“Ray? Like the sun’s benevolent rays? Or a magnificent stingray? Or short for the esteemed Raymond?” Ere teased, hoping for…something. Some small twinge of warmth beneath all that icy reserve.
“Rui,” she said curtly, like the snap of a whip, making all three males straighten reflexively with alertness.
“As in the Chinese word for ‘sharp.’ Sharp and deadly like the finest blade. Which renders none of your analogies appropriate.”
Ere could only blink at her, nonplussed.
Awkward silence stretched between them, until Cloud hastily took the conversational reins again and answered her initial query.
“Yes, I have been very well, little sister. I am Mated to an Amazon warrior. You would like her if you met her. She is fierce and cunning, like you.”
The fae-like creature raised her eerie lapis lazuli eyes up at him.
“I have heard. Perhaps I shall visit you one of these days. For she is not allowed to come here, if rumors are true.”
“They are,” Cloud confirmed wryly.
The female blinked at him.
“I thought you are not allowed in the Heavens either, for transgressions past. You no longer have yourchimu. What has changed?”
Ere winced inwardly at her bluntness.
He’d seen Cloud in his celestial dragon form before his ability to transform was taken away, in exchange for remaining in the mortal realm with his Mate. Surely, the reminder pained the warrior. As a dragon himself, Ere couldn’t imagine the loss of this form once he had it.
The loss of all that freedom and power.
“You are half right,” Cloud said, absently rubbing the center of his forehead. “I am but a guide for my friends to the Celestial Realm. My journey ends at the foot of this palace.”
“But yours…”
He looked from Rui to Ere and Sorin.
“Has just begun.”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
Warm muscles and hard cock.
Rui hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.
When she made her way from the palace gardens to the base of the one hundred steps, she hadn’t expected company.
At first, with Cloud’s back facing her, she saw only two strangers. Tall, foreign men who radiated palpable magic and power.
They were almost equal in height, but in every other way, they were direct opposites.
The man who called himself “Eh-rrray” was sleek and lean. With long, black hair that reached past his backside. He was dressed all in black, his skin pale, his turquoise eyes brilliant.
Even Rui could tell that his looks were extraordinary in humanoid form.
But he was unattractive to her. She didn’t like his flirtatious smirk or the calculating gleam in his eyes.
This was a male that automatically put her guard up.
The other man, the one called Sorin, was slightly taller and a lotbigger. He was built like a fortress. Unbelievably wide shoulders, stone slabs of chest muscles and corrugated abs. Defined even through the dark grey fabric of his shirt. His muscular legs went on for miles, his feet disappearing into black boots.
His disheveled golden mane waved past his shoulders. A thick but well-trimmed mustache and beard covered the lower part of his face. Compared to herself and Ere, his skin was significantly darker, a vital golden-bronze. Flame-filled eyes were framed by the thickest, longest lashes Rui had ever seen on a male.