The Goblin King's Lovers (9 page)

“
You were both raised to
expect this. I didn’t even know about it.”

Davin cupped her face, his touch so
similar to Lorne’s yet still different. “I think of you between us.
What we could do to make you sigh and cry out. I’d never be jealous
of either of you.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “Watching
Lorne make love to you would be the most beautiful thing in the
world.”

She sucked in her breath and turned
her head to bring their lips together. This kiss was softer and
less passionate, yet the emotion was just as sincere. When they
released each other, she said, “But I can’t lie. I care for Lorne
and find him attractive, but I’m not in love.”

“
He’ll understand. We both
will.”

She pulled herself from his arms.
“Then give me a week. I’ll have an answer.”

“
May we see you at
all?”

She paused, and then an idea hit her.
Seeing them would be too overwhelming, and their kisses told her
she’d not stand a chance if they tried to seduce her. She couldn’t
give in to that kind of pleasure until she was sure, as they meant
too much to her. Hurting them … herself … she couldn’t let it
happen. “Write to me. I’ll write back. I haven’t been courted. You
declared your feelings and asked me to marry you. What girl could
give an answer so fast?”

He had the good grace to blush. “My
fault. I assumed we had an understanding. It was foolish. Lorne
tried to warn me.”

She stood and smoothed her skirt.
“Write to me. Starting tomorrow.”

“
We will. There’s a lot in
our hearts.”

“
I’m sure there is,” she
said as she kissed his cheek and then walked off.

And now I must find out
what there is room for in mine.

* * * *

Eva sat at the table and opened the
two new letters that had been waiting for her that morning.
Everyone for miles talked of nothing else, as messengers had been
coming and going constantly for the past week. Nika hadn’t pried,
but it was no secret the prince had proposed. No one else had
actually said anything to Eva either. She’d been upset at first
when it became obvious on the second day that people knew what had
happened, but now it didn’t bother her.

What did bother her was how quickly
others had figured out what was happening. Had it truly been so
obvious their friendship was meant to blossom into more? She hadn’t
been Davin and Lorne’s only friend, though she had been the only
girl they’d ever singled out. She’d assumed it was because she was
human, because they’d been concerned, and at first, perhaps it had
only been that.

Yet she remembered what Lorne had said
about feeling drawn to her right away. He’d touched on that in his
letters. Reading separate letters from the two of them made her
realize she’d spent little time with them individually. She had
only been alone with Davin a few times really. The more she thought
about it, the more she realized her feelings for them did entwine
to a degree. It was actually hard to think of them separately. Even
some of her romantic daydreams of Davin had included Lorne, even if
he was in the background, not a participant. She couldn’t imagine
them parted and wouldn’t dream of separating them. And the idea of
both of them loving her, in every way, made her feel desires she’d
never imagined herself feeling before.

Above everything else, the two men
loved each other, and if the words before her eyes were true, they
both loved her. She couldn’t have one without the other. Running
her thumb over her bottom lip, she thought of kissing each of them
again. Lorne had been dominating and passionate—was he that way
with Davin? Was he the dominant partner because he was older? Would
Davin always be gentler and more submissive? The imaginings that
had plagued her for the past few days danced in her mind again. The
two men kissing and touching, Davin beneath Lorne, both of them
naked…

She shook herself, both aroused and
nervous. They knew she was a virgin, and both had promised to be
gentle and focus on her pleasure. Would they take turns, or would
both men touch her at once? Davin had said he’d imagined her
between them. She didn’t need experience to know they could both
take her at once. Would that feel good to her? Why else would any
woman consent if it wasn’t pleasurable?

She shook herself a second time. They
wouldn’t do anything if she objected. She did believe that, as they
had already been looking after her needs for so long. All they had
revealed over the years, and in their letters, flooded her mind.
They had all lost their mothers, and each knew what it was like to
be different in some way. They were friends, and they understood
one another, which seemed like the best place to start any
marriage, even an unconventional one.

Nika came into the room, humming and
arranging flowers in a vase. She didn’t look at Eva at all, which
made Eva smile.

“
My time is up, Nika,” Eva
said.

“
Time for what, dear?”
Nika asked, still not glancing up though seeming suddenly very
alert.

“
I have to give an answer
tonight.”

That got Nika to look up. “Tonight?”
She moved over to Eva and sat at the table beside her. “You didn’t
tell me about that!”

Eva laughed. “I didn’t tell anyone
anything. Word just … spread.”

“
Of course it did.
Everyone except you three ninnies knew this would
happen!”

Eva’s mouth fell open. “Ninnies? Did
you just call your future king a ‘ninny’?”

“
I did. I wanted to give
him a talking to the first time one of those boys came calling
round.” She shook her head. “The very idea of letting anyone else
try to court you.”

Eva laughed again. “Then why didn’t
you say something to me? You used to always push me about Lorne
when I was younger. But then you stopped.”

“
Because you’d become
friends. I thought you were all smart enough to figure the rest
out, but apparently not.”

“
I didn’t turn them down.
Everyone’s just assuming I did.”

“
Everyone’s assuming lots
of things. There’re about twenty different stories going
around.”

“
Well, everyone will be
set straight tomorrow.”

Nika pressed her lips together,
obviously wanting to ask.

Eva sighed and leaned in. “I’m going
to say yes. You know that.”

Nika squealed and hugged her close. “I
knew nothing of the kind! Why do you think I’ve been hanging around
the house so much this week?”

Giving a little shrug, Eva smiled.
“It’s weird though, everyone knowing about it.” She blushed a
little. “Everyone knowing that I’m going to—well, that we’re going
to … you know.”

