I think about Mum having sex with my ex-fiance Karl. About my grandma joining in. And my dad – as he looked when he was pulled out of the ogre’s vagina.
But my stupid frickin’ stomach stays nicely settled.
Ugh.
“Arienna…” he says slowly, “are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay!” My heart thrashes as we land on the balcony to our royal chambers, and I scurry off him. “You forced anannulmenton me,” I shout. “Why did youdothat?Why didn’t youtalkto me? And why did youoffer to marry Evangeline?”
He glances over my shoulder, uncomfortable with the guards overhearing us. But I don’t care if the whole frickin’ city knows. Everyone will know soon enough anyway whenEvangelinegets crowned. Withmycrown.
“We’ll talk inside.”
“No. I want to talk here.”
He ducks down and throws me across his shoulders.
“Hey!”
I wriggle against him, trying to get down. His hand lands on my ass, spanking out a gasp. I still. “You can’t –”
He spanks me again, his palm lingering on my ass.
“You don’t get to touch me like that! You didn’t stop! I don’t – I don’ttrustyou.”
My heart breaks as he drops his hand. Stupid frickin’ heart. Stupid frickin’ trust. Stupid frickin’ husband.
Ex-husband.
My thoughts pause.Is he my ex-husband?He made it so we never got married in the first place, so what does that make him now? Just a regular ex? My throat clenches tight, the pain in my chest flaring everywhere.
“Are we together still?” I whisper as we make it to my rooms.
“Yes,” he says. Short, clipped, and full of confidence, and that makes me angrier despite it being the answer I wanted.
An energy burning inside me, I open my mouth to speak, think better of it, and bite his arm instead.
I expected him to spank me, but he doesn’t. He lets my teeth dig into him. I bite down harder, wanting him to give me something, to show me he’s breaking as much as I am.
One of the guards stationed outside opens the door to my rooms. He strides inside, heading towards the bedroom. He rolls me over his head, tossing me onto the bed. I bounce, but beforeI can scramble to my feet, he jumps on top of me. Pinning me down, his face so close to mine, he says, “If you had stayed outside, I wouldn’t have had to offer to marry Evangeline to get an annulment.”
“Oh! So now you’re blaming me!”
“I asked you to trust me –”
“You didn’t trust me!” I shudder beneath him, my heart too tight in my chest. “You didn’t trust me,” I repeat softly, though I don’t know why considering he clearly heard me the first time. A tight knot in my throat, I look away. I can’t breathe.
“It wasn’t about me not trusting you. I don’t want this life for you.”
“ButIwant it,” I tell him, my voice cracking from this awful pressure building inside me. “I want to be married to you.”
“We can still be together, just not as king and queen.”
“Because you’re marryingEvangeline,” I spit out her name, hating that I hate someone I don’t even know. That isn’t fair of me at all. She’s probably really sweet.
But I don’t care.
I hate her.
