“I thought my truthwielding didn’t work on you. That everything we’d shared—every kiss, every touch, every confession—had been a lie. How else could you have keptso muchfrom me? I kept replaying every moment, searching for cracks. Trying to see how you’d fooled me so skiesdamnedthoroughly.”
“That’s why you said you’d never trust me again,” she whispers.
I nod, pressing my forehead against hers. “All those months, not a single lie. Not one. And then just now…” Her throat bobs, breath catching. “When you said you hated me—it didn’t just prickle, Mayah. It felt like someone raked a blade down my spine.”
Her shoulders shake as a broken sob slips free from her lips, and I swallow it with a deep kiss, holding her tightly against me as I steal the breath from her lungs.
“Tell me another lie, baby,” I whisper against her lips, desperate for the reassurance that it had been real. Thatwehad been real. That I didn’t just imagine the slow-blooming love unfurling in her heart.
“I never want to see you again,” she breathes, her fingers scratching against my scalp.
Lie.
“I want you to leave.”
Lie.
“I—I don’t love you.”
Sharp needles prick my neck, cascading down my spine, and the relief that rushes through me is so potent, so strong, it would bring me to my knees if I weren’t already seated. I slant my lipsover hers with a hungry desperation. Her kiss is everything I’ve ever needed. I’ll never get enough of her.
My voice is hoarse when I pull back. “You were telling the truth. When you said you wanted me. When you said you’d miss me.” Another broken chuckle. “When you said you love my broody scowl. The wormbark oil. Everything. You. Love.Me.”
Mayah nods, tears falling freely now. I gently wipe them away. My thumb brushes against her lips, and the memory slams into me, sudden and unwanted. Lips that she kissed the captain with. When she wasmine. My eyes slam shut, muscles tensing.
“Every time I close my eyes, Mayah, I see you on your knees—beside him.MyMayah. Mywife.”
“Are you still mad?” she whispers against my lips.
“Yeah, baby. I’m still mad.” I’m not gentle this time when my fingers fist in her hair, tilting her head back. “But I’m going to get it all out now. Every last bit. And then we’ll never speak of it again.” Anger and desire swirl through me as she shifts in my lap, hands on my chest, back arched and neck bared.
“I gave you all of me, Mayah. I loved—love—you. My life’s been split down the middle: before you and after you. Before you, I was merely existing. Going through the motions. Alone. A fucking shell. But after you?” I laugh softly. “After you, there’sonlyyou. Since our journey, it’s only ever been you. Every moment spent thinking about you, aching for you,lovingyou. And then … everything came crashing down around me. You were with him when you weremine.”
Her mouth parts, but she remains silent, letting me speak my truth.
“But even then, you were still mine, weren’t you, baby? When you were convinced my kingdom was responsible for your mother’s death, when you were planning a skiesdamned coup under my nose, when you left Tundrayn in love withanother man. The wormbark oil was for me.” A question, not a statement.
She nods quickly, head still tilted back in my grip. Her eyes don’t leave me for even half a second.
“And when I returned from the border, you were planning to tell me everything.”
“Yes,” she whispers.
“And I would’ve helped you. I’d have helped you kill them all. Without a second thought. You didn’t fucking needhim. Because I’ve always been yours. I have been since I met you. And you need to decide now. Because you’re either mine or you’re not. And if you choose to be mine, Mayah—” I tug her head farther back, and a soft whimper slips free from between her lips, heating my blood.
“I won’t be kind. I won’t be gentle. I’m going toruinyou, the way you ruined me. You will spend your nights, your mornings, any moment I can get my hands on you, begging for a mercy that will never come. I’m going to make youachefor me, Mayah. The way I’ve been aching for you since that first night you slapped me across the face.”
Say yes, baby. I don’t think I could survive if you didn’t choose me.
Not again.
Mayah sucks in a shaky breath, soft fingers skimming the edge of my jaw, her touch reverent.
“I think,” she whispers, “it’s time we consummate our marriage.”
Relief shudders through me, drowned out by the raging desire her kisses stoked inside me. I lean back, raking my gaze over her.
“Take off your clothes and wait for me on the bed.”
