at the first ease of him into her body. She was still so tight and his slow, slow stroke stretched her with delicious heat and danced light behind her eyes.

  Ash arched her spine, her thighs tightening against his hips, and she drew a low moan from Marek. His mouth covered hers in a slow kiss, teasing, tasting, and her body ached for more. She deepened the kiss and her heels dug into his ass.

  He grinned against her mouth. “Wanton.”

  Ash bit at his bottom lip. “For you. Yes.” A gasp broke from her as he thrust, burying himself deep in her flesh. She clung to him, snatching broken kisses with each push of his hips, going with the need that rode her body. The tension in her belly tightened, the promised f
ire already flickering hot through her veins.

  “You are…” Marek fixed his gaze on her, gripping her as thrusts quickened. The desire in his eyes, the fierce…want…had her breath short and her body shaking. “By all that’s unholy…”

  He kissed her, his mouth hot, ruthless, and he swallowed her moans, pinning her to the cool stone wall, stroking into her, and still the pressure increased, a wild fire that promised to surge through her. Almost, she could almost taste the release she’d come to crave, a release bound to Lucas and to Marek.

  She ripped her mouth from his, needing air, needing to pant out the riot in her body. Marek shifted and then every single one of his thrusts hit her sweet spot. Ash crushed her eyes shut against the raw burst of pleasure, her body shaking, all control gone, and then she came in a rush of fire and light and overwhelming heat. Marek shuddered against her, his low groan brushed the damp skin of her neck and heat filled her pussy.

  She tightened her muscles around his cock and his breathless laughter squeezed her heart. She grinned. “Am I officially breached?”

  “Yes.”

  He let out a long breath and held her gaze. Ash ran her finger over his bottom lip, swollen from her kisses. “Nelek’s gone.”

  A brief flare of fire lit his eyes and Ash shifted against him, unease and desire slipping through her flesh. “You’re mine to watch, no one else’s.” He closed his eyes and she could almost feel his need to control whatever it was that linked them. When he opened his eyes again, the fury of a jealous lover was gone. “Our time here is over. Now we see what’s in the box.”

  Chapter Six

  She woke and Marek had already rolled away from her. The sunlight in the room had hardly shifted against the wooden floorboards and she pressed a hand to her face, trying to believe that no time had passed. She let out a slow breath, watching Marek cross the floor, his naked beauty gilded by the slants of gold.

  He had broken the magic the priests had woven in her flesh, but she didn’t feel any different. Ash bit her lip. That wasn’t exactly true. She felt sated, the ache that both men had driven through her mind and body was gone and a relaxed warmth replaced it. Was this it now? Her life with two strangers she hardly knew, men who spun fire through her flesh, brought her wild joy. The thought squeezed her heart and the ease left her body. But how long would it last?