By the fifth day's nightfall, Adrian's patience had completely dissolved into pure, unadulterated madness.
He could not sleep. He could barely eat. The swelling weight of the child within his womb seemed to amplify every raw, wild emotion, turning his natural pride into a sharp, suffocating possessiveness.
He had explicitly warned the brute. He had drawn the line. Yet Thoris continued to walk the fine edge of Adrian's temper, testing him, pushing him, driving him toward the brink of sanity.
At this point, Adrian had no intention of holding back his true feelings. He didn't care about decorum. He didn't care about his dignity as an imperial prince. He wanted total, absolute submission, and he wanted it tonight.
Inside the quiet, dimly lit private bedchamber, the air was thick with tension. The hours dragged past seven, approaching eight, and with every passing minute, Adrian paced the length of the silk rug like a caged, wild beast.
When Thoris finally unlocked the bedchamber doors at eight in the evening, carrying a freshly lit oil lamp and a bowl of warm water, he barely had time to cross the threshold before the heavy oak doors were slammed shut behind him.
*CLANG!*
The sharp sound echoed loudly off the high stone ceiling.
Adrian stood right in front of the door, his hand trembling as he held the heavy iron key he had just ripped from the lock. Without taking his eyes off Thoris, he threw the key into the far corner of the room, where it landed with a loud, echoey rattle against the marble floor before rolling under a heavy velvet divan.
Thoris set the lamp down on the side table, turning around slowly. His golden eyes swept over the prince, taking in every line of his rigid stance.
Adrian was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling violently beneath his loose, rich blue silk robes. The round swell of his pregnant belly was prominent beneath the fine fabric, but his small face was pale, his dark blue eyes flashing with a wild, terrifying fury.
"You didn't listen to a single word I said," Adrian whispered, his voice dangerously low, trembling with raw rage.
Thoris kept his expression completely neutral, though his heart thudded against his ribs like a war drum. He slowly lowered his hands to his sides.
"Your Highness? I have completed all my assigned tasks for the evening—"
"Do not play foolish with me!" Adrian barked, marching forward until his chest was nearly pressing against Thoris's broad front.
"I saw you in the west corridor with Lady Clara!" Adrian hissed, his voice shaking. "I saw you smiling at the laundry maid near the courtyard arches! You think because I am stuck in these quarters carrying your child that I cannot see what you are doing?!"
"Adrian—"
"I told you!" Adrian's voice cracked, tears of pure, boiling jealousy overflowing his lashes and spilling hot down his flushed cheeks.
"I told you that every breath you take belongs to me! Every inch of your body—everything! So how dare you give even a fraction of yourself to anyone else?!"
His small hands tightened in the fabric, tugging with all his strength, though the massive warrior didn't budge an inch.
"You are my servant Thoris!" Adrian choked out through his tears. "My bound knight! My father's prisoner, my child's father, mine! How dare you laugh with them while I am sitting here losing my mind?!"
Thoris looked down at the weeping, furious prince clutching his clothes.
The sight of Adrian—so utterly unraveled, so fiercely territorial, so completely consumed by him—sent a dark, intoxicating wave of heat rushing through his veins. The subtle game he had played over the past five days had worked better than he could have ever dreamed. The icy walls the prince had built between them had shattered into dust, leaving behind only this raw, burning possessiveness.
"Then take me,"
Thoris rasped out softly, his voice thick and deep.
"Take everything of mine."
"I told you didn't I?... there is no one else. I am yours to use, to hoard and to destroy."
"You want me to lock you away?" Adrian hissed, his voice shaking with a dangerous, unstable resolve as he stared up into those amber eyes.
"Fine. You want to see how far I will go to keep you?"
Without waiting for an answer, Adrian spun around, dragging Thoris by his tunic toward the massive, velvet-draped canopy bed in the center of the room.
Near the foot of the bed sat a heavy, wrought-iron chest where extra velvet drapes and linens were kept. Hanging from its side was a pair of thick, padded silk restraints—originally used to secure heavy bedposts during winter storms.
Adrian snatched the thick silk ropes, his hands shaking violently with emotion.
"On your knees," Adrian commanded, his blue eyes burning into Thoris's with an imperial fury that admitted no defiance. "Right now!"
Thoris didn't hesitate for a single second.
A low, breathy exhale escaped his chest as he dropped down onto both knees right at the foot of Adrian's bed. He lifted his massive, scarred wrists willingly, crossing them over each other, offering himself up without a shred of resistance.
"Bind me, My Lord," Thoris murmured, his deep voice rich with quiet, absolute surrender. "Chain me so tightly that I can never take a single step away from your side."
Adrian gasped softly at Thoris's instant obedience, the sudden contrast between his own wild rage and the warrior's complete submission catching in his throat. But his possessive fury was far too high to back down now.
He wrapped the thick silk cords tightly around Thoris's broad wrists, knotting them firmly against the heavy iron bedpost. He pulled the knots tight, securing the massive brute right where he wanted him.
Thoris's massive frame was now anchored directly at the foot of Adrian's bed, completely restricted, entirely at the prince's mercy.
