by Anna Argent
His throat moved as he swallowed down some kind of emotion. She couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but his eyes were bright and shining as he looked at her. There was something different about him—he stood a little taller, a little straighter. His shoulders were pulled back and his head was held high. “Thank you, Your Imperial Majyr. I value your opinion over all others.”
“Good. Warrian and you can both get pardons, and I’m going to get your resignation.”
“Resignation, Your Imperial Majyr?”
“It’s time for you to step down. Retire,” she said. “And I’ve got someone in mind to take your place.”
“My son—” he started to say before she cut him off.
“Is probably an asshole like you. We need some fresh blood. Someone like Rohra.”
“The warrior?” asked Utral, like she’d made no sense.
“Yes. Her. I like her. She’ll be a good addition to the council, don’t you think? Someone who understands battle in a time of war?” Isa’s voice was laced with a cheerful threat, which all the other men on the council understood well.
“We agree,” said Utral.
“Good. Now go and draw up all the paperwork or whatever it is you do, and give us some time alone.”
Warrian helped Pretor out the door, then barred it behind them. He turned, grinning as he shook his head at her. “I think you broke them.”
“Good. They needed to be broken. Things around here are going to change.”
“Apparently,” he said, smiling.
She went to him and slid her hands over his shoulders. As always, the feel of his body under her fingers ignited something fierce and compelling deep inside of her. The last few days she’d struggled to keep her feelings to herself. Even as he’d loved her so slowly and gently she thought she’d cry from his tenderness, the words swelled inside of her, aching to come out.
But once he got his pardon and could do as he pleased, she wasn’t sure what he’d pick. Living here with her seemed like a drag and a waste of his ridiculous talent. But she couldn’t go back to Earth and leave all of these people here to fend for themselves. There were still enemies to defeat, even if they had been driven back. Warrian told her that more of the Raide’s forces would come. They would not give up that easily. She felt connected to this place. A part of it. As much as she missed Earth, this was now her home.
The only question was whether or not it was Warrian’s as well.
“What will you do?” she asked.
“You’ve freed me to do whatever I please. No more dishonor holding me back. I will never be able to thank you enough for that, Isa.”
“So, what do you wish to do?”
“Bathe with you.”
She groaned in delight at the thought. “No, I mean after you’re a free man and everything is all official.”
“Ah, that.” He stroked her hair, twirling the unbound strands around his finger. She’d told him yesterday that she wasn’t going to braid it anymore unless she felt like it, and all he’d done was give her this dark smile of approval. Then he’d made love to her so slowly she could still feel the way he filled her body.
She shivered. “Yes, that.”
“I think I will sign up for a position as an imperial guard.”
“You mean those guys who stand outside my door?”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majyr.”
“I have a better position in mind.”
His gaze darkened. “What’s that?”
“Imperial consort.”
He laughed. “You want me to be your whore?”
She shook her head and kissed his chin. “No, I want you to be my husband, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign-up sheet for that.”
His eyes sparked with a thousand pinpoints of light. The rest of him went still. “Husband?”
“You do have those here, don’t you?”
“We do, though the empress never marries.”
“What is she supposed to do when she falls in love?”
He blinked. “You’ve fallen in love?”
“Yes, with this devastatingly handsome warrior. No one approves, but I really don’t care much what other people think. My heart wants him. Wants you.”
“You can’t love me, Your Imperial Majyr.”
“It’s Isa. And why not?”
His fingers tightened at her waist, pulling her more fully against him. “The empress is only supposed to love her empire.”
“That’s just sad. Clearly I’m going to make a crappy empress.”
“Perhaps, but I will still love you.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “You will?”
“I will,” he vowed.
A wave of elation crashed over her, nearly buckling her knees. She’d never felt anything as potent and humbling as she did right now, seeing this man look at her with such visible love pouring out of him. She could feel it in his touch, smell it on his skin, hear it in the low, steady beat of his heart.
She swallowed twice to clear her throat enough that she could speak. “Maybe you should prove it,” she said. “I know how much you like a challenge.”
“I do,” he said. “And you are the most challenging woman ever born.”
Isa grinned. “Sounds like we might have a deal, then.”
“Definitely a deal, Your Imperial Majyr. Now take off that robe and get into the water. Let me show you just how I handle a challenge like you.”
About the Author
After spending years working as an engineer in corporate America, Anna traded it all in for a quiet life in the country. She lives with her husband on a small cattle ranch in the Ozark Mountains, penning stories filled with love, lust and a healthy dose of magic. She loves to hear from her readers at [email protected].
The best way to be the first to hear about news, contests, current projects and future releases is to sign up for the Anna Argent A-Team newsletter. When she’s not busy writing, you can also catch Anna on a variety of social media sites. To find out more, visit Anna’s website.
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Books by Anna Argent
The Taken Series
Taken by Storm
Taken by Surprise
Taken by Force
The Stone Men Series
Made Flesh
Heart of Stone (Available February 2017)
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Did you love Taken by Storm? Then you should read Taken by Surprise by Anna Argent!
The last of their kind, each born with a unique set of gifts, the Taken are a dying people. They were whisked away to Earth as children, hidden for their own protection and raised as humans. Now adults, they are the only hope for a world consumed by war and terror. Hunted both by those who seek to protect them as well as those who wish to use them, their lives depend on who finds them first.
In a world where technology and magic coexist as one, only a few special people have the power to stand guardian against the death of countless innocent souls. They must defeat the Raide and stop the ravenous war machine that destroys all it touches. Or humans will be next.
Zoe Last is a busy woman. She has a business to run, her dead father’s last riddle to solve, and an army of bad guys working for a man who wants to dissect her brain and study its contents. But who doesn’t have challenges?
She’s spent her whole life learning to fit in, playing the good little human and biding her time until the war raging on her home world is over. But when a sexy, tattooed stranger comes into her shop, looking for her, she knows her quiet life of blending in is over. It’s time to run.
Born a destroyer among creators, Talan has always known his path would be
filled with pain and violence. It’s not what his parents hoped for, and not the life he would have chosen for himself, but when the beautiful, brilliant Zoe enters his life, he finally knows why he was born broken. A creative, talented, easily distracted woman like her would never survive without a man like him to protect her. Now all he has to do is convince her of it before she runs right into the hands of the enemy, and then convince himself to keep his hands off of her sweet, sexy body long enough to do his job.
Together, they must solve a convoluted riddle, find a lost treasure, and figure out a way to keep Zoe out of the clutches of a sadistic killer who can rip secrets from his victim’s mind with a single glance. With the enemy closing in and the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance, there’s not a second to spare…