My male. My potential mate if we agreed.
The idea of mating Elex flashed through me uncomfortably. Something about the concept didn’t sit well in my mind. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was yet another strange thought to have while impaled on his erection—and very much enjoying him.
Now, Roran and Rilen…
Oh, gods! What was wrong with me? Now the twin masters—who were clearly more inclined to the male side for sex!
I needed to think about the male I was in bed with, the man who had waited patiently for me to realize he was someone this could happen with.
Adding a little bounce to my rhythm, the impact of his cock deep inside me brought me slamming back into the present. At least now, I had a chance to enjoy myself and to bring Elex some pleasure.
I closed my eyes and posted up and down his shaft, little ripples of excitement fluttering through my pussy. I wanted to come, soon and…
Dropping back down on him, he didn’t quite fill me this time. Confused, I opened my eyes as I heard the smallest snore from his chest.
“No…” The word was whispered in shock.
I leaned forward and put my hands on his chest—and another snore, tremendous this time, ripped from his throat.
“Elex, are you kidding?” I patted his shoulder.
The response was yet another snore.
My jaw dropped. He’d fallen asleep while I was fucking him.
If that didn’t murder my sexual ego, nothing would.
Disgusted and disappointed, I climbed off him to find he had indeed fallen asleep—and gone soft.
What a waste.
*
The mug of hot cocoa felt good in my hands. There was a slight chill in the air, but that was all of winter S’Kir would ever get. It only snowed, rarely, in the very north and at the top of the Spine.
I hadn’t been able to sleep at all after Elex passed out. I was bothered, hot and bothered, and discontent.
Before we’d had a chance to talk the next morning, he’d gone sprinting from the temple grounds with a messenger.
I guessed we weren’t going to talk about the night before. He was exhausted every night of the week, crawling into bed and falling asleep. I wondered what they were doing at the university that was running Elex so ragged.
I was feeling a little sexually frustrated if I were honest.
Masters Bebbenel and Argo showed up at the door to my apartments the first morning and nearly dragged me down to the practice room. Master Bebbenel threw spells at me while I chased Master Argo around the space.
Despite my complaints, no one seemed to believe me that I had to have Master Dorian as my teacher. There was no one in the temple good enough with the sword and who used magic the way I was being taught except him.
I didn’t want to fight Master Dorian. I didn’t want to learn from him. The man considered me a stain on his shoe. The ridiculousness of what happened in the training room was a perfect example of that.
I’d spent the entire time beating back Master Argo and dodging Master Bebbenel’s magic. It was ridiculous. There were some feints and parries that Master Argo could barely counter—as if he hadn’t used a sword in years.
Decades.
Maybe even a century or two.
He’d eventually worn down, and the two masters dismissed me as if I had learned something from the lesson.
A lesson. They were probably going for something more but they sucked with swords, and I still wasn’t good with my magic.
Elex still wasn’t back for the night. It was past dinner, past sunset, and I was sitting in the garden.
My only comfort was the cocoa at that point.
It was about to be literally a cold comfort. Too much time thinking.
“Kimber.”
I jerked around. Someone had called my name, but there was no one in the garden.
“Kimber!” The voice was a stage whisper and had come from stage left.
Carrying my mug of cocoa with me, I walked to the heavy wrought iron gate that locked the garden from the rest of the lawns.
Just in the shadow of the giant tree there, I could make out someone in a cloak. They stepped forward— “Jallina?” I whispered back.
She tipped back the hood of the cloak. “Hi.”
“What in the name of seven hells are you doing here?”
“There’s a meeting tonight, of your group of informants.” She grinned. “Come with me. Meet them.”
“Now?”
“Now.” She looked around and held out a cloak.
It felt wrong to sneak away. There were duties I had to attend to in the morning before practice. I needed to take care of some judgments that were sent to me—one of my new duties, though they were low level, and…
Well, why not? Everyone else around the temple shirked their responsibilities as they saw fit, and I refused to lose contact with the people outside the walls.
In a small victory for myself, my attempt to unlock the gate with magic was completely successful.
Spoiled only by the loud creak as it swung open.
I grabbed the cloak from Jallina as I ducked into the shadows of the tree, easily closing the gate with magic as well.
She led me along the edge of the wall and building so that anyone casually looking into the night wouldn’t see us. The path led past the arboretum and out to the back gate, all in shadow.
Beyond the gate, there was a steady stream of pedestrians. I’d forgotten the city was still alive after dark.
Jallina motioned me down the street to an alleyway. She turned the corner as if she lived in the neighborhood. I followed a moment later, as a lantern flared to life.
Drez was sitting in the carriage. “Good evening, Mistress Kimber.”
Offering a hand, he helped both Jallina and me up into the seat with him.
“Good evening, Drez,” I finally answered. “Were you this confident I would sneak away?”
He and Jallina shared a look. “You’re our friend, and you’re still looking to make a bit of trouble.”
“Nope,” I answered. “You imagine things. What’s going on?”
Drez slapped the reins, and the horse started its trot out to the main street and into the night. “We’ve sent you a dozen letters in the past month. All asking you to come to coffee with us. That’s all they were asking.”
A chill went down my spine. “I haven’t received a thing.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Jallina said.
“Someone is censoring my mail?” It was new to me to think in terms of conspiracies, but I knew I had to do it.
“Yes,” Drez said. “I’m certain of it.”
Jallina sighed. “It’s inside the temple. We had several hand-delivered to the courier at the door, and you say you haven’t gotten anything.”
“Nothing personal at all since we’ve been in the dorm. Why would anyone want to censor my mail? I’m the newest and youngest temple master. I have no clout.” I chuckled. “Less than no clout. I’m a negative influence.”
“You think that?” Drez asked after he and Jallina traded looks.
“In the temple, I know it. There are fourteen masters. I have exactly five who would give me the time of day.”
Or their balls in my cup of tea, but they didn’t need to know that.
“You’re hugely popular,” Jallina smiled. “Hugely. S’Kir adores you. You’re young, you’re likable. You seem irreverent.”
I threw my head back and laughed hard. “I’m irreverent? The absolute last thing I am is irreverent. Good gods, no.”
Drez chuckled. “They don’t know you the way we do. There are bets in the parlors on who is going to bed you first in the temple.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
The smirk on Jallina’s face was clear in the lantern light. “Indeed. Most people want to see you with Vitas, but a lot of people have also said you’d be drawn to Argo.”
I choked on my next breath. “Master Argo?!”
“The place is a hotbed, excuse the pun, of partner swapping.” Drez pulled the horse to the left through some more noisy neighborhoods. “Which, incidentally, I had no idea of. Apparently, the last time this all went down, we were still quite young, just in university.”
“The bets were put down on Vitas when he first got there.” I slapped a hand on my forehead. “Is it common knowledge that I have Elex in my bed?”