Page 270 of May: Bloom & Bane

A low rumble starts deep in our chest.

“Did you hear that, Sage?” I murmur. “Our poor ash’kaela was lonely.”

Her legs squeeze tighter, hips pressing flush against us.

“Terribly lonely,” Sage agrees.

My skelva trace the curve of her thigh.

“Neglected—left all alone with no one to tend to her,” Sage says.

Eden lets out a small, shaky breath, the teasing draining right out of her.

“Well, don’t tell me you’re done with your little games already, Saevúra,” I rasp. “I thought you were lonely?”

Her chin lifts. “Maybe I found other ways to entertain myself.”

“Oh.” Sage tightens my skelva around the small of her back. “Did you hear that, Ashán?”

“I did.” I let our wings carry us into a slow, lazy arc. “She entertained herself.”

“Without us.”

“Terribly rude.”

“After we regrew our wings for you.” Sage clicks our tongue disapprovingly, fangs grazing the shell of her ear. “Perhaps we should simply take her home, then. Since she’s taken care of everything on her own.”

Our wings tilt, angling into a descent we have no intention of finishing.

Her fist knots in our wing, and it takes everything in both of us not to shudder.

“Don’t you dare,” she warns.

“Give us one reason, mí’aevúna.”

Her hands slide from our wings, up the column of our throat, and rest on both sides of my skull.

Is she playing us? Sage rasps inside our head.

Oh, absolutely, I shoot back.

Her thumbs stroke the edge of my jaw, her warmth bleeding into my bone.

“Because,” she whispers. “If you take me down now, you’ll have to share me with the others. And I know how much you hate to share.”

Our wings stutter for a fraction of a second.

Damn it, Sage rumbles.

It’s okay. Watch this.

“You have a point, my little relic.” Our hands slide down, cupping beneath her thighs. “I’ll make you a deal.”

She blinks slowly up at me.

“Show us.”

“What?”