by Ophelia Bell
“You look much better.” He stood and ambled over to them, naked and huge and beautiful, his dark cock already thickening with arousal as he approached.
He clambered into the tub with an ungraceful step, dropping down onto the submerged bench with another groan and making water slosh over the edge. An involuntary sigh escaped his throat and he sank farther into the water, sliding under completely and then rising up again to slick hands over his sleek, black head.
When he opened his eyes again, he grinned, then grew serious at their expressions.
“Time for business, I take it. So … what next?”
Assana looked at Gavra expectantly. His expression hadn’t softened, and she chewed on the inside of her lip, apprehensive about what decision he’d come to.
“There’s a way to break the blood meld on the other nymphs, but we can’t do it without making sure Nyx is neutralized at the same time. She’ll fight us if we try … may hurt one of them, if we aren’t careful. But if we work together, we can do it.”
“That’s good,” Assana said. “What’s the catch? It can’t be that easy.” She looked at Silas. “What did the Diviner tell you?”
Silas frowned at Gavra like he was trying to figure the other man out. Finally, he shrugged. “She was cryptic about it, and I haven’t exactly had time to process the information. All I know is that the blood meld can’t be broken except by overriding it with a stronger creature’s blood.”
“Are you strong enough?” Assana asked, giving Gavra a confused look. “I thought you said your power wasn’t enough to subdue her. Why would your blood override hers?”
“I’m not strong enough on my own. No single creature is strong enough to break her blood meld. That’s what the Diviner said. But the three of us together, with our powers melded, can succeed.”
Assana shook her head and gave him an incredulous look. “That isn’t how melding works. We just get into each other’s heads when we meld. We only share consciousness … thoughts, feelings, and the like. You know this. Our powers aren’t magnified.”
“I shared my power with you earlier today,” Silas said. “To help you mend Gavra’s cage. Maybe that’s what he means.”
“No,” Gavra said. “You were just transferring energy. That’s innate for you. You probably could have done it even if you weren’t melded with Assana.”
“Then how?” Assana asked. “Melding isn’t enough by itself.”
“It is if we’re blood melded.”
Assana’s heart dropped into her stomach and that helpless vertigo she’d thought gone returned with a vengeance. Goosebumps covered her skin.
“No.” She shook her head, sliding off Gavra’s lap and moving away to put as much space as possible between herself and those awful words. “You don’t mean that.”
“I wish there were another way, trust me.”
“Silas, please tell him there’s a better solution. Your magic … you can do amazing things with it. Surely that’s the answer.”
Silas stared back in shock, his gaze darting between her and Gavra. The two males looked at each other and Silas’s expression hardened.
“We should find another way,” Silas said. “Maybe there’s something I haven’t tried yet that will work. Something that will let us share power. This power I have is still new to me.”
“Thank you,” she said with relief and went to him, slipping beneath his arm and onto his lap in the water.
“You don’t think I want that to be the only way, do you?” Gavra asked. “Sweet Mother, shedding blood is the last thing I want. But I’ve been over and over it in my head. Your mother won’t relinquish her thrall over the Thiasoi as long as she believes it’s the only way to protect the Haven. If you want to free them, this is how it has to happen. They trust you. If we can make you strong enough—merge our powers with a blood meld—your blood will take precedence.”
“But then I’m no better than her! Or …” Gaia forbid, was he going to make her spell it out? “Or that awful bitch who melded your brother and destroyed everything when we punished her for it. I won’t be like them. Blood melding is an abomination to our kind. It’s disgusting. Vile. The only nymphs who do it are either evil or insane. Yes, my mother is fucking insane. We need to fix her. How is this going to do that?”
“Tell me,” Gavra said, his jaw clenched and the muscles spasming, “was your father also insane when he blood melded your mother?”
Assana’s mouth fell open and she shook her head. “How dare you! They did no such thing! They wouldn’t! And we won’t, either!”
Silas held her when she turned her head away and buried her face in his shoulder, unwilling to look at Gavra again. That he would even suggest such a thing hurt her heart. Of all the worst things he could have offered as a solution, why? Why did it have to be that?
The sound of rippling water reached her from the other side of the pool, and the level in the tub dropped a couple inches. She was so closely attuned to Gavra’s presence that she felt the distance grow between them like an elastic band stretching taut.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she wrapped her arms tighter around Silas’s shoulders. She hated this feeling, this fear that the distance might grow too vast, that the connection they had that kept her sane would reach its limit and snap. And where would she be after that? Tethered to one of the men she loved when she knew it took them both to make her feel whole?
But he was asking far too much.
She kept her eyes firmly shut, but was acutely aware of Gavra’s movements. The dripping trickle of water as it slid from his skin, the soft rustle of fabric as he dried himself off, and the exhalation of breath as he clothed himself again. When he grew still, she could sense his gaze on her. Silas tensed, his embrace tightening protectively, and she was grateful for his loyalty, even if their divided state felt every bit as wrong as the idea of carrying out the act Gavra had suggested.
