by Kathryn Moon
"What's in the oil?" Jonathon asked leaning closer as Amon pulled the bottle from his pocket. It was made of a murky yellow glass, and the cork was sealed with wax that Amon bit off and spit away.
"You would have to ask Heka," Amon said, a little tight, before adding to me, "God of Medicine and Healing."
My eyes widened at the news, but before I could ask any questions, Amon dipped his finger into the oil and then traced it over the dark marks on my throat.
"Oh!" I gasped at the warm burn of the oil, my throat flexing on the sigh. The oil had a strong fragrance that reminded me of Amon himself, and it made my skin tingle and almost crawl, but the relief was nearly immediate.
"It looks like it's stimulating the blood vessels," Jonathon murmured, leaning in close, not noticing the way Amon's nose wrinkled briefly.
"Better, Esther?" Booker grunted, crossing to join Jonathon in his staring.
I grinned at Amon's faint annoyance at our growing crowd, the way his lips curled back in a snarl as Ezra joined the others with a smirk on his lips. My thief was just following to be a pest. I rewarded Amon's tolerance with a little wiggle on his lap to scoot closer, sliding my hands into his jacket to rest on his chest. His narrowed eyes turned hooded, lips softening with amusement.
"Much better," I said with a nod, stretching my neck for them to admire. Ezra's eyes slid right down to the gaping neck of my nightgown.
"And your tether to the—to Booker, it will prevent Birsha from interfering with him again?" Amon asked.
I nodded, biting my lip and waiting to see if Amon's objections started now. They wouldn't shake my decision, but they would test Amon's commitment to getting along with the others.
He surprised me again, nodding slowly. "I think this is a wise course of action. He will be a good—" Amon grimaced as I pinched him and then blinked at me before clearing his throat. "The two of you will be safer with such a connection."
Oh, Amon was improving. I leaned forward to kiss him in thanks, just as there was a muffled screech from the hall outside. Amon rose abruptly from the chair with me in his arms. He twisted, trying to pass me to one of the others, not realizing it was Ezra. It didn't matter, we were all hurrying to the door together, Amon's shoulders rising with tension, Booker's steps heavy at my side, his hand catching mine.
But it was clear the moment Amon opened the door what was happening.
"I hated this fucking place anyway!"
I winced and Ezra sighed, setting me down on my feet, letting me wiggle past Amon to peer out into the hall. All down the hall, other girls had their heads poking out of doorways, even one with an elfin man at her side.
"Mary," Cassie hissed to me from the other side of the hall.
I nodded. I'd recognized Mary's voice right away, and I'd known this was coming.
"It's bad enough to be stripped of my dignity, but to do it for-for animals!" Mary screamed from inside her own room. There was a stone golem standing outside her door, impassive and steady as something banged and crashed. "It's a relief to leave!"
"If it's such a relief, why didn't she do it sooner?" one girl muttered from her door. A few of us snickered in response, but I noticed some of the other girls watching Mary's door with frozen expressions.
Mary appeared at last, her hair a messy halo around her reddened face, eyes wild as she caught us all watching her scene.
"I am the daughter of a viscount!" Mary snapped, and I thought I caught a shimmer of tears rising in her eyes. "I am sick to death of degrading myself for the pleasure of monsters! This place can burn for all I care!"
Her breath hiccuped in the ensuing silence. What could any of us say?
"You know it too," Mary hissed, eyes narrowing, fists shaking at her side, one clamped around a hastily packed case. "You know this is just a filthy horrible place, and you're all just filthy whores serving them."
The elfin man dragged his companion back inside of their room, the door snapping shut, and some of the watching girls dropped their heads. My face was hot, throat tight again, but it wasn't with the ache of my attack this morning. I stepped out of my room fully, facing Mary at the opposite end of the hall.
"You're wasting all your energy on your own shame when you could've found a measure of joy here. Why didn't you leave? Why come here at all?" I said. But I knew the answer—she'd wanted money and nothing else.
