Page 334 of Reign

“It was appropriate.”

“For a school presentation.”

His hand slides down and squeezes my hip.

I smile.

“You’re learning,” I tell him.

“For you.”

“Slowly.”

“Turn around, princesa. It’s time for bed.”

“That sounded threatening.”

“It was an instruction.”

I roll onto my side, and Luciano reaches for the lamp.

The room falls into soft shadows when he switches it off, but the nightlight remains glowing in the corner.

He settles behind me, the way he always does now. One long arm slides beneath me, his hand resting loosely around the front of my throat. The other comes over my hip, his palm cupping me between my legs as he draws me back against his chest until the lingering heat in my ass from the spanking presses against him.

I relax into him.

His mouth brushes my shoulder.

“Sleep.”

I close my eyes.

There are still things he won’t tell me. There may always be things he can’t.

But tonight, I asked.

And he answered.

***

Luciano leaves without so much as a goodbye.

I wake alone, one arm stretched across the place where he should be. The sheets on his side are cool, which means he’s been gone long enough to make this personal.

He knew I was asleep.

He could’ve kissed me before he left.

He could’ve woken me up.

He could’ve at least left a note explaining why I’m expected to begin my morning abandoned in a mansion large enough to require its own postal code.

Instead, I have to eat breakfast alone.

By myself.

Which is particularly annoying because I’ve spent days insisting I’m capable of feeding myself, and now I don’t want to.