Eria's Ménage (9 page)

“Don’t do this!” she cried. “I don’t have any choice. It’s custom.”

“We have customs too,” Tad said. “You haven’t solved my riddle, so I don’t have to release you.”

“But, I have.” She’d thought she’d only solved the first two parts, but the third came to her in a flash. “The solution is you. By that, I mean both of you. You two burn me with your touch, and yet, my heart freezes because I have to let you go.”

Something like hope entered Tad’s eyes. “Go on.”

“You’ve given me a new life inside me, and now, you’re killing me.” Damn, she wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t.

Brath took her chin in his hand and turned her to him. His own eyes held a sheen of moisture. She couldn’t hold back the tears, and her vision blurred. “I found you two only once, but I’ll see you everywhere. For the rest of my life.”

“Wrong.” Tad’s voice came out unsteady.

She turned to glare at him. “What do you mean I’m wrong?”

“You are,” Tad said. “You’ve failed.”

Her breath caught on a sob. “How can I have failed? That’s how I feel.”

“That’s not the right answer, is it, Brath?”

“And he knows what it is?” she said.

“It’s love,” Brath said. His voice was rusty with disuse, but the words came out clearly enough.

“You love me?”

“I do.”

She turned to Tad. “And you?”

“With every part of me.”

Alice Gaines

Eria’s Ménage

- 62 -

She moaned and dissolved into a pool of utter misery. Arms went around her.

Body heat surrounded her as Brath embraced her.

Tad crouched in front of her and gazed into her eyes. “Let us stay with you and help you. Let us protect and advise you.”

“I want to, but…”

“No but. Just do it.”

“How can I?”

“Order them. You’re the queen. Tell them you need a warrior. Tell them you need an adviser wiser than that fool of a chancellor.”

“Kapt won’t like that.”

“To hell with Kapt.” Tad stared into her face. “Do it, my love. We won’t usurp your authority. We only want to stay with you.”

Brath pressed his lips to her ear. “Let us stay.”

How could she? Yet, how could she not? Sending them away would make all three of them miserable, and she needed her strength to grow the child inside her and bring her into the world. Maybe other queens could manage without their mates, but they hadn’t had men like these two. They hadn’t loved as deeply as she did.

The mere possibility set her heart free. The spark of life inside her burned more brightly, warming her heart. She would do this. Nothing else would feel right.

“We’ll have new customs, starting today,” she said. “And, I’ll need a larger bed.”

Two pairs of arms held her now, creating that hallowed space between the men she loved. As long as they held her like this, she’d find happiness, and the two of them would hold her for the rest of their lives.

Alice Gaines

Award winning author Alice Gaines has published several sensuous and erotic works. She prefers stories that stretch the imagination, highlighting the power of love and sex. Alice has a Ph.D. in psychology from U. C. Berkeley and lives in Oakland, California, with her collection of orchids and two pet corn snakes, Casper and Sheikh Yerbouti. Visit her website at http://home.pacbell.net/halice/.