Chapter 8

Nyra’s POV

My breath caught.

We do not share what belongs to us.

The possessiveness in his voice coupled with the way my body reacted to it had held me back from reminding them how little they mean to me.

“Say something.” Serenyx pushed but I shrugged her off.

They had never apologized for the way they treated me then.

If I had never made this move…

My eyes met Dante’s and for the first time I could see the plea in his eyes.

…I could already feel how much Rhys wanted me and him breathing down my neck wasn’t making me feel any better but Dante?

Dante had always been a standoffish guy with his face leaving you to guess what he was thinking.

I honestly didn’t need to guess now… I could see the hunger swirling in his eyes.

Neither of them moved.

It was as though they were waiting for my agreement.

I felt trapped with Dante standing directly in front of me while Rhys remained behind me, close enough for his warmth to wrap around my body like a second skin.

The air inside the room had become unbearably heavy with tension.

And hunger.

Goddess help me…

I never felt what I was feeling now with Silas… Come to think of it, I couldn’t tell the last time I got laid.

I may have been reborn but those years just felt like it was yesterday.

After Zac was made ill, Silas started treating me as an egg.

I had mistaken that as love then but now I know it was because they saw me as a living corpse.

As if to draw me back to the present, Rhys dragged my zip lower, his hands in contact with my skin as he did.

I shivered in delight.

Did I really want this?

To marry these men?

Monsters as they called themselves.

Rhys chucked.

“We are still waiting for your reply, Princess,” he murmured, causing any shiver to trail down my spine.

I slowly lifted my eyes to meet Dante.

Marriage… with not one but two of them?

Even after the kind of past we shared?

Here I was standing between both of them with my half-undone wedding dress hanging loosely while they looked at me like predators trying not to devour their prey too quickly.

Serenyx purred teasingly.

You want them just as much.

I ignored her.

I hadn’t been given a second chance to swoon over any man…

Because wanting them and trusting them were two very different things; I could never trust them with my heart but I knew I needed their help.

“I said I needed allies… mates, and it wouldn’t be wise for me to jump from one failed marriage to you both.”

Rhys laughed quietly behind me.

While I watched as Dante’s jaw had tick in annoyance.

I didn’t lie… they weren’t the lesser evil but rather the only ones I knew would be loyal to me.

“You kissed us in front of an entire kingdom, Princess, common sense flew out of the doors the second you did that.”

Heat flooded my face.

Unfortunately… he wasn’t entirely wrong.

Dante’s gaze never left mine.

“You’re afraid of us.”

Of them?

As of.

“You don’t scare me Dante… you never have, never will,” I corrected.

“No…You’re afraid we’ll ruin the innocence in you…afraid you won’t be able to handle us.”

I knew Men like Dante and Rhys consumed everything they touched before I made me move.

My chest tightened as memories flooded through my mind.

…Slowly dying on that operating table.

It was too late to worry about innocence… what more did I have to lose that I hadn’t already felt the pain of?

Who cares about a little corruption?!

I needed to breathe first.

Without looking at both brothers, I slid out of Rhys arms.

“All you want from this arrangement is me?” I asked them and without waiting for an answer, “you should have already known what my answer will be after all you had both had hurt me once.”

I saw Rhys grin fall through the reflection immediately.

“First,” I continued, “there will be no public announcement yet.”

Neither of them interrupted.

I was wearing a backless bodysuit but the look on their faces when I dropped the gown to the floor was priceless.

Horny men.

“There will be no mating ceremony or claiming rites… since all you want is marriage, no titles handed over through marriage too.”

Rhys’s expression darkened slightly at that.

“You’d have to prove yourselves first, Then we discuss permanence.” I finished calmly.

Dante exchanged a look with Rhys.

A silent conversation.

Then Dante stepped closer.

Close enough for me to feel the heat radiating from his body.

“And how do you want us to prove ourselves?” he asked.

My heart skipped a beat.

I hadn’t thought about that.

“I can’t tell you how to impress me Dante, but you’d know once you have.”

Rhys hummed behind me.

“And if somewhere along the way,” he murmured near my ear, “you accidentally fall hopelessly in love with us again?”

I rolled my eyes despite the heat climbing my neck.

“You seem very corky for men I publicly humiliated less than two hours ago.”

Rhys smirked.

“You kissed us first, Princess. That hardly felt like humiliation.”

Dante’s gaze lowered briefly to my mouth before returning to my eyes.

And suddenly the room felt far too small and hot.

Then Dante finally nodded once.

“Fine.”

I let go a sigh of relief to early.

“But understand this clearly, agreeing to this on no terms means we’d do anything… not to lose.”

With that they left me to myself.

The weight of their words settled in the silence.

I stripped and stood under the steaming shower, wondering if at all I had made the right decision.

Or worse.

What if they were far more dangerous than Silas ever was?

Serenyx didn’t chip in anything to my disappointment.

This was up to me to figure out myself.

Dante and Rhys Vale were like a keg of gunpowder waiting for a spark.

Powerful but so unpredictable.

The kind of men capable of either helping me take my rightful place or burning it to the ground with me trapped inside.

By the time I slid under the sheets, they had consumed my thoughts.

I cared very little about what had happened to Silas after before remembering I still needed to speak with Father.

He was just as clueless as everyone and all I needed was his trust.

Everything could wait until tomorrow.

Sleep came easier than I expected.

Maybe because despite the uncertainty in my choice of actions, I knew tonight had changed my path.

And this?

This was only the first phase of my plan.

Silas Holt.

Vanessa Thorne

You would both regret the day the mere thought of playing God over my life.