~ JESSE ~
As I'd listened to the King's pompous tirade, it had become clearer and clearer to me that it was not just bad luck that I was here.
The question was, would I step out of the flames of one man's making, and straight into another? Or was this truly an opportunity for escape?
"I will be your mate… if you'll have me."
The King's eyes narrowed.
His servant's brows rose and he raised his hands. "Oh, I don't think you understood- "
"Why?" the King asked, his voice deep and skeptical. But I didn't miss the glimmer in his eyes. I'd surprised him.
I swallowed hard and prayed I'd understood all of this correctly. "I think… I know, I can give you what you want. And in exchange, you can give me what I need."
The King's brows rose then. "How very presumptuous of you. But I will take the bait: What is it that you want?"
"I propose… an exchange."
"Of what?"
"You take me as your mate and you keep me safe like you promised. Away from my world and… and anyone I knew. When I bear you an heir, you give me a house somewhere remote. Somewhere no one can find me. A couple of servants to run it and enough money to live modestly. You can have your family, and I can have solitude. And… and safety."
His eyes narrowed again. "Why would you offer yourself to this? To me, when I have not compelled you to do so?"
I hesitated, but couldn't find any reason to hide the truth. "Because you're the first man I've met with the power to free me from all the others."
The King stared at me as if I'd confused him. He tilted his head, his eyes pinning me to the floor. I was terrified he was about to unleash that power on me and steal me from myself.
I couldn't let it happen.
"I have terms, though," I blurted.
The King looked indignant- also a little amused. "You think you're in a position to set terms?"
I hurried on, praying he'd listen. "No violence. At all," I said, swallowing the pinch that was rising in my throat. "If I'm going to get pregnant, I can't be hurt. And… until I'm pregnant, you only have sex with me. No one else. You give me every chance to… to bear you the heir." The King snorted and fear jittered through me. "If you do, I'll submit. Truly. You won't have to use that… that power. I will do anything you say. I'll give myself to you. Willingly. Like… like a slave."
The room was silent except for our voices so at that word I could hear him suck in a breath. Flames flickered in his eyes- fire beneath the ice.
"Slave?" he rumbled.
I nodded, hands clenched at my sides, praying. Because it was better to humble myself than to be forced to it. I couldn't let him steal my mind. I had to keep myself. I knew if he used that awful power on me, I would lose myself completely with time.
"You said… you said your power was about dominance?"
"Yes."
"Well, surely, if someone gives themselves willingly… That must offer you more power? More than if you have to… make them?"
His face went open with shock, his brows rising as if they'd climb into his hair.
"You promise me a home after you have your heir, and that you'll never hurt me, or use that… that power on me. And I will give you everything you've asked. If I don't, well… it sounds like I'd be dead anyway."
He was still gaping, but as if he'd caught himself doing it, his eyes suddenly hooded and his mouth snapped shut. "That you would," he muttered.
I nodded. "So… what do you have to lose?"
~ CASIMIR ~
It was a fascinating proposal.
The moment she'd said she'd give herself to me willingly, my cock had twitched. Then, when she named herself a slave… my power surged. Even now, it raged in my veins as if it could reach through my skin to take her.
It was impossible, and yet, it couldn't be denied. Her choice to submit sent power coursing through me.
What would it do when she actually gave over?
Without compulsion?
I'd never thought… never even considered…
Fascinating.
I had to work not to swallow like a boy at his first mating. "And if you defy me?" I asked, indulging myself, because all I wanted was to know what she'd say- and see how it affected my power.
She raised her chin. Her expression was sad. "I won't defy you. I'm sacrificing myself to you. But in the end… in the end it's your choice. If I ever say no… well, it's not like I could fight you. Or your power. I'd be trusting you to… to keep your word."
"You can't actually be considering this?" Ghere hissed at me below the humans hearing, through unmoving lips. "What about the rite?"
"The rite hasn't worked for us so far," I snarled back.
Her eyes hadn't left me.
She was too small, too thin, too wiry- though I suspected all of that would change if she was properly fed. And yet…
When our eyes locked, a jolt of desire and a correlating wave of power washed through me.
A slave. She would make herself my slave? Willingly?
"Do we have an agreement?" she asked, her voice shaking as if she were losing her courage.
"We certainly do."
Every wolf in the room gasped, but I couldn't have cared less what they thought.
I didn't take my eyes from hers- hazel eyes, I realized. Brown at the center, bleeding to a soft, gray-green at the outside of the iris. I inhaled, picking out her scent from the crowd, drinking it down.
She would be my mate.
She would be my Queen.
She would choose to be my slave.
I physically shuddered. God, I was going to come.
Without breaking eye contact with her, I snapped my fingers. "Take the others away and bring the Cleric," I muttered.
Ghere bowed stiffly, then gestured to the guards, who immediately gathered up the other women- shrieking, crying, some pleading for me.
But I barely heard them.
As the room filled with the noise of moving bodies, of guards muttered orders, and women's cries, my new mate's eyes widened.
"Cleric?" she asked hesitantly. As if she were afraid of the answer.
I frowned. "Did you think we would conceive the royal heir out of wedlock?"