Hidden Depths by Emma Holly Read Free Book Online Page A

betrayed no sign he’d noticed Anso’s voice had gone throaty. “I’ll advise everyone to be ... succinct.” Because some of the ministers were long-winded, Anso appreciated that. Lord Noth left in the same unobtrusive fashion that he’d arrived.
    “Well,” Ty said, sounding as dazed as Anso felt. “Long live the king.” Anso’s eyes spilled over. When Ty’s yellow irises met his, they shone with sympathy. “Shall I bow as well, Your Majesty?”
    Anso shook his head, unable to speak right then. In bed, mastering his friend was fine. In real life, he preferred them to be equals. To his relief, Ty came to him and held him. His embrace was gentle, his shoulder warm.
    “You’ll be fine,” he said, giving him a slightly awkward pat. “More than fine.
    I have no doubt of it.”
    Anso hugged him once, then pushed back from him.
    “Thank you,” was all he managed to say.

    CHAPTER THREE
    ANSO’S first month as king brought many changes into his life. Shortly following his father’s elaborate funeral at sea, he’d been moved into the royal apartments and assigned a retinue of servants. Despite being waited on hand and foot, he’d never had so little time for himself.
    He’d barely had a chance to mourn.
    There were meetings to attend and dinners and endless stacks of reports. Lord Noth assured him his duties would lighten as he gained experience - if only because he’d decide which tasks he truly needed to perform personally. Anso tried to take his word on this. In the last thirty days, he and Ty had been together precisely twice.
    He’d had other offers - more than he knew how to handle. He simply couldn’t trust the males’ motives for wanting to sleep with him.
    Bedding Anso Vitul had become a political act.
    Alone for the moment, Anso stroked the courtyard porthole in the blue salon and let his lungs empty. Apart from refurnishing the bedroom with his own things, he’d left the royal suite as it was. This room included settees and tables his great-great grandmother had chosen, creating the odd sensation that he was adrift in time.
    Outside the window, night had fallen. The royal coral garden bloomed beneath the soft phosphor lights, the flowerlike polyps opening to filter drifting food. Anso watched a tiny crab fend off a bright blue fish who was trying to nibble the branches that formed the crustacean’s home. Again and again the fish darted forward, only to be driven back by the crab’s sharp claws. Neither combatant seemed to tire of the battle. Anso wished he could claim as much.
    Ty had promised to come by this evening, but because he’d taken over running the guards from Anso, that promise might not be kept. Anso wasn’t certain how he’d react if his lover cancelled. Along with the rest of his life, his body was exerting new and disconcerting pressures, pressures he found difficult to ignore.
    Each time he neared the palace’s sea gates, his blood would thicken and his steps would slow. He couldn’t prevent the reaction, though he tried hard enough.
    No matter who was with him, his groin would tighten and his prick slide free. He could feel the call of the warming ocean, just as his father warned. Someone was out there, some distant female whose blood was a match for his. He wanted to fling himself into the water and swim until he found her, wanted to fuck her amongst the waves and fill her womb with his pup. His dreams had grown increasingly explicit, laden with images of acts he’d never experienced in life.
    He’d wake hard as iron and wishing he’d had a wet dream.
    He craved the touch of a woman more than he’d known he could crave anything.
    Not a woman , he corrected, his hand forming a fist on the thick window. The
    woman.
    If he hadn’t witnessed his mother’s sadness, he’d have long since obeyed the urge. What his blood craved didn’t justify the crime involved, nor did it guarantee anyone’s happiness. Moreover, Anso wasn’t a damned salmon. He was a modern person