Page 39 of Point of No Return

She blinks as she drinks the room in, the furrow in her brow back before she blurts, “You’re not staying in here.”

This woman is going to drive me mad.

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

She doesn’t say anything else, turning about the room again. She starts lifting the bottom of her skirts, slipping her white heels off and then reaching up and tugging the pearls and jewels from her hair.

“Goodnight.” A quick dismissal. One that, with our track record, shouldn’t bother me as much as it does.

I try to hide my smirk, shaking my head as I bow, turning toward the door. “Of course, Highness.”

She shuffles loudly behind me, sighing when I open the door and move to step through it. “Skar, wait.”

I freeze at her words. Her hands are bunched in the glittering fabric of her dress when I turn back to look at her. She’s obviously frustrated, unable to reach the back on her own but also unwilling to ask for help.Stuck. It shouldn’t bring me as much satisfaction as it does.

“Yes?” I prompt, still smiling as she rolls her eyes with a sigh.

“I need help,” she finally says. In the lowlight of the room, I can see how much it pains her to add: “Please.”

I could rub it in her face, but as she turns her back and pulls her hair over one shoulder, my thoughts ebb away. The tightly laced corset is knotted with a white ribbon at the top, and I’m suddenly reminded of seeing her walk down the aisle.

She took my breath away, and she doesn’t even know it.

“Start at the bottom and loosen as you go.”

“I know how to loosen a corset, Charlie,” my voice comes out too dark, too strained.

Her back stiffens as my fingers brush down her spine, but I don’t say anything else, not as I slowly untie the bow in the laces and loosen the strings. Her smooth, tanned skin is revealed inch by inch, and I’m tempted to tease her, to push her and see just how much that kiss affected both of us- until I see the scars.

There’s knotted, jagged lines covering the skin of her back, and I’m so momentarily caught up in seeing it that I don’t notice that she’s pulling away until she covers herself with an arm. She’s frowning. Maybe she’s angry that I’d seen it. Becausewe both knowI saw it.

“Goodnight,” she grits the words out before locking herself away in the connecting bathroom. Leaving me standing alone in the room thinking about the scars, about the cut on her lip, and the bruises beneath the makeup… wondering just how little I know about the woman I just married.

I don’t sleep. The second suite is comfortable enough- though it’s nothing like the firm bed at home. The walls of my room are made entirely of glass that stretches from floor to ceiling, and the shadows of great oak trees loom outside.

All of it is so at odds with the endless night sky at Viserion. Coupled with the fact that I can’t stop thinking about the woman sleeping less than a room away, I know before the sun rises that sleep will be fleeting.

I requested that the house be as empty as possible while we’re here, and when I drag myself out of bed, I’m glad that there aren’t any servants around. Josie will stop by most mornings to help Charlotte if she needs it, and a cook will come around to prepare a few meals throughout the week. Other than the one formal meal my father insisted upon, the schedule is wide open.

Keeping myself busy making a cup of coffee is a habit now. While I normally sip on it while at the kitchen island back home, I decide to take it out on the back porch overlooking the river.

There’s enough seating for six, and further down the porch steps, there’s a dock and boathouse that sit on the calm cobalt waters. No one comes this far down the river luckily. I perch on the edge of one of the porch seats and watch as the water meanders by.

My phone is a brick in my pocket- a weight and a crutch when I’m itching for something to do. Normally, there’s at least a couple of investments waiting for my approval.

That or Aleks and Tyson have gotten into some kind of quarrel that requires my attention. Yet there hasn’t been so much as one notification. Not one text.Likely Crew’s doing. Since our last exchange, there’s been nothing:

4:47 AM Skar: Why is my access restricted?

6:05 AM Crew: Enjoy your honeymoon, Skar.

Since then, there’s been radio silence. I know better than to try and undo it, but I give into the urge to check my phone again. Nothing. I sigh as I glance back over the water. The sun is peeking out above the trees, casting yellow and red over the horizon.

It’s peaceful, I think, but as I take another swig of coffee, the feeling of dread is heavy in my stomach.

“This is the way things are done.”

“She is marrying a Westlan. She will be Westlan.”

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