Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

The bath chamber received them with cedarwood steam, warm stone, and the last damp traces of the festival clinging to their clothes.

Kael lowered Nia onto the warmed bench near the basin, but his hands stayed at her waist until she steadied herself. The festival had followed them up the mountain in pieces: smoke in her cloak, berry sweetness on her tongue, damp at the edge of her hood, the bogaru tucked somewhere under her ribs. In the steam, those pieces softened until the cold stopped scraping at her skin.

Shen set the dry cloths on the shelf, then looked down.

Nia’s socks were still on.

Nia followed his gaze. “I know.”

“You are sitting on the bench with cold socks.”

“I had not gotten to them yet.”

Kael looked at Shen. “Boots first. Ours too.”

Shen stepped to the side mat and loosened his boot ties. Kael crouched long enough to strip off his own boots, setting them near the curtain where meltwater could drain into the groove beside the stone. Only then did he return to Nia, bare feet quiet on the warmed floor.

Nia watched him come back to her.

“You noticed that while carrying me?”

“I noticed the water on the floor,” Kael said. “And your socks.”

Shen knelt by her other foot, pale hair loosening where steam gathered on the strands. “And the way you were trying not to curl your toes.”

“I was not trying very hard.”

“No.”

Kael closed his hands around one ankle, firm and warm through the damp wool, while Shen took the other. They worked without speaking over each other. Kael peeled one sock away and rubbed heat into the arch of her foot with his thumb. Shen did the same on the other side, slower, pressing the chilled skin until feeling returned in little sparks that made her toes curl.

Nia looked down at the two of them kneeling in front of her.

Kael still wore his inner leathers, damp at the knees from the walk and the snow that had clung to him outside. Shen’s sleeves were wet near the cuffs. Both of them were tending to her feet with the concentration other men might bring to weapons, weather, or the edge of a winter trail.

Her breath caught when Kael’s thumb circled the arch of her foot and Shen’s hand warmed her ankle, not holding her down, only keeping the heat there.

“You are both still dressed,” she said.

Kael looked up first. “We are getting you warm first.”

“I want you warm too.”

His gaze held on her face, steady enough that her breath changed before he spoke.

“Then undress me.”

Shen’s hand paused around her ankle.

Nia’s warmed toes pressed against Kael’s palm. “Here?”

Kael’s mouth curved faintly. “You asked.”

Shen set her sock near the heated shelf, his voice softer than before. “He heard you.”

Nia’s fingers went to the tie at her inner wrap. “Then wait for me.”

Kael’s gaze stayed on her face. “I can wait.”

This time, neither of them moved to take the work from her. Kael stayed crouched with one hand around her calf, and Shen’s fingers rested lightly at her other ankle.

The knot came loose, and the outer wrap slipped open over her knees.

Steam touched the bare skin beneath, and Nia shivered at the change. Kael’s hand tightened around her calf, steadying instead of stopping. Shen’s thumb moved once near the delicate bone of her ankle, then stilled when she drew the wrap down herself.

She pushed the damp cloth from her thighs and held it out.

Shen took it. He did not look away from her face until she released it.

Kael rose and reached behind her to loosen the tie at the back of her upper wrap. His knuckles brushed her nape, where damp curls had escaped from the weight of her braids. Nia’s skin tightened under the touch. She tilted her head forward, and the movement placed the back of her neck beneath his mouth.

Kael kissed the chilled place once.

The kiss was warm enough to make her shoulders lower.

Shen, still kneeling, slid his hand up to her knee and kept it there. “Breathe.”

Nia let out the breath she had trapped.

Kael loosened the tie and drew the wrap down over one shoulder. Shen rose to help with the other side, his fingers precise at the damp seam where fabric clung to her skin. Nia let them work only until the cloth reached her hands. Then she took it herself, pulled it free, and dropped it onto the pile beside the bench.

Steam moved over her bare chest.

Both men went quiet.

Nia’s face heated, but she did not cover herself. They had seen her before, held her, washed her, marked her, kissed her, and slept with her between them, but the familiarity still changed with the light. Tonight it changed in cedarwood steam, with the drum below the mountain and the last cold of the festival leaving her skin under their hands.

