“What?” they said in unison.

　　I started to panic, maybe this was a bad idea after all. Maybe if I told them earlier and allowed them to think things through then maybe it would be easier for them. The marking process does not only affect me after all, if it was a success then they will be bonded to me as I will be bonded to them. The talk I had with Augustus all that time ago seemed to appear in my mind all of a sudden.

　　“Of course, I won’t force any of you to do it! I know that asking you to mark me is initially asking you to give your heart and body to me and I would never want to do anything that any of you are opposed to. I just—”

　　“Wait. Weren’t you the one who didn’t want to get marked in the first place?” Isaiah asked.

　　“Y-yes but things change.” I said, almost in a whisper.

　　“Haha, the princess is smitten.” Cassian teased. I glared at him, and he quickly raised his hands up in defence. “But to be marked by the three of us, I do not think that is possible. Whoever marked you first will be your pair for life.”

　　“I am aware of that hence why I want to turn and see if marking me at the same time would work.” I muttered. “But! As I said before, if even one of you are not comfortable with this arrangement, then—”

　　“Are you in heat?” Augustus suddenly asked. I froze. Were the suppressants not working anymore, I wondered. I opened my mouth to answer but Isaiah chimed in.

　　“Ah, no wonder there’s a sweet scent in the atmosphere.”

　　“Are you aware that it is dangerous for you to invite three alphas to your room during your heat?” Augustus retorted.

　　“I-I know but I took my suppressants and…I just wanted to tell you this today because I heard the chances of being paired with someone during heats and ruts will be easier. I didn’t mean to seem as though I was entrapping or luring any of you…”

　　Cassian chuckled. “No one said that! We’re just worried about you, you know. And I know I speak for all of us here that we don’t want to hurt you, no matter what. It’s just, this proposition of yours sounds rather risky.”

　　“I agree with Cassian. If this idea of yours doesn’t work and you end up being paired with only one of us then—” he did not finish his sentence and let out a sigh instead.

　　“Wait, we are not focusing on the right questions here.” Isaiah jumped in. The three of us turned to him. He folded his arms across his chest, deep in thought. “Cassian, Augustus, how do you feel about Cordelia?”

　　“What?” they echoed each other. I felt myself blush.

　　“It’s a fairly simple question. Because for me, I would not mind being bond to her for eternity. She already has my heart, I would not hesitate to devote my body to her as well.” He said, staring me straight in the eyes.

　　“I-Isaiah…” I muttered, feeling the urge to pull him into a tight hug and it was as though he could read my thoughts as he slowly made his way towards me.

　　He reached out for my hand, interlocking our fingers. “You feel the same do you not?” he asked.

　　“You do not find that I am greedy for sharing such feelings towards Augustus and Cassian as well?” I whispered, hoping the other would not hear but naturally they did.

　　“As long as your heart has space for me, I’ll accept any conditions, Cordelia, my starlight.” He said, bringing my hand up to his lips and kissing the back of my hand. He then dropped my hand but still held it firmly before he turned to the other two. “Well, what about the both of you?”

　　“N-Naturally, I agree as well since I adore my Cordelia.” Cassian said, surprisingly more embarrassed than I thought he would be since he was dubbed a Casanova before getting married to me. “But I have one condition.” He added.

　　“Yes?”

　　“I…” he looked away, cleared his throat and turned back to me but even then, his cheeks were tainted red, rather noticeable under the moonlight. “I would like you to confess your feelings for me once more, in private. Because I have so many things, I want to tell you, Cordelia. So, allow me to be slightly greedy as well when it comes to you.”?

　　“Ugh, it’s weird seeing you like this, Cassian. What happened to your bravado?” Isaiah teased.

　　“Shut up~” Cassian singsonged. He then turned to Augustus. “And what about you, Prince Augustus?”

　　Augustus was deep in thought, and I could imagine what was going through his head. I took a step forward, not letting go of Isaiah’s hand. “Augustus, do you remember our conversation back then? At the bookshop?”

　　“The Tale of Traitorous Love,” he said. Cassian and Isaiah exchanged confused glances.

　　“That’s right and this conversation led to your view on how alphas and omegas lose a part of themselves when they experience their heats and that this in turn creates a forced bond. Even though there is a truth to that, and I could have continued this arrangement we have as it has been, without being marked by any of you but I want to choose my own faith now.” I paused to take in a deep breath, filling my mind with their scent. “It might be hypocritical of me to say since the only reason we were all brought together was for the sake of convenience, but I truly grew to adore you, all of you.”

　　“Cordelia,” he called out.

　　“But if, by chance, you still find this preposterous then let us leave it at that. My feelings for you will not change even if you do not want to go through with this. If you still dislike the idea of being bonded to someone.”

　　“Surely, you of all people know how much you have changed my perspective of that since our trip to the Northern Kingdom.” He stated. “Forming a bond to you would be a joy—something I do not deserve and even so, I too want to be greedy. But the chances of all three of us being bonded to you is rather slim.”

　　I smiled at his sweet confession that he easily brushed past. I decided to talk to him about that another time, in private. “You have valid concerns about how it might not even work and then being bound to only one of you will not be the most ideal thing to happen but even so, I would like to try.”??

　　“Then, who am I to refuse you?” he smiled.

　　“Shit. Augustus smiled.” Isaiah blurted out. “Did you see that?” he asked Cassian.

　　“I did, I did!” the two teased.

　　Augustus frowned at the both of them before completely ignoring them. “Let us begin, shall we?” he asked me.

　　*

　　This was embarrassing, I thought as I laid on the bed with Isaiah on my left side, Augustus on my right and Cassian, smugly smiling back at me as his fingers brushed tenderly over the sides of my thighs. We made eye contact and I wanted to squirm away. This was embarrassing.

　　“You’re acting so coy all of a sudden.” Cassian said, pushing my legs apart before leaning his face lower.

　　“Eep…wait!” I cried.

　　When they agreed to mark me at the same time, we had a discussion on how they were going to bite my neck all at once but then Augustus said that biting the neck is tradition, but it was not required to be a pair with someone. I told them that I did not mind the location of their bites, as long as it could be easily concealed. They then decided on their own accord where they wanted to leave their mark on me.

　　Isaiah played it safe, saying he would mark me on my shoulder, but Augustus and Cassian’s locations were rather obscene. Augustus said he wanted to leave his mark on my side, just by my rib cage and Cassian on the other hand…

　　“Are you sure you want to b-bite there, Cassian?” I asked him for the hundredth time as I watched him nuzzle his face against my inner thigh, a delighted hum escaping his lips.

　　“Of course, I’m sure,” he said, voice muffled, and a tad sensual.

　　Augustus then pushed my gown to expose my undergarments and bare stomach to them so we could get to his designated spot. All of them had seen me naked before but strangely, having all of them in the same room was extremely embarrassing! Their hands on my body, all at once was already driving me mad and with my heat still lingering, I wonder how much more I could endure before I lost myself to desire—before I became more greedy, desperate for more than just their touch.