“Here.” Ryan gently moved my hands away and pulled on the button. It slid free on his first try.
“Thank you,” I said, avoiding eye contact. Humiliating. I felt like a dalcop. Being undressed like a child by a man who thought I was heartless enough to make him a spelled plaything.
Ryan’s hands were surprisingly gentle as he released button after button and slowly slid the gown off my shoulders. It puddled on the ground beneath me.
His breath caught as he eyed my cold, hard nipples through my chemise. The white fabric was soaked and did nothing to hide them. Ryan’s eyes dilated. His fingers fisted in my chemise and he slowly pulled that over my head, knuckles scraping every inch of skin along the way.
I shivered but not from the cold. A tiny part of my mind wondered if Ryan would actually have been gentle with me our first time. I’d never know.
When the chemise was gone, Ryan took my hand and led me over to the fire. “Get warm and dry first.” He stood me in front of the fire and tossed his warmed shirt over me. He yanked the hem down and fussed over straightening it, as if that mattered. But it let his fingers brush my thighs.
I gasped involuntarily.
Ryan met my eyes and his look was hard. Almost scary. “You want to earn your way back, Bloss? Without love spells?”
I nodded.
“Then drop to your knees.”
I watched his eyes closely. He had been pushed and pulled and played like a puppet by my mother. Maybe to earn his trust, I needed to let him pull my strings. Let him take charge for once. Let him be in control instead of controlled. I slowly slid onto my knees.
Ryan looked shocked right out of his dominant persona. “You did it. I didn’t think you’d do it.”
I quirked a grin at him. “Unlike my sixteen-year-old virgin self, the idea of a little rough play, dirty talk, or a finger in my ass doesn’t scare me.”
“That’s what made you run that night?”
I put my hand on my heart. “Didn’t even know that ass play was a thing. I swear. I thought you’d meant to tear me apart.”
He laughed and held out a hand. He yanked me to my feet. I was shocked. My mouth had been level with his cock. I’d been certain he’d been about to take advantage of that fact.
“Honesty gets you out of the mood?” I questioned.
Ryan winked at me and gave another booming laugh. “No. But we have an audience.”
My father Johann stood in the doorway, avoiding looking directly at me. He ran a hand uncomfortably through his stiff grey hair. “Your mother needs you. She said it was a political emergency.”
Shite.
Chapter Twelve
I threw on a pale green dress, which Ryan buttoned for me.
“I can’t believe I just said the words ‘ass play’ in front of one of my fathers,” I groaned.
“If I have my way, you’ll say a lot worse things than that,” Ryan winked.
I rolled my eyes as I slipped on dry shoes, though part of me hoped he was serious.
We ran through several secret passages in order to get to Mother as quickly as possible. When we had to take a sharp turn and go down some steps, I nearly fell. Ryan latched onto my hand and stopped me from tumbling face-first. And he didn’t let go. It might have been wonderful under other circumstances. I might have taken it as a sign. Read something into it. But he grabbed my burned hand.
“Ow!” I pulled away from him.
“What’s wrong?” he stopped and pulled my hand toward him. Not that he could see anything in the dark passageway.
“The salamander burned my hand.”
“Of course, it did. Here,” Ryan put his large hand over mine. His was so big that both my hands might have fit into his palm. A dull pink light emanated from his hand.
And my burn disappeared.
“Your magic is pink,” I marveled.
“Shut your mouth about that,” Ryan’s voice was strained. “Not the time to make fun of me.” I could feel his hand clench over mine. He trembled with restraint, trying not to crush my fingers when that’s what his body urged him to do.
“Sorry. Here.” I pushed the tiniest pulse of peace I could manage. Lime green light lit his features for a moment, and the twisted expression on his face relaxed.
He sighed. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem,” I replied, pulling my sleeve more securely over my wrist, where a small gash had ripped open the moment I used my magic. “Was it enough?”
I think Ryan nodded in the darkness. “Yeah. First time I haven’t had to punch a wall.”
I didn’t quite know what to say to that. “Well, shall we?”
