Chapter 4

Hayden extended his arm and jerked forward. The belt landed on Karina's thighs, adding another red stripe, and she cried out, her voice getting weaker. But she still didn't stop him. The tears were rolling freely down her cheeks, she kept sobbing and sniffling. But refused to give up.

His arm went up again, but he stopped himself before striking. What the hell was he doing? This was past any sexual pleasure spanking gave him, way past it actually. No, this was a punishment. He wanted to see her broken, humiliated. The rage in his soul bid him to keep going, she couldn't last long anymore. The problem was he was punishing the wrong person. This whole mess was caused by king Harold, a fool Hayden had already struck down with a sword. The girl had nothing to do with it. Quite the opposite, actually.

The way she came to him, humble, calmly ignoring his petty insults. Determined to save her people at all costs. How did she say it? 'Whatever it takes.' She certainly did hold up to her words. And how she stood there naked, gracefully showing her perfect body, not even flinching on his outrageous demand to undress. A true royalty, and not in a bad way. If he were to be completely honest with himself, he'd even feel a bit ashamed. She didn't deserve this.

He dropped the belt and untied the rope, slowly lowering her to the floor. The princess curled up on the ground, sobbing and taking quick, shallow breaths, and Hayden turned away, hoping that not looking at her would lower his guilt. It didn't. "Go home, princess. This is not a place for you," he said after a few moments.

A pair of shaking hands grabbed his arm and he instinctively reached for a dagger, hand grabbing the hilt but releasing it after he turned around and looked into her tear-stained face.

"Listen to me, you asshole," she hissed at him, green eyes narrowed in anger. She sniffled and wiped the snot and tears off her face with her still tied forearms in a very nonprincessy way. "What part of 'I'm not taking no for an answer.' did you not understand? If beating a woman senseless is your 'special need' that gets your dick up, which is absolutely pathetic by the way, then fine, be my guest. But unlike you, I actually care about the lives of my people and I am not leaving here until I've made sure they won't be harmed. So if you need to strike me again to feel better about yourself, go ahead. But tell me to go home again in that idiotic condescending tone of yours and I will fucking strangle you with my bare hands."

Hayden caught himself staring at her with his mouth open. He expected a lot of things of her but lashing out like this was not one of them. "Now isn't that ironic," he snorted, trying to mask his confusion. "A Levantian lecturing me on the value of people's lives. You brought this on yourselves!" Yes, anger was way better than shame and bemusement. "For years we've ignored your petty insults, your deceptions, your pathetic attempts to undermine me, to swindle my kingdom in every trade deal we've had. I've let it all slide because I was trying to avoid war! But no, your father had to go and push it even further and do something I simply couldn't ignore anymore." That was the raw truth. Even at his own court, there were whispers he had gone soft and weak for not moving against the Levantians earlier. That's why he couldn't afford to let this act go unpunished, to just walk away from this war. Invading Levanta was his only option, or at least he thought until she came and offered him another one.

Truth be told, he hadn't really thought about her offer, dismissing it as not serious and overall ridiculous right from the start. But now he found himself actually considering it. Despite what people have been whispering about him, he didn't love war, didn't enjoy chopping people into pieces on the battlefield, and most certainly didn't like bathing in the blood of his enemies. Just like his father taught him, he tried to take good care of his people, making sure they had a roof over their heads and weren't sick or hungry. That they could live in peace. And there were only two ways to achieve peace - to defeat all your enemies in long bloody wars, or to deter them from attacking by looking strong and dangerous. Hayden definitely preferred the second option, but any sign of weakness on his side could destroy his carefully built image as a ruthless and strong opponent. But marrying a princess could hardly be seen as a weakness, could it?

Karina was frowning at him, thinking about his words. She probably had no idea the feud between their countries ran for so long, the princesses were rarely included in the royal decision-making process. Unlike Hayden, who was present at each of his father's meetings ever since he was twelve and they often led endless debates about the matters of state.

"I can't justify my father's actions, I have no idea why he did what he did." Her voice was way calmer now, she was back to being humble and ready to do what he says. What an interesting woman. "And I'm not stupid, I understand you can't just let this go if you don't want to look weak. That's why I'm here trying to give you another option."

Hayden rubbed his chin. The idea of marriage was never particularly attractive to him, but he knew it was expected of him to have a wife and produce an heir. The problem was it seemed all the noble girls introduced to him were plain and dull, beautiful dolls ready to do as he asked, without a mind of their own. Or scheming bitches, only after his wealth and power. Karina was refreshingly different, but did he want to spend the rest of his life with her?

"Get on the bed," he commanded, staring right into her eyes. She hesitated for a split second. "You did say I can strike you again if it makes me feel better, didn't you? You should be careful about what you offer," he smirked. It was just a tease, he wasn't going to hit her again. No, but if she was to become his wife he needed to test whether she could accept something other than pain from him as well.

"Bastard." She gritted her teeth but obeyed.

Hayden suppressed a chuckle. "You know, I'd expect a princess to have a better vocabulary."

"You know, I'd expect a king to have better manners." She laid on her stomach, burying her head into his pillow and Hayden had to grin. The princess had a point.

It was not a strange thing for him to have a woman in his bed, not even a naked one with her back striped red. So why was his first instinct to cover her with a blanket and crawl right next to her? Was he actually starting to like her? He shook the unfamiliar feeling off and grabbed the long end of the rope hanging from her tied wrists, attaching it to the headboard. "Roll over," he commanded, smirking as she hissed in pain when the sore skin on her backside brushed against the sheets. He grabbed her ankles and pulled, making her stretch across the bed, her hands tied above her head.

Her mouth opened when he sat next to her, no doubt to add another ironic remark, but she wisely decided to stay quiet, her eyes looking around, trying to see whether he was holding something in his hands. The view was amazing and Hayden enjoyed it for a few moments, his dick demanding instant action. But that was not the plan. Eventually, he couldn't resist anymore and slowly laid one of his hands on her stomach, feeling her soft skin.

She flinched when he touched her, trembling in fear, or maybe the temperature in the room had something to do with it as well. The small fireplace couldn't heat the whole room well enough to be comfortable for a naked person. "Don't move." Karina just shook her head, her eyes shut tight. Hayden leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear. "I won't hurt you." She looked up at him, scrutinizing his expression, trying to guess whether he was serious or just mocking her again. The king was fairly certain there was a smirk on his face, but that was beyond his control. He was having too much fun right now.

His hand slid down a bit, touching the soft hair between her legs and she instinctively pulled her knees together. "Spread your legs. Or tell me to stop." He was seriously curious about her choice. She had every reason to refuse him but seemed to be too stubborn to do it.

"I…," she hesitated, giving him a startled look. "There… There's a law. I can't, not before the wedding night."

Hayden chuckled. Of course he knew about such laws. "Don't worry. I wouldn't put such a shame on the poor fellow that has to marry you one day." He gave her an intense stare and wiggled his fingers. "Make a choice, princess." Now he really wanted her to let him continue and deeply regretted losing control earlier and hurting her a bit too much. She had every right to be terrified of him now and, for some reason, he didn't like that at all.

Whether it was something she saw in his eyes or just her inability to admit defeat, she made the right choice. Her legs relaxed and spread just enough to give his fingers access. She bit on her lip and looked away, fear and shame mixed in her expression. Hayden smirked. That was something he could work with.