embraced Archer as part of this marriage, and have no regrets. It felt right, as if we’ve been together all along. Thinking about it now, Archer must have participated in the shifter sex ritual Ash used to mark me as his fated mate. At the time, I wasn’t ready to accept that fact.
Maybe now that I’ve taken this step, Ash won’t be so difficult when it comes to my security and he’ll acknowledge that I can take care of myself. When he was waiting to mark me, giving me time to adjust to his culture, he was restless and agitated. Once the mating ritual was performed and we were fully committed to each other, he seemed to relax.
Rolling over in bed, I grab my phone to check the time. It’s six in the morning. Since becoming queen, I’ve stopped sleeping in and started getting up at the butt crack of dawn. No rest for the wicked, my mother would say. My phone buzzes in my hand. It’s a text from Gia.
Gia: You’re going to want to see this. And she gives me a TikTok link.
I click the link; the app opens, and the video plays.
It’s a video of Ash walking on the beach with Steel and Silver. He’s wearing a pair of gray basketball shorts that sit low on his hips and nothing else. Nothing. Else.
The video plays in slow motion and pans down to his shorts to capture the swinging of his dick. He might as well be naked. It returns to normal speed and pans back out to show his entire body in all its golden glory, accentuated by the early morning light. Then the video ends.
It has more than a million likes.
I watch it five more times.
Even though I may be the jealous type, I can’t blame anyone for finding Ash hot. How could I? He is. But posting this video is going too far. It’s an invasion of privacy.
Being royals, we both grew up in the glare of media scrutiny, so public interest is nothing new. But when we got married, our popularity increased exponentially and when we became Avalon’s rulers we were thrust even more fully into the public eye. The thirst for the nitty gritty details of our private life has become insatiable. Everything that appears in the media about us is reposted, retweeted and rebroadcast ad nauseam.
While we don’t live in hiding, we also don’t seek out the limelight. Unless we’re performing some royal or charitable duty, we keep a pretty low profile—focusing on work obligations and each other. All of our media requests are still funneled through Gia or Ben, who also maintain our online presence and social channels. They monitor for any untrue or harmful gossip that could bring us too much attention or harm our reputations—and by extension, our ability to rule and the organizations we support. They are also vigilant about keeping our accounts from getting hacked.
Swiping to see the TikTok owner’s account and what else is posted, I’m surprised to see this is the only video. But there is a website link in the bio. I click it, and a website titled Ashton Mountcastle Lovers Unite appears on my screen.
Under the intro blurb stating that the website is devoted to all things related to Ash, there are hundreds of images of him. Ash in suits. Ash in casual clothes. Ash jogging. Ash having lunch. Ash crossing the street. Ash here, there and everywhere. But not one picture of Ash and me together.
I click through the site and find a page featuring me—but in the worst possible way. The header at the top of the page screams, “Their Marriage Is a Sham” and there are dozens of images of me with my Earthside leaders—including Tripp and Gabriel—who are all handsome, muscular shifters. In the pictures, I’m smiling or laughing, and looking up at them, seemingly captivated. The meetings were strictly business, of course, but the pictures make it look otherwise. Again, there are no pictures of Ash and me together.
“Wake up. You’ve gone viral.” I give the subject of all this digital adoration a tap on the shoulder as I queue up the video on TikTok.
Ash turns over on his side, pulling the covers with him.
“I’m serious. Wake up and take a look at this. When was this shot?”
Ash rolls to his back, and I shove my phone toward him, showing him the video. “When was this shot?” I ask again.
He blinks several times and squints at my phone. “I’m not sure. Looks like one of my early morning walks on the beach with the dogs in North Carolina.”
“You and your swinging dick have over a million likes.”
Ash props himself up on an elbow and takes my phone to replay the video. “I never run into anyone when I walk the dogs. The video must have been taken from a distance with a high-powered telephoto lens.”
“You can see everything.” I point two fingers into my face and then back at him. “Besides the fact that my eyes are the only ones that should be seeing you like this, this video will bring us a lot of attention we don’t need. And that’s not all. If you click the link in the bio, it takes you to a website created by this overly dedicated fan of yours. It has misleading pictures of me with my leaders. The photos make it look like I’m stepping out on you and that our marriage isn’t real.”
“We haven’t had any bad press in six months. Sooner or later it was bound to happen. We know the truth about our relationship. That’s all that matters. This is one misguided fan. It’ll blow over.” He throws the covers back, sits on the side of the bed and picks up his phone.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Texting Luke and Ben. Making sure they’re finding out who owns the TikTok account and the website so we can get the video of me and the pictures of you taken down.”
