Scarlette
The truth shall set you free.
These were the words that played over and over in my mind earlier, and my eyes actually start stinging when I recall them now...and how they completely changed everything.
Memories resurface, starting with that awful moment in the conference room when I realize Lykan isn’t able to say he loves me. I was so tempted to cry and just give up. But instead I found myself praying.
Please, please, please .
I remember reading how the Spirit prays for us the things we don’t even know to pray for, and that’s what I ended up holding fast to as I watch Lykan jerk to his feet.
Please please please .
Because somehow, seeing the way he turned ashen when he thought I was still in love with Vaughn...
That hurt me even more, and it’s why I found myself doing things I normally wouldn’t do...like locking a prince inside an en-suite with me even though I knew I could end up beheaded.
(Seriously, though: what is it with my life that I always end up doing things that land my neck on the chopping block?)
But anyway.
Admitting my feelings to Lykan was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but...
Thank You, Lord .
I’m so, so glad Grandma Jackie reminded me that I had nothing to fear. If not for her timely advice, I would never have found the courage to confess my feelings first, much less hear him say...
I never stopped loving you.
I gaze down at my husband rather dreamily, unable to stop myself from replaying his words in my mind again and again.
I fell for you the moment I saw you.
And even in the times I hurt you...
And even when I forced myself —
OH NO.
Reality gatecrashes my daydreams, and I suddenly find myself confronted by an ugly truth: what happened between Lykan and me might not have stayed between Lykan and me because...because...
A squeak of embarrassment escapes me just as Lykan finishes smoothing my dress down my legs.
“What is it, habibti ?”
“What we just did,” I strangle out. “Do you think...I mean...” I know I’m a grown woman and all, so why am I still struggling to say these things?
“Do you think...I can’t remember making a sound, and we, um.
..we didn’t take too much time to...you know.
” I look at him hopefully. “So maybe, they wouldn’t realize—”
Lykan’s dark eyes have started to gleam, and my heart sinks.
I’m doomed.
My husband takes my hand as he leads me out of the en-suite, and my worst fears are confirmed as soon as I see Nadir actually holding back a red-faced Vaughn as if restraining him from kicking the door down to rescue me.
“You bastard,” Vaughn snarls.
“That would be you, not me.”
I shoot a look of dismay at Lykan. Rubbing salt on another person’s wound is so not cool, and—
“I apologize,” Lykan suddenly says. “My wife clearly doesn’t appreciate such words, and she’s right not to do so.”
Oh, my heart.
I did not expect him to say that at all, but I think I just fell in love with him all over again.
“She won’t be your wife for long—”
While I...I think I just fell OUT of love with Vaughn all over again because I never knew.
Like, seriously.
I never knew how foolishly stubborn he could be.
“Vaughn, please.” I’m hoping I can reason with him, but he doesn’t even look at me, and I think...that says a lot.
“This isn’t over,” Vaughn bites out. “You’ve obviously taken advantage of her innocence—”
“She gave it to me, actually.”
My horrified gaze swings back to my husband. “Lykan!”
“And more than once, if I may add.”
Whatever happened to him not rubbing salt—
Vaughn looks like he’s about to tear his hair out at any moment. “We...we can still work this out, Scarlette. I think I can forgive you for having sex—”
I can only throw my hands up at this point. Vaughn thinks he needs to forgive me? For what? For being a wife to my husband? Seriously?
“Article Nineteen,” Lykan drawls as he curls an arm around my waist. “Has Arav mentioned that to you?”
The Chief Steward glances at me in surprise. “No Western woman in Sharasan history has submitted to such a law.”
Vaughn’s expression turns suspicious. “What law?”
“Article Nineteen states that a woman possesses the right to refuse the claim even of the king himself if she has verbally surrendered ownership of her body to her husband in front of witnesses.” Lykan looks down at me. “What say you about this, habibti ?”
Does he even have to ask?
Heck no!
Whoever’s come up with these laws clearly needs a refresher course on how human trafficking can come about and needs to rewatch the entire trilogy of Taken . Do they think we all have a Liam Neeson who’s gonna look for them, find them, and kill them when things go south?
Yeah, no way .
Nuh uh.
Only someone foolish would agree to such a thing, and so I hear myself say, “You own my body. I surrender it to you willingly and wholeheartedly.”
Vaughn’s face turns...purple.
It’s the only word I can think of.
He’s as purple as Barney right now while Arav’s face remains expressionless, and my husband...
Oh, my heart, please, oh please...be still.
The truth shall set you free indeed, and while I may not be as obedient and as knowledgeable as I would have liked and needed to be about my faith, I do remember that it’s written...
The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.
And oh, the way Lykan simply gazes back at me right now...
He’s acting like the words I’ve just said are as it should be, and I’m torn between laughing and crying again because in his eyes, I also see the same promise.
His body, heart, soul is also mine, as it should be.
Lykan’s arm tightens around my waist as he turns to Arav. “I assume you understand what your next steps should be?”
“Of course, Your Highness.” Arav turns to Vaughn. “Mr. Fuller, may I invite you to confer privately in another room?”
“No!” The hostility in Vaughn’s tone makes me sad. “This isn’t over—”
Arav nods at Nadir, and the attendant displays surprising strength in the way he redirects Vaughn to the door despite the latter’s struggles.
“Stop this! I’m the firstborn son! I’m the—”
Nadir successfully drags him out of the room, and Arav turns to face us. “If you will excuse us, Your Highness?”
“Excused.”
Arav firmly shuts the doors behind him, and the sound of Vaughn’s belligerent protests eventually fades.
Lykan tips my chin, and my heart skips a beat as our gazes meet.
“Thank you.”
Oh, this gravely humble side of Lykan is enthralling and terrifying at the same time.
“I didn’t expect you to agree so easily.”
“It’s part of my wifely duties—”
“Ah.”
Oh no .
I pull away the moment I hear him make such a sound. “Um, Lykan?”
“Mm?”
I think...
“Please don’t...”
I said the wrong thing again.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” croons the big bad wolf, I mean, sheikh. “I just want to show my appreciation—”
“Consider it shown,” I say quickly.
Lykan looks at me somberly. “That would be neither proper nor fair. You see, it’s just occurred to me that I have yet to make a similar vow about my husbandly duties.”
Uh huh .
The moment I hear his last two words...
I’m outta here .
But all I manage is a step before the sheikh catches me.
“I think I am supposed to cherish you as a wife, yes?”
He’s only whispering in my ear, and he already has me weak and trembling.
“Because you are the weaker vessel, fragile and delicate like glass—”
I can’t see where he’s going with this, but I’m already sure it’s going to kill me.
“And so in order to make sure you do not break...”
He moves so, so fast, I have no time to react. The next thing I know, he already has me blindfolded with his handkerchief, my hands tied behind my back with his necktie—
Ah!
Did he just rip my—
Ah!
And my—
“Lykan!”
Cool air teases my body as I stand completely naked before my husband...while I’m drowning in darkness.
“Yes, habibti ?”
Oh, how dare he habibti his way out of this?
“What do you think you’re doing?” I cry out.
“Making sure you don’t break.”
“By torturing me?”
“Wise, wise girl.”
He says that, and yet why does it sound like the opposite?
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to torture you with pleasure—”
All I can do is gasp when he plunges inside me from behind without warning.
“Until you get used to it.”
He’s going to kill me alright.
And I just hate how he’s going to make me love every moment of it.
The End
Thank you for reading His Scarlette Obsession.