“I don’t want you to feel like a prisoner. Just know you’re safe here and I’m taking extra precautions to ensure it.” The more times I heard it, the more I started to believe.
“Thank you, Majesty.” My shoulders eased with his reassurance.
Rhazien straightened, rising to his full height and gathered my hands in his. His square jaw tightened underneath his neatly trimmed gray-speckled stubble. “You’re welcome, it’s the least I can do for my prospect.”
My heart leapt with his sincerity but I clung to his final word.Prospect.
Oddo strolled suspiciously past the bay, casually running a hand through his dark hair as he glanced at us.
“Our moment may be over.” Rhazien sighed, scanning me again. “This color is absolutely divine on you.”
My cheeks warmed. “My chambermaid picked it,” I said as he thumbed the deep green fabric. My training to be a dutiful wife reared itshead and I couldn’t help but add, “I’ll ask her to find more like it if it’s your preference.”
His eyes locked to mine and a lusty whisper rolled from his lips, “I have a feeling you’ll look beautiful in anything. Wear whatever you like, and I’ll love it.”
I basked in the warmth of the compliment and gave him a wide smile. This wasn’t like me. I couldn’t possibly be swooning this quickly on my own. It had to be the blood.
Gorvin cleared his throat from beyond the stacks.
The regent leaned down, letting his breath dance across the shell of my ear. “You’re getting me in trouble, Lady Reyva.”
“You’re in trouble with me,” I retorted.
He rocked back on his heels and placed a hand on his chest.“Already? How did I manage that?”
A smile threatened to break through, but I couldn’t let his charming nature distract me. “You pulled me aside to tell me something and haven’t yet. Unless it really was a tactic for a moment alone.”
“A small fib would be worth a thousand moments with you, but I was telling the truth.” My raised brows invited his continuance. “I’m hosting a welcome ball for you in two days to introduce you as my prospect to the royal court. Ambassadors from other Hives will also be in attendance.”
There’s that word again.
Gorvin stood in full view at the end of the bay, impatience vibrating from his form. “If you ever let her get to her lesson, Majesty.”
“One more minute and then you can drag me away.” The regent waved him off.
“A ball? Really? It seems a bit over the top?—”
“It’s part of keeping you safe. Solstice is less than two months away and there are many events between, during which we’ll host royals from other Hives. I don’t want to leave any room for misinterpretation on their part. You’re mine and they cannot touch you.”
As a guest of the human court, I could hide in the shadows or slink into the crowd. I could thrive in my anonymity. Here, I wouldn’t be afforded such luxuries. Now, I would be a guest of honor instead of a nameless wife to a wealthy lord, and I would be on the arm of the regent of an immortal court, no less. My palms dampened at the thought.
It seemed there would be no deterring him. “All right.”
He smiled and nodded. “One more thing, I’ve instructed Gorvin to reserve time for us to continue to get to know each other.”
“I appreciate the thought, but I’m used to being left alone. I’m sure I’ll find ways to occupy myself.”
“Reyva.” He squeezed my hands and the seriousness in his gaze commanded my attention. “I know your late husband was an absent partner. That is not what our life will be.”
“How—” I stopped myself short. Dommik said the Hive had done its research on me, which I supposed would have included my marital life. But my initial question wasn’t worth asking—he’d said ‘our life’.Our.“What do you mean by our life?”
“It means what it sounds like.” Rhazien narrowed his gaze, a glint of something playful in his eyes.
“You’re immortal.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not.”
