Page 104 of Warrior's Reign
“Snap out of it, Vykhan.” She scowled and snapped her fingers in his face twice, to make her point.
He grabbed her wrist, moving so fast her heart leaped in response. Tiny electric shocks traveled up her arm.
She tried to yank away. He ignored that too, his casual strength a slap in the face. One thing he’d never done in all the time she’d known him was manhandle her. “Let go.”
Lohail sighed and made a tsking noise, then settled onto the couch on the opposite side of her. He surveyed them both, making a face.
“She doesn’t know you well at all, does she? Don’t challenge him, my dear, or tell him what to do. He considers it foreplay. And here, foreplay tends to be a group activity.”
“I haven’t been in this place for decades,” Vykhan murmured. “I was not myself.”
Lohail snorted. “Please don’t be boring. I forbid any whining about your tortured dark soul.” He snatched a glass of wine from a server who approached, downed it, and took another. He gestured at Reign. The server approached, bowing, and held up the tray.
She ignored master and servant, staring up into Vykhan’s night sapphire eyes. “Sir?”Snap out of it, please.
“It’s delicious, the way she calls you sir,” Lohail said, eyes half-lidded. “You must be in the early stages of her training. A touch of innocence, a touch of fear. . .more than a touch of threat. I can’t believe you’ve restrained yourself this long. I just don’t have the control. Drink, lovely one.My servant won’t leave until you do.”
Reign took a glass with her free hand, and felt like throwing it in Vykhan’s face. Lohail’s version oftrainingprobably had nothing to do with martial arts and Silence.
“You reallyarein the first stages. I can read every thought on her face—the poor thing is shocked.” He chuckled. “I want to see her face when she realizes what you really are. Fortunate there are no divorces in Rhyksai marriage contracts. The lengths your family goes, to prevent divorce.”
“How many of your warriors did I kill, Lohail?” Vykhan asked softly, still staring at Reign’s face, at the pulse fluttering in her neck. She struggled to control her breathing, but the longer his hand remained around her wrist the more the skin on her arm burned. “Too few, I think.”
Lohail sighed. “Don’t try to aggravate me, ‘ashara. I know just how to get back at you now.” His gaze brushed Reign, speculative. “Now that I’m considering things more carefully, perhaps the white would have been a better choice. Red is power, heat. . .white is submission.”
She curled a lip in a snarl. “The subject of me and submission should never be in the same sentence in your mouth.”
He sat his glass down, crossing his legs at the ankle and his hands over his stomach. “Hmm. And yet you know just the right thing to say, Reign. I can’t quite decide if you’re teasing me, or if you really are that innocent.”
“Neither. Why don’t we leave off the flirting and discuss why we’re really here? And damn you, Vykhan, let me go. This isn’t the time for you to weird out.”
His fingers pressed slightly, then he released her. He gestured, and she realized he was asking for permission to sit next to her. Reign jerked a one shoulder shrug and he settled at her side, sliding an arm behind her on the back of the couch. He hooked his right ankle on his left knee, staring at Lohail.
“Ibu?” she prompted.
“Is well. And informed of the situation.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “You needn’t concern yourself.”
“Just focus on looking pretty, right?”
“You will always be lovely, whether you focus or not.” He turned his head, gaze caressing her body. “You cannot control it.” She tightened her legs when his gaze paused at their juncture. “Lohail hopes I will forget myself.”
“I have hoped,” Lohail said. “For many years.” Vykhan turned to look at him, their gazes clashing.
Reign glanced between them. She rubbed her chest, realizing the hissing ache inside was jealousy—and lust. Realized at the same time she was still holding a full wine glass.
“Fine,” she said, downing it. “More please, thanks.”
Lohail blinked and tucked hair behind his ear, his attention broken away from Vykhan. “Ah. . .that’s a fine wine from my own estate, my dear. And you just downed it like water.”
“There’s a bit of a kick. But I’ve had stronger in my time.”
“A challenge?” His sensual mouth curved, and he beckoned to the hovering server. “Try this one.”
“Lohail,” Vykhan said.
“Oh hush, I’m not bringing out the faewine, just something a little stronger. I would not have her find my hospitality lacking.”
Reign accepted a glass of the new wine after it was poured and the bottle set out on the table. The burn turned, predictably, into a pleasant warmth bordering on the edge of mushy. “This is more like it. I should probably keep my wits about me, but somehow I don’t think it matters.”
