14: Ada's POV

Darius led me to a beautiful garden. There was a circle of waist-height hedges with blossoming roses and hyacinths of every color scattered throughout, and in the middle of this was a large black gazebo. Candles were lit in a chandelier in the middle of the structure, providing a soft, flickering illumination. There was a pond with a fountain to the right of the gazebo, an ornate depiction of a supple-bodied woman surrounded by rabbits, birds, squirrels and other small creatures. On the left of the gazebo was a blackened fire-pit, flames blazing an a statue of a warrior clad in armor, standing straight.

Flowers bloomed around either statue, and ivy crept up and intwined around the lattice-work of the Gazebo. I looked around at the ornate etchings in each piece of wood when I reached the center of the gazebo. There were so many— ranging from depictions of flowers and moons, to realistic wolves and trees. In the center of each post was the Ashford family crest.

It wasn’t until I saw Darius leaning against one of the railings, smiling softly at me, that I realized that I was physically spinning in a circle while trying to look at everything. I froze and smiled back at him, “What?”

He stepped toward me, his huge body towering over me, “Do you have any idea just how stunning you are?”

My breath caught in my throat as my eyes danced deep within the beautiful fields of grape hyacinths that lived in his gaze. I swallowed and shook my head, “No, but I get the impression you’d like to tell me.”

Darius’ chuckle felt like the sun itself as warmth spread through my body. His fingertips trailed over my jawline, “Oh, I’d love to,” his hand rested on the side of my neck and I tilted my head back to look at him, “Actually, I’d rather show you. But first,” I could feel the vibration of his fast heartbeat against my own chest, “We haven’t had much of a chance to talk. To get to know one another.”

My mouth was bone dry when I attempted to swallow, “That is true. What do you want to know?”

His eyebrows furrowed and he took a step back from me, “Don’t you want to know about me?”

“I—I—I do,” I stammered and turned my back to him, “I just assumed you’d want to know about me first.”

“I already know about you,” he spoke softly, “I know about your time on the farm and why you wound up there,” I froze and he quickly stated, “In that regard, I know two sides of the same story. There’s the one that is in your file,” he sucked in a breath and stepped up close to me again, “That one tells a tragic story of a spoiled girl that threw a tantrum and hurt a beloved Luna,” I squeezed my eyes shut as tears developed, “And the other comes from a trusted informant of mine. He tells me that the beloved Luna tricked a young girl that she feared and then used her influence to get her sent away and de-ranked,” Darius’ fingers ran over the fabric of the cloak covering my arms, “Based on what I’ve seen of you, I’m inclined to believe the second one.”

“You’ve barely seen me at all,” I sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to slow down my racing heart, “Perhaps I have you fooled.”

His breath was hot against my neck, “My soul knows yours, Ada. It tells me there isn’t an unkind bone in your body,” goosebumps littered my skin, “Tell me, how do you *really* feel about this arrangement?”

There were only two options. I could lie and preserve the perfection of this moment. Or I could tell the truth and potentially screw everything up. But the way he spoke to me and about me… there was only really one option, wasn’t there?

I squared my shoulders and spun to face him. My breath hitched when I found he was nearly pressed against me. My voice was a whisper, “I hate this. I’m trying to be okay with it,” he reached up and brushed a falling tear away with his thumb, “But I don’t want this. I want to be with my mate.”

Darius pressed his forehead to mine, locking his eyes with mine. There was a tenderness there that made him twice as handsome as I’d ever thought him to be before. Something in the way he smiled told me he’d already known that was the answer to his question. He gripped my hand and spun me out, sending my dress whirling in the night breeze. The scent of vanilla wafted off of him, adding another layer or warmth to his complexity. He pulled me back in close to him, swaying to the sounds of nature around us.

“Have you considered that perhaps you will find your mate in one of us?” he questioned gently, lightly brushing his lips against my earlobe, “The bond happens differently for everyone. You have to consider that if you are the destined surrogate, one of us may be your destined mate.”

