“His spirit has left his body, Assa. I am a healer; I recognize this.”
Rachel was barely aware of the tears coming thick and fast. Tirin was still trying to comfort Jexin, but one of the other guards – Yili – tugged insistently on her shoulder. “Assa, we have to go. The caves could collapse at any moment.”
“Not without Tim.” She blew another breath into his mouth, trying to suppress the feeling that she was working over a corpse.
“We will bring him with us. He will have a proper burial.”
“HE IS NOT DEAD!” Rachel pushed aside her grief. She didn’t need to grieve, because Tim wasn’t gone, he couldn’t be. Even in her frantic efforts to save him, she realized that Refeu and Jexin were completely falling apart. It didn’t make sense. They’d both dealt with plenty of death before. Yes, they were rightly devastated about Tim, but for them to suffer to this degree, there was something more going on.
“Tirin, get Jexin and Refeu out of here. Take one or two people to search for the afesu as long as it remains safe to do so.” She paused to blow another breath into Tim. “Go!”
It took all the guards to drag Jexin and Refeu away. Their cries were heartbreaking, but not as heartbreaking as Tim’s broken, lifeless body below hers. Without truly realizing it, Rachel stopped her compressions. Tim was dead. He wasn’t coming back.
“No,” She couldn’t hold back a sob as she threw herself over his chest. “Please, Tim, please…”
She pressed a hand to the place where she should feel his heartbeat, but it was still and cold.
Gali gasped, and Rachel cracked her eyes open, only to gasp as well. Her hand on Tim’s chest was glowing gold, like there was a lightbulb inside her palm. She made to snatch it away from Tim before she burned him, but Gali clamped her wrist down.
“Don’t move, Assa.”
Rachel opened her mouth to question, but the question was lost as she stared into Gali’s eyes. Instead of despair, she suddenly saw hope.
She turned back to Tim. “Please, come back to me, Tim.” Her hand glowed even brighter, but she didn’t remove it. The light was so bright that she had to close her eyes against it, and suddenly an intense wave of heat swept through her. Tim’s body jerked under her touch.
Then, Rachel felt something that she would never take for granted again. Starting up as though it had never stopped, the steady beat of Tim’s heart against her hand.
She couldn’t identify all the emotions that swamped her – from relief to joy to confusion – and she didn’t have time to ponder it. Abruptly exhausted, Rachel felt the world sway around her. The last thing she was aware of was her head hitting Tim’s chest as she collapsed.
#
Rachel blinked. Her entire body hurt. Everything came slowly into focus. She was in the healing ward of the Cherki palace. Why did she always seem to end up here?
Memories from the nightmare scene in the caves came flooding back. “Tim?” Rachel gasped. “Jexin, Refeu?”
Someone was at her side instantly. Bethany. “Assa, all is well. Your mates are recovering from their physical wounds. Gali said that when you wake, you must feed.”
Rachel didn’t want to feed. She wanted to see Tim, to ensure he was really alive. She wanted to find out what had happened to Refeu and Jexin and console them from whatever horror had been haunting them back in the caves.
“I want my mates. Please, bring them to me.”
Bethany dipped her head and hurried off. The sounds of a bed being pushed had her spinning around. Gali and Bethany pushed Tim’s bed until it was right next to hers. Rachel grabbed his hand, staring into his eyes. He was awake, looking exhausted and weak, but alive.
“Tim. You’re alive.” Rachel didn’t try to stop the tears as she hugged him so tightly, she wondered if he could breathe. Tim hugged her back just as tightly.
“What happened?” she murmured.
“It’s a long story. I promised I’d let Jexin and Refeu tell it. They want you to hear it from them first.”
Tim’s tone was grave, but Rachel could feel nothing but relief. They were all alive. Everything else could be sorted out. “Where are they?”
“Bethany went to fetch them. They’ll be here soon.”
Sure enough, before she and Tim could exchange more than a few sentences, Jexin and Refeu entered. Neither of them looked at her, but kept their eyes on the floor, seemingly hesitant to approach.
