CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Reigna was done .
She was so done as soon as she opened the door to their apartments and found four guards positioned at the door and in the corridor. She was sure there were more she couldn’t see making themselves blend into the walls to go unnoticed.
She slammed the door and screamed out her frustration, only to have one of the guards stick his head in the door to make certain she was okay.
“I’m fine!” she barked, never feeling more violated than knowing she was living under a microscope since the attempt on her life. The guard gave her a remorseful look, trying to impart how bad he felt for her. No matter how bad he felt, she knew he’d never let her out of his sight on pain of death.
She’d been in Nyeusi for eight weeks. The last three of which she’d spent locked inside the palace like some fairy-tale princess in a tower, and it was driving her mad.
They’d discovered the kitchen staff had been infiltrated by a Pili supporter. He’d claimed to have no official connection to Jasiri’s uncle, but no one believed that. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find proof to substantiate their beliefs. This deluded young man would stand trial for attempted regicide, and Pili would be as free to come and go as the waves rushing and then pulling away from the shore.
Reigna sat down on a high-backed chair by the balcony, lifting the receiver and punching in a number she knew better than her own.
“If it isn’t Queen Reigna I of Nyesui blessing her lowly sister with a phone call.”
Reigna forgot how annoying her sister could be, even from a distance.
“Don’t start, Regina.”
Her words were terser than she’d planned, and she could feel Regina’s energy change through the line as soon as she said, “What’s wrong, Reigna?”
She paused a minute. Ringing the alarm in the Devereaux family was like having all the emergency responders from everywhere converging in one place.
“I’m just missing my sister, and it’s making me grumpier than usual.”
“You sure Jasiri hasn’t done something?” Her sister’s voice had a healthy dose of suspicion that couldn’t be denied. “You know I don’t play about my sister. If I have to come remind His Highness of that, I will.”
Instantly, Reigna’s mood lightened not because her sister was essentially offering to wage war for her, but because she knew her sister well enough that she’d have Jasiri crying for his mother if Reigna really believed he’d done something to make Reigna unhappy.
“Technically, it’s His Majesty , and Jasiri is fine,” she said, fudging that truth. He was physically okay, but he was a walking ball of rage that couldn’t be reasoned with right now. A fact Reigna would not share with her sister.
“He’s just busy with running the government. I get to help a great deal, but then there are times when even the queen can’t take part in the secret meetings.”
That bit had added to her frustration at present. Before the attempt on her life, Jasiri had always allowed her to take part in his governance of the country. Now it was as if he’d shut her out of everything to keep her wrapped up in a tiny closet, if that closet was a sprawling palace.
She knew this was just because Jasiri was scared. His concern aside, he was honestly ticking her off.
“I just miss you.” Reigna tried her best to keep her frustration out of her voice. She and Jasiri hadn’t really discussed this yet. In that moment, as much as she was annoyed with him, she still wanted to protect him too. “Why don’t you come visit? I know you’re coming in another month for the coronation and wedding. I just would love to have you with me now, if you can get away.”
That wasn’t a lie in and of itself. She did miss her sister. They had been inseparable for most of their lives. But there was another reason for this visit Reigna didn’t quite want to acknowledge. Jasiri’s insistence on isolating her was triggering all those old fears imprinted on her by her parents’ toxic marriage. She recognized there was a part of her that was ready to run when things got hard. She hoped having her sister here might soothe her jumpy nerves that were making her itchy for escape.
“If it means that much to you,” Regina began, “I can come out in a few days.”
Regina coming to visit her meant everything to Reigna. It meant she wouldn’t feel so isolated and alone while Jasiri was on his master-of-the-land rampage. It meant she might just live up to her vows and stick around through better and worse.
“I have that gala you asked me to attend in your place,” Regina continued. “I still don’t get why I must pretend to be you at this thing.”
“Because I can’t get away. If I go, there’s just going to be too much to plan security wise for Jasiri and me to be there. Has word of our marriage or accession reached the States yet?”
“Surprisingly, no,” Regina replied. “I honestly was expecting it to be all over the world by now. Your husband must have some major PR sway.”
Reigna chuckled at that. She was certain Jasiri did have sway with the media to keep their union and his ascension out of the global news.
“You know the British royals are the only royals the world cares about. Luckily that means you can attend this gala in my place and get those folks with deep pockets to sponsor the Alva Grace Trust.”
Ace had started it after his wife, Alva, passed away. It granted scholarships for young women entrepreneurs in Brooklyn.
Rich people were stingy with their money. They liked to feel catered to when they were giving it away. That meant if the chairman of the fund didn’t show up to schmooze with them, they’d be less likely to dig as deep as Reigna needed them to in order to keep the fund growing.
“Fine,” Regina groaned as she acquiesced. “I’ll go to this stupid thing and smile like you for an hour and then I’m out. You better have one of the crown jewels prepped as my reward.”
“I’ll do you one better,” Reigna replied. “I’ll let you into my closet where they’ve stocked it with the most gorgeous, and ridiculously expensive clothing you’ve ever seen. Do this right, and I’ll let you take something. If you exceed our fundraising expectations, I’ll even let you into the purse and shoe closets too.”
