Lost Princess (16 page)

Max finally rose, and Callista had to tap my shoulder, or I wouldn’t have noticed. He nodded at me. “Come with me,” he said gruffly. He spoke to the two guards briefly, and they left us. Max took me back to our room. He entered and barred the door. “I suppose you are angry?”

I shrugged, thinking he was right, I should be, but I wasn’t.

“No.” Was he angry? He had been earlier. But I figured if he was mad he’d certainly tell me.

He frowned at me. “What game do you play now?”

“I’m tired, I suppose,” I said.

“Then let us retire early,” he said.

Again I shrugged and began to take off my skirt. I went and took out a nightdress, but Max said, “You won’t need that.” I let it fall out of my hands onto the floor. I was glad he wanted me and hoped it would melt some of the coldness that seemed to be freezing me. Max doused the candles and came in the bed. He didn’t reach for me initially and was quiet. Maybe he was waiting for me to say something, I don’t know. Finally he sighed and reached over for me, touching my shoulder. I turned to face him. He moved closer and framed my face with his hands. “Katrina, you’ve had a difficult day, I know.”

“I doubt you know,” I said quietly.

“More than what I told you?” he asked, holding my face, so I couldn’t look away.

I thought of Callista and Kasta. “My lord, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” he said, curiosity curling in his voice.

“Will you continue to bed other women now that you’re wed?” My voice sounded no more than polite, and barely interested.  Max let his hands drop away. “Why do you ask me that?”

I shrugged. “Oh, I just wondered what the rules were there. I mean, I always thought that married people just turned to each other for such things, but if I’m mistaken in that, I’d like to know.”

Max said carefully, almost feeling his way along, “This is not a fit conversation.”

I laughed humorlessly. “Really? But do you not wonder? Do you not think to yourself, ‘I wonder if Katrina plans to take a lover?‘“Max blinked. Apparently, he did not wonder about this.

“You will never take a lover,” he said in a low voice.

I spoke in the same intense voice, “Then neither will you.”

“You are telling me what I’ll do?  I don’t think so, Katrina.” He’d tightened up now.

“Maximus, I swear by my father’s life—“Max clamped a hand over my mouth before I could swear anything.

“Don’t do it, Katrina. Besides, you have to swear by someone’s life who’s living. And the idea is that the person’s life is forfeit if you do not do as you swear. Be careful, wife, lest you bring someone else into your argument with me.”

I sat up, pushing away his arm so I could speak. “Max, maybe I’m strange. No, I know I’m strange, but I will not share you with another woman.”

Max looked up at me, putting his hands behind his head. “And I say you will not dictate to me.”

I thought about that. “Fine, then if I get any hint that you’ve bedded anyone else, I’ll make sure I do the same. Now I’m not dictating to you, just telling you what I’ll do. You just do as you wish.”

“So you think that because you now know you have royal blood that you can decree what will happen? This is why I didn’t want you to know.”

“No!” I said, my eyes snapping fire at him. “I don’t care who my mother and father are. I am your wife, and your body is mine. I will not share it.”

Max sat up now too. He took my chin. “Katrina, I swear I don’t know whether to laugh and kiss you or beat you silly.”

“I choose the laugh and kiss me,” I said quickly.Max let his thumb trail along my lower lip. “Your jealousy is…intriguing.” His voice regained its warning tone. “But have a care. For when you forbid me something,” and here he laughed at the very idea, “you push me to show you I will do as I please.”

I said, frowning, “Are you saying I am pushing you to bed another?”

Max frowned back, his frown more fearsome than mine. “I will do what I do,” he said.

“And I will do what I do,” I returned.

Max considered me for some minutes. “Neither of my other wives would speak of such a thing.”

“Humph,” I said grumpily.

“What made you think about this?” he asked.

I narrowed my eyes. “Callista told me it is acceptable for a man to bed anyone whether he’s married or not. I do not agree.”

“Yes,” Max said mildly, “I can see that.” He seemed to be more amused now than angry. But his eyes had flared briefly as I mentioned Callista.“Why can you and yet I cannot?”

Max’s amusement left suddenly. “So this is about you? You wish to bed another?” His voice had become more menacing with each syllable.

I sighed and let myself flop back on the bed onto my back. “No. I don’t.” I turned my head to see him. “But know that I would if I had to.”

