Page 22 of His Brazen Bride

I can’t believe I have to share a room with this brute?—

Oh. This isnota room. It’s an entire home.

Lights turn on automatically as we move through the franklygorgeousspace.

“I helped decorate,” Xi says shyly as I gape at my surroundings. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest.”

“You did a great job. It’s amazing.” I feel like a tourist in New York City, gawping up at the distant ceilings and through the windows at the natural vistas. The furniture is in the style I’ve grown familiar with here—modern and sleek, with strange rustic accents from worlds I’ve never seen.

There’s no chandeliers or lamps. Light appears anywhere you desire with just the wave of a hand. Seating blends into the walls and floors, done in wood and soft fabric, all the colors pale and muted.

Artwork lines the walls, and every so often there’s a sculpture—mostly Kraetians in battles, but sometimes a strange animal.

We finally make it to the bedroom. The bed itself is as big as a room! If not for the pillows, I wouldn’t be sure that’s what it was.

“This is the only bed?” I ask dubiously.

She nods. “Why would you need two?”

Anger surges through me. The weasel lied again. “Ryz said we wouldn’t have to?—”

“Oh goodness! Even without engaging in…that…it’s customary for the Royal Commander and Queen to sleep in the same bed.Lookat it. Both of you could be sleeping in it and barely know the other was there.”

Hmph.I’dknow. Still, it would be like sleeping on a tennis court. “True.” I take a deep breath.

“You look tired,” Xi says. “It’s been a long rev. You should rest. I’ll have a meal brought to you.”

I don’twantto rest. I want to beat Ryz over his thick copper skull and make him send out that search party for my friends. Why did he have to be such an asshat about that?

“Thank you, Xi.You’vebeen wonderful.”

I give her a hug. Xi has told me the people of Ydris don’t typically show affection this way, but she really likes it.

She smiles. “My Queen.”

I grin. I’ll never get used to that.

After Xi leaves I find the bathroom. It’s enormous. The tub (if you can call it that—it looks like a natural spring nestled into the side of a rocky mountain) could fit at least ten of me.

Did Ryz use this all alone? Or with one of those females he spoke of? Ugh, I don’t want to think about that.

A swipe of my hand fills the tub in a few short minutes and I slide into the warm, bubbling water. Then my food is brought in and set on the edge of the tub. I do feel a twinge of guilt treating myself to such luxury when Iris and Lacey are who knows where, but I’m sure they’d say I needed some self-care after all this anyway.

There has to be something I can do regarding the Ryz situation. As I run my hands over my body, washing off the day, I wonder… Would he respond to seduction?

He said I’m in no wayobligatedto have sex with him.

But what if I want to?

What if he wants to as well?

Sounds like a win-win situation. I’d have sex with a hot copper alienandlight a fire under his chiseled butt to find my friends.

I relax under the waterfall, forcing myself to stop thinking about it. Then I finish up with some exotic-smelling soaps, exfoliate, and find a button on the spa menu that removes all the hair from my body in two minutes flat, leaving my skin soft and silky smooth. I brush out my hair and slide on a dressing gown made of that soft clingy material that’s so popular here.

Ryz isn’t going to know what hit him.

6

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