She was trembling still. From the kiss.
He was…
Outrageous.
Yes. He was outrageous.
He had given her her first kiss. And it was still echoing inside of her.
Need was warring with anger. And she found that even more outrageous.
How could she want him when he made her so angry? How could she want him when she also wanted to strangle him?
Two years of this. At minimum. That was depending on whether or not he found that things were secure enough by that time.
He had all the control. That bastard. No. She had some control. He wouldn’t be worried about manipulation if he didn’t think that he could fall prey to it. Like she had said to him directly.
She definitely had power over him. He wanted her.
That was a part of herself that she had ignored. And certainly not something she had ever sought to use as a weapon.
She still didn’t want to use it solely as a weapon.
But…
Two years.
She wanted it to mean something. She wanted to count for something. She was learning things. About herself. She was learning by planning this and…
She was innocent. Physically. Maybe there was something that she could learn here about that. About men.
She had been promised to marry a man twice her age. More than twice her age. And then Ragnar had stolen her, and his initial intent had been to make her his wife in truth.
Men had played games with her, and with her sexuality for her entire life.
The idea of having the choice for how she would express it, when she might claim it, made her feel powerful.
Maybe it shouldn’t. No, she knew that it shouldn’t. Because it should be something that was innate. Something she expected. It never had been.
She had never been able to count on such a luxury.
So maybe now she would. Maybe now, she would take what she wanted.
She could seduce him.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t have any experience. She had gotten a glimpse of her own power in that library. Had truly tasted it as she had tasted the desire on his tongue.
More to the point, she wanted him. Whether she liked him or not.
Even as the thought filtered through her mind, she let out a long, slow breath.
She did like him. Unfortunately. If she didn’t like him, then him calling her manipulative wouldn’t have hurt her feelings.
But maybe it was a good thing he had called her that.
It had forced her to take a look at herself. At her whole life.
She didn’t feel any guilt for what she had done to give herself just a little bit of agency.
