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Need to trap her, need to bind her. Pin her down.The beast rode me hard. He had a very different idea of what it was to bind Haron to us, one that was much less humane than a contract we agreed on.

"Speaking of secrets," I winced at the horrible transition to a topic that had haunted my conscience for days. "I hope that, after our night together, you would be open with me regarding any… consequences?" Inwardly I was already kicking myself from the sheer awkwardness and stilted speech. Haron wasn't making it any easier. I knew damn well she knew what I meant, but nonetheless a little smirk pulled at her lips as her head tilted upright to look me over.

"Pray tell, what do you mean, Your Highness?"

She was going to make me spell it out for her. Damn this woman.

I took a steadying breath and plunged right in. "I just wanted to offer up my support in case our coupling ended… with a child."

She blinked. I blinked back. A knot of some rather painful and unpleasant anxiety caught in my throat and I struggled to swallow it down. I didn't have much experience to go off of in instances like this, since my butler usually escorted women from my room come morning, and he dealt with all the finer details of providing contraception and contact information to the royal healer.

What I hadn't expected was a raucous laughter to explode from Haron's lips, one so strong it rocked her back and sent her howling at the ceiling. She laughed so hard it sloshed the goldtine over the edge of her glass and sent small drips of it flying onto the chair's armrest. With her free hand she slapped her leg and stomped her heavy boot on the carpet. And I still stood there, in the middle of this fucking study, watching this madwoman fall apart over something I agonized talking about.

Finally, after what felt like an age, Haron's mirth calmed to a more controllable level and she leaned forward, wiping tears from her eyes as she looked over at my stiff form. "Oh, little princeling," she sighed, sounding oddly happy. "If I could describe the horrified look on your face as you spoke of babies, it wouldn't…" She broke into another round of chuckling. "Oh, gods, I needed that! I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard!"

My jaw clenched so tightly I was sure a molar had cracked. "I'm glad you are entertained at my expense," I answered stiffly. While I was willing to give anything to wipe that sad look fromher face as she spoke of Trisne, I hadn't anticipated offering up my own pride as tribute.

Haron chortled, yet again. She leaned an elbow on the other armrest and propped her chin in it, looking at me with some odd mixture of joy and sympathy. "I'm sure that was very hard for you," she said. "I'm very proud you were able to broach a subject like that yourself, instead of tossing me to the healer to deal with."

I was building myself up to a scathing response, hoping to gain some sliver of dignity back, when she continued. "No need to worry about an unintentional heir, little princeling. Or any communicable diseases, although that didn't seem quite as terrifying to you as a child." Haron shook her head and chuffed yet another laugh from her nose, bringing her glass up to take another small sip. "Not that it would be your business either way, but due to circumstances I brought on myself, I am unable to have children."

"What circumstances?" I found myself asking. And then I was kicking myself even harder for letting my curiosity take over. But despite how much I wanted to take the question back, I held her gaze even as it narrowed on me. For some reason the answer meant more to me than whatever propriety I had left.

"As I said, it's not your business."

I couldn’t keep the slight rumble of the beast’s growl from my voice this time. I knew before I even spoke the words tossing around in my head that I would regret saying them. “I thought we had enough of a relationship to not keep so many secrets?”

“A relationship?” Haron sipped her drink again, then set the glass aside and leaned back to prop up her chin again. Either she didn’t realize how close she was to being tackled onto the floor in an act of submission, or she didn’t care. I could feel the skin beneath the stiff tunic I wore begin heating uncomfortably. Soon, heat would be pouring off me in waves as the beastclawed closer to taking control. “There is aworkingrelationship between us. We have hardly known each other for a handful of days! Who do you think you are, to feel entitled to own every part of me?”

