Page 110 of Warrior's Reign
Reign rubbed her chest. “I’ve never felt this kind of betrayal before. How do you stand it?”
He made a noise and rose, then he was lifting her into his arms and striding into the bedroom, sitting on the bed, and she was in his lap.
“Yada’ami, don’t think of it as betrayal. I could not reveal myself too soon, but I offered what comfort I could, what I thought you would accept from Vykhan. You’re so young, and your ambition is a blazing light. I am a male of focus, with specific goals and wants. Being with me could derail you. I have enough to atone for without snuffing out your light.”
“That’svakshit.” She pinched his bicep, hard. “You make me sound weak-minded.”
“Not weak, just young. And love makes us compromise our wants for another person. I. . .have feared I would allow you to do far too much compromising. I wouldn’t be able to help myself. I’ve wanted you at my side for so long.”
For a groveling apology, it wasn’t half bad. A little piece of her softened. But she still wanted him to suffer. They had a lifetime for her vengeance, though.
Reign shifted, and straddled him for the second time. “You don’t have to worry about all of that, Eredan. I’m not a child, I’m not weak-minded. We can belong to each other without me losing myself in you.”
He closed his eyes when she began to undulate on his lap. A hiss escaped his lips. “There is another matter.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” She felt heady, her head spinning with relief and joy. Reign giggled, and it turned into a full laugh.
His eyes snapped open, and he pinned her under a brilliant gaze. “There is another matter. I have no control around you.”
“Well, good.” She began to tug at his silk shirt. “Take this off, sir.”
“Obe’shan, pay attention.”
He said it in his cold, haughty, commanding officer voice. She scowled, but stilled. “What,Vykhan? Elhana’s Tits, you’re such a stick.”
He grabbed her wandering hands, forced them to her sides. “I have no control around you, Reign. You need to see. . .more. . .of what I am before we consummate the bond. You need to know what you’re taking inside you.”
“I know you, Eredan.”
“You know Eredan. You donotknow Vykhan. Not the Vykhan that once belonged to a lord of Anthhori, whowasonce a lord of Anthhori.”
She stared at him, saw the utter refusal in his face, and slid off his lap. It took her a moment, because the anger in her gut was urging her to lash out. Weeks of dancing around each other, of yearning for him, and now he threw up another stupid roadblock.
“Careful,” she said softly. “You can choose to keep toying with me, but if I decide to walk away. . .I’m not coming back. I don’t need you to protect me from myself, Vykhan. If you don’t want me, then just say so and stop cowering behind avakshitexcuse.” He rose, an answering heat in his eyes, but she turned her back on him.
“Get out. Unless you’re going to fuck me, just get the hell out.”
39
A long,terrible moment of silence. Reign clenched her hands, clung to every scrap of self-control so she didn’t dissolve into a shrieking banshee and humiliate herself.
“Lie down,” he said finally, voice both cold and hot, a dark, ragged shiver down her spine.
Reign turned. The look in his eyes would have flayed a lesser woman. “What?”
“I’m not in the mood. Do as I command.”
Like hell was she—
He seized the back of her neck, dragging her towards him. “You cannot have my cock, but I can give you enough relief to silence your acid mouth.” He almost threw her onto the bed. “Nowlie down.”
That bit of temper combined with sensual promise he probably thought would have her quaking. Reign rolled her eyes, settling on her back. Slowly opened her legs, smirking at him. Daring him to do his worst.
Vykhan grabbed the neckline of her sheer gown and ripped. The cloth parted like soft skin under a sharp blade, the red bright against her skin.
“I’d like to remind you that I haven’t paid for any of these dresses,” she said. He moved faster than the wind, tearing the gown into strips.
“I paid for them. Be quiet.”
