Layla_liliet
"Frighten me?" she repeated, tilting her head slightly. "You should try harder, Your Majesty."
His grip tightened just a fraction.
Not enough to hurt.
Enough to remind.
"Oh?" he said. "And what would impress you?"
She shifted on his lap-deliberately-just enough to test him, to test the line he always pretended not to draw.
"You could start," she said coolly, "by letting me go."
A pause.
Then-
He laughed.
Low. Dangerous. Pleased.
"And ruin my evening?" he murmured near her ear. "You wound me."
She rolled her eyes, but there was something else there-something sharper, something alive.
"You're insufferable."
"And yet," he said, tilting her chin up with two fingers, forcing her to meet his gaze, "you're still here."
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The air between them felt heavy. Charged.
Like something waiting to break.
She smiled then-slow, deliberate.
"Oh, I'm not here because I want to be."
His eyes darkened.
"No?" he whispered.
She leaned in just slightly, close enough that her words brushed against his lips-
"I'm here," she said softly, "because one day, people will tell stories about you."
A pause.
"And I intend to make sure they get it right."
Something flickered in his expression.
Interest.
Danger.
Possession.
"And what," he asked quietly, "will they say?"
Her smile didn't falter.
"That you ruled like a god," she said.
His grip tightened.
She continued-
"But that you fell," her voice softened, almost mocking now, "because of a woman you should have feared."