My blood flowed through him like normal. Soaking into his cells. Powering up his gifts. He didn’t carry my power along his spine yet, but I had plenty of time to add to my new reserves.
Even better, the rest of his beast folded up and slipped inside him.
He fully shifted back to his human form—for the first time since he’d shifted into the bull-slash-minotaur-slash-spider creature.
Nuzzling the wound on my arm, he licked the blood from my skin. :Ushi-oni.:
He shuddered and wrapped his arms around me. Crushing me to him. His tongue pressed over his bite, the hole. In my flesh.
I stroked my hands through his black hair. “Everyone’s going to want to take a bite of me, now.”
:Fuck no,: Ezra growled, at the same time as Mehen and Sekh both said, :Fuck yeah.:
Then they glared at each other for agreeing.
“Who’s giving me a ride back to Galveston this time?”
“Me,” Vivian yelled before anyone else.
Mehen curled around my legs and nudged me with his head. Wanting me to pet him too.
:I’m surprised you didn’t argue with her for a turn.:
He worked his head beneath my other arm and gripped my biceps in his jaws. Though he didn’t bite me without permission. :She can fly you all the way back to Eureka Springs if I get to taste you next, my queen.:
:Take a bite, my dragon. One bite only.:
56
VIVIAN
Flying with my queen over the rolling waves of the Gulf of Mexico, I could pretend we were alone. Here, in this moment, she was wholly mine. Mine to carry. Mine to protect. Mine to love.
She tightened her arms around the phoenix’s neck, her face against my chest. :You’re mine to love too.:
I didn’t want to break the illusion we were alone, so I didn’t listen to her bonds with her other Blood. Nevarre didn’t fly ahead of us with Tlacel. Mehen and Lew didn’t fly behind.
Just me. Just her. In the infinite expanse of sky with the sea below.
:I’m sorry,: she whispered. :You should each have more time alone with me. Now that I don’t have to worry about the Dauphine sending more zombie thralls into the nest, I hope we can relax for years and years.:
I kept my eternal flames banked as much as possible to hide our flight through the darkening sky, but sparks popped around us with my laughter. :I guess I’m too cynical to believe the other queens will ever let you live in peace, my queen.:
:I will it to be so. We need peace. Rest. Joy. We deserve it.:
She deserved everything in this world.
Including the secret Smoak held in our heart.
:No.: The single word pulsed with her power, sealing the secret away from her. Even though it could have been hers with the tiniest draw of her will.
:I owe you everything, my queen. My heart. My life. Certainly my secrets.:
:I’m queen enough to allow your secrets, Vivian.: She rubbed her mouth on my feathers and she might as well have licked my pussy. Flames poured out of me before I could stifle them. :I love you all the more because of your honor.:
Though her bond shifted from enjoying my phoenix’s flight to something heavier. I wasn’t the kind of Blood to hover in her mind all the time, listening to her every private thought. Probably because I wanted my own peace in my head. Apart from Smoak, I hadn’t carried any other thoughts or consciousness, not like Blood raised in a nest.
In Heliopolis, it’d been best to remain as invisible and silent as possible. To never give Ra a reason for your name to be on his disgusting lips.