“…shouldn’t control the Spine…”
Moving even closer, I stared at his reddened face. “I don’t. No one does. The magic tells me what to do. The magic you denied me. The magic I need to save the people of S’Kir from the mountains falling on them.”
“…temple wrong…”
I stared into his deep black eyes. Something Roran had said to me came back.
“The temple doesn’t make the rules, Elex. They never have. They only listen to and conduct the magic through our land.”
“…loved you…”
“No, you didn’t. Not for a moment.”
“…could have convinced you…”
I leaned into him, and let my words dust over his skin. “I am a Master of the Temple of the Lost God. I listen to the magic. I am loyal only to the magic of this land.”
Master Dorian’s body seized for a moment, and in the next, he came deep inside Elex with a window-rattling roar. I watched as he took his pleasure in filling my ex-lover with his cum.
“You wanted me to be less na?ve, didn’t you?”
The grip on his throat now allowed no air through, so there was no answer. His eyes bulged. His lips sucked desperately, trying to find air.
I stared at him. I knew what had to happen, and yet I was still being torn in two. My face was soaked with the tears of what might have been for him.
For us.
Trembling, I leaned in to touch his cheek.
“You have destroyed all that goodness you tried to protect. I am no longer a pawn in your game.”
Fast and sure, Master Dorian snapped his neck.
Elex dropped to the bed, dead.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kimber
Both Roren and Rilen caught me before I hit the floor.
I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t think.
My throat constricted as my stomach heaved.
I wanted to scream and yell at Master Dorian, but it was only a reaction. The good memories of our lives, from our friendship, were the only reason to be upset.
Elex had fully planned to let the people of S’Kir die.
Climbing off the bed, leaving Elex where he fell, Master Dorian walked over to me.
“You tortured him before you…” I started hyperventilating.
“Yes, I did.” He put a hand on my shoulder.
“I already knew he was a traitor.”
Master Dorian smirked. “You think I tortured him to get him to confess? No, girl, not at all. I tortured him because he deserved no better. You’ve suffered at his hand, and he needed to suffer at the end.”
I smeared the tears off my cheeks, narrowing my eyes at him. “You really are a bastard.”
A finger on my chin lifted me to face him. “Never forget that, girl. I am a bastard. I am an asshole.”
He looked at his two mates holding me. “Have we heard from the university about their machine’s warnings?”
“No, not yet,” Roran said.
“Then there is some time still.” Master Dorian studied me. “You need power, girl.”
I nodded, sniffling. “I do. Vitas offered—”
I gasped as Dorian was suddenly in my personal space, a looming presence. His hand caught my chin—not painfully, but I couldn’t move as he stared into my eyes. “No. You are ours. Remember my words.”
I will kill to sink into that pussy.
He hadn’t been play-acting.
It had been a warning.
Then, the full reality of what he said slammed into me.
My knees gave out again.
“Rilen, Roran. Take her to my quarters. Get her settled, and then make certain she has enough power for the next tremor.”
“And you?” Rilen asked.
“I have things to tend to.” A long finger pointed at the bloody and foul bed.
“Later?” Roran asked.
“Not this time.” He tossed his chin at me. “Go. Take care of her.”
Roran and Rilen had me between them as we walked out of my old suite and headed for Master Dorian’s rooms.
I was stuck in a cloud of horror and confusion, lost in my own mind. I knew, on an intellectual level, that Elex couldn’t be allowed to return to the rebels. He knew the dorms, he knew routines, he knew us.
“Why death?” I murmured.
“Having him here, in a jail cell, would just invite the rebels to attack,” Roran answered.
I cocked my head as he pushed the door open. “We have magic to fight with—”
“Just because they don’t believe as we do, doesn’t mean they don’t have powerful magic wielders,” Rilen supplied. “We would have a battle that involved and killed too many people.”
“His death serves a purpose and sends a message.”
Roran helped me to sit on the chaise lounge outside the massive master bath. “We are both very sorry that you got involved.”
“At the same time, though, if not for you,” Rilen reasoned, “we would never have found the traitor in our midst.”
“I brought the traitor here.”
Roran shook his head. “If not him, then it would have been a cook or a housemaid, a butler, a launderer. Someone.”
I gasped. “Jallina!”
Rilen walked in from the bathroom. “She’s safe. Once we figured out who our spy was, we put them all on alert.”
The smirk lit Roran’s face. “Quite the little spy network you have there, my dear. Only Drez and Jallina would talk to us.”
I let out a breath. “Good. Thank you.”
Rilen nodded. “I’m glad you have them. We’ve all lost our contacts out in the larger world.”
Roran pulled the cloak off me and rolled it up. “That will be burned. There’s blood on it.”
Rilen found the buttons on my shirt and started to unfasten them. “Come. You need a bath.”
I was lost in the sensation of his hands on me for a second and then realized what Rilen was doing. I gasped and pulled my shirt closed.
“What—?”
“Bath.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“But, ilati, we want to.”
My stomach quivered. “What? Aren’t you—”
Roran finished my question. “Gay?”
“Well. No. Yes.”
“No.”
“Oh.”
Oh.
Rilen pulled me to my feet. “Bath. Come.”
The massive tub with running water was filled and scented, and there was a layer of tiny bubbles on it. I glanced at the twins in the door behind me.
“You’ve taken care of women before if you know about the bubbles.”
They glanced at each other and took a few steps into the room with me.
“Any male worth his salt knows how to draw a bath for a woman,” Roran said.
He was close to me now, and his hand reached for the buttons of my shirt again. I watched him as he moved my hand away, letting it fall partly open.
I simply didn’t know what to think.
Rilen waited behind me until Roran was done unbuttoning me before slipping the material off my shoulder. “We want you, Kimber,” he whispered. “We have since we met you.”
“Your loyalty was nothing we wanted to test.” Roran took the shirt from his brother and draped it over a chair. “We would never dream of touching you if you had chosen Elex.”
“But,” Rilen said, sliding my pants off my hips and down my legs, “you haven’t chosen Elex.”
His hand trailed from my hips up to my sides, and out, holding my arms to either side to keep me balanced as Roran retrieved my bottoms from the ground.
Why wasn’t I protesting this? Why was my body, and hell, my mind going along with this insanity? Was it just easier to give into this?
I thought I should tell them to stop. Just let me undress and bathe myself. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.
Just because Master Dorian had fucked and killed my boyfriend didn’t mean I couldn’t wash myself.
I knew if I said no, that I wanted to go to Vitas and Carolee, they wouldn’t stop me. They’d help me put my clothes back on, let me leave.
The thought of leaving them made my poor, battered heart cry and twist.
I wanted to stay. I needed to trust them.
Roran took my left hand, and Rilen had moved to the right. Each of them kissed my fingers and moved me over to the tub.
Rilen pulled my camisole over my head, baring my breasts to him, as Roran slipped my panties down my legs and over my feet.
Fully naked in front of them, I didn’t feel an iota of shame. Not one.
With the utmost care, they helped me into the tub and into the water. They knelt on either side of me and let me sit back in the high-backed clawfoot basin.
“Better?”