Heart of Defiance (The Royal Spares)

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Signy

J ostein surveys the outer walls of my cabin with an unreadable expression. “So, this was your home after you left your aunt and uncle’s house.”

I nod, my arms coming up to hug myself loosely. In the thin early morning light, the weathered logs and crooked door seem more depressing than I remember.

Iko steps closer to me and presses a kiss to my temple. “Hey, it looks a damn sight better than the rest of the buildings in town right now.”

His teasing tone manages to bring a smile to my lips, if a bittersweet one. The Darium soldiers missed my cabin in their fiery rampage—not bothering to venture into the woods, I guess. All the structures on the familiar streets have crumpled into blackened cinders.

I glance instinctively toward the treetops in the direction of the hill that held our memorial. They didn’t skip those stone walls, even though they couldn’t burn them. The limestone slabs lie scattered and cracked across the hilltop .

We’ll pay them back today. Whether it changes the course of Velduny’s future or not, they’ll know their brutality has its own consequences.

I run my fingers through my hair, still slightly damp from the quick dip I took in the river. Maybe we should have stayed by the water’s edge, enjoying the peaceful burbling while we can.

But I’d wanted to see whether my old home was still standing.

“It wasn’t so bad living here,” I say. “No one usually came out this way, so I had the spot to myself away from the judgments. I learned a lot, having to find and hunt my own food, mend any tools I needed.”

Jostein slips his hand around mine. “I suppose it’s hard to say I wish you’d lived differently when I don’t know who you’d be without what you’ve endured. But I hope we can make every day from here forward bright enough to erase some of those old hurts.”

I squeeze his fingers, smiling at him and then Iko. “You already have. I can’t regret anything that brought me to you.”

Iko beams back at me. I think he’s going to dip farther to claim a deeper kiss, but at the same moment, the crackle of the underbrush brings the three of us whirling around.

My pulse only has the chance to lurch once before I recognize the gleam of coppery hair on the approaching figure. Relief sweeps away every other emotion I was feeling.

Landric, looking no worse for wear than he did when he rode off several hours ago, comes to a stop at the edge of the glade. “Captain Amalia said you’d gone over to the river. When I didn’t find you there, I thought this was the next most likely spot.”

He pauses, his gaze traveling over the cabin and its surroundings: the scruffy patch of garden overgrown with weeds in my absence, the mossy outcropping of stone with the crevice that holds the tools I’ve scavenged that our neighbors discarded as trash. His mouth tightens.

Jostein keeps his hand in mine. “You delivered your message to the duke’s son?” he asks.

Landric jerks his attention back to the squad leader. “Yes, and a good portion of the Darium force there as well, since I was yelling it from a distance. It’s a good thing I had your horse—thank you. They definitely would have preferred to hold me for further questioning.”

He tilts his head back toward the town, where most of our remaining resistance is gathered. “A couple of sentries reported in right after I arrived. It sounds as if my ‘warning’ had the intended effect. The Darium soldiers at the lake haven’t started to march yet, and they sent a messenger toward the border. The rest of the army under High Commander Livius is approaching, but they won’t reach us for another few hours yet.”

I exhale in a rush. “Good. Then the people working their gifts will have more time to prepare the area.”

Our magic-blessed allies have already thinned and weakened the stone beneath the earth across about a half-acre of land at the edge of the town, but the more distance we can cover, the more of the army we can topple in one blow.

Landric smiles. “I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”

He pauses, and I find I don’t know how to answer. The memory of our kiss last night and the things I overheard him saying clashes with the presence of the men I’ve already embraced as my lovers on either side of me.

Jostein and Iko said they’d welcome Landric, but how exactly am I supposed to handle this?

In my uncertainty, Landric’s stance turns awkwardly stiff again. He dips his head as if to take his leave, and a protest leaps to my throat .

He’s had to witness me in the arms of these two men more than once—and handled it more gracefully than most rivals for a woman’s affections would. How can I say I care about him if I’m not willing to put the shoe on the other foot?

