Page 75 of Under the Lion Star

I chuckled, sliding beneath the quilt, and tugging her back to my chest.

“It’s time for lunch,” I said quietly, brushing the hair from her face. “You know I’d never wake you if it weren’t for food.”

“Mmm,” she hummed. “The perfect husband.”

“Come on,” I encouraged, rising from the bed and moving to assemble an outfit from her wardrobe. “Your grandmother should be here soon.”

“You’re to play handmaid today?” She smirked, watching me with one eye open.

“Any excuse to see you naked.”

Taking my time, I helped dress my wife. My fingers lingered over her body as I saw fit. She smiled, although there were several eye rolls as I worked. Life was easy with Zialda, and I wondered how she had made it to twenty-eight without being locked down by every man who got to know her.

She had given so much of herself to me, yet I continued to hold back. If there was any chance she could one day feel what I felt toward her, I needed to let her in.

“What’s that?” I asked, watching Z tuck a small glass vial underneath her belt.

“Berthin powder,” she said. “It was what I had planned to use on those two fucks the day you swooped in and killed them.”

I took the vial from her outstretched hand, twirling it in my palm and studying the green particulates curiously.

“It reacts with a substance found in dirt,” she continued, plucking it from my grasp and tucking it by her hip. “Creates a disgusting-smelling plume of thick smoke. My aunt insists my sisters and I always carry it with us in case we ever need to make a run for it.”

“Clever,” I grinned. “It seems every day I uncover something new about you.”

“Don’t get used to it,” she winked. “I’m rather boring at my core.”

“I have a secret,” I nudged her elbow. “I’m rather boring as well.”

“Then it seems we’re well suited, my king,” she smirked. “I look forward to many boring years with you.”

I really liked the sound of that, too.

Chapter 25

Zialda

Grandma was flirting with one of the guards when Leor and I entered the garden. He had arranged for lunch in the castle, although I wondered how quickly into our meal my husband would regret his decision.

Atlas came in, giving my grandmother a tight embrace and enduring her endless suggestive comments as he took his seat. Apparently, the two had been in communication for quite some time as he immediately asked about the latest book she’d been reading. She jumped right in, catching Leor up on the first books in the series with vivid descriptions.

“So, there I am,” my grandma sighed. “Nearly six hundred pages in, and finally– finally– the Elldaran elf and his wolfman friend are going to do the heroine together.”

“Wolfman?” Leor asked, leaning forward in his seat.

“Yes, of course,” Grandma waved a hand at him. “He can shift into the form of a wolf.”

“Does he fuck her as a wolf?” Atlas asked, also leaning over the table with wide eyes.

“Not in this book, no.”

“Gods guide me,” I groaned, but no one seemed to hear.

“Anyway,” Grandma started once more. “Six hundred pages and the three of them begin to disrobe. I was so elated. You see, this is the fourth book in the series, and I had been waiting for this moment with bated breath.”

“Up until this point, it’s just been the heroine and the Elldaran elf?” Leor inquired.

“Right,” she nodded. “And don’t get me wrong. That’s all very erotic, the blood-sucking and whatnot. But the threesome was hinted at time and again. It was more or less promised.”

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