Getting the content removed is like closing the barn door after the unicorn has escaped. Once something is online, it can live forever. I hope Ash is right—that this is one off that will quickly blow over.
After dressing for the day—Ash in a gray suit and me in a magenta flutter-sleeve dress—we head down to our court and take our respective thrones on the dais. Although we left the black-and-white marble floors and columns in place, we switched out the red aisle carpet for green in a nod to Ash’s favorite color. And while I sit on my mother’s throne, I had it recovered in black velvet and had an entirely new throne commissioned for Ash. I didn’t want him to rule from either my father’s throne or Thane’s—too many painful memories.
Crossing my ankles, I arrange my dress demurely over my knees. “Since we have a little time before our first appointment, I have something I wanted to tell you.”
Ash puts down his phone and shifts in his throne to face me. “I don’t like conversations that start like this when you look like that.”
I press my hand to the center of my chest. “Look like what?”
“Guilty.” Ash leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “While trying to look innocent. You have a terrible poker face, remember? Tell me what you did. What is it this time?”
“It’s good news,” I say, beaming at him.
“Out with it, Princess.”
“No more waiting for Sofie to give us the thumbs-up that I’m about to ovulate. We’re going back to doing the nasty whenever and wherever we want.”
Ash’s face lights up with a dazzling smile before he shutters it. “What changed? Sofie said that might help us make a baby.”
Lowering my eyes, I brush invisible lint off the skirt of my dress. “I had the hormone monitoring capability of the chip removed.”
“Nina—”
“And the tracking capability, too.” I brace my hands on the arms of my throne.
“What?” Ash sits back, a disbelieving stare plastered on his face.
“We agreed that the tracking aspect of the chip would be removed once my mother’s killer was caught. The killer has been caught and killed. The danger has passed. Don’t worry, the chip is still in my shoulder. If something were to happen, Sofie can easily turn the tracking back on.”
“That’s something at least.” Ash breathes out a sigh. “But why did you remove the hormone monitoring?”
“Because I’m tired of being reminded that I’m not pregnant with your baby. That maybe I never will be.” Noticing my white-knuckle grip on my throne, I relax my hands.
Ash takes my hand in his and guides me over to his throne.
Curling up in his lap, I loop one arm around his neck so we’re eye to eye, our faces only inches apart.
His arms come around me, surrounding me with his strength. “We’ll get there, Nina. It’ll happen for us.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one with fertility issues.” My fingers thread into the back of his blond hair.
“Since we’re united for eternity and the only baby I’ll ever have will be with you, any issues are our issues.”
I quickly press my lips to his so he doesn’t see the tears gathering in my eyes.
Ash brushes a lock of hair back from my face. “Maybe taking a break from worrying about getting pregnant is a good idea.”
“That’s not all.” I hate to break the tender moment, but I need to come clean with him.
He raises an eyebrow at me. “What else have you done?”
“I’ve accepted an invitation to a foreign court.”
“Without discussing it with me first?” Ash runs a hand through his hair.
“I know you think I’m not ready—” I move to get off of his lap, but his arms wrap more firmly around me to hold me in place.
“You’re not ready. You haven’t learned how to wield your new power yet. You were lucky to win that fight with Silas Duke. But since you did, you’ve advertised to the universe just how much power you have. It’s a dangerous position to be in.”
“When I first became queen, you told me to be slow with my might and quick with my mind. That’s how I won the fight with Silas. So even though I may not have full control over my magic, I do have my brainpower.”
“What’s the harm in waiting until you’re a stronger practitioner of your enchantress magic?”
“Ash, my coronation was six months ago. I can’t lay low forever. Avalon needs allies for long-term stability. Silas’s encroachment into my territory proves that. You know I’m right.”
“Avalon has allies,” Ash counters.
“Besides your parents’ court,” I say in my voice of reason. “Listen, I’ve chosen a very safe invitation to accept, and you’ll be by my side.”
“Tell me more about this invitation,” Ash says flatly.
“It’s from Edmund Shaw, Controller of the British Isles. Edmund gifted me with Steel and Silver when I was born, and he’s a longtime ally of my mother’s. Along with your court, Edmund’s was the only court I was allowed to visit as a child. It’s a four-day house party to celebrate his recent engagement. Other members of the council will be there. Other rulers. It’s a perfect opportunity.”
“You’ll be exposing yourself in a big way. I don’t like it.”
“I’ve already accepted the invitation.” I give him another quick kiss before getting off his lap. “There’s no turning back now.”
