It took a few minutes for me to open my eyes after I woke. I was too comfortable, tucked between the massive bodies of Rilen and Roran.

Also, I wasn’t confident my legs would work.

The twins were fully naked and fully sprawled out under the sheets with me. Sometime during the night, they had rolled away from me and found a comfortable sleep position.

I sat up with the sheet clutched to my chest and just took my time studying them. Broad shoulders, there was a light dusting of blond hair on Roran’s chest. My hand dusted over it before I realized what I was doing, and I snatched the offending limb back.

Trim waists, showing off the corded muscles and narrow hips that had rocked my world oh so thoroughly last night.

Currently, bottom up, the fantastic ass on Rilen.

I bit my lip. I didn’t need to get myself worked up right now.

Their gazes were haunting with the two different color eyes, but I found them intriguing. Their hair was just long enough for me to grab on to when I was seated on their cocks.

—damn it!

Long fingers confidently stroking my body, or over my clit, or over my nipples.

Shit.

I had to stop. I was going to end up hot and bothered for the entire day.

Before I got up, though, I did dust my hand over Rilen’s tight ass.

“It is magnificent, isn’t it?”

It took all I had not to screech at the top of my lungs.

I whipped my head around to find Master Dorian sitting in a chair off to the side of the bed.

He took a sip from a glass of tawny liquid.

His tunic was unbuttoned, revealing a vast expanse of sculpted muscle and a patch of dark, soft chest hair.

Not exactly slouching in the chair, but not stiff and expectant, he looked relaxed.

His eyes were glowing light gold—he was holding some magic in him at that moment.

Maybe not that relaxed.

“Wha… what’s magnificent?” I managed to stammer.

“Rilen’s ass.”

I tried not to gape.

“Well, really, both of their asses.” He gestured to the bed where they were still sleeping. “Twins. They share a lot of attributes.” Lifting his glass to his lips, he paused and smirked. “But I suspect you realized that last night.”

My brain stood up and walked out, leaving me trying to figure out what to say to him. I moved my jaw a few times, but nothing came out.

“Kimber, if I hadn’t wanted them to have you, they wouldn’t have,” he said, finally putting me out of my misery. “They are good men. Too good for me. But here they are, in my bed.”

He sipped the glass again.

“Isn’t it… isn’t it too early for a drink?”

“I haven’t yet been to bed,” he admitted. “I was too busy with… duties. I will sleep tonight.”

My stomach rumbled.

Master Dorian laughed. “Hungry? I’ll bet they did that to you.” He gestured to the chair next to him. “Your clothes, my lady.”

I waited.

He waited.

I clutched the sheet tighter.

Master Dorian took another sip of his drink.

“Are you going to bring them to me?” I asked.

“No.” His answer was fast and firm.

“Isn’t it polite to—”

He grinned. “What did I tell you yesterday?”

I tried to search my mind quickly, and nothing really stood out. And then…

“You’re a bastard.”

He toasted me and took a sip.

“You are a bastard.”

I needed my clothes because I needed to eat, but I was also naked, and my clothes were across the room. The sheet was impossible to wrap around me because I had no idea where it started and finished on the bed.

Which left me one option.

Walk naked to my clothes which sat on a chair next to Master Dorian.

Well, this sucked.

I also realized the twins were now awake but pretending not to be to see what I would do.

“You two are bastards as well,” I grumbled at them.

“No,” Roran said, “we just want to see that pretty ass walking around the bedroom, naked and glorious.”

I glanced over at Rilen who had rolled to his side. “Help me?”

He shook his head with a wicked grin.

“Ugh!” I grunted.

Tossing the sheet back, I scooted down the bed and put my feet on the ground.

I cheered myself on and rose from the seated position. Two of the three men in there had already seen me naked. The last was an arrogant ass.

I wanted to take a deep breath, but they’d probably all laugh if I did. Instead, I put one foot in front of the other and walked to the chair that was hosting my clothes.

