Page 19 of What Fury Brings
“He’s not what I expected,” she said instead to her companion.
“Nor I,” the other answered.
“Does he meet your approval?”
Olerra climbed into the cart with the man she intended to wed and gave Ydra’s question due consideration.
Andrastus was a big man. Far heavier than she’d expected him to be. She reached out a hand to wrap it around a bicep and felt nothing but muscle. She hadn’t really had the chance to touch him anywhere save his shoulders (to steady herself) and his neck (to apply the toxin). Physically, he was intimidating. She couldn’t decide if she liked that or not.
Really, she shouldn’t be surprised. Atalius was a massive man. Of course all his sons would be, too. Even the smallest of them.
The prince’s hair was something else entirely. It was so blond as to almost be white, and it trailed down to his shoulders, thick yet straight as a board. His beard and eyebrows were darker, a light gold color. Olerra didn’t know men could have hair of different colors on their chins. No men in Amarra wore beards. She wondered at the shape of his jaw.
His complexion was bone white, which she suspected was a resultof his new circumstances. He would need special oils so as not to burn when they reached the heat of Amarra. She hadn’t thought of that beforehand, but there was nothing to do about it now. They had a schedule to keep.
His eyes were black in this lighting, so she suspected they were a dark brown. And, oh, how they glared at her.
She finally let her gaze dip down to the bulge in his pants, a result of the vyra she’d injected him with. It both paralyzed men and made them hard. It was her cousin’s favorite accessory for misbehaving bed partners. Olerra would never use it again on him now that she’d captured him.
But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t take advantage of its current effects.
Even with all his clothing on, she could tell his cock was proportionate to the rest of his body.
“I guess what they say is true. Brutus didn’t bless his sons just with virility. He also gave them big cocks.”
Ydra cackled. “Maybe I should kidnap a Brute.”
Olerra watched the prince’s eyes widen at the conversation. She made sure not to laugh at him. It would not be a great start to their relationship. She wanted to put him at ease, so she added, “The prince is a great kisser.”
“Is that why you took so long nabbing him?”
Olerra grinned. “I might have gotten a little carried away.” She rubbed her cheeks. “His beard is scratchy, though. I can’t wait to kiss him again once we get all that wretched hair shaved off his face.”
Andrastus narrowed his eyes, finally finding his voice. “You will not come near my beard,” he said with the authority afforded only to a prince.
Olerra leaned down until she was only inches from his face. “I am Olerra Corasene, queen potential of Amarra. You will soon have thehonor of being my husband. Your life is about to finally mean something. Your seed will create queens and conquerors, and you will be rewarded handsomely should you please me. Now get some sleep, Prince Andrastus. We’ve a bit of a journey ahead of us.”
“There is no fucking wa—”
She gagged him.
5
At first, Sanos dismissed the words Olerra had shared, still convinced his father was behind this elaborate scheme. Then the flickering of a memory came to him. Hadn’t he read somewhere that Amarran nobility sometimes stole husbands for themselves?
Besides, his father would never sendwomento mess with him.
Olerra had lifted him so effortlessly…
Because she had the power of her goddess and could overpower him.
That thought was unsettling. He’d only ever had to worry about his father hurting him. He knew exactly what cruelties to expect from him. But Princess Olerra? He knew nothing about her, save that she wanted his brother for her husband, and by his own damned idiocy, Sanos had managed to take his place.
What would she do if she learned he wasn’t Andrastus? Kill him? Or did he risk revealing his identity and hope she would ransom him? Sanos dismissed the thought immediately. Either she would trade him for Andrastus—something Sanos would never allow to happen to his gentler brother—or try to ransom him to his father.
Then Atalius would kill him.
Allowing himself to be kidnapped by Amarrans? Shaming the Brutes? Embarrassing his father? The king would torture him until Sanos’s heart failed.
