Page 56 of Crowning His Innocent Assistant

He took the coffee cup in her hand and set it along with his own on the nightstand. “Come to me, my Queen.”

And she thought, as she gave herself over to him, that being Queen Mouse might not be so bad after all.

He awoke in the dark. Gasping, sweating. The pain was unbearable. But then, cool hands were on his skin, a soft mouth pressed to his scars.

He had never fallen asleep with a woman before. Never. For this reason. But she was there. And she comforted him. And he knew immediately who it was. Livia. His Mouse.

His Queen.

Comforting him in the way that only she could.

It had been so from the beginning.

It was a weakness, perhaps, to need this the way that he did.

But he wasn’t sure he cared.

For he was too caught up in it, in her touch, and the soothing words that she spoke. He pulled her to him, and kissed her. Kissed her with all the rising, angry emotion in his chest.

No. It was only in his dreams that he ever felt this. During the day, he walked around with the rock where his heart should be. During the day, he remembered who he was, what he must be.

It was only now, only now at night that things became muddled and fuzzy. But she was so soft, his Livia.

Livia.

For it had always been her. He would’ve married another woman.

Right then, in the darkness of their room, in this shared bed, with his nightmares fresh on his heels and his body burning from the pain woven out of his dreams, he felt destroyed by that thought.

That he might’ve made another woman his Queen.

Liviawas his Queen.

On this line between sleep and wakefulness it seemed so clear. She kissed him, matching his desperation. And when he turned her over and sank into her welcoming body, everything seemed bright. Everything seemed to make sense. Everything seemed to be as it had never been before. His chest felt like it might burst, and he found that he could not breathe.

He felt as if she might have answers. And she might have had those same answers on that night so many years ago, when she had first come to him.

Livia.

His.

His woman.

---