up even to try to seduce. You see enemies where there aren’t any. You give bitches whiplash as if they’re standing in line backstage to meet their favorite boy band. I thought I could make you see that we’re not all the same, but you already knew that. You allow witches to move about freely, and you don’t allow them to be abused. You are saving them to add to your army. I came here intending to show you I wasn’t evil, but you can’t see past the blood that I didn’t even ask for, which runs through my veins. You’re punishing me for my parentage, which I had no more control over than you had of yours. Did I try to seduce you? No, because you’re nothing more than a fucking ghost. You’re haunting the Nine Realms as surely as if you were another casualty of a wicked witch that didn’t care about the laws of our races. You can’t seduce something that doesn’t even realize he’s still alive. I wasn’t playing hard to get either.”
“And you expect me to believe that, why? Because you’re so fucking truthful, Aria?” Knox snorted, shaking his head. He lowered his mouth for mine, and I turned, denying him my lips. “You’re Aurora’s lapdog, one I fucking muzzled. I planned for you, Little One. I planned for your betrayal, for your lies, and that you’d use your body to get me to bend to your will. The thing about that is, the king does not bow to a queen. The queen bows to the king, and once she weds, she is silent and beneath his rule.”
“You want a submissive queen? Shall I get on my knees for you now, King Karnavious? Is that what you want from me? You want me to bow to you by force? Of course, it is because it is the only way you will ever get me.”
“I’ll have you tomorrow night and every night after that. Who knows, Aria, with as much as we’ve done to procure fertility, maybe you’ll get that babe you crave. Maybe your gods will smile upon you, and I’ll place a babe into your womb. Wouldn’t that be a fucking miracle?” Knox snorted.
“Oh, I don’t want your baby, Knox. I never said I wanted your child. I said I wanted the child of the man I love. I never once stated that it would be your child that grew within me. Besides, I’d have to open my womb to allow you in, and the only way you’d get that is if you ripped it out of my body and fucked it without my help. Bel, on the other hand, can offer me a child by awakening him. If he chooses me, I can open for him as he fucks me in front of you. Wouldn’t that be a glorious start to our marriage?”
“You’re not to give him your womb, Aria,” Knox snarled, tightening his fingers on my chin.
“That isn’t your choice, Knox. You don’t get to tell me who I can open for before we’re wed. My creature chooses who breeds us, and right now, she doesn’t want you. We learned a lot about ourselves from almost being raped. Lord Andres wanted our womb too, and she wailed to protect it, but Lennox told her that only we decide who breeds it. That isn’t you. You won’t get it, and neither will your beast. You may mark me, and you may claim me as your puppet queen, but you’ll never touch my soul or my womb. Those are things that you can’t force open or demand access. You can hurt me, you can break me, but you can’t touch me deeper than I’ll allow. Your mark will be nothing more than an ownership tag. One I loathe and despise.”
“If you give Bel your womb, I’ll rip it out and eat it in front of you,” Knox said, smiling coldly, sending ice rushing down my spine. “Brander, take my bride to the bridal bed. I am going hunting tonight. Secure her there and allow no one else to enter. Use the cuffs to secure unwilling brides before we changed the tradition, so Aria realizes her position within the room,” he stated, releasing my chin.
“I’ll go with you,” Killian announced, but Knox turned slowly, shaking his head.
“I’m going with my ghosts. Tomorrow I marry my enemy. I need to be alone with them tonight. I need to tell them that I will never love her