The teasing lilt to her husky voice heated my blood to boiling. I could feel my cock harden in a rush and make my already tight breeches even more unbearable. It took a great effort to walk over to the chair adjacent hers, to slowly lower myself into it and cross my legs in an attempt to keep the obvious sign of lust from her observant eyes. Between her mocking me just a few moments earlier and this indignant air she had now, all I wanted to do was toss her back in my bed and show whoreallyheld the upper hand in our relationship, working or otherwise. A small, rational part of my brain knew how ludicrous and unbecoming of royalty that would be. Unfortunately, that part was currently being gnawed on by the more beastly instincts in this moment.

“I hope,” I had to clear my throat to keep the growl building in my chest from coming out. “I would like to think ourrelationshipextends beyond what we can give each other. And certainly one that doesn’t need to be inked on paper.”

“Quite bold of you, to be so entitled to think I owe you an explanation for anything beyond our contract,” she answered. “How is the coronation planning going? And your wedding?”

If her intent was to pour a bucket of ice water on me, she certainly did withthattopic switch. But that knowing smirk stayed firmly on her lips and those eyes that saw everything pinned me in place, like a rabbit caught in the deadly claws of a trebegnon, and I was staring up at her dripping fangs before the final bite. How our roles reversed so quickly sent me reeling back, a high-pitched whine beyond what she could hear squeaking from my throat. Behar, who had trotted off to the window where his bed laid beneath, lifted his head in concern.

My dignity—both as a man and a future ruler—was what kept me from shifting under her intense stare. “The coronation is going along smoothly, as far as I’m aware. I met with the royal jeweler a couple days ago to get fitted for my crown. As far as the wedding goes…” I cleared my throat again, this time in anger. “I haven’t really considered it much, beyond establishing it will be after the coronation.”

“So, you have not announced a decision on the future queen.”

It was not a question, but I answered anyway. Harshly. “No, and I fail to see what that has to do with anything we are pursuing.”

I kept the answer intentionally vague. It was up to her to tell what pursuit I spoke of.

Whatever warmth Haron had brought with her swept from the room when her smile dropped. If I wasn’t assured of her skills as a necromancer, I would have assumed she was an aeromancer manipulating the air. Slowly, she rose from her casual position to sit ramrod straight in the chair, and for the briefest moment I had the same demeaned feeling as when I was a child, standing in front of Father as he sat on his throne and looked down at me.

“Of courseyouwouldn’t see it,Your Highness.” She made the title sound like the most vile curse. “But it appears Trisne was targeted because she was selected as a possible bride for you, and her own father practically disowned her when she publicly rejected the nomination to study in the City of Scholars. I had approached Jinon to confirm my suspicions it was his piece of shit friend Forol Hent, only to find him vehemently denying he knows anyone by that name. Now I am concerned this murderer may targetotherbride candidates and am trying to eliminate my options by determining if you have narrowed your selection down.

“So yes, your wedding is very fucking relevant to me sitting here in your study now. And if your foresight extended anyfurther than your dick, you would see that I would only seek your audience during court hours to discuss the ongoing issue of a noblewoman who has beenbrutally murdered. One that you have done little, if anything, to solve!”

The lashes her tongue gave me did an excellent job of cutting me down to a miniscule shape of a man. Even as rage bubbled in my chest at the indignation of being dressed down by Haron, shame built a painful lump in my throat that kept it from spewing out as a hateful defense. Instead, a low rumble of a growl rattled my chest, and my fingers curled tightly around the edges of the armrests.

It took an embarrassingly long time for me to find my voice again. “You do not… get to speak to me that way.”

“Why? Because it’s toohonestfor you? Tell me, little princeling,am I lying now?”

A snarl just about escaped my mouth at the demeaning nickname before I promptly choked on it in alarm. Tendrils of Haron’s red hair that escaped their braid were lifting from her face as if floating on the wind. Something charged the air and made my skin pebble along both arms as the beast reacted. Haron didn’t seem to notice the deep indigo aura enveloping her body, pulsing rhythmically like a slow, steady heartbeat. Every one of my heightened senses burned with the overwhelming amount of raw magic now emanating from her still form.