Then I heard him say, “No one touches her but me.”
Their conversation then changed to fighting in the barracks and stolen weaponry near the border. It quickly became evident that Florian had a lot of catching up to do regarding the running of his armies and kingdom after spending so much time tending to me.
There was no guilt for keeping him from his duties. There was only confusion as I forgot all about heading to the kitchen and quietly walked back upstairs instead.
I couldn’t make sense of what I’d overheard. Was Florian hesitant to marry me? To go forth with a celebration that would have all of Folkyn and beyond know it was official—he’d stolen and claimed his enemy’s daughter.
Or was it something else?
Something that seemed so unfathomable, I couldn’t even entertain the idea.
The only thing I knew with bone-deep certainty was that nothing was impossible where Florian’s meticulous plans and wrath were concerned. So though it caused every ounce of me to protest, I knew I had no choice.
Further punctuating my thoughts, the clock downstairs gave one last echoing tick as I quietly closed the doors to Florian’s chambers behind me.
It was time to make some plans of my own.
To sleep in my rooms would arouse suspicion when Florian assumed I was still asleep in his bed where he’d left me.
I failed to remember he’d catch my scent on the stairs and in the hall outside and know I was awake when he returned hours later.
The quiet sound of the doors clicking closed was akin to a drum pounding. “Where have you been, butterfly?”
I rolled to my back and stretched my arms over my head.
Florian stood by the chaise, unbuttoning his shirt. I chewed my lip and made a show of studying his broad chest. “Couldn’t sleep. I was hungry.”
Florian tossed the rippling black silk to the chaise, then unfastened his pants. “Need me?”
Incessantly, I thought but didn’t dare say. I smiled. “For food.”
He hummed, his gaze landing where the bedding had fallen from my breasts. “Not my cock, then?”
My smile grew, real this time, as he prowled toward me. He tore the blankets away to seize my ankle.
I squeaked, dragged to the side of the bed.
Just when I’d thought I’d gotten away with keeping my troubled thoughts to myself, he ran his hand down the inside of my leg. “Something upsets you.” Panic bleated, and his eyes shot to mine as he heard it—the increased tempo of my heart. “Butterfly,” he warned softly. “Tell me what has kept you awake.”
“You,” I whispered immediately, and honestly.
His hand stilled as he waited for more.
There was no point in not speaking of it, in hiding the truth when it might help me avoid admitting what I’d overheard earlier. “You’re my mate, aren’t you?”
He didn’t answer, and he didn’t need to.
He pushed his cock into my body and gathered my legs to his chest, causing him to sink so deep that pain flared. I moaned as he grasped my thighs and spread them, my feet at his hard shoulders, and slowly rocked his hips.
His head turned for his mouth to press to my ankle, and the action, coupled with his unrelenting gaze…
I closed my eyes, so confused and conflicted and cornered that tears threatened to arrive.
For once, the king didn’t demand I keep them open.
He delivered my traitorous body to a release as gentle as the roughened fingertips trailing my legs, and then he followed with a snarled groan.
Afterward, he cleaned me, and I curled onto my side to face him when he returned from the bathing room. I searched those dark-blue eyes, and they searched mine.
And I wondered if we were both looking for something we were too afraid to find.
Fear had held me prisoner my entire life. More than Rolina. More than this male. And more than anyone else ever could.
I couldn’t keep letting it control me. I had to stop letting it keep me where I didn’t wish to be.
Here, that noose around my neck—the bond I’d found with this king—tightened. I wish to be right here.
But although I might have been a part of his plan, it couldn’t be more clear, especially after hearing pieces of his conversation with Fume, that Florian was incapable of turning the tides of his own making.
And I’d been swimming toward nothing for too long.
Florian studied my every feature, his jaw firm. Yet he would not demand that I tell him what was ailing me again. Not when he did not wish to acknowledge things I’d rather not even acknowledge myself.
But I needed to.
I needed to use what I felt as a weapon, rather than let it use me.
I needed to use whatever he felt for me, however small, rather than let him play with me until he decided he was bored and his mission was complete.
So I said softly, “I still hate you, you know.”
He tensed, something passing through his eyes.
Reaching out, I traced his cheekbone, whispering without enough air in my chest, “Most of all, I hate that I think I’m falling in love with you.”
His lips parted slightly, but otherwise, he just continued to stare. He didn’t blink. Florian did exactly what I expected and needed him to.
Nothing at all.
I rolled over to face the balcony doors and sleep, knowing he would leave me again and attempting not to let it wound. For although I hadn’t thought I’d meant what I’d said, I supposed I had to some extent.
I was falling, and it was time to find a way out before his refusal to catch me killed me.
I’d assumed correctly.
The following morning, Florian was gone.
It was what I wanted. What I needed. Yet alone in my own rooms, I bathed and angrily scrubbed useless tears from my cheeks.
A grizzly glance from Olin, when I ventured downstairs for breakfast and dared to ask of the king’s whereabouts, conveyed the steward would rather swim naked in the iced-over lake than indulge any curiosity of mine.
He walked past me and up the stairs, nose in the air and a steaming cup of ginger-scented tea in hand.
Right. Still despised me, then. I sighed, even as I tried not to laugh.
One of the groundskeepers opened the manor doors to let Snow in.
The wolf bounded through the foyer toward me, bigger than I’d last seen and trailing mud behind her.
I crouched to nuzzle my face in her wet coat, then swiped dirt from her cheeks. “Did you miss me?” She licked my cheek, and I laughed. “I missed you more. Hungry?” I asked, rising and smiling as she raced ahead of me and down the hall to the kitchen stairs.
“Well, if it isn’t the captive bride.” Kreed wriggled his brows while I took a seat upon the stool at the island bench. “I’ll need a minute to prepare you your usual.” He pointedly cleared his throat. “After such a long absence.”
Heat crept into my cheeks. I muttered scratchily, “It’s only been a few days.”
The cook grinned, blinding and mischievous. “Four days, Princess.” He laughed, then whistled. “That’s some prowess, even for a royal male.”
I refused to tell him that I could have comfortably left the king’s rooms yesterday, and that Florian had thought it best we be absolutely certain the heat was over beforehand. “Stop it,” I hissed but smiled, then looked around. “Where are the twins? Though I’m glad they’re not here to hear you tease me, I would like to thank them for watching Snow.”