16: Darius’s POV

t was a perfect night.

Or rather, *she* was perfect. Just the right amount of shy coming into her own inner vixen. I’d seen it in her eyes when she gripped my cock for the first time. I’d spent the hours after leaving her in her chambers replaying every moment of the three times we’d fucked in an endless loop. Each time, she’d gotten a bit more brazen with her need for me. The first time, it was a single simple command: faster. The next, it was her raking her fingers down my back and demanding more. The final time, it was her stroking me back to an erection as I laid beside her in bed… the way her eyes had looked that final time— like she could never get enough— had been what had kept me awake.

I don’t think either of us had questioned my need to leave either. We’d finally satiated the first bout of lust we felt for each other, and I felt she would need some privacy after. She’d been through a lot and had made it very clear to Phoenix and I that this surrogacy was not what she wanted. I only hoped she took my absence as a sign of me trying to keep her peace and not me being finished using her.

It was this that I was thinking of when I joined my two brothers for breakfast the next morning. We’d decided on a victory breakfast at a local restaurant in the nearest village days prior to the competition. When I arrived, they were already there and seated with platters of food in front of them. Neither of them acknowledged me as I took my spot between them at the table. Quickly, I realized it was because there was a fourth plate with food piled up across from mine.

I gathered food onto my plate and shoved my first bite of delicious omelette into my mouth. As I chewed, Nik asked, “Did you get father’s message this morning?” He sliced into a tomato, “Or were you too busy between Ada’s legs?”

My younger brother bore a devious smirk. I swallowed and took a sip of some orange juice, “Yes, I received the message,” I motioned with my fork at the empty chair, “Who’s joining us?”

“Lady Elizabeth Jane,” Phoenix scrunched his nose up, “She had to ‘powder her nose,’” he mocked, “Father says I am next in line. I think Nik pissed him off with his antics the other day.”

My heart thudded as reality seemed to crash into my like a brick wall. *Lady Elizabeth Jane* was going to be my wife. I’d won the competition, and consequently had the joy of taking Ada to bed. Initially I was going to be the only one, but with father’s memo this morning, he’d clearly changed his mind. But not about everything if Lady Elizabeth Jane was to be present at breakfast. My stomach roiled and I shoved my plate away on the table.

Nik snorted, “Keep telling yourself that, Phoenix. He simply knows some of the things I am invested in and probably wants to spare the girl,” Nik rolled his eyes as Lady Elizabeth Jane strolled back up to the table, “Darius, do tell us how she was.”

I caught the shrewd expression on Lady Elizabeth’s face and cleared my throat, “There is a Lady present, Nikolai.”

“Oh, please,” Lady Elizabeth waved a hand, “*This* lady is to be your wife,” Phoenix and Nik shared a look, “Speak freely of your time with the surrogate. I’m actually curious myself.”

While I may have unloaded a bit more detail to my brothers, I simply couldn’t to Lady Elizabeth Jane. Not with the way she was to Ada already. Anything I mentioned at this table would just be fuel to the fire.

So, instead, I cleared my throat and simply stated, “The night was perfect. That’s all any of you need to know,” I grabbed a piece of bacon, “Since we will all be sharing her, we should probably keep other details to ourselves,” I dropped my gaze to the red tablecloth in front of me, “After all, we will each have our own way of being with her.”

Nik stared at me for a few moments, running his finger around the edge of his water glass. He narrowed his eyes briefly, as if he could see right through the facade I was putting up. Instead of calling me on it, he plastered a wicked grin onto his face.

His voice was rather playful for him, “Personally, I have my leather all oiled up and my swing ready to use,” he quipped, “So I agree on the ‘not sharing details’ bit. Wouldn’t want to make either of you jealous of my skills.”

I clenched my fist as visions of Ada being struck by whips and tied up flashed before my eyes. In every one, she looked distinctly miserable and uncomfortable. My voice was a lot harsher than I meant it to be, “Remember to be gentle with her, brother.”

That earned me another calculating stare. I avoided Nik’s gaze and focused my energy onto Phoenix, as he seemed completely unaware of my inner turmoil. Phoenix was mindlessly buttering a piece of toast while Lady Elizabeth cracked various inappropriate jokes about the situation we were all facing.

We all ignored her. I’m sure the others had their reasons for doing so, and they were probably much simpler than mine. I had shared many woman with my brothers before, sometimes even at the same time. I’d never experienced any amount of jealousy previously, so why was there this aching pit in the middle of my stomach? Why was I nauseas at the thought of Phoenix laying with Ada at some point over the next few days? Why did Nik’s quips and predilections — all of which I was very aware of prior to this situation— suddenly anger me?

There was only one thing I could think of. And it made no sense, not even to me. It was what was in Nik’s gaze as he stared at me, the hard truth he could see I was trying to shove down. The fear he’d watched me swallow when I’d seen the literal physical spark between him and Ada at the competition. The disgust that seemed to waft off me every time my future wife opened her mouth and spoke while across the table from me.

Somehow, in a matter of hours spent with her, I had fallen in love with Ada. And simply, I didn’t want anyone else to have her.*