She touched Shen first.

Her hand landed against his chest, palm spreading over warm skin beneath the open neck of his inner tunic. His breath shifted under her fingers. She pushed lightly, not enough to move him, only enough to feel the shape of him answer her.

“You too,” she said.

Shen lowered his eyes to her hand. “Here?”

“Here.”

Kael’s hand settled at the back of her shoulder. His thumb moved along the curve, steady and approving without taking the moment from her.

Shen untied his sleeves first. Even now, with Nia sitting bare in steam and Kael’s hand on her skin, he folded the strips and set them where they would not fall into water. Nia watched every careful movement until his fingers went to the fastening at his throat.

She leaned forward and caught the edge of his tunic.

“I said you too.”

His eyes darkened.

Kael’s breath warmed the side of her neck. “Let him finish untying it.”

Nia looked over her shoulder. “You are next.”

“I know.”

The promise in his voice made her thighs press together before she could hide it.

Shen’s gaze dropped, then returned to her face with a heat so quiet it made the room feel smaller. He let her pull the tunic open, then over his shoulders. The fabric slid away, leaving his chest bare under her hands.

Nia touched him properly then, both palms on him, tracing the lean strength of his chest down to his stomach. His muscles tightened under each pass, smooth and controlled, as if every breath had been trained to obey until her fingers taught it otherwise.

“You are doing that on purpose,” Shen said.

“Touching you?”

“Slowly.”

“Yes.”

Kael’s hand covered her hip from behind, heavy and warm. “Then do not stop.”

Nia’s laugh came out breathless.

She turned enough to reach for him.

Kael stepped close and let her find the fastening of his damp upper layer herself. The tie was simpler than Shen’s, but the leather had tightened with cold and steam, and her fingers slowed when his breath changed above her.

“Still want me to do it?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Nia pulled the tie loose and pushed the layer back from his shoulders. Kael shrugged free only when she had taken it as far as she could, then laid it over the warming rail.

Steam caught on his chest and shoulders, on the dark hair near his skin, on the hard lines of muscle that made Nia’s mouth go dry every time she let herself look too long.

When she looked too long, Kael watched her without moving away.

Nia lifted a hand, and he stepped close enough for her to touch.

His chest was a different kind of warmth beneath her palm, broader and denser, with the lingering cold from outside trapped only at the surface. Under it, he burned. She slid her hand down over his stomach, fingertips following the hard lines that tightened when she dragged one nail lightly through the damp heat there.

Kael caught her wrist.

His grip did not stop her. It held her in place against him.

“You like touching,” he said.

“I like touching you.”

His gaze flicked to Shen.

Nia reached back with her other hand and found Shen’s stomach without looking. “Both of you.”

Shen’s breath left him quietly when her fingers spread over him. Kael made a low sound that traveled into her palm. Their reactions met under her hands, different in shape and heat, and she kept both palms where they were until the bath water shifted behind them.

Shen covered her hand on his stomach, lifted it, and kissed the center of her palm. “Water.”

Nia let them guide her up.

Kael stepped into the basin first, the water climbing around his legs. He turned, lifted her by the waist, and lowered her in facing him instead of away. Heat closed over her calves, thighs, and hips, then rose around her stomach as she sank down with a sound she failed to hold back.

Kael’s hands stayed at her waist until she found the ledge with her feet.

Shen entered beside them, water rippling around his body as he settled close enough that his knee brushed hers. The basin had held all three of them before, but tonight it felt shaped around touch. Nia sat between them with Kael in front of her and Shen at her side, the steam turning their skin damp and close.

For a few breaths, they only warmed.

Kael poured water over her shoulder with one hand, his other anchored at her waist. Shen took a cloth from the shelf, dipped it, wrung it, and began at her fingers. He washed each one as if the cold had hidden in the joints. He cleaned the sticky berry residue from the crease near her thumb, the soot beneath one nail, the faint ash smear where the cup handle had pressed into her palm.

Nia watched his head bent over her hand.

“You do this like I might break.”

His eyes lifted. “No.”

His thumb moved over her wrist. “Like I know where the cold stays.”

Kael leaned in and kissed the side of her throat. “He does.”

