I couldn’t risk finding out. If survival meant surrendering my pride, then pride was a luxury I had to abandon.

My fingers, cold and clumsy with fear, managed to unclasp the heavy brass buckle of his leather belt. The sharp metal clicked in the silence of the room. I worked at the fastenings of his dark trousers, my pulse hammering so violently in my ears that it drowned out the crackle of the fireplace behind me. My breath hitched as the fabric fell away, revealing his fully aroused, impressive length. He was thick, veiny, and intimidating—a physical extension of the absolute power he held over the realm, and over me....