He was heartened that she was able to admit that. She could be proud and stubborn in that way.

But even if a part of him worried he should not push it, the stakes were too high.

He had to do just that.

“And as all my men, save Tint, were at the foot of my podium, what tidepool were you visiting, alone with two little girls?”

She did not quite hide her guilty look.

“Ha-Lah,” he growled, so angry, he was unable to go on.

“It was on the castle grounds,” she assured him.

“You go nowhere without a guard,” he informed her.

Her brows rose. “In my own home?”

“In it, especially around it, I do not give a fuck. Unless you’re with me or my men, you have a guard.”

“Aramus, obviously as we were at a tidepool, I was close to the sea. I could—”

“I wasn’t opening this up for discussion.”

“We seem to have this conversation frequently,” she snapped.

“Yes, we unfortunately do,” he returned just as crossly.

They stared at each other.

Or, more aptly, she glared at him while he glowered at her.

A part of him, the part that loved her spirit, wished to soften his stance, or at least any ensuing words.

Another, stronger part of him, forced him to drive his point home.

“It is your lot as queen,” he pushed.

“I did not agree to it,” she returned.

He withstood that blow and retorted, “You did not, it is true. But then you did when you fell in love with me.”

She looked away, the elegant sweep of her jaw and line of her neck tense in her anger.

He gave her the time it took to understand she had no choice but to concede that point.

She took that time, returned her gaze to him and nodded tersely.

But she asked, “It will always be this way, won’t it?”

“I’m sorry, my love, but yes. It will. But I will point out, as it seems you haven’t noticed, that it is not just you. I go nowhere without my men and they are my friends, my brothers, but, baby, they are also my guards.”

He saw that had not occurred to her as the flash of understanding blazed in her crystal-blue eyes.

“All right, fine,” she muttered her concession.

“It has been a trying day, you walked in with those girls, and there was nothing that could make me smile. Except you walking in, with or without those girls.”

The anger leaked from her expression.

“Though it gives me great joy to watch you with Cass and Elena’s daughters,” he told her. “It makes me yearn for our own.”

And that made the warmth suffuse her face.

She moved to him again, lifting both hands to wrap them around each side of his neck.

And only then did Aramus relax.

“I see you’re becoming very adept at handling your quick-tempered, stubborn wife.”

“You aren’t quick-tempered and stubborn. You’re independent and spirited.”