The next day I woke up with clarity. I'd made my choices. I'd vowed to honor and obey and I would keep my word. He would reel at how completely I gave myself, subjugating my will to his in every area. I would live for his happiness and pleasure, like my mother did for my father and her mother before her.

I put my dress on and headed to my quarters. Even though I wasn't fully familiar with the castle's layout, it was straightforward and easy to figure out. When I reached my room, Leya and my servants were already waiting for me. She offered a curtsy and the others attempted to copy her. I'd have to eventually teach them the proper way to do that. With a knowing grin, she asked, "Sleep well, my queen?"

Subtle. "I slept fine. I need you to do me a favor. Bring me the dress you think would be most pleasing to the king."

Leya rushed into my wardrobe while the other women worked on undressing me. She came back with the last dress I would have guessed. A leather garment with linen lining, two high splits on the skirt and thigh high boots. It looked more appropriate for riding or hunting than seducing a king. "Are you sure?"

"When he sees you in this, his jaw will hit the floor."

I trusted her judgment. The servants went to task getting me cleaned and ready. Leya convinced me to wear my hair down and to try darker makeup more common in Deabru court.

I looked like a tart, but there was something empowering about my free flowing hair and kohl-rimmed eyes. Once I was ready I turned to Leya and asked, "So where exactly is my husband?"

“Last I saw, he was in the center courtyard with Lord Alaster and Lady Mara.”

I tried not to cringe at the mention of that woman’s name. I wondered how frequently I’d have to see her. “Are they close with the king?” If Zuriel was good friends with Alaster that would explain why he was slow to shut down that shrew of a woman the night before.

Leya nodded enthusiastically.

Well that explained it. He hadn’t wanted to embarrass his friend, who had lost control of his female at court.

“You must understand. The king and Lady Mara have been friends from childhood. She’s only concerned about him, she doesn’t mean to quarrel.”

Quarrel? Was that really what she called it? The woman tried to insult and humiliate me in front of everyone. Yet, she was the kind of person the king chose to keep company with. My role as wife and queen seemed to get more complicated by the second. “Center courtyard? I’m sure I’ll be able to find it.”

I managed to find Zuriel with little difficulty right where Leya had mentioned. I approached one of many high arches that separated the hall from the courtyard. Plush green grass met the vibrant dark stone walk way and a large water fountain spewed water rhythmically just beyond Zuriel and the others.

He was shooting targets with Mara and Alaster. The ease with which he spoke to his friends quickly faded as he spotted my approach. But Leya had been right, when my change of attire registered, he stared with his mouth hanging half open.

I strolled over to him and suggestively ran my delicate fingers up and down his bow. “Are you winning?”

“Huh? Wha…?” he asked, still gawking.

I gestured toward the targets with arrows jutting out of the white and brown rings. “I assume you’re competing to see who can hit the target, correct?”

He managed to tear his eyes from me long enough to look where I was pointing. “We’re not keeping score, but I’m the better shot. Would you like to try?”

I laid my chin against his broad shoulder blinking up at him. “I’d rather watch you.”

Mara, who seemed to be determined to undermine me interjected, “Why do you bother asking her? You said she swore to do whatever you told her to. Just tell her to do it.”

My desire to fire the bow increased exponentially, though I had no interest in aiming for the target. I slipped the bow from Zuriel’s fingers. “If it pleases my king …”

I picked up three arrows from their holder, noting their balance. “I noticed you’re no longer referring to me as it, I’m curious what prompted this change.”

She shrugged, her wings rising and falling with the motion. “Aly and Zu convinced me that even if you’re a thing, you’re a female thing, and referring to you as it was needlessly rude.”

I positioned each of the arrows between my fingers and against the bow string. Zuriel took a step toward me assuming I was confused on how bows worked, but the glare I gave him stopped him in his tracks. The idea of Mara calling him by a nickname grated on me. He was a king, the least she could do was call him by his entire name, it was only two syllables. “I suppose you consider the rest of the rudeness needed for some reason.”

“I’m trying to protect my king. Same as you.” Another insult. Zuriel became my king the moment I married him, but she was implying my loyalty really belonged to my brother. But as long as there was peace between the two kingdoms, my loyalty wasn’t split.

I let lose all three arrows at once. Unsurprisingly, they all hit the target, dead center. Both Zuriel and Alaster were impressed. Mara looked irritated. I offered Zuriel his bow back with some advice. “You shouldn’t mistake submissiveness with incompetence.”

“If females don’t fight, why did anyone bother training you anyway?” Mara snapped.

“Due to vampire females’ exquisite grace and tractability, men of other species covet us. Especially those stuck with less delicate women. We are taught to defend ourselves. Being of royal blood, I'm highly trained in several forms of combat.”

“Interesting,” Alaster interjected.

Mara whipped around to look at him. “You can’t tell me you believe that crap?”

“No. But she believes it. Else she couldn’t have said it.”

His wife waved off the idea. “Her species has turned deceiving without lying into an art form. That just makes her more dangerous. You never know what she’s thinking. You never know who you’re really dealing with.”

“Your majesty,” Alaster said, “can you recall a single instance where a Deabru male violated a vampire female?”

I hadn’t thought about it, but he was right. I’d heard stories of Deabru tearing people apart and eating their insides but not a single story of a woman being violated. “No. Why is that?”

Once again, Mara took it upon herself to answer for others. “You don’t understand the first thing about us, yet you hope to rule us? Can I ask you something, your majesty? How many lovers have you had over the years?”

“Mara…” there was menace in Zuriel’s tone, as if she’d finally crossed a line that I had no hope of seeing.

“Six,” I answered not sure where this was going.

“That’s not that many when you consider her age,” Alaster said to Zuriel as if defending me. But I didn’t understand why I needed defending. Deabru weren’t chaste.

“Yes, that’s what? Only one lover every thirty years or so. Given how delicate vampires are, perhaps they all died forcing her to move from one to the next. How many of these men still live?”

While she was talking to me, her eyes were on Zuriel. Was this really something Deabru cared about? “Four of them still live. And it wasn’t one man ever thirty years, I was with Max for almost a century.”

“You abandon a man you’ve loved for almost a century, and are already trying to seduce our king?”

“No. I—” The shock of my own words stopped me. When she asked me if I abandoned a man I loved, I said no. It was pretty obvious that I abandoned him, lost and broken, stuck carrying on while I died, so I must have meant that no, I never loved him. He made me happy, but I always knew the depth of my feelings didn’t compare to his. We deceive without lying. That’s what Mara said. Had I deceived Max for over half my life?

I changed topics, no longer wanting to discuss my past. “I am his wife. It is my duty to bear him heirs.”

Mara grabbed Zuriel by the arms. “Listen to her. She cares nothing for you. Her kind is incapable of love. She just wants your seed because she sees that as her purpose. Are you really considering giving a thing like that your soul?”

Rage radiated from my core, threatening to boil me alive from the inside. This was too much. I couldn’t maintain my composure much longer. I was very close to ripping Mara’s head from her neck and causing the very war I sacrificed to prevent. “Please, excuse me.”

I left them there, debating what to do about me. It was like none of them understood this was my life. I had to win Zuriel’s heart, or my brother’s kingdom would forever be in danger.