“Jexin, Refeu? What’s wrong? Come here and give me a kiss.”
They came up to her bed, but neither moved to touch her. As one, they sank to their knees. They both looked up at her with pleading expressions.
“Forgive me, Assa.”
“What…?”
“Though we do not deserve it, we beg your forgiveness nonetheless.” Refeu couldn’t seem to hold her gaze.
“Get up, both of you. You don’t have to kneel to me; you know that. Now, come and sit down and tell me what happened.”
They tried, but in the end, Tim had to do most of the telling. Rachel quickly realized what Jexin and Refeu were suffering from: guilt. It was clearly crushing them, and it was terrible to see, especially because it was needless.
“Look at me. Hey, come on, look at me. Now listen. Tim was right. You were right. You did what you judged best with the information you had. Why would you blame yourselves for this?”
“We killed Tim, when we didn’t have to. It’s unforgivable, Assa.”
Rachel made an effort not to roll her eyes. “Look, I know vampires have a more rigorous code of honor than humans, but seriously, you can’t take this on yourselves. It hurts me just to watch you in so much pain. Please, for my sake, you have to forgive yourselves.”
It seemed that this argument worked when no other would. Jexin and Refeu exchanged worried glances. They may not care about their own pain, but they cared about hers.
“We don’t deserve forgiveness,” Refeu said bitterly.
“I don’t care. I’m your Assa, and you will do what I say.” Rachel smiled gently at them. “And I want my mates to be happy, and to forgive themselves. Enough of this guilt. Now, come here and give me a kiss.”
Looking both disbelieving and relieved beyond measure, Jexin and Refeu took turns gently kissing her. There was still a shadow in their eyes, which would probably take a while to fade, but Rachel was confident that, with time, that too would fade.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jexin
Jexin could hardly believe that Assa had forgiven him and Refeu. He’d expected to be executed and had almost welcomed it. Even with her forgiveness, he knew that the nightmares of their time in the cave would be slow to fade.
Still, it was hard to dwell on guilt when Assa was so obviously happy. Tirin and his team had returned from the caves with the afesu, and only a few scrapes and bruises to show for it. They had waited for the caves to stabilize before going in and had managed to get out before anything else went wrong.
Gali had already made the remedy for Tim and given it to him. It looked like they were all going to be OK. Gali finally gave Tim the go-ahead to leave the healing ward, and he moved back into Assa’s rooms, along with Refeu and himself.
Perhaps he didn’t deserve to be happy, but Jexin was happy. So happy that he sometimes felt like he might simply float off the ground and away into the clouds… but only if he could take Assa with him.
He was surprised when a few weeks after the caves, Assa told him to sleep back in his old rooms for the night. She said the same for Refeu, and asked Tim to go with one of them. Jexin might have been hurt, but he knew Assa well enough to see that she was plotting something. He could tell by the small grins that she tried to hide that it was something good.
They all ended up in Refeu’s royal suite, talking and laughing late into the night. When morning came, none of them woke for breakfast and had to be roused by servants. Instead of being allowed to eat, they were led back to Assa’s rooms. Jexin could smell flowers from all the way down the hall, and he exchanged
a confused look with Refeu.
When Assa opened the doors, he saw that the room was unrecognizable. There were rose petals everywhere, as well as many lilies, daffodils, and dozens of flowers he couldn’t name. She was in a red dress that matched her eyes, cut low so that it afforded a blindingly pleasant view of her cleavage.
“Come in,” she said shyly, opening the door. The three of them sat at the table she gestured to, which had four places set.
“What’s all this?” Tim looked around with bemusement.
Assa smiled and dropped to her knees. At once, Jexin took her wrists, trying to pull her up. She shouldn’t kneel to anyone. Assa stubbornly retained the position. “Jexin, stop. I want to ask you something, all three of you.”
He reluctantly desisted, but refused to stand above her, so knelt in front of her, making them level. Tim and Refeu followed suit. Assa rolled her eyes. “That isn’t how this was supposed to go, but ok. Tim, Refeu, Jexin… I love you, and I want you to be my mates, officially. Will you marry me?”
