“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Are you upset with Jace?”
“No.”
“Did you like seeing his head between my legs?”
His jaw tics, and he glances away. My chest tightens as his answer hangs between us clear as day. “I’m sorry,” I say.
“You have nothing to apologise for.”
“I hurt you.”
He cups my cheeks, then kisses me. It’s tender and sweet and makes my heart ache. It makes me feel like he’s taking care of me when I should be taking care of him. “You didn’t hurt me,” he whispers against my lips. “You checked in to make sure I was okay.”
“You said yellow.”
“I did.”
“Were you lying?”
“No.”
I frown as a tightness wraps around me. There are too many things I simply do not understand here. What if I never learn to fit in? What if this place never becomes my home?
I shake those thoughts away as fast as they appear. This is already my home. Because Fabia is here. And my king.
“So… tell me what made it a yellow,” I say. That’s what he asked me when I called red. Is it the same for the other colours?
Scooping down, he lifts me up in his arms and cradles me to his naked chest. As he carries me into the bedroom, I fear he isn’t going to answer. But then he crawls into bed with me and lays me out beside him after turning off the bedroom light. Wrapping his arms around me, my back to his chest, he kisses the top of my head.
“I liked watching another man desire you,” Richard says slowly, “while he isn’t able to fully have you. The jealousy I hadover him touching you was quieted by the pride that you are mine and he knew it. Envied it.”
“But that’s changed now?” I ask.
“No. I…” He sighs. “Jace makes people laugh. Everyone likes him. You… like him.”
I frown, wondering what that has to do with anything. Then my eyes widen as I turn in his arms to face him. He turned off the light when we got back in bed, and I wish it was on now so he could see the honesty on my face. “You think I want to be with Jace?” I ask. “Over you?”
“He isn’t a monster to you,” he says softly.
Sorrow crushes my lungs as I recall the hurt in his eyes when I called him that back in Brownston. When he threw a knife at Karl’s feet, challenging him to a fight to the death, I thought he was bloodthirsty. “You’re not a monster,” I say. “I just didn’t know you. I was wrong.”
“You weren’t.”
“Iwas.” I cup his cheek. “You’re a good person. You let Karl live.”
“I cut off his dick.”
My eyes widen. “What? He didn’t look in pain when Jace took me to see him.” Of course, I wasn’t paying Karl much attention at the time considering I was trying not to orgasm in front of him while Richard played with the settings on my vibrator. But I’m certain I would’ve noticed if he’d been screaming about his missing dick.
“That’s because I had it reattached.”
I smile. “See? That was being nice!”