He loves me. He said it last night, even if not to me. I don’t know if the ache of emotion inside me can match that statement, but I need to show him how much he matters to me.

Before he can move, I release Jostein’s hand and hurry forward. Delight glints in Landric’s eyes in the instant before I grasp the front of his tunic and lift my mouth to his.

He cups the side of my face and kisses me like I’m a long drink of water after a day of riding. Even after I ease back, I keep holding on to him. “I’m so glad you made it back to us safely.”

The corner of his mouth quirks upward, but his crooked smile is gentle now. “I knew I’d better not let you down.”

When I glance back at the other two men, my heart thumps with a hitch of nerves. Jostein’s posture looks a bit tense, but his smile is undeniably fond. And Iko is outright smirking.

“That’s our woman,” he says in a tone resonating with admiration—and promise. He looks at the cabin and then back at me. “We have a little time. What do you all say we make Signy’s last memory of this place a happy one?”

There’s no mistaking the suggestiveness of that question. Heat sweeps through my body to pool between my thighs.

Landric trails his fingers up my back, but his caress is tentative, as if he’s wary of his welcome. Jostein’s bright eyes darken with a smolder of desire.

The squad leader takes in my expression and must be able to see the matching desire in me. My lips part, but before I need to speak, he holds out his hand and speaks with the same commanding tone he brought out in the tent the other night. “I’d say that’s a brilliant idea. Come inside, rebel maiden. You’re ours—and no one else’s.”

A giddy quiver of agreement passes through my veins. I step toward the cabin, gripping Landric’s hand to tug him with me in case he has any lingering doubts about whether he’s a full member of our strange but incredible relationship.

Jostein opens the door, careful of its wobbly hinges, and ushers me inside.

The drafts that slip past the doorframe and around the curtains over the glassless windows have kept the air within fresh. With weeks past since I inhabited the space, the only smells that linger in the air are those of pine and moss.

After the cool night, the summer sun hasn’t had much time to spread its warmth yet. Iko kneels by the small fireplace and retrieves a flint to light the kindling I left there.

As the flames crackle across the bits of bark and twig, he adds a couple of logs to the fire. The wavering light fills the room along with a waft of warmth.

With the three men around me in the cabin, the interior feels so much smaller than when it was just me. Other than the fireplace, all it contains are the mattress I made out of stuffed canvas with a couple of tatty wool blankets over top, a rickety table with a single chair, and a set of shelves fixed to the walls that hold my few dishes and pieces of cookware. I spent most of my time outside when I could.

None of my lovers appear bothered by the modest surroundings. Compared to the hasty camps we’ve constructed over the past several days, I guess solid walls and actual furniture are almost a luxury.

And they’re too focused on me to give the rest of the room’s contents much mind.

Jostein turns my chin toward him and claims my mouth. As his kiss consumes me, Landric nuzzles the other side of my neck and nips the crook of my jaw. Iko rejoins us, sliding his hands under the hem of my tunic to splay against my bare stomach.

“I barely got to see you last time in the dark,” he says in a husky voice. “You deserve every bit of admiration.”

He lifts the bottom of my tunic, and Landric grasps the other side to help peel it off me. My childhood friend grins at me, so much adoration shining in his eyes that my heart skips a beat. “Out of everything in the world I haven’t experienced yet, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here, exploring all I can have with you.”

Even more affection swells inside me. I tug him in for another kiss.

Jostein strokes his fingers across my back. Iko flicks his tongue across the peak of my breast through the thin fabric of my undershirt before raising the chemise to take my nipple right between his lips.

I gasp into Landric’s mouth, and he lets out a strangled groan. His arm loops around my waist, pulling me close.

The hard bulge already risen behind his trousers presses against my hip. The feel of it sends more heat coursing to my core, but none of my men appear to have any intention of rushing the moment.

Jostein and Iko remove my chemise together, and then the squad leader massages one of my breasts while his friend returns his mouth to the other. The currents of pleasure have me swaying between them.

