William stands on the other side of the room as it quickly empties of conference attendees. I stand motionless, watching him, even as the sprinklers pour over my head. I’m only barely aware of my hair plastered against my cheeks, and only because part of it is in my eyes as I become more and more drenched.

He doesn’t move, either. I suppose he wants me to be the first to makes some sort of gesture—but what am I supposed to do? Go running to him to apologize for inviting James to speak at the conference? The man might be a pompous ass—and he’s been horrible to me—but he was well qualified to speak today. More than qualified, if I’m being honest. It was an honor for him to attend at all, and I’m not sure why William can’t see that.

I glare at him, though he’s too far away from me to see my gaze narrow. Perhaps I should go to him—I should yell at him for ruining my conference. I should slap him for the despicable names he called me last night. I should do all manner of things, but all I really want to do is go to him and beg him to forgive me for how horribly I’ve treated him. I just want a second chance—I’m not sure when things shifted for me, but they have. I want to make up for all the time I’ve wasted so far. I want to stay married to him so I can…date him, I suppose.

But he is not making anything easy for me. I lift my gaze to look across the room at him again, but I find he isn’t there. The wall where he’d been standing is empty now.

I turn and almost jump out of my soaked skin when I see William in front of me. I’m not certain how he could have crossed the room so quickly without sprinting, but he doesn’t appear to be out of breath. He’s drenched, the same as I am, and it’s a little difficult to ignore the way his wet shirt clings to his body.

But he says nothing…nothing…for an extraordinary amount of time, just glaring at me with a rage in his eyes I’ve never seen before with him. It isn’t difficult to set aside any attraction I might have felt for him, given that he looks like he wants to murder someone—probably me.

I meet his gaze for every moment his rests on mine. But I can’t stand the silence—I don’t know what came over him last night, and I have no idea what he was even thinking about when pulled the lever to engage the fire alarm.

“What the hell is wrong with you, William?”

“Oh, that’s rich. What’s wrong with me? I could ask the same of you, Princess.”

I push away the strands of hair that have plastered themselves across my eyes. “You’ve known about the conference. You knew—”

“That my wife is in love with another man? Yes, I suppose I should have known that. It isn’t as though you’ve tried to hide it.”

“How many times do I have to say that I am not in love with him—”

He interrupts me with a scoff and roll of his eyes. “Whatever you say, Princess. Though, I suppose you’ve proved that you don’t have to have feelings for anyone to fuck them.”

“What?” I fold my arms over my chest, suddenly acutely aware that my blouse has become entirely see-through now that it is wet. “If this has something to do with last night—”

“This has everything to do with last night, Princess, as if you didn’t know.” He glares at me. “How dare you. How dare you agree to marry me and then…and then…and then parade that man in front of me. Did you really think me that much of a coward? Did you really think me that much of a spineless fool that I would do nothing?”

My mouth gapes open, and I stare at him for a moment. “You mean to tell me that as your wife I’m not allowed to speak to another man? You really feel I should have to ask your permission to have a life—a career?”

“I don’t give a fuck what you do, Princess.”

“Well, at least that’s obvious.” I look up at the ceiling where water is still pouring from the sprinklers. “I don’t believe your little show today has done anything but prove that particular point.”

“And what else should I have done? Allowed him to continue to fawn over you?” He lifts a brow. “Perhaps you were planning to put on a show for your guests? Demonstrate to them exactly what he meant when he said you studied under him?”

I shake my head slowly at him. “What the hell is your problem, William?”

“I think I’ve just said—”

“You married me, and when you did, you married my past. And I married yours. You don’t see me harassing the women you’ve slept with in the past—”

“Well, that’s just it, isn’t it, Princess? If it was in the past, we wouldn’t have a problem.”

“We don’t have a problem, William. You have a problem.”

“Yes.” His head bobs. “Yes, I do. I have a very big problem with you fucking other men.”

“Well, how unfortunate that I’m not able to time travel and undo my past choices. How unfortunate that you didn’t marry a virgin. Perhaps if you’d bothered to check with me before forcing me into this marriage—”

“I did not force you into anything!” He almost growls the words. “Though, I had expected when you said ‘I do’ that you actually meant the words.”

My gaze narrows. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Your Highness, but I gave up as much for you as you did for me. It isn’t as though—”

“You gave up nothing. Nothing. We live here, in this godforsaken country.” He waves his arms wildly around him. “We live with your family. And you…you’re still fucking other men. Tell me exactly what it is you’ve given up, Princess.”

It takes me a moment to process what he’s just said. Of course, he has given up much more than I have. He did leave his country and his family. And I… I’m what?

“What the hell are you talking about, William? I’m fucking other men? What…what?”

He nods, and his eyes are wild. He crosses his arms over his chest, the same way I’m doing. “You fucked him last night. How many times did he have you, Justine?”

I search his eyes. The rage in them is almost frightening. “I don’t—”

“You let me have you once. Once. I only want to know how many times you let him have you. That’s my only question.”

Hot tears sting at my eyes as I realize what it is he’s accusing me of doing. “What?”

“Once? Twice?” He runs a hand across his wet hair. “Three times?”

I blink several times, but my tears still spill over my cheeks. I doubt he would notice, and even if he could, the sprinklers are still raining down on me. “I don’t—”

“I believe I’m owed an answer after your betrayal. It’s my only question. I only want to know how many times you fucked him, Justine. I didn’t ask how many times he made you come, or whether you put your mouth on his cock—”

“How fucking dare you. How dare you even suggest that I—”

“Oh, that was going too far for my precious princess?” He nods. “I suppose I should take that as confirmation that you sucked him—”

“Go to hell, William.” I start for the door, but he catches me by the arm, spinning me back to face him.

“I asked you a question, Princess.”

I glare daggers at him. “Eighteen, Your Highness.”

He glares at me. “You’re mocking me? That hardly seems fair.”

“Oh, that hardly seems fair?” I shrug out of his grasp. “The answer to your question is zero, Your Highness. Now if you’ll excuse me.” I turn and start again for the door.

“Don’t lie to me. I heard you.”

I spin back around. “You heard what?”

“I heard you. In his room.”

“Oh. Well, that seems unlikely, given that I haven’t been in his room, Your Highness.” I glare at him again for a moment. “And I think I’ve heard enough of your insults for today. I should go and check that all the guests made it out of the fire safely.”

“I. Heard. You.” He almost growls the words. “Don’t lie to me. Don’t stand there and tell me—”

“Ask your sister, then. I was in the aviary with her from the time you stomped out of my office until I returned to our suite an hour later to apologize to you.”

“To…apologize?”

“Yes, Your Highness. To apologize. Because I hadn’t meant for you to find out about Yale in that manner. I hadn’t even meant…” I shake my head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter now. I suppose I’ll be off to find some other man to go and fuck, since that seems to be the only thing you think me capable of. Or perhaps I’ll just suck his cock, since that seems to be another of your concerns.”

He reaches out and grabs my forearm. “Justine—”

I twist my arm out of his grasp. “I didn’t fuck him, William. And I haven’t fucked him in almost two years.” I blink back the tears that have started forming in my eyes again. “And trust me, I’ll never be fucking you again, either.”