“Yup.”
We made our way quickly to the hallway where mother’s room was located. That was as far as we could go within the secret passageway. The Queen’s Chamber had to be entered through the door by everyone but herself. Ryan opened the seam on the spelled door and let us into the hall.
I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the light, only to find his hand extended toward me.
I looked side to side to see if someone was standing nearby. Or behind me. I pointed at Ryan’s hand. “Is that for me?”
Ryan grabbed my hand and yanked me toward him. He started walking to mother’s door, pulling me along. “Shut up and follow.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ryan’s eyes glittered as he glanced back at me. “You’ll be saying a lot of that later.”
“You don’t hear it enough all day from your men?”
Ryan reached Mother’s door but didn’t open it. Instead, he pulled me close. He leaned down and whispered into my ear. “None of my men say it while they’re on their knees, about to suck my cock.”
I nearly came undone at his words. My eyelids fluttered. My thighs tightened in anticipation. Ryan had always been the dream of masculine hotness. But paired with this little dominant streak? Intoxicating. I was about to be drunk on lust. But I couldn’t let him know that. Not just yet. I wanted his trust first. Then his lust. So I pushed back. “And you think I’m going to do that? Get on my knees and suck you off?” I trailed my breath over his neck, teasing.
His grip on my hand grew tighter. His other hand grabbed onto my hip and squeezed. “Pretty sure you already showed you were quite willing.”
I grinned and pulled away. “We’ll see.”
“You have six years to make up for,” he growled. “Since the night I signed that damned contract.”
I leaned my back against the door and gripped the handle. “I know. But I don’t only plan to make up for it on my knees. I’ve learned about so many different positions from those girls at the brothel. You’ll have to be more creative than that.”
I winked and pulled open the door to mother’s room.
Ryan’s chest heaved from the caveman lust he had to suppress. I was a soaking mess. All my body wanted to do was go back to my chamber and let him toss me around on the mattress. The thought of Ryan pinning me down nearly made me convulse. I had to close my eyes and swallow before taking a step forward, clearing my mind, and approaching the Queen at the far side of the room.
My fathers surrounded her. Gorg, the stiff-neck ruler-wielding, rule-following spy master who used to punish even my smallest offenses with a rap on my fingers; Peter, the knight with a heart of gold who’d taken on Evaness’ economic matters; and Johann, Ryan’s mentor in our war games.
My mother stopped whispering with Johann when I reached the foot of the bed.
“I was summoned.” I waited.
Mother looked back and forth between myself and Ryan, who’d stopped uncomfortably close behind me, nearly pinning me to the bed frame. Her eyes may have been pleased at that, but it was hard to tell.
“There is a problem with the entourage from Cheryn.”
“Problem?” I asked. My mind flitted to robbers or carriage breakdowns on the road.
“The visit was initially arranged to introduce Sultan Raj’s son, Abbas, to your sister. He’s twenty-five, with four younger brothers. They’re in need of a wife.”
My stomach revolted but I kept my expression neutral. I didn’t want Avia to leave. If something happened to me and we could explain away my absence, it wasn’t a big deal. But that was a gamble. What if we couldn’t explain my absence? What if, at some point, people stopped believing I was hunting dragons? What if something happened to me publicly? Evaness would want a new queen. But I’d expressed that opinion countless times. Each time I’d been rebuked.
I waited for mother. She liked to allow tension to build sometimes. It helped her feel in control—that was my theory, at least.
“Abbas is apparently traveling with two hundred pegasus fliers.”
My neutral expression dropped. As did my jaw. “That’s an attack force!” Cheryn was an aggressive country, sure. When djin and giants were half the population, it was bound to happen. But we’d had a decent treaty with them since I was eight. Since the last Fire War.
“Apparently, additional forces have been gathered at the border, awaiting some kind of signal.”
I had trouble breathing. Unconsciously, I leaned back into Ryan. He put his hand on my shoulder to steady me. And he didn’t remove it.
“Why is this the first we’re hearing about this?” Ryan demanded. “I didn’t have any reports this morning.”