Page 185 of Reign

I almost laugh at myself.

I don’t need loyalty. Elena is a guest in my house. She’s here because my sister lied to her husband and I kept finding reasons to involve myself. Nothing more.

Phoenix Sterling. Protocol dom.

He’d hate her.

Elena is too mouthy, too restless, too likely to ask why a rule exists before she decides whether she’ll obey it. Phoenix likes precision. Elena likes finding the edge of things and pressing against it until someone reacts.

Caine Wolfe. Primal dom.

Elena would hate running. A chase through the woods doesn’t sound like fantasy to her. It sounds like something she’d complain about before throwing a branch at his head and asking if he’d lost his mind.

Throne Kingston. Sadist.

Elena would hate real pain. She likes the idea of a threat. The heat of consequence. The control in someone else’s hands when she trusts them enough to stop fighting every instinct in her body.

Throne would tire of the limits before dinner.

Still, he can stay on the list.

I can’t use Caspian Ashbourne.

Too much like me.

I can’t use Riker Vale either. Brat tamer. He’d like Elena too much, and worse, Elena would probably like how easily he turned her attitude into sport.

I can think of other names.

Men who might actually suit her. Men who would see her sharp mouth, her restless energy, the softness she protects, and want every difficult inch.

I refuse to write down a single one.

The point of the list is to find a man who would choose Elena.

I’ve chosen four who won’t.

Fuck.

Marriage has always been an easy refusal. Elena has turned it into a question with a deadline.

Angelo is searching too. Every day I spend deciding gives her brother another day to attach someone else’s name to hers.

I hate the list.

I hate the clock more.

Tonight is supposed to celebrate her work. It is also an opportunity to learn what she feels like at my side when I treat her as a woman I’ve chosen.

More dangerously, I want her to feel it too.

I close the drawer, spray my cologne, button my cuffs, and go find her.

Elena’s bedroom door is open.

I find her in front of the mirror, fastening a gold earring. Her hair is swept up, leaving her neck completely bare.

My gaze settles there first.