Max stared at me for a full minute. Then he started to laugh. “Katrina, you never cease to surprise me. I am not bedding anyone else, nor did I think to. However, it isn’t right for a wife to dictate such restrictions to her husband.”

“Right or not, I’m doing it,” I interrupted.

He looked at me, considering. “Do you want to do this, Katrina? Do you truly want to tell me what I can and cannot do?”

I looked up at him. No, I didn’t want to. Or I did, but I knew that it wouldn’t work. Tell Max he had to do something and he’d do the opposite just to be stubborn. I softened my voice. “Max, if you bed another, I’ll…” No, I couldn’t threaten. “It would hurt me so badly that I doubt I’d ever recover.”

Max lowered himself to one elbow. “Wife, if you bed another I’ll kill both of you,” his voice was calm as if stating a simple fact.

“That doesn’t seem too fair if you did it first,” I pointed out.

Max raised one brow. “Do you believe me, Katrina?”

“Max, this isn’t about me.”

“Do you believe me?” he asked again.

“Yes,” I said slowly. “So now what? I just let stupid Kasta tell me how you are when you’re with her? I simply turn my head and pretend that it isn’t a horrible thing? Or do I take one of your knives and kill the both of you while you sleep? Don’t forget, husband, I am an assassin’s daughter.”

Max was quiet for so long I began to worry that I’d gone too far this time. Then he rose and went to the chest where I’d found his knife before. My heart began to speed up. Was he just going to kill me now? Had he had enough of my odd behavior, of my jealousy? I tried not to cry or otherwise show fear. I doubted with a man like Max it would matter if he’d made up his mind to be done with me.

He took something out and returned to the bed. He sat down and showed me what he had in the firelight: the jeweled knife I’d seen before.

“This was from your father. It was part of the debt he owed to me for hiding you. It’s considered special and even comes with a name, Precipice. I rarely gave it much thought over the years, yet didn’t ever sell it or give it away. I have ignored it, yet it looks as it was newly forged.”  He frowned at the knife that gleamed, finally turning his gaze back to me.  “Now I give it to you.” He turned it about in his hand and offered it to me, handle first.

I didn’t move. “I don’t understand.“Max reached out, and I flinched.

He frowned and shook his head. “No, I’m not angry. Perhaps you have found weakness in me, but I find I like your fire. You fight for what you want, and I certainly understand that.”

Slowly I reached out and touched the knife. “Mine?”

“Yes. Take it.”

“But…” I took the knife and watched the gems glow in the firelight. “I’m a woman. You…I’ve never seen another woman here wear any weapons, nor do they learn to use them.”

“No. You are the exception.”

I rose to my knees and moved closer to him. “You will make an exception for me?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And I may wear it?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

I carefully set the knife on the table near the bed. “Thank you,” I said, my heart in my mouth. I reached up and put my arms around his neck. He let me pull him down and joined me in a long kiss.

He pulled away to look at me. “Should I worry that my life is now in danger?” he asked.

I wished I could see his expression, but the firelight was behind him. “No, Max. I doubt that no matter what you did I could kill you.” But then I grinned at him. “Of course, given the right provocation, I could probably hurt you a little.”

Max chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest. “So be it. Just do not listen to rumors and attack me on some foolish maid’s loose talk.”

“And you should do the same,” I said.

“Then we have a pact between us. No stealthy attacks, no matter that your father was an assassin. You will give me the chance to defend myself, and I’ll do that same.” He still seemed amused, as if it was laughable for him to fear me. Maybe it was.

“Max? Can I ask you something?”

He chuckled. “Can I stop you?”

I shrugged at that. “Temporarily, probably,” I said.

“Ask your questions, wife.”

“Have you bedded Kasta?”

He sighed. “I don’t like this,” he rumbled.

“Please?”

“Wife, what I did before we wed is none of your concern.”

“So you did,” I said as evenly as possible. “Can I kill her?”

Max turned to see me better. “Is that a possibility?”

I shrugged. “I don’t like it,” I admitted.

He chuckled again. “I would prefer it if you did not slay her.  Do you wish me to send her away?”

I frowned. “Am I to take charge of the ladies as you do the men?”

Max seemed to be fighting off a smile somewhat unsuccessfully. “Katrina, bloodthirsty wife of mine, I am in charge of everyone including you. But I have neither time nor inclination to deal with the machinations of the ladies. Handle them as you see fit.” I must have looked upset, for he ran a finger along my chin. “Your eyes spell trouble. What is in your mind?”

