Chapter 10
1115 Words
Scarlett’s POV
Draco rose early these days, always before me and always bare chested, moving slowly around the room like he was putting up a show for me.
At first, I tried not to, I stayed still with my eyes half closed in a fake sleep.
But I watched him anyway, every morning.
There was something about the way his muscles shifted beneath his skin as he stretched, the scars on his back that I wanted to trace with my fingertips. The tattoo ink that curled along his spine like a serpent, the way he usually stood at the window looking at the grounds.
“You’re staring at me,” he said one morning.
He hadn’t even turned around, I guess my eyes had burned his back.
“You’re not that interesting that I’d stare at.” I replied, my voice hoarse from sleep.
He turned to me then with a grin on his face, “You know you can’t really lie.”
He was right. I was always a terrible liar but before I got here, I’d never needed to lie. The worst part was with him, I wasn’t so sure who I was lying to more, if it was him or myself.
***
There was something strange going on, Draco was no longer just using me as his s*x plaything.
No one had announced anything, there was no decree or any ceremony but everyone just looked at me differently with a sort of reverence. And it wasn’t because I was nice to the omegas, even the guards looked at me differently.
The other concubines watched me with silent hatred in their eyes.
He brought me into his war rooms on his own. This was not a sick show to parade me or to hold me like a pet on a leash but because he wanted me there.
He wanted my mind, he wanted to know what I thought.
At first, I stood silently when he took me there, unsure of that to do or say in the presence of his advisors.
But on the third day of going with him, there was a different approach.
“You’re awfully quiet,” he said in the middle of the meeting, glancing over at me. “Do I take that as you agreeing?”
I scanned the map, the cluster of the pins placed carelessly around the southern border. “I think your northern tax policy is rather archaic.” I said flatly.
The room froze.
Draco didn’t blink. “Okay? Go on.”
“You’re bleeding your trade revenue for the delusion of loyalty, you’re spoiling them and soon they’ll take your generosity and feel entitled. Cut them off and make the port cities compete and whoever brings in more coins gets more protection.”
There was silence in the room. I noticed one advisor looked at me with disdain, his jaw twitched in irritation.
But Draco leaned back in his chair, he was smiling at me like I had just given him a gift.
“She’s right,” he said. Then he looked at the advisors. “Do it just as she’s said.”
They didn’t look at me again, they had noticed a change in their own Alpha.
After the meeting, I passed a group of his advisors in the corridor as I walked past.
One of them muttered under his breath. “The Alpha shouldn’t be bringing his concubines into matters of war.”
I paused.
Draco was just coming out of the room himself.
“She speaks with my authority,” he said coolly, loud enough that the men heard him. “If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to voice your opinion at your next execution.”
They all bowed their heads.
We walked on in silence until no one was in sight.
“You’re going to make enemies.” I said softly.
“You of all people should know I already have enemies.”
“I meant within your own men.”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “I love a challenge.”
I stared at him.
It was crazy to me that he would gain enemies because of me, this wasn’t about s*x or submission.
And I didn’t know what to make of it.
***
Later on after the meeting, in the privacy of the royal gardens, we walked under the hanging vines and orchids. Although it was beautiful, my mind was far away.
“You’re giving me power without a title,” I said as we walked.
“Do you want a title?” He asked.
“No, I just want to know what type of game you’re playing.”
He stopped walking then turned to face me. “Wouldn’t you like to find out?” He smirked. “But no, there’s no game. You’re useful and you see things that I don’t.”
“And if I wasn’t? Wasn’t useful as you say.”
His gaze lingered on my neck and then up to my mouth before painstakingly moving up to my eyes. “Then you’d still be beautiful and I’d still want you in my bed.”
He noticed my breath hitch.
“I’m not here to be wanted,” I whispered.
“You’re too late then,” he replied as we kept walking.
***
That night, he came to the bed we shared, he crossed the space between us in three steps, his hand brushing the hair from my neck as he looked at his mark.
He looked at me like I was his, but not as a prey or a slave.
If I dared say it, he looked at me like I was his.
He kissed me, slowly and deeply with no dominance like he used to have. His fingers were careful as they slipped beneath my dress and found my soft folds between my thighs.
He didn’t bother taking off his clothes.
He didn’t say any words.
He just knelt.
I knew what was coming.
But when he replaced his fingers with his mouth, I nearly stopped breathing.
He moved with patience and with care I didn’t know he was capable of. His tongue kept at their job diligently sliding over me again and again until my legs turned to gel.
I began shaking, crying out his name.
I sounded like a wanton woman and when I fell to the bed, he simply climbed in beside me.
His hands rested over my body, stroking my skin as he cuddled me.
We fell asleep that way.
I had dreams of him touching me.
I woke up with cold chills still in his sleepy arms.
I was starting to want this.
To want him, my enemy.
- Writer
