Page 132 of Gemini Queen
Ronin blinks and his brittle face softens. His gaze drops to the box in Vasili’s hands. Which Vasili is definitely offering.
“That an olive branch you’ve got in there?” Ronin murmurs at last. “Because you’re not exactly known for that, are you?”
“If you like.” I can hardly believe the Goblin King actually sounds hesitant. His voice goes so quiet I can barely hear him. “I’d like to say my heart’s in this box, darling. But the truth is, I gave that to you years ago.”
At last, Ronin’s careful facade splinters. “I know that, love. I’ve known for a long time. But I’m not going to lie. Knowing you know it too makes me happy as fuck.”
He wraps a hand around the back of Vasili’s neck and drags him close. The Goblin King bends to meet him and their mouths collide in a scorching kiss.
Next to me, Neo hums happily and slides an arm around my waist. I lean into his warm solid body. Tension sparks between us at the contact. That mating heat I’m visualizing as a sleeping dragon rumbles and puffs out a wisp of flame.
Oh yeah. That’s really gonna be something once my heat gets going.
But it’s Ronin we’re both fixated on now. Ronin who pulls back from the kiss slowly, Vasili’s box in his grip. Hair spilling forward to hide his face, he lifts the lid. I crane to see around Vasili’s obstructive body and glimpse the delicate spotted petals of a tiger lily.
Aaawwww. It’s a boutonnière. Vasili’s actually giving Ronin flowers.
I honestly didn’t think the guy had it in him to be this sweet. Seriously, who knew?
“If I didn’t know better,” Ronin says softly, gaze still lowered to the flower, “I’d think you’re asking me out. As in—on an actual date. In public. Where all your enemies can see you actually have a heart.”
“That’s what it is, if you’d like it to be. A date.” Vasili takes a deliberate step sideways and angles his body to include me and Neo. His stare locks with mine, narrow with challenge. He looks like he’s stepping off a cliff. “And if that’s what the two of you would like.”
I suck in a breath and my heart starts racing. “What are you asking us, Vasili?”
He doesn’t miss a beat. “I’m asking if you have the appetite for a fucking date. A date with all fucking four of us.”
I glance at Neo, who’s blushing all over. And thanks to the mating bond between us, I’ve got a front row seat for how hot he’s getting at the thought of all four of us together.
Wow.
If someone turns me on, I’m finally starting to figure out, that same someone’s going to turn him on.
Because that’s what it means to have a fated mate.
“Hell to the yeah.” I snuggle into Neo’s side and nail Vasili with a challenging look of my own. “I’m all over that. Assuming you mind your manners, Goblin King.”
Vasili lowers his head to eye me under a fringe of frosted hair and a skillful application of eyeliner and purrs, “Now, darling, where’s the fun in that?”
Energy sparks between us and heats my skin. My pulse trips and I can feel the ends of my ponytail float.
“What about Lucius?” I can’t help asking. I know my teacher’s not ready to go public with any of us. But he’s part of this. It feels wrong to be doing this without him.
“He’s on chaperone duty, along with the other faculty,” Neo explains. “He’s already at the commons. We’ll see him over there. Actually, we’ll see everyone over there. It’s the social event of the season.”
Well, all righty then.
Damn if the thought of tempting Lucius into a dark corner at the dance to tend my mating bite in secret hasn’t just spiked my system a hundred kilojoules hotter.
Ronin tucks the tawny flower into his lapel, saunters past Vasili into the hall, and gives me a slow once-over with his tiger eyes that doesn’t do a thing to counteract all that heat building in my body.
“And aren’t you a proper sight?” he murmurs, low and luscious. “You wearing a blooming thing under that little dress, love?”
“Nope.” I angle my body to show off the strip of exposed skin that runs all the way down my side. His eyes kindle and ignite.
“Mmmm.” He wraps a hand around my waist and leans in to give me a slow savoring kiss. He smells like ambergris and wolf and Vasili, and he tastes like the peaty burn of scotch. Deep in my belly, the mating heat I’m imagining as a sleeping dragon uncurls her barbed tail and lifts her massive head.
“You smell a bit like Lucius,” Ronin whispers against my mouth.
