I’m the Amazon heir. It’s my job to step between my people and whatever threats arise. If that means I need to crawl into bed and ride Broderick’s cock until he passes out to ensure we have a year of peace, then I’ll do it. I would do it anyways, because I want to. But a year? It’s a long time to gather information on the Paine brothers while they can’t move against us. I’d be a fool to let that opportunity go by unexploited.

I am no fool.

I start for the bathroom door. “Give me two seconds to shower the blood off, husband.”

“Don’t call me that.”

I don’t bother to hide my smile as I glance over my shoulder, and his flinch in response is more than reward enough. “How on earth did you survive this long with skin that thin?”

Broderick opens his mouth, seems to reconsider whatever he was about to say, and huffs out a breath. “I don’t have thin skin.”

“All evidence points to the contrary.” I step into the bathroom and almost laugh. It’s just as spartan as the bedroom itself; it’s entirely white tile with only a sink, toilet, and showerhead. It’s also positioned in such a way that if I leave the door open, anyone in the bedroom will be able to see the entire bathroom. Good for security and ensuring a captive doesn’t get into trouble. Bad for Broderick’s blood pressure.

I turn on the shower and pull off my clothing slowly. I can feel his eyes on me. I know what I look like. Beauty is just another weapon in my arsenal, and Broderick might hate me, but he’s affected. Maybe he hates me because he’s affected. Even knowing him all of one evening is enough to make me suspect that’s the truth.

When I’m naked, I step beneath the spray and tilt my head back. The earlier fight in the arena wasn’t a particularly long or brutal one, but my knuckles sting and my thigh is a little sore where that bitch got in a few good kicks. Juniper of the Mystics isn’t heir, and every time I deal with her, I have cause to be grateful for that fact. She’s a blunt instrument waiting for a hand to wield her. She’s got a temper, and she’s remarkably easy to bait. If I’d been fighting her older sister, Fallon, the fight wouldn’t have been nearly as simple.

I slick my hair back. Fallon is a Bride, too. I wonder how she’s taking the consummation. That woman has ice in her veins, and she’s as feral as a wolf when it comes to… Well, literally anything. Poor little Gabriel Paine. He’s bitten off more than he can chew, too.