Page 25 of Queen of Ashes and Scars
“Did I?”
“Yes. I wanted you to.” I say with enough confidence to rattle the most stoic of audiences. “I knew you remembered my mother’s prophecy.”
“One day, you’ll want something from my daughter, and most importantly, she’ll need the world from you,” he chimes, imitating my mother’s solemn tone. “When that day comes, you shall go to her on Hadria.”
I flash him a genuine smile, knowing I could count on his sharp mind to piece two and two together. “Yes. How could you forget?”
Mother would scold us as children, whenever we’d get rowdy or mean with each other, and warn us that one day we’d need each other. She told us that when that day came, we should meet on the island. That was before her death, of course, before I knew she could foretell the future. I’d never told another living soul about that prophecy, but I knew that my mother had enough of an impact on the young bloodling for him to remember, too.
I look down my nose at him, head held high. Last time we saw each other, he taught me how to bite and prompted me to defy all conventions… he’s not about to disappoint me now. “You know why I called. You know what I need.”
His eyes dance with mischief and anticipation. “Am I really that calculated?”
“Yes.”
All false pretenses drain from his face, and he looks at me up and down like he’s measuring my resolve. “Alright. We’ll get married, but I warn you; I’m not very domestic.”
“That’s fine.” I tame the butterflies in my stomach to submission and offer him a nonchalant shrug. “I don’t plan on being domestic either. We can just pretend—”
He slinks closer to me, quickly enough for my beastly instincts to kick into gear. I raise a hand to shove him away but end up with my palm pressed flush to his chest.
His fingers curl around my wrist, our noses an inch apart. “Oh, you can be sure of one thing, Lil’ Bit. I’d neverpretendwith you.” He wraps a hand around my throat, the ball of his thumb pressed to the hollow of my neck. “If you want to do this, we’re going to goall the way.” His last words sound dirtier than if he’d cussed.
I test my newfound power to see if he’s in earnest, a part of me scared to fall for his antics again.
“No fake-ass, sexless marriage. If she wants me in name only, she can forget it,”he thinks, surprising me.“Together, we could bring the world to its knees.”
I thought he’d agree for our wedding to be just for show, but that’s not at all what he’s offering. What I find in his mind is nothing but a savage hope for me to accept, and my eyes flick to his full lips. “Done.”
The wicked curve of his mouth dares me to make the first move, and I seal my proposal with a kiss.
Sebastian kisses me back like he wants to swallow me whole. Water drips along my thighs as he presses me hard against him, his wet jacket squeezed between us. I peel it from his shoulders, the shirt underneath not much better, the drenched fabric clinging to his skin. Feeling dauntless, I graze the ridges of his sculpted abs, coaxing an open-mouthed smile out of him, and soon enough, I’m about as wet as he is.
His eyes darken, fixed on the roundness of my breasts, the entire shape of them perfectly visible through the wet v-neck black dress. Cold water drips between them, my nipples hard and sensitive.
When he moves to close his hand over the heavy flesh in the same careless way he picks apples out of a tree, I skip backward. “Enough.”
“Are you really such a tease?” he asks breathlessly.
The boyish pout on his rogue face melts my fears, the weight of the last few days lifting as though they were nothing more than an unpleasant dream. With Sebastian looking at me the way he does… I feel like the mask might not be a mask at all. This man held my heart way before I knew anything about politics—or sex. He might not love me the way I’ve always wanted him to, but he craves my body, and that’s enough.
I mold myself to him. “What are you complaining about? You have the wedding night to look forward to.”
“And when will that be?”
“Tonight at sunset.”
He grips my waist like he’s holding the edge of a cliff. “So eager.”
I tug on his tie in a chastising manner. “I will tell Leo and Alec while you smooth things over with Jason and Emilia. No one else should know about this until a couple of hours before it happens.”
His gaze darts to the closed doors at my back, and he lowers his voice. “Do you think they suspect what we’re planning to do?”
“I think they would be fools not to, but it’s not in their best interest to stop this wedding. The alternative puts them at a disadvantage. They’re not big on politics, and me on the throne works better for them than a regent.”
His eyes gleam in the night, red as blood. “I like this look on you.”
“I’m not a little girl anymore.”
