“They must keep sharp. If this bloody Beast ever appears, it’ll be the mightiest thing they’ve fought. In the meantime, whatever happens in Cassius’s realm will likely not be pretty. It’s important they’re ready.”

I had never been to Sky Bay.

I’d heard the beaches of Airen were black.

But what I knew of Sky Bay, it was all rock.

They did not need to be drilled on the beach.

I twisted to catch his gaze.

“I know nothing about soldiering, but my impression is that this is not normal drilling.”

His brows drew together. “Have my men been complaining?”

“No,” I somewhat lied.

“They best not,” he muttered, his attention drifting to the waves.

I twisted even farther in his arms and put my hand on his chest.

“Husband,” I called.

His eyes tipped down to me. “Wife.”

I grinned up at him because I liked that I was that…to him.

Though I was not that, not yet, not entirely.

It was time to get on with that.

The “entirety” part.

Thus, hesitantly, I began, “I think that tonight we should ask the men who have tents closer to us to move them a bit away so—”

“No,” Aramus denied, before I even got my suggestion completely out.

“But—”

“No, Ha-Lah. We leave tomorrow. I’m sure there will be some settlement or village or something along the way that will prove fit for our needs.”

“But we can—”

“No.”

“What I mean to say is, not going through with the whole—”

“My queen,” he gave me a squeeze, “no.”

I felt my face screw up. “You aren’t even listening.”

“Will what you say make me hard?”

I paused to consider that.

“Right,” he muttered.

“Aramus!” I snapped, also slapping him lightly on his chest.

“Ha-Lah,” he replied.

I persevered, “I could just…with my mouth. And then you could, er… with your mouth. Or fingers. Or, say…both.”

He tilted his head back and said to the skies. “She wants to kill me. She actually does. My wife wishes my death.”

I turned fully in his arms so that I was sitting on a hip between his thighs and thus could press both hands to his chest, hard.

“Husband, we need to ease the tension.”

He again looked to me. “And we will…properly.”

“I do not know. I have not had much experience. The fumblings of youth. But I’m relatively certain I can suck your shaft…properly,” I stated as he glowered at me. “With a little supervision,” I ended on a mutter.

“Can we make a pact?”

“A pact?” I asked warily.

“A pact,” he asserted. “This pact including you not mentioning your experience, however not much there was. And I will do the same, even though mine could not be construed in any way as ‘not much.’”