Mary's jaw clenched, nose rising high. "I'm not listening to the girl who squealed like a pig for more cock than any lady would ever—"
"Enough," the golem said, bending to grab at Mary's bag. She startled and reared back at his sudden movement, shrinking in on herself, one hand wiping absently under her eyes.
"Come back inside, little star," Amon murmured.
Whatever poison Mary had wanted to sling at me must've dissolved because she was small and hunched as she followed the golem to the stairs.
"She will manage from now on," Amon said, guiding me backward, his voice soft in my ear. "She has enough saved, and a man who will take her in. She's just afraid of change and a little of herself."
I frowned and twisted in Amon's arms. His gaze was distant as if he were seeing through the walls of my bedroom, following Mary on her path out of the house.
"How do you know?"
"Knowing is one of the domains of a sphinx," Amon answered, his voice a little echoey. "That which the sun touches, we see."
I glanced at the others, Jonathon's eyebrows raised in surprise, and then back to Amon. "Why did she come here?"
"She thought she had no choice. She was promised to an old friend of the family, one who would bring them out of debt. When he tried to hurt her, she ran and found her way here." Amon blinked and shook his head, frowning at me. "That's enough."
"Sorry…I didn't know you could do that," I said, head tipping.
Amon's smile was sly. "A sphinx can do a great many things, my star. You'll see…in time."
Chapter Twenty-Five
Threads to Tangle
“Quit hissing," I said, pinching Auguste's jaw in my fingers and turning his glare away from Booker.
Auguste huffed and rolled his shoulders, eyes squeezing shut and jaw clenching. Where Amon had surprised me with his calm, Auguste had shocked me with the intensity of his anger. It was a good thing Booker was made of stone because when Auguste attacked him, fangs bared, all that had happened was a painful clinking sound and Auguste rearing back with a snarl, working out his jaw. I suspected my vampire had nearly chipped a fang.
"You had better be calm when this is done. It wasn't anything of Booker's doing and—"
"I know, I know," Auguste said, huffing out a sigh and nodding. He shook himself and smirked at me. "I'll behave, mon coeur, I promise. I am just…"
"Protective of me," I said, rising to my toes to kiss his chin. "Thank you for that. I'm fine now."
Auguste nodded, but his smile slid back into a frown with one glance at the faint shadows still left on my throat.
"Oh, go and sit with the others," I said with a laugh, pushing at his chest. Which was useless. Why hadn't Magdalena given me just one gentleman who wasn't so impossible to shove around a bit? Even Ezra was solid, and he was more or less human.
Auguste ignored my urging to glare over his shoulder at Magdalena. "Will this hurt her?"
"Not in the least," Magdalena said. "I imagine it will be quite comforting. But it won't happen if you don't get out of the way."
Auguste let out a soft growl, stepping closer and brushing a slow kiss over my cheek. "Any more trouble, and I'm going to trap you underground during the day with me," Auguste whispered in my ear.
"You will not," Amon barked.
Auguste finally relaxed at that, tapping his forehead against mine before joining the others against the wall. We were back down in the basement, in an empty room filled with candles and a white chalk circle that had been traced there so many times, it was imprinted deep in the stone. Magdalena stood at the center of the circle, with Booker and I facing her at op
posite edges.
Despite Auguste's teasing, I wasn't so sure I'd like to spend the day below the earth. Maybe it was only this room, but there was a kind of crushing sensation on my shoulders that seemed to hover at the edges, like a name I knew but couldn't remember.
"Esther? Are you ready?" Magdalena asked.
I chewed at my bottom lip. Was I? I didn't even really understand how this all worked but… I met Booker's gaze over Magdalena's shoulders and sighed, nodding. Whatever I needed to do, I would do it, just to keep Birsha from using Booker against me or anyone else.
"I'll take care of the heavy lifting, darling. I just need you and Booker to focus on each other. Try not to let anything else into your thoughts as much as you're able," Magdalena said.
I nodded immediately, and she stepped to the side, making it easier for me to see Booker. He had put on his white uniform shirt and the black pants but left the rest behind in my bedroom. I smiled as I realized that this shifting of his tether would mean that Booker was no longer responsible for opening doors and serving dinners. I wasn't sure if he would need a membership to the manor or Magdalena would disregard it in his case. It didn't matter. He would be mine, and I was fairly certain Amon or Jonathon or Auguste would cover him if necessary.
