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He pushed inside slowly this time, stretching me with his big cock. His hard length crowded my walls as he rolled his hips, not stopping until his balls pressed snugly against my ass. His pants still clung to his hips. His crown was still nestled among his dark waves. The post in his ear gleamed a dull silver—an ever-present reminder of how skillfully he wielded the one that pierced his tongue.

But I didn’t want that right now. I wanted him to hurry up and move. Give me some kind of friction on my clit. That was another word he made me say, when we lay in bed in the middle of the night. He’d bury his dark head between my thighs, and his raspy voice would drift up like lazy curls of smoke. “If you can’t say it, princess, then you can’t come.”

I said it.

It was on the tip of my tongue now as he stared me down with his cock lodged deep, giving no indication he intended to deliver the relief I craved. My inner muscles clamped hard. I whimpered and tried to free my hands.

He tightened his grip and gave me a knowing look. “How do you want me?”

“Now,” I breathed.

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he chuckled. “I’ve created a monster, it seems.” Slowly, he lowered his mouth to my ear. His breath stirred the fine hairs at my temple as he began to thrust. “But as I told you once before, I think you’ve been one this whole time.”

Sparks fired over my skin. At last, he stroked over the place where I needed him most. With every pass, my passion climbed higher. In no time at all, I was right on the cliff, my hips lifting to meet his thrusts. He moved my wrists to one hand and held my arms stretched high above my head. He paused a moment, naked admiration in his gaze as he watched my breasts bounce. Then he snaked his free hand between my legs and found my clit.

“Yes!” I squirmed as much as I could, which wasn’t much. And he did it on purpose, holding me down so he could control exactly how much of his dick I received. Every time I neared the edge, he slowed down, yanking me back before I could tip over it.

The pressure between my legs was so intense, I released a strangled squeal. I bucked my hips, willing his fingers to go faster. “Please,” I panted. “I’m so close. I’m going to come.”

“When I say,” he corrected, his voice steady despite his powerful thrusts. The muscles in his chest and shoulders bunched as he held my wrists with one hand and fondled my clit with the other. “Only when I say.”

There was no use arguing. Or begging. The past two weeks had taught me that. He made me wait, but he finally kissed me. He drank in my cries and pitiful whimpers. He stroked the post in his tongue over mine, plundering my mouth as he quickened the pace of his thrusts.

And when he was satisfied, he reared back. Rose to his knees, grabbed my hips, and yanked me closer. He held my ankles in a wide split and fucked me. Yet another lesson from my new husband. There were different kinds of sex. Laurent was often gentle, but he was rarely sweet. He fucked. Hard and dirty. Even when he flipped up my skirts and buried his face between my legs, he fucked.

And if a quiet voice in my head wondered if he might make love to me one day, well, I ignored it for now. Life was far too complicated at the moment to worry about such things.

He pumped faster, his hips snapping forward so quickly they were a blur. His fangs showed between his parted lips, and his fingers around my ankles squeezed tightly. “You’ll come with me,” he growled.

I could only nod. In another man, a decree like that might be too arrogant. But Laurent had been born into power. Now that I knew just how much, his orders were simply an extension of him. Something so wholly embedded in his being it seemed as natural as breathing.

He didn’t tell me when. But he didn’t have to. He leaned forward—the slightest adjustment that made his dick pound against my clit. Two strokes and I was done. I didn’t remember closing my eyes, but I must have because the world went dark as I screamed. Distantly, I heard him roar as he came.

When it was over, he flung himself beside me. He rolled to his stomach and hugged a pillow with his face turned away. When the crown tipped off his head, I realized he was sleeping.

I lifted onto my elbow. As I studied his back, I worried my bottom lip with one fang. It was too early in the day for him to be this tired. And he never slept immediately after sex. Even in the middle of the night, he rose and brought me a cloth.

He came from meeting with the nobles.

He’d worn his crown. The most potent symbol of his authority outside of his blood magic. Maybe he wasn’t as confident about Rolund as he claimed.

Irritation stirred in my chest. I was Laurent’s queen. But so far, my duties seemed confined to his bed. Just because I enjoyed it there didn’t mean I wanted to live in it all the time. I knew Rolund better than anyone in Nor Doru. But Laurent hadn’t bothered to ask what I thought my brother might do next. He hadn’t asked me about Rolund at all. I couldn’t spend my life shunted off to the side like my brother’s wives. And if I let Laurent get away with it now, it would always be that way between us.

I reached for his shoulder—

A knock sounded on the door. “Your Grace?” a deep male voice rumbled. I shot upright and scrambled for a sheet.

Laurent was awake at once. Cursing under his breath, he sat up and shoved a hand through his hair. “What is it?”

“Apologies for disturbing you, Your Grace, but you asked to be informed when Lord Varick returns. Sentinels spotted the general and his men a few miles outside the city. They should arrive within the hour.”

Laurent had immediately tensed at the mention of Varick. He cleared his throat. “Thank you. I’ll be out in a moment.” Tension rolled off him as he turned to me. “I have to go.”

“I know. I want you to.”

His gaze sharpened. “Do you?” he asked softly. There was significance in the question. We both knew what him going to Varick meant. And we both knew my answer would determine how the future unfolded for all three of us.

“Yes.” I drew a deep breath. “I want that.” Any other arrangement would spell disaster. Deep down, I’d always known it would come to this. If I had any thought of stealing Laurent’s affection away from Varick, I would fail. So the only option was the one Laurent had suggested the day he took me to Lar Satha. Undoubtedly, he’d planted that seed on purpose. I was beginning to learn that underneath my husband’s sultry irreverence lay a calculating ruler who never did anything he didn’t plan well in advance.

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