Page 33 of The Death King
She continued to sit there, ignoring my existence.
I relaxed in the armchair and waited, knees wide apart, arms on the armrests. I studied her face, looking at her curved cheekbones, the reflection of the flames in her green eyes, her slender neck that was so small I could almost touch my fingers together when I grabbed her.
The longer I stared, the more I found things to examine. I noticed the fair color of her cheeks, the way they turned rosy from the heat of the fire. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, and it was a potent contrast to the fire that normally burned there. She was submissive and quiet, the way I preferred women to be, but I found myself disappointed by her tameness.
We sat there for at least an hour, and not once in that time frame did she give any indication that she noticed I was there. Her thoughts were elsewhere…or she just didn’t care. But then she suddenly broke the silence, eyes still on the fire. “Yes?”
An invisible barrier had formed between us after our last conversation. I couldn’t cross it. I couldn’t jump it. I couldn’t scale it. I was the one who had placed it there, but I still wouldn’t violate it. But there was something about the way her lips moved, the way her eyes lifted slightly, a subtle shift in her expression that reminded me of something I couldn’t recall. “I know your face.”
She stared at the fire for a few more seconds before she met my look.
With our eyes locked together, I could take in her expression head on, see the sparkle in her eyes, the intelligence in that confident gaze. Whether she was in rags working in the desert or snow-white in the cold, she was still stunning. It became more noticeable every time I saw her.
After a long stare, she looked away.
“But how do I know it…”
She either had the best poker face in the world, or I was dead wrong. Her eyes moved back to the fire as she silently dismissed what I said.
“I’ll tell you about the gift.”
A couple seconds passed before she looked at me again. “I’m not going to fuck you.”
I was mesmerized by her fight, but something about her defeat mesmerized me even further. “I’ll tell you freely.”
I saw a subtle change in her eyes, a small burst of surprise, a skepticism.
“I just ask that you consider giving me what I want.”
The skepticism grew further. “Why did you change your mind?”
I didn’t want to say. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” Her voice dropped slightly, lowering to barely above a whisper. “Why?”
I held her gaze, not wanting to share my thoughts, not wanting to share any part of me at all.
Her eyes continued to pierce mine. “Answer me.”
“I’m giving you what you want.”
“I want to know why you’ve changed your mind so suddenly.”
My eyes flicked away, knowing she wouldn’t let this go. For a woman who had no authority, she seemed to wield her own power, a kind of influence that affected everything around her. “Because you deserve to be with someone of your choosing…and I hope that you choose me.”
She immediately turned away when she heard what I said, sucking in a deep breath as if my words had insulted her. Instead of looking at the fire, she looked at her hands in her lap, her emotions across her face for just a second or two. “You pity me.”
I shouldn’t care how she suffered. No one cared how I suffered. But there was an old part of me that was still alive…buried deep down…a candle that still had a little wick left to burn. “Choose me. I’ll show you how it’s supposed to feel.”
She continued to look at her hands in her lap.
“Let me make you feel good. Let me show you how it should be.”
“I don’t understand.” Her eyes lifted to the fire. “I’ve been raped and beaten… Why the fuck would you want me?” Her eyes were dry as they stared at the fire, but then I saw moisture start to coat the surface, building until she blinked and flicked it away.
I was relieved when she bottled her emotions and made them disappear. I didn’t want to deal with that or acknowledge it. But the silence hung in the air, and I felt obligated to say something. “That’s not what I see when I look at you.” I saw a woman who had decided to run even when I’d threatened to kill her. I saw a woman who had the potential to be exactly what I needed. She had power pulsing in her veins, and she had no idea…because I still hadn’t told her.
“Then what do you see?” she asked quietly.