It made me smile.
So similar and yet so different.
I shuffled closer and wrapped my arms around her, enveloping her and gently nuzzling her neck. She smelled so good.
She murmured under her breath as she came awake. She peered over her shoulder at me and smiled. It was thick with sleep and she yawned wide.
“Did I wake you?” I said.
“Not really,” she said with a yawn. “I should get up and return to my room. We wouldn’t want everyone to know what we got up to last night, would we?”
“Why not?”
She frowned.
“I didn’t think you would want them to know about us,” she said.
She rolled over so her face was no more than a few inches from mine. She lay there, her breasts exposed and her leg rubbing against me.
“I would be proud to take you to any event, any party, anywhere,” I said. “I would be proud to have the most beautiful female on my arm.”
“Woman.”
“What?”
“I’m a woman, not a female. Well, I am, but woman is better.”
“Okay. My woman.”
I kissed her exposed shoulder.
“You don’t need to fear,” I said. “I’ll let them know. I’ll let the whole empire know. I never want you to leave me. Not ever.”
My hand was moving before I knew what it was doing. It formed a fist in front of my chest. It was the salute I usually shared with the guards.
I was telling her my heart belonged to her.
It took her a moment to recall the gesture and what it meant between a male and a female.
She performed the same motion back to me. She even remembered to lower her head as she did it.
I held her hands in mine and kissed the tips of her fingers.
“I pledge my life and soul to you, my love,” I said. “Everything I am belongs to you.”
She smiled at the words. She blinked and tears shimmered in her eyes. She turned to bury her face in the pillow.
“I finally understand what you meant when you said it was better to live without honor than to die with it,” I said. “I would not give you up, not for all the honor in the empire. So long as you feel honor for me, it’s enough.”
Her smile grew broader and it dislodged the tears that pooled in her eyes.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said. “But I’m afraid of what might happen if I do.”
She was upset about something. But what?
“I haven’t been completely honest with—”
A knock at the door cut her off. It was heavy, harsh, and rushed.
I ground my teeth in irritation. I wanted Sirena to open her heart to me.
“Come back later!” I barked.
“I’m sorry, my lord,” Zes said on the other side of the door. “This can’t wait. It’s urgent.”
I sighed and looked at Sirena. I held her delicate face in my hand and rubbed her smooth skin.
“Forgive me, my love,” I said. “Duty calls.”
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and eyes.
“It’s fine,” she said. “It can wait.”
I handed her a spare robe. When she pulled it on, it drowned her in fabric. She tied it shut but I could still make out the soft contours of her body underneath. She truly was a feast for the eyes.
She entered the bathroom. She didn’t need to do that. I was happy for her to see whatever was about to happen. I would discuss everything with her later to get her opinion.
“Come,” I said.
The door burst open and Zes wrestled a large Titan bound in torn rags. He might have once been a powerful male but with the heavy scars across his face and body, he must have had a rough life.
As he struggled against Zes, a pair of guards took position between me and the match taking place.
They slammed into my writing desk, knocking the papers to the floor. Zes got the better of the man and pressed him against the tabletop.
The man continued to fight but he couldn’t find the same purchase he had earlier.
I extended a hand to one of the guards and pointed at his knife. He handed it to me. At least now I wasn’t defenseless. If this large Titan rushed me with his powerful hands, I wanted to be ready in case the guards failed to hold him back.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Let him up.”
“My lord?” Zes said, refusing to ease his weight off the man. “He’s dangerous. You shouldn’t get too close.”
“Only a fool would attack me with three guards in the room,” I said. “Especially since he’s unarmed.”
Zes hesitated before letting the man straighten up. Yes, he was a physically powerful specimen. Broad across the chest and with a thick square chin, he would have fit perfectly well in the elite military unit. His hands and wrists were clasped in irons but he still looked like he could take down ten men.
I shifted my feet and changed position, adopting a more defensive stance. Maybe Zes was right and I had made a mistake. I clutched the stiletto tightly.
“Who are you?” I said. “Why are you here?”
The man glanced at me and then focused on the floor. His scraggly beard did little to conceal the dark network of scars across his face, neck, and chest. They reached under his dirty breeches and the torn holes in his pants.
“I’m not sure he can speak, my lord,” Zes said, perched and poised to attack at a moment’s notice. “He didn’t speak the whole time we apprehended him.”
“Why is he here?” I said.
“He’s an assassin,” Zes said. “He crept through secret passageways—tunnels we didn’t even know existed. It was blind luck we stumbled into him. He could have entered and slit your throat in the middle of the night.”
The man’s eyes drifted up in the direction of the bathroom. There but for a fraction of a second, Sirena caught the man looking, and immediately leaped back.
Or he might
