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He had questions about his own frailty.
And he wished to drown those questions away in alcohol tonight. Not in Annick.
There was a knock at his chamber door, and she appeared. As if he had conjured her up with the pour of the whiskey. Whiskey like he had on the plane.
Whiskey, which Annick claimed she never had.
Oh, Annick, far too innocent for him. Far too much of a soft, undeniable beauty. That was, he supposed, the trade-off of her being locked away in that abysmal room. She had not been able to touch the outside world, and it had not been able to touch her.
“What are you doing here?”
“What is this? This stupid question. Why do you think I’m here?”
“For a drink?”
“No. An insult, Maximus, that you think I’m here for anything other than my wedding night.”
“Such a traditionalist,” he said, fighting against the rising tide of lust that was taking hold. Doing away with any kind of defenses he’d put up.
He had promised her family he would care for her, and this vow he’d made to the dead felt binding. But it was heavy. For how could he be sure he would not fail her? How?
“Don’t take it as an insult.”
“I have.”
“I’m not in the mood.”
She looked at him, all narrowed eyes and indignation. “Me, I think you’re a liar.”
“Of course I’m a liar. A liar,” he said, advancing on her. “A liar who shows a mask to the whole world.” He took another step closer to her, a dangerous heat rising up inside of him. “A drunk.” He lifted his glass. Then he took another step toward his bride, so close that he could smell the lovely, enticingly feminine scent that he associated only and ever with her. “A killer.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “All these things. And me? I am broken. Grieving. Tragic. Ruthless. Innocent. Guilty. We are all a great many things, are we not?”
“Don’t test me tonight,” he said.
“It is for just that reason that I test you. Because you don’t wish it. Who wants to test a man who is prepared for that test? Boring.”
“Are you in danger of being bored?”
“Not with you. Never with you.” She closed the door behind her. “Also, I am not leaving. You do not scare me, Maximus King. I suppose I am now Annick King. You have made me a King as well.” Her lips tugged into a smile. “And a Queen. A strange thing.”
“I did not think a Queen would take the name of the man she married.”
“Maybe not in public. But in private, I would like to do so. I have no family. I like very much the idea of being part of yours.”
That brushed against that raw, deadly thing inside of him. “Whatever you wish.”
“And if I wish for my wedding night?”
“Unwise,” he said, tipping back the last of his whiskey.
“You keep saying this. As if there is a monster in you, waiting to savage me at the first available moment. But I have not met this monster. What would you say if I told you that I would like to meet him?”
“You don’t.”
“Why not? Did your Stella meet the monster?”
“Stella,” he said, his voice rough, “didn’t meet the monster because I was just a man when I was with her. Just one man. Not...whatever I have become.”
