“You will escort me to the front of the room for the ceremony today. And when the country pledges their allegiance to me, you will also.”
“Will I?”
“Yes,” she said. “You know you cannot be King of this country and not be a citizen thereof.”
“And is a King beneath his Queen here?”
That brought to mind images of his strong, hard body beneath hers. All that power trapped between her thighs. And in her image, he looked up at her, his eyes fierce, and she knew that to imagine that she might be in control if she were on top was a fiction.
She blinked, ignoring the scorching heat in her cheeks.
“I believe you know he’s not,” she said, feeling particularly scabby. “But that does not mean I must submit to your nonsense.”
“I would never ask you to submit to such a thing.”
“Why did you leave me?”
Why could she not keep these sorts of questions inside? Why was she incapable of holding her tongue around him?
It was the strangest thing, for with him she found the core of what she claimed to want: a space where she could be wholly herself.
It was just she could not seem to entirely control it. And that was... Well, that was a double-edged sword.
What they had was nothing more than a mercenary arrangement. He was only able to be King because he would be married to her. And she needed his protection. She would’ve had to marry someday anyway, so it had been the smartest thing to agree to his demand. Of course it had been. To do anything else would’ve been stupid. He was the one securing her forces. He was the one making sure she was safe.
Any other man would have far too much power and she would have to be certain she could trust him. There was no reason not to marry Maximus. And there was no reason to be soft and tender about what had occurred between them in the garden. It would have happened eventually. An inevitability. And yet she felt soft and tender, and it didn’t matter if it was inevitable.
She wanted to rest her head against his chest.
You are a fool, Annick. You never went soft in all your years of captivity, and now you wish to snuggle up against this hunk of stone?
“I left because it was the best thing to do,” he said. “You asked me here to protect you, not to defile you.”
“Did we not agree that defiling would happen at a certain point?”
“I believe I told you to take another lover first.”
“And what about what I wanted? I didn’t want another lover.”
“You said that you suspected you were a glutton. That you might wish to make love to any number of men in your lifetime. Why should you settle for having me first?”
“I wanted you. Why should I do anything but have what I want? If I want a pastry for dinner, why should I not have it? If I want you as a lover, why should I not have you?”
“I was not able to be as gentle with you as I should’ve been.”
“I did not ask for gentle,” she said. “The world has not been gentle with me, Maximus King. The world has treated me roughly. And here, I find something that I want. Your body and your mind. Why should I not have this? Because you say so? Because you think you know me? You do not know me. You do not know me any more than I know you. Sharing pastries before dinner together and speaking of sex and gluttony is not knowing me. You do not get to decide how strong I am.”
“I would never seek to make decisions about what you can handle. But you don’t know me. And you know nothing of sex.”
“I know some of it now. That men are hard. And that it hurts when you are inside at first. But then it feels wonderful.”
“It won’t hurt every time.”
“How can it not? You are so very vast.”
His lips twitched. “You have a way with words.”
“I say it as it is,” she said. “And I know my mind.”