Page 68 of A Reign of Embers

His gaze slides to Aurelia, and that hopeful light comes back. As if there really isn’t anything that could mean as much to him as her welcome. “Every part of me.”

“Then come along.”

I don’t wait to see if he’ll follow my order. Tucking my hand around Aurelia’s arm, I join my other foster brothers in leading her into the imperial bedroom.

The furniture there has been draped with more protective sheets. With a nudge of my gift, I send the fabric covering the massive bed gusting off into a pile on the floor. I know Marc’s still with us from the choked guffaw behind me.

Raul seems to have decided he’ll just ignore the former emperor. He shoots me a glance with a teasing glint in his pale blue eyes. “Show-off.”

I grin back at him. “Unlike your completely modest self.”

“Hey, it takes one to know one.”

He extends his hand into the darkness that cloaks the room nearly as thoroughly as the sheets, and a magic-blessed lantern on a side table flares on to bring the space into clearer focus.

“I won’t be adding my gift to the atmosphere,”Lorenzo says, slipping his arm around Aurelia’s waist.“No illusion could be as incredible as the reality we’re celebrating.”

He ducks his head to kiss the side of her neck, and Aurelia leans into him with a pleased hum.

The giddiness that’s been building in me since Marc started the ceremony sweeps every other concern from my mind.

This is my woman,ourwoman, and we’re going to worship her as if we’ll never get another chance.

I won’t think about how true that possibility might be.

I stroke my fingers along her hip and up her side. As Aurelia clutches at my shirt, I tease them over the swell of her breasts through the thick fabric of her dress.

Raul tugs at the ties, pausing only to steal a kiss here, a squeeze of her ass there. The moment her bodice is loose enough, I dip my hand under to caress her skin to skin.

A gasp breaks from Aurelia’s lips. She drags me in for another kiss, her grip on my shirt tightening as I strum her nipple to a stiffened peak.

My cock strains against the crotch of my slacks, painfully hard already. Great God help me, it’s been too long since I was completely enveloped in the hottest, slickest part of her.

The gown slides from Aurelia’s shoulders and collapses around her feet. We help her step free of it, pressing closer around her as we do.

I send the silk fabric drifting aside with a puff of breeze and graze the moving air over every inch of her bared skin our hands aren’t caressing. Her moan is my reward.

I haven’t forgotten her fourth husband, though. As Lorenzo turns Aurelia’s head toward him for another kiss, I glance over at Marc.

He’s stopped just inside the doorway, his arms loose at his sides but his posture stiff. Taking in our wife in her thin underclothes, his eyes smolder.

We’re all with her now. Allforher now—him included.

Why shouldn’t he prove how well he can stand beside us as well as beside her?

I let my voice get a bit tart. “Don’t hang back. You want to see her as pleased as she can be, don’t you?”

Marc’s gaze flicks to me. I can’t tell how much he’s surprised that I want him involved and how much offended that I’m daring to order him around.

Either way, he only hesitates for a second before striding to join our cluster.

When he’s right in front of Aurelia, he pauses again. His hands flex at his sides.

“Tonight is supposed to be about the three of you,” he says in a tone as stiff as his stance. “I don’t want to overstep.”

With us or with her, I’d imagine.

I don’t know how far Aurelia is comfortable accepting his affections now either, but I trust she’ll encourage him as she sees fit. I’m just giving him the first brief shove. “It is about us—and knowing we all serve her better in collaboration. You can let us take the lead and still… enhance the experience. So, let’s see you contribute.”

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