Beneath the Veil Read online

  "Sinder's Balls," he said. "What's in here?"

  "Worm." Cheap wine mixed with a bit of opiate, guaranteed to get you drunk fast and make you forget about what's ailing you.

  Daelyn leaned over to kiss Lir on the cheek. "Bless you."

  "I always remember, don't I?"

  I looked from one to the other, feeling there was more going on than just a gift of wine. I was no longer certain I was welcome in Daelyn's bed now Lir had joined him. As always, watching them together, I felt out of place.

  Daelyn settled back into his pillows and lifted the jug to his lips. "Potent stuff, Lir. Where do you get it?"

  "I bribed an underpriest to give me a cake of poppy and I let it dissolve in the grape. Nothing more than any poetry house owner does. I just made it a touch more effective."

  The prince snorted. "Here, Aeris. Try some of this. It'll do you a world of good. Chase away your melancholia."

  "I wasn't aware the lad had melancholia." Lir peered across Daelyn to see me. "He's always seemed rather sassy to me."

  To spite him, I took a big gulp from the jug. The wine stung my throat, and the opiate had given it an odd taste, but the warmth that filled my throat and belly within moments of consuming it was oddly comforting. I took another drink.

  "Slowly!" Daelyn said. "It gives quite a punch if you're not used to it."

  I could feel that already. My fingertips had become a little numb. A silly smile stretched on my lips, and I tried to straighten but only succeeded in making it bigger.

  Lir shook his head. "He's already half-snockered."

  Daelyn smacked him on the shoulder. "He's just a lad, Lir. Why'd you make this stuff so strong?"

  Lir gulped from the jug, then leaned in to kiss Daelyn so thoroughly I blushed just watching it. "You're the one who gave it to him."

  His cheeks flushed, Daelyn looked over at me. "I don't think anyone's yet 'given it' to him."

  Bright colors surrounded him. I blinked, hard, to clear them, but they only became more widespread and diffuse.

  "Don't tease, Lir." Daelyn settled back against the headboard and opened his arms. "You have better things to do with your mouth than speak out of it."

  Chuckling, Lir leaned in and kissed Daelyn again, though more briefly this time. When he sat back, his gaze found mine. "You're going to frighten the lad."

  Daelyn looked at me. "Really? I don't think so."

  I wasn't frightened, though my heart had begun to thump in my chest like a herd of runaway horses. Lir kept looking at me assessingly. Following an impulse I wasn't certain I understood, I shifted closer to Daelyn and put my hand on his shoulder.

  "Aeris," Daelyn said in a conspiratorial tone. "Lir would never admit this, but he absolutely loves to frighten you."

  "I don't think that's a secret, my prince."

  Lir shook his head and frowned. "It's falsehood, Dae, and you know it. I don't love to frighten the lad."

  "Then prove it," Daelyn told him.

  "How?"

  The prince reached and toyed with a strand of hair that had come undone from my braid. "Kiss him."

  I swallowed hard. The colors swirling over the bed had made my head. Did I want Lir to kiss me? Did I dare let him?

  "Now who's scaring the lad? Look at him," Lir said. "He's nearly white."

  Anything Lir thought I couldn't, I was determined to do. I'd never have reacted in such a manner had I not been drunk and floating from the worm. I slid across the bed, over Daelyn's lap, and seated myself on Lir's thighs. The thickness of the coverlet separated me from his body. I leaned forward and took his face between my hands. I stared into his eyes for what seemed an eternity, before I finally dipped my head to kiss him.

  At the last minute, my hesitancy won. I'd meant to kiss him firmly, maybe harshly, but in the end I passed my lips over his with a light touch. His mouth parted. I smelled his breath, redolent with wine. I breathed in as he breathed out. His hand came up to cup the back of my head, and he held me there. I kissed him again while my body trembled. His tongue nudged mine, then swept the inside of my mouth with an urgency that took my breath away.

  I broke the kiss and pulled away, afraid of my reaction. I'd never kissed a lover. I couldn't take a lover. This was foolishness at its worst.

  His grip on my wrist kept me from escaping entirely. He licked his mouth. His gaze burned me.

  "Have some more worm, Aeris." Daelyn's whisper gave me the strength to look away from Lir's eyes. "It'll make you feel better."

  I doubted that lifted the jug to my mouth anyway. I coughed a little on the brew, and Daelyn pounded my back until the spasms subsided. I moved to the foot of the bed, away from Lir's grasp, his thighs, his tempting, delicious mouth.

  Daelyn and Lir began to kiss again. I stayed at the foot of the giant bed and watched, envy making me want to join and fear keeping me still. I watched Lir caress Dae's hair and wanted to do the same. I saw Daelyn slip a hand inside Lir's unlaced shirt and ached to follow suit. All I could do was watch, and drink more worm.

  A coppery smell hung in the air. Blood. Lust. A rich, heavy scent that made me squirm. It, like the swirling colors, had to be in my head, but it affected me as strongly as if I'd really smelled it.

  Dae and Lir paid me no mind, caught up in their kissing and stroking. A haze, more than the colors, covered my vision. I felt languid, lazy, yet my body vibrated with tension concentrated in that tiny spot between my legs. I took my hand away, and breathless, waited for the feeling to subside. It didn't.

  Now Daelyn paused to look at me. "Come here, Aeris."

  Any trepidation I'd had before was masked by languor. I felt silly, I felt happy, I felt hot and a little wild. The drugs? Or watching two beautiful men begin to make love to each other, both men I desired? I didn't know, nor did I care. I moved up on the bed, to crouch next to Lir, who had moved toward the center of the bed.

  "Is he not the loveliest man?" Dae ran a finger across Lir's jaw and down his chin, his throat and across his chest.

  Lir's eyes, half-lidded, flicked in my direction. "Don't ask him that. He hates me."

  That was usually true, but it didn't stop me from replying, "Yes, my prince. Next to yourself."

  This seemed to please and amuse Daelyn, who laughed. "Oh, I'm pleasing enough to look at, but Lir is a much finer-looking man. In fact, he's fair perfect."

  I wouldn't have said that. The lines of Lir's face were a trifle too bold, too strong, to be fashionable. His full, lush mouth was in keeping with the standards of the day, but his eyes were dark instead of blue, his brows thick and heavy instead of finely arched. His hairline was uneven. He didn't use enough cosmetic.

  I suddenly realized I'd been listing his imperfections out loud. "Your mercy, my lord."

  "Lord Akean well knows his faults," Daelyn said. "But you forget to list his other features. What of his silky hair? His smooth skin? His muscled chest and arms and legs? His body is perfection, don't you agree?"

  I felt pinned by Lir's assessing gaze. "It is very fine, my prince."

  "Don't you want to touch him?"

  "Very much."

  "Then do it," Daelyn whispered, eyes aglow. He ran a hand inside Lir's open shirt and pulled it further apart. "Touch him. Don't be shy."

  The worm made it impossible for me to be shy. As if in a trance, I watched my own hand reach for the bare patch of skin exposed by Lir's open shirt. His skin was warm. Almost hot, but I didn't remove my fingers. Dazed, I let them play over the ridge of his chest muscles until I found the taut circle of one nipple.

  "Sinder's Balls," he gritted out when I rolled the small bead of flesh between my fingers. "Who taught you that?"

  I tried to take my hand away, but Daelyn's grip kept it there. "I daresay nobody taught him."

  Daelyn let me remove my hand long enough to help Lir tug his shirt off over his head. Then the prince put my hand back on Lir's bare chest. He kept his fingers cupped over mine and urged my hand to move in slow circles over Lir's skin. When he to