I strode into the house, the paper bag filled with Thalia’s favorites tucked under one arm. It had been a long day away from her, but my text messages with Christian confirmed it was probably for the best. Her newfound penchant for throwing things hadn’t lessened since the night before. I supposed I should be grateful she hadn’t taken to throwing knives just yet.
I gave it a week.
The kitchen was empty as I stepped into it, setting the paper bag down on top of the island. Christian was the first to enter from the back patio, snagging an apple out of the fruit basket on top of the counter and taking a bite. The sound of it echoed through the silent kitchen and he turned his nose up as he chewed.
A smirk tipped his mouth up as he studied me. “Kiss ass,” he chuckled, opening the bag to peer inside. “Do you really think tirokroketes will get you lucky?”
“Of course not,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked over his shoulder toward the pool. I watched through the open doors as Thalia took the first step and rose slowly from the water. The black bikini clung to her thin frame, her breasts pushed high as strings wrapped around her waistline. She held my stare, the amber of her eyes piercing as the rest of her figure emerged.
There was a challenge in her gaze, a defiance that I felt nothing but pride in. I just wished she could have rebelled in a way that left her wearing more clothes around Christian.
“Really?” I asked, shifting on my feet as my cock hardened. Thalia turned her side to me, bending forward to grab a towel off one of the lounge chairs beside the pool. Her back arched as she straightened, running the towel over her hair and drying the ends. The scars on her back were visible, and it filled me with disgust that she’d been harmed that way, and simultaneous pride that she wore them like scars she’d earned in battle.
“I’m fairly certain she would have gotten in naked if I’d asked her to put on something more modest,” Christian answered, quirking a brow. He didn’t even glance back at her, confirming that the man knew damn well how I would feel about Thalia being practically naked around another man while I was gone.
“Just so we’re clear—”
“You’ll dismember me slowly and then use my corpse as a canvas for your next artwork. I’m quite aware, thank you,” he said, turning and waving quickly to Thalia. She raised her chin proudly, not returning the gesture as she continued to dry off.
I grabbed the bag of takeout off the counter, giving Christian my back as I made my way toward my wife. She watched me approach, finally wrapping the towel around her waist to cover the tops of her thighs. She raised a brow in challenge, clearly expecting me to fly into a rage about her propriety.
One day soon, she’d come to understand her body was mine to command, no matter how she dressed it. She’d understand that true ownership of her body would come when she surrendered it, not from a man who demanded it without ever earning that submission from her. “Were you expecting something from me, Little One?” I asked.
She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at me in response. “What if I was hoping you and Christian would tear one another apart so I could walk right out the door? What would you have to say to that?”
“I would say that would be a very foolish thing to hope for. I am the only thing keeping you alive right now. Without me, who knows how the rest of the families will seek their vengeance? If they find out you and I connected before yesterday, they just may blame you for the chaos, too. I don’t think I need to tell you what they would do to you before they killed you if they thought you betrayed them,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders.
Thalia’s jaw clenched, the truth of my words settling over her. As much as she and I both hated Origen Karras for what he had done to her mother for her affair with my father, there were many among the families who thought she’d gotten off easy. There were those who thought she should have been treated as a whore for days by the families before they allowed her to die.
I would die long before I ever allowed them to give λουλούδι μου the same fate.
“What a lovely consolation prize it must be to know that you are a slightly better prospect than being raped by the rest of the families,” she scoffed.
I ignored the stab of pain that lanced through me at the harsh words, knowing without a doubt that her anger drove them and not how she actually felt. She’d had no complaints about my hands on her body before she knew who I was. Her choice didn’t lie as easily as her mouth did.
Thalia desired me as much as I wanted her.
I hummed thoughtfully, stepping toward her and depositing the bag onto the coffee table on the patio. “Do you think they’ll bring you tirokroketes and chocolate?” I asked, lifting a brow as she froze. She turned her eyes toward the bag on the table, pursing her lips and running her tongue over her bottom teeth as she turned her attention back to me.
“That’s cheating,” she said, but she took a step toward the bag as if she couldn’t help herself. Chuckling, I retreated into the house to grab napkins and forks. “I see Christian’s been talking!” she called after me, bringing a smile to my lips that I hid before I turned back to face her.
I returned to the patio, placing the napkins on the table before I grabbed the closest chair and pulled it out for her. She watched me cautiously as she lowered herself into it, allowing me to push it in for her until she sat as close to the chair next to it as possible. I took the seat next to her, reaching into the bag and pulling out the containers of food one by one. Thalia’s eyes widened as she stared at the sheer amount I’d brought for the two of us, and something inside of me ached for the fact that she’d never once known a meal of overindulgence.
She’d never had the privilege of ordering so much takeout that she’d have to eat it for lunch the next day because her eyes were bigger than her stomach.
I dropped a hand to her thigh, nudging the towel out of the way so I could touch her bare leg. The soft olive of it gleamed with the dampness of her skin that she hadn’t been able to wipe away, and I watched as her cheeks stained with pink. She stared down at my hand, pursing her lips but never removing it from her body.
