Page 140 of A Reign of Embers

He strokes my cheek before taking the fruit from me. There’s so much affection in his deep brown eyes that it buoys me out of the gloom.

Tonight, we’re not yet at war. Tonight, we can celebrate what we have rather than mourning what we might lose.

Marc finally bites into his own pumello. He stares down at the faintly pinkish flesh as he chews, his eyes widening slightly. With his next bite, he savors it even more slowly.

His gaze lifts to meet mine. “You know… I don’t think I’ve ever actually eaten one before. We’ve had the tree my whole life—I assumed I must have—but Linus did tend to claim the special feasts. I can’t recall ever tasting this flavor.”

The startled delight in his tone brings a smile to my lips. “I’m glad you had the opportunity now.”

A short laugh tumbles out of him. “You do have a habit of yanking me into new territory. You’re the real treasure in this room.”

He sets the pumello aside and traces his fingers up my jaw to draw me into a kiss. My pulse hiccups with the brush of his lips against mine, the matching sweetness mingling.

We’ve kissed in front of my other lovers before, but only when Bastien commanded the former emperor. My princes have never had to watch our intimacy unprompted—not since the days when Linus would force his attentions on me in front of the court.

Marc must catch my hesitation. His posture tenses, and he moves to draw back.

I catch the front of his jacket before he can and press my mouth to his hard, pouring all the devotion that’s grown between us into the act.

He might have been the last of my husbands to find his way into my heart even though he was the first to claim the role, but I don’t want him to feel that I place him lower than them in some hierarchy of love. I wouldn’t be here without him any more than I’d be here without them.

I can no longer imagine my life without all of them by my side.

Whatever worries I might have had about the princes’ reactions vanish the moment we break from the kiss. Lorenzo is beaming as if he couldn’t have pictured a better progression to our evening, and a sly glint has lit in Bastien’s eyes. Raul’s mouth has formed a familiar smirk.

The gleam of gold on their hands reminds me that there’s one other way I should confirm my devotion before we leave tomorrow. I slip away from them to my vanity and reach into the back of one drawer.

When I turn back to Marc, I’m clutching the fourth gold ring he had fashioned. “I believe this is yours. You’ve gone too long without it.”

The smolder that lights in the former emperor’s eyes sets my body aflame in turn. He holds out his hand and lets me fit the slim gold band around his forefinger.

The words I’ve never spoken directly to him spill from my tongue so easily now. “I swear before all the gods to love and honor you from now until my last breath leaves me.”

A strangled sound escapes Marc, and then he’s kissing me again, so hard my head spins.

My princes give us our moment, but Raul has never been the patient sort. As Marc teases his fingers along my jaw and tilts my face for another kiss, the prince of Lavira steps forward to slide his arm around my waist. “Well, if we’re getting started on the full festivities… We’d better all satisfy our wife to the best of our abilities, hadn’t we?”

When I glance toward him, he grazes his thumb across my lips, provoking a tingle of heat. His gaze flicks across his foster brothers. “No slacking tonight, any of you.”

While Bastien snorts at the warning, Raul claims my mouth. A heady tingle spreads through the rest of my body. It condenses in my sex with a throb of need.

“So damned beautiful,” Bastien murmurs, kissing the side of my neck from behind. He teases his fingers over my hair to free the upswept strands from their pins. A magic-conjured breeze ripples beneath my dress to lick at my skin.

I turn to capture his lips next. The prince of Cotea kisses me as if he could bring me to life with just the passion of his embrace.

Then he takes charge of our whole company in the way Bastien does best. “We don’t want to keep our empress from her sleep too long. Let’s get her out of this dress and thoroughly satisfied without any further delay.”

As Raul gets to work on the lacings, I tug at Bastien’s shirt. “I shouldn’t be the only one getting stripped down.”

He grins. “No, your eyes should be satisfied too, shouldn’t they, Star?”

He motions to the others and hauls his own shirt over his head, rumpling his auburn hair into an even more endearing state. Marc gives another halting laugh before pulling off his guard jacket and the shirt beneath.

Lorenzo sheds both shirt and trousers without remark and takes over the loosening of my gown when Raul pauses to toss aside his tunic. Marc glances around at the other men, and a shadow crosses his face.

“I’m sorry,” he says, abrupt but quiet.

He’s looking at the dull pink shape of the imperial crest branded on Bastien’s chest just below his godlen mark. The brand all three of the princes bear, that Marclinus ordered me to sear into their skin.

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