He pulls his own clothes back on quickly and shuts off the space heater. “It’s the winter solstice.”
“Yes,” I say slowly.
Jafar gives me a look. Even without much light, I can feel the censor in it. “Come now, Jasmine. You can’t think I’ve forgotten your tradition.”
I should have known. I should have known he’d notice and catalogue it away in that impressively twisty brain of his. Of course he realized, even before I did, that this was something I needed. “Thank you,” I whisper.
Jafar tucks my hand into the crook of his arm and we walk together out of the maze. Instead of turning toward the house, we move to the gardens. It’s almost the opposite route of the one I always took with my father, but that feels good and right.
A new tradition, built on the old, but different.
Perfect.3A ProposalI am so tired. The kind of exhaustion that settles in my bones to stay. It has nothing to do with the amount of sleep I achieve each night and everything to do with the sheer stress that comes from running a territory. From being a woman running a territory that’s had a man at the helm for decades.
I rub the bridge of my nose, careful not to touch my eyes and smudge my makeup. I’ve had to make examples of people. To do things that feed my nightmares that same way Ali’s death lingers in that darkest recesses of my soul.
I feel Jafar before I see him. It’s as if the very air in the room shifts to accommodate his presence. He’s always been like that, but the longer we’ve been together the more attuned to him I become.
He stops behind me and then his hands are on my shoulders, thumbs digging into the tight muscles there. “We’re done for the day.”
“I have one more meeting.” A video call with the newest territory head—Cordelia. I feel a foolish sort of kinship with her, another daughter stepping into the larger-than-life shoes of her deceased father. I won’t let that kinship muddy the waters when our territories share a border, but I can’t deny it. “I can’t put it off. It’s Cordelia Belmont.”
“You’re right. You can’t put it off.” He finds a knot and digs his thumb in hard enough to buckle my knees and make me moan a little. “Do you need me?”
I smile. “Always.”
“Baby girl.”
I turn in his arms and slide my hands up his chest. “After this, I’m going to be too wound up to sleep.”
His lips curve. “That wasn’t even a subtle hint.”
“No, it wasn’t.” I press a quick kiss to his lips, barely resisting the urge to sink into it. I don’t have time. There’s never enough time anymore. Someone always needs something from me, and nights are my only relief, the only time I can let down my walls and just be me with Jafar. The moment I walk through the doors of our suite and kick off my heels always feels like taking off a corset after wearing it for hours upon hours.
He sets me back and strokes his hands down my arms. “You have this under control. Cordelia isn’t in a position to press us, not when she has Ursa biting at her heels on the other side.”
“Jafar.” I wait for him to look at me. “I know. I have access to the same information you do.”
He laughs softly. “Sometimes it’s hard taking a backseat in these meetings and negotiations.”
“I can’t imagine why.” I arch my brows. “You aren’t staging another coup, are you?”
“When the last one went so well?” He takes my hand, his finger brushing my bare left ring finger. He’s been patient, but in the last month or so, he’s been touching me there more and more often. I suspect he’d want his ring on my finger no matter what, but after the unconventional offering in marriage I got from Abel Paine a few weeks ago, Jafar has been more subtly possessive. “They won’t stop asking, you know.”
Of course his mind’s gone to the same place mine has. I glance at the clock, but I still have a few minutes. “Jafar, he literally gave me a pick of his six brothers to marry, sight unseen. That’s hardly a tempting offer.” I step to him, pressing myself against his chest. “No one is as tempting as you, Daddy.”
He sets his hands on my hips, but the dark emotions don’t fade from his eyes. “I’ll wait as long as you need.” He urges me closer, rolling my hips against his hardening cock. “But some day, I want my ring on your finger, baby girl. I thought I could give it up, but that was before.”
I’m not really opposed to the idea. Once people stop looking at me and seeing weakness because of my gender, marrying Jafar will carry less risk of undermining my position. I wish it wasn’t something I had to consider, wish our happiness didn’t rank lower than the lives of everyone in our territory, but life is full of hard choices. “I love you.”