My plan to sleep next to my wife without touching her failed without delay.

While lying down, I found a topic to discuss without the risk of reaching dangering conclusions. I asked Thea about the paintings.

I had seen a couple of her works that same day, and they were absolutely horrible. It was amusing how someone as extraordinary as my Queen could be that bad at anything.

Seeing her trivial failure reminded me that she was human, not an invincible machine.

Yet, the way she tried to turn the tables around and begin a new wave of art was damn adorable.

«I'll look at them again tomorrow,» I teased her. «And I'll tell you if your soul is as transparent as you.»

Instead of glaring at me or shrugging innocently, she replied back.

«I can paint your grace's soul as well if you let me understand it.»

My brows twitched at that sound, annoyed by her polite reply. That your grace was so disturbing, but what was I expecting?

Theodora turned to me and started stuttering before sitting up on the bed and clenching the sheets with her hands. Her fingers became as white as porcelain while she apologised for a sin she didn't commit.

However, what bothered me the most was the way she referred to herself.

Prisoner.

What made her believe she was one? Was it my fault? When did I make her think that?

«What did you just say?» I murmured, instead of calming down and explaining the situation to her.

It took me so much to realise that I was scaring her more. Precisely, the time Theodora needed to start crying.

«Don't talk like that. Don't think of yourself as a prisoner, and don't be polite to me,» I said. «And don't be afraid. I won't hurt you.»

I reached out to her and moved a lock of her hair back. Seeing that she didn't run away, I caressed her back and dragged her in my arms.

I tried comforting her until she moved her eyes, still wet, on me. She pressed her lips on the corner of my mouth, apologising.

She hadn't understood the point.

«What are you sorry for?» I inquired, glaring at her.

I thought it was clear that she didn't have anything to apologise for. She wasn't my slave but my wife.

Instead of answering, she surrounded my neck with her arms and kissed my neck. She nibbled my skin, light like a flower, and I almost sighed. Yet, it was not what I was aiming at.

A scared wife, ready to do anything to avoid some consequence she imagined, isn't what I was looking for.

Before I had time to stop her, though, she straddled me and pushed me down on the mattress.

Dumbfounded, I opened my eyes wide. I caught Thea's hands trying to reach the rim of my shirt.

She wasn't supposed to have such an idea on her own.

«Where did you learn this?» I asked, curious like never before. The girl in my arms wasn't Theodora. It was another person with many similarities.

Ah, no... It was her, but another version. Her personality had been touched by the years of war, especially the last few months when nothing she tried worked.

Maybe, I should have stopped touching her and explained that she didn't need to act like that, but I was too curious about how far she would go. And I was itching to touch her.

Yet, what pressed me more was that she had an idea the previous Theodora grasped only after I proposed it.

«I don't understand,» she replied, shrugging as if a virgin would come up with this idea by herself. «What is your grace concerned about?»

I ignored the way she called me, as her tactic was getting interesting.

Could I use her secret plan to make her do lewd things?

Most of all, was that a wise decision? There was a chance she would loathe me for it in the future.

«First of all, use my name,» I stated, more to buy time for thinking than for actual concern.

She listened to me with a plain expression, hiding her worries almost to perfection. Yet, I could tell.

«Say it!»

Her face turned red. I would have thought it was a visual effect of the candle's light if only I didn't know her that well.

«Alexander,» she murmured.

«Better,» I nodded.

I used the last grams of self-control to refrain from kissing her wildly. She was still scared. But it was hard.

Hearing my name after so many years flow from her lips awoke every single cell in my body. My hands itched to touch her, but I had something important to say before that.

«Now, let's clear a few points...»

I couldn't afford to see her shaking like that. It would have killed me faster than a sword. And I couldn't expect her to understand on her own.

It was better to just say it, even with the risk to sound possessive or irrational.

Only after making sure she understood, I remembered the reason why she was still sitting on my lap, one leg on each side of me. It would have been a pity to waste such a chance, and our mood had improved during the conversation.

«Now tell me what you were trying to do,» I said.

She confessed her intentions straight-forwardly. Without hiding her thoughts, she blurted out her fear and observed my fingers as I untied the ribbon of her nightgown.

It was a wise decision. I wasn't planning to sleep with Thea when I ordered the gowns, but it felt natural to ask for that kind of model.

In Polis, her nightgowns didn't have a ribbon. Yet, I knew I liked untying it as much as ripping her clothes.

It was something I should have kept for myself. It wasn't time to scare my wife.

Not yet, I thought while remembering the plans in my office.

«You're getting distracted again,» I chuckled next to her ear. She was thinking of some small detail. Who knew it? Maybe she was considering the ribbons as well.

«I'm not!» she rebuked, her cheeks red and her eyes guilty.

My fingers caressed her knee and disappeared under the skirt.

She kissed me with uncertainty, trying her best to please me with her clumsy attempt. I grinned under her lips as I decided to make her feel all my love without any need for words.

After tossing aside the sleeve, I sank my teeth in her shoulder. Her round bosom was uncovered as well, and I licked her neck to calm her after the bite. She just bent her head and let me do, closing her eyes to enjoy that new feeling to the fullest.

My free hand was rubbing her back, my tongue dancing on her neck. She was melting in my embrace, even though she wouldn't admit it for anything in the world.

I moved my left hand up her thigh, observing her reaction with pleased eyes. She thrilled while I pressed my thumb on her inner thigh, and I caressed there some more.

I was going to make her shiver even more in a moment or two, but I used those few seconds to let her adapt to being touched.

Her fists clenched my shirt, and her knees slipped on the mattress when I pulled her closer.

«Ah!» she moaned when I touched her core. She opened her eyes to look at me, surprised, and I took the chance to grace my sight with her expression.

Her gaze followed my tongue as I licked my lower lip, and I could swear she gulped. I pulled her nightgown up until she helped me get rid of it, and I looked at her chest with awe.

Her breasts weren't yet the size I remembered, but just the sight made me want to touch, lick, suck...

With a single movement, I flipped Thea down on the bed and pressed my crotch on her core. At the same time, my mouth rushed to her right breast.

With my hands free, I got rid of the clothes. Finally naked, I rubbed my erection on her core. Her juices started flowing after a minute or two, lubricating the point of contact.

Her breath accelerated, signalling me her pleasure with terrific precision. Only when I was sure she wasn't panting in panic, I entered her core and sighed in peace.

It hadn't been so long from the previous time, yet my whole body felt relieved as if years had passed.

«Theodora,» I whispered, caressing her hips, her face and neck.

She just moaned, unable to talk. Yet, this time I could see her expression. I was sure it wasn't pain that deformed her grimace.

She wasn't shouting in pleasure as I wished, but it was an improvement. I was settled to make her reach the heavens, sooner or later.

I passed a good part of the night in the attempt to make her shout, but I couldn't get more than a few moans and her restless panting. Maybe, it was a matter of affection.

I thought I exhausted my wife to the fullest, yet she had the energy to sing the following morning.