"I'm assuming the Keep meant this for you," he states, holding it open for me to slip my arms into.
"Are you sure you just don't like walking around in pink silk while no one is watching?" I tease.
He chuckles as he brings his naked chest against my back and puts his palm against my bare stomach, not allowing me to tie the robe closed.
"Have I told you how much I love to hate that roguish mouth of yours? Maybe we'll find a good use for it later," he whisper promises in my ear.
I try to twist my head around to capture those lips again, but he stands to his full height with a chuckle. As he starts toward the door, I follow behind him, trying to tie a knot in the robe's waist.
Then it hits me.
"Wait!" I demand. "I can't go out there looking like this."
"Why?" he asks, turning around to glance over my body.
Waving a hand over myself, I give him the ‘are you dense’ stare before hissing, "I'm naked underneath here. They'll know what we've done."
His chuckle is dark and rolls over my skin, begging me to take him right back to bed.
"They're already going to know what we did, princess," he remarks. His eyes are carefully trained on my face, so I know they don't miss the wince there.
That cockiness starts to fade as he questions, "Having regrets?"
Ignoring the pain in my chest, I close the distance between us and throw my arms around his neck while reaching up on my toes. When he still doesn't lower his head like I want, I jump, locking my legs around his waist. Thankfully, his hands catch me under my ass cheeks; otherwise, I might not have been able to hang on long.
Slanting my lips over his, I let my words touch his tongue. "Never."
My heart jumps at the smile that takes over his face. Successful in one moment of victory, my heart still pounds because I've got to find a way to dull this pain and face the other two.
Zanthus's finger hooks underneath my chin where it fell when my feet hit the floor again. "Stop fretting and thinking like a human. They're not going to feel any different."
I nod with more confidence than I feel, and he drops a quick kiss against my lips before setting me on my feet, taking my hand, and leading us out into the hall.
"Cover your ears, love," he warns, and I hurry to do as he says.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, a sound emits from between them almost dolphin-like in nature. I'm thankful that he had the thoughtfulness to give me a heads up because even around the fingers stuffed in my ears, it's still loud as hell. When he reaches for a hand again, I let him have it, trusting wherever it is that he's taking us.
Which, to my surprise and giddy glee, turns out to be a swimming chamber on the bottom floor. The entire room is like stepping straight from the Keep into our own private beach oasis. Waves lap a sandy shore close to the entrance, bringing a peacefulness I didn't think possible in troublesome times like these. Adding to that, the smell of salty ocean water invades my senses, making it all the more tempting to take a dip inside. The only thing stopping me is the view. Where there should be four walls and a ceiling, like a normal room, there are only two plus the one from which we walked through the doorway of moments ago. The only two complete walls form obtuse angles against the Keep, allowing the area to fan open wider the further away it gets. Standing between us and the crush of the open ocean above and on the other side of us is the barrier.
Its deep abyss doesn't make my stomach flop to the floor like it did before. A good kind of chill races down my spine as something akin to a voice whispers from the dark. My toes sink into the soft yielding sand as I take a step forward. That's as far as I get before an arm snakes around my middle.
"Enjoy your time with my brother, little siren?" Zephyr coos in my ear, his warm breath shooting tingles down to my core.
There was something there between us before I slept with Zanthus, but it seems stronger now somehow. In true Rubi fashion, I blurt out the elephant sitting on my chest, "We had sex."
Zeph's laugh escapes as a bark, bringing a smile to my own face at war with the turmoil of emotions inside of me.
Zale's chest brushes against my arm and I glance up at him to find his smile matching my own. After confessing I had sex with one of his brothers while currently standing in the arms of another. The human part of my mind expects to see some jealousy or possessive anger, and when none surface from them, it leaves me grasping hard at the other half of my brain, trying to blow all expectations to the wind.
"Are you uncomfortable with the situation, Damselfish?" Zale asks quietly, giving his brother a stern look after tensing behind me.
Asking myself the same question, am I uncomfortable?
Overwhelmed by the revelations over the past few days? Yes.
Terrified I won't be able to help them like I want? Yes.
Aroused from being in the same room with any of their half naked selves? Yes.
Uncomfortable? No.
I shake my head and the corners of Zale's lips tilt back up as Zephyr sags against my back, letting out a, "Thank the gods."
Zale steps in front of me, angling his head as though he's going to bend to claim my lips as his hands trail up my arms. Now trapped between him and Zephyr, I realize there's only one piece missing to this puzzle. However, I don't get to do so much as reach or call out for Zanthus before Zale is ripping the robe down my shoulders.
"What the hell, Zanthus? What did you do?" he demands, anger making those green eyes flare to life.
At his brother's outburst, Zephyr shifts until he's shoulder to shoulder with him, both glaring at the wound above my now bare breasts.
"It wasn't him," I announce, seeing Zeph shooting him a murderous scowl.
Zanthus steps against my back. "It was the talisman. She was wearing it while she rode me."
My face flames as Zeph's expression morphs from anger back to playfulness with a waggle of his sandy brown eyebrows. Zale, on the other hand, looks between us as though we're a complicated math equation he needs to solve.
The brutish mer at my back doesn't give him the chance to ask his questions as he adds, "I brought her here because the wound will heal faster using my magic."
Both brothers in front of me are stunned speechless, and it's as if the ocean has held its breath too as we all wait for the next ball to drop.
Zale swallows hard, "Your magic is back?"
"Yes," Zanthus gloats. I don't even have to be looking at his face to feel the pride radiating from his chest as he explains. "Our little Rubi did it. She broke my part of the curse then the necklace practically caught fire on her chest. I tossed it before it combusted."
Somehow deep down inside, his words resonate like I already knew this information. Hearing them said out loud brings an urge to the surface. Squeezing between Zale and Zephyr, I stroll to the edge of the water, letting it lap at my toes before dropping the robe into the sand. There's a sharp intake of breath behind me, but I ignore it as I wade out far enough for the water to be up to the bottom of my breasts. With my heartbeat thudding a fast gallop in my chest, I trust my instincts and lift my feet to completely submerge myself.
I expect the water filling my ears to be silent, but it fills my head with a buzzing noise as though it's alive. Then it quiets itself to listen as I ask it kindly to take away the itch and burn at my chest. For a second, I think the compulsion driving me is insane. How would water be able to do something as difficult as I'm asking?