Nika rolled her eyes. “We’re not like
that here, blushing and pretending babies don’t come from having
sex. You’re a late bloomer beyond any doubt, and those two men are
obviously masters of self-restraint. Boggled my mind how early
they’d always return you home.”

Eva’s mouth fell open again. “You
thought they would … that we would … really?”

Nika stood up and gave Eva
a push. “Yes, I did. Two men who look like that always coming
around when they could have anyone they wanted? It was obvious
exactly what and
who
they wanted. I’m glad Davin’s finally come of age so you
three can get on with it.” She gave a harder push, getting Eva to
her feet. “Now, go and put them out of their misery.”

Eva folded their letters and smiled,
kissing Nika quickly on the cheek before running to her room. She
put the letters away in a box with the others they’d written and
grabbed her shawl. She hurried down the stairs and out the door,
rushing down the path toward the palace. Everyone looked at her as
she passed, but no one said anything. At least, not to her. She
caught some of their whispers, and the indirect well wishes only
spurred her on.

* * * *

Eva turned a corner in the palace and
ran right into Lorne, who grabbed her by the shoulders to steady
her. His eyes went wide when he realized who was in his
arms.

“
Lorne,” she said
softly.

“
You’re earlier than we
expected.” He released her and stepped back, turning and offering
his arm. “Davin’s in our new chambers.”

“
You have new
rooms?”

He nodded. “Yes. We’ll no longer have
separate bedrooms now that he’s of age.”

“
I see,” she said, looking
down. “I suppose the bed will be very large.”

Lorne stiffened slightly, but seemed
unaffected as he said, “Yes. More than enough room.”

She’d come to realize, over the years,
that Lorne stiffened in that way when something piqued his interest
or bothered him. She did her best to hide her smile, as she’d
dropped the comment deliberately. “Let’s go see him then. We have
an appointment to keep.”

Lorne led the way, but he turned his
head and studied her, though he said nothing. His bluntness had
softened somewhat over the years, but she could tell he wanted to
ask outright what her decision was.

When they paused outside of a large,
ornate door, she turned to him as well. “Haven’t you learned your
lesson about being quiet yet?” she asked. “I don’t know how you
feel if you say nothing.”

“
I’ll gladly learn any
lesson you wish to teach me.”

Hearing Lorne say such a thing in a
soft, husky voice broke through the cool demeanor she was trying to
maintain. She looked at the door to distract herself. “It’s
beautiful.”

Lorne rotated his body to look back at
the intricately carved wood. “Yes, it is. Every kind of tree in our
world is represented in the forest depicted here.” He pointed at
the edges. “And the border is all flowers.”

She touched the crystal doorknobs.
“And the roses. They’re beautiful.”

“
Davin insisted. He knows
how you love roses.”

Eva drew her arm from his and took his
hand instead. “Come on. We have something to tell our
prince.”

She moved to open the door, but Lorne
swept her off her feet the moment she’d twisted the knob. He
whisked her inside and shut the door with his foot.

“
What are you doing?” she
asked as she held to his shoulders.

“
Making my prince happy,
as usual,” Lorne said with a wide smile as he moved through another
open doorway and into a bedroom. Davin sat on a lounge chair by the
window looking out, and before he could rise, Lorne had knelt
before him, balancing Eva on his knee.

She blushed as they both gazed at her.
She’d never seen Lorne look quite so happy and thus felt a bit
stunned. Davin reached out to take her hand.

“
You’ve come early,” Davin
said. “We expected you later.”

“
And I didn’t expect to be
delivered like a present,” Eva said, looking back and forth between
the two of them.

“
I couldn’t help myself,”
Lorne said, leaning in to kiss her.

She gave in to the passionate embrace,
his mouth insistent and his tongue even more so. When she felt lips
on her neck as well, she tried to pull away.

“
I haven’t even said
anything yet!” she protested, though half-heartedly.

Davin put a finger under her chin.
“You aren’t exactly running away.” He kissed her, his lips as soft
and gentle as they had been before. They parted, and he smiled at
her. “Give us your answer then.”

“
Y-yes. I’ll marry
you.”

They both kissed her in turns, smiling
happily. And then, just inches from her face, they looked into each
other’s eyes and kissed. Eva felt her temperature rise, blood
rushing to her face. All of her fantasies faded away as she watched
them look into each other’s eyes, their mouths meeting
hungrily.

“
Mmmmm.” Her eyes went
wide as the sound escaped her lips.

They both looked at her as she clapped
her hand over her mouth, and she felt very self-conscious about
watching them. Davin kissed her forehead.

“
Do you like what you
see?” he asked.

She nodded, as there was no reason to
deny it.

“
Would you like to see
more?” Lorne asked softly.

She wanted to, but her nerves made her
hesitate. “You both know I don’t know what I’m doing,” she
whispered.

Davin made her look at him again.
“Lorne and I have never been with others, never even kissed anyone
but each other, until you. We loved learning together, and doing
the same with you will be a beautiful thing.” He smiled, almost
looking shy. “You’re forgetting that, in a way, we’re virgins too.
Neither of us has ever been with a woman.”

Eva paused, nodding slowly. “I’d never
considered it. I suppose you’ve been together so long there was
never a chance.”

“
We were both free to do
as we pleased,” Lorne said, “but we never wanted anyone
else.”

She cleared her throat. “Davin says
you never made love until a week ago.”

“
That’s right,” Lorne
said, “but needs were met.” He eased her onto the lounge chair
beside Davin and then sat on the other side of her. “We’ll go speak
with the king. The wedding can take place as soon as you like.
There’s one other thing to clear up though.”