SIGRID

I finally let the nightgown slip to the floor and walked naked toward the bathroom, knowing that not even all the ice in the world could put out this fire.

Where is Silas?

I lifted my toned leg over the thick wooden rim and sank into the round tub filled with freezing water, chunks of ice floating on the surface.

“Mmm,” I moaned, slightly relieved from the heat burning inside me.

“Was I too harsh on him? Is he hurt? Does he resent me, hate me?”

“Better if he hates Electra. Better that way,” I kept repeating to myself, but every second that passed, I drowned deeper in the longing to see him, to feel his dominant presence near me.

*****

SILAS

I watched, hidden behind the column, as that damn slave returned with a heavy basin in her hands.

I could barely hold back the urge to snap her neck. She better not have laid a finger on my lady.

I waited for her to pass, and just before she could climb the stairs, I ambushed her from behind, yanking her arm and slamming her against the colu