Page 36 of The Shrouded Queen
Earlier I’d said there were two thoughts about the Gods-Chosen. Spawn of evil or savior. I lied. There was a third: supernaturally divine fuck. And the three categories were not mutually exclusive. Many men were easily able to think of me as a demon and something pretty to stick their dicks into, and I was not above using their simple animal brains against them. A flirt, a smile, a touch. If they weren’t a total piece of shit, maybe I actually would let them into my bed.
I just… hadn’t considered I’d have to do so with Nasir. It aggravated me that Jasim had.
I scratched harder. “Right. Thanks for being so accommodating.”
He glanced over his shoulder at me, brown eyes reflecting the stars above. “You’re angry,” he stated incredulously.
“Well, should I be happy you called me a whore?” I bit out.
Jasim turned around, giving me his full attention, and I really was a twisted bitch because part of me preened to have it again. He strode back to my side, pausing a handful of inches away. “Should I ask you nicely not to fuck him? Should I bother? We both know you’ll do what you want anyway.”
An uncomfortable heat rose in my cheeks. Vicious, cutting words filled my mouth. I clenched my jaw against them, trying to think around my temper.
The princes were scheming. The Kaldfolk were hunting. Shaya was waiting. We were about to enter Nasir’s territory without any guarantee about how he would react. Jasim was my only protection. And when we reached the Temple of Shaya, I would truly need him then, too. I could not spew venom at him. I needed him close, loyal, docile.
I drew a single breath. It burned like fire. “Ask me.”
Jasim stared at me a beat before he huffed a humorless laugh. With a shake of his head, he said, “You force me to speak, get angry at what I have to say, and then mock me for it? Fine. Let me just save us both the time, shall I? You will tell me that this is necessary for our safety, that I am pathetic for allowing any entanglements to jeopardize—”
“Stop using that word.”
“It’syourword!” he burst out with enough vehemence to make me flinch. “You’ll tell me that I have no say in this because you are queen, you are Gods-Chosen, and I am nothing, so why make me say it at all?”
I stared up into his face, his chest rising and falling with the force of his emotion, but in the tightness around his eyes, I saw hurt. Something inside me twinged at the realization.
Jasim was my personal guard. He was there every moment of my life, for every wooed adversary, every man I’d marched past him into my room. He’d never said anything about it until now. I didn’t know what made Nasir different, but the fire of my temper dwindled.
Quietly, I ordered, “Kneel.”
Confusion broke through Jasim’s righteous fury. “What?”
“Now, Jasim.”
For a moment, he looked like he might disobey. Silence descended between us as his throat worked, the muscle in his jawfeathered furiously. But he balled his hands into fists and slowly lowered himself to his knees in the sand. He stared through my sternum. “Forgive me, my queen,” he said. “My outburst was unfair. I should not have said—”
“Now ask me, Jasim.”
His eyes snapped up to mine.
I stared right back.
“I’m on my knees. I’ve apologized. You don’t have to humiliate me further—”
“Jasim.” I cupped his jaw and leaned closer. My voice was a gentle murmur when I repeated, “Ask me.”
His brows twitched toward each other as his gaze flicked all over my face. Looking for deception or laughter.
While I was still furious at his implication, it was not based on thin air. And it was not necessarily a bad idea, either. Seducing Nasir Miqaf might, in fact, be the fastest route to the Temple of Shaya. But after days in the wilderness, with a gash in my side and persistent bees stinging the back of my neck, I was not much in the mood for it.
Not to mention the wounded gleam in Jasim’s eyes that made my chest feel too tight…
I shook myself. More important was securing Jasim’s loyalty. Yes, much more important.
Jasim’s jaw popped beneath my palm. He whispered, “Don’t. Please.”
“Then I won’t.”
“Really?”