As Jostein recaptures my mouth, Landric hooks his fingers around the waist of my trousers and drags them ever so carefully down. The fire’s warmth licks over my bared legs, nothing compared to the hungry flame growing inside me.

Landric kisses a path down my thigh alongside his progress, sinking to his knees. Not to be outdone, Iko teases his hand along the waist of my drawers .

Jostein gives my lower lip a gentle tug between his teeth. I can’t restrain a whimper.

I don’t just feel adored. It’s as if they’re worshipping me, like I’m so much more worthy than a girl who was shunned by her chosen godlen.

As if I’m a lesser god myself, and they mean to honor me in every possible way.

Iko strips off my drawers with a stroke of my ass that sends a spark of anticipation rippling through me. He glances around, but Jostein takes charge first.

“Turn the chair around.” He gazes down at Landric, a smile unfurling across his face. “You’re in the perfect position to take care of her already.”

A flush washes over my skin at his apparent meaning. Iko nudges me down onto the chair, and Landric guides himself between my splaying knees without any hint of hesitation.

I’d feel self-conscious about having my most intimate area open to the firelight before all my men’s gazes, but there’s only reverence in their expressions.

Jostein pushes my ass forward on the seat so I have to tip backward. As he cups my breasts from behind, Landric kisses my inner thigh on one side and the other.

Then he lowers his head right between my legs.

With the first press of his hot mouth against my sex, a rush of pleasure floods me. I have to hold myself back from bucking forward hard enough to hurt his jaw. As it is, I rock and pant through the melding of his lips to my clit and the sensitive flesh beneath.

Neither of my past lovers, brief as our dalliances were, ever offered this blissful act, though they were more than happy to push for my similar attentions. I had no idea it could feel so incredible.

Landric’s pleased hum reverberates through my core, sparking renewed delight. He laps his tongue right between my folds and then penetrates me with two fingers. Even more pleasure spirals out from that most intimate touch.

As he grazes his teeth across my clit and pumps his fingers inside me, my other two men are seeing that no other part of me goes neglected. Jostein continues fondling my breasts and branding my neck with kisses while Iko massages my thighs and ass, easing up now and then to catch my mouth.

“You’ve taken on so much,” Jostein murmurs by my ear. “Now we’re going to take care of you completely. Let it all go.”

His heated words and the tweak of my nipples between his calloused fingers send me careening over the edge. I shudder against Landric’s mouth, and he flicks his tongue faster, working his fingers even deeper to a giddying spot I didn’t know existed inside me.

With a cry, I unravel. Bliss sweeps through every inch of my body until I feel as if I’m glowing with it.

While I come down from the high of my release, Landric dapples kisses along my thighs. Iko lets out a chuckle. “I suppose since the new fellow tended to our spitfire so well, he deserves a little reward. If you agree.” He pinches my ass teasingly.

I wouldn’t have thought I could feel more desire than I already have, but the sight of Landric’s flushed, eager face sets off a throbbing of need. The need to be filled. The need to claim this man as thoroughly as he’s claimed me.

Without waiting for Jostein to deliver more orders, I slide forward and push Landric down on the floor, his head coming to rest on the edge of my makeshift mattress. My hands dip to fumble with the fastening of his trousers. “Off, now.”

A breathless laugh escapes him. He squirms out of his pants and drawers as fast as humanly possible .

Landric’s cock juts up between us, thick and hard. When I rub my slick sex against it, his head tips back with a stuttered groan.

Iko and Jostein have followed us. Jostein kneels beside me, twining his fingers with my hair. “I love seeing a lady take what she wants.”

His friend kisses my shoulder blade, crouching close behind me. “Possibly the lady would want even more?”

He trails his fingers down to the crease of my ass, reminding me of his previous suggestion. A heady quiver passes through my body. “I don’t know—I’ve never tried—but I would like to.”

“Don’t worry. I took the opportunity to prepare when it was offered. All we needed is a little oil.”

