Iron Heinrich Page 11

She didn’t give him much time to think about it.

  Pulling herself away from Heinrich, she crawled across the bed and took him into her mouth without a word. Between the sweet sounds she made as her head bounced in front of him, and the bliss on Heinrich’s face, he was not going to let himself be left out.

  With a hand under her hips, he propped her up and slid his cock along the wetness Heinrich had left behind. She hummed and pushed back toward him, but he didn’t give her what she wanted.

  Licking his fingers, he slid one into her moist heat and knew it was a mistake—he needed her on his cock.

  But he couldn’t stop now. She was too much to rush through.

  He worked her, two fingers in her pussy, his thumb playing with her clit.

  Curling and pumping, he glanced at Heinrich. The look they shared told him Heinrich agreed fully. Silvia was perfect, not just as a lover, but as their lover.

  She made a whimpering noise and Max knew she was close again.

  Heinrich took hold of her head and didn’t let her draw away.

  When she came a moment later, she did so screaming around Heinrich’s cock.

  Max didn’t give her a chance to recover. He pushed into her cursing himself for waiting as long as he had.

  He thrust without mercy, and she bounced between them sliding onto him and then Heinrich with the most tantalizing moans he’d ever heard.

  He might have been able to find a way to drag it out… to luxuriate in the wet heat of her, in the pleasure of her, but Heinrich came.

  There were things a man knew with invariable certainty. When his lover had reached release was one of them. Heinrich’s face contorted in that beautiful pain of release and then he went completely still.

  Silvia swallowed every last drop of Heinrich’s come and turned back to him, licking her lips. He couldn’t outlast that.

  He dragged her back, up against his body so they were both on their knees and as he thrust into her, coming with more force than he’d managed the last two times. He took her mouth, tasting all three of them as he finished inside her and then dropped to the mattress, nerves ablaze.

  Silvia disappeared as Heinrich dropped to the bed beside him. When she returned, she crawled between them and pulled the sheets up around them.

  She dropped her head to Heinrich’s shoulder. “Next time.” she said, her fingers playing over Heinrich’s stomach. “I want what Heinrich promised me.”

  Max didn’t have to ask what that was. If he’d had the same thought process, the one that led them to where they were now—sweaty and sated—he knew exactly what she meant. That she was asking for it was enough to make his spent cock twitch.

  She was perfect, and she’d probably kill them both.

  TEN

  Silvia tapped her toe and watched as her mother made three maids adjust a silver tower of plates. Decorative arrangement tableware would likely be less impressive to those who just wanted to eat.

  At the idea of food, her stomach growled. She was still a little leery of food from the kitchen unless it was straight from Mrs. Duun’s hands. The woman had a job to do and she wouldn’t drag her from it.

  Beside her, Mina glanced toward the sound and rolled her eyes. “Your mother will know what has sulfhydren in it or not. Just have something brought up. She’ll insist on checking for you anyway, and neither of us wants to offend Mrs. Duun by letting her do it downstairs.”

  Silvia conceded and a maid ran off. She wasn’t the only one who looked overly relieved when they were released from her mother’s employ.

  Mina leaned over and rested her head on Silvia’s shoulder. “Where is your shadow, by the way? I thought he wouldn’t leave your side without a dozen guards taking his place?”

  “You’re exaggerating.” She said, watching her mother choose a new color of table linens. Even she knew when too much silver was simply too much. “He and Ivy are searching out Stephan and the maid he thought looked suspicious just before the kitchen exploded.”

  “I hope they find them both. “

  Nodding, Silvia grimaced when her stomach growled, as loud as a wild cat.

  When the servant returned with a tray full of different pastries and cakes as well as a full pot of tea, both she and Mina let out a sigh of relief.

  Her mother joined them, giving the staff a break and the whisper of an idea that had been floating in Silvia’s thoughts solidified. Her mother wanted her to spend the night enjoying the company of men she could fall in love with. She wanted to spend it with the men she was already falling for. It wasn’t impossible, but it would require some very specific changes to her mother’s plans.

