When I woke up, we were tangled together, his body wrapped around mine in a way that made me grin uncontrollably. The memory of last night filled me with a ridiculous kind of happiness, the kind that made me think I could live like this forever. But then reality crept in—the tangled mess of my concubine status and the ever-looming presence of the Queen, my lover's wife, who despised me with every fiber of her being. My smile faded, replaced by a heavy, sinking feeling.

Hadrian's steady breath ...