“It wreaks of sex in here,” he snapped, eyeing us as his lip curled back in disgust.
Orion and Roan moved fast. One second they were languidly laying against the silken sheets and the next I was rolled and covered from head to toe by Roan’s form as Orion launched himself off the bed.
"Sorrell, get out!" Orion roared, actually roared. I gasped as I tried to look over Roan’s shoulder.
Sorrell’s face was closed as Orion stood with his hands fisted at his sides. I didn’t understand it. Sorrell was an asshole. He hated me—that much was clear—but he wasn’t a threat. Roan reached down and snagged part of the sheet and drew it up over my naked frame. For that matter, why were they trying to hide me? Fae were sexual creatures. This wasn’t—or shouldn’t have been—out of the ordinary for them. Neither Roan nor Orion seemed too concerned with their nudity.
Once I was sufficiently covered, Roan backed up, sliding off the edge of the mattress as well.
Sorrell’s gaze bounced between them, his eyes growing colder when they landed in the space between. Right where I was. I stiffened, holding the sheets up and staring back at him in confusion.
“When you're done fucking your plaything, come and find me so we can discuss the route for tomorrow.” He turned abruptly as though he couldn’t bear to look at me any longer. “And for fuck’s sake, put some damn clothes on, unless, of course, she didn't satisfy you and you need to find more bed partners?”
Roan growled. “Fucking watch your tone, Sorrell. You may be my fucking brother in court, but don’t think I can’t put you on your ass.”
Sorrell stopped just inside the entrance of the tent and glanced back, arching one white-blond brow. “Put me on my ass?” he repeated haughtily. “I think a few rounds with the near-human have you forgetting who is the better fighter.”
Roan’s entire body swelled. His muscles bulged and I watched in fascinated concern as sparks danced at the ends of his hair. Wrapping the sheet around my front, I moved to stand. Two steps was all it took for me to be at his back. I placed a calming hand against the center of his spine, feeling his start of surprise against my fingertips a moment before his arm moved toward me. His fingers wrapped around my wrist and tugged until I was flush against his side.
In a slower, much more mild tone, he replied to Sorrell. “We'll be there in a second. Just get out of the tent.”
The flap of the tent fluttered, closing as Sorrell's icy blond hair disappeared behind it. "Orion, you stay with Cress, I'll see what Sorrell's so worked up about," Roan said, releasing me and pushing me gently toward the dark Fae. He quickly tugged on his trousers and shirt and turned to leave. He only managed a few steps before he was suddenly spinning back to the two of us as Orion urged me to sit on the bed. His feet ate up the distance between us and he ignored Orion as he leaned down, dropping a kiss on first my forehead and then my lips. I sighed into his mouth as his tongue met mine in a too short motion. These Fae were so confusing. I touched where his mouth had consumed mine as I watched him leave. And addicting, I added almost as an afterthought. Way too damn addicting.
Chapter 9
Sorrell
Those fucking fools. Wrapped up in a pretty face as they were, they had lost sight of the real trouble we were in. As I stormed back through the camp, I felt my body tighten, my groin reacting to the scent of sex and the image ingrained in my brain. A pretty face indeed. In the flash of time before Orion and Roan had covered her and shielded her from my gaze, I’d been subjected to a view of all that creamy flesh. Pinkened nipples peaked and hard in the cold air. Her hair had tumbled over her shoulders, blonde locks nearly as light as my own surrounding a heart shaped face that all but screamed to be fucked and protected.
The fact that they’d hidden her from view so quickly was another problem. Fae were open. Fae were carnal. As a species, hedonism was a trait we shared. It was only when a mating bond began to form that our protective instincts came out. The fact that both of them had reacted the way that they had told me that Cressida, the Changeling, had become a much bigger problem than I’d ever anticipated.
“Sorrell!” I paused at Roan’s call, turning slightly and keeping the same facade of cool detachment I always did on my face. He was flushed, his cheeks heated in his irritation as he stormed across the ground toward me. “What was that?” he demanded, stopping a foot or two away.
“That was you handing your balls over to a small Changeling with undetermined amounts of power,” I replied coldly. “If you think I didn’t notice the way you and Orion protected her, then you’ve lost your mind. Playing with the girl is one thing, but acting like that is absolutely ridiculous.”
Roan’s eyes widened and I cursed internally. He hadn’t even noticed his own protective instincts. “Sorrell…”
“Dear Gods,” I muttered, shaking my head. “You’re in over your fucking head. Have you lost your mind?”
“She’s—”
“A disaster waiting to happen,” I reminded him. “And we’re about to go into the Court of Frost, or have you forgotten?”
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” Roan snapped as his fists clenched at his sides. “Your distaste for the Changeling is starting to wear on my nerves though, brother.”
“She is more human than she is Fae,” I pointed out. And humans were known to be conniving thieves. The Changeling may have been Fae by birth, but she was human by environment and rearing. I didn’t trust her for a single second.
Roan scoffed. “Orion and I will handle her, don’t worry about that. She’s not a threat.”
“So you say.”
Roan’s fiery gaze shot to my eyes, and for several long, tense seconds I wondered if he would hit me. He was tense enough to need the release of a good fight. I thought about saying something about him not getting what he needed from the Changeling, but sparks danced at the ends of his hair and I could practically scent the sex and magic on his skin. He’d gotten his release and a fulfillment of his own magic. Something I hadn’t allowed myself in far too long. Suddenly, I was tense for a completely different reason.
I was an idiot. We were about to walk into the Court of Frost—a dangerous wasteland of dead emotions and predators—and I hadn’t reupped my magic in far too long. After moving the castle not just once but twice. My cock leapt in my trousers as if the reminder had awoken his needs. Of course the fucking image that assaulted my mind then wasn’t one of some nameless, faceless Fae meant only for relieving my stress and strengthening my magical reserves. No, it was of the Changeling. With her mouth open and her head tilted back, I pictured her under me, her soft flesh all mine for the taking.
I turned away, breaking the moment. “Just handle her,” I gritted out. “I’m calling a gathering tonight. Make sure you and Orion are both there. We need to discuss more than just our route for tomorrow.”
“We need to warn Cress about the Court of Frost,” Roan replied with his nod of agreement.
I resisted an eye roll and strode off. The cackle of feminine laughter greeted my ears as I passed through a throng of servants and court members. “Sorrell! Darling, you must hear what Vincent was saying—” The scrape of Ariana’s voice inside my ears made me pick up the pace.