My husband’s hot green eyes lock on my face. “A dance, my love?”
“Another one?” I tease as I accept his hand.
Music swirls around us as if the orchestra realizes the mood of the crowd and wants to stir more mischief.
“What did Corvin say?” he murmurs. “You looked like you were going to choke him on his own wine.”
We can’t speak of anything important here, with ears listening in on every side.
I smile sweetly. “He was just informing me about your almost-betrothal to Lucere. You’ll forgive me my shock, as I thought you would have mentioned such a thing before we arrived.”
You promised there would be no more secrets.
Thiago’s gaze cuts to Corvin. “I ought to pluck that bastard.” His attention returns to me. “I didn’t mention it because nothing came of it. And it wasn’t a betrothal. Ravenal opened negotiations. I said I would discuss it with them at the next Queensmoot. Except I never got a chance, because the second I arrived, there you were, gowned in pure starlight. I couldn’t look away from you then, and nothing has changed since that moment.”
It eases something inside of me. “You should have warned me.”
“I should have. But as far as I was concerned, there was nothing to warn you of. I honestly didn’t think of it.”
I stare at him. Men.
His grip tightens. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
Maybe.
It’s difficult to shake off years of neglect when you spent your entire childhood competing with your sister for a scrap of your mother’s attention.
I don’t want to be jealous, but the tight, burning feeling in my chest betrays me.
“You have no reason to be.” His hand sweeps down my hip, his fingers becoming a little possessive. “You are mine, Vi. Now. Forever. Always. And I don’t care who I have to fight to keep you in my arms.”
I hate this. I hate the fact that no matter how many times he pledges his love to me, there’s a little piece of my heart that feels as though I don’t deserve to be loved. “I love you,” I whisper.
Thiago blinks, and then he draws me closer, the look in his eyes growing heated. “Do you?” His breath stirs the silken strands of hair that are tucked behind my ear. “I can count the number of times I’ve heard those words from your lips on both hands.”
“Really?” Surely, I’ve told him before.
“You used those words to say goodbye to me,” he tells me starkly, and his fingers dig into my skin unconsciously. “You would say it before I had to return you to your mother, and then the next time I saw you, your eyes wouldn’t even recognize me.”
And he would have to earn my heart all over again.
The cage of my gown constricts me. “I hate her so much.”
“As do I.”
“They didn’t believe me. I tried to convince them my mother will see us all to the Underworld, and they laughed. My mother has offered them peace.”
He stills for a second before he sweeps me in another circle. I spin under his arm, and as I twirl our eyes meet, every single time.
Finally, the music slows. And so does he.
I float to a halt as Thiago takes me in his arms and then leans down and kisses me.
“Then we’ll see what we can offer them in return,” he purrs in my mind as we link.
“Come.” He draws me through the doors, into the gardens beyond.
“Where are we going?”
But all he gives me is a dangerous smile as he lures me into the darkness.
Chapter Ten
“Thiago!” I gasp as he pushes me against the garden wall. I steal a swift glance toward the bonfires in the center of the gardens. “Someone might see us.”
Hot kisses score my throat, and then his hands are sliding through my hair. “I don’t care if they do. You’re my wife. I want all the world to know it.”
Gods, the way he says things like this….
There’s a part of me that still yearns to hide all the feelings that tremble within me. I love him. I will never stop loving him. But when you’ve spent years hiding your every emotion, it’s instinct to keep such thoughts close to your heart, where no one can ever, ever know.
It takes conscious effort to shed the mantle I use to guard my heart.
Each and every fucking time.
Maybe one day it will be easier.
So I kiss him instead, yielding to his touch. Let them see. Let them all see. I have no further need to hide.
My fingers tangle in his shirt, and I tilt my head to give him better access to my throat.
“You are mine,” he whispers, palms skimming beneath the silk and up my back. “And I am yours, and I want the whole cursed world to know it.”
The flush of his power tingles all over my skin, his oath sliding over his tongue like honeyed mead and sinking into my flesh like a barb. His kiss burns, both with power and with promise. It whispers dirty little nothings in my ear, lets me imagine just how good this would feel if there was no material between us. Nothing but naked skin, nothing but the power of his muscled body pinning mine beneath him, burying me in silken sheets while he took and ravaged and....
He slips the gown from my shoulders, baring my breasts to the moonlight. Teeth graze my nipple, and then he’s suckling it into his mouth.
I want him inside me.
I want what he promises.
Capturing a fistful of his hair, I draw his mouth to mine and bite his lower lip. “Then do it,” I whisper. “Take me. Right here. Right now.”
Fingers skate beneath my skirts, and he finds the golden chains that are woven around my thigh.
His eyes darken as he realizes I’m not wearing a thing beneath the silk, and a rough laugh escapes
