Page 14 of For the Love of the Gods

I didn’t miss how she flinched at the wordwife. Too bad, she called me every name in the book, so I deserved to call her wife.

She crossed her arms under her chest. I kept my eyes on her face. “I can handle myself just fine.”

“Your ability to kill has never been brought into question.” If I didn’t know her as well as I did by now, I would have thought the way her neck tensed meant she was hurt by that statement. But she never shied away from remindingmewhat she was capable of.

“You really need to come up with more creative insults,” she muttered, and I felt her foot brush mine under the table. I widened my legs. There was no way I was letting her kick me in the shin.

“Now that we live together, I have all the time in the world to practice.”

Rose almost fell out of her chair. “We do not live together!”

“Hire competent guards and then we can re-discuss.” My voice was firm, leaving no reason to argue.

She did anyway. “My guards are perfectly capable of protecting me.”

Her guard, Marcus, if I remembered correctly, piped up from behind her. “You need his staff too.”

“Marcus!” Rose yelled, snapping her head towards him in accusation.

“What do you mean?” I ground out.

He turned to Rose first, apology in his eyes. “You’re right we are capable of protecting you. This is part of that.”

Rose tipped her head back towards the ceiling and muttered something to herself.

Marcus turned back to me. He was built like a guard, full of bulky muscle. I had no doubt that he could protect Rose from a direct attack, but not from someone who snuck in behind his back. “Our staff can’t cover the entire palace. There’s pockets of dead space that would make a breach all too easy.”

That was all I needed to hear. “We combine our homes. End of discussion.”

“No.” Rose kicked her foot under the table, snapping the wood of my chair. Right where my leg was a minute prior.

“I’m not arguing with you.” This was falling into place too perfectly. I needed to know where to strike first before I could fully formulate a plan for revenge.

“So what? You want me to play the dutiful wife?” She batted her eyelashes at me. “Could I get you some tea, darling? Maybe a foot rub? Or a knife to the gut. Your pick.”

I laughed. “Make it a back massage.”

“In your dreams.”

“Try nightmares.”

“Creative,” Rose said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

I took a deep breath and resisted the urge to strangle her.

“We can table the topic of our houses,” I said, and at Rose’s quick expression of joy I added, “For now.”

“What if I have terms?” she asked.

“This is a negotiation. Please share.”

She took a deep breath and said, “I get to leave the house whenever I want.”

My mind went blank. I had no fucking idea what to say to that.

“And I don’t want anyone other than Marcus or Max accompanying me when I leave.”

“Okay…” I said, trailing off. This was odd.

---