She pulled a velvet box from a pocket of her dress and opened it, displaying three golden rings with identical swirling patterns.
Jexin felt a lump rise in his throat. He knew about the human tradition of proposing and was touched beyond words that Assa would do this for him and his brothers.
Tim was the first to answer. “Yes. I love you, Rachel. Always have.” He took out a ring and slipped it onto his finger.
Jexin and Refeu reached for their rings at the same time. Jexin’s eyes were on his queen. “I would be honored and delighted, Assa.”
The ring felt perfect on his finger, and he knew that he’d never take it off as long as he lived.
Refeu leaned forward to brush a light kiss against Assa’s lips. “Yes,” he murmured, putting on his own ring. He threw his arms around her, and Tim and Jexin weren’t far behind. Tim was kissing every part of her he could reach, and Jexin didn’t let her go as they all fell back in a happy puddle, their limbs entangled, the sound of Assa’s laughter louder than all of theirs.
A knock on the door pulled them back to reality. Gali peeped in, her eyes widening to see them all on the floor, but she didn’t comment. “Tim? You’re due for your check-up.” She gave him an apologetic look as Tim extracted himself and followed her out.
Jexin felt no desire to get up off the floor, but apparently, Refeu had other ideas. He lifted Assa and carried her to the bed, kissing her thoroughly. Jexin hesitated, wondering if he should leave to give them some privacy, but before he could move, Assa called to him.
“What are you waiting for, Jexin? Get over here?”
Refeu moved slightly to give him space on the bed while trailing kisses down Assa’s neck. She was already panting and squirming under his touch, Jexin noted with approval. He hesitated once more, remembering what had happened the last time he touched her.
Assa seemed to notice this, because she took his hand in hers. “It’s alright. I won’t freak out again, I promise. This is my life now. I’ve accepted it. More than that, I’m happy with it. Happy is a bit of an understatement, to tell you the –” She broke off as Refeu slipped down her dress and started kissing her breasts, and she let out a breathy moan.
Jexin pushed the skirt of her dress up above her waist, but this time, he wouldn’t be satisfied to have her only partially unclothed. He nudged Refeu aside, who went only reluctantly. Once the prince realized what he was doing, he helped to pull Assa’s dress over her head and quickly unstrapped her bra while Jexin shimmied her panties down her legs and tossed them somewhere – where they landed, he had no idea and no care.
Assa stared up at them with desire evident in her eyes. “Why are my clothes off and you both still have yours on?”
Jexin took it as an order and divested himself of his clothes as quickly as possible. Refeu wasn’t far behind, and the prince took to licking Assa’s nipples with admirable enthusiasm while Jexin moved down to her pussy. She smelled delightful down there, and he didn’t hesitate to take a long lick.
Assa squirmed and panted as he worked, her fervor helped along by whatever Refeu was doing to her – by the sounds of it, kissing her while caressing both breasts. Jexin had barely slipped a finger into her pussy before she was coming hard, bucking wildly against him. Jexin’s cock was throbbing urgently, but he ignored it, enjoying the sight of Assa sweaty and sated as she caught her breath.
He exchanged a smile with Refeu. The pair of them made a good team. Refeu went back to kissing Assa while Jexin rubbed his cock against her leg. He knew he was leaking precome all over her, but his need was too urgent for him to care right now.
Assa was soon panting again, but before Jexin could move atop her, Refeu tapped his shoulder. “May I?” He tilted his head toward Assa’s soaked pussy.
Jexin thought his cock might explode at any moment if he didn’t get it inside Assa, but a quick glance told him that Refeu was in no better condition. “Only because you’re my brother,” he grumbled, moving aside. They weren’t technically brothers yet – they would only be legally bound in this way after the ceremony – but that didn’t matter to either of them. Ceremony or not, they were already Assa’s mates.
“Come here, Jexin.” Assa tugged at his hips, and when he realized what she was doing, Jexin almost spilled his seed right there just from the thought.
