"So, I get the bookshop?"
"Three hours. Tomorrow afternoon. With me and two guards." His hand finds my stomach again. "But you're eating breakfast first. And if you feel even slightly off, we come back immediately."
"Deal."
He stands, pulling me with him. Scoops me up like I weigh nothing.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking you to bed. We're not done."
"Adrian, I can't," my eyes are wide. "I just?—"
"You negotiated for three hours at a bookshop." His smile is wicked. "I negotiated for tonight. However, I want. Remember?"
Heat floods through me despite my exhaustion. "You're insatiable."
"I'm making up for two weeks of sleeping next to you without touching you." He carries me toward the door. "And you promised to try. To really try. That starts now."
"This is trying?"
"This is me reminding you why you said yes." He kicks open the bedroom door. "Why you're going to keep saying yes. Why this marriage might actually work."
He lays me on the bed, following me down.
"Because as much as you hate that you want me," he murmurs against my mouth, "you do want me. And I'm going to make sure you never forget that."
I should argue. Should push back.
Instead, I pull him closer.
Because he's right. I do want this. Want him.
And maybe Bianca was right too.
Maybe there's power in accepting that. In using it. In making this life mine instead of just surviving it.
"Show me," I whisper.
And he does.
Again and again until the sun starts to rise and we're both exhausted and sated and tangled together in sheets that smell like sex and expensive cologne.
"Tomorrow," he murmurs against my hair as I'm drifting off. "The bookshop. I promised."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. You earned it." His hand finds my stomach, protective and possessive. "You're learning how to play this game, Seraphina. How to be my wife."
His words stir something inside of me, and I'm not sure how I feel. Am I happy that I used sex to get something—maybe? It's all very confusing.
But as he pulls me closer, I find I don't care.
I fall asleep smiling.
Because for the first time since this nightmare began, I don't feel powerless.
I feel like maybe, just maybe, I can survive this.
