“Except when ours is a lord,” I said.

He sighed. “Wasp, understand we had to be certain. I really thought he was with us, but when I got information on shit going down and him not reporting it to us, I had to start questioning things. If we have spies, and the horsemen have spies, don’t you think the lords might too? And who better to send than the one who swept you off your feet?”

“I believe in him. He’s just upset.”

“He’s fucking other girls, wasp. Every night. He’s burying himself in another woman and filling her. Not you. He chose them, not us. Letting him go might be the start to fixing everything.”

“You think Fallon is the problem here?” I snorted bitterly. “Your insane desire to impregnate me couldn’t be it at all, right?”

We stopped and stared at each other.

“I’ve been thinking about it. I can stop.”

“Stop?”

“Forcing it on you. I mean, I can try. I don’t want you on birth control. We can just see what happens. If anything does, I’ll be forever grateful. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. Maybe I’m not the father for your first. Maybe it’s Vin. Or even Levin.”

“Levin doesn’t want kids, so it would be Vin,” I said softly. “But I’m not ready, Dominic. You keep trying. You keep trying to come up with different ways to make this better, but none of them gives me what I want.”

“What do you want,mia regina?”

“I want time. I keep saying it to you. Just give me some damn time!”

“I said I would,” he growled back.

I looked over his shoulder and saw Tate standing nearby watching us. I glared at him. Hatred didn’t describe the feelings for him I had.

“But you aren’t. You’re just changing the wording, hoping I’m a damn idiot and will let it slide. I want to decide, Dominic! I want it to be me who says to you that I’m ready. That I want to have a baby. I’m eighteen for fuck’s sake! Let me enjoy what little bit of my youth I have left. After we’re out of Bolten, all I’ll be is the great Dominic De Santis’s wife. I want more than that.”

“What more is there?” he demanded. “You have my love. What else do you want from me?”

I rubbed my eyes. We were going in circles.

“I want a choice.”

A muscle thrummed along his jaw. “I’m trying to save you. You’re my wife—”

“Maybe I don’t want to be anymore!” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. They weren’t even true. They were said in my frustration and the heat of the moment because he just wouldn’t listen to me.

Vincent and Levin stopped in front of us as Dominic stared down at me.

“Don’t.” I reached for him, but he backed away, shaking his head. “Dominic. Please.”

He turned and left me standing with Vincent and Levin, his head hanging as he walked across the commons.

“Damnit,” I groaned.

“What happened?” Vincent asked.

“I told him I didn’t want to be married anymore,” I whispered.

The two exchanged worried looks.

“B—”

“I just want to go back to the room. You guys are leaving tonight. Lock me in there and throw away the key after you let Aubrey in . She said she’d be a little late.”

“Bumblebee, you need to apologize to him,” Levin said. “If you don’t mean what you said to him.”