Page 41 of In the Embrace of Dragons

And I’m tired of my balls aching.

I turn to my captain of the guard and gesture for him to get up. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Ragnakor asks, uncertainly rising to his feet.

“To get the queen.”

Chapter Sixteen

VIZARIOS

Ragnakor doesn’t ask any questions as we make our way down the hall, and I’m grateful because I don’t want to explain myself.

I need my queen. I know I am a pathetic creature, coming back to beg her to take pity on me. But Ragnakor has made it clear that unless I make up with her, I will only continue to ache, longing for her attentions.

When we arrive at the queen’s rooms, the older guard who used to look after my father—the one with three big scars across his face—casts a suspicious look at me. I wonder what he knows. Despite this, he steps aside as I go to knock on the queen’s door.

Hurried footsteps follow on the other side. The door is jerked open, and instead of Nissia, it’s the silver dragon assigned to be her handmaid. There’s a smile on the female’s face, which quickly falls when she sees me.

“Oh,” she says, her eyes darting from me to Ragnakor. “You’re, um, here, Your Majesty.”

I squint at her. “Indeed. Where is the queen?”

“Bathing.” The handmaid looks like she isn’t sure what to do with me. “I guess... do you want to come in? And wait for her?”

I am not one to wait, but I acquiesce and the handmaid leads us inside, casting me a wary glance over her shoulder.

Does everyone who works for the queen dislike me?

The handmaid offers us chairs in the sitting room before hurrying off to the washroom. I hear low talking behind a door and roll my eyes.

“I didn’t think it would be such an event,” I remark to Ragnakor, “to visit my own wife.”

“Given that you have never once stepped foot in here, I believe it is an event.”

Nissia’s voice rises, but I can’t tell what she’s saying. There’s a crash, then some cursing. A few moments later, Nissia emerges, her eyes ablaze.

Her hair is wavy and wet. She’s wearing a robe she clearly threw on quickly because it’s not even tied, revealing a long stretch of flesh from her bosom down to her belly.

My entire body is instantly alight at the sight of her, despite the murderous look on her face.

“What are you doing here?” Nissia asks. She follows my eyes down to her exposed skin, then snatches the edge of her robe and closes it up tight with an indignant squeak.

“I am the king,” I say. “I can visit my wife when I want, can’t I?”

Her mouth falls open, and she regards me like I just spoke in another language.

“But why?” It comes out strained. I don’t like the anxious tone in her voice. Does she... fear me? My gut churns at this thought. Perhaps Syzari was right, and I have broken something. But perhaps this is my chance to repair it.

“What do you want from me?” Nissia presses. I assumedI’d know what to say when she asked me this, but now that I’m here, I have no idea how to vocalize my answer.

I need you.That’s what I want to say, but based on the fire in her dark eyes, I don’t think that she will simply fall to the bed and let me have her.

“It has been nearly a turn of the moon since the ceremony,” I begin instead. “Did you bleed?”

Nissia’s brows draw together tight as she thinks through my question. Then, she sighs and shakes her head.

“I’m not pregnant, if that’s what you’re asking.”