Secrets of a Reckless Princess by Annabel Wolfe

delicious sexual culmination also. She was bound to him publically and intimately. But she was also bound to Damon emotionally, and Marc did not want her to decide she’d made a sacrifice of that friendship to take him as a consort. Unhappy rulers didn’t often think as clearly as necessary. They needed to settle things between the three of them.
    “Come have a glass of wine with us after you’ve changed,” he suggested to Le Clerc. He and Jayla were sharing her quarters in the royal part of the palace until a new suite could be arranged for them. “I think we have a few things to discuss.”
    Damon caught his gaze and nodded, understanding what the offer meant. “I’ll be there in a short while.”
    Jayla was tellingly quiet when they scanned into her private rooms. For the official signing of the marriage documents and interview with her mother she wore a flowing emerald garment that exactly matched her eyes, and it draped her slender figure with enticing closeness. “Thank you,” she said the moment the door slid shut and they were alone.
    “For what?” He lifted his brows in inquiry, enjoying the sight of her and the light drift of her perfume. It reminded him of the fragrance of the tiny blue flowers that grew wild around the Governor’s quarters back on Minoa. His mother would not let them be replaced with more standard vegetation, much to the irritation of the head groundskeeper.
    “You helped Damon.” She hesitated and then went on with simple dignity. “With his father, that isn’t always easy. To get him freed without further punishment was a miracle. My mother was furious with him for causing such dissention, and not only on Anasta, so getting her to consider an appointment to the Ruling Council for him, that’s unbelievable.”
    “It hasn’t happened yet,” Marc pointed out, loosening the top fastening of his formal tunic. “But I think it will. Your mother has waited, as has Raphael Le Clerc, for someone to take control of this situation. To a certain extent, I don’t blame them. It isn’t a small task, Jayla. Even with Damon helping us, the reforms are going to be hard to push through. He’s unpopular with the lawmakers, but the colonists feel quite differently, so that will help. Toss someone in incarceration for his inflammatory support of new laws to help the average citizen and you make a martyr of him. Your mother, Le Clerc, and the Universal Council did that for us. Enlist his aid and raise him to a position of power, and now the martyr has wide public influence where we need it most.”
    “Do you think so?”
    “If I didn’t, do you imagine I would so stanchly advocate for him?”
    “No, I suppose not.” She hesitated, and then said simply, “Excuse me for a moment.”
    Marc watched her go into her sleeping area and heard the door to the cleansing room close. He wandered over and helped himself to a glass of wine, finding he liked the rich golden native beverage, the tartness on his tongue pleasing. Jayla also pleased him, and when she returned, he watched her with a singular predatory hunger that was unusual. With most of his lovers he was more detached, but she intrigued him.
    Her green eyes were shadowed by long lashes. She walked over to where a window looked out over the central gardens and stared at the sparkling fountain, at this hour lit by luminescent stones under the flowing water. “You know, you are not alike, but you and Damon remind me of each other.”
    He watched her closely, admiring her perfect profile. “How so?”
    “You both have such purpose .” She smiled wryly. “Again, not in the same way. His is intense and forceful, and yours is controlled and determined.”
    “I don’t disagree. Tell me, are you in love with him?”

    * * * *

    It was the second very personal question he’d asked her, but then again, legally the male standing with such negligent nonchalance a few feet away had every right to ask it. Marc was now her husband, the news of