Nia smiled, then lost it when Shen turned her wrist.

His thumb passed over the bond mark with a slowness that made the water seem hotter. Her hand curled toward him, and Shen bent to her wrist. His mouth touched the inside first, warm and closed. Then his tongue followed the same path, a slow wet stroke over the mark and the tender skin around it.

Nia’s fingers jerked in his hold.

Kael’s hand tightened on her waist.

Shen did it again, slower, watching her face while his tongue traced the place where his bond had first marked her. His control remained in the set of his shoulders and the care of his hand under hers, but his mouth had lost its healer’s distance.

Nia’s breath broke.

“Shen.”

He closed his lips over the inside of her wrist and sucked softly.

Her hips shifted under the water.

Kael caught the movement against his palm. His head lowered to her shoulder, and his teeth found the damp curve where neck gave way to muscle. He nibbled once, careful pressure through heat and steam, then again with enough bite to make her arch toward him.

Nia’s free hand went to his chest and gripped.

Kael soothed the bite with his tongue and then caught the same place again between his teeth, careful even when the pressure deepened.

Shen’s mouth stayed at her wrist.

Nia turned her wrist in Shen’s hold, offering him more, and pulled Kael closer with her other hand pressed against his chest. Kael followed, filling the space in front of her with heat and damp skin. Her palm slid down over his stomach again, and this time he let the touch continue until her fingertips reached the lower edge beneath the water.

He made a rough sound into her shoulder.

Shen’s hand moved from her wrist to her forearm, then to her side. He traced the line of her ribs under the water, stopping whenever her breath hitched and continuing only when she leaned toward him.

Nia turned her face and caught his mouth.

The taste of her own skin and berry drink lingered on him. She kissed him harder because of it, hand leaving Kael’s stomach to slide into Shen’s damp hair. Shen came with her, one hand braced against the basin ledge, the other spreading against her waist. His smooth tail slid under the water and curled around her calf with deliberate pressure.

Nia gasped into his mouth.

Kael stilled against her back.

His tail moved a moment later, brushing heavy and warm beneath the water against her thigh. He did not trap her with it. He let it rest there until Nia reached down herself.

Her fingers found Shen’s tail first, sleek beneath the surface, muscle moving under smooth skin as it tightened around her calf. Shen’s eyes half-closed when she stroked along it.

“There,” she said, because his breath changed.

Shen’s mouth parted.

Kael’s hand slid up her back. “Mine too, if you want.”

Nia turned enough to find him, and his furred tail brushed into her palm as if it had been waiting. Wet fur flattened under her fingers, soft even soaked, warmer near the base where it pressed against his body. She stroked through it carefully, then more firmly when Kael’s forehead lowered to hers and his breath left him through his teeth.

“You like that,” she whispered.

Kael’s eyes opened. “You know I do.”

Shen’s hand covered the side of her breast beneath the water.

Nia’s fingers tightened in Kael’s tail.

Shen waited until her gaze returned to him. His thumb moved once, slow enough to ask. Nia nodded, and his hand shaped her with the same attentive precision he used everywhere else. Kael’s mouth returned to her shoulder, softer this time, kissing over the place he had nibbled while one hand spread low over her stomach to hold her steady.

Nia let her head fall back against Kael’s shoulder.

Steam dampened her braids where they rested over the basin edge. Kael lifted them with his free hand and shifted the heavy length so it would not pull against her scalp. Even with his mouth at her skin and his breath rough, he made room for comfort first.

She turned her head and kissed him.

Kael met her with the heat he had held quiet through the walk home. His kiss was heavier than Shen’s, less careful in the mouth and more careful in the hands. Nia let him deepen it, one hand still in his wet tail, the other sliding over his chest.

Shen’s lips moved to her wrist again.

The first touch of his tongue made her shudder into Kael’s kiss.

Kael pulled back enough to see her face. “Too much?”

Nia shook her head. Water rippled against her collarbone.

“Words,” he said.

She swallowed. “More. Just slow enough that I can stay with you.”

Shen’s fingers stilled at once.

Kael’s thumb moved over her stomach. “Good. Tell us if that changes.”

