Rosie had never learned to say no. Not to that last glass of wine in the palace kitchens, not to the dare that followed, and definitely not to the furious housekeeper who needed someone to bring refreshments to a noble guest in the west wing. Third door on the left. Simple instructions.
What wasn’t simple was the enormous, beautiful bath waiting inside the chambers, already drawn and cool. The wine had made her brave, and the voice in her head reminded her that everyone thought she was boring. So Rosie did the bravest thing she’d ever done. She got in.
The water was perfect. She closed her eyes and let the world dissolve. When she opened them, a man was standing in the doorway. No, not standing.
Filling it. He was the largest man she’d ever seen, built like a mountain carved into human form, with dark hair and dark eyes currently locked on her in complete shock. “What are you doing in my bath? ” His voice was deep and rough, controlled and slightly strangled.
Rosie blinked up at him, wine still buzzing in her veins. He looked furious. He was also the most handsome man she’d ever seen. She smiled lazily, and the words came out before she could stop them.
“You should get in. ”
The man stared at her like she’d spoken a foreign language. Then his eyes narrowed. He was an alpha, clearly, radiating power and command.
“Who are you? ”
Rosie giggled. “I’m a princess. ”
She wasn’t sure why she said it.
But his expression shifted, something clicking into place behind his eyes. “Princess Parisa? ”
“Yes,” she said with tipsy dignity. “Absolutely.
Your princess. ”
She tried to stand, immediately began tilting sideways. He caught her arm before she cracked her head on the tub, wrapped her in a cloak that smelled like him, and carried her to the bed. She pressed herself against his chest, warm and safe, and mumbled something about how nice he smelled.
“You were supposed to meet me for dinner,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, reaching up to touch his face. “You’re lonely. You were waiting, and no one came.
” She patted his jaw. “I’m sorry you were lonely. I think I love you a little bit. Isn’t that silly?
”
Then her eyes closed, and she was asleep. Luther sat frozen with a sleeping princess in his arms and felt his entire world realign. —
Rosie woke to warmth and the scent of something extraordinary. Then she registered the enormous man sleeping beside her and the memories crashed in all at once.
The wine. The dare. The bath. “I think I love you a little bit.
” She’d said that. She’d said it to a man who was clearly someone important. She was out of bed with glacial precision, pulling on her dress, not bothering with laces. She got back to the servants’ quarters without seeing anyone who mattered.
It’s fine. Nobody saw. Then the stewards started talking. The Alpha King had been stood up by his princess.
The West Wing had been cleared for him. And this morning, he was looking for someone. A princess who’d apparently gotten into his bath. Naked.
Rosie made a small sound that might have been a whimper. She’d been in the East Wing. She was sure Miss Harrow had said East Wing. But the more she thought about it, the less sure she was about anything anymore.
She ran to a small courtyard and pressed her back against the warm stone, trying to breathe. A woman was waiting for her there. Tall, elegant, beautiful. The same brown hair, the same eyes.
Rosie had been told before that she and Princess Parisa looked alike. “I know what you did,” Parisa said. Rosie’s mouth went dry. The princess was calm and precise about the crimes committed.
Theft. Trespassing. Impersonation of royalty. Treason, potentially.
The punishments ranged from prison to work camps to hanging. “But there might be another option,” Parisa said, inspecting her nails. “You’re going to do exactly what I tell you. You’re going to make the Alpha King end this engagement himself.
”
Rosie nodded, shaking. “Good. Because if Luther figures out you’re not me, he will have you executed on the spot. ”
—
Luther had spent the day thinking of nothing but the girl in his bath.
When the princess arrived for dinner, she was even prettier than he remembered. Small, delicate, with a mole at the corner of her mouth. She tried to curtsy. It was the worst curtsy he’d ever seen, wobbly and improvised.
He found it completely charming. She was a nervous wreck, flinching at the wrong title, apologizing for things he didn’t understand. He tried to be gentle. When she panicked about the bath, about her behavior, he caught her by the arms and told her the truth.
“I was absolutely enchanted. By our meeting, by you. I’ve been able to think of little else since. ”
She leaned into his touch, just slightly.
He couldn’t help himself. He grazed his thumb across her lower lip. She made a sound, soft and breathy, that went straight through him. Then she clapped her hand over her mouth, mortified, and tried to flee.
“Perhaps just dessert? ” he offered. She agreed. When the servants brought everything the kitchens had, he watched her face transform as she tried the cake.
