Page 21 of Jewel of the Assassin
He changed his mind after that venture, knowing how I could enhance his empire even more. At least he kept his original bargain, my requirement for her minimum marrying age: twenty-five.
Valentina stirs slightly. The movement causes her ass to shift against my cock beneath the water, and I grit my teeth against the instant, animal response. I tighten my hand on her stomach.
“And how old was I when we got married?” she asks next.
“Twenty-two. You turned twenty-five in August.”
“And you?”
“Hmm…thirty-seven, thirty-eight in December.”
Fiery Leo. Disciplined Capricorn. A perfect match.
“Thirteen years.” She says it like she’s testing.
I feel her stiffen, and I smile slowly. She can bristle. She can sass. I’ll still have her wrapped around my finger—and clenched around my cock—by the end of the day.
“That’s quite a spread,” she murmurs.
I stroke my fingers absently along her thigh, coaxing her body to relax. “Not quite the spread some have,” I say casually, rubbing my lips along her damp curls. “Especially in our circles. Men older than me take brides younger than you.”
“So ours was… arranged?” she asks softly.
“A marriage of convenience and order,” I admit, plucking up a rose petal and trailing it down the curve of her shoulder. “Planned when we were very young.”
She huffs, just enough to be bratty. “Much younger for me.”
A soft, dangerous chuckle escapes me.Ladylike impertinence,I allow it—for now.
“Yes,” I murmur, lips grazing the shell of her ear. “But it became far more than transactional. Beyond the reciprocal, for me.”
My fingers splay wider across her abdomen, anchoring her again.
“If it were only reciprocal,” I continue, voice low and unhurried, “I’d keep a harem on rotation, fuck whoever I pleased. And I’d have no issue with you taking a lover of your own.”
I feel the subtle tension return, her shoulders drawing inward, her breath pausing.
But I don’t stop.
I press my mouth to her temple, speaking the words directly against her skin. “The moment I saw you, Valentina, Iknew.You were myKoroleva.My Queen. The only woman fit for my crown. My bed. And the only one I’d ever allow to bear my heir.”
Her lips part. Her breath hitches.
But silence thickens like fog around us.
She hums, fingers idly tracing my forearm. She’s starting to settle into the lie. Intous.
Her gaze flicks toward the windows. “Were we married here?”
I nod. “On the cliff. Beneath the pines. The sea at our backs. White petals blowing like snow.”
“And who came?”
I don’t let her press. I pivot smoothly. “Does it matter?” My fingers graze the underside of her breast. “You weren’t the most beautiful walking down the aisle.”
“No?” she breathes, disapproving brows knitting low.
“No.”
