11 Fang Eleven

"It is lost at dice, what ancient honor won..."

Heather

At first, his Majesty's brows curved up at my brazen response, yet it took him no time at all to pull his lips back into a half smile.

"Wait a moment." He said and marched towards a tall cabinet, he pulled open its doors and pushed back some books. From behind them, he pulled out one...no, two silver cups, then he placed them in front of me.

I raised a questioning brow at him but as usual, he read my thoughts, "A good gamble should be accompanied with some wine." He told me, pouring us both a cup.

The excitement on my face dampened when I realized that I would be disobeying my father's strict orders. He did not punish me for it, but it still felt nonetheless like I was wrong.

Pressing a half-full cup of red wine into my hands, his Majesty said, "In this castle, the one with the most power is me. Don't forget who you should be listening to now that you're a married woman."

I nodded. His words were true, this was no longer my father's castle, which meant nothing was stopping me. "I'll keep that in mind." I casually told him, pushing the cup to my lips, and averting my eyes to the door.

The scent of the wine was strong, far stronger than the ones we had in our kingdom. "As expected," I muttered under my breath.

His Majesty placed offered me one of the pair of dice and took the other for himself. We both dropped our cups on the table and just like my brothers would do, we gave the die in our hands a good shake.

Usually, a servant would do this part, because it was unbecoming of royals to do such, but I never thought so. The same went for His Majesty, he seemed to enjoy doing this.

"If I can recall, I am meant to guess what is the outcome in His Majesty's hands, am I correct?" I asked, trying to remember the way the game worked.

"I can hardly imagine what noble women do for sport." He retorted, making a mockery of my naivety in the sport, though I was certain my deduction was spot on.

"We're too busy being groomed for men like you to have any free time."

"An interesting point of view." I heard him say to himself, he stopped shaking the die in his palm, and as the game dictated he stared at the result without me being able to see it.

I mirrored him and stared into my palm, to see four dots staring back at me. I smiled, it was rare for someone to ever guess that outcome.

"Like I asked before, what are the stakes?" I reminded him, already half certain that the first round would be mine.

"You may say yours, but I'll tell you mine at the end of the game." He said, I frowned in obvious discomfort of not knowing what exactly it was his Majesty had in mind for me.

Our relationship was still unclear to me, so I really could not predict what he would demand from me.

"Tell me, if you can guess what is the outcome in my palm, then what shall I do for you?" He asked, picking up his cup of wine, and pushing it to his lips in a casual yet alluring motion.

I gulped hard at the sight of his bobbing Adam's apple, unlike the brute-like men from my country, his Majesty had an elegant and refined touch to his features. Yet, he still retained a manly charm, due to his height and well-defined biceps.

"You're going to bore a hole into me with all that staring." His Majesty said then chuckled softly, I blinked multiple times as I picked up my glass to drink out of it.

Forgetting how strong it was, I took a sip from it, "Ouch." I winced in pain from my burning tongue.

Why did men derive satisfaction from this?

"The wine is not to your liking?" He asked, I dropped it on the table, "I thought His Majesty did not care for my likes and dislikes." I retorted sharply, passing him a square look.

The room was dimly lit by candles that gave off a strange scent, where did Penelope find such candles?

My thoughts were disrupted when His Majesty marched towards me, "What can..." Before I could make a snarky retort, his Majesty was directly in front of me, cornering me against the table.

I leaned back, this level of proximity was all new to me. The closest a man had gotten to me, was a simple handhold, and that was from my fiance.

But now, before me was my husband!

The tip of our shoes touched each other's, and the warmth from the candles made a line of sweat run from my neck, down to my cleavage. My heart pounded at a fast pace, as though it would leap out of my chest.

Without any warning, his Majesty placed an arm at my side and hoisted me on top of the table.

"Oof!" I widened my eyes, as my body pushed my cup off the table, spilling the strong drink across the drawing room floor.

I made a motion to reach for it, "Leave it be." His Majesty snarled at me, as he reached for the bottle of wine.

I was tempted to ask why he had me sit on the table, would we no longer be playing? Had he already gotten bored of me?

His Majesty took a swig of wine in the most manly fashion, drinking directly from the bottle without taking a stop. I felt mesmerized, who knew watching someone drink could have such an effect?

Perhaps it was because of how enchanted I was by him, that I failed to realize it soon enough.

It wasn't until His Majesty pinched my chin, parting my lips and prying my jaw open, that I got a grasp of the situation. And dare I say, it was nothing I could have ever imagined.

With a mouthful of wine, his Majesty unceremoniously crashed his lips onto mine, stunning me completely.

I tried to push him away, but he held both my wrists above my head and pushed me down onto the table, without once breaking this locking of lips.

"Mhmm,"

A moan escaped my mouth when His Majesty towered over me and transferred the wine in his mouth into mine!