Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
And I again found myself in the endeavor of having to stop myself from laughing.
“But I didn’t!” she snapped.
“But you almost did,” he retorted.
She brought her hands up in fists at her sides and shrieked, “You’re impossible!”
“And you’re a gods-damned menace,” he fired back.
She made a huffing noise, turned and raced up the stairs that wound around the trunk of the tree.
Ian scowled after her.
Cassius decided to wade in as advisor.
“You really need to fuck her, mate.”
Ian transferred his scowl to Cassius before he turned on his boot and stalked out the door.
“You do know, it was very rare people shouted at each other before men were allowed in The Enchantments,” I remarked.
Cass looked down at me.
And then I received my treat for the day.
I was able to watch my husband throw back his handsome head and burst into laughter.
Queen Silence
Queen’s Study, East Corridor, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
A good queen did not get bored.
A good queen did not get bored.
A good queen did not get bored.
I told myself this repeatedly as my eyes slid to Elpis, who was staring out the windows with an expression on her face that shared vividly she’d rather be anywhere else, say, perchance, having her fingernails torn out by their roots.
“And as such, we would behoove you, our beloved Queen Silence,” one of the women sitting in front of me beseeched, “to take this matter to our king.”
Oh, balls.
I’d already forgotten what matter they were behooving me about.
“Of course, I’ll speak to my king,” I only somewhat lied.
I felt Elpis’s regard.
I ignored it and smiled benignly at the women before me as they rose, repeatedly expressing their gratitude.
I nodded and circled my hand in what I hoped was a royal way, and my secretary ushered them out.
“I’m not certain Mars would concern himself much with their plight, mia figlia,” Elpis warned when the door closed behind them.
“I’ll figure something out,” I murmured.
“Is this all of our appointments for today?” she asked.
I grinned at her. “Yes.”
She grinned in return. “Good, then shall we retire to a bath with some smoke?”
I could think of nothing better.
I did not have the opportunity to tell her this, for Angelo, my secretary, stuck his head in and said, “His Grace is between appointments and he asks if you’d join him in his study before his next arrives.”
I turned to Elpis. “Shall I meet you there in a while?”
Her face softened. “Of course, cara.”
We both left my office together, Elpis heading down the hall, me going across it to my husband’s study.
I knocked and walked in to see him bent over his desk, scratching something with his pen on parchment.
My, but I loved his thick long hair.
He straightened, dropped his pen and sat back in his chair as I shut the door and started walking his way.
“There seems to be a grave issue about a plinth built in the seat of a particular clan, which you gave royal funding,” I said as I moved to him, “that appears to have been erected much smaller than another plinth that was built in the seat of a clan they don’t very much like.”
I had made it around his desk by the time I was finished speaking.
And my husband did not reply until he grasped my hips on both sides, pushed his chair back, and pulled me to standing in front of him.
He kept his hands where they were, but his black eyes lifted to mine.
“Indeed?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “Though it also might be an urn.”
He started chuckling.
“Elpis shared you would not very much care, but I promised them I would inform you of their concerns,” I told him.
“You are a good queen, seeing to the needs of your people, even if they’re absurd,” he murmured.
“I must admit, husband, I, too, think they are absurd.”
“Because they are,” he stated, then hefted me up so I was seated in front of him on his desk.
He then scooted his chair closer.
“Mars,” I whispered.
“Mm?” he asked, for I had lost his attention.
He was watching his hands as they performed the act of gliding the silk of the skirt of my gown up my thighs.
“About that urn,” I teased.
He was not in the mood to tease.
I knew this when he told me, “You should really design to wear gowns that are much less attractive, wife.”
“Why would I do such as that?”
He did not answer.
He looked up at me and ordered, “Lie back.”
“Mars,” I breathed.
His fingers slipped between my legs.
My head fell back.
Then I fell back.
Mars pushed the material up to my hips, opened my legs, and his head came down.
And then my king made it so I did not need smoke to make me hazy.
Though, after he was done with me, I spent the afternoon with my mother-in-law all the same.
Queen Ha-Lah
Aboard Her Majesty’s Beauty
GREEN SEA
“It’d be nice if you didn’t upstage me once in a while,” my husband groused.