“Mmm.” Someone still in the bed couldn’t stay quiet long enough to make me feel less like a tool. I had thought about grabbing the cloak, but I didn’t know where that was.

So I strode to the chair and found a pants outfit someone had retrieved from my closet. It was clean, and it would do.

Refusing to turn around, I grabbed the small panties that went underneath and bent over to pull them on—

“Oh, Sweet Mother of Gods,” Roran said.

“Damn that’s pretty,” Rilen mused.

I cringed and quickly pulled the garment up my legs. Both of them made sounds of disappointment.

Spinning around, I flipped a rude gesture at them.

They groaned again.

I gasped and looked down.

This time it was my breasts.

A large, warm body was directly behind me before I could turn back and away from their gazes.

Master Dorian took a deep inhale at the junction of my neck and said, “Mmm. They can’t help it, little one. You are such a delectable morsel.” He stayed still, not touching me. “Roran, Rilen, did you enjoy this little snack in our bed?”

“There was some bath time as well,” Roran answered.

“And she’s definitely interested in some anal play,” Rilen offered.

I just wanted to die at that point.

Master Dorian loomed behind her. “And she has power again.”

“Yes,” they chorused, and Roran went on alone, “We can always double check that if you’d like.”

The bastard chuckled. “Oh, I think she’d like that. I smell her cream.”

The twins groaned, and Rilen stroked a hand over his erection under the sheets.

Master Dorian’s hands were on my shoulders, and his breath tickled my ear. “The cocks in this room are yours. You command them. You demand them. Right now, I want you to dress. I want you to go to your apartments. Go through your day. Your training. Your duties.

“But tonight, and every night after this, you will sleep in this bed.”

I swallowed hard, feeling the twins’ eyes on my breasts.

“Will you be there as well, Master Dorian?”

He didn’t answer me. “Dress, Kimber. From now on, if you are even just a little below the level of power you are at now, you will find the twins, and they will supply what you need. Understood?”

I nodded slowly as he took his hand off my shoulder. A moment later, he drew the shirt around my front, sliding the sleeves up my arms, and carefully buttoned the back.

“Dress,” he whispered.

I nodded and grabbed my clothes.

It took all I had not to spring to the bathroom and slam the door.

 

*  *  *

 

Jallina’s tears hurt.

She sipped her coffee to cover up some of her pain, but it was too big to hide.

I simply had no tears left. I had cried them all out.

A morning walk a few days after his death had turned into spending hours weeping at the small, plain marker I found in the memorial garden. It merely said his name and the dates of birth and death.

“Elex.” She smeared a tear off her face.

“I would never have believed it, save for having been there when he said those terrible things.”

“I just…”

All I could do was nod. “He even told me that the only people I could trust were you, Drez, and Arik.”

“How did he die?”

The snort escaped me. “Oh, not well.”

“You’re not going to tell me how this happened, are you?”

I stared at her. “I can’t.”

Eventually, she nodded. “And his work in the university?”

“Ongoing. Actual and real and helpful.”

“Will we be able to give him a pyre?”

I shook my head. I didn’t dare ask Master Dorian for that. “No. Just the marker. I’m sorry.”

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t want to ask Master Dorian for a pyre for Elex. He had betrayed the deepest part of me. He had lied and misled us for years. Decades. And I needed him to not haunt my thoughts anymore.

“Are you all right?” Jallina touched the back of my hand.

“I am. I will be. It’s a long road I’m on, and there’s a learning curve like you wouldn’t believe.” I considered her a moment. “Do you have any news to report on the people of S’Kir?

“None, save they are curious about the ouster of Elex. Oh, and if the machine will work and give us a chance to survive the collapse of the mountain.”

“It will,” I answered. “I’m not entirely sure how it works, but everyone who does is very excited. It should be able to give us close to a four-hour warning before the tremors.”

“That’s plenty of time to get people away from the danger areas, isn’t it?”

“Oh yes.”

Except we wouldn’t be evacuating. Four hours was enough time for me to find Roran and Rilen and engage in some mad fucking so I had enough power to stop the tremors.

