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He pursed his lips for a moment then clarified. “You said you weren’t a virgin yesterday. Is it because of this miserable excuse of a man? Or have you had other partners?”

I swallowed down the lump trying to crowd my throat. “I’ve had others both before and after. But… but not many.”

Especially after. After the third one left in an irritated miasma when I panicked, I’d decided it just wasn’t worth it. My toys gave me better orgasms than any of the guys I’d hooked up with, and they didn’t suddenly move me without communicating or brush aside my boundaries because they found them inconvenient.

“All right,” he said.

He looked down at his hands, pursing his lips again like he was deep in thought. He brushed at his knee, just like he had at the basilica yesterday. With a deep breath, he brought his focus back to me. His eyes were bright, liquid gold again, the same color as citrine. The growing sunlight limned his silhouette with an ethereal glow. Joseph’s quiet words came back to me.

He is general of Marish’s armies, entrusted to keep us all safe if the Grand Rite and its treaty were to fail.

Forget General of the Armies. Hell, forget prince. In this light, his eyes poring into me like they could see straight into my soul, it felt like I was seeing a piece of divinity. Was this how those women in the first century felt seeing angels?

No wonder they happily went along with what they were told.

“I swear to you, on my own life, that I won’t touch you beyond those touches of friends or those courting,” he said, solemn like he’d been on Magefall. He circled my wrist in example and then tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, letting his thumb linger on the line of my jaw. “Not until you request it in full understanding and true desire.”

“Really?” I asked, more than a little dubious.

He nodded at once. “I’ll swear it again with a blood binding, if you would like. I won’t touch you beyond this.” He skimmed the backs of his fingers down my throat and arm until he could take my hand in his. “You hold the power here. You’re a treasure, and I swear to you I’ll make sure you understand that before we complete the Freian rites in accordance to the Grand Rite’s mandate.”

Something deeply-seated inside me loosened a fraction, but I kept it off my face. Words were just… words. Even if they were spoken with more earnest passion than any foster parent who pledged to keep me safe while actively planning ways to hurt and exploit me. Still, I’d be stupid to reject his offer.

“All right,” I managed to say, my voice hoarse.

His hand tightened around mine for a moment before the touch disappeared. He stood with a smooth grace. His Adam’s apple moved with a swallow, and then he turned away from me, grabbing a different tunic from the wardrobe along the far wall. He shrugged out of the shirt he’d slept in and then into the new one without looking at me.

“Feel free to rise when you’d like,” he said in that same careful, soft tone. “It’s still a few hours before those continuing to Embercrest intend to leave.”

Then he was gone, closing the bedroom’s door quietly behind him.

31

CALLUM

Amethyst settled into the plush chair perfectly positioned to view the lake through the window. Her hold was tight on the mug of warm tea I’d offered before guiding her to this sitting room on the upper floor of Vincent’s home while she arranged the light blue dress she’d worn in Wolfrest. Once she was satisfied with how it sat, her feet pulled up underneath her, she switched her hold on the mug. The finger bracelet I’d given her was on her wrist again and the delicate chains framing the back of her hand clinked as she adjusted. The lapis lazuli pendant sat in the hollow of her throat. Shelby hadn’t done anything with her hair, and it fell down her back in a solid, shimmering black sheet.

She was more relaxed now that the others had left, continuing on to Embercrest. A discomfort in her countenance had softened as the convoy faded from view from the main steps of Vincent’s home, where we’d stood and offered a temporary goodbye.

Despite Hugh’s displeased look and lashing scent, Joseph had given Amethyst a warm hug that had pulled a small laugh from her lips. She hadn’t stiffened at all, though she’d been truly surprised. Maybe hugs were something they did in her Arizona? I’d kept my own body relaxed, having no desire to be the spark that ignited the fire wanting to blaze out of control in Hugh’s attention.

Reuben had given Amethyst a true hug as well, forgoing the more traditional wrist grasp. Then he’d turned to me and done the same. In an instant, I’d felt all of twenty again, letting myself fall apart after my mother’s death. I expected him to say something, but there were no words of encouragement or caution.

“Rhetia will be excited to see you both,” he said instead as he pulled away.

I’d smiled, and then the group was leaving, the horses stomping with more excitement now that they had been given a chance to truly rest. Elise dipped her head. After a moment, Hugh did the same. Then he’d grabbed Joseph’s hand and followed the traditional guard of the Rite down the road leading away from Vincent’s home. Before they’d disappeared entirely, Phoebe had quietly left, too, her magic swirling around her and the mage from the school, the letter I’d crafted and sealed with the crown’s emblem in the satchel on her hip.

Off to Senona with my acceptance of one of the offered solutions to keep Amethyst and her sister connected. Perhaps I should have discussed the various options with her this morning after my prayers had mostly calmed me down. But watching her be so unnerved after her nightmare had set my nerves fraying. Add to it the reality that she’d been raped in her Arizona and the despicable male responsible had faced no consequences? I was in no position to have a rational conversation about the intricacies of the magic required to keep her and her sister in contact more than once a year.

The reminder of her trembling in our bed, her eyes full of distrust as I pledged to not touch her, had my scent lashing out from me, just as strong as Hugh’s this morning. She’d clearly not believed my assertion. I’d expected her to seize the opportunity to use a blood-binding to prove I would not move against her, but she hadn’t said anything about it in the hours since.

“The lake is really pretty,” Amethyst murmured, ripping me from the swirling thoughts of this morning.

She traced the pendant, and it had another pulse of my scent reacting. Gods, I’d hated how her terror had twisted her scent, but I almost hated the emptiness of her suppression even more. No matter that it provided her a measure of privacy and helped keep me from getting overly domineering even when I didn’t truly mean to. The air felt bland without her vanilla and orange scent swirling in it.

I blew out a breath too forcefully to be a sigh and set the primer on the small desk between the armchairs, opening it to one of the stories and twisting it so she could see it.

“Go, dog, go,” she muttered as she leaned forward and set the mug on the table. “Which language is this?”