“Open the door, Heavenly!” I shout as I stand outside her grandmother’s house.

I waited until the car that dropped off Romy came back to the palace and I asked him where he took Heavenly. He said he only took her home, and I was so mad I could have punched myself. I figured she would have gone to her brother’s or anywhere but home. But I should have known. She wouldn’t have gone through the orchard because she knew I would have tracked her down there. She threw me off by jumping in the car, and I assumed she’d gone somewhere else.

I’m here to set things right, and I’ll force her to listen if I have to.

Suddenly the door swings open, and I’m shocked into silence when I see Karim standing there.

“What do you want, Carlos?”

At first I don’t know what to say. He looks pissed, and I don’t know why. But then my mind starts to catch up, and I assume that Heavenly has told him something that’s made him mad and now he’s going to take it out on me.

“I want to talk to Heavenly. But I’ll talk to you if you’re going to stand in my way.”

He crosses his arms over his chest, and though I know we match each other in size I have no doubt I would win in a fight right now. Because if I’ve got to go through him to get to Heavenly, then I’ll do it. I would go through fire to be with her, so there’s nothing that will stop me.

“I made the proclamation today. She’s to be my wife on the day she comes of age.”

“On whose orders?” Karim says, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Mine. You forget you’re in my kingdom, Karim, and my word is law.”

“I didn’t agree to the marriage. She’s represented and cannot be taken. That’s the law of all of our lands.”

“Just like the law of you taking your wife before your wedding night?” I throw back in his face.

His eyes narrow, and I know he’s wondering how I know that’s possible. But Heavenly tells me everything, including what her new sister told her.

“Yes, I know you broke the law, so don’t throw that back in my face. Some customs are outdated and meant to be broken. I made the royal decree, so you need to step out of my way and allow me to bring my bride home.”

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Karim says, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to his sides. “You mean something to Heavenly. That much I’m sure of. We don’t need to come to blows over this. We can sit and talk.”

“Unless the talk is of wedding arrangements, I don’t feel the need to sit down. I’ve waited long enough for this day, and I won’t have anything standing in my way.”

“I’m not agreeing to anything until I talk to my sister,” Karin says. “I promised her I would let her choose, and I’m going to make good on that promise.”

“Then I’m sorry for the position I’m going to put you in. But you’re about to become a liar to Heavenly.”

Without much thought, I act faster than Karim has time to block. I ball my hand into a fist, reach back using all of my body weight, and then punch him in his jaw.

He falls back, and he hits the floor as if in slow motion. Giselle and Heavenly appear from behind him. Giselle screams and then goes after Karim, and I lunge for Heavenly. She tries to take a step back from me, but I snatch her wrist in one hand and pull her body over my shoulder.

Then time speeds up and I’ve got her draped over me as I run through the orchard and up to the palace. She’s kicking and hitting me the whole way, but I just ignore her. No one knows the orchard like she and I do, and I know they won’t be able to track us through it. I’ve known her long enough to know her tantrum will end just as soon as she sees through her cloud of anger.

“Calm down or I’ll lock you in the tower until you can be polite.”

“Damn it, Carlos! You punched Karim! What the hell were you thinking?”

She’s shouting every word at me, and I just grip her hip tighter as she tries to kick her way off my shoulder.

“I said be quiet. You’re about to be a queen. You should act like it.”

I feel her fists pounding on my back at that, and I smile. That probably pissed her off more than me punching Karim.

“Out of my way,” I growl to Romy as we pass him in the hallway. He laughs and pushes up against the wall, shaking his head.

“Romy, make him let me go,” Heavenly pleads as we pass him, but he puts his palms up as if to try to keep this situation away from him. “Damn you, Romy!”

“I said watch your mouth.” I squeeze Heavenly’s thigh as I take the stairs up to my wing of the palace. “I didn’t realize you had such a colorful vocabulary, Princess. Looks like I’m going to have to teach you some manners.”

“Carlos, if you don’t put me down right now, I swear I’m going to bite you on the ass.”

I reach up and slap one of her ass cheeks with my hand, feeling the slight sting on my palm. “That’s one, Princess. Keep it up and you’ll get three next time.”

I feel her teeth sink into my ass cheek, and I have to bite my bottom lip to keep from crying out and laughing at the same time. I can’t believe she actually bit me.

I give her three quick slaps to the ass as I carry her up some more steps, and she squeaks out in shock.

“You haven’t bitten me since you were ten,” I say, slapping her ass one more time just because I love the way it feels on my hand.

“I can’t believe you’re spanking me! I’m not a child, Carlos, and this is embarrassing.”

“The only thing you should be embarrassed about is running from your king. You should know better.”

“If this is what you’re going to do every time I run from you, then - ”

“There won’t be another time, Princess. Your pretty little ass is going to sit down and listen to what I have to say before you jump to conclusions.”

“There’s nothing you can say that will make me change how I feel.”

There is so much weight in the words she’s spoken. It’s as if there’s a sadness at the end, and it makes my heart ache.

“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for, Princess.” I give her ass one last smack, just because I can, as I walk through the doorway of my bedroom.

“I didn’t even say a bad word that time,” she complains as she smacks my ass back.

“I know. I think I just discovered I like spanking you. We’ll keep testing it to see.”

She makes a growling sound that makes me think of a baby tiger, and I smile. It makes me want to cuddle and protect her just like I will our young.

I toss her off my shoulder and onto the middle of my bed. The fluffy blankets on it cushion her fall, but as soon as she lands she’s climbing off of it and stomping over to me.

“How dare you punch Karim. What’s he ever done to you?” She points her finger in my face and looks mad as hell.

“He stood in the way of what’s mine. I’ll remove anyone and anything that stands between us, Princess. You belong to me now. So act like it.”

I snatch her wrist in my hand and move her finger out of my face while jerking her body flush to mine.

“All those nights you snuck into my bed, and now that I throw you into it you can’t wait to crawl out.”

“You asked me not to do it,” she throws back at me with a smug look on her face.

“Because I knew at any moment I’d take your innocence and smear it across my bedsheet like a badge of honor and hang the sheet out the window for my kingdom to know you were mine and mine alone like it’s three hundred years ago. I knew if I let you lie in my bed one more night that I’d breed you as my queen long before you came of age, and I didn’t want to bring that shame on your family. On you. You know I always protect you over everything else. Been doing it from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”

“But. But you - ” She looks to my mouth and then to my eyes.

“From the first fucking day I saw you, Heavenly. The first fucking day.”

I’ve had enough of playing games, and I pull her to follow behind me.

“What are you doing?” she asks as I lead her across the room and to a side door.

“This,” I say, flipping on the light.

I release her wrist and let her step into the room. She looks around and then brings her hand to her lips as she sees exactly what I’ve done.