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His hand slashed the air. ‘I don’t mean you. I was careless with her. I promised myself I would never be careless again. And now I have done it again. With you.’
She flinched. ‘You mean Celeste?’ He was bringing his dead fiancée into this? She wasn’t sure whether to be furious or desolate. She chose the former. ‘It’s our wedding night, Remi. It might not mean anything to you, but it means something to me. How can you bring her into this moment?’
‘What?’ His brows clamped together as if she was speaking an alien tongue.
Perhaps she was. Bitter laughter ripped from her throat. ‘What was I thinking?’ she murmured to herself. ‘This is how our marriage is going to be, isn’t it?’
His frown deepened. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Don’t pretend you don’t know. How can you not know when she informs your every decision? How can you not know when you never stop thinking about her?’
Fierce eyes narrowed. ‘Maddie—’
‘No,’ she interrupted, equally fiercely. With a strength she hadn’t known she possessed, she rose out of the bath, her gaze fixed on his as she stepped out. ‘How do you think it makes me feel when the first thing you think about when you’re faced with a crisis is her?’
His head went back as if she’d struck him. For a moment she wished she had, if only to knock a little bit of sense into him.
‘Calm down—’
‘Why should I? You just dismissed me out of hand. Even though this is happening to both of us, you didn’t even think about me.’
His expression grew even more arctic. ‘If I hurt your feelings—’
‘If? Look at me, Remi. Do you actually see me standing here in front of you?’ she asked, in a voice that reflected the anguish tearing through her.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. ‘Of course I do. Don’t be absurd.’
‘I’m being absurd, am I? Perhaps next you’re going to call me melodramatic for having feelings? For wanting a say in my own marriage?’
‘Protecting you is my prerogative,’ he replied tersely. ‘My priority.’
Just like it was with Celeste. He didn’t need to say the words.
She battled to keep the anguish from ripping her asunder. ‘Can we talk about this like two rational human beings? Please?’ she tacked on at the absolutely implacable look on his face.
He stared at her for a charged moment and then nodded brusquely.
About to speak, Maddie realised she was still stark naked. He realised it too, his gaze heatedly raking her body before, veering away sharply, he snagged a robe and held it out to her.
She started to reach for it.
The wave of dizziness came out of nowhere, snatching the strength from her knees and the air from her lungs.
With a shocked, guttural curse, Remi lunged for her, locking her into his arms as her body crumpled.
‘Dio mio,’ he cursed thickly. ‘Are you okay?’
The dizziness dissipated as quickly as it had arrived, leaving her senses clear. ‘Let me go. I’m fine.’
‘No, you are not.’ Robe discarded, he swept her up and strode back into the bedroom, placing her on the bed before stepping back. ‘We will talk after you’ve had something to eat and rested.’
‘No, I want to talk now.’
He seared her with a blistering, imperious gaze that reminded her that in everything but the coronation ceremony he was the King.
‘Some things you have a say in, Maddie. The subject of your health and well-being, especially when you’re neglecting them, isn’t one of them. You barely ate anything all day long, and indulged in new experiences on top of that. If you wish for a rational discussion then you’ll do as you’re told.’
She tugged the sheets up to cover herself even as she raised her chin in defiance. ‘Are you calling me irrational?’
