Guilty as Sin (56 page)

Slowly, the shudders subsided. After an eon, Michael cranked his eyes open. Right

under his godsbedamn nose, his Aetherii were kissing as if there was no tomorrow.

“Hey,” he croaked. “Not fair. Me too.”

Without missing a beat, they hauled him in, kissing and nipping and licking and

whispering until Michael could no longer tell what was laughter and what was tears,

and he really didn
‟
t care. He pressed closer, rejoicing in the sweep of smooth, warm

flesh beneath his hand, the luxuriant brush of feathers a gift he could still hardly

believe. His, all his, for the asking, the taking.

Twister, he
‟
d think about it later. His bones were overcooked noodles, his brain all

mazed and muddled and stupid with relief and relaxation.

Sleep dragged him down between one kiss and the next. He didn
‟
t feel Dax gently

pull his fingers free, or his shaky chuckle as he used the discarded shirt to wipe off the

mess he
‟
d left on Michael
‟
s thigh. He didn
‟
t hear Lise
‟
s sigh or detect the tremble in her

husky voice.

“Veil-it, no wonder he
‟
s so…” She swallowed. “The poor darling.”

Dax growled deep in his chest, like an angry
fellwolf
. “Lucky the stupid bastard
‟
s

dead. I
‟
d like to break his fucking neck.”

“Yes.” Lise drew a light quilt over Michael
‟
s body. “What a godsawful way to grow

up.”

“All the more reason to work with slum kids.” With a stifled groan, Dax stretched

out his long body behind the other man. Reaching over him, he cradled Lise
‟
s breast,

stroking the creamy undercurve with his thumb in an absentminded sort of way.

“You know,” he went on, “he did love Tannio, so much it nearly destroyed him.” A

pause. “Do you think we—? That he
‟
s—?” His hand froze on her breast.

260

Lise sat up to peer at Michael
‟
s sleeping face. “Yes, I do,” she said firmly.” He
‟
s

seeing more clearly now, not just the past, but the future.”

Her tongue crept out to moisten her lips. “We
‟
ll know tomorrow.”

261

Aetherii—Anatomy:

Scientific tests show that Aetherii are up to three times stronger than a Grounded of

comparable age, gender and weight. In flight, Aetherii must first support their own body weight

and then move it through the air by means of wings. In order to accomplish this feat, Aetherii

wings are aerodynamically designed, their bones are light but very strong and the musculature

of shoulders, chest and back is vastly more efficient than that of the Grounded. The addition of a

second heart ensures an excellent blood supply to both muscles and wings.

Excerpt from the
Great Encyclopedia
, compiled by Miriliel the Burnished.

* * * * *

But for once, Lise was wrong.

Dax lay quietly, watching a shaft of sunlight inch into the tent to kiss Michael
‟
s

cheek. The Grounded blinked and was immediately awake. Then he disentangled

himself with a murmured apology and dressed, his face calm and set.

Still half-drowned in sleep, Lise yawned and burrowed into Dax
‟
s shoulder.

“Michael—” Dax reached out a hand, subduing the impulse to snag the other man
‟
s

ankle with his tail.

“I need some time.” A pause. “Is there soap?”

“In the big leather pack. Listen—”

“No.” Michael straightened, soap in hand. A scurf of beard roughened his jaw. “I
‟
m

done talking. This is about what I want, right?” His hard hazel gaze challenged Dax to

disagree.

“Yes, but you know what Lise and I want too.” Veil-it, what if he was making a

terrible mistake? “Don
‟
t forget it. Please.”

But all he got was a curt nod. His stomach churning, he stroked Lise
‟
s feathers as

Michael strode off in the direction of the pool, lithe and straight-backed.

Two mugs of
roberry
and a heel of bread with
gaeta
fruit jam later, he felt sufficiently

fortified to kiss her awake and offer her a cup of
babybane
. But he was so restless, he had

to pace on the grass, tail lashing, while he told her what had happened.

Vertical creases appeared between her brows. “He didn
‟
t ask to be taken back?”

“No, but today
‟
s the third day, godsdammit.”

Lise
‟
s pretty mouth tilted at one corner. “Not quite,” she said. “Technically, time
‟
s

not up
‟
til tomorrow evening.”

262

“I thought I could be patient.” Grumbling, Dax opened his wings to their full span

and flapped. The mountain breeze ruffled his feathers, whispering of freedom, of barrel

rolls and hair-raising dives, relief from tension. “I can
‟
t make myself believe it won
‟
t

work, but what if—”

“Veil-it, you
‟
re dying to fly.” Lise went up on tiptoe to nuzzle his cheek. “Go,

there
‟
s room for everything in the air.”

Dax caught her around the waist, swung her up and kissed her, sweet and hard.

Nerves still buzzing, he took three steps to the very edge of the cliff and leaned out.

With a sigh that felt like it came from his toes, he relaxed and fell forward, plummeting

toward the valley floor. The speed of his passage whipped his hair into his eyes, made

them sting. Granite walls flashed past, the fissured surfaces and crags blurring into a

long, gray smudge. Fifty feet above the ground, Dax rolled away with casual skill. He

spread his wings, the wind bearing him away on a long, curving trajectory. Ah gods,

that was better.

Working hard, he beat upward, the burn in his muscles a welcome distraction,

sweat springing up under his arms, between his wings. All this time, he
‟
d never really

doubted, never managed to wrap his mind around failure, the possibility that Michael

might refuse what they offered. Rip the Veil, his life only made sense with Michael and

Lise in it. They were the other halves of his soul. Why was he having a fit of nerves

now, when everything he
‟
d ever wanted was in his grasp?

Fuck it.

