Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
He’d thus gently ended their time together, deciding such would need to be led up to, come naturally, not announced it would occur, and then be taken.
However, for the most part, she responded to him beautifully.
One could definitely say they had chemistry. She roused him, he roused her.
But she was still virgin, and they’d known one another but days.
He had to tread cautiously, apparently in all things, and give her time to get used to him.
Hearteningly, the impossible seemed to be occurring. They were learning to come to accord and doing it swiftly.
A Nadirii and an Airenzian.
Unbelievable.
But it was true.
Until now.
“Let us go back to how we were in those times,” he suggested.
Elena turned fully to him.
“With your hand between my legs?” she asked sarcastically. “Or with your tongue in my mouth?”
“I meant us speaking to each other and listening to each other in a civilized manner,” he replied, seeking patience.
“We did this before you behaved in the manner in which you behaved during the fight,” she retorted.
“Elena—”
“I do not know who those assailants were, but they were untrained. Easily dispatched. They factored surprise, numbers and brawn higher than skill and strategy. This is always a faulty play, as it was last night. I was in no danger.”
“I disagree, my princess, for the minute I entered that room, you were moments away from receiving a mortal blow.”
“And did this happen?” she queried.
“No,” he gritted. “But only because True interceded.”
“I did know he was near, Cassius,” she spat. “Any warrior in any battle knows where her allies are.”
She wished to speak of this?
They would speak of it.
The fullness of it.
“And of course it was True who was near,” he returned.
“He was fighting to Silence.”
She might be right.
She was still wrong.
“He was fighting to you.”
She shook her head. “You cannot say that as you’d just arrived.”
“I can say that because he’s besotted with you.”
“He didn’t seem besotted with me not long ago, when he clashed with Mars over Farah.”
“And does that wound you, my future wife?” he drawled.
She blinked rapidly three times before her eyes stayed open and they did this wide.
“I am no longer True’s,” she snapped.
Oh no.
Bloody no.
Those words did not just leave her mouth.
He leaned forward and bit back, “You were never True’s.”
Her eyes again narrowed. “You cannot know what True and I had.”
“I know he never had his hand between your legs.”
She gasped, and her cheeks flushed.
He had not known that. Not with certainty.
But he knew it then.
And he was absurdly gratified knowing it.
Thus, Cassius wasn’t finished. “That is solely mine and will be solely mine forever.”
“You may leave now,” she hissed.
“Has he had his tongue in your mouth?” he demanded.
She stared at him in disbelief before declaring, “You cannot possibly be jealous.”
“You know naught of men. Real men. You cannot know what I am, or I am not,” he retorted. “Now answer me, has he had your mouth?”
She turned from him, muttering, “I’m not participating in this conversation.”
“You bloody are,” he contradicted.
She whirled again to him. “Is that why you carried me bodily from the fray not like I am what I am, trained warrior, but like I’m some damsel in distress who needs a man to keep her safe? Because you were jealous True and I were battling side by side?”
“You aren’t answering my question, Elena.”
“You aren’t answering mine,” she returned.
“You can’t know of me and not know precisely why I carried you out of harm’s way,” he told her.
“You can’t know of me and not know I do not need you to carry me out of harm’s way.” She took a step toward him. “We have not met in battle, Cassius, but by the goddess, you must know that I don’t dither in my treehome making wicker baskets. I patrol. I don’t use my bow only for parade. I don’t use my staff simply to keep my arms trim. There isn’t a single patrol where I don’t clash with brigand or sorcerer attempting to breach The Enchantments. And this might not often be hand to hand, but it is certainly often sword to sword.”
Cassius felt a tightening in his chest.
And it was painful.
A pain he had to stop.
“Cease speaking,” he growled.
She did not cease speaking
“You don’t know women like me and I’ll warn you now and urge you heed this warning. You need to have a care in dealing with a woman like me. It is all well and good, and I not only applaud your efforts, I shall champion them in the progress you desire to make for the females of your realm. But I am not one of them.”
She was not.
But she would be.
“That will be your last battle, Elena,” he decreed.
At that, her eyes grew enormous.
“And I’ll repeat what I’ve informed you of before. You will significantly limit any time you spend with True. This being you spend time with him only when I’m with you,” he concluded.