Page 75 of Fall Before Her Throne

“What do you mean?” I lifted my arm so she could tuck her head against my chest. I pressed a quick kiss to her hairline. “Why? Did something happen while we were gone?”

“No, no. Ciel and I worked the whole time, and he kept to his room.” She looked up at me. “You seem like…things are different between you. I expected you to be a lot angrier with him, but you’ve almost been protecting him. Keeping an eye out for him.”

I wasn’t sure that I’d been protecting him, but I had tried to make sure Ryuji didn’t stab him in the back when none of us were looking. If I dropped off a plate of food to his room now and then, that was just me trying to make sure he didn’t starve himself.

My palm rubbed her arm as I pulled her tighter to my chest. “He’s just told me some things.”

Her head tilted up to look at me, her eyebrow furrowing. “What kind of things?”

“Things he should tell you, not me.”

The tattoo, the reason he got it, the notebooks from his father, the reasons he had tried to keep us safe. He still hadn’t told her any of it. I wanted to—it sure as fuck might be easier between everyone if they knew—but it wasn’t my place. Not only because they were his secrets, but because he would never get over his issues unless he told her the truth himself.

But the last few days of him being around, working together, seeing him in action with us at the warehouse…all of it had just brought back even more memories. I had realized that I wanted him to find a path to his own happiness. If that ended up being with us, then so be it.

“What things, Cas?”

“Leona,” I said, hooking my thumb under her chin. “I promise I’m not hiding anything from you that you need to know. He just explained a couple of things to me. He needs the chance to explain it all to you face-to-face. That’s it.”

“Traitor.” She pouted. “I can’t believe you’re covering for him.”

I laughed and rolled on top of her, pinning her arms above her head. “You know I love you more than anything in the world. You are my queen, above all.” I ducked my head and kissed a line up her neck. “If he refuses to talk to you, I won’t keep his secrets. But in the meantime, I’m letting you come to your own conclusion.”

Her hips rolled against mine as her legs parted to make room for me. “So, your conclusion is what? Forgive him?”

“He hasn’t asked for my forgiveness,” I replied. “Until that happens, he’s not forgiven. All I said was that I understood him more. I’m just trying to stay open. His shit isn’t mine, so I’m not carrying it for him. I’m just happy so long as you’re safe and alive, and you love me as much as I love you.”

“Since when did you get so reasonable?” She let out a breath and searched my face. “I love you, and that won’t ever change. Sempre e per sempre. But what am I supposed to do? He won’t talk to me, but he watched Ryuji fuck me earlier.”

I snorted. “Everyone heard you two. How many orgasms did he actually get? Three?”

She playfully smacked my chest. “I lost count.”

I took her lips in a heated kiss, parting the seam of her mouth with my tongue. My cock rubbed against her core. “I bet I could get more.”

“It’s not a competition.”

“Isn’t it?” My knee nudged her legs wider, and my chest rumbled when I felt the heat radiating from her. “But with Max, you’re not supposed to do anything. He’ll either take his head out of his ass or Ryuji will kill him. Maybe Obi. It depends on who he pisses off first.”

She gave me a quick nod of frustrated agreement, but then she wrapped her legs around my waist. I met her lips again. Her nails dragged through my hair, sending chills catapulting down my back.

“Speaking of Ryu,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “What’s up with you and him?”

“What do you mean?”

She grinned, eyes sparkling with mischief. “You know what I mean.”

Ryu and I had been spending a lot of time together, and we’d become closer over the last few months, but all his taunts and teasing were just that. It was his personality to dick around.

I huffed. “Nothing. He’s just teasing me to get a rise out of me.”

“What if he wasn’t?”

I braced myself on my forearms. “What do you mean?”

“If he wasn’t just being a dick, and he was serious about you…would you give things a go?”

Ryuji and I had previously felt like oil and water, but the last few months had changed things. We’d gotten close—closer than I realized until that night in the gym at the penthouse. I found myself watching him almost as much as I watched Leona. More often than not, I caught him staring back at me. Every day, the idea of us together felt less and less foreign, and I couldn’t deny that I’d thought about what it would be like. And maybe there was a part of me that was interested in more than just friendship.