The shadows seemed to be darker than most.

Rilen made sure of that.

I was cloaked head to toe in black, and the cowl was deep enough to hide my face, even in some brighter lights.

Master Dorian sat in the common room reading, ignoring me in the corner.

His anger at this betrayal ran nearly as deep as mine. I didn’t really understand why he felt like that, but he did. It almost made me think he wasn’t a complete ass.

Almost.

I pulled the cloak around me and sighed. I didn’t know why I was hiding in shadows like some sort of wraith, watching Master Dorian enjoying a good book. I wanted to go back to my new apartments, wallow in self-pity, and make the insane decision of who got to fuck me.

I twisted my lip in disgust.

The prim and proper school teacher-acolyte in me recoiled at the idea of thinking about whom to have sex with. That wasn’t what a proper acolyte thought about, and it wasn’t the way a school teacher acted.

Now, the temple master part of me was worried about gaining enough power to work my magic. It wasn’t so much about who was good in bed, but who could get me where I needed to be.

Every direction of which was up.

And now, horny me just wanted some damn action.

I was so confused and tired. All I wanted was a good night’s sleep.

And then some sex.

Since shadows were deep, and the wall started to feel comfortable, I started to drift a bit. Sleep would be nice.

Elex walked into the common room.

I bit my lip. I couldn’t react to him, I wasn’t supposed to. But, all at once, so many things ran through my head. So many things I wanted to shout.

Run.

Stay.

Love me.

Why?

Why?

The corner’s shadows held me still.

I waited. I watched.

His face was a sea of calm, his stride measured, his breathing even. There was no sign of what we had seen the night before. He was the same Elex as always.

A total fabrication.

It hurt so much to see him there, acting as if he wasn’t betraying me and the entire temple.

Roran and Rilen were right. If I hadn’t seen him last night with the rebels, they never would have had a chance to convince me he was anything more than dedicated to his work.

Master Dorian’s book snapped shut, startling me.

“There you are, Elex.” His voice boomed through the chamber. “We must talk.”

“Master, I’m only here to grab a daily sheet and see what I missed—”

“We need to talk,” Master Dorian repeated. There was no room for argument in his tone.

Choosing a table not far from my shadowed hideout, he gestured for Elex to take a seat across from him. The two of them sat, and the elder druid pulled a flask out of his robe while two glasses appeared on the table.

“Are those glasses bound to you?” Elex asked.

“My magic is more ancient than that. I don’t need things bound to me to obey me.”

Well, that was news.

Elex cleared his throat and ran a finger around the rim of the glass. “Master, is this pressing? I really should get up to my rooms—”

“Are you finding life agreeable here, Elex?” Master Dorian cut through his words.

“Of course, sir. This is a beautiful building, and the attendants are excellent. The food is beyond compare.”

“As is the company in the bedroom.”

Clearing his throat, Elex stared into the glass.

A befuddled look appeared on Master Dorian’s face. “Are you not enjoying a hot cunny to slide into every night?”

What a horrible way to talk about my lady bits.

“My work has been dragging me away—”

“Surely you have time to enjoy a quick indulgence.”

He said nothing.

“What is it, Elex?”

He took a sip of the glass. “I have… proclivities I have not been able to discuss with Kimber. Other needs.”

Master Dorian’s mouth made a perfect circle. “Ah. You enjoy men as well.”

“I do.”

He did?

It was quiet for a moment, and Master Dorian took a sip of his brandy.

“So, you’re bored with the pretty pussy.”

“Not bored. Not excited though, either.”

That was a lie. He was as hard as a pillar of marble the other night.

“Have you tried talking with her?”

A cruel chuckle issue from his throat. “No. Please. Kimber? She’s as straight-laced as they come. She would never ever consider having another in her bed with us.”

With another sip of his drink, Master Dorian nodded. “She is naïve, isn’t she?”

I wanted to sock him in the face.

“Painfully. I tried drawing her out—” Elex nodded.

“Mm, the fucking on the balcony.”

Oh, my gods. Was there anyone who hadn’t seen us out there?

The glass touched the table top with barely a sound, and Master Dorian leaned in. “Did you imagine someone behind you? Taking your ass as you were balls deep in her pussy?”

The answer came without hesitation. “Yes.”

Master Dorian leaned in even closer. “You very much enjoy being a bottom to another man, don’t you?”

Elex’s head bobbed slowly. “There’s nothing like it…”

Another sip of his brandy passed some time, and Master Dorian nodded. “I enjoy a little ass play myself.”

I nearly choked on my laugh. A little? The man was mated to two men. That was more than a little.

But what was Master Dorian doing…?

“It’s not easy to find satisfaction inside these walls,” the ancient master mused. “Not when each move is scrutinized.”

Sweet Savior. He wasn’t.

A small hesitation preceded Elex’s reply. “I’m finding that myself.”