For the past five days, I had been in bed with the twin masters, and there hadn’t been much sleeping. If it wasn’t one of them, it was the other. And they were delighted to pass me off between them.

I still wasn’t sure it was right to have let them take me the very night Elex had died. But I would always immediately remember: he had betrayed me, had sex with Master Dorian, and done both almost without thought.

Truthfully, I didn’t mind having the two of them claiming me. I enjoyed every touch and every dirty innuendo. They didn’t mind taking my direction, and I certainly didn’t mind taking their cocks.

My face went red while I was sitting there. Jallina peered at me over the cup.

“I know you, Kimber. What’s going on?”

Did I want to tell her? I needed to trust someone who wasn’t at the temple. “Do you swear not to go to the betting parlor with this?”

“Holy crap, yes, I swear. I can’t, remember. I can’t associate casually like that or we blow the cover—damn. Who cares about that? Whose bed?”

“Master Rilen—”

“Oh, gods!” Jallina laughed. “Are you serious?”

“—and Master Roran.”

Her jaw hit the table. “Wait. Both of them?”

I cleared my throat. “At the same time.”

She turned her head to an angle. “Same-same time or just same.”

“Just same, for now.”

“For now.” She started laughing. “Oh, gods, Kimber. I never would have guessed! Not you!”

Neither had I. Both of them, and they were seriously into me. They could barely keep their hands off me.  I liked it.

“They left yesterday morning for the Northern Temple, and I didn’t know what to do with myself,” I admitted.

“Oh, I understand. When Drez has an assignment overnight, I’m completely bereft without him there. The bed is too big, the dark is too dark, and the silence is too loud.”

“That’s exactly it. They’ll be back in about three days, but meanwhile, I don’t know what to do.”

“Relax. Rejuvenate. If Drez and I in bed are any indication of what it’s like in your bed,” Jallina grinned and rested her chin on her hands.

“And I have two of them all over me.”

Jallina sat back and grabbed her tea. “Aren’t you exhausted?”

“Not really.” I tipped my head. “I’m getting some damn good thigh workouts.”

She almost spit her coffee out.

Then the café popped and jerked. Several glasses crashed to the ground, and several people let out gasps of terror.

Jallina stared at me for a moment and then leapt to her feet. She snatched my hand and pulled me toward the door.

The second part of the tremor started, and the building moved from side to side.

I followed Jallina out and turned my head to look at the Spine. 

“Yellow.”

“What? No, Kimber, come on. Get away from the building, you’re going to get crushed. Drez isn’t here to help me this time.”

“I don’t need help to stop this.” I smiled benevolently.

“What?”

“This is another magic tremor.”

“Yes, I know, and there’s—” She stopped dead and stared at me. “Oh.”

I grabbed her hand and walked over to a bench across the street in the park. I sat her down and faced the mountain.

“Even happiness and hope aren’t the only things that should bring down the mountain,” I whispered, tossing the words into the magic and allowing them to be pulled along.

I dropped down to one knee and touched the ground. “Stop. Sleep. Rest. It’s not time yet.”

The magic flowed to my fingers, and I reached out with magic—and the power I had been granted by Rilen and Roran—and tugged on the strings flowing by. I pulled them to a halt carefully.

The tremor settled around us, and the shaking stopped. Once I was sure the Spine was resting again, I stood up and turned to Jallina.

She grinned. “Well. Damn. You fought so hard last time, and Drez and I were exhausted until the next day!”

“I had no power,” I said. “I couldn’t do anything. I’m so glad that you and Drez were there. Only mated couples can lend power.”

Jallina patted the bench, and I sat, smiling.

I looked at the Spine. I wasn’t tired at all, and it felt good to be able to handle the magic again.

“Do you know when the Spine will fall?”

“No. I’ll know when the magic feels right, though.”

“How many tremors have you stopped?”

“Five. The first I didn’t realize I was supposed to stop, and that’s why so many people were hurt. Each has its own color, and they come in about five- or six-day cycles.”