Knowing how her sister loved shoes and purses, Reigna was pretty certain Regina had been shocked speechless on the other end of the phone.
“Fine.” Regina’s harrumph made Reigna’s shoulders shake with amusement. “I’ll be there. But you’d better make sure you have your butt back here for the private memorial we’re having at Devereaux Inc. in Ace’s honor. I’m not going to be answering fifty-’leven-hundred questions about where you at and why you didn’t let nobody know you got married.”
Reigna laughed at her sister’s use of the mythical and exaggerated number used in Black culture to express when something had been done, said, or asked with exhaustive frequency. She wasn’t sure which one of her ancestors came up with that particular idiom. But it would live in infamy in the minds and vocabulary of Black people now until forever.
“God, our family is nosy,” Reigna lamented having momentarily forgotten about that fact. There was too much going on when she’d agreed to Jasiri’s business proposal to even think about all the questions her cousins and the like would have.
“Exactly,” Regina agreed. “You will not leave me here to deal with that alone, Your Majesty.”
“You know, Regina, that phrase is usually said with the utmost respect for me.”
“Heifer, please,” her sister laughed obnoxiously in her ear. “I shared an amniotic sac with you. The chances of me ever caring about your fragile feelings are nil.”
“I hate you,” Reigna replied.
“You adore me. That’s why your ass is begging me to come stay with you in your palace.”
“When you’re right, you’re right.”
Reigna wouldn’t even try to deny it. She did adore her sister, and if admitting that would get Regina here sooner so Reigna could deal with the current level of angst Jasiri had her living under, she’d say it a thousand times more.
* * *
“Sire.”
The sound of Sherard’s voice forced Jasiri to look up from his computer. He glanced at the time and saw it was nearing midnight, making this the earliest night he’d stopped working in the last three weeks.
“What is it, Sherard? I’m about to retire.”
He ran an exhausted hand down his face, pinching the bridge of his nose briefly to relieve some of the pressure this never-ending stress headache was causing.
“I tried to bring this to your attention earlier this evening, but you said you didn’t want to be disturbed when in discussion with General Askari.”
Jasiri straightened. Whatever Sherard was about to say, he instantly knew he wouldn’t like it. He also knew he’d have no one to blame for his anger but himself because Sherard was reminding him of his own edicts.
“What is it, Sherard?”
“The queen called her sister today. She made arrangements for Ms. Devereaux to visit in a few days. Neither disclosed how long the visit would be.”
Jasiri stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window that looked out over the gardens. It was a place that was supposed to offer calm, peace. He felt none of those things at the moment.
“Sire, did you wish me to prepare the palace for her twin’s arrival?”
Jasiri’s stomach dropped as if an unforgiving brick was lodged in it. Reigna was already unhappy with him. Their cold bed and their even colder exchanges since the incident were all the proof he needed his wife was definitely not pleased with his security mandates. Making the wrong choice could be the breaking point for them and the union they were building.
He knew Regina would give her life for Reigna. He also knew how devastated Reigna would be if Pili harmed her sister in an attempt to get to her. He didn’t need another person to have the royal guard focusing on. All his efforts had to be centered on protecting Reigna, even if she ended up hating him for it.
“Contact Ms. Devereaux first thing in the morning and cancel her trip. Between plans for the coronation and the wedding, providing Pili with more targets would not be wise.”
“Should I tell the queen?”
Jasiri looked out into the dark night, unable to help but see the blackness as a forewarning for what was to come.
The attack on Reigna had made one thing clear for Jasiri. The thought of living without her caused him unbearable pain that seeped down deep through his bones, into his cells, and right into his soul.
He loved her.
Not just as a companion who was helping him run his country, either. He was in love with her.
The paralyzing fear he felt when he realized her pastry might be laced with cyanide was his first clue. The moment that suspicion had been confirmed and he recognized how close he’d come to losing her forever, desperation took root in him, coloring every thought he had.
“No,” Jasiri answered. “I will tell her in the morning. Please make the cancellation your priority at the start of the day.”
Sherard left just as quietly as he’d come, leaving Jasiri to wrestle with his demons. He had no doubt he was going to incur Reigna’s wrath over this. In comparison to what placating her anger might cost him, he couldn’t be concerned with it.
Her anger he could handle. Her not being in the world would effectively end him.
* * *
Jasiri slid into bed, reaching for Reigna’s warmth the moment his weight was completely pressed against the mattress. He’d been working around the clock for the last three weeks and his time with her had been limited to the few hours he slept next to her.
He wrapped his body around hers, needing to know she was safe in his arms where she belonged.
She stirred in her sleep, her full bottom pressing against the swell of him.
“Jasiri?” His name was a sleepy whisper on her lips, and it was his undoing.
He’d planned to pull her into his arms the way he did every night, to make sure she was safe, warm, and protected. Hearing her call his name like that, as if it meant everything to her, soothed him, made him feel whole.
