Evelyn's POV

I had seen enough when the maid returned to the dining hall with Ash's untouched dinner, just as she had returned previously with his lunch and breakfast before that. I took the platter from her and marched towards the study; its thick, mahogany doors had remained bolted the entire day and any disturbance was rejected by deadly silence. Perhaps even an agitated retort would have been less intimidating. I took in a breath and reminded myself that behind these doors was no beast, but my husband.

Or a beast of a husband?

Shrugging all thoughts aside, I knocked on the firm doors with even firmer conviction.

As expected, there was no answer.

I knocked again, this time, harder.

Still nothing.

Ignoring the redness discoloring my knuckles, I incessantly continued rapping on the awful door. A minute or two in, I heard a chair scratching against the floor, suggesting that he left his desk. He took measured steps towards the door, each echoing unnecessarily louder than the first.

I could almost hear his mental counting as he steadied his breathing, just as I had taught him to control his anger.

Excitement erupted within me at the thought of his reaction.

I instinctually stepped back as the doors swung open with a thud. His eyebrows were furrowed, creating unsightly wrinkles on his otherwise waxen skin, and his mouth was contorted into a grimace. Then, almost immediately, that livid mask was replaced by surprise. Embarrassed, he ran his fingers through his hair, finally letting out that last breath that he had been holding onto. As if to invite me inside, he took a step to the side and held his hand out.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, I don't intend to intrude, but you seemed to have forgotten about the world outside this study – or rather that you are a married man with a wife who would be concerned about your wellbeing." I mockingly curtsied.

He suppressed a chuckle as he took the silver platter of food from my hands and followed me inside, "What would I do without you?"

The smell of food had gotten to him as I watched him hurriedly place his meal on the table, looking as if he could devour it all in one bite.

"What have you been working on all this time that you've forgotten your appetite?" I asked in a soft voice, regretting not knocking on his door earlier.

He nonchalantly nodded at the papers to his side.

I gasped upon reading the arrest warrants.

The very first posthumously denounced King Gavin, while the following documents ordered for the arrest of the heads of each family that owed the treasury.

Just the thought of the aftermath parched my throat, so much so that I could barely find my words again.

"What do you think?" He asked, awaiting my opinion.

"A-Ash, this could mean chaos!" I protested, my voice quivering almost as much as my hands.

He rose from his chair and placed his hands on my arms, steadying them.

"What do you mean, love?"

Tears began to well at the corners of my eyes.

He knew very well what I meant.

A monarch simply does not denounce his own monarchy and expect everything to be fine.

"The common classes will never trust us again and neither will the landed nobility! Ash, we could lose everything!" I cried out.

He hushed me, "I'd rather start from scratch than continue in this miserable state we're in."

"But you would have to be there in order for that to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"What if you lose control? What if this all goes wrong? We've seen and heard of rebellions before, how do you think your family came into power after the last lineage?"

"Ev, that was over a century ago. There won't be another bloodbath like that one."

"How can you be so sure?" I contradicted, my voice laced with apprehension.

He rested his forehead against mine, so close that I could see the dark specks marring his otherwise clear, blue eyes.

"I'm not like the others. People will know that, my policies will speak for themselves. Sedalia will experience nothing but justice while I sit on that throne, and with that, progress."

The resolution in his voice gave me comfort, but what lie outside these castle walls did not.

"Don't you trust me?" He pressed after there was no answer.

"I trust you, but I don't trust them."

"I can handle them as long as I have you by my side." He muttered before closing the minimal space between us.

There was something else in this kiss, something I've never sensed from him before. It was hunger, but not for food, and my body responded with equal desperation. When was the last time we shared a passionate kiss? Before this entire mess had started, when that Elena wench last visited? Had it been three weeks? Four?

Far too long.

My body surprised me as I pulled Ash closer, so close that I could feel the rigidity of his body beyond my own. I noticed seconds of hesitation before he complied at my beckoning, wrapping his arms around my waist while his hands roamed elsewhere. My hands, which had been shaking before, were steady as ever as they listlessly tugged at the buttons of his shirt, freeing them one by one. I could sense his shock at my initiative, to which he responded with equal eagerness as he pulled at the ribbon securing the bodice of my dress.

Never had we gone this far before, yet it still didn't feel far enough.

I fumbled with the last few buttons as he clasped my hands with his own. He looked down at me with dazed eyes, his thick eyelashes nearly masking the burning desire within those deep blue pools. The silence was interrupted by nothing but our deep breaths.

"Not here." He asserted in a voice so husky that it sent pleasant chills down my spine.

"Then where?" I whimpered, wanting nothing more than to rid him of that shirt and run my hands across his well-defined torso.

The ladies weren't exaggerating when they likened him to marble during all those balls. It almost sent a tinge of envy through me, but this moment was too good to ruin.

Without an answer, he secured the ribbon back in place before fixing his own buttons quicker than I could process.

"Where this was meant to happen along time ago." He smirked, hinting at our nuptial chambers.

I blushed at the thought. Although we had been using them recently, we never used it for that, the sole purpose of the combined living quarters.

He took my hands into his, intending to plant a soft kiss on my forehead, only to be interrupted by hurried knocks on those wretched doors. He immediately distanced himself as Sir William's familiar voice bellowed through the thick wood, urgency evident in his tone.

"Your Majesty, I request your council immediately! There has been a murder!"

My eyes flew wide open at his statement, all remnants of desire now purged by reality.

It was all happening too soon.