Felix didn't need to be asked twice. Bending his head, he captured her lips in a searing kiss that sent tiny sparks of wildfire through her down to her very core. She pressed her body closer to his, feeling like she couldn't quite get close enough. Ignoring the remains of their dinner, she moaned as Felix kissed a trail of ardent kisses down her neck to nip at the sensitive spot by her shoulder.

The hand on her bottom squeezed, pulling her closer, and she could feel the evidence of his excitement against her abdomen. It felt good to be desired. She needed this man to want her. To need her. It was not something she had ever expected, but she did. May the Gods help her, but she did. For too long had she allowed herself to be cut off from the world. To feel nothing. Want nothing. But she wanted this. She wanted him.

Feeling feverish and not daring to stop to think too much, she moved her hands down to reach underneath his shirt. When she ran her hands up along his back, her fingertips against his skin, he shivered. Emboldened, she raked her nails lightly over his back and was rewarded with another shiver and a low moan.

Lifting his head from her neck to stare at her, the heat in his eyes was spellbinding. Saying nothing, he took a step back, and she missed the heat of his body against hers. She immediately forgave him a moment later when he pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it on a chair. The flickering lights of the many candles in the room played over his skin as she admired the hard, flat planes of his body. Muscles played under the skin as he lifted his hands to cup her cheek.

Tilting her face back up to his, he placed a heated kiss on her lips, and she melted against him. Part of her wished she was bare too. She would love to feel his skin against hers. He startled her by lifting her up as he had the previous night, and she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist for support. It was surprising how easily he could pick her up. Those hours of practising with his sword and shield must pay off.

He smiled at her, and she realised she was clinging to him not only with her legs but also with her arms clasped around his neck.

"Don't worry," he said hoarsely. "I promise I won't drop you."

"I didn't think you would," she muttered, but when he started walking, she still tightened her grip around him. The action made him groan as it made her shift against his erection, which rested against her heated core.

"I'm sorry!" She stared at him. "Did I hurt you?"

He stopped and gave her an amused look. "No, you didn't hurt me."

As if to prove his point, he used his hands on her bottom to grind her against him, and she gasped as his hardness rubbed against the sensitive spot at the apex of her thighs. He captured the moan with his lips, kissing her long and deep as he continued grinding her against him. It was slow, sweet torture, and she found she was losing herself in his touch.

She hadn't even noticed that he started walking again and it surprised her when he opened the door to his bedchamber and brought her inside. Shocked, she stopped kissing him and looked around the room. In all their years as husband and wife, she'd never been in his private chambers. He had always come to hers. It was a fairly plain room—for a king—dominated by a large four-poster bed made of dark, polished wood. The colour scheme was simple, consisting mainly of dark wood furniture and the royal green and silver of his heraldry.

"I'm sorry," he said, but he hadn't let go of her. "Maybe I'm being presumptive..."

"No." She shook her head before meeting his worried gaze. "It's just... I've never been here."

"You haven't?" A line appeared between his brows as he apparently considered the statement. Then he shook his head. "I suppose not."

Memories of their shared past came flooding back, and she wriggled a little until he let her down. The shared past where she had avoided him at every turn because she knew he loved someone else. Sorceress Isobel. Suddenly cold, she rubbed her arms while throwing his large bed a wary glance. Was that where he brought the sorceress the rare times she returned to Messina? Isobel was away more than she was around, but her part in Felix's life had always been a dark shadow in their marriage.

Felix ran a hand through his hair and shifted from one foot to the other, obviously uncertain what to make of her change in mood. She wasn't sure herself.

"I'm sorry if things went too far tonight," he said hesitantly. "When I said we should start slow, I meant it. I understand if you need some time to—"

"Felix." She shook her head. "I kissed you, remember? Please don't apologise." Even as she spoke the words, she felt small and insignificant. A pale substitute for the sorceress everyone knew he really wanted.

