Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Comme c’est intéressant.
She seemed not to understand the kind of man he was on some level, but she also seemed strangely intuitive about other aspects of him.
What a mystery his future wife was shaping out to be, and unfortunately for him, this trait of hers threatened to compromise his judgment...because right now, he was wishing that he had her wear something else. Anything except one of his own shirts, which dwarfed her to the point that it revealed the creamy rise of her breasts while not being long enough to hide the shapely curves of her bare legs.
Not good, Mercier.
This was equivalent to giving his own opponent an unfair advantage, which he had never been guilty of in the past.
“Something else just occurred to me,” Samira suddenly declared in a rush. “It’s not about concessions or anything, but...what about the legalities of the two of us being married? I don’t follow preter news much, I’m afraid,” she admitted with a slight wince. “So I don’t know if there are any requirements—”
“We will have to register our marriage with L’Alliance,” he acknowledged.
Her brows furrowed. “Really? But I thought you aren’t a member—”
“Indeed. But by virtue of your race, it is you who’s under L’Alliance protection, hence the need to register our marriage”
“Oh...”
“Do you have any other questions?”
She started to shake her head, but the look on her face however...
“You can also use this opportunity to address your concerns about the permanency of our marriage.”
Her eyes widened. “How did you—”
Patience was one of his stronger fronts, and so Hexius simply waited.
Samira shook her head again, this time looking rather overwhelmed. “It feels like you’ve thought of everything.”
He didn’t bother replying, didn’t see any point wasting words on the rhetorical. In truth, he’d spent the better part of the last hour making contingency plans while she’d showered and borrowed his clothes. Marriage to a human required careful coordination with various parties, not to mention the security protocols necessary to protect her from those who might see her as a weakness to exploit.
“But you’re right. There is one thing I want to...I guess...I mean...” She started wringing her hands, and Hexius had to fight against the urge to reach for her. Comfort her. Right now, he had to remember she was not his wife...yet.
“Don’t you think you should at least give it a chance first?”
Hexius frowned, his attention sharpening. “Give what a chance?”
“Your feelings for...her. Don’t you think you should give it another try—” Her gaze dropped away as she made the suggestion, fingers twisting together. “See if maybe you’ll fall in love with her again—”
Ah, so that’s what she was getting at...the idiot.
“That’s all in the past.”
Her expression turned dubious, and his mood turned exasperated. “I do not lie about such things.”
She actually seemed to want to argue this, lips parting as if to speak, but she changed her mind when she saw his glare.
Smart girl.
“One last question.”
He waited, golden eyes never leaving her face.
“Why do you want me to be your wife now? What changed?”
“Compatibility.” He didn’t even have to think about this, having always planned to let her know from the start that their marriage was no love match.
Samira, however...
She turned red as soon as she heard the word, color flooding her cheeks, and Hexius was once again...perplexed. Her face might be expressive, but he was starting to appreciate how...unpredictable her thought patterns were.
“What do you find so uncomfortable about this?” Hexius asked.
“It’s just that someone told me—”
“You mean your roommate, the human sister of the Adelardi queen.”
Her eyes widened. “How did you—”
He only raised a brow, and she sighed. “I should probably be more surprised if you didn’t know about her. Right?”
How unexpectedly astute she was turning out to be, and completely unlike his original assumptions about her being this puppet heiress being controlled by her power-hungry grandfather.
“Anastasia did tell me a bit.” Samira fidgeted as she made her confession, her cheeks turning a deeper shade of red while she once again avoided his gaze. “About...things.”
Why that was, though...
“What is it about us being compatible that you object to?” Hexius had to force himself to ask the question. He was simply not used to admitting incomprehension.
“It’s not that I object, but I’m just...it’s a little too...”
“You will have to do better than that,” he reprimanded, somewhat impatiently.
“I...I was told that compatibility would increase your strength as a preter.”
“That is what you object to?”
Samira quickly shook her head, her expression aghast. “No, of course not! But I was also told for it to take effect, Anastasia said...” She trailed off, wrapping her arms around herself as if suddenly cold.
Everything finally became clear.
And it was the worst of distractions, the final nail in the coffin of his self-control that he did not see coming.
“You’re talking about sangferia.”
She didn’t answer, only gulped, the movement of her throat making him think of all the things she could...dammit.