Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
She nodded again, rolled up on her toes, Mars bent down, and she touched her lips to his.
She then lifted those long, Dellish skirts of hers and dashed away from him and up the steps.
He turned to his wife’s parents and Johan was already opening his mouth.
“You won’t speak until I give you leave to do so,” he commanded.
“I’ll speak when I bloody—”
Vanka emitted a strangled scream as Mars wrapped his hand around Johan’s throat and squeezed.
He then bent his face to Johan’s.
“You…won’t…speak until I give you leave,” he repeated.
When Johan’s face started to get red, Mars released him and walked around the both of them.
He felt them following, sensing them rushing to keep up with his long strides, but he did not slow.
He made it to the end of the long hall, turned to them and assessed the distance.
He could not see Silence if she was hiding at the bottom of those bloody stairs.
He could only hope that hall was long enough they were too far away for her to hear whatever was said next should she be listening.
Johan and Vanka caught up with him, Vanka practically being dragged as she tried to stop her husband from finishing his approach.
Her face was agonized.
Fuck.
“Don’t do this, Johan,” she pleaded when the man stopped before Mars.
“Let me go,” he snapped, shaking his arm.
She tugged on it. “Please, Johan.”
“Bloody let me go!” he shouted, whipping around, and Vanka whipped with him, slamming into the wall.
Mars heard blood roaring in his ears.
That was it.
Enough.
Mars again took Silence’s father by the throat, and it was Mars doing the slamming against a wall.
Johan emitted a grunt of surprise.
He then glowered up at Mars who had a firm hold on him, but this time he didn’t squeeze.
“Release me,” Johan demanded.
“Say your words and be done with it,” Mars ordered.
“Release me!”
“You are not her father.”
Johan’s head jerked, not in offense, in surprise that Mars guessed accurately what this was about.
Vanka emitted a long whine.
Yes. He was accurate.
His queen’s beautiful petite frame, ebony hair, pale skin, silver eyes.
She looked nothing like either of these people.
Even the mother.
“Bloody hell,” Mars murmured. “Why didn’t I see it?”
“Unhand me!” Johan yelled.
Mars let him go and took a step back.
Johan tugged his waistcoat down, then flapped his jacket more firmly on his chest, all this glaring at Mars.
“If you don’t wish her to know, you’ll pay me,” he shared.
“And we don’t,” Vanka rushed in to say. “We all don’t wish her to know.”
“You need to keep your mouth shut,” Johan snapped at his wife.
“Well, we don’t, we don’t wish—” Vanka stated.
“You don’t,” Johan retorted to his wife. “I no longer give a damn.”
“She is Countess of the Arbor,” Vanka reminded him. “She’s yours in all but—”
“What counts,” Johan spat. “Blood. I’m married to a fucking whore. You opened your legs—”
Vanka’s face lost all color. “But you wanted a child so badly, my love, and we weren’t—”
“I didn’t want you to fuck that horrid man to give me one!” he shouted. “I told you to find someone worthy. You did not find someone worthy!”
“Quiet down,” Mars growled.
Johan jerked his gaze to Mars. “I’ll do what I want.”
“And I will as well, including finding ways to keep you quiet that you will not like,” Mars warned. “So quiet down.”
Johan shook his head repeatedly while inclining his neck, making a pompous movement all the more pretentious.
“You told me you needed an heir,” Vanka whispered, broken. “You told me to—”
“You didn’t choose very well because we got strapped with Silence,” Johan retorted.
Vanka continued to whisper. “I’m not a whore. You told me—”
Gods, this arsehole simply got worse and worse.
Johan turned to Mars and spoke over his wife. “If you don’t want everyone to know you married a bastard, that your queen and the mother to your future children is spurious, then I’ll have my gods-damned, bloody treasure.”
“I have no care who begat my wife,” Mars told him. “She has not changed in any way in my knowing you aren’t her father.”
Johan looked stunned.
Sadly, he recovered quickly.
“Are you sure those clans and tribes of yours who aren’t so certain about your reign or the wife you chose will be as indifferent?” Johan asked snidely.
“No,” Mars answered. “What I am certain of is that you will not breathe a word of this to a living soul. Not that first one. Not publicly. Not privately.”
“I wouldn’t be so certain,” Johan sneered.
“You are not blood of her blood. You are naught. Naught to me, but more importantly naught to her,” Mars returned. “I would have handled any necessary dealings with you with the understanding you are my wife’s family at the forefront of my mind. Since you are not, I can do as I please.”
“And I can do as I please,” Johan retorted.
“Not of you aren’t breathing after I slit your throat,” Mars replied calmly.