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That little spitfire truly does need to be broken. She’s going to need all the extra attention I can give her,I thought firmly.
I ignored the little whisper that asked me if that wasn’t the only reason I was moving up the appointment. All I had ever cared about was the good of Ironhelm, and if it meant schooling some sheltered fae into queendom, so be it.
* * *
I wasin the ballroom before Zephyrine, but I smelled her coming, my wolf instincts enacted as I waited. My eyes trained on her face as she entered, half-hoping to relish in her disappointment when she saw that “Axel” hadn’t been fired.
To my surprise, her luminous, russet eyes glowed brighter when they fell on me before she could feign disappointment.
“Oh,” she muttered, turning away. “You’re still here.”
“Were you expecting someone else?” I drawled, rising from the table, half amused that she wasn’t hiding the fact she had tried to have me fired.
“I just wasn’t expecting you,” she replied shortly.
I realized that her maid wasn’t with her and commented on it.
“I decided to spare Maywin the agony of all this,” she informed me, and my irritation with her almost outweighed my attraction again.
“Should I report your lack of interest to the King?” I asked coldly.
“I’m getting the sense that the King doesn’t much care what I have to say,” Zephyrine replied shortly. “Not that I find it surprising.”
I peered at her speculatively, debating whether to pursue the comment or not. She made the decision for me, her cheeks flushing crimson as she realized what she’d said, and she filled the small silence.
“Are we doing this or not?”
The fire in her that had originally bothered me so much at our first meeting didn’t irk me this day. I found myself oddly drawn to her defiance, despite knowing it was counterproductive to her position. And I couldn’t seem to shake the hard-on, sitting fully erect in my pants.
“What did you mean by that?” I asked.
Zephyrine blinked once. “By getting on with it? I want to be over and done with this ‘session’ already. I despise them, in case I wasn’t clear.”
In spite of myself, I started to grin at her bluntness, but I managed to hide the smirk.
“No… that you’re not surprised the King doesn’t care what you have to say.”
She laughed hollowly. “Are you a therapist now?” she taunted.
“Do you need a therapist?” I countered.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “I have to think that you don’t talk to the King this way.”
“You’d be surprised,” I replied lightly.
She turned away from me, her olive cheeks still stained pink in a delicious way. I licked my lips when she wasn’t looking, my steps inadvertently drawing me closer toward her. I was inexplicably tempted by her, but I didn’t fight it, the pull of her pheromones enticing.
“You must know that a queen should be submissive to her king,” I pressed.
“I know what he wants from me,” she snapped angrily, whirling around. “I get it, all right?”
I drew back slightly, catching a whiff of melancholy in her tone. “What do you want from me, Axel?”
This time, I didn’t hide my tongue as it jutted out from my mouth to wet my lips, and I caught her gaze following the tip. Embarrassment stained her complexion crimson.
“As discussed before, you will need to learn to speak only when spoken to.”
“That’s bullshit,” Zephyrine quipped almost before I’d finished speaking, and I grimaced, shaking my head.