Booker's lips curled, and I imagined we were thinking the same thing. I didn't know him well yet, but to be fair, he was just learning himself as well.
Magdalena was at the side, murmuring words in an unknown tongue, eyes flicking back and forth between us behind her colored spectacles, but she was only just visible out of the corner of my eyes. Everything ahead of me was Booker. His beautiful form, the gentleness in his gaze as it held mine. He had been the first person I'd met upon arrival, a steady figure and an easy companion to pass time with. Booker calmed me, protected me. For a moment, I floundered as I wondered what I'd offered him that had made him so determined to be mine.
The worry passed under a firm decision to discover it and repeat it every day so Booker would never regret choosing me.
The candles in the room flickered, flames flashing high, and I jumped in place before frowning and refocusing.
"Magdalena," Amon warned lowly.
"I feel him. Esther, hold your focus. Booker, you too!" Magdalena said, her voice rising. "Birsha's trying to worm his way in."
My breath hitched in my chest as an impossible breeze arched around the circle. I stiffened as the now familiar and uneasy awareness of being studied trickled cooly down my spine. I wanted to flinch away, rush to one of my men to hide, but Booker was across from me, his fingers clenched to fists and brow furrowed in determination. I took a deep breath and held it in my chest, my eyes watering as I held Booker's stare.
He was mine. Mine. My friend. My lover. And if I had to possess him to keep him safe, then I would, even against Birsha. Even if I was just a human in this strange world of monsters and magic. I would fight to keep Booker safe with every breath, just as he would do for me.
Amon had moved to stand across from Magdalena, and I gasped as the circle thrummed with heat and pleasant buzzing energy, like the hum of a honeybee.
"Almost there," Magdalena murmured.
I opened my mouth to speak and shut it just as quickly with the first delicate pinch in my chest. It was a tender, tentative touch, and for a moment, I almost flinched away, thinking Birsha had aimed for me instead of Booker this time, but with it came a sudden wave of protective affection. There was another press, less painful this time, and I swayed in place, awed as I realized it was Booker's tether tangling into me.
With every strand came a lovely warm pressure stacking comfortably in my heart. Possessiveness, amusement, pleasure, appreciation. Blanket after blanket of care laid on top of me, steadying me just as my golem did.
Suddenly, the answer to my question from earlier was now clear. Booker had chosen me for my interest in knowing him. My curiosity in him had stirred his own in himself, and then in me in exchange. He liked what he found in both of us, craved the way I spoke and listened to him, the way I touched him and wanted to be touched. In an absolutely wonderful accident, I had infected the small magical spark Magdalena had breathed into him with my own impulsivity to live and wonder and experience until he'd grown beyond the bonds she'd created him for.
The flames of the candles in the room dimmed, a sudden temperamental wind nearly blowing them out, but it was like a sigh of relief when it ended. Birsha was gone, and I held a soft tie around my heart belonging to Booker.
"Thank you for your help, Amon," Magdalena said with a faint bow.
"Esther, are you all right?" Jonathon asked from behind us.
Booker grinned as I dug into the sensation on my chest, drawing it closer as if it were a fishing line. He grunted and stumbled forward, laughing, and the sound was a little richer than before.
"Gently, friend," Booker said, and I blushed and ran forward. He caught me in the center of the circle, hauling me up into arms that I could've sworn were just a tiny bit warmer than they had been before.
"You're safe," I said, pressing my cheek to his.
"I'm yours," Booker said, kissing my jaw.
"I think I feel a bit like a mother-in-law now," Magdalena said, and Auguste snorted as Booker and I remained happily tangled in our embrace, ignoring the others for our moment together.
As cozy as my suite was, the bed was a bit cramped with all five of my men around me, even in the charming nest they made with arms and legs and cuddling forms. The moon was visible out the window, and I'd asked for the fire to be left unlit—I woke too warm in the night with Ezra cuddled against me anyway—so there was only a single candle on the nightstand illuminating the heap of us. My head was resting on Ezra's stomach, my feet propped on Auguste's hip, Jonathon curled up against his back. Booker was using me as a pillow, although I had a feeling he was holding himself carefully because he didn't feel nearly heavy enough against my thigh.