“And that’s why they took this chance to head north. They knew they’d be back in time for the next one. They are coming back, right?”

“Of course. They just need time to attend to duties and appoint a keeper.”

Jallina sighed. “I still can’t believe…”

“Believe what?”

“I’m not even sure whether I want to mention the twins, the magic or the temple master!”

 

*  *  *

 

I settled into my bed for the third night alone.

It was strange to dislike being alone, but I did. For ninety-two years, I’d had my own bed. After just two weeks with Rilen and Roren, even my normal bed felt too small and empty without them.

I didn’t want to sleep in Master Dorian’s quarters without them there.

For as many nights as I had been in the bed, sharing his mates with his permission, not once had the temple master slept there with us.

Each morning I woke, he was seated in the chair, my clothes for the day next to him.

Each day, I had to get out of bed naked—because the twins almost never let me keep my bedclothes on—and walk to the chair naked.

Master Dorian would watch me dress and send me on my way.

I didn’t understand him.

I didn’t understand what he was doing, or why.

Still, if my biggest humiliation to sharing his mates was to have to flounce around the bedroom naked, I felt like it was a small price to pay.

Nearly asleep, the bedroom door banged open. I shot up in bed, magic at the ready.

“What are you doing in here, girl?”

Rubbing my eyes, I managed to pull up a magical light and the sheets that had nearly gotten away from me.

“Master Dorian?”

“I asked you a question.”

“Master, it’s nearly midnight, I was trying to sleep.”

Entering the room, the light flared. He stood in the center, hands on hips, staring at me. “What did I tell you?”

I ran a hand down my face. “Master Dorian, could we please discuss this in the morning?”

“I gave you an order.”

I dropped my head back and stared up at the ceiling, groaning. “Please, Dorian, I need my sleep.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth.

He had never given me permission to address him informally. It was a massive breach of etiquette, even if I was only half awake.

There was dead silence in the air, but no sense of anger.

A voice came from the foyer along with the sound of indelicate feet pounding through the dormitory. “Mistress Kimber! Mistress—”

Dressed in full livery, one of the university students I’d come to know over the past month slid to a stop in front of the open door. He stared at Master Dorian and didn’t know what to do.

“Maytan, why are you here? It’s so late.”

“Mistress, Master, I am sorry. The meter has sounded.”

Fear shot through me, and I jumped out of bed, holding the sheet around me. “What? No. There has to be a mistake.”

“We’ve checked over and over. Everything is working properly. It says four hours.”

I glanced at Master Dorian. He looked troubled by this as well. “You’re doubly sure?”

“Absolutely. The professor said to invite you down to the lab if you need confirmation.”

“No, I trust you. I can’t make heads or tails of that thing. Thank you for the warning, Maytan. Please have the professor send a brief in the morning about the implications of this.”

“Of course, your grace.”

He bowed and hurried away.

Master Dorian continued to stare at me. “You did not answer my question.”

I walked to the chair where I had laid out my clothes for the next morning. I’d really had enough of his bullshit, and I wasn’t going to kowtow anymore.

Dropping the sheet in defiance, I stood there naked and stared at him in the doorway.

“I am not going to answer your question, Master Dorian. I am tired of you treating me horribly. I might be the youngest and most inexperienced master in this temple, but I am a master. As I recall, you did not vote against me. Now, if you don’t mind, please leave. I need to get dressed and figure out what I can do to do stop this next set of tremors.”

“You have power—”

“I had enough power yesterday to stop one. If there is another coming, I need more power. I don’t have my bedmates here to insure that.”

He stared at me.

His gaze was hot, lustful.

For a heartbeat, I thought he might take me to my bed and do the job himself.

I shocked myself by not objecting to the idea of a hot, hard, fast fuck from the bastard.

A moment passed, and he growled and walked out of my room. “Dress, girl. Meet me in the practice room.”

I pulled on a pair of panties, satisfied that he was gone.

The practice room?