Her eyes fell on a letter lying on a table. She didn't read the text, she would never read his private correspondence, but she couldn't help but catch the name signed at the bottom. Isobel. Someone might as well have poured a bucket of cold water over her. The sorceress was ever-present, even when not there. Forever a part of Felix's life. It was as if the letter taunted her. Reminding her of her place. This was the room he shared not with her, but with the woman he loved. The woman who was not her. The woman she could never compete with.

"This was a mistake," she mumbled. "I should never have come in here."

"No," Felix said, and she turned to look at him, surprised by his forceful tone. He was looking between her and the letter, shaking his head.

"We can talk in the morning." She rubbed her arms as she inched towards the door.

"Shae..."

He took a step towards her, but she turned and left. She nearly collided with Cas, who must have come into the sitting room as soon as they had vacated it. Another knight stood by the door to the hallway.

"Your Majesty?" Cas looked from her to the door to Felix's room, probably shocked to see her come from there. "Are you all right?"

She nodded but was fully aware that her glistening eyes betrayed her. "Yes. Thank you, Cas. I will go to my chambers now. Please send for one of my ladies-in-waiting to help me get ready for the night."

Before he could ask anything further, she hurried across the sitting room to the sanctuary of her chambers.

Felix stared at the door his wife had disappeared through. What had just happened?

With a frustrated groan, he threw himself on his bed, staring up at the dark green fabric of the canopy. The evening had been going so well. She had kissed him. Again. He really thought they had been making progress. That she had begun to give him a chance. He turned his head to look at the table next to the bed. Then she'd seen the letter from Isobel. She had already begun withdrawing from him before then, but that had been the nail in the coffin. But why?

The world loved imagining his affair with the sorceress. The perfect couple. The saviours of the world. Surely they must be fated lovers who would be together if only circumstance had allowed. He scoffed. It was a fairy tale. Did they not realise their world had no fairy tales left after the Dark Disciple had ravaged the lands for over a decade?

He frowned at the silver threads spun through the canopy. Surely Shae did not believe the rumours? He sat up. No. Surely that could not be it? Had his wife stayed away all this time because she believed he was involved with Isobel?

Orc's ass! How had he not seen it? He had assumed she loathed him. Wanted nothing to do with him because he was not the husband she would have chosen for herself. And that might still be true... But if the idea of Isobel kept her away from him... Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he raked a hand through his hair. It was time for him to have a frank discussion with his wife about the state of their marriage.

Walking out to the sitting room, he was hindered in front of Shae's door by Cas putting a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"Her Majesty is with her lady-in-waiting," he said. "Getting ready for the night."

Felix nodded. "I just wish to speak to her."

Cas's eyes avoided his even as his voice took on a stern tone. "I believe Her Majesty wishes to be alone."

"I'm sure she does," Felix muttered. "But I need to see her. It's important."

The King's Guard responded by widening his stance, blocking the door to Shae's chambers. "She appeared upset as she came from your room."

He raised an eyebrow. Cas might try to be impartial, but there was a definitive note of disapproval in his voice, and Felix wasn't sure whether it annoyed or amused him. Perhaps a bit of both.

"Cas," he said slowly. "I am going to speak to my wife."

They glared at each other for a moment and were saved from saying something they might regret by Shae's door opening and one of her ladies-in-waiting exiting. The woman—a fair-haired lady from the Kingdom of Ler—froze as she nearly bumped into them and stared at them with large eyes.

"Y... Your Majesty." She curtsied as she remembered herself, then scurried out of the sitting room before anyone could reply.

Felix took the opportunity to slip past Cas and into Shae's room, giving the other man a crooked smile and a wink before closing the door behind him. Turning around, the smile faded as he caught sight of his wife's stony face looking at him from the other side of the room by her vanity.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice void of any emotion. Were they back to this again? He nearly groaned, having thought they were finally past her indifference to him.

"We need to talk," he said grimly.

~~~~~~