She focused on the food instead, carefully pulling the lid off the first container. She opened the tomaotokeftedes, staring down at the tomato fritters as I leaned forward. Taking one in my hand, I tore a chunk off and dipped it in the yogurt at the center of the platter. Lifting it to Thalia’s mouth, I touched it to her lips until the plump flesh of her bottom lip was dotted with white. “Open, Little One,” I murmured, holding her stare with my intent gaze.
She blinked, slowly parting her lips to allow me to slide the fritter into her mouth. Her eyes drifted closed as soon as it touched her tongue, and I let her mouth close around my fingers as I withdrew them to allow her to chew.
“To answer your question, yes. Christian has told me all about your favorite things, though the chocolate was no secret,” I said, hinting back to all that I’d known about her when she’d been a girl. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to her that I would remember them, but her eyes opened and confusion clouded her features. “But there are plenty of things he didn’t need to tell me.”
“Things you remember from when we were younger?” she asked, swallowing down the bite of food as I popped a bite into my mouth. She reached for the fritter to take her own and glared at me when I swatted her hand away. “I can feed myself.”
“Can you?” I asked, humming as I chewed and fed her a second piece. She opened in spite of her protests, her desire for the food I offered far greater than her need to be spiteful. “Some things I remembered from when we were younger. Others I learned by watching you.”
She swallowed abruptly, a tiny cough escaping her lips as she sat back in her seat and watched me open up the second container. Taking out a tirokroketes, I took off the lid and tore a fried cheese ball in half. She barely glanced down at it even though I knew it was her favorite and a special treat she’d only gotten when Christian snuck her some. “What do you mean watching me?” she asked, holding perfectly still as I raised the half of a ball to her lips.
She didn’t part for me, letting it rest just beneath her nose where I knew she could smell the cheese and mint. “Christian’s weren’t the only eyes I planted inside your father’s home at the first opportunity. I hacked into his cameras, and had Christian place a few of my own in your bedroom.”
“You watched me in my bedroom?” she asked, her voice muffled as I placed the bite of fried cheese ball in her mouth. She chewed, but it was clear she mostly wanted it out of her mouth.
“You shouldn’t waste it. We both know it’s delicious,” I said, popping the other half into my mouth and smiling as I chewed.
“You watched me in my bedroom,” she repeated, the question disappearing from her voice as she studied me and my lack of shame.
“What’s wrong, λουλούδι μου? Are you thinking of all the times I watched you play with yourself while you read in your bed?” I asked, watching as shame made her cheeks heat.
“You watched me touch myself?” she asked, her voice sputtering. All her thoughts of food forgotten, she crossed her arms over her chest as that feeling of violation settled over her. Thalia would quickly realize that she had no secrets from me, and there was nothing to feel shame about, because I’d known every inch of her body before I’d ever gotten my hands on her. I knew exactly what she liked from the male leads in the books she favored. I knew the way her fingers danced over her clit when she wanted a fast release.
I fed her another bite even though she didn’t seem at all interested in it any longer, because I would always do what was in Thalia’s best interest. For the moment, making sure she had enough to eat for the first time in her life and went to bed full and satisfied was high on my priority list.
“I watched you and I stroked my cock to the sight of you with your legs spread and your fingers pumping into your sweet, little cunt. I imagined your fingers were my cock, wondering just how tight and warm you’d be when I finally sank inside of you,” I admitted, grasping her chair by the arms and turning it to face me fully. I leaned my weight on the arms, pressing into my hands as I crowded her.
“Why would you do that? Why was that necessary for what you wanted?” she asked, reaching over my arm to grab a tomato fritter and tear off a piece. She raised it to my lips and let me accept the bite, using it as a way to create a modicum of distance between us with distraction.
“Why don’t you tell me what it is you think I want, Little One?” I asked, tilting my head to the side as I studied her. “Because I promise you, watching you was entirely about what I wanted.”
“You married me for power. You married me because it makes you the head of two of the six families. You married me because it was the easiest way to take back the control they stripped from you,” she said, leaning back once again. Her stare hardened, as if the words she spoke reminded her that it had never been about her in the first place.
But she couldn’t have been more wrong.
I scoffed, chuckling beneath my breath as I dropped my hand to the top of her thigh. “I could have any city I wanted. My allies outside of Philadelphia are remaking the world as we speak, preparing to shift it under a singular power who happens to be the man who taught me everything I know. I didn’t need to marry you for power,” I said, taking another bite and chewing thoughtfully as I allowed her time to process my words.
“Then you did it for revenge,” she said.
I pointed a finger at her, as if ringing a bell. “I took back the city for your revenge. I could have just plucked you out of it and taken you somewhere else. No one would dare to risk Rafael’s wrath over a woman,” I said. I touched my hands to her bare thighs gently, letting my fingertips dig in ever-so-slightly until her skin compressed beneath my grip. “I married you because I want you. Because I want you in my bed. Because I want to look at your swollen belly and wonder if the baby will have your eyes. Because I want to fuck you until your legs tremble so much you can’t stand up when I’m done with you.”
She swallowed, staring at me as I backed away and gathered another bite of food to feed to her.
“Calix—”
I stood, holding out a hand for her. Apprehension flitted across her features, but she placed her hand in mine and allowed me to guide her toward the house. “I married you because you’re mine, Thalia. Nothing matters beyond that. Nothing.”