  She paused, a tiny cake halfway to her lips.

  Waiting for a break in the conversation, she said. “I have a request.”

  Silvia watched as her mother’s expression turned from surprise to joy… to suspicion.

  “Move the ball to the glass room.”

  Blinking, her mother looked in the direction of the ballroom. “Tradition would say that someone needs to get married if we do that. Are you volunteering?”

  “Traditions can change.” She was not about to spring that on Heinrich and Max.

  Her mother didn’t look convinced.

  “You’ve wanted me to be involved in this process the whole time. I’m willing to do so now. I’ll even wear the dress you picked out for me.”

  Mina stared at her, eyes too wide. “The one that’s practically see through?”

  Her mother made an affronted noise. “It is only that way in places. I’m not going to send her out into a throng of people naked.”

  “I’ll wear it, and I’ll never miss another one of these meetings… if you grant that one request.”

  “I will do that…. If you convince our Ferrian friend to wear what I’ve picked out for him.” Her mother smiled before casting a glance at Mina. “I promise, it’s completely appropriate. I know that he did not bring any formal attire with him when he escaped Hagne’s clutches.”

  Silvia nodded. She could do that. She’d just have to find something for Max to wear… and figure out a route that would get him to the ballroom without changing him back into the iron frog.

  Mina leaned in as her mother sashayed back to the other side of the room and started directing the staff to move their preparations to the glass room.

  “What are you up to?”

  “I have to keep some secrets from you.”

  Glaring, Mina said, “I’ll figure it out soon.”

  Her mother, reinvigorated, threw herself back into the planning full force. She dragged Mina and Silvia through the palace to the newly planned venue and started work on shifting her layout. The one they usually used for weddings simply would not work.

  By the time Heinrich rejoined her, she was exhausted. Her mother had her moving around the room, trying to decide where she needed to stand to be most visible. The only time she’d argued was when her mother considered installing a pedestal.

  An actual pedestal.

  Heinrich walked through the ballroom barely masking the awe on his face. He joined her, placing a hand on the small of her back, and her mother’s brow rose, but she said nothing. Mina on the other hand….

  “So that’s why you wanted to move the party here.”

  Heinrich shifted beside her. “What’s she talking about?”

  Before she could respond, Mina said, “This is where the royal weddings are held.”

  “It’s wasted as a space reserved only for that. It hasn’t been used since I was ten years old and the Duke of Clereau married that woman from Beriquais.”

  She glanced up at the darkening sky as the last rays of sunlight filtered through the glass panes above her head. The lingering light came down on them from the arching ceiling and each of the three glass walls that projected off the eastern wing of the palace. From the far end of the glass room, a pair of enormous doors led to a broad staircase that spilled into a garden courtyard. It was the perfect space. Even the stairway that led to th
em from the second floor made for a perfect entrance.

  Heinrich nudged her with his arm. “Are you still required here, or can I steal you away?”

  “Please, take her. I’m done with her for the day… and she’s promised me everything I wanted.” The smile her mother turned toward her left a bubble of worry in the pit of her stomach. She might have agreed to more than she planned.

  They got half way back to the tower before Heinrich pulled her into an alcove, tucked away from sight and kissed her. Long and languid, it left her gasping for air and made her want to take him by the hand and drag him through the palace, back to a bed. Running would only confirm what her mother already expected.

  As Heinrich nipped at her ear and pulled her close against him, she thought of Max and how she definitely needed him with them. They were each, individually, what she wanted… put together, they were everything she needed.

  Pulling him back out and heading toward the tower and Max, she bit her tongue, feeling as impatient as a child.

  “I gather you had something to do with moving the party to that room.” Heinrich asked, keeping pace with her.

