“What do you do in my room?” she snarled, striding toward him.
Astore caught her shoulders and shook her once. “Gaela. What is wrong?”
“Are you reading my correspondence?” she demanded.
Her husband shocked her into silence with his kiss.
For a moment Gaela did not respond, too surprised at his bold theft, andAstore clearly took it as acquiescence; he softened his mouth and moved his hands to her face, cupping her jaw tenderly.
Gaela pulled away. “What are you about, Col?”
The Duke Astore’s lips were crushed, so quickly drawn in pink. “You seem distressed, wife,” he said, using the title pointedly, as if admonishing her to remember she’d entered into this relationship willingly.
She knew very well the choices she’d made. Gaela lifted one hand to carefully wipe her bottom lip with her thumb, then said, “My father insisted upon hunting a deer the scouts called too young, too new. He has no concern for the health of the forest.”
Astore’s hands slid down to settle at her hips, as they were wont to do. “I too worry on his mind.”
“You rather understate the issue, Col. He is mad. And his behavior makes everyone around him so, too. He should be released of obligations to retainers. I should send them all away. A break would do them good.”
“And better to win them to us.”
“So long as they listen to my father, they will not join me. So we stand.” Gaela shrugged free of her husband’s grip. “Tell me now, husband, what you did at my desk, here in my own rooms without me.”
The duke met her gaze. “I was writing you a note. I leave immediately for Dondubhan.”
“What has happened?”
“Connley sent his men already into Brideton and Lowbinn, so I will establish our name in Dondubhan immediately, not wait for closer to Midwinter.”
“Good, good.” Gaela grinned. “Keep Connley in his place. I would go with you, but better, I think, for us to be both there and here. You can be Astore there, and I will be the almost-queen on my own, here, not to be seen stepping too soon.”
Astore took Gaela’s wrist. “That was my thought exactly. We do still make a good match. Despite your faith in your sister.”
“Let go,” she said softly.
“You’ve avoided my bed since you returned from the Summer Seat.”
Gaela denied it with a sneer.
“Soon you will be the ultimate regent, before even your sister Regan, for this halved-crown will not last. We won’t allow it. You will have what you have sought, and I would have it with you. This would not be possible without me to balance your womanly stars.”
“I know,” she said, truthfully: she never would have married at all if there had been another way.
He kissed her again, lowering his hands to her waist, then curled them around to hold her firmly. His mouth was urgent; he pressed their hips together. She did not resist, but gave nothing either. How her life might’ve been easier if she wanted this. Wanted him. Or anyone.
“Gaela,” he said, half into her mouth, then leaned away. His brow knit, darkening his pale eyes with shadow. “What is wrong with you? I know you have no lovers, not even that girl Osli whom you cherish so close to your person. You do not seek pleasure or companionship elsewhere.”
“I have no need of it,” she said, dismissively.
“Everyone does.”
Gaela shrugged and stepped away from him. She went to her desk, skimming her hand along the letters there; indeed one lay open and half written in his hand. “I am not everyone,” she said with pride, glancing up at him briefly.
“That is why I married you.” Astore stood with his hands at his hips, angry and admirably regal. His broad chest pulled at the wool tunic he wore and the gold-worked chains hooked from shoulder to shoulder. A large topaz hung from his left earlobe, glinting like the rings on his fingers and the hammered copper at his neck.
“Take a lover, Col. I’ll not stop you.”
“You are my wife. I wantyou.That is also why I married you. To make you mine, Geala Astore”
