“…and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as you both shall live?”
My lady gazes resolutely at the crimson runner on the floor.
She has gone quite still, and the tension enveloping me grows thicker with each passing moment of silence. I can practically hear the Crown Prince silently congratulating himself. I clench my fist around the cane I carry. The Prince gave it to me when I greeted him—a gift, he said, and a tradition in his family he wanted to share with me to bring me luck on my wedding day.
Perhaps it is all a part of his bet, but if so, he will lose it, because I know exactly what to do. With care, I brush it against the lady’s backside. I am quick in my movement, and it is soon on the floor beside me once more. Anyone who managed to catch sight of it would merely think I had forgotten I held the cane and made a misstep.
Butmylady knows exactly what I am inferring, and her eyes leap to my face at once. The pink in her cheeks spreads, and in mere moments the color deepens. Her eyes rob me of breath.Her luminous depths, too deep for me to fathom. They are wide just now, and the tiniest bit frightened.
“I… yes.” Her voice comes out soft and barely audible, but it is the right answer. “I shall.”
“Who giveth this woman…”
The words fade, and my world constricts until all I can focus on is the Lady Freya and my own desire. I have wanted her from the instant I first beheld her, but in the weeks since I concocted the scheme to possess her, she has become lovelier still. And the way she is so conscious my every movement, but determined to pretend she is not, is a most arousing game.
“Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” The minister closes his book with a thud that echoes through the church.
It is deliberate and final, and Lady Freya startles as though frightened.
My lips quirk, though I quickly squelch it. The lady’s eyes widen in a way that is most becoming, as is the way her cheeks stain with lovely color. I am always near enough to hear the way her breath hitches and stays trapped in her chest that, once she exhales her breath in a loud exhale, begins rising and falling with quickening breathing.
For the lady, it is as though she and I are the only two people in the room. I know everyone else has ceased to exist, for she would never allow herself to be observed thusly.
This does nothing to squelch my need for the woman who is now my wife. In fact, it intensifies my desire tenfold. I reach for her, and the flinch that shudders across her body when my hand grasps her own is obvious. She does not pull away, however, and her eyes find mine. She looks very much as hunted quarry does in the moments before its fate is sealed.
She has never looked more enchanting.
Chapter Six
Duchess Freya
It is done in far too short a time. I am Duchess of Fairwynd before I can quite draw a breath.
I nearly swoon when the Crown Prince approaches me and feel the steadying presence of my new husband’s hand on the small of my back. I curtsey clumsily, and when I rise, His Highness’s eyes are laughing. Somehow, I do not believe he means to mock me.
“You are quite a lovely duchess. Congratulations, Your Grace.”
“I… thank you for your… kind compliment, Your Highness.”
“Indeed… I must congratulate you both. Well done, Your Grace.”
I look between my new husband and the Prince, frowning as I try to understand.
“Thank you, Your Highness. Your presence here… flatters me.”
“You would not mind if I was to kiss your bride before you have the opportunity, would you, Greyonyx?”
My puzzlement increases as my gaze flits between the two men. The Crown Prince is giving the duke a little mocking smile,and the duke’s own lips are quirking, though he tries to squelch it.
“Of course not, Your Highness.”
I am quite startled by my husband’s answer, but before I can either swallow or release the protest that works its way up my throat, the prince takes my gloved hand in his. He bows over it and presses his lips to the back of my hand.
“Congratulations again, Your Grace.” He gives me a saucy smile I cannot begin to understand as he rises. “You do great credit to your new rank. Dotrynot to make a hash of it, Greyonyx. Farewell.”
The entire exchange baffles me, but then, that could be said of the entire day. My new husband seems unbothered by anything the prince said; indeed, he is wearing a small, amused smile.
“You… you are acquainted with the Crown Prince?”
