Chapter 23 #2
“Careful, Elara,” he warned. Even still, his lips twitched, as if he was trying to hide a smile.
“If you do not like it, I will never insist you do anything for me ever again,” she offered.
With a dubious look, Constantine met her eyes, then his gaze went back down at the sandwich, then up at her again.
Then, with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, he stepped toward her and opened his mouth.
It surprised Elara at first, as she thought he would take it from her with his hands, but without complaint, she took another step toward him and brought it to his mouth.
He bit down as he tensed, but then as he chewed, his brows raised, and the sound of contentment rumbled from his chest. Glee shot through Elara’s heart as he finished chewing and then swallowed.
“Well?” she asked.
Constantine grinned as he wiped his bottom lip with his thumb.
“I must admit, it was not as disgusting as I thought it would be.”
“Me or the sandwich?” she teased, and her heart fluttered as she chuckled.
She expected him to laugh with her, but his face drew into a look of grave contemplation as he leaned down to meet her eyes.
“I never thought you were disgusting, Elara,” he said, his deep tone earnest. “Never.”
“Hmm,” she hummed. She took a bite of her sandwich and then set it down; suddenly, she was no longer hungry.
“What is on your mind?” Constantine asked, his tone gentle as he moved on from the subject. “Why can you not sleep?”
Elara sighed as she dusted the crumbs from her hands.
“As our investigation progresses, I grow uneasy,” she confessed.
“Mr. Preacher’s opinion of Evander weighs on my mind.
Not only that, but no one has come out to say anything positive about Evander either.
I am starting to realize that, despite how I previously felt, I truly know very little about my family.
I knew him as an older brother, not as a person.
Perhaps he truly was different when he was around others.
He must have been, if he went so far as to cause enough trouble for your brother to have him exiled from the country. ”
She paused, nibbling at her bottom lip.
“I suppose I can understand now why you disliked him so. And me, for that matter,” she murmured, then drew her bottom lip between her teeth again.
Constantine drew his hand up, pressing his thumb against her lip and forcing her to stop her nibbling. She drew her eyes up to his, and butterflies erupted in her stomach when she saw his green eyes shining with warmth.
“I do not dislike you anymore, Elara,” he said softly, caressing his thumb over her bottom lip. He smirked then, the expression sending sparks through her veins. “I would even go so far as to say that I now find you quite tolerable.”
Elara gently bit at his thumb, making him chuckle, and as she stepped back, she could not help the grin on her face.
“I suppose I find you quite tolerable now as well,” she playfully retorted.
“I do want to understand more, though,” Constantine went on. “About why you so vehemently want to protect your brother. Is it not older siblings that do the protecting, not the other way around?”
Elara’s spirits dampened a little as a long-ago memory sprang into the forefront of her mind.
“I suppose I feel that I owe him,” she confessed.
Constantine frowned a little, the humor of the moment gone.
“Why?” he asked softly.
Elara’s gaze dropped to the floor as her fingers tangled together in front of her.
“When I was younger... About thirteen or so, my brothers would host card games in our home,” she explained.
Constantine nodded. “I remember. I attended quite a few.”
“Well, at one particular game, I was spying from a cabinet as I usually did,” Elara went on.
“I was always so mad that I was not included. I wanted to learn how to gamble, just as they were allowed to learn. So I decided to hide every now and then while they hosted their game and listen. Not to eavesdrop on their gossip, but to try to learn the rules of what they were playing. I would always leave the door open just a bit so I could watch.”
Elara’s stomach quivered in discomfort as she recalled the story, but for some reason, she felt as if she needed to complete the tale.
“There was one particular evening where one of my brother’s guests spotted me,” she went on.
“The rest of the group had left to do something, leaving us alone. He said he would teach me the game if I kept it a secret. I wanted to learn so much that I agreed and let him lead me to the table. Yet when I went to take a chair, he grabbed me and forced me onto his lap. It seems it was not cards that he wanted to teach me about.”
Elara dared a glance up toward Constantine and found his expression murderous.
“What happened, Elara?” Constantine demanded.
She shook her head, feeling the fear from that long-ago moment spike through her veins as if it had just happened.
“His hands were everywhere,” she whispered, drawing her own hands to her stomach. “My waist, my thighs… they were everywhere. It felt so very wrong, and when I tried to scream for help, he clamped his hand over my mouth.”
A sudden thump startled her, and she realized that Constantine had just struck his fist against the counter.
“Evander saved me,” she explained. “He was the first to come back to the room, and after he pulled me from the man’s lap, Evander beat him to a pulp.
I thought he was going to kill him, I truly did.
And what might be worse was that in that moment, I wanted him to.
Adrian came in not long after and pulled Evander off the man.
When Evander told him what had happened, he and Adrian dismissed the rest of their friends, who were starting to return, and they dragged the man out of the room.
I do not know what happened to him, but no rumors were spread, and it was the last game they ever held. ”
“I remember,” Constantine murmured. “I was supposed to attend that game, but Augustus had found himself in trouble again. I told your brothers that I would make the next one, but it was never scheduled.”
“My brothers sequestered me inside for a time after that,” Elara explained.
“They explained in great detail that true gentlemen did not act as that man had, and that I should not judge all men on such a poor character. They taught me how to play the game. Spent more time with me, and eventually, the horror of that moment started to fade. I became curious and adventurous again, and was looking forward to meeting such fine gentlemen they spoke of. Then Evander went missing, and my debut was put off.”
“Then we met,” Constantine murmured, finishing her sentence. “No wonder you bit me.”
Elara let out a weak laugh.
“Perhaps,” she agreed. “Though I must tell you that you did not frighten me as that other man did. Annoyed me? Verily. But you did not frighten me.”
Constantine looked at her with apologetic eyes.
“I am glad I did not frighten you, Elara,” he whispered. “In fact, I never want you to be afraid of me. And I promise you, for the rest of our lives, whether we are married or not, I will be the one who protects you. We may lose our marriage in a few days’ time, but you will not lose that.”
Elara shifted on her feet, both calmed and discomforted by his words at the same time.
“Eight days,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Eight days until we discover whether or not our marriage will end.”
Constantine reached out and stroked his fingers along the back of her hand. She let go of her stomach, took it, and allowed him to pull her to his chest.
“Until then,” he whispered, nuzzling his cheek against her forehead. “What say we make the best of it?”
Elara sighed, feeling her entire body melt as she sagged into the warm, solid form of the man holding her. She nuzzled her chin into his chest and caressed her bottom lip against his bare muscle. Pleasure surged through her as she felt him tremble at the small touch.
“I think we should,” she whispered, tilting her head up as Constantine smoothed his hand down her back.
She met his green eyes, hooded already with yearning, and drew in a trembling breath.
“Kiss me,” she breathed.