Nia opened her eyes. “Do not sound so pleased with yourself.”

“I am pleased with you.”

Nia’s breath caught, and Shen kissed the inside of her wrist again.

This time he did not lick at once. He pressed his mouth there, then looked up through steam. The question sat in the pause, not spoken. Nia answered by sliding her wet fingers along his jaw and guiding him back.

Shen’s tongue moved over her wrist, deliberate and warm.

Kael’s teeth grazed her shoulder in answer.

Nia’s body tightened between them. Kael’s arm came around her waist. Shen’s tail firmed around her calf. The bath water rocked softly against the stone, and far below, the bogaru struck through the mountain in a pulse she felt more than heard.

Her knee lifted under the water, brushing Kael’s thigh.

He went still.

Nia held his gaze and did it again, intentional this time.

His hand flexed on her waist. “Nia.”

She reached down and set his hand where she wanted pressure. Kael’s eyes darkened before he moved. Shen watched her hand guide Kael’s, his attention fixed on her face.

Kael obeyed her slowly.

Nia’s head tipped back against him, and her hand reached for Shen. Shen came to her mouth at once. His kiss caught the sound she made when Kael’s hand moved, and his own hand slid over her ribs, her breast, her waist, touching in careful rhythm with the breath she kept losing.

Kael’s arm tightened around her waist.

No one rushed.

When Nia’s fingers tightened hard in Shen’s tail, he groaned into her mouth. She stroked along the smooth length again, learning where his breathing changed, where his body leaned into the touch, where his tail tightened around her leg in a way that made her stomach dip.

Kael’s furred tail pressed into her other hand.

She closed her fingers in it, rubbing slowly through wet softness until Kael’s mouth found her shoulder again. This bite was deeper than the others but still careful, pressure and heat and the scrape of teeth that made her whole body answer under the water. Shen’s tongue returned to her wrist, and Nia lost the rhythm of everything except their hands, their mouths, the tails under her fingers, and the water rocking against heated stone.

Her breath broke into Kael’s name, then Shen’s.

Kael held her through it, broad hand firm where she had placed it, other arm locked around her waist so she did not slide beneath the water. Shen kissed her wrist through the tremor, then her palm, then her knuckles, each touch slower as her body softened between them.

In the quiet after, water dripped from Shen’s hair, Kael breathed against her shoulder, and the hearth crackled beyond the curtain. The distant drum still carried Stormbreak below the mountain, where people kept dancing and feeding and watching the dark.

Nia opened her eyes and found Shen looking at her as if he had forgotten what he meant to do next.

“You can breathe,” she whispered.

Shen obeyed, and Kael’s quiet laugh warmed her shoulder.

Neither of them moved away.

Nia shifted between them and winced when the cooling water touched her side.

Both of them moved then.

Shen reached for the dry cloths. Kael stood with her gathered carefully against his chest, water streaming from both of them. The sudden air against her wet skin made her shiver, but the dry cloth came around her before the cold could settle. Shen tucked it over her shoulders and under her arms. Kael stepped from the basin with her held high enough that her feet did not touch the stone.

“I can walk,” she said, though her voice did not help her argument.

“You can,” Kael said. “You walked all the way up. Let me take you the rest.”

Shen dried her feet while Kael held her. He worked quickly now, practical again, color still high along his cheekbones. When he finished, she caught his wrist before he could rise.

He looked up.

Nia brought his hand to her mouth and kissed the inside of his wrist in return.

Shen went very still.

Kael’s arms tightened around her.

Nia’s tongue touched Shen’s skin once, soft and brief, over the place where his pulse beat fast.

Shen’s eyes closed.

“There,” she whispered.

Kael’s breath roughened behind her.

The bath curtain shifted with the heat moving out toward the main chamber. The covered bowls waited by the hearth. Sera’s scarf lay folded over the tray. Mari’s packet warmed beside it.

Nia rested her cheek against Kael’s chest. Her hand stayed in Shen’s.

Below the mountain, Stormbreak kept its rhythm.

From the bath chamber, Kael carried her toward the bed while Shen followed close with dry wraps, his smooth tail brushing her calf once before the blankets closed around them.

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