Whoever questions my queen,questions me!

The next morning, Lylie woke up in a foul mood.

She had tossed and turned all night, her mind replaying the moment Michael had kissed her—and then rejected her.

It wasn't fair.

She was his wife, for gods' sake! The least he could do was act like it.

Throwing off the covers, she stomped toward her wardrobe, muttering under her breath.

"Oh no, he's too good to touch me, too powerful to look at me like a real husband should. But I bet if I were some stuck-up noblewoman with a fancy title, he'd be all over me."

She yanked out a gown—a bold red one, scandalously low-cut and tight in all the right places. If he wanted distance, fine. But she wasn't about to make this easy for him.

Today, she would remind the king—and everyone—that she was Queen Lylie.

And queens did not get ignored.

Meanwhile, in the King's War Room...

Michael sat at the long oak table, pretending to listen to his advisors.