He ignored Ha-Lah emitting a sound of protest at the loss of him as he took her under the arms, dragged her up the bed, then put a knee to the mattress that he’d hauled her into.

He came down atop her, disposed of her panties with a violent tug along with a ripping noise, and then he buried himself inside his queen.

“Darling,” she breathed, wrapping her legs about his arse.

“Yes,” he grunted, driving fast and deep into her tight wet.

“Aramus,” she said urgently, lifting her hips to receive more from his thrusts.

He put his lips to hers, stared into the seas of her eyes, and rumbled, “Yes, baby.”

“You…your…by Medusa, darling, your…” She clasped his head in both hands as his balls got tight, he lifted her hips even further to take his thrusts, and right before they both came, she cried…

“Eyes.”

King True

Guest Bedchamber, Sky Citadel, Sky Bay

AIREN

“Caro,” Farah said soothingly.

“I suppose it wouldn’t matter if I said I didn’t like it,” he replied.

He was sitting at the end of the bed.

She was sitting with her legs curved under her on the rugs on floor before him, her thick, dark hair down about her shoulders, the silk of a rose-red nightgown peeking from the opening of her pine-green velvet dressing gown.

And she had just told him that she would need to attend a ritual with the other women, her Sisters of the Beast, to draw in more power.

Power she not only did not yet fully know how to wield, apparently, it wasn’t the most sterling idea for her to hold that much at all.

“I know not what to say to make you feel better,” she murmured miserably.

“And this is the crux of the matter,” he replied gently. “Our lives are not our own.”

She tipped her head to the side and curled her lips slightly up. “Is anyone’s life truly their own, bello?”

“Not just anyone has to confront the Beast,” he replied.

“This is troubling you,” she muttered, causing him to blink very slowly.

“It doesn’t trouble you?” he asked.

“My love, even if we were not prophesied to confront the Beast, we have no control over the lives we lead. You know that.”

“I like to think I have some control,” he grumbled.

At that, his wife grinned fully.

“Yes, well, you are king,” she teased. “So, I suppose you have more control than most everyone else, outside of other kings, of course.”

“Of course,” he murmured, his own lips twitching.

The humor in her lovely topaz eyes changed to warmth when she shared, “I have faith.”

This was True’s issue.

The things he had seen. The things he had done. The things he had lost. All of this dogging his every moment, even following him into his dreams.

He lacked faith.

“True,” Farah called.

He focused on his wife.