Page 136 of Gemini Queen
Leaving me standing there marooned in space like a social outcast, watching my hated rival waltz away withmyfucking date.
“What the hell was that?” I turn an indignant face toward Ronin, who’s clearly trying (none too successfully) not to laugh.
Damn it.
“Guess you’re stuck with me, love,” he says casually. But I’m undeceived by all that casual. My lover’s shoulders are stiff and he’s shut me out of our link entirely. He thinks I’ll shy away from dancing with him and shattering the carefully constructed fiction of our faux rivalry before my numerous enemies.
Even a day ago, I would have.
But I’m bespelled, remember? I can’t be held responsible for my illogical and reckless actions.
And I’d rather cut out my own tongue than wound Ronin ever again by anything I say with it.
Oh, my sparkly frock coat is absolutely perfect for this moment. I sweep my love an elegant Renaissance bow, leg extended, booted toe pointed, and offer my princely hand with a flourish. “My dearest darling, do say that I can have this dance?”
A rush of pleased color heats his tawny skin. Still, he hesitates, because two years of engrained caution is a wickedly hard pattern to break. “You sure about this then? Really sure?”
I uncoil from my bow and hold his uncertain gaze. “Believe me, Ronin. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my entire life.”
And it’s true. When it comes to him and Zara and Lucius and even, I suppose, that purple-haired nincompoop, I’ve emphatically made my choice.
Ronin’s silky lashes drop over his eyes. He prowls past me with his boot knives and his sinuous grace, laces a hand through mine, and leads me to the dance floor. But what matters even more than the familiar heat of his hand in mine?
He’s lowered his walls and let me back in.
His heart is hammering under his tux just like mine. But he’s trusting me not to bolt and make him an object of ridicule or, worse, pity.
Generally speaking, I’m not particularly known to be a man anyone can trust. But I grip my lover’s hand firmly and do my damnedest to convey certainty and reassurance.
For both our sakes. Because I could do with a bit of reassurance myself. Exposing myself this way, showing where I’m vulnerable, revealing these secrets of my heart? It’s foolish madness that places all of us in danger.
But, damn it, I’ve made my choice.
Under the mirrored ball, spangled lights play over the dim expanse. Scattered couples revolve slowly to the electric thunder of a power ballad. Neo and Zara are wrapped around each other like they’re alone out here, her gorgeous face lifted to his, Neo’s gaze heavy and fixed on her parted lips with a single-minded focus that’s sexy as fuck.
I might have hated him since the day we met, but I begrudgingly admit (to myself) that he’s notentirelyunappealing. In fact, I realize with a tingle that I’m absolutely going to relish watching the First Boy fuck. I do wonder which of us is going to cause the earthquake when his climax triggers his gift.
Perhaps I’ll prove equal to that challenge myself.
Ronin stops beside them and pivots to face me, his feral face firing with challenge. He’s waiting for me to make my move.
Well, I’ve never been one to disappoint. I pull in a bracing breath, settle my hands on his waist, and ease my public enemy into my arms. His hands land on my hips, andvoila!
There’s one more little secret all exposed.
I’m taller than he is, especially when I’m wearing these heels, so he has to look up at me, which I don’t mind a bit. My classmates’ shocked murmurs trickle through the grinding beat, but I fall into my lover’s golden gaze and I’m lost.
I pull in a lungful of dark ambergris fragrance and suddenly, violently, I want this dance over. I want Ronin and Zara and Lucius… and the other one too, I suppose, damn it… frolicking naked with me in Zara’s medieval bed.
Hearing my thoughts, Ronin chuckles softly. “Joining the royal harem after all, are we?”
“Hmmm. I suppose I’ve surrendered to the inevitable.” I make a petulant little moue of annoyance which I know won’t deceive him, because he saw me with her last night. “Clearly our little rebel isn’t going anywhere. She’s claimed her power. If she’s going to queen it after all, we might as well shape her reign. Perhaps we can even manage to halt the four races’ inevitable decline. Or reverse it altogether—if she’s capable of that. At the very least, she’s a far cry from Cybelle.”
Together we eye our dancing queen in her lightning-bolt dress and teal booties. Neo’s nuzzling the side of her neck and her movie-star face is sultry with arousal, but her smoldering stare is riveted on the two of us—Ronin and me. Clearly she likes what she’s seeing, and why wouldn’t she? We make a striking pair.
I seize the moment to ease my boyfriend closer until we’re cock to cock.
Her soft lips part and she whispers in my head,Just how far are you willing to take this, Goblin King?