Adrian stood over him, panting heavily, his cheeks flushed crimson, his tear-stained face glowing in the dim lamplight. He stared down at the towering warrior kneeling at his feet—bound, submissive, and looking up at him with a gaze filled with pure, terrifying worship.
"You stay here," Adrian whispered breathlessly, pressing a trembling hand against his swollen belly to steady himself. "You don't look at anyone. You don't speak to anyone. You belong right here... at my feet."
Thoris let out a low, dark rumble of satisfaction from deep within his chest. He leaned his head forward, pressing his forehead lightly against the hem of Adrian's silk robe, his warm breath soaking through the fabric around the prince's ankles.
"Where I have always belonged, My Lord," Thoris whispered raspily, a dark, victorious glint shining in his golden eyes.
"Right by your feet."
After a long silence in the room, the quiet atmosphere suddenly shifted into something solemn.
Thoris sat on the thick floor rug beside the bedpost, his broad shoulders resting against the dark wood, watching Adrian gently massage his own swollen ankles.
"I had a talk with Sir Phillip the other day to change serving roles in the palace," Thoris spoke up softly, his deep, raspy voice breaking the quiet stillness.
"Next month I will be discharged with the soldiers for border patrols against the monsters threatening to invade beyond the dungeons."
Adrian's hand froze instantly over his ankle. He slowly lifted his head, his face turning pale.
"What?" Adrian whispered. "With whose permission did you get the right to change your serving roles?"
"The Emperor's."
"My father?" Adrian gasped out, his chest rising and falling rapidly under his loose silk robes.
"Why is my father always meddling in my business lately?"
"It is because he cares, Adrian," Thoris replied gently, his eyes locked onto the prince with steady sincerity.
"At first he was skeptical about my request, but I just had to emphasize how your situation will be once that child is born. Not only for my sake, but for yours and the child's as well. I will earn merit and acknowledgment as the new sword of the Empire so that you will never be looked down upon."
Adrian felt a sudden, terrifying lump form in his throat. The very thought of Thoris leaving these safe, enclosed walls—going off to cold, dangerous borderlands to slay vile dungeon monsters—sent a spike of pure horror through his heart.
"Can't we just stay like this?" Adrian asked, his voice cracking with a vulnerability he hadn't shown in years.
"Until when, Your Highness?..." Thoris murmured, his expression softening with profound emotion.
"...—until it's too late to protect your reputation and our child's future?"
"Then what if that very merit you so highly seek eventually flares up your arrogance and turns you into a monster once again?"
Adrian pouted deeply, his delicate brows squeezing together in a mixture of anger, fear, and childlike defiance.
Thoris couldn't help but let out a low, warm chuckle at the sight of him. Even when furious, the prince looked breathtakingly beautiful.
"I have changed for the better, the old me is gone," Thoris said, his voice dropping into a solemn, heavy tone.
"I have already lost too much because of my foolishness, and I am not about to risk the most important part of my life again. This child still needs both parents to raise him."
Hearing those words, the last remnants of Adrian's icy resistance crumbled into dust.
Slowly, carefully, Adrian lowered himself down onto the plush rug, kneeling down directly across from Thoris. He rested his hands over his prominent bump, looking deep into Thoris's eyes.
"Do you promise that you will come back an even better man?" Adrian whispered, his eyes shining with unshed tears.
Thoris lifted his bound wrists as far as the silk cords allowed, pressing his forehead lightly against Adrian's warm hand resting on his knee.
"I promise with my life on the line to be a better man and a faithful husband to you."
A trembling, breathless sigh escaped Adrian's parted lips. He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Thoris's, letting his tears spill over his lashes onto Thoris's cheekbones.
"Then that is enough to make me wait for you."
With those words spoken, the invisible wall between them vanished entirely.
"I will untie you..." Adrian whispered raspily, a faint, mischievous smile touching his lips despite his tear-stained cheeks, "...but you are sleeping in this bed with me tonight. And every single night until you march for the border."
"Fine by me."
Adrian reached behind Thoris's broad wrists, his slender fingers carefully working the knots of the thick silk ropes. One by one, the tight bindings unravelled and fell away onto the carpet, leaving faint red marks on Thoris's tan skin.
The moment his hands were freed, Thoris didn't reach for his own wrists.
Instead, his massive, warm palms immediately reached out, cupping Adrian's face with fierce, overwhelming tenderness. He leaned in and pressed a lingering, passionate kiss to Adrian's lips—sweeping away months of regret, pain, and distance in a single, breathless moment.
Adrian let out a soft gasp against Thoris's mouth, his arms winding tightly around the former warrior's broad neck, pulling him as close as his pregnant belly would allow.
When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathing heavily, their foreheads resting together in the quiet twilight of the room.
Thoris let out a deep, contented laugh from his chest, gathering the prince up into his arms and lifting him gently onto the soft velvet mattress.
"I missed you so much, my beloved." Thoris murmured, pulling the heavy silk covers over them both as he held his family close in his arms.
"Let's stay like this forever."
*****