Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
His wife again grew silent.
When she did not break it as she had before, he asked, “Are you done?”
She nodded.
She then shook her head.
“I can also…hear very well. Better than anyone I know. This is also how I knew Wilmer and Mercy and Carrington were speaking about True.”
And when she again spoke no more, he asked gently, “Now, are you done, my queen?”
“I…I…you cannot…cannot know…” she trailed off, wet in her eyes.
Mars did not prompt her.
It took everything he had, but he gave her the time she needed to offer more treasure.
As a tear slid down her cheek, she carried on.
“I have never, except True, and as best she could, Tril, had anyone who looked after me.”
His chest was burning.
His throat was burning.
It felt like every inch of his skin was burning.
“And…and…I am happy to be taking the pennyrium so we have time together and we will be at our greatest strength to defeat the Beast, but I cannot wait to give you children, Mars. The way you speak of the family we will have, I cannot wait to watch you be a father to our babes. To…to share my love for them with you. I find I long for something I never longed for. Something I didn’t know I could have, until you spoke of it. I long for what I will have with you. I long for the life I will build with you. I want it to happen yesterday, which means for the first time in my life, I am happy in my now, but even so, I cannot wait for the morrow.”
“Come here,” he growled and watched her body start. “Come, my wife. Take Piccola. Call Tril. Give her our pet and tell her to deal with the maids as she sees fit. I’ll meet you in our chamber.”
“Mars—”
“You will do this, Silence, or the maids will be sequestered for hours and Piccola will watch our activities without supervision, and she’s a good girl, but she is not yet fully trained, so who knows what she’ll get up to.”
She hesitated no further, moved to him and took their monkey.
She did not move away for he caught her with one hand on her neck.
His queen lifted wet eyes to his.
He would never wish tears in her eyes.
But for this, this emotion she shared with him, this honesty.
He cherished them.
He forced his voice to a whisper when what he wanted to do was howl with elation.
“We will discuss all of this in much more depth after I reward you for giving yourself fully to me and after I thoroughly celebrate being given that precious gift.”
Her hand fell light at the base of his throat as she breathed, “My love.”
He needed her to do as told or things would swiftly get out of hand.
“Do as I bid, Silence, or be carried from the room.”
“I quite liked it when you carried me from the room,” she admitted softly.
And thus, she was carried from the room.
The maids were sequestered longer than he’d intended.
And Tril did not give that first damn at being summoned to their chamber while Silence was lounging abed, spent, and Mars stood at the door in nothing but his ante pants.
Indeed, Tril was as she had been for the last several days.
Beaming.
And her eyes didn’t once fall to his chest.
Piccola chirruped her dissatisfaction at being taken from her mama and papa.
But Mars would have her brought back.
Later.
He’d learned his wife was docile for a period of time after an orgasm which meant he could play with her at will without having his control tested as his little wanton sought to get her fill.
And it was after he spent a good deal of time doing that, when his Silence was nearly catatonic in his arms, that he murmured, “We will discuss the Necropolis and why that is the way in Firenze at another time. Now, mia piccolina, tell me about your shadow.”
She snuggled deeper, rubbing her face on his chest, and he felt the scrape of her marital chain on his skin there, an eloquent statement that its meaning in their marriage had been fully realized.
She did this before she tipped her head back, aimed a contented smile at him—and further sharing the priceless gift of her secrets—she told him all about her shadow.
69
The Kiss
Prince True
The Antlers Pub and Inn, Five Miles from the Lights
WODELL
“We’ve got men on him all the time,” Bram reported as True, Farah and all his men sat around a table at the back of the pub over a late luncheon of sandwiches made of hearty slabs of beef with their juices soaking into the thick-cut bread.
This was accompanied by a strong ale, which True thought was needed for this discussion.
“We’ve had men search his office, his rooms, others following him,” Florian took up the thread. “They’ve found nothing. They’ve seen nothing.”