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He pauses at my gratitude. A smirk crosses his face before he says, “My pleasure. Drink every last drop. It’ll help.” Even being helpful, my husband can’t let go of his commanding attitude.
I find that I like it a lot.
For once, I do as I’m told and finish my tea, placing down the empty cup and saucer on the island. “How did you know I needed that?”
Malix shrugs. “My mom used to drink this when she had a hard day and was feeling extra tired by the end of it. It always seemed to make her better. Thought it might do the same for you.”
“Wow, that was…sweet?” I hate how I made my compliment into a question, but this Malix is so far off from the Malix in my head.
But is he really?
This is the Malix who left me after we were married, but the same Malix who looked ready to claw out Aeron’s eyes the time he stopped me in the garden. The Malix who kept busy and avoided me, but also did cute shit like this, making me tea because I was tired. He also hasn’t once pushed me to tell him about what happened back with all the sleeping dragons. No, he came to make sure I was okay.
My head—and heart—is a complicated place to be right now.
Do I want to kiss him? Scream at him? Fuck him? Leave him?
Yes. To all. Yes.
I’m a damn fool.
“I don’t understand you.” I sigh, my body feeling tired for new reasons. “I don’t know if you want me here or if you would have preferred I’d never come.” On a surface level, I understand it. He’s a king in need of saving his kingdom and his people. I’m the woman that can help him achieve that. Still, I don’t enjoy feeling like a chore he never wished to have.
I don’t need love. We won’t ever achieve that, and I’ve made peace with it. But I do want to be more than tolerated.
Struggle plays out on Malix’s face like a movie. For someone so cold and distant, he is certainly easy to read when he doesn't have his guard up.
“You confuse me too, Rose.” My name sounds foreign on his lips. Wife or little dragon are the only things he’s called me. “Like why you choose to be here in the first place. Don’t think I have forgotten our deal from earlier about sharing.
“But in all seriousness,” he continues, “I don’t know how to act when you are around. You do things to me, Rose. Things you shouldn’t be capable of doing, but my beast wants you. Wants you more than anything he’s ever wanted, and I can hardly be around you without tempting myself.”
Oh.
How the fuck do I respond to that?
It’s like my mind has short-circuited and no amount of rewiring will fix it. Words leave my lips, but I’m running on autopilot. “Your beast wants me but what about you? Not King Malix, but you.”
Do I want to know the answer? Do I care?
If you asked me a few days ago, my answer would have been no. Now…well it feels like I can’t breathe until he tells me.
Malix moves closer, his knees bump into mine and neither of us pulls away. “No one’s ever asked what I’ve wanted.”
“Maybe more people should.”
“Maybe,” he agrees, reaching out to gently press his hand against my cheek. It’s innocent enough, but we both suck in a deep breath. “I…want to kiss you.”
My heart does a weird lurch and I wonder if I’m about to have a heart attack. No words form, but I feel my head nod, consenting to his will.
I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t want to kiss him. It will only make everything between us even more complicated. I’ve been down this road with another person before and it did not end well for me. This has the potential to end worse. Catastrophically worse.
I can’t seem to stop us, though. Together, we are a runaway train, going straight toward the cliff at the end of the tracks.
All those thoughts leave my mind as soon as his lips are on mine. They are soft and he tastes vaguely of honey. Or maybe that’s me.
I kiss him back, my body reacting on instinct. I bring my hands up to rest on his chest, feeling the strong muscles that lie underneath his tunic.
The innocence of the kiss doesn’t last long. Malix grabs the back of my neck and pulls me closer until our bodies crash together and I’m straddling him. What started out as a spark has quickly turned into an inferno as his tongue parts my lips and tastes me. I groan softly, wanting, no, needing more.
