When I woke up, I felt a light touch on my hair. Someone was playing with my locks, so delicate that I almost didn't notice.

That touch soon disappeared, and I decided to open my eyes. I turned to my wife, and I saw the hand she had just used to reach my hair clenching the sheets. She was looking at me, her eyes open as if she's been up awhile.

Knowing her, it might have actually been the case.

«Good morning,» I said, smiling at her.

It felt so familiar to wake up next to Theodora that I forgot it was the first time. I almost reached out to her, but then I remembered that she didn't yet know me.

The smile she showed me as a reaction was shy and proper, more out of courtesy than a sign of good mood. Still, it was as charming as it could be.

«It's still early, your grace,» she murmured. «I didn't intend to bother you.»

I sat on the bed, settled on getting far from her. The nightgown barely covered her gentle shapes; her hair loose on the back had the scent of the bath. It was too much of a temptation to stay that close.

I should have sent her to sleep in her chambers; it would have been safer for her.

The clock was pointing at half past seven. It was later than what my Queen was used to get up, but I would have been sleeping if not for her presence on the bed.

«Indeed, it's early,» I chuckled. «Old habits are hard to die, aren't they?»

She looked at me, confused. She seemed to be pondering about something, so I moved the covers to get up.

Before I had time to lean a foot on the floor, though, a tight grip stopped me.

«Don't go yet,» she whispered, and every part of my brain still functioning broke down.

I turned to her, looking at her wide eyes, her teeth biting her lower lip... Her hair caressing her cheeks, and her white skin covered by the nightgown.

I remembered the daring caresses we shared in our previous life and the way she blushed the first time I kissed her.

I swallowed, focusing on keeping control over my body. The woman in front of me wasn't my Queen. It was a young maiden, in fear for her life.

It was someone fighting for survival.

I had to resist. I had to make Thea get used to me first. To open up her heart and begin to trust me.

I entwined our fingers, looking at our hands with a small grin.

«What?» I asked.

As expected, she blushed and straightened her shoulders in surprise.

«We haven't...» she breathed. Her voice was so low that I almost didn't hear her. Yet, it was the most alluring sound of them all.

«What?» I repeated. I wanted to make her even more embarrassed; I wanted to hear her admit that she asked me to stay with her...

It was wrong. I knew it, yet I couldn't help but tease her.

«I don't want to be the wife of a man that doesn't want to touch me.»

«Is that so?» I inquired.

Her arms were firm: she wasn't scared of me. It was just like always: she saw me as a duty to fulfil, a task to finish before solving the following matter.

When she nodded, I couldn't refrain from grinning. She lifted her brows, seeing a reaction on my face for the first time.

All the work done to make her believe I didn't have any hidden motive was thrown in the water with a simple motion.

I moved towards her and kissed her. After years of dreaming about her, I could finally hold her in my arms. I could taste her lips and sense her scent.

She flinched when I split her teeth with my tongue, and she lost balance. She fell on her back, looking at me with wide eyes.

Part of her was surprised, but the blushing on her cheeks betrayed her slight, innocent excitement.

She hadn't ever been kissed before, had she? I was the first to lay a hand on her, and that realisation made my blood rush.

It was the second time we met. Yet, for my wife, it was the first. It was all so new for her.

«I'm sorry, I was just surprised,» she whispered, misinterpreting my gaze. I should have realised she was wary of me at that moment.

Yet, all I could think of was how much I had missed her soft body. I repeated to myself that I had to hold back, that she didn't know me yet...

But it didn't help.

I lied next to her and caressed her cheek with a finger. I bowed down, longing for feeling her lips again when the door interrupted us.

I should have woken up from my daze; I should have stepped away and used the interruption as an excuse to leave.

Yet, all I could do was turn to Pericle and thunder against him.

He just looked at me with shock, and then he retreated behind the door. Meanwhile, my wife clung to my shirt and stared at me, nervous. She didn't want me to go, so she tried keeping me by her side with her thin arms, her slender fingers.

It was damn difficult not to tear her nightgown and assault her body with my attentions. I managed to peck her forehead, wondering how to leave without making her think she failed.

Then, my lips landed on her nose. She closed her eyes for a second, surprised by this shower of kisses. She bent her head when I moved on her neck, my thoughts dying one after the other.

It took me a minute or so to forget that I had to stop, to let her adapt to her new life. I forgot about everything but her soft body in my arms.