She closed her eyes and made that same pleased sound. She was warm and real and unguarded. She licked cream off her bottom lip, and Luther gripped the arms of his chair to keep himself from moving. He was going to do this right.
Even if it killed him. —
The princess’s plan was simple. Make him not want to marry you. Rosie was failing spectacularly.
She tried being demanding. She asked for shoes, apologizing for the inconvenience, and Luther smiled and sent fifty pairs plus twenty new dresses and jewelry. She tried to display her lack of accomplishments by playing piano horribly. Luther said she was enchanting.
She tried to be jealous and clingy. Luther kissed her until she couldn’t breathe. So Parisa escalated. One final plan.
A compromising situation. Rosie would be found with another man, leaving no room for doubt. Luther would end the engagement himself. “No,” Rosie said, the word coming out firm.
“I won’t do that to him. I can’t. It’s cruel. ”
“Let me remind you of your situation,” Parisa said coldly.
“You’ve been impersonating a princess for weeks. When this ends—and it will end—what do you think he’ll feel, Rosie? You’re a maid. He doesn’t know you exist.
What do you think will happen then? ”
Rosie opened her mouth. Closed it. The princess pulled down a book and held it out.
“Can you even read this? ”
Rosie’s face went hot. She couldn’t. “Girls who marry kings are prepared for it from birth,” Parisa said.
“You know nothing. You wouldn’t even know what you don’t know. ”
“I could learn,” Rosie whispered. Parisa’s voice was almost gentle now.
“I love someone. It isn’t him. It will never be him. Help me end this, and none of us has to live with a choice we can’t bear.
”
Rosie looked down at her hands. “All right. ”
—
Luther was in his study when the attendant arrived, breathless. “The princess asked me to fetch you.
”
He found her in the blue receiving room. A man was touching his mate. She looked frightened. The room went red.
Luther’s hand found the man’s throat. He was across the room before he’d decided to move. “Luther, please. ” Her voice cut through the rage, desperate and frightened.
He released the man. “Get out. ”
Parisa was backed against the wall, red-eyed, looking at him with an expression he’d spent weeks trying to make sure she never wore. “Are you all right?
” he asked. “Did he hurt you? ”
“No. He didn’t.
”
He opened his arms, an offer. She pressed against his chest, shaking. “I cannot marry you,” she whispered. “Why?
”
“There’s someone else. ” She was crying now. “I should have told you from the beginning. ”
Every instinct roared against it.
The wolf snarled. The mate bond screamed. But she was looking at him with fear in her eyes. So Luther did the only thing that made sense.
He knelt. “You consume me,” he said, the truest thing he knew. “Since the night I found you, there hasn’t been a moment I haven’t spent thinking of you. Please.
Just give me the chance. ”
She made a sound like something breaking. “I cannot be yours. I have already given my heart away.
”
“There is a mate bond between us. You must feel it. If you truly choose otherwise, reject it. Formally.
And I will not fight you. ”
She swallowed. “I reject the mate bond. ”
It felt like dying.
The warmth in his chest went silent. A door slammed. He forced himself to stay standing, took her hand, brought it to his lips one last time. “I accept your rejection.
”
He turned and walked out. But the pain was too much. His hands were changing. The wolf was clawing its way out.
He tried to shift. He couldn’t fight it. The wolf tore free with a howl of pure anguish. —
Ten days later, Rosie was still in bed.
There was a void where he used to be. She’d felt him for weeks, a constant warm presence in her chest. Something beautiful and sacred that she’d destroyed with six words. She’d rejected him.
Her mate. Her king. The man she loved. It was the right thing.
The only thing that made sense. But he’d looked so hurt, smelled like grief and devastation as he’d accepted it with quiet dignity. When they made her work, she went. Scrubbing floors in a distant hallway.
Then she heard shouting. “This is a catastrophe,” a voice boomed. “It’s been ten days. How have you not managed to bring him back?
”
“Father,” Parisa’s voice cut in. “Even his Majesty’s own people couldn’t bring him back. You can’t blame Captain Jenkins for wanting to spare his men’s lives. ”
Rosie froze.
“Who are they talking about? ”
“A feral alpha,” Parisa was saying. “And not just any alpha. King Luther was quite formidable when he was lucid.
”
The world tilted. Rosie was on her feet and through the door before she’d decided to move. “What’s wrong with Luther? Is he hurt?
”
Three people stared at her. Parisa, an older man who could only be the king, and a guard captain. “He lost control of his wolf,” Parisa said slowly. “He’s disappeared into the forest.