If the anger and fear his uncle had wrought had torn away half his soul, Reigna’s anger had gutted him hollow.
Not with harsh words or a loud voice: no, she’d chosen an even deadlier weapon. Her silence.
She’d refused to talk to him beyond what was necessary or be with him during the day. The result was him barking at everyone around him like he was some sort of tyrant. Holding her was the only way he found a moment’s peace.
He’d taken to sneaking in their bed, needing to gather her to him, just to quiet the fear and anger that seemed to be his constant companions.
“I need you.”
He felt her stiffen, and he worried that she’d leave him there to suffer just like he deserved for putting her in danger and for not finding a way to stop Pili yet.
“Just let me hold you.”
She turned in his arms without a word, pressing one hand gently against his pec and slipping the other around his waist.
He’d wanted to hold her to make sure she was safe, but as her body intertwined with his, he realized it was him that felt safe and protected.
She pressed her hand against his shoulder and kept pushing until he was flat on his back, and she was straddled atop him.
“I wasn’t trying to—”
“That’s your whole problem Jasiri. You’re focused on the wrong thing. Instead of stalking around this palace yelling at everyone,” she pulled the silk nightgown from her body exposing all of her to him, “you could be here with me focused on all of this.”
She leaned forward, letting his cloth-covered sex settle between her naked folds, and he gripped her hips forcing her to sit still.
Her lips quirked into a lopsided grin. The little minx was enjoying torturing him. She ground down on him forcing a needy groan from him that was strong enough to shake the walls.
“I’m either going to come like this,” she said as she swiveled her hips again while she cupped her heavy breasts and tweaked her erect nipples, “or you’re going to take off those silk pajama bottoms you love so damn much and give me what we both want.”
She lifted and he removed them. As soon as they were gone, she lowered herself to him, and when her wet heat engulfed him, pleasure seeped through his skin, firing every nerve he possessed.
Her naked heat sliding down his flesh drained his lungs of air and made them burn with the need to breathe. Her movements were slow and deliberate, almost surgical in how they elicited pleasure from him. If she kept this up, she’d kill him, and he’d have the shortest reign in history.
Jasiri decided right there that if she was going to kill him, if he was going to be undone by their joining, he’d be damn sure to take her with him too.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her down to the bed and flipping them, notching himself between her thick thighs. He slid inside of her in one stroke, filling her to the hilt.
Her back bowed, and he used the canting of her hips to deepen his stroke. Her body clamped down on him, and he nearly collapsed. He dropped forward, locking his elbow above her shoulder, hooking her thigh over his arm so he could plunge in and out of her.
He found that tempting spot where shoulder met neck, biting down on it gently to heighten her pleasure.
She moaned, her hands grasping his ass, pulling him deeper as her core quivered around him, as she neared her peak.
His gaze locked onto her face. Reigna in the throes of passion was a beautiful sight. Her face contorted with need as she climbed higher, trying to grasp the prize that Jasiri kept just out of reach for her.
It was only when she said “Please, Jasiri” that he slid his hand between them, circling her swollen nub as he stroked so deeply inside her, he thought they’d become one.
His balls were heavy and aching, and he could feel the electric spark of his release tightened at the base of his spine. When she broke apart, strangling him with her sheath tightening around him like a damn vice, Jasiri’s climax pushed through him breaking the hold his anger had on him and filling the empty space Reigna’s absence had left him with.
When he spilled the last drop of himself inside of her, he slumped against her, taking her mouth into a deep kiss. The kiss was meant to connect, but it was meant to conceal too. It kept him from having to speak or to give her the chance to look at him and see how raw he was inside.
Reigna had ruined him, and he’d let her. And as they cleaned up and she burrowed into his chest falling into a satisfied sleep, he realized he’d let her ruin him again, as many times as she wanted to. Just as he was about to slide into a blissful sleep realization hit him and he stiffened.
“Reigna, we didn’t use a condom.”
“I know,” she replied on a yawn. “I was there.”
“Reigna—”
She held her hand up, stopping whatever he was going to say next.
“We got carried away, Jasiri. Neither of us planned it. I’m okay with any consequences that may arise from it. Are you?”
Their pre-marital health screening established their was no medical reason for their continued use of condoms. But they’d never discussed starting a family.
Suddenly the image of Reigna swollen with his child filled him with warmth and pride, burning itself into his soul.
“Reigna, are you saying you’re okay with a possible resulting pregnancy?”
“Yes I am.”
Her words rang clear in his head and he couldn’t help the smile curving his lips. He went to tighten his embrace around her, but she pointed a finger at him instead.
“I’m mad as hell at the way you’ve been keeping me locked away in this palace, Jasiri. That said, I’m still not going anywhere. Not for anything or any reason. I’m here for the duration. I’m with you for as long as you want me.”
Fear gripped him. There was no question he wanted Reigna through this life and the next. Nonetheless he knew once she found out what he’d done, there was a possibility he’d pushed her beyond her breaking point, and he would lose her, and now possibly his child, for good.