He leaves for just long enough to retrieve something from the pack he left by the side of the cabin. I can’t help grinding myself against Landric’s rigid cock and then rising up to take it inside me where I’m craving it most.

Every inch he eases inside me is pure bliss. As Landric fills me, he lets out another groan. Pushing himself farther upright, he captures my mouth and palms my breast.

“You feel amazing,” he mumbles against my lips. “This is the only place I ever want to be.”

Iko returns to us, already shedding his trousers. He positions himself over Landric’s legs behind me and smears a smooth liquid over my other opening. It warms quickly with the deft strokes of his fingers.

Each caress sends more of that thrilling sensation through me, heightening the blissful stretch of Landric’s cock. I can’t hold back a moan.

Jostein remains next to us, his gaze searingly intent. Even as Iko starts to stretch my back opening with tantalizing fingers, I can’t help feeling the moment isn’t complete.

I catch the squad leader’s gaze, willing my eyes not to glaze over with pleasure. “I need you too. Let me—let me taste you.”

If I had any worries that my fumbling request would land awkwardly, Jostein’s ragged breath and the hurried jerk of his trousers dissolves it in an instant. His erection springs free, as impressively large as I remember, the head already gleaming with arousal in the fire’s glow.

As I lower my head to lick my tongue across that bead of salty liquid, his grip tightens in my hair. “Gods. Signy, you’re a fucking miracle.”

The craziest thing is I feel like one as I wrap my mouth around Jostein’s cock, as I take Iko’s into me from behind and sway over Landric’s, welcoming all of them in deeper. So much love and lust blazes through me in the most potent mix I can imagine that it’s hard to see it as anything but divine.

How could we have found each other like this amid all the chaos around us if not through some godly intervention? I don’t know who to thank for it, but I couldn’t be more grateful.

After years of slinking along the fringes, keeping out of people’s way, I’m suddenly seen, accepted, wanted more than I ever dreamed of.

Landric sinks back on the floor, working over my breasts as he thrusts up into me. Iko matches his rhythm with a grasp of my hips to help me keep pace.

My head bobs up and down over Jostein’s cock as we reach a faster tempo. So much ecstasy is whirling inside me that I’m aware of nothing but the sensations radiating through my body and the groans of my men as they speed toward their climaxes alongside me.

The symphony of pleasure expands into a roar of bliss that consumes my entire being. A moan spills from my lips to reverberate across Jostein’s shaft. The wave crashes over me, pulling me under and then tossing me high.

As the shudders ripple through my body, Landric’s thrusts turn jerky. He clasps my leg as he spills himself inside me, his gaze fixed on me as if I’m the only woman in the world.

Iko bows over me, following the two of us into release with a hot rasp of breath over my back.

I clamp my lips tighter around Jostein with a swivel of my tongue, determined to bring him with us too. He bucks into my mouth with a rake of his fingertips over my scalp. “Signy—I’m going to?—”

He’s trying to warn me so I can pull back, but I simply suck him down harder. With a choked sound, he loses control. The thick spurt of his cum fills my mouth. I flick my tongue along his length again as I swallow it down.

We sag into a sweaty, sated mess. For just a moment, the worries of the day ahead feel far away. Landric kisses my shoulder tenderly, Iko tucks himself against my side, and Jostein nestles his face against my hair as if they mean to make themselves my very own suit of human armor.

We will all be in plenty of danger in a matter of hours. But I’ve been fighting all my life just to have a life—to live it in a shabby place like this, scraping by.

Now, finally, I’m making something meaningful out of all that effort. Both in the strange passion I’ve kindled with these three men and the battles that have brought our entire country within reach of freedom.

It’s not the works of art I pictured making, but maybe it’s something even better.

We doze in our satisfied state alongside the murmur of the breeze and the chirping of birdsong beyond the cabin walls. It’s almost peaceful until a voice splits the air from somewhere off in the forest.

“Jostein! Iko! The Darium troops are nearly here.”