We’ve sent search parties—”
“Which forest? When? ”
“This is none of your concern, child,” the king said coldly. Rosie turned on him.
“You are speaking about my mate. It is absolutely my concern. ”
The room froze. Parisa’s mouth fell open.
“Your mate? ” The king recovered. “King Luther is not your mate. ”
“Yes, he is.
” Rosie’s voice cracked. “He was. Before I—” The words stuck in her throat. It all made horrible sense now.
Luther going feral. Because she’d broken the bond. “Someone please remove the girl,” the king sighed. “No,” Parisa stepped forward.
“I think she’s right. You shared a bond with him? ”
Rosie nodded, crying. “Yes.
I didn’t realize what it was at first, but—”
“You foolish girl. Breaking a mate bond is dangerous. Lethal to some. He’s gone insane with grief.
”
“I will go to him,” Rosie said. The captain made a sound of disbelief. “My girl, it’s too late. He’s not himself.
He’ll tear you apart. ”
“My mate would never hurt me. I will find him. And I will bring him back.
”
She walked out before anyone could stop her. —
The horse carried her deeper into the forest. The captain stopped by a river. “This is as far as I go.
”
She dismounted and caught something on the wind. His scent. “You can go. It’s best I’m alone.
”
She followed the scent through dense undergrowth. Something was different. Darker. More animal.
And underneath it all, pain so raw it made her eyes burn. A growl rumbled through the trees. She turned slowly. He emerged from behind the trees, the largest wolf she’d ever seen.
Dark fur, nearly black. Eyes glowing faintly, wild and unfocused. Growling, low and continuous. “Luther,” she breathed.
There was no recognition in his eyes. His lips pulled back. He prowled forward and pounced. Rosie hit the ground hard.
Massive paws pinned her, teeth bared inches from her throat. For one terrible moment, she thought she’d lost him completely. Then she looked into his eyes, and slowly, with careful precision, she tilted her head back and bared her throat. “You don’t have to be lonely anymore.
I’m here. ”
The growl changed, became questioning. Then he sank his teeth into her neck. Rosie gasped at the sharp pain.
Then the bond snapped back into place and she felt everything. His pain. His despair. His grief.
It crashed over her in waves. When the world cleared, she was looking at a man. Her man. Her king.
Naked and pressed against her, inches from her face, eyes still glowing faintly more gold than human. “Luther,” she breathed, raising a shaking hand to his cheek. He leaned into the touch like he was starving. “Princess?
”
“I’m not a princess. ” Her voice cracked. “I’m just me. Rosie.
I’m a maid. I clean floors. That’s all I am. ”
He frowned, searching her face.
“There was somebody else? ”
“There wasn’t. Parisa, the real princess, she loves another. That’s why I pretended to be her.
Because she needed—” She stopped. “I’m sorry. I wanted so badly to be your princess. Because I love you.
But I’m nobody. I can’t even read properly. ”
Luther smiled. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
“I don’t care what you can or can’t do. I know what you are. My mate. My equal.
The woman I love. ” He pressed her hand to his chest, where his heart was racing. “Now claim me. Make me yours as you are mine.
”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his neck. “Please,” he said again. She bit down. The bond ignited.
And then his mouth was on hers, and the forest faded, and there was only him. —
Rosie sank into the bath with a groan of relief, eight months pregnant and approximately the size of a small house. “Better? ” Luther asked, steadying her against him.
“Much. ” She leaned back against his chest with a contented sigh. “I seem to recall a similar bath,” he murmured. “Though you were considerably smaller and considerably more drunk.
”
“I was very drunk. And you were very patient about finding me in your bath uninvited. ”
“I was completely undone. I believe my exact thought was, I’m going to marry this girl and I don’t care what it takes.
”
“You thought that while I was naked in your bath asking you to get in with me? ”
“I thought that about thirty seconds after you told me I had a nice voice. ” He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Everything after that just confirmed what I already knew.
”
Rosie smiled, one hand resting on her belly where their child was performing acrobatics. “Your heir is very active today. ”
Luther’s hand joined hers, spanning the width of her stomach with reverent care. “They have excellent taste,” he said.
“Like their mother. ”
“A year ago I was scrubbing floors. ”
“A year ago you were already my mate. You just didn’t know it yet.
”
Their child kicked firmly against his palm. He laughed, delighted. “Who,” Rosie said, “is supposed to be in a council meeting right now? ”
“They can wait.
” He murmured against her skin. “My mate is in a bath. I have priorities. ”
She laughed, and he caught the sound with his mouth.
And they stayed there until the water went completely cold.