“Is that why you keep disappearing to the university?”

Elex laughed quietly. “No. Unfortunately, that is for my work. I have to go…elsewhere to seek it out.”

Master Dorian worked his jaw. “I have it on good authority that your Kimber will be gone for several more hours.”

Master Dorian was seducing my lover.

The pregnant pause ended, and I held my breath. I could hear Elex sucking his teeth while he was thinking.

“Would you care to join me in my room for another drink, sir?”

I couldn’t believe they didn’t hear my gasp—but I lucked out because the chair scraped on the floor, covering it up.

Walking side by side, carrying brandy glasses, the eldest temple master and my now-former lover headed through the halls to my old room for some stupid tryst that…

I was flustered. No, I was beyond flustered. I was pissed and betrayed and didn’t understand a thing going on.

The curtain I was semi-hidden behind rustled, and Roran appeared, holding out his hand.

“Come. We have to get to your old rooms.”

Confusion wrinkled my forehead. “That’s where they’re going…”

“Yes. Come. This is important.”

Roran led me away from the stairs, and I was even more confused. A right turn down a hall and another right a moment later brought us to a set of doors I had never seen.

Cranking the door open, there was a small, wood-paneled room beyond. Roran pulled me inside and cranked the door closed.

Pressing a button, the whole thing shuddered and started to ascend.

I slammed myself against the wall, terrified. “Roran! What the hell is this?”

“A lift,” he chuckled. “Do you really think the household workers carry linens up five flights of stairs? Or the kitchen staff drags those carts up the stairs?”

“I’ve never… it’s…”

Roran couldn’t stop laughing at me. “You are a treasure, Kimber. Really.” He sobered after a moment. “There are three of these in the building, and we’ll be at the top floor before they are on the second. Dorian will delay the walk so we can get to the rooms.”

The lift clunked to a halt, and Roran pulled the doors open, ushering me out.

I hoped I would never use that dreadful contraption again.

It was, however, convenient, and we were only a few doors away from my old rooms. Hurrying through the halls, Roran pulled out a key and let us in.

Rilen was standing in the door to the bedroom and motioned us over. “Quickly.”

We all ducked into the closet, and the folding doors weren’t quite shut so we could peer through the cracks.

“Masters,” I whispered, “doesn’t it bother you your mate is purposefully attempting to cheat on you with my former bedmate?”

“It’s not cheating,” Rilen whispered.

“It’s with our blessing, my sweet.” Roran’s voice was barely audible.

“Why? Why would you ever encourage this?”

They exchanged looks with each other over my head and turned back to the room.

“Always for the magic, Kimber,” Rilen said. “We claim to be temple masters, but we listen to the magic first.”

“To preserve that, this must be allowed to happen.”

The door clicked open in the foyer, and the three of us fell silent.

I could hear the panting and rustle of clothes, and eventually, the footfalls to the bedroom.

Elex walked in, already naked and erect.

Master Dorian followed, pulling his pants down.

My stomach clenched.

I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t know if this was something I wanted to watch.

I was trapped, though, and I was transfixed.

Once again, I was reminded how well-endowed Master Dorian was.

Yanking Elex back against him, he leaned into his ear. “Listen to me, boy. This is fucking. Nothing else.”

Elex reached behind and grabbed Master Dorian’s lengthening shaft. “That’s all I need. Your dick in my ass.”

“On the bed, all fours. Face away from the headboard.”

I put a hand over my mouth and stepped back, afraid he would see me in the closet.

A feeling of foreboding ran down my spine.

Master Dorian wanted us to see this.

There was no gentleness in him in the next moment. Master Dorian spiked himself into Elex’s passage without any warning.

The shriek of pain was ear-splitting, and I shrank back.

I saw the twins flinch. Of course, they did—they knew a very different side of the master.

Starting slow, he drew out of Elex and then pushed back. Elex whimpered again and dropped his head to bear the pain. A few more strokes and he was getting used to being stretched.

“That’s got to hurt,” Rilen whispered.

Master Dorian’s eyes snapped right to the closet, and he started moving faster.

“What is it about Kimber’s pussy that has you disinterested?”

I wished he wouldn’t talk about my lady parts while he was balls deep in another man’s ass.

Elex whimpered, and I saw tears streaming down his face. “Not disinterested.”

“What then? I will kill to sink into that pussy.”

“A little torture.” Elex grunted.

Master Dorian’s fingers dug into his hips, pulling him back on his cock. The look on his face was dark and intense.

I wondered just how much he was enjoying himself if he was at all. I couldn’t imagine this deceit brought him any joy.

But males worked differently, and there was a chance he was just enjoying having his erection in someone.

Gods, I didn’t know what to think.

“Torture?” Master Dorian didn’t slow his strokes at all. He was performing his own form of torture.

“Magic needs sex. I want to see how long she can go before she cheats on me.”

