He picked up her wrists and wrapped the same ribbon around them.
“Wait,” she said, trying to pull her hands away. “I—”
He raised his eyebrows when she stopped speaking. “Yes?”
Her face flushed crimson. “I need to use the chamber pot.”
His lips curled into a slow grin and he resumed the wrapping of ribbon. “Then you shall have to rely on me to help.”
Her jaw dropped. “No.”
He shrugged. “You have nothing to hide from me. You are my wife. You will bear my children. I will see and know every part of you in the most intimate of ways.”
She shuddered, beginning to look genuinely distressed.
“Come,” he said, tugging her bound wrists in the direction of the privy screen. Once there, he pulled up her skirts and balled them in a bunch in front of her. “Hold this,” he said, placing it in her restricted grasp. Holding her by the armpits, he tilted her backward, over the chamber pot.
She squeezed her eyelids shut, looking miserable. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes and gave him an adorable pleading look. “I cannot. Not with you here. Please leave me—”
“No,” he interrupted stubbornly. “This is your one chance to use the chamber pot. If I were you, I would take it, else you’ll be the laughing stock of the castle if you have an accident at the breakfast table.”
She cringed, then narrowed her eyes. “You are insufferable.”
He chuckled. “You’re not the first one to say so,” he said lightly.
She began to pee, and it took effort not to smirk.
“All finished?” he asked politely.
She made a huffing sound so he left her dangling over the pot. “Yes, I have finished,” she snapped.
“Yes, I have finished, sir?” he suggested.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I have finished, sir,” she said, glaring daggers.
He smirked and lifted her upright, helping her rearrange her skirts. “Come, my lady. Let us break the fast together.”
She sniffed, lifting her nose in the air and walking to the door, which, of course, she could not manage to open. He reached from behind her. “Allow me,” he said with a bow.
She made a grumbling sound in her throat and he popped her backside with the flat of his hand. “That’s enough, little wife.”
At the table, they wrestled once again over whether she would sit upon his lap.
“Still haven’t tamed her yet, Barrett?” one of the knights called out with a chuckle. Daisy shot him an angry look.
“I rather like her wild,” he admitted, pulling her firmly onto his knees and holding her captive with an arm around her waist. “Be good, little girl or I will lift your skirts and spank your naughty little bottom right here in the dining hall,” he warned in a low voice in her ear. “Believe me when I say it has been done before, and the men rather love the entertainment.”
* * *
Daisy wanted to spit in Barrett’s face. His games were not amusing. His treating her like a prisoner or a child incensed her.
“Good morning, brother,” Prince Erik said, looking at them with amused curiosity.
She found it interesting that he addressed him as brother, fully claiming their relationship.
“Good morning,” Barrett said with a grin. “Where do you want me today?”
“Well, it appears you have your hands full, but I’d like you to supervise the reconstruction of the south wall.”
