A blush spread over my cheeks and something in his eyes changed, some of the coldness replaced by another emotion.
My eyes found the small cut on his arm. It hadn't been deep and was already scabbing.
He nodded.
"My blood will give them what they want. It'll be the foundation of our story, but we'll be expected to fill in the details. I know I'm a convincing liar. But will you be able to lie in everyone's face, even your mother's, when you tell them about our wedding night? Nobody can know what happened. It would make me look weak."
His lips tightened with regret.
Regret of having spared me and gotten himself in the position of depending on my lying skills. His fingers on my hip tightened so I hadn't even realized they were still there.
Make him want to be good to you, Zuli words flitted through my mind.
He was a devil, there was no doubt about it. He couldn't be anything else in order to survive as a leader in our world, but maybe I could make him keep the devil in chains when he was with me.
It was more than I'd hoped for when he'd led me toward the bedroom last night.
He smiled coldly.
"Weak for not taking what was mine for the taking. The tradition of bloody sheets important is as much a proof of the bride's purity as of the husband's relentlessness. So what do you think will it say about me that I had you lying half naked in my bed, vulnerable and mine, and yet here you are untouched as you were before our wedding?"
"Nobody will know. I won't tell anyone."
"Why should I trust you? I don't make a habit of trusting people, especially people who hate me."
I rested my palm against the cut on his arm, feeling his muscles flex beneath my touch.
Make him be good to you, make him love you.
"I don't hate you."
He narrowed his eyes, but it was mostly the truth. I would have hated him if he had forced himself on me. I certainly hated what the marriage to him meant for me, but I didn't know him well enough for real hate.
Maybe it would come with time.
"And you can trust me because I am your wife. I didn't choose this marriage but I can at least choose to make the best out of our bond. I have nothing to gain from betraying your trust, but everything to gain by showing you that I'm loyal."
There was a flicker of something, maybe respect in his expression.
"The men waiting in that living room are predators. They prey on the weak and they've been waiting for more than a decade for a sign of weakness from me. The moment they see one, they'll pounce."
"But your father… "
"If my father thinks I'm too weak to control the Fu then, he'll gladly let them tear me apart."