From the edge of the tub, she heard Gavra let out a long breath. Leather creaked, and she cracked her eyelids to see him crouching down so he was closer to eye level with them. He looked as pristine and perfect as he had at dinner the night before, his conjured clothing fitting his well-muscled body like a glove. But he was troubled, his furrowed brow betraying his unhappiness as he regarded them.
“I have to go so your mother doesn’t suspect anything. Just know that this is not a suggestion I would have made if I thought there were any other way. I haven’t shed my own blood in thousands of years—I vowed I never would again, unless I found a love worth making that sacrifice for. The two of you are that love. Nothing else could make me do this, not in a million years.”
“You don’t want to do it for our love, though,” Assana said. “You just see it as the easiest answer.”
“It isn’t easy for me. And believe me, I’ve considered the other possibilities. The ideal solution would be for your father to return and restore your mother to full sanity. But if there were even a remote possibility of that happening, Nyx would know. She’d wait for him. I fear she’s given up hope, even though she doesn’t have proof that he’s dead.”
The reminder of her father’s absence sent a piercing pain through her chest. He’d been gone so long, sometimes she forgot what he looked like.
“She still loves him?” she asked in a small voice.
“With all her heart.”
“Calder believes he’s alive … If we can wait long enough, maybe my brother will find him?” She clung to that small glimmer of hope even though her very connection to the River was enough for her to know it wouldn’t be that easy. Calder was out there looking now, but their enemy was devious, and her mother’s corruption of the Thiasoi was happening too quickly to be able to stall long enough for a miracle.
Gavra’s throat worked as he tried to reply. She could tell he didn’t want to lie to her, but he didn’t want to hurt her, either. Finall
y, he said, “I will try to stall her as long as I can. It’s my seed she wants, after all. Maybe I can figure out a way to dictate when this breeding actually happens. Never would be too soon, but maybe I can buy us a month or two … give your brother time to find your father.”
That would have to work. She nodded. “Stall her until the equinox. At least that might give my uncle time to find his way home too, even if my father is still lost.”
Anything would be preferable to the solution Gavra had offered. She’d rather spend the rest of her life lost to the insane lust that controlled her primal state.
He gave her another solemn nod and stood, turning to leave. The farther he got, the more the fear of losing him grew with the distance stretching between them. Her panic overtook her and she lurched across the tub, scrambling wet and naked over the edge.
“Wait!”
Gavra paused just before her door and turned to her. She launched herself into his arms and he grunted at the force, but held her in a tight embrace.
“I love you, Assana. This is all for us, even though it might not seem like it. We’ll figure it out, I promise.”
“When will you come back?” she asked, hating how desperate she was to hold onto him, but she couldn’t shake the fear that their disagreement had strained their connection to a dangerous degree.
“Tonight, after dusk.”
He squeezed her tighter, his heat warming her even as the water that coated her body seeped in through his clothing. He didn’t seem to care, and when his hands slid down over her sides, thumbs grazing the full curves of her breasts, her body became so hot that the water might have instantly evaporated. Her breath hitched and her pelvis involuntarily tilted closer, the ridge of his erection pressing against her belly. Gavra cupped her naked backside, pressed her tight against him for a moment before he let out a low growl.
“Sweet Mother, but you are perfect. A perfectly tempting distraction. I have to let you go now before I lose myself and we all forget why we’re here. I will be back, and when I am, this ass is mine.”
With that, he gave her wet ass cheek a hard, stinging smack, then gripped her by the hips and pushed her away. He offered a final nod and wicked smile to Silas, who had moved up behind her.
“Yours is too, in case you forget.”
Silas chuckled. “My ass was always yours. See you tonight.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Gavra
Gavra spent the bulk of the day feeling like a stranger in his own skin, but it had nothing to do with the deepened melding with his mates. They were dragon marked now, and their bond might be the only thing that felt right about this entire situation.
His love for his mates was worth every sacrifice, his blood was the least of it, and he was certain it was the solution to their dilemma. Despite what he’d told Assana, he knew it would be foolish to wait. If the Ultiori had her father and he was still alive after all this time, there was no way they would be foolish enough to let him escape. Yet Gavra would try to stall Nyx, anyway.
He stealthily made his way back to the room Ephyra had shown him and paced for several hours as the sun rose, its mist-veiled light illuminating the palace with a surreal, greenish glow. He missed the sky with a vengeance, but were he to fly here he would get nowhere. The skies beyond the cove at the far end of the Haven were no more than illusion. If Nyx hadn’t closed off every avenue of exit from this place, he could have just flown out. But the Source was the only exit now, and he wasn’t about to leave without ensuring Assana’s home was safe and her sisters no longer under the thrall of a mentally unstable leader.
Even his huge, luxurious bedchamber felt confining. If only he could shift … stretch his wings for a moment … not to fly, just to get out of his head, out of his body for five minutes. The only other thing that let him feel like himself was making love with Silas and Assana. Sweet Mother, even being forcibly bound by her had been liberating. He’d live inside a cage forever if he got to have her that way on a daily basis—wild and unchained, riding him like the world was about to end.
A soft laugh caused him to stop in his tracks and he turned, cutting short his circuit across the room. Nyx stood in the shadows of the entry to his room, the closed door behind her.