  She nodded, a smile spreading across her face before she could stop it. “It’s perfect. This way, Max can come too. We’ll just have to figure out a route that never leaves moonlight. And then—”

  Before she could finish her plan, he pulled her to a stop, his face contorted in disbelief. “What!?”

  *

  When Silvia pushed through the door with Heinrich, they were arguing.

  “What happened?” Max asked.

  “She wants you to leave the tower.”

  Relief warred with worry inside him. He wanted the freedom to roam more than the circular room in which he stood, but having others know the weakness his curse had laid upon him….

  Silvia, for her part seemed entirely calm. “I want you both to be there.”

  “You still haven’t told me why,” Heinrich said.

  She looked away, her mouth twisting into a pucker.

  “Where are we going to be?” he asked, giving her time.

  “There is a gigantic going away party for her best friend.”

  Silvia sighed, too heavily. “Mina is heading back to Aurona the day after the full moon, and my mother is throwing a fete. She has two purposes. She’s using this final goodbye celebration as an opportunity to push me off on anyone eligible to be the next prince consort.”

  Max smiled at her irritation. “And you want us to be there so that we can deflect the attentions of others.”

  “Exactly.”

  Heinrich grumbled. “You don’t need both of us for that.”

  She looked away, almost sheepish. “Is it so hard to believe I might want both of your company… and that I might want to show you off?”

  Max and Heinrich shared a look.

  “If that’s what you want, we’ll find a way to make it happen.”

  Heinrich scowled, but didn’t contradict him.

  Smiling, Silvia said, “Good,” and went to her workbench, sorting through the mess they’d made the night before.

  Sidling up to him, Heinrich lowered his voice and said, “Druan is here. He’s already tried to make them arrest me. If he sees you, I don’t know what he’s going to do.”

  Max touched the hard, cloth-covered metal at Heinrich’s waist. They had bigger issues to worry about. “He can’t do anything here without inciting a war. Don’t worry about him.”

  Max drew him away, wrapping a hand around his neck, “She could be the one. I want her to want both of us. If she wants us there for this… she might want us around forever.”

  Heinrich nodded pressing his forehead to Max’s. “She is the one and you know it. We just have to convince her of it.”

  Max dropped his hand to Heinrich’s hip. “And deal with this corset of yours.”

  “What about you, frog prince?”

  “My part of the curse isn’t going to kill me any time soon. I’m okay with going on like this for a while longer, as long as putting it off gets you out of this thing.” He touched Heinrich’s stomach gingerly and grimaced at the hard metal under his fingers. “It’s cinched again, hasn’t it?”

  The smile that touched Heinrich’s lips was gone just as quickly. “With this talk of parties and partners… it may have slipped my mind to get a measurement taken.”

  “Silvia,” Max said, grabbing her attention. “Pull out the ribbon, let’s see how he’s doing today.”

  If it rang true to every other measurement, he’d have lost a quarter inch again.

  Silvia looked from her orb to him. “Oh, I’d forgot—”

  The door burst open behind her and a figure in a black cloak and Jackal mask threw themselves through the opening. They rolled and came to their feet slashing at Silvia.

  Silvia threw herself backward—orb flying—as the blade flew in an arc in front of her. Heinrich stepped between them and blocked two knife swings as Silvia scrambled to her feet, the blade striking the metal at his waist.

  The jackal masked figure kicked Heinrich in the stomach. A sharp metal noise rang out and he fell to the floor gasping, eyes screwed shut. That damned corset was going to get him seriously hurt—if it didn’t kill him first.

  He stayed down and Max reached for the only thing that looked like it would do any damage. Throwing away a stub of a candle, he picked up the heavy stick that had once held it.

  Silvia’s attacker was adept at keeping away from Max. How they knew exactly where he was trying to cut them off, he couldn’t guess. But they dodged him every time, advancing on Silvia with an unrelenting focus.

  The knife caught part of her skirt. She spun away before it could do any real damage, and dropped down knocking her attacker to the ground with a sweep of her leg.

