“Did you kiss her?” I blurted out.
“I’ll remind you that she has spent most of her time on the ship vomiting.”
“Before that. To seal the marriage.”
He huffed. “I completed it as was expected.”
“That’s not an answer.”
His gaze dropped from mine, telling me I wouldn’t get one no matter how hard I pressed.
“You wanted to.”Look up. Let me read your thoughts.
He did not glance my way. “You’ll meet her soon enough and if kisses are needed, you can deliver them. I’m sure she’s feeling like her old self again. As for what she’s like, she’s relentless. Determined and fiercely protective. I doubt anything can break that woman’s will.”
My smile rose. “You like her.”
Eyebrows lifting, his sardonic gaze met mine. “I didn’t say that.”
He didn’t need to.
“She’s maddeningly impressive,” he said. “I doubt she backs down from anything or anyone. I can't stand how she . . .”
“How she what?”
His shoulders dropped but only for a second before his ramrod strength tightened his spine once more. “Alright, she unnerves me.”
“Good.”
“Notgood.” The jerk of his head told me he hated admittingeven this much to me. “She’s frustrating and captivating. Hard to ignore.”
I stifled the oddly possessive feelings surging through me. We weren’t in competition. But we were vastly different people, and he got to meet her first. How would she see me compared to him?
Where I could control how I spoke and what I said, and intelligence wasn’t the issue, those around me didn’t fear me like they did Lorant. I’d always ached for his sharp wit, for the way he could make people jump when he stepped into the room. I didn’t want my people to fear me—not too much—but I did need to command respect.
I’d had to earn it.
Lorant used precision in everything he said or did. He could slice through someone with his words alone. I could barely touch the sly way he manipulated those around him without them realizing it was happening.
“Describe her for me,” I said. Why hadn’t I asked for this information when Lydel Court replied that they would send me a willing royal fae bride? Because Reyla’s appearance hadn’t mattered. This was one step among many along a steep cliff with an even more treacherous path. Who she was could make or break me, and that was what I’d focused on back then. “Paint me a picture of her.”
“I’m no artist.”
“Don’t deny it. And you know what I mean,” I said. “Show me in words. You can do it if you dig deeply enough.”
“Her reddish blonde hair is long, beautiful.” His huskylaugh rang out as he stared inward, picturing her like I longed to do. “It’s as wild and untamed as her.”
I’d bet anything he ached to tame her.
“What else?” I asked.
“Her hair caught the moonlight as it stroked across her shoulders.”
How would it appear in sunlight? I couldn’t wait to see, to touch it to discover if the strands were coarse or fine.
“It fits the rebellious gleam in her brown eyes,” he said.
Brown, eh?
