Mina took a little bit longer to leave her room the next morning. She wasn't sure how she would hold up when facing them at breakfast. She had to hold up. It was important for her to remain in control. She was, after all, their queen. She couldn't let Egon think that he could rattle her with a couple of deft fingers. It was bad enough she'd let him have his way with her the night before.
Van was a completely different challenge. He had given no indications of being upset with her actions the night before. He'd just walked with her up the stairs and wished her a good night as usual. She would have to have a conversation with him about it all eventually, she supposed, but for now she was just going to pretend that it never happened. Hopefully, both men would have the sense to do the same. She took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and opened her door, only to run into Evander, about to knock with a plate full of food.
"I thought you might like to take your food up here?" He explained, offering the plate to her. "Egon has already started his morning training."
"Thank you, Van." She said, taking the plate from him. They stood there staring at each other for a few minutes before she spoke again. "Keep me company?"
"Of course!" he replied, a little too eagerly. He came into her room and sat on the edge of her bed, leaving the chair and small table for her. She sat and began to eat, unsure of what conversation to start or how. When she'd just decided to ask about the day's weather, he broke the silence instead. "It's okay."
"What?" She asked, though she thought she might know.
"Last night. It's okay." He said again, clarifying what he'd meant. "Not that you need my permission, I just wanted to make sure you knew that it was okay with me."
"It certainly seemed okay with you," she teased. He blushed a deep red and looked away from her.
"Two first kisses in a day," he murmured.
"Yeah, me too." It was her turn to blush. Her second first kiss had been a lot more than a kiss, and he knew it.
"I know that you haven't had a lot of choices in your life because of the dagger. I want you to have choices now, even if you don't choose me." He sounded a little glum in the last half.
"No, Evander, it's not like that," she began, not entirely sure where to go from there. If it wasn't like that, what was it like? "I… I think I want you both." Her face flushed violently at the confession.
"Both?" He looked at her wide-eyed. "Like, at the same time?"
"No… I mean, yes… I mean, maybe?" she stuttered through. "I haven't really figured that part out yet. And I guess it's not entirely up to me."
"Okay," he stated simply.
"Okay?" She asked.
"You can have whatever you want." His voice got huskier as he said it. " At least as far as I'm concerned."
"Evander, you don't have to… You can say no. I can stop. You're my husband and mate." She had to make sure he meant what he was saying. That he wasn't just saying it for her benefit.
"I don't want to say no." He looked into her eyes with a desire she hadn't seen in him before. "You were beautiful last night."
She stared at him for what seemed like forever. He looked back, a little sheepish at his confession, but not backing down. She wondered if she should kiss him. Kiss him the way Egon had kissed them both the night before. Touch him the way she wanted to touch him, the way she wanted to touch Egon when the only thing she could do was hold onto him.
He made the choice for her, standing and pulling her to her feet to kiss her. This kiss was deeper, more wanton than it had been the day before. One of his hands tangled in her hair and pulled her closer. His other hand held her at her hip, pulling her into his hardness. She grabbed onto his shirt and held on as she kissed him back, teasing his lips with her tongue. They were one. She could feel it. The bond she hated telling them they were supposed to be like this, to do this. She knew that if she felt it, he did too. He stopped first. She was as sure that he did it for her as she was sure he didn't want to stop. They stood, still holding one another, foreheads pressed together, breathing each other's breath until there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," she said, letting go of him. It was just the staff looking to collect the remains of her breakfast, but the interruption meant the moment was over.
"I should go," he offered quietly.
"You could stay, we could talk," she insisted.
"I actually have something pressing to attend to." He said, shifting uncomfortably, drawing her attention to his obvious erection.
"Oh, I see," she whispered. He squeezed her shoulder before excusing himself, leaving her alone to sort herself out.
Facing Egon wasn't as hard as she thought it was going to be. He made no attempt to draw attention to what had happened the night before, and neither did she. They just focused on the task at hand. Sparring with Evander went well, too. Better than usual, she thought. It was a combination of their seemingly endless practice and their growing connection to one another. As they became closer, she suspected their intuition got better and they were able to be more in unison.
"We'll have to start training separately soon." She waited until the end of their practice to say anything since having double the work would surely put Egon in a bad mood.
"Why is that, little queen?" Egon asked suspiciously. To be honest, she frequently tried to get out of practicing with Evander because of his tendency to step on her.
"Van and I, our bond is growing. As that happens, we'll be more in tune with one another, making it easier for us to follow your footwork together," she explained. "We'll need to train separately as well."
"Your bond is growing?" Egon raised an eyebrow. "What have you two been up to?"
"Nothing that's any of your business," she declared.
"Evander will have to tell me all about it while we bathe together," Egon said, like it was a foregone conclusion. Van turned bright red.
"Not if my queen doesn't want me to." He was firm. "Just because we are sharing her doesn't mean we share everything."
"If you say so," he surrendered.
"I do," she replied definitively. "I say so."
"Then tomorrow, we will start training you separately. I'll see you in the bath, Van." Egon smiled at Van and went into the house.
"You don't have to bathe with him. There's plenty of time to have three separate baths. " She offered.
"No, it's fine. I'm not going to let him intimidate me."
"It's not intimidation I'm worried about."