Page 325 of Coal Hearts

“Don’t.” He swiped his boxers from the grass and slipped them on. Gathering the rest of his clothes and the leash, his eyes darkened. “Don’t be a bitch.”

“Me?” I pointed at myself. “I think you’re confusing me with someone else. I’m your obedient little wife, remember?” I licked my lips, deliberately obscene. “I sucked your cock. I drank your cum. You promised me a favour in return.”

He held himself exquisitely still. “What do you want?”

To get away from you.

To get away from the truth.

To get away from myself.

“To see the other jewels.”

He sighed heavily. “Can you be trusted around him?”

I knew who he meant.

And I didn’t need to use jealousy to make him mine. “I like Peter. Very much.”

His eyes narrowed into predator points.

“But I like him how I would like a friend...a brother.”

“He kissed you.”

“Platonically.” I sniffed. “He was offering me comfort, that’s all.”

“If he does it again, I’ll be digging his grave.”

“He’s protecting me.”

“I’m protecting you.”

“Is that what you call it?” I wrinkled my nose. “Hate to tell you, Henri, but what you just did to me felt anything but safe and protective.”

“What I did to you?” He scoffed. “You’re the one who sucked out my damn soul.”

“And you’re the one who spanked me!”

His gaze dropped to his palm as if reliving his abuse. Finally, he looked up and snapped, “If he touches you again, I’ll—”

“He won’t.”

He studied me as if he didn’t believe me.

Finally, he nodded and stepped away. “Fine. You have two hours. Spend it in the jewel quarters. Do whatever you want. But I expect you at my feet for dinner.”

He stalked away before I could bow and simper.

I followed him, studying the tension in his shoulders. The jagged rhythm of his step.

He didn’t look like a man who’d just come.

He looked like a man conflicted. Confused. Confounded.

And I hated, positively hated, that I knew exactly how he felt.

As I walked, the thoughts I’d flatly ignored came bounding into my mind.