Amon was the only one of us who was sitting up, and he looked more thoughtful than uncomfortable, still and quiet with his gaze pointed out the window.
I slid my free hand to his knee, waiting for his eyes to slide in my direction. "Thank you for your help tonight. For everything today."
Amber warmed to honey, a soft purr rising from Amon's throat as he bent to kiss my brow. "Birsha is growing…hmm, what's the phrase?"
"Too big for his britches?" Ezra suggested.
Amon's nose wrinkled and he nodded reluctantly. "I will make arrangements for Rooksgrave's better protection. And if none of you object, I should like to organize a dinner at my home some evening soon."
"Still trying to steal our girl, eh sphinx?" Auguste teased, but he tensed too, and I wished I could reach him through the pile of limbs.
Amon sat up straight and glared down his nose at the vampire. "A dinner for all of us."
Apparently, no one had expected that answer because we all just stared at Amon until he started to shift.
"Yes," I said before he could change his mind. "Absolutely. All—all seven of us?"
"Six," Ezra corrected.
"Seven, Mr. Tanner too," I said, smiling at Jonathon and the green glint in his blink.
"Yes. Yes, all of you," Amon bit out with a wave of his hand in the air.
"No one would begrudge you the evening alone, I really was teasing," Auguste said, brow furrowed, and Jonathon swatted his shoulder.
Amon's shoulders straightened, proud and a bit pompous perhaps, but he smiled as he stared down at me and it softened him. "It is what Esther would prefer."
The men around me grunted as I sat up, scooting on my knees to Amon, pressing myself to his chest and slipping my fingers into those thick glossy locks of his as I offered my lips for a kiss.
"It is, thank you," I murmured as Amon bent his head to mine. His mouth was firm on mine, grip on my waist tight, but he wasn't being demanding or showing off just because the others were watching. The kiss was between us entirely, and it only made me want to draw him down on top o
f me.
"I would, however, prefer a little time in the morning with Esther," Amon rasped, teasing me with grazes from his lips.
"Yes," I whimpered, arching for more, grumbling as Amon only turned me on his lap to face the others, brushing my hair back from my neck with velvety touches.
"Mon coeur, your appetite will run you ragged," Auguste teased, grinning at me.
"He's right. You should rest tonight—"
"But I rested all day and you just—"
"Esther," Booker cut in, taking my hand. His expression was such a perfectly formed picture of concern, I was sure he must've been putting it on intentionally to make me feel guilty. "We can fuck later. You'll live."
Ezra's belly laugh shook the bed.
I don't know if there was any negotiation in the morning between Amon and the others, but I woke up with his mouth on my pussy and us alone, so I wasn't much concerned with questioning my luck.
Now, several orgasms later for me, with Amon's hook stroking inside of me, I had one goal in mind—to watch my sphinx fall apart. Preferably before he drove me mad.
"Ohhh, Ezzzstar…” Amon's voice broke into an unfamiliar language, little pricks of claws appearing on my hips as I rode him with shaking thighs, sweaty skin, and absolute determination. His head pushed back into the pillows, heels bracing into the mattress to buck up into me, and I bent to lick and bite at his throat, his tail appearing to swat my rear as I ground myself against him.
Being worshipped was lovely, being sexually tormented with pleasure was delicious, but there was something uniquely satisfying about the simple matter of making a man come undone. Especially one so determined to hold control as Amon.
If he'd wanted me to feel like a queen, all he needed to do was chant my name in that breathless, begging tone and—
Amon snarled, and suddenly I was on my back, great dark wings flashing out above him, his body merciless and powerful as he fastened me to the bed beneath him. The legs of the bed stomped against the floor, and I gripped onto the base of Amon's wings with the same ferocity that I squeezed myself around him, demanding both our finishes. He roared in my ear, and the sound echoed in my blood as it rushed in the sudden explosive satisfaction.