Page 7 of Hers to Rule

She did her makeup and checked her hair, which was honestly better than it had any right to be after the night before. Her brown curls were gently tousled but with a bit of careful fluffing weren’t in need of a complete redo yet. Checking herself over in the full-length mirror once more, she felt a flutter of nerves.

She smoothed her skirt over the generous curve of her hips, and took a breath to calm herself. She was pleased with the outfit, but this was a giant step outside her comfort zone. She was showing more skin than she ever had before and she had a brief battle with the gremlins of self-doubt that sometimes plagued her.

Was it too much? Too showy? Should she grab a cover-up? She tossed her head. That was her father’s voice. She recognized it immediately and squashed the impulse to make herself smaller. She looked great. She deserved this. And she didn’t have to worry about what he thought anymore.

Mari strolled out of the pool house with her head high and saw Rio leaning against a concrete dividing wall a few strides away.

He gave her a quick once-over with appreciation in his gaze. “You look stunning.”

She hooked her arm through his and dragged him along toward the kitchen. “Who did the shopping? Was it you?”

“Nah, that was all Cisco. Dress up is his kink, not mine.”

She laughed. “What’s yours then?”

Rio opened the door for her, and she passed inside. Cisco stood a short way down the hall at the far end of the kitchen, meeting with a handful of people. She shivered when he took her in with a slow glance.

Chuckling, Rio leaned down to whisper to her, “Him, I guess.”

She grinned up at him. “You think we could dress him up?”

Rio bit his lip slightly. “Not a chance.” He reached up under her skirt and pinched her ass. His eyes twinkled, and he lowered his voice again. “Though if you beg prettily enough, you never know.” He pulled out her chair for her and then scooted her into the table when she sat.

Giselle brought them both coffee and asked what they wanted for breakfast. She carefully avoided looking at Mari too closely but didn’t seem upset at the sudden transformation. If anything, the house witch seemed easier today, more relaxed, much like Mari herself.

After a quick consultation, they decided on pancakes because that seemed properly indulgent. They settled into a pleasant conversation while they waited for Giselle to work her magic. Rio sat with his hand on her exposed thigh. She enjoyed his casual affection more than she wanted to admit out loud.

Everyone had always maintained a careful distance from her. It had been such a normal part of her life that she’s never realized she was so starved for touch.

Mari rested her hand over his, squeezing his fingers. “Thank you for helping to make all of this easier.”

He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles before returning his hand to her thigh. “I live to serve, princesa.” There was an unspoken warmth to his eyes as he looked at her.

While they were eating, some of the guards drifted in to pick up food. Giselle always had their favorites on hand, ready for them to take to their posts with a smile and a word of encouragement as she bounced from task to task with ease. After grabbing their food, all of the guards paused next to Mari. Some of them bowed, some of them dropped to one knee with a hand over their heart, and some of them murmured their condolences, but none of them looked saddened by what had happened.

Tilly stopped next to her for a long, drawn-out moment, standing silent with a thoughtful expression, the dark blue feathers on her arms ruffling slightly with irritation. Finally, she shrugged and said, “I’m happy the bastard is dead, though I’m sorry if it brings you pain.”

They had been friends once, when they were both tweens—until her father had seen how close they were becoming and sensed the threat. No one but he could show Mari affection without risking Basilio’s wrath. He’d taken the young harpy out into the courtyard and beat her until she shrieked every whispered secret the girls had shared, then kept beating her until everyone in the household understood what it meant to be someone Mari confided in.

Since that day, no one but Cisco had dared to get close to her, and even then, they were careful not to let their budding friendship show, even when it grew into something else, something wilder and more complicated.

“Thank you, Til.” She hadn’t let herself really dwell on her father’s death in the hours since, but she supposed at some point she’d feel grief over it. But that would come later, after the harm he had done had healed a bit.

Tilly smiled her slightly crooked smile and took her leave to head to her post. Mari wasn’t sure they could get back to where they had been once, but she hoped so.

As Mari and Rio were finishing their pancakes, Giselle came over one last time to refill their coffees. “I’ve been trying to figure out what to say to you, Mari. And as usual, I think the truth is probably the best. I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m not sorry he’s dead.” She turned away without adding anything else, greeting a hellhound who came in looking for a snack.

Mari didn’t know how to respond, so she just let herself say nothing. After all, what was there that she could say? He’d been a bastard every day of his long life, but it had only gotten worse in recent years. She herself had wished him dead more times than she could easily count.

They took their second cups of coffee to her father’s office, walking near where Cisco stood, listening to someone give a report about some shipments. His gaze followed her, his expression giving nothing away.

They were talking about shipping logistics and making sure everything people expected of her father’s vast network of businesses and investments kept working exactly as all of his partners expected. If nothing changed, they would have nothing to complain about, and business could just continue as usual.

Rio held the office door for her as she went inside. Did she really want to know what was in the shipments they were discussing? After a moment, she decided not. Her father had been involved in a lot of unsavory businesses.

She tried not to think about Cisco and how he had made her feel the night before as she sat behind her father’s desk, but when her ass hit the chair because her skirt rode up, she failed utterly in her task. Then, when she shifted her weight to try to settle, the soreness between her legs pulsed, and she remembered exactly why she ached there. She spent entirely too long trying to restore her breathing to normal. When she met Rio’s eyes, he grinned as if he knew exactly why she was squirming in her chair.

Mari shook herself to restore some focus, then turned her attention to her father’s altar. She reached for the remains of her father’s wards and wove them back into her magic. When the necklace had fallen from her neck, the connection to the wards had weakened, so the first thing she had to do was shore that up.

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