  The attacker did not stay down. In a single move, they jumped from their back to their feet and dove for her. She wasn’t there and they hit the floor with a sickeningly hard thump.

  Max tried to restrain them, but they pulled from his grasp and in trying to keep away from him, they left themselves vulnerable.

  Silvia grabbed hold of their face, tearing the mask away and knocking the hood back.

  A woman with short brown hair and a blank expression slashed at Silvia even as she drew back.

  “Danae?” Heinrich asked from the floor, seemingly unable to believe the woman in front of them was attacking Silvia.

  Whoever she was to Silvia, she didn’t respond to her name. Danae looked at Silvia like she was a demon and gripped her knife more tightly.

  Max stepped in her way, gritting his teeth when the blade pierced his shoulder and he managed to push her off, back. The knife stayed in his arm and he pulled it away, throwing it out the open window.

  She dove for him and he spun out of the way. Her grasp caught hold of his shirt, but all it did was spin.

  Confusion and clarity dawned on her face as she lost her hold on him. Her foot landed on the dropped orb and she slipped. Max watched her tumble and saw her end before she reached it.

  “No!” Silvia shouted as the woman stumbled backward and her momentum took her through the open window.

  Silvia raced to the sill, beating them both there and let out a sob of a breath.

  They looked down, all three of them crowded into the window. Danae lay at the bottom of the tower, her head twisted at the wrong angle, one leg bent up underneath her.

  “Why would she come after you?” Max asked, bewildered by what had just happened.

  “Didn’t you see her eyes?” Heinrich asked, glancing at him. “Didn’t you feel the oily darkness coming off her?”

  “Spelled?”

  Heinrich nodded. “Just like the men who carted you away.”

  Max pulled Silvia to her feet and held her close. She was still in shock. “It’s my fault.”

  “No. It’s Hagne’s fault. She spelled Danae. She’s to blame.”

  Silvia shivered in his arms, but nodded. “I’ll have to go down and do dama
ge control. They’re going to want to know what happened.”

  “You can’t go alone.” Max said, looking to Heinrich for help.

  A harsh noise echoed from the stairway and they all flinched.

  “Someone else is coming,” Heinrich said, picking up the candlestick Max had dropped and brandishing it like a club.

  Silvia forced his hand down as a woman called out from below, her voice getting closer.

  “It’s just Mina,” Silvia said.

  Mina pushed through the door and grabbed hold of her. “Thank gods you’re alright.”

  She pulled Silvia into a frantic embrace and Silvia patted her on the back, trying to get her to let go.

  Mina shoved her back, holding her arm’s distance away. “You’re not hurt are you? Any cuts, broken bones?”

  “Other than the ribs you just crushed, no.”

  “Not funny. Are you—” Mina froze, staring at him. “Who the hell are you?”

  Max looked to Silvia. He didn’t know how she wanted him to answer.

  Heinrich laughed. “It’s official, I’m more than outnumbered by royalty.”

  “Maximilian Defreaux?” Mina’s gaze narrowed on him. “What is the Ferrian prince doing in your workshop, Silvia?”

  Pursing her lips, Silvia sat on the workbench. “Remember the iron frog I found?”

  Mina rolled her eyes. “That was him.”

  “Still is me.” Max said.

  “And let me guess, this is what you spent so much time searching for?”

  Heinrich shrugged.

  Mina glanced between the three of them before turning her attention back to Silvia. “No wonder you’ve been so absentminded. You’ve collected a harem of your own.”

  “That’s not exactly accurate.” Heinrich said, but Mina ignored him.

  “Your mother will probably die when she finds out about this.”

  Silvia’s fearful expression was not heartening. “She’s not going to find out about it until I choose to tell her.”

  “Fine,” Mina said pushing her lips out in a pout that lasted a mere second. “Now, who wants to tell me why Danae is dead at the base of your tower?”

  The three of them shared a glance, and it was Heinrich who pulled her aside and told her what had happened in hushed tones.