I hadn’t let myself consider that possibility. I’d had faith in destiny and the Moon Goddess before and it hadn’t gone well. The odds were most likely not in my favor when it came to one of them being my mate. That just felt like hopeless dreaming. Still… it would be nice.

Rather than responding directly to him, I simply asked, “And how do you feel about this situation?” I sighed when he dipped me back gracefully, “You can’t possibly love the idea of sharing a woman with both of your brothers.”

He whipped me back up to him, smirking, “You may be surprised to find that we’ve shared things in the past,” I blushed when I realized how much that sentence made me salivate, “It may not be ideal, but I’ve faced worse scenarios then sharing a beautiful shewolf with my brothers. At least they’re honorable men.”

A slow heat seemed to churn in my lower belly. Darius could certainly turn on the charm, and apparently I was no immune to it. I cleared my throat as he returned our bodies to the monotonous sway, “Tell me your favorite color.”

“Green,” he answered quickly, twirling me out once more, “My favorite flower is a daisy, my favorite instrument is a violin, and my favorite pass-time is a good game of chess. Any other questions you’d like to use to delay our evening?”

I blushed, looking up at his radiant eyes from under my lashes, “I suppose only one. Are you pleased that you won my *honor?* I teased.

There was a flash of pain across his face. He quickly replaced it with a lascivious smile, “Quite. Are you happy that I won?”

The blush on my cheeks only deepened. I remained silent for a few more moments before whispering, “You were the one I would have chosen.”

He froze and took a step back. His face searched mine for something, but then he blinked and grasped my hand. He pulled me back toward the castle, this time in the opposite direction of the banquet. Darius practically busted through a set of glass french doors, moving so fast that I could hardly keep my bearings. Somehow, in the span of less than a minute, he was standing at the door to my quarters. My stomach dropped as he opened the door and motioned for me to go in.

The hearth had a fire burning, and there were at least a dozen candles lit on either side of my bed. The beddings and sheets had been changed into what I had requested— a large, oversized black comforter and half a dozen large pillows. Darius took in the room and all the changes that had been made and turned to me.

His eyebrows were raised, “You’ve been busy.”

“I’ve had a lot of time on my hands,” which were now shaking and unsure of what to do.

Darius stepped toward me, “I like it,” his hands worked quickly, undoing the tie at my neck. When the cloak fell to the ground at my feet, I swallowed hard. His eyes scoured my bare shoulders, “You’ve made a lot of progress since you came here.”

“Thank you?” I questioned.

“I mean, before you were beautiful,” his fingertips brushed against my collar bones, “but you hadn’t been taken care of. Now,” he reached up and started to remove each individual bobby pin from my long brown-gold hair, “You are simply stunning. A sight to behold,” the loose curls cascaded down and around my shoulders, silky in texture. Darius ran his fingers through it, eyes glazed over, “I want to enjoy every single bit of you, Ada.”

He gripped my hips and spun me around, working quickly to undo the lacing of my corset. The corset fell to the floor with a dull thud, the skirts following closely behind. Without prompting, I turned back to face him. He was still in his full suit, eyes raking up and down my body, which was now only clad in jewelry, a navy slip and my high heels. Fire seemed to burn within his normally tame eyes. For a moment, I felt fear as I was sure his flames could consume me if I let them.

But then he was pressing his body close to mine, seeming to steal the very air from my lungs. And in that single second, I forgot every reason I hadn’t wanted to do this. There was only Darius and his intent. His eyes, his body, his thudding heart… all trummed the same thing. They were taught with not just need, but *want.*

His voice was strained and low, throaty, “Ada, are you ready?”

Instinct told me to say no. But the dull aching I felt due to his proximity, the heat that had started between my legs, seemed to outweigh all reason. My voice was firm, dooming me, “Yes, Darius. I am.”