Page 19 of Obsidian Throne

“That’s why I chose to allow this union to continue,” he added.

I barely,barelysuppressed a snort. I didn’t know everything about this situation or Socairan politics, but I knew that if Iiro could have stopped this wedding, he would have. I knew that he had tried, in his duplicitous way, and that doing so overtly was not an option for him.

But there was nothing to be gained by saying that, so instead, I nodded. “Most gracious of you.”

Could he hear the mocking edge to my tone?

The music came to a slow lull, finally signifying the end of the dance. Giving him a small, very Lochlannian curtsy, I walked away before he could respond.

CHAPTER TEN

ROWAN

The room raised their glasses in a toast to us again, and I was grateful for the much more subdued send-off than the one we had endured in Lochlann.

Not that I would have cared tonight.

Not that anything could have robbed me of the heady sense of anticipation as Evander scooped me in his arms and carried me out of the room. That was one tradition I didn’t mind, especially when he cradled me possessively against his body.

Tension thrummed through every part of me. I resented every measured step up the grand staircase, down the unfamiliar hallways.

“Where are we going?” My voice was breathless, and he chuckled down at me.

“Impatient, Lemmikki?” But the way his hand tightened around my thighs told me I wasn’t the only one.

“I have been patient for seven stars-damned weeks,” I reminded him.

It was a lie. Every single day of that had been torture.

“Well, that makes one of us,” he growled.

Finally, he pushed open a door and carried me through it. I barely had time to see that the room was even bigger than Evander’s spacious suites, that it had textured black walls and an enormous bed with a gauzy white canopy, situated in a turret with floor to ceiling windows.

Then he all but threw me on that bed, and I stopped caring what the room around us looked like.

He had been gentle our first wedding night. Patient, and almost maddeningly slow.

He was none of those things now.

Our mouths met in a clashing of lips and teeth as we all but devoured one another. I fisted my hands in his hair, pulling him even closer to me. He made a sound low in his throat that pulled at every part of me before skating his lips down my neck, his teeth nipping lightly along the way.

I tugged at his shirt, and he removed it in one fluid motion, revealing every muscled inch of his glorious chest. My lips parted, and the corner of his mouth tilted up in the arrogant smirk I had missed so, so much.

He went to pull my dress down past my shoulders, and it caught at the top chain. Without hesitation, he pulled at the sides until the delicate silver strands snapped, giving him the leeway he needed to remove it.

And if I thought his face was intense before, it was nothing compared to the way he looked when he realized I had nothing underneath that dress. Which should have been obvious, given that it was backless, but judging by Evander’s slack features, it was not something he had considered.

“Der’mo,” he murmured.

It was my turn to smirk, though that expression faded quickly when his lips met mine once more. There was no more talking after that, no teasing. Just a deeply seated feeling of rightness when our bodies finally came together again.

I had been empty, untethered, and fractured for weeks. But now...now I was whole again.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

EVANDER

“Are you going to tell me where we are now?” Rowan’s lips moving against the skin of my chest were enough distraction that it took me a moment to answer.