“Countless. Some near, some far.”
“All the western realms?”
She nodded again.
“That is why Vela chose you, then. Because you know the characters of so many within those realms—as you knew Cadus. You know who will stand firm, who will only speak platitudes. You know who might already be corrupted, who cannot be trusted.”
A laugh shook her. “I do not know all of that. And those who are corrupted have done well concealing themselves, I think.”
Still, her mother had seen so much. Even that Maddek would please her in bed. When Yvenne had first said so the night at the inn, he’d mistaken her intent and almost taken her tongue. Little thought had he given the claim beyond that. He had not believed it of much importance. Yet Yvenne had mentioned his ability to please her again today—had mentioned it to a goddess.
“One reason you gave Vela in defense of your choice was that I saw to your pleasure.”
“So you do. I would not take a husband who did not.” She bit her lip—not in shyness, he thought, but in hunger. “I like that you see to mine so well, even while you ease your own need.”
Ease his need? Not yet had Maddek been able to. It mattered not how many times he tasted her. It mattered not how many times he spilled his seed. His hunger for her had not eased. Instead it consumed him.
“This night I will truly see to your pleasure, Yvenne.” He cupped her breast again, lightly pinched her nipple. “But not as I have been.”
Her breath shuddered. “No?”
Fisting his hand in her hair, he tilted her head and bent his mouth to her rapidly beating pulse. “So deep inside you I will be.”
His name she breathed, a sound of pure need. With a growl of hunger, he tasted the delicate skin of her neck. She trembled in response, her fingers clutching his shoulders, holding him tight.
Not as tightly as her cunt would hold his cock that night. His lips skimmed down her neck. “So long and hard I will have you.”
She moaned, arching her back in silent offering, her ruby nipples raised to his mouth.
Against the softness of her small breast he vowed, “So many times I will make you spend.”
“Now, Maddek,” she pleaded, rocking her hips. “Please.”
Only the last could he give her now. Hungrily he sucked her hardened nipple into his mouth. His hand glided up her silky inner thigh, and he groaned when fingers found her already so hot and wet.
Perhaps he did not yet have the heart of a king. But that day, when his bride cried his name and came upon his tongue, he felt like one.
CHAPTER 26
YVENNE
The trek from the Queen’s Nest to the prince’s chambers carried Yvenne and Maddek through terraced paths, and then along the colonnades that served as open corridors through the palace. Behind them were Danoh and Banek, serving as their guard for the evening.
Riding a horse might have taken them to dinner more quickly than Yvenne’s slow walk, but a long bath had loosened her stiff knee and she liked that the distance gave her more opportunity to prepare Maddek.
“Only eat and drink what is prepared in front of you,” she said. “Or something that you have seen my brother also eat.”
“You think he will poison me, though it might risk you?”
If she ate or drank from Maddek’s plate and cup, as lovers often did. Nothing her brother did might surprise Yvenne. But Bazir would not come all this way to kill her. “A sleeping potion would make his plans easier. But what I’ve told you is good practice at any table.”
She felt Maddek’s gaze upon her at that. She wondered if ever he had worried that he would be poisoned as he ate. She thought it was unlikely. Not when so many of his meals were roasted on a fire in front of him.
“Do not touch him or go near him,” she said. “He’s not likely foolish enough to attack you in front of witnesses, but he might risk a sly poisoned blade.”
Maddek grunted dismissively. “Every time he speaks, he uses a poisoned blade.”
“I think you underestimate how deeply that blade might cut. He will speak lies framed by truth, so that the picture he paints is more believable.”
“I know his sly tongue.”
“He will try to provoke you into attacking him in front of witnesses. Do not let him.”
“I will not be provoked.”
“Tyzen told me how you leapt over the table in the council’s chambers.”
Maddek grinned. “So I did.”
Though she had thrilled to Tyzen’s description of Maddek’s focused fury and Bazin’s scrambling retreat, now worry held her in too tight a grip to return his grin. “He will use your parents to elicit a reaction here, too.”
“He might succeed. But I am no brainless warrior, Yvenne, easily bestirred to violence. Leaping over the table was no impulsive attack—I had deliberate intention of killing him. When enraged, less impulsive I become.”
“And more narrow-sighted.” Focused and intransigent, and stubbornly married to his view.
He gave her an unreadable glance. “That is as my mother used to say.”
Pain slipped under her breast, followed by anger of her own. Because still he would not rescind his vow or accept that she had never lied to him. Firmly entrenched he was in the first view he’d had of her, a picture colored by his rage and grief, when he’d been so certain he saw the truth of who she was despite never allowing her to speak it.
“That is not sly tongue,” she defended hotly. “I have observed it for myself.”
“So you have,” he said with a wry smile. “And my mother would have called it cockbrained—because a cock only has one eye, and is rigid when enflamed.”
She knew he meant to make her laugh, but the lingering anger and pain would not let her. In silence they walked along a colonnade overlooking the sea. Orange and pink stained the sky, mirrored in the waters below. So well she loved this palace. All was open. After many years in her tower, when Yvenne returned to Syssia, she knew not if she could tolerate being always surrounded by walls again.
“What is your new perfume?” Maddek asked suddenly.
“A soap from the bath.” Soft and fragrant with coconut oils. “You wore the silks?”
For the prince had gifted them both with clean robes to wear. The turquoise silks she wore now had been sewn in the Gogean style, with tighter sleeves and layered skirts. Maddek also wore the new silks—but wore them as he had his red linens, folded over his belt. Yet she had not expected him to wear them at all.