The Veil of Darkness

Once Aunt Claire and Sera left, the three dark lords turned their attention toward the closed door of Annalise’s bed-chamber. "Do you think something happened in the Palace? Is it the King?" Kenric asked the questions and his gaze was trained on none other than Valerius who shook his head before replying, "It’s definitely related to her visit to the palace but I can’t tell exactly what it is because she has shut me out."

"Another important aspect of our bonds that she has learned on her own," Damien commented with a little shake of his head but the little arch of his lips made it clear that he was pretty proud of her but then it disappeared just as soon as it had appeared when he confessed, "But she has shut me out too."

After his confession, he turned his attention to Kenric along with Valerius as both of them looked at their youngest brother in the hope to hear a positive response from him but it seemed like their dear wife believed in equality when it came to her love and trust toward all three of her husbands. There was no special treatment for anyone of them which meant that if she was going to shut one out, the other two would follow too.

Kenric let out a sigh before he stepped closer to the door and was about to knock when it flew open all of a sudden, taking all three of them a little aback. The three of them shared quick looks before hurriedly stepping inside the room right a second or two before the door shut close.

"There she is," Damien whispered as he noticed their wife sitting on the floor next to the bed with her back pressed against the bed. She was facing away from them and the bond was not allowing them to get a hold of her emotions which only made it hard for them to find exactly how she was feeling.

The three of them closed the distance between them and their wife and moved to finally see her face only to realize that her face was puffy, her cheeks were red as were her eyes that were brimming with punished tears and it seemed like she ahd been crying for a while already.

All three of them were next to her in a blink as they pulled her into their arms, making sure to surround her with their presence, strength, love, and warmth.

"Princess, allow us in," Damien whispered softly as he pulled her to sit on his lap while he took a seat on her spot with his back pressed against the bedside. Him being the only one with a complete soulmate bond with her gave him the privilege to be the one handling her in such a situation but it didn’t mean the others’ presence wasn’t needed there. She needed all three of them by her side.

Annalise only buried her face in his shoulder in response but didn’t do what he wanted, what all three of her husbands wanted.