Page 99 of Iron Crown

But I needed their attention for once.

The gazes of his men whom I had once hidden from were now my weapon.

“Go back in the house, love,” he said, leaning down to whisper the words into my ear.

I felt a shiver go through me as his breath teased my skin, blowing gently against my hair.

“No,” I said, matching his tone.

“Go back in the house, or I–”

“Or you’ll what?” I bumped my shoulder against his chest, and he looked at me, puzzled.

He looked at Kieran and Shiny, who were looking absolutely anywhere but at us, and I didn’t blame them. This was going to get weird.

“Throw me over your shoulder and spank me?” I crooned, straightening his tie which most definitely did not need to be straightened. “I don’t negotiate with terrorists, or men being morons.”

His nostrils flared, his jaw ticked, and I could practically see the blood rushing down to what was probably a now aching cock. I loved the assurance that I had this effect on him. Even if I was tired, haggard, sullen, and weathered down from sleep deprivation and motherhood, he never stopped seeing me as the woman he sketched in his paintings.

I felt the silk of his tie against my hand. It was the color of an emerald, of course. The Greens were nothing if not somewhat predictable. I slowly slid it off his neck, pretending that I would re-tie it for him. He didn’t stop me. He was powerless against me, and I knew it. I took advantage of it. Iusedit.

But there was an intimacy in adjusting his clothes. It must only be a fraction of the intimacy he felt when he dressed me in the expensive garments he’d purchased on my behalf. Every item, meticulously chosen to please me. Just like the gargantuan ring on my finger.

Sure, the ring was an heirloom from his mother. Large and green, like the deep colors of a lush forest. The color of vibrant life.

In a flick, I slipped the blade at his hip from its scabbard, and without looking, sliced my palm from the bottom of my pinky finger to the thick, meaty portion by my thumb.

“You are blood of my blood, bone of my bone.” I came to my toes, ghosting my lips against his. “From this day forward, I will never have another.”

His eyes shuddered closed, as if he was scenting something delicious, his lips parting as his tongue darted out to swipe against my bottom lip.

Then he blinked, as if coming from a trance, or a deep sleep.

“What have you done?” he said in a long gasp.

“I’m making a point,” I said just as quietly, hoping to God that my gamble would work. “Will you humiliate your wife in front of all your soldiers?”

I lifted my hand, the tie still dangling from my fingertips as a rivulet of blood spilled down my palm, dripping down until, with hungry eyes, he watched a crimson drop fall to the ground.

Chapter thirty-five

As You Command

Eoghan

Of all the most romantic things that had occurred in our brief marriage, this was the one I would speak of for the rest of my days.

She’d slashed the line into her flesh until her palm was painted scarlet. She might have gone all the way to the hypodermis, and it would definitely scar.

“You’ve cut too deep, love,” I whispered gently, tenderly taking her hand by the fingers until it was face up in the space between us. “Let us get it cleaned—”

“Are you declaring to me, and everyone present, that you don’tloveme?” Her eyes were defiant, challenging, and it stirred me in a way that was exceedingly inappropriate, given the circumstances.

I felt my eyes slowly shut, as I tried to push away the sudden lust that tore through me.

She was telling me she loved me. She couldn’t have declared it louder if she had screamed it at the top of her lungs.

“Are you saying that you don’t return my feelings?”

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