MARIA "Stop staring at me like that."A perfectly curved brow lifted. "Like what?"After they had finally managed to drag themselves out of the shower—turned out Maria had not needed to seduce him much after all—he'd dried her up before drying himself. She'd wanted to do it herself but apparently, Bran was in a peculiar mood and he'd insisted on doing it. He had wanted to dress her too, but Maria had smacked his hand away, telling him that she wasn't disabled. She had no idea why he would want to willingly dress her when he would not be getting anything out of it, so she tried to imagine herself clothing him. Picking out his outfit and helping him wear them one by one. The amount of pleasure she got just from imagining it alone, had her wondering how much more she would get from the actual act.She'd settled for him picking her outfit instead and Bran had walked into their shared closet—yes, they now shared a closet—with an excited glint in his eyes. She'd laughed when he'd come out

BRAN She saw him the moment he arrived and her posture relaxed, a smile creeping to her face. "Your Majesty, please ask your men to stop harassing me." Her eyes flicked towards said men and she threw them a glare. "I have no idea why they're treating me like a common thief."None other than the fact that she showed up at his castle unannounced.The guard restraining her from going forward quickly spoke up, defending himself. "We were merely telling her to stay put while we informed you of her presence but she insisted on entering the house anyway, and that was why we had to take matters into our own hands." The man explained with hard eyes. "We weren't harassing her, Your Majesty. We were just stopping her from going in." He glared at Elizabeth. "Physically."Bran realized two things then. One—For his men to disrespect Elizabeth so openly in front of him, then there was obviously no love lost between them. And that was surprising because even if they didn't respect her, they should

MARIA Bran caught Elizabeth around the waist and Maria's eyes zoned in on that point of contact, wanting to see if the touch was romantic at all, but he simply extricated her from his body and placed her on the ground next to him. Immediately he dropped her, his eyes shot to Maria's and she was sure she saw guilt in them, although she wasn't standing close enough to him to be able to tell properly. Her insides felt hot and alien, like her body didn't belong to her anymore. Knowing that the jealously she couldn't hide even if she tried to was showing on her face, she wove on a glamour of utter calmness. When both Bran and his ex saw her, they would think she had no reaction to them touching.Her powers came in handy sometimes. "What are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked him, obviously unhappy that Bran was putting her at arms length.Maria didn't know whether he had done that simply because she was there and it pissed her off. She hated this, hated not knowing what was going on his h

BRAN He was dropped into a kneeling position on the ground and his knees stung from the hard impact it made with the dark linoleum floor of his living room. The urge to get up and fight redoubled when two men dragged Maria into room. Her arms and legs had been bound and when they dropped her on the ground just as harshly as they'd dropped Bran, he saw tear-streaks on her face and a bright red spot on one cheek. Had one of these men slapped her?Bran saw red.The minute he was free from the chains, he would rip them in two. Extricate their limbs from their bodies bit by bit and enjoy their cries of pain. Even in death, they would remember to never lay a hand on anything that belonged to him. "Hello, daughter," Ariti said to Maria, walking over to her and dragging a finger down her face. She shook away from his touch but that didn't deter him. "This isn't the reunion I hoped for, but you have never looked more healthy so I can't complain."The asshole. As if he cared about her. Mar

MARIA She searched all the rooms in the house, even went down to the dungeons to check but she still couldn't find who she was looking for.Then she came face to face with the door to the room she wasn't sure she wanted to enter. It's huge black mahogany door taunted her, daring her to push it open. To step into the room that she had not entered since she was a child. A room that was no doubt still filled with the presence of her late father. But she shouldn't be scared, should she? She was the Queen of Sorceri, and with every second that passed, the thought started to solidify in her mind. With a wave of her hand, she sent the door flying back and she stormed in, her eyes sweeping the dark walls of the room where a single portrait of Ariti hung. Her powers had the frame crashing to the ground face-down. The man in the picture was dead. It was fitting that the picture should be destroyed too.Her eyes searching the room, she saw a door behind a shelf. The shelf obstructed the door