She paused her movements, throwing her head back as Refeu pressed into her. The prince had an impressively large cock, for which Jexin was glad. It was clear that he was bringing Assa great pleasure, and he lost himself in staring at her beautiful, writhing body.
Assa took him by surprise, slipping her mouth over the head of his cock. Jexin let out a strangled yell and thrust wildly into her mouth before he could stop himself. Assa was still moaning – by the sounds she was making, Refeu was fingering her clit even while he pounded hard into her. The sound did funny things to her lips around him, and Jexin didn’t even have time to warn her before he came.
She swallowed quickly, swirling her tongue around as he rode his orgasm out. Assa broke away to gasp as she came too, seconds before Refeu did. After a few more frantic thrusts, they all collapsed on the bed, catching their breath.
Before any of them could speak, the door opened. Tim surveyed them with an expression of amusement. They must look a mess. “Looks like I missed all the fun.”
Assa laughed. “The fun isn’t over yet. Come here.”
Jexin rolled to the side, surrendering his place to Tim, wondering what ways the three of them could think up to pleasure Assa. The thought was already getting him hard, and he wondered how long he’d have to wait to take his turn entering her. He found he didn’t mind sharing. It was better, actually, to have more of them working at once, overwhelming Assa with pleasure until she writhed and screamed.
Another knock on the door had Assa growling in frustration. “Go away!”
A pause, then the knock came again. “I’ll get it, Assa.” Jexin located his pants and dragged them on over his bulging erection. As he walked to the door, Assa moaned throatily, and he resisted the urge to turn around and see what Tim was doing to her. He knew her best, and Jexin made a note to ask him for advice on pleasing Assa when he had a moment.
He slipped through the door, closing it behind him to give Assa some privacy. Tirin didn’t comment on Jexin’s state of undress.
“Didn’t you hear Assa tell you to go away?” Jexin hissed. “Who are you to disobey an order from her?”
Tirin didn’t even look abashed but remained resolute. “Jexin, there is something you must see. It can’t wait.”
Jexin knew Tirin was a good second in command and wouldn’t come to him against Assa’s command if it wasn’t urgent. “Show me, then.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rachel
Jexin was gone for a long time. She, Tim and Refeu had all worn themselves out, they all showered and sprawled on the couch. Rachel was discussing vampire weddings with Refeu and wondering how many elements of those she wan
ted to use versus elements of human weddings.
Tim said he’d be OK with whatever she decided, which wasn’t exactly helpful in narrowing down options. Feeling she needed another woman’s advice, she called for Bethany, who obliged her with a feeding before starting to talk dresses.
She watched Tim carefully, but he didn’t seem to resent her feeding from Bethany, even though he was well enough now that she feed on him again. She did feed from Tim most of the time, but she sometimes liked to use Bethany, partially to give Tim’s body a break, and partially because she simply liked Bethany. They’d become friends and were already closer than many of the friends Rachel had at college.
That thought brought her up short. College. She’d barely thought of it since she’d been turned. She had no desire to go back to her old life. It wasn’t that her life hadn’t been good, but she was a part of this world now and wouldn’t change a thing. That didn’t mean Tim wanted to leave everything behind, though. He’d made it clear that he was with her in this, but he didn’t have to cut his old life out completely.
“Tim?”
Tim looked up from a discussion with Refeu Rachel hadn’t been following. “Rachel?”
“What about college? Our apartment? Your friends? I wasn’t especially close with anyone – mostly I just hung out with people because we were in the same classes – but if there’s anything or anyone you don’t want to leave behind; you don’t have to. We can make a mix of both worlds work, if that’s what you want.”
“I hadn’t thought of that, actually. I suppose we’ll need to sort all that out. I’ll think about it. I’m not sure I want to go back to college, not when we have such good tutors here. I still want to see my parents, and I’m sure you want to see yours. We’ll need to work it out, I guess.”
“My adoptive parents,” Rachel explained to Refeu, who was giving her a questioning look. “They’ll be surprised to hear about this, to say the least.”
Her Royal Blood Page 13