It was just a quiet honesty most people in this world avoided, and that made her more dangerous to me than anything else. Because it intrigued me.
“Most people don’t ask me that,” I said, letting my gaze drag over her slowly, not hiding it, not softening it. “They know they should be terrified of me.”
She didn’t answer right away, but I noticed the way she curled her fingers into her palms, as if that gave her a boost of courage. “I’ve been around men like you my whole life,” she said, her voice steady. “I know how our world works.”
I stepped a foot closer then, closing the rest of the distance until I stood in front of her. I watched the subtle shift in her breathing and the way it caught for a second before she forced it back under control. Lucia didn’t move, didn’t break eye contact, and made it hard to read what she thought.
I reached for her slowly, letting Lucia see my hand moving, giving her time to stop me if she chose to. She didn’t. My fingers brushed against her hair, light at first, testing more than claiming. I let the strands slide between my fingers. Her lockswere soft and warmer than I expected. I let their silkiness drag across my knuckles as I gathered more of her hair loosely.
A part of me wanted to wrap the strands in my hand and pull, letting her know how good this would be between us.
She stilled without pulling away or leaning in, holding herself exactly the same way she had from the beginning. Strong.
I tugged her hair gently toward my face without breaking eye contact. She gasped softly. When I lifted it just enough to catch her scent, I let the moment linger, letting her feel it for what it was. Possession.
It wasn’t appropriate, and it wasn’t meant to be. That was the point.
Lucia was beautiful. Not in a soft, delicate way but something sharper, something that grabbed your attention and didn’t let go. The kind of attention that made a man stare even when he knew better.
My gaze moved over her again, slower this time, taking in the lines of her body, the way her waist dipped in and how her hips flared out. She was slender but had curves that already drove me fucking wild. She was made to stand beside a man like me,made to be worshipped, claimed, and crowned my dark queen.
My cock thickened behind my slacks, and she glanced down as if sensing where my thoughts were. The way her eyes widened and her breathing changed had my dick getting stiffer. I wasn’t lewd and didn’t grab myself, but I didn’t hide the effect she had on me, either. Let her see how hard she made me. Let her know what she’d be getting on our wedding night.
Her breath hitched, quiet but unmistakable, and I watched the way she forced it back down… the way she refused to let that be the thing that broke her composure. I let her locks fall slowly, my hand lingering for a second longer than it needed to before I let go of her hair completely.
“You’re going to need that strength,” I said, my voice lower now, closer, more deliberate. “Don’t ever lose it.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed, but she didn’t step back or look away. That alone told me everything I needed to know about her.
“Believe me. I won’t,” she said.
I smirked. The sass in her voice was clear. There was tension in her, I could see it clearly.
I could be sweet and gentle, but I wanted herto know exactly what she was getting into. “Your life isn’t going to be soft and no way normal,” I said.
“I know,” she replied, her voice quieter now but steadier in a different way, like she’d already accepted that part of it.
I leaned in slightly, not touching her again, but close enough that she would feel my body heat, could feel the weight of my presence crowding her. I wasn’t giving her space because I didn’t want to.
“It doesn’t have to be miserable,” I added, letting the words settle instead of explaining them. “We do what we have to for our families. We produce heirs. We keep alliances. And we stay loyal. But that doesn’t mean we don’t take something from it.” I said that last part lower, deeper so she knew exactly what I meant.
That was when the shift happened behind her eyes. Her gaze changed slightly, not breaking or pulling away but changing just enough to tell me she hadn’t expected that, that she didn’t quite know what to do with it, yet.
“When the ring is on your hand, you’re mine. Completely,” I said, my voice steady, unshaken. “And what’s mine stays protected. No one touches you. No one crosses you without consequences.” Iinhaled her scent again. “I won’t lift my hand to you. Won’t be cruel or ever hurt you.”
Lucia held my gaze as she took that in, and I saw the shift again, deeper this time, something that wasn’t fear but wasn’t comfort, either. She was trying to see if I was telling the truth, if I was like the other men that ran in our world.
The silence that followed was heavier, charged, and carried something neither of us said out loud. Lucia wasn’t meek, and she wasn’t naive. I knew she wasn’t going to break the second things got difficult—and they most definitely fucking would. That made our pending marriage easier and a hell of a lot more dangerous at the same time.
I stepped back then, finally putting space between us. Without another word, I turned toward the door, reaching for the handle but pausing and looking back at her. She stood exactly where I left her, watching me, still holding that same steady control she’d walked in with the first time we met.
As I stepped out into the hall and let the door close behind me, the weight of what my future held settled in deeper than before.
This wasn’t just an arrangement anymore.
Whatever this turned into, I was going to make sure Lucia knew how she was irrevocably mine.
Chapter Eight