“How long have you been there?” he asked, disconcerted that he’d failed to notice her.
“Long enough to figure out you’ve got something serious on your mind. At least, you did until a moment ago.” She cast a pointed glance at his crotch, where his erection strained at the front of his pants. “If you’re in need of energy, my nymphs are at your service.”
If only it were that simple, but his life hadn’t been simple for a very long time.
“I have more than enough energy to last until your ritual. How soon until your nymphs are ready for me?”
“Eager, are we?” Nyx asked.
“You have to know my siblings and I cloistered ourselves for millennia. This is a long overdue adventure for me, so of course I’m eager. I can’t help but worry that we’re doing your goals a disservice by rushing things, though, which is why I ask.”
“The babes won’t be born full-grown, you know,” Nyx said. “So the sooner we begin, the better. The Thiasoi will be fully melded by the end of the week and ready for you.”
“You and I both know that simply wanting to conceive is not enough of a guarantee. It never has been. I think that’s why the divine ones made sex so damn enjoyable for us.”
“It will work,” Nyx said, though her brows twitched with uncertainty. “Come, I’ll show you how powerful the melding already is.”
She held out her hand and he took it. A split second later, the air rushed from his lungs and his eardrums popped. Cool mists settled on his skin as he opened his eyes and found himself standing at the base of the Source’s massive falls, staring down into the dark water of a huge pool. Around him, the air was displaced several more times with soft popping sounds as the eleven Thiasoi appeared.
“This is the core of the Haven’s power, as you know,” Nyx said. “The Source provides the life force that sustains our realm, the ursa Sanctuary, and to a lesser degree, your Glade and the turul Enclaves. We are at the core of all the higher realms, closest to the origin of power. This is why I bring my maidens here to conduct the melding. Simply being near the Source increases the power of it.”
She made a circular motion with her hand and the eleven nymphs gathered around the pool. Their motions seemed natural today, not jerky and mechanical the way they did when they were clearly under her thrall. He glanced around at them, meeting Ephyra’s gaze for a second. She swiftly shifted her eyes away, looking at her mistress in anticipation.
“Only four more sessions and they’ll be ready for you. Three more after this one. Watch and you’ll see.”
With another gesture, the water in the pool between them began to spin and swirl, the surface bubbled and then seemed to swell into uniform shapes around the edges. Small crests rose up before each of the nymphs and then gradually transformed into small, bowl-like shapes held up on thin pedestals of twisting water.
Nyx produced a blade and made a circuit around the circle. Each nymph obediently lifted her wrist over her bowl and allowed Nyx to make a small slice in it, the blood welling and spilling into the vessel.
Gavra clenched his teeth, old memories surging back at the sight of the brilliant red of their blood flowing from them. The color of their blood was something all the races had in common. As a Red dragon the substance seemed somehow sacred to him … something it was his responsibility to safeguard. He shook his head at the ridiculous notion, but deep in his soul, he believed his instincts couldn’t be that far from the truth.
When all eleven nymphs had completed their offering, Nyx made a motion and the eleven small basins merged together into the center of the pool, the large, single vessel floating to the edge where Nyx carefully lifted it
and brought it to her lips. She drained the blood within, then set it back onto its liquid pedestal and held her own wrist up over the rim.
She lifted an odd, hook-like blade that shimmered with pearlescent light and made a swift cut into her own wrist. Her life’s blood flowed into the bowl for several seconds. When the flow stopped, she reversed the process; the basin spun and split into eleven smaller bowls, which were distributed before each of the nymphs.
As the nymphs drank, Nyx explained, “It must be an equal exchange. Their minds become open to me, but more than that, so do their bodies. This is why the blood is required. My spirit cannot inhabit them without their blood inside me.”
“Do their spirits go into you?” Gavra asked.
“I have a section of my mind reserved for their safekeeping, yes. They aren’t strong enough to control my physical form.”
“Why would anyone wish to complete a blood meld if it’s so restrictive?” he asked.
“This is a necessity—it isn’t meant to give them control of me. We aren’t sharing power. They are surrendering their bodies for the sake of breeding, and that’s all. I can use them as extensions of myself in other ways, if needed.”
The last part had the edge of a threat, but Gavra couldn’t help but push.
“Was that how it was with Nereus? Was he only an extension of you when you blood melded him?”
Nyx’s gaze shot to him, her eyes wide and her lips pressed together. “It was not like this with Nereus. We loved each other. A mating meld is meant to share love and is all the more powerful for it. It made us one in every way because we surrendered to each other completely in that moment. Losing him has been like losing half of my very soul, so don’t you dare make light of it.”
He gave her a pained look. “Are you not denying these maidens a chance at a bond like that by forcing them to breed with me? They deserve a love like you shared with him. We all do.”
“Sacrifices must be made. You ought to know. How much have you given up for the sake of your sacred home, for the safety of your kind? How many thousands of years did you give up the very thing that defines you? Dragons are designed to breed. To fuck, to give pleasure and take it. How often did love cross your mind before you went into hiding before, Gavra? Your life meant nothing until you and your siblings made that sacrifice.”