Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Yes. No nasty liquid.
Polished silver metal represented the walls and floor. The ground shined so much I almost snatched off my grimy shoes to not dirty it.
A burnt wood fragrance drifted from the campfire in the center of the space.
Ty and Victoria surrounded it. Victoria lounged between Ty’s legs as he kept her body close to him in a snug embrace. Their silver eyes went to Xander and then strayed to me.
“You run off for days to take the domina to her home, only to bring her right back?” Ty laughed.
Xander groaned in annoyance.
I smirked.
Four iron doors stood on the wall behind them. I wondered where they led.
Xander’s voice entered in my head. Those doors go to our bedrooms.
I blinked.
Stay near the campfire and wait for me please. I want to study Leeta’s fangs some more and then I’ll be right out to take you to my bathtub.
“Hello, you two.” A forced grin covered Xander’s face as he carried Leeta past the campfire and rushed toward one of the iron doors. “I’ll be right back. Keep Camille company for me until I return, please?”
“Sure.” Ty pointed to me. “See, Victoria, I told you that girl would be the one to snatch him away.”
“So it seems.” Victoria sighed and wrenched out several blue bills with the Quiet King’s face on the front. “Here’s your fifty pocks. I can’t believe you won. I thought it was a sucker’s bet. Xander has been with so many women I figured he would never settle down. I mean even a few were dominas, but—”
Ty covered his wife’s mouth with a pale hand. Her brunette curls fell over his arm.
Well. . .how many women?
Rage rose within me and I really didn’t understand why. Xander and I weren’t even together and surely he had the right to sleep with anyone he wanted to before me.
But. . .how many?
Of course, he’d been with many. What woman wouldn’t want to make love to a man with a gorgeous face who was encased in satin skin and hard muscles that bulged with his every movement?
“My wife, she says the damnedest things. Ignore her.” Ty shrugged as he took his hand away from her mouth.
“Don’t worry. We’re not together.” I held up my hand. “It doesn’t matter who Xander has been with in the past or will be with in the future.”
“But still, I didn’t mean to say that.” Victoria tossed her curls over her shoulders and scooted closer to Ty. She ruffled his hair a little with her fingers. “And I’m very happy for Xander.”
I cleared my throat. “We’re only friends.”
“Sure.”
Victoria smirked. “He never brings anybody back to his lair.”
“This was an emergency.” I sat down by the fire, scratching my hair.
Gunk enveloped my fingers.
I need a bath.
Don’t worry. You’ll bathe soon. Xander’s voice drifted in my brain.
He was still behind the door he’d disappeared through.
By the way, I’ve slept with many dominas and other women, but none I’ve called my queen.
Get out of my head.
I formed my hands into fists.
Can I just formulate thoughts in my mind without you trampling through them?
No. Not when they’re wrong assumptions about me, he replied.
I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes for a few seconds, attempting to calm my nerves. The whole situation was beginning to be too much—Royal Guards setting a town on fire, starving sewer creatures threatening us, a human transforming into something with fangs, and the domina-seducing prince who was crowding my brain and studying my every thought.
So, I put all my focus on what sort of life I could have away from the Quiet King’s blasted city.
Maybe I could go further south. Find some work and hide.
A thunderous growl exploded from Xander as he stood in the room.
Then, his voice hit my mind. You will stay by my side.
I was just thinking about possibilities, Xander.
I edged closer to the campfire and hugged myself.
Ty and Victoria focused their silver gazes on me.
“Did he bond with you?” Ty asked, breaking the silence. “Are you no longer untouched?”
I was sure my brown cheeks had turned a dark rosy, red as heat surged to them.
“Things have changed for sure.” Ty sniffed the air. “I can smell him all over you, and now he has brought you back here. You must. . .know. . .”
I blinked.
“You have to excuse my husband. He has no tact.” Victoria leaned her head on Ty’s shoulders. “He was a Royal Guard for many years. He even helped poor Leeta escape when Xander was a baby.”
My mouth gaped open. “Really?”
“So she does know.” Ty smirked.
Victoria shook her head.
“Either way. . .” Ty’s smirk deepened. “Xander was the hundredth prince baby that I’d seen born. I spotted his marks during the delivery and knew I had to report it to the King, but something inside of me finally clicked.”
Victoria sat up, picked up a metal stick, and poked the fire logs. The wood brightened into fiery embers. Smoke rose, filling the air with a scorched wood perfume.