Page 36 of Princess Bride Swap

“Do I have to suffer through another lecture?”

It enraged him, this...haughty disdain for all that he was. But he did not explode. He iced it all out. “You clearly did not understand the first one.”

Her eyebrows drew together, and she leaned forward. “Lyon, I do not understand this. You are making the strangest problem out of a quite enjoyable thing. A thing we kind of have to do if you want all those heirs.”

“When we return to the castle, we must behave with respectability,” he returned, locking all of those dangerous wants and needs away. He was only the crown. Only a leader. Not a man, not really.

Hadn’t he always been reminded of that when something he wanted did not align with what his grandmother had envisioned for the crown?

You are the crown.

And he would be. “We must, at all times, put forward a royal face. Decorum in every step. No outward displays of affection. No hint that anything means more to us than our roles as crown prince and princess.”

“So, I can’t do what we did out there in public. Got it.” She didn’t roll her eyes, but somehow gave the impression of it anyway.

“You do not understand the precarious position we are in, though I’ve explained it to you. You do not understand how rumors and whispers turn into demands. These hedonistic desires will not rule me. I cannot let them control me. I need you to understand that. Because if you cannot...” He trailed off, no threat coming to his mind.

Because she was beautiful and naked in his bed and looking at him with some unreadable expression. Or maybe he didn’t want to read it.

But he would find an appropriate punishment. He would have control, and he would not allow her to keep...undermining it.

“So, we must be polite in our own bed?” she asked, each word delivered carefully and devoid of emotion. As though she were asking a real question, not trying to make somepoint. “Just in case someone is listening in?”

“We must behave in any potentially public space with respectability, Beaugonia. Perhaps it will be a moot point. Perhaps you are pregnant even now and we will not have to worry ourselves with these...mistakes.”

She blinked at that, then looked down at her stomach as if it hadn’t occurred to her.

“Would that make you happy?” she asked quietly.

“Of course. That is the entire point of all this. Enough heirs to ensure stability for centuries to come.”

She nodded, though she did not meet his gaze. “Of course,” she agreed.Agreed.

So he didn’t know why her agreement felt sour.

“I apologize then,” she said at last. “I will endeavor to be as hands-off and respectable as you.” She smiled thinly at him. “Despite the fact two married people enjoying sex should hardly be some proof that you’re as foolish as your uncles and cousins.”

Proving she refused to understand. “When you give in to your own selfish wants and desires, you begin a downward spiral. Until you’ll excuse anything. All for the sake of a little fleeting pleasure.”

“I see.” But he could tell from her tone that she didn’t see at all.

“I hope this is a lesson you can learn, Beaugonia. Because if you can’t...” He hated the words before they were even out of his mouth. Felt them twist like regret deep in his gut. But he had to say them. Drastic desires called for drastic measures. “...we may have to have an arrangement more like you had back in Lille.”

“Are you threatening to lock me in a room, Lyon?” she returned, all haughty fire that threatened to stir up that which should be satiated. Damn her.

“I am simply telling you that you will obey my wishes, or you will not have access to me at all,” he said through gritted teeth.

“And if I’m not pregnant? If there are, in fact, no heirs yet in the making? What then?”

“I suppose there are more scientific ways to go about the impregnation process. We do not actually have to have sex for you to conceive.”

Her mouth fell open. “You cannot be serious.”

“It isn’t ideal, but if it becomes necessary, we will do it. I will always,alwaysdo what is necessary. I suggest you accept that before we return to the palace.”

And because he did not trust himself to say more without this...devolving into all those wants and desires he had to shove aside, he turned on a heel and left.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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