Another quiet gasp from me, and I felt hot tears in my eyes. He wanted to force me to cheat on him?

“To what ends?”

The motions of the two men seemed to find a more comfortable rhythm.

“An experiment…oh, yeah…” Elex’s eyes rolled back in pleasure.

A grunt of satisfaction came from Master Dorian, as I could hear the slap of flesh.

“That is raw,” Rilen ground out in the quiet of the closet. “He cannot be enjoying that.”

“I think they both are.” Roran’s voice was gruff.

“Are you two okay?” I whispered.

“Fine,” they chorused.

Master Dorian grunted again. “Just an experiment?”

“She’s weak—oh!—and I think she’ll either cheat on me or she’ll be so stubborn, she won’t have the power to control the magic in the Spine.”

“You’d like that.” There was no question in Master Dorian’s statement.

“The Spine should fall when—fuck!—when it’s ready. Not when some little fancy, spoiled twat says it should.”

It felt like he was driving a spike into my chest, again. I had never been anything but good and kind to him. I thought he enjoyed my company and our friendship…and our bedroom romps.

Master Dorian didn’t like it either. His hands moved to Elex’s shoulder, and he scored the flesh there, deeply. His fingers dug into the wound and blood ran down Elex’s arms and chest, dripping to the bed.

Elex barely seemed to notice.

“It’s her job,” Master Dorian said.

“It’s not her job,” Elex grunted. “The Spine just needs to fall and take with it whoever the Lost God wants.”

The rocking of the mattress picked up. Master Dorian was driving into him, his face growing redder with each hard thrust.

“The Lost God is lost.” Master Dorian’s breath hitched as he glanced up at the ceiling. As he swallowed, I saw his throat bob and a look of near-completion on his face. “We listen to the magic. Not some accursed god who fled through the gate.”

What did that mean? Accursed?

“The Spine—shit—should still fall as it will!”

Master Dorian leaned forward, still slapping his hips hard against Elex’s ass. With one arm holding him up, he wrapped the other around Elex’s neck.

“You like breath play, boy? While my cock drills you?”

“Yes…” It was a strangled answer.

His hand closed tighter on Elex’s throat, and his face went red.

I saw the twitch of Master Dorian’s hand at his throat, and a fingernail scored across the line of Elex’s neck, opening the critical vein that led to the heart.

It seemed nothing more than a quick nick, but that spot would kill him, drain him of his life’s blood.

I had to choke back vomit.

“The Spine will fall when the Breaker says it will fall,” Master Dorian ground out.

“No one should have that say,” Elex managed.

“Only the magic has that say.”

“Why give that power to a stupid little cunt like Kimber? That’s proof enough—gaaaaahd!—that it was not meant to be controlled.”

The grip on his throat changed, holding his windpipe even tighter, and Elex was suddenly staring straight at the closet.

And then, he was staring at me.

Roran and Rilen had pushed the doors open.

Elex’s face was a mask of terror. But Master Dorian didn’t give him enough air to speak clearly, to get out more than a few words at a time.

“Kimber.”

My chest heaved, and my face was soaked with tears as I stared at him. Master Dorian held him still while he still pumped in and out of him.

“I would have done nearly anything for you, Elex.”

“…lies…”

“No, I won’t hear it. I heard it last night and in the lounge downstairs. I know the truth.”

“…S’kir must die…”

I stepped out of the closet and walked toward the bed. “You say that, but what do you really know? You’re a liar, you’re a rebel, you’ve got no clue what the magic tells me.”

“…shouldn’t control the Spine…”

Moving even closer, I stared at his reddened face. “I don’t. No one does. The magic tells me what to do. The magic you denied me. The magic I need to save the people of S’Kir from the mountains falling on them.”

“…temple wrong…”

I stared into his deep black eyes. Something Roran had said to me came back.

“The temple doesn’t make the rules, Elex. They never have. They only listen to and conduct the magic through our land.”

“…loved you…”

“No, you didn’t. Not for a moment.”

“…could have convinced you…”

I leaned into him, and let my words dust over his skin. “I am a Master of the Temple of the Lost God. I listen to the magic. I am loyal only to the magic of this land.”

Master Dorian’s body seized for a moment, and in the next, he came deep inside Elex with a window-rattling roar. I watched as he took his pleasure in filling my ex-lover with his cum.

“You wanted me to be less naïve, didn’t you?”

The grip on his throat now allowed no air through, so there was no answer. His eyes bulged. His lips sucked desperately, trying to find air.

I stared at him. I knew what had to happen, and yet I was still being torn in two. My face was soaked with the tears of what might have been for him.

For us.

Trembling, I leaned in to touch his cheek.

“You have destroyed all that goodness you tried to protect. I am no longer a pawn in your game.”

Fast and sure, Master Dorian snapped his neck.

Elex dropped to the bed, dead.