Ana panted, frowning. “Why did you stop?”
Maddoc tilted his head toward the window, and when Ana turned to it, she was almost blinded by the sun. It had just broken over the horizon and was streaming through the window. Ana almost cursed. The damn sun!
Maddoc leaned in so close, she could smell herself on his glistening lips.
“I will finish at dusk tonight,” he murmured. “And I will know if you have touched yourself, so don’t.”
Ana rolled her eyes in amusement. So she couldn’t even touch herself. She should have guessed. Strangely, the idea of seeing him at dusk was exciting. Having him kneel before her like that, giving her pleasure with his mouth while she stood, had to be one of the sexiest and erotic things she had experienced with him.
She nodded, and Maddoc glanced down at her lips. She wondered if he wanted to kiss her as badly as she wanted him to, but they couldn’t touch each other now.
After a long moment, he picked up her dress and walked out.
Milly came to collect her again, this time armed with appropriate gowns, shawls, and hats. She was pleased to see that Ana wasn’t as distressed as the first night, so she left her alone to bathe while summoning her parents.
Ana took her time bathing, glad to wash off the sweat, dried semen, and crusted blood. She didn’t feel as achy as last night, but her body still pained her a little. Her mind was busy mulling over Maddoc’s behavior. The most concerning thing for her was his implying he’d planned to extend their nights together. Father certainly wouldn’t allow it, but Maddoc was not stupid—and would have known that. She wondered if he planned to kidnap her, but that didn’t make sense either. And why would Maddoc, who traveled all over the kingdom, steal a princess who would be recognizable anywhere she went? It wouldn’t be smart to have her live as an outlaw like him, so what did he mean? She sighed and shook her head.
The most immediate and pressing issue was Father killing him at dawn tomorrow. At the beginning, she didn’t think twice about his impending death, but now… she wasn’t sure she could be part of that—not without at least warning him. Maddoc was forceful, brutish, crude, and rude when he wanted to be, but there were moments, like this morning, when he was almost perfect, and that in itself was amazing. She never expected to find even one part of him desirable or worth of a second thought, but he was more complex than Ana realized.
She knew, though, that she couldn’t expect Mother and Father not to take the opportunity to kill him if they had the chance. She may have found some qualities in him she liked, but she wasn’t so blinded that she didn’t realize they were largely due to her instincts as an Omega. She didn’t know the man apart from what she’d experienced in the room, and he had done some terrible things over the years. In that sense, warning him seemed foolish.
Mother and Father arrived after her bath and sat where they had yesterday morning—the queen on the chair facing the bed, the king standing slightly behind her, and Ana sat on the bed.
“You seem to be doing much better this morning than yesterday morning,” the queen remarked, her eyes roaming over her daughter carefully.
Ana nodded. “I think I’m getting used to it.”
“You shouldn’t have to get used to that,” the king growled.
“Did you remember all things we talked about,” the queen asked.
Ana inhaled a breath and nodded. “I wasn’t that successful,” she admitted.
The queen smiled. “That’s all right. Sometimes it takes time to get ahold of our own instincts and emotions. I’m sure you’ll do much better tonight. Tell us what happened.”
Ana shrugged. “I’m not sure how much there is to tell,” she admitted. “Much of it was similar to last night, except he was more focused on me than the table.”
“It looks as though he didn’t eat at all?”
Ana shook her head. “He has a method of determining whether his food is safe or not.”
The king lifted his brow while the queen inclined her head. “How?”
“Magic.”
Both the king and the queen stared at her, clearly as shocked as she had been. “Magic?” the queen finally said. “Maddoc uses magic?”
“I don’t know how extensively he uses it, but he does believe in it, and he was able to use it last night to figure out that everything on the table was poisoned, except for the water.”
The king’s frown deepened, while the queen’s shoulders dropped. “So he ate nothing at all?” the queen asked.
“No.”
Her father began to pace across the room, in deep thought. “If he uses magic, it would explain a lot. He could have used it in a variety of ways over the years to escape us or pretend to be in multiple places at once. He’s been careful never to make it seem like he’s using it so we wouldn’t suspect.”
“Most people wouldn’t suspect that at all,” the queen remarked. “Or that magic even still existed.”
“Does it?” Ana asked, surprised.
“Supposedly, according to some scholars,” her mother answered.
The king turned to Ana. “Does he use magic himself? Or does he have people use it on his behalf?”
“I don’t know,” Ana said. “It didn’t seem like he could do himself, but I don’t know.”
The king nodded slowly, deep in his thoughts.
“I will say, he wasn’t happy about the fact the food was poisoned,” Ana added. “He felt that it dishonored the promise.”
Father brushed away her words with a swipe of his hand. “The man is a hypocrite. He likes to criticize others about things he cannot and will not do himself. I’m sure many of the towns and villages he robbed would have preferred him to be honorable and not harm their women and children after robbing them.”
Ana nodded glumly. After a pause, she asked. “How many villages and towns were there in total?”
The king blinked at her enterprising question. “What?”
“How many villages and cities have been affected by him robbing them?”
“Why do you want to know that?”
Ana shrugged. “I thought maybe it might be a good idea to visit them to make sure they are thriving or at least back on their feet by now. I don’t recall those places ever being on my route when I go out and visit the people.”
“Because there is no need to do any of that, Ana,” the queen said. “Much has already been done for most of them, and the newer ones are in very bad condition—not suitable for a princess to visit.”
Ana shook her head, annoyed. “How am I supposed to lead if I never visit the places where people are suffering?” She looked at both of her parents, another thought forming in her mouth that she knew would change things between them if she let it out.
“You can accompany us the next time we go,” her mother said, nodding in agreement. “Is there anything else you can think of about last night?”
Ana thought back. She wasn’t willing to tell anybody about the Alpha and Omega book he’d given her. There was something about it that struck her as strange, and she wanted to follow her intuition about it before she told her parents.
“Did he take your dress again?” the queen asked.