He executed a loop-the-loop, followed it up with three barrel rolls in a row, then

fled through the air, jinking and swerving as if an enemy were right on his tail. He

finally permitted himself to slow when the breath rasped in his lungs. He
‟
d almost

reached the plain that led to the coast. Veil-it. Regulating his breathing, he tilted and

banked, coming around, his plumage sparkling bronze and green against the blue of the

sky. Sedately, he rode the prevailing wind back to the hidden valley, thinking.

The Winged Envoy had offered Lise a post as head of security in Valaressa. Gods,

he loved Lady Chriz. The Envoy was as generous as she was clever. She
‟
d promised

Dax seeding funds for his school. Not much, mind you, just enough to find a place and

get started. He grinned, quick and fierce. The rest was up to him, but godsdammit, he
‟
d

always loved a challenge.

Below, a doll-like figure sat by the pool. Something flashed. A knife blade? Dax

squinted. Michael was cutting the hair off his face. Pity, Dax quite liked the scrape of it,

especially against the thin skin of his cock. Mmm. His balls buzzed, a pleasant tingle

that reverberated deep in his ass. He clenched experimentally, testing for discomfort.

Not too bad, but enough for a vivid sense memory of the alien hardness moving inside

him. Gods, it had been weird. Opened, plundered,
fucked
. Dark and strange and good,

but the best part had been the naked pleasure on Michael
‟
s face.
He’d
given the other

man that pleasure, he and Lise.

263

Where was—? Ah there, outside the tent. The red-striped canvas glowed in the sun

like a fresh piece of sugar candy. Lise
‟
s plumage shone silver as she stretched a wing.

Judging by the familiar posture, she was grooming her primaries, working featheroil

through the filaments on every plume, her head bent in concentration.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Michael snap up straight, the knife tumbling to

the grass. What the—? Dax
‟
s hearts flip-flopped in his chest. Circling lower, he searched

the glade. No enemies to be seen.

Michael turned his head until he was staring directly at Lise. He took two steps

toward her, stopped, turned back to the pool. He ran a hand through his hair. A

moment apparently deep in thought, then he lifted his face to the sky, searching. Dax

knew the second the other man located him. Even at a distance, the intensity of that

look sizzled, almost stalling him in the air.

Michael lifted a hand and let it fall. He started across the meadow to Lise, but after

the first two steps, he accelerated into a stumbling run. His shout echoed off the rocks

and Lise
‟
s head jerked up. She sprang to her feet and Michael ran straight into her arms.

Dax side-slipped down out of the sky, using the wind like a staircase. His descent

was so rapid his ears ached, but he had to reach them, had to touch, to know—

He arrived in a great raptor swoop of wings. “What? Fuck, what, what?”

Lise tried to speak but failed. Tears streamed unchecked down her face. Shit, he
‟
d

never seen her cry like that. Michael
‟
s face was chalk white.

Dax grabbed the nearest arm and shook it hard. “Tell me!” he roared and the cliff

face boomed out an echo.

“I know what I want.” Michael
‟
s voice was so strained Dax could barely hear it.

“Not what I think I should have or what I deserve. What I
want
.”

“Yes, yes?” Dax danced with impatience.

“Us.” Lise
‟
s voice was a croak, but her eyes shone as if she
‟
d been illuminated from

within. Her tail slithered around Michael
‟
s waist, only to meet Dax
‟
s coming the other

way.

Thank all the gods. Dax
‟
s knees buckled. With some difficulty, he managed to drag

his lovers down to the grass in a controlled slide, rather than crushing them beneath

him. The three of them finished on their knees, inextricably tangled together. His
lovers
.

Gripping the other man
‟
s chin, he wrenched his head around. “You changed your

mind,” he grated. “I saw you do it.”

He got a hazel glare, so bright it stopped his breath. “It
‟
s a risk, all right?” Thick

lashes swept down then up. “All my life that
‟
s what I
‟
ve done, seen something shiny

and calculated the risks.”

“And this time?” asked Lise quietly. Michael had her hand in a crushing grip.

A slow flush mantled his lean cheeks. Absently, Dax noticed he
‟
d only shaved one

side, and that imperfectly. “Giving your…any of yourself to…someone else. It
‟
s insane.

The greatest risk of all.” The flush receded, leaving him pale to the lips.

264

“Yet people do it all the time, and the world still turns,” Lise said. “It must work.”

Michael
‟
s smile was no more than a perfunctory twist of the lips. “Not always.” He

looked from one face to the other. “You
‟
re mad to want me, but—”

“You
‟
re wrong.” A growl forced its way out of Dax
‟
s chest. “On both counts. We
‟
re

not mad and it
‟
s a hell of a lot more than want. It
‟
s—”

“Whatever the fuck it is, I— I—” Shaking his head, Michael slammed a fist into

Dax
‟
s shoulder.

Discomfited was a good look on Michael, godsbedamn master thief of Sere. Dax

liked it.

“What?” Dax gave him a companionable shove by way of reply, the beginnings of

something hot and gleeful capering inside him.

Michael sucked in a breath. “I can
‟
t
not
take the risk. Though I don
‟
t see how—

Mmpf!
”

Seizing his shoulders, Lise pushed him flat on his back among the goddess daisies.

Babbling foolish endearments, she kissed the life out of him while his shaking hands

skimmed over her wings to stroke her hair.

Dax rolled on his side, content to watch them. So beautiful, so…
his
. A small sun

seemed to have taken up residence behind his breastbone, filling him with heat. He

pressed the heel of his hand to the center of his chest, grinning. And he was harder than

he
‟
d been in his life. Veil-it, life was good—fucking perfect. The joy couldn
‟
t be

repressed, bubbling out of him in a long rolling chuckle.

Michael freed his lips. “What
‟
s so fucking funny?”

Dax worked a hand under the other man
‟
s shirt to find hot smooth skin. “Just