“Ever since I came here the ladies, not all of them but many, have teased me and said unkind words. I do not complain to you, truly, nor have I ever.”

“You’ve never complained to me?” he asked, amused.

“Not about the ladies. But that day I served them…well, they seemed to feel it gave them license to mock me ever since. I must think of what to do.” I frowned into his eyes. “I have no skill at the sorts of verbal skirmishes that the ladies use. I would prefer more direct action. Yet, if this is not something I should do, I would that you tell me now.”

“The ladies are yours. But perhaps I would like prior knowledge if you intend to use the knife.”

I glanced over at Precipice, wondering if it was my imagination that it gleamed more than the fire in the room could account for. No doubt I was being fanciful. “I will not use it yet,” I said in all seriousness.

“Good,” Max said. “Yet if you wish me to send Kasta away, that could be arranged.”

I thought about that. “Maybe I do. I’m not sure yet. But I have another question.”

“I’m not surprised,” he said.

“Callista told me you wished her to befriend me. Is she the only one? What other nasty surprises am I going to get in the next few days?”

Max said, “I do not apologize for anything I’ve done with you, except possibly making you serve that day. Anything I’ve done, I’ve done with reason. And as your lord, I had the right to do it.”

“And the nasty surprises?”

“I know of none,” he said.

I let my hand trail down his chest. “Husband, this has been just about the worst day I’ve ever had.”

“Worse than the day you ran?” he asked huskily.

I met his eyes. “Yes, much worse. On that day, I caught your attention. I can’t say now, for all that it has turned my life upside-down, that I regret that.“He smiled. He looked down at my hand, which was drifting further down his chest now, where I was always drawn eventually.

“Yes,” he mused, making me wonder what exactly he was thinking about. “Yes,” he repeated, closing his eyes.  He lay still and let me do as I wished. This was new and to my way of thinking, fabulous. I moved closer to him so I could look closely at what my hand held. So different from me, from anything I’d ever imagined. I couldn’t seem to help being drawn to it, to want to somehow understand how desire worked for him. As he continued to let me do as I wished, I wondered how much it would take to break his control, if that was what he was doing. I played, running my fingers across him, varying pressure, using the tips of my nails. He sucked in his breath at one point, and I made a mental note of that. Yet I couldn’t get him to break.Finally I used my mouth. If this was anything for him like it was for me, he’d let me know. And he did, by emitting a low groan that sounded as if it had been torn from his very soul. I put my hand on his chest, as much to keep him still as to anchor myself. It wouldn’t help if he decided enough was enough, but I wanted him to let me do this. I wanted…I wanted to make him crazy with lust.

For a brace of minutes he let me continue. But then his hands suddenly clamped on my upper arms. “Katrina,” he said in a voice that sounded a little hoarse. “Move on top of me.” He guided me with his hands until I was kneeling over him, one leg on either side. I looked down, fascinated, and slowly sat there where my mouth had been. I shivered at the feeling of him touching me there. He closed his eyes again, and I rocked my hips forward gently, catching him between us, sliding along him. He let out his breath in a long exhale. I did it again, liking both his reaction and my own. I threw my head back, arching my back to bring us into closer contact there, and his hands again tightened on my arms.

“Rise up,” he said in that same strangled voice. I rose again to my knees, wondering what he wanted.He reached between us and positioned himself below me, so as I let myself go down, he slowly entered me. It was absolutely incredible. I could control how fast it happened, and I wanted slow. I wanted to feel every inch as it slowly filled me. As I seated myself fully upon him, I brought my head forward and looked at him. I expected him to tell me what to do next, but he didn’t. He just watched me with those amazing slate eyes of his. I experimented, rocking at first, then rising to let myself fall back down. Finally I found a rhythm that made me worry less about making him crazy and made me try to catch my own pleasure. I began to moan, letting some of my weight go to my hands on his chest. I flexed my hands, unconsciously digging my nails into his skin. He let his hands go to my hips and urged me on—faster, faster until I let out a sharp cry stiffening and arching as the feelings rocketed through me. One more deep thrust and Max groaned as he stiffened as well. I let the feelings fade slowly, not opening my eyes until they were mostly gone. Max’s eyes were watching me. I held his gaze for a full minute. “Husband?” I asked, not sure now.