Chapter 122: The Fourfold Claim (I)

Adeline’s POV~

"Shh," Raven whispered. His voice was low and soft, like a purr. "It’s going to be okay. Just relax."

Then he kissed me.

My eyes flew wide open in absolute shock. But the second his lips touched mine, it was so warm, so demanding, and so completely consuming and my body just melted into him. A soft, breathless gasp slipped past my teeth, and my eyes closed on their own.

He kissed me deeply, and it was not cruel. It felt like he had been starving for this moment. When his tongue touched mine, my knees went weak. His tongue pushed past my teeth, tasting every inch of my mouth, stealing my breath until I had nothing left to fight back with.

I hate feeling weak, my mind said, but the voice was weak. My hands grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. I hate how easily they get past my walls.

I pressed my hand on his chest. He stopped at once and gave me space to breathe. My lungs burned. I pulled in air in shaky breaths. The hoodie I wore felt too warm.

Raven did not move away. He looked at my swollen lips, and a slow, proud smile came to his face.

"See? your body is honest, Adeline," he said in a deep, rough voice. "It tells me the truth, even when your mouth doesn’t want to say it out loud. You kissed me back. You held on to me. You still are."

I looked down. My fingers were still curled in his shirt.

"You are... You’re impossible," I whispered. My voice shook.

Behind me, Blake laughed softly. I felt it in his chest against my back. His lips touched the edge of my ear, and his hand stayed firm on my hip.

"She will learn it eventually," Blake whispered, his tone smooth as silk, carrying the undeniable weight of absolute victory. "Fighting this bond only brings you pain. And we have already seen enough of you suffering today. Let us fix it."

Keiran held the back of my neck. His grip was warm and steady, and he had not loosened it once. His thumb moved gently along my jaw. It calmed me, but his eyes were wild and dark.

"Listen to me, Adeline," he said quietly. "The pain-binding curse feeds on your resistance," Keiran added, his voice dropping into a low, hypnotic whisper that made my head spin.

"Every single time you try to push us away, every time you deny what is standing right in front of you, that dark magic tears deeper into your nervous system. You need our closeness, Adeline. You need us to anchor you so you do not break. That’s why the pain stops when we touch you. Think about it. Where is the pain right now?"

I stopped. I really thought about it.

It was gone. The burning in my veins, the sharp stabs, the shaking. All of it had faded.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a brief second, a heavy wave of bitter exhaustion washing over my remaining defenses. They weren’t just manipulating me, they were right.

"It’s... gone," I said. I hated that they were right. The phantom still stings and burning agony that had been tearing through my flesh and veins earlier had completely vanished. They were replaced by a warm, humming feeling.

Zyran stepped forward. He had stayed quiet until now, his dark eyes were soft as it stayed locked onto mine, and it made my chest ache.

He took my free hand. His fingers were big and warm around my wrist. He lifted it and pressed his lips to my knuckles. It was a gentle kiss, so gentle it did not fit the man I knew, the one who fought like a beast.

"You do not have to fight us anymore," Zyran whispered, his voice rough and deep, but completely stripped of all its usual coldness.

Blake kissed the side of my neck, right over my pulse. It was soft and warm, and it made me shiver.

"Let go, Adeline. Stop fighting us!" he said. "Just for tonight. Lean on us. We won’t let you fall."

My knees simply buckled under the overwhelming intensity of the sensations. If Keiran had not been holding the back of my neck, and if Blake had not been supporting my weight from behind, my legs would have given out completely, and I would have collapsed onto the floor.

Raven saw it right away. He closed the last bit of space between us and wrapped his arm around my waist. He pulled me against his chest. Then I felt a deep hum inside him, a low purr that shook through his body and into mine. It was the sound an wolf makes to calm a panicked mate.

"I’ve got you," he whispered. "Breathe with me. In... and out. That’s it."

I breathed with him. Surrounded by their heat, caught in the undeniable pull of a bond I never wanted yet desperately needed, my resistance completely broke.

I stopped fighting. I let out a long, tired breath. It felt like putting down something very heavy that I had carried for a very long time.

Keiran moved. His hand slid smoothly from my neck down to the curve of my spine. With effortless, terrifying strength, he scooped me right off my feet.

I gasped, a startled cry slipping past my lips as my entire body was lifted into the air.

"Keiran, wait..."

Before I could even register what was happening, the plush, oversized mattress of the royal bed caught my back as Keiran laid me down. The moment my back touched the soft sheets, all four of them moved together with the synchronized, predatory grace of apex predators cornering their prize.

Keiran followed me down immediately, pressing his body half over mine, his hand tangling softly in my hair to keep my face tilted upward toward his.

On my other side, Blake stretched out fully beside me on the mattress, his heavy arm draping completely over my waist to pin me down with an immovable, possessive weight.

Zyran and Raven stood at the foot of the bed, watching me with a look so hot that my skin tingled. There was nowhere to look but at them.

My heart beat so hard that I was sure they could hear it. Maybe they could.

Keiran looked down at me, his eyes dark with a fierce, burning hunger.

"You’re shaking," he said. "Is it fear, or is it something else?"

His thumb touched my bottom lip and traced it very slowly.

"Tell me, Adeline," he whispered. "Tell me what you want."

His thumb stayed on my lip.

The curse was not gone. Another night like that and I would not wake up. The witch had said it. The princes knew it too. I knew it too.

There was only one way to keep it away.

"I don’t want to die," I said. My voice was steady, and it surprised me.

Keiran closed the remaining distance and kissed me. It was slower than Raven’s kiss, deeper and no less passionate. His hand went to the neck of my hoodie.

I heard the cloth tear, one long sound, and cool air touched my skin, followed by my jeans were undone. He pulled both the ruined hoodie and the jeans away and dropped it on the floor. Now I lay there in only my lace bra and underwear.

I felt exposed as my gaze travelled from one Prince to another, my cheeks burning with embarrassment and the heat of the moment. But no one looked away. Raven let out a low breath, his lips curved into a smirk as his eyes travelled over my exposed skin. Zyran, at the foot of the bed, gripped the bedpost so hard that the wood creaked.

"Look at me, Adeline," Keiran said. "Not at them. Only at me."

I looked at him. His eyes were black with hunger.

His hand moved down my stomach, slow and warm. It went under the edge of my underwear before slipping inside my underwear. When his long warm fingers brushed against my wet folds, I was already wet.

An involuntary gasp that I tried so hard to control slipped off my lips. He pushed his two fingers into my pussy in one smooth motion, drawing another gasp from my lips.

"Don’t hide it," Keiran said softly, close to my ear. "I want to hear every sound you make. That gasp was the best thing I’ve heard all day."

"If it hurts, or if you want me to stop, tell me. Do you understand?" he murmured near my ear.

"Yes," I whispered.

Then he pushed two fingers inside me in one smooth move. My back lifted off the bed. My hands grabbed the sheets.

"Breathe," he said. "Feel how your body holds on to me? It knows what it needs."

He moved his fingers slowly. In and out, then a slow curl that made my legs tremble. His thumb found the sensitive place above and circled it in small, steady turns. Heat rose in my belly and spread through my whole body. His fingers curling inside me with ruthless precision, making my eyes roll back with that agonising slow speed.

"Keiran," I breathed. I did not know I was going to say his name. "Keiran... please..."

"Shh... I’ve got you."