I wasn’t listening to that bitch again, though.
Even if Apex was handsome—and dashing—and just a little bit dangerous—this was going too far.
“You said that you would obey me, did you not?” Apex cocked his head to the side as if I was confusing him.
What a bastard.
“I didn’t think that your first order would be to force me into sex with you!” I balled my hands into fists and put my foot down—literally. “That goes a little beyond keeping up appearances, don’t you think?”
“I do,” Apex said as he began to unbutton his shirt. “Which is why I am not suggesting it.”
“But you said—”
“I said to get into bed, Atlanta.” For a moment, he looked tired—something I hadn’t seen from him yet. “If you wish to keep your clothes on, so be it. But I cannot imagine that you will be comfortable sleeping in formal wear, and I do not wish to call servants in again. The more they see of us, the more they will talk. Not always to our benefit.” He shrugged his shirt off, revealing—just as I’d suspected—an incredibly muscular chest. There were influencers I knew back on Earth who would have killed for Apex’s physique. Although, come to think…Apex probably had actually killed for it. If that made him less hot in that moment…well, I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to say so. “You can have my shirt to sleep in, if you are uncomfortable being nude in my presence. Though, it did not seem to bother you earlier.”
He held his shirt out to me, and gingerly, I took it.
“So…I’ll take the bed, you’ll sleep on the chair or something?” I put his shirt on and buttoned it up. It had fit Apex like it’d been tailored for him, but on me, the soft linen fabric hung down to my thighs like a dress. I shimmied my pants and top off beneath it. With a belt, a nice purse and some heels, I imagined it probably would’ve looked pretty fashionable. “That’s…gentlemanly of you.”
“No. I will sleep in the bed with you, of course.” Apex sat on the bed and pulled his boots off, then his socks. “This mattress is plenty large for the both of us. Why in the moons would I sleep on a chair?”
“Because…” I mean, he had a point, but something about this still felt wrong. Or maybe that was just my inner virgin showing—the virgin that I was trying very hard to pretend I wasn’t. Maybe it was time to drop that act, though. “I’ve never slept in a bed with a man before.”
“I am not a man, Atlanta. If you fear I will accost you in the night, you may place pillows between us.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll sleep in the chair then.”
“No, you will not.”
I let out a groan. “Why not?”
Apex rose, his hands on his belt as he approached me again. “Because if you were truly my possession, my slave, an obedient thing that I have successfully bent to my will, as we need Queen Lieja to believe, then you would be sleeping at the foot of the bed, if not on the floor. If you would prefer that, you are welcome to it. I thought that this arrangement would be more agreeable to you. If not, then by all means—take the rug by the fire. The servants will be pleased to see you there when they come in tomorrow morning to add wood.”
“Oh, sure. I’ll sleep on the floor like a dog.” I scoffed and hugged my arms around my chest. This was becoming impossible. “Aren’t the servants going to talk even more if they come in and see me curled up on your chest?”
“Is that how you wish to sleep?” Apex raised an eyebrow as he undid his belt. It was hard to keep my eyes on his as he did it. All my inner floozy wanted to look at was whatever he had beneath those pants he was currently stripping out of.
“No, but—”
“Atlanta, not everything I ask of you will be to your liking. Some things will seem humiliating, though I will attempt to minimize that as much as possible. But I can assure you, sleeping on the bed with me as I have proposed is the most comfortable option—and the safest. If someone comes into the room unexpectedly—which can happen, seeing as this is Queen Lieja’s palace, not mine—it will be easiest for you to shift to the foot of the bed before the lights are turned on. If I take the floor, or the chair, I will not be able to get into place in time. If you take the floor—which, as I have said, you are welcome to do—you will be sore come morning and tomorrow will be an uncomfortable day for you.”
Apex unbuttoned his trousers, stepped out of them, then folded them neatly and placed them on the wardrobe near the door. Now, he was clad in only a thin pair of black shorts that looked kind of like boxers. Through them, I could just barely make out the outline of his cock.
It looked…well, it was huge.
Feeling defeated, I bowed my head and let my shoulders slump forward as I made my way to my side of the bed. There were plenty of pillows on it, so by the time Apex turned out the light and joined me, I’d constructed a relatively safe-looking wall between us with them.
“Goodnight, Atlanta. I hope you are able to sleep soundly,” Apex said from the other side of the pillow wall. “In the morning, we still have much to discuss—and even more to work on.”
“Yeah. Great. Goodnight,” I said, obviously not thrilled.
As I lay there in the darkness listening to Apex’s breathing become slower and deeper, I couldn’t quite manage to drift off myself. I was still reeling from this new reality I’d found myself in. No longer caged, but still completely controlled. Some things never really changed.
What Apex was asking of me must have
