Page 139 of For the Gods' Sake

Adrian pulled back, taking the box out of my hand and removing the ring. He slipped the ring slowly onto my finger, nestling it at the base.

Adrian’s eyes were glued to the hand where it was floating between us, focusing on the ring. “That’s thehottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

In any other situation, maybe I’d tease him a little bit. But I was far too worked up to do anything but maul him. Adrian caught my face in his hands right as my lips descended over his, one hand sliding into my hair and the other down to the base of my neck.

“I swear, Adrian,” I damn near growled against his mouth as I rolled my hips over his. “If you say that it’s too soon—"

He pulled away looking me in the eye. “You feel fine?”

I pressed my hips down towards his erection, chasing any friction I could find. Too much had happened in the last few days, enough that I was craving that connection between us more than air. “I’m feeling like if you don’t fuck me within the next minute, I might kill you.”

Adrian laughed and I could feel the sound against my chest. “We can’t have that.”

Our clothes were gone in seconds, discarded in some corner of his room. Then Adrian rolled me underneath him and proceeded to torture me with his tongue for much longer than a minute. Until I was pulling on his hair to try to bring him back on top of me.

“Someone’s impatient,” he chastised lightly once he settled back over me.

I frowned right in his face. “You cannot possibly expect me to be patient when you tell me you love me and thenproposewithout being able to do something about it.”

Adrian slid his hand up my leg, positioning himself between my thighs. “Patience is a virtue, honey. One that gets rewarded.” And with that, he slid into me with one easy stroke, making me gasp against his mouth.

“Fuck, I love you,” he said, amidst deep rolls of his hips. The already intense pleasure of it all expanded and burst at those words, crashing down around me. That only spurred Adrian on more, his thrusts growing deeper and wringing even more pleasure out of me until he finished.

Even after exhausting ourselves, I felt nowhere near calm. I would just have to get used to feeling like I’d burst, apparently.

Adrian followed me as I walked to his private kitchen in search of food, his hand settled close to my back to guide me because I couldn’t stop staring at my ring.

“Why today?” I asked as I jumped up on the marble countertop and watched as Adrian walked around the kitchen gathering food, pulling out all my favorites.

Adrian paused, coming to settle his hands on either sides of my legs. “Something happened this morning. And you were the first person I wanted to tell. But you looked too peaceful to wake up.” He tipped my chin up and stole a quick kiss. “I know I want you next to me for the rest of my life. Through everything.”

This time I was the one to steal a kiss, though much longer and deeper. When I pulled back, I asked, “What happened this morning?”

Adrian ran a hand down his face, leaving his expression in clear disbelief. “The Fates seemed to be quite annoyed that someone attempted to doubt their divine plan.”

“And?”

“They appeared this morning at my temple here, my one in Rome, and in Athens, and posted a decree on the doors stating that I wasa representation of the Fates’ will—I think it was.”

“Adrian, that’s a good thing,” I said, when his shocked expression didn’t quite change. “Anyone who would still support Sebastian—if their memory wasn’t wiped—would be stupid to try and disagree with the Fates.”

Adrian nodded, his jaw still hard. “I have about thirty years of guilt to deal with. But this helps.”

“Andyou deserve it,” I added. He had worked so hard to be a good, fair leader. And I hated that Sebastian’s ill-advised coup had done anything to damage his faith in that.

One of his dimples appeared, a long line creasing his cheek, chasing away the doubt. “I imagine you could guess what else is Fated?”

My heart swelled with the confirmation. I knew it, deep in my bones. But hearing it was a different story. “Glad they were smart enough to work this marriage into their plan.”

Adrian let out one short breath of laughter. “Oh, really?”

I nodded. “You would have gone crazy and interrupted my wedding if I tried to marry anyone else.”

It was a joke, but the image clearly manifested in Adrian’s head, dropping his mouth into a scowl. I kissed it right off his face, then jumped off the counter and out of his arms when he tried to wrestle me back towards him.

While we ate, I kept looking at Adrian—not quite satisfied with the remaining guilt I could see in his eyes.

I knew he’d be concerned about any remaining discontent, of people doubting him despite the Fates' decree.

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