Page 55 of The Death King
She was where I expected her to be, sitting in the corner of the couch with her knees pulled to her chest, the fire quiet because the logs were almost ash. Instead of looking at me with the usual daggers in her eyes, she didn’t look at me at all. There was no anger in her aura, so her distance was caused by something else.
Embarrassment. Self-loathing. Discomfort.
Could be any of them or all of them.
I moved to the chair and leaned back, arms on the armrests.
She continued to look at the fire like I wasn’t there.
I wanted her to look at me, to look at my bare chest with the same desire she’d shown the night before…and failed to hide. But she seemed determined to shut me out this time. I’d dismissed Natalie for her own preservation, but I also did it because I was fucking pissed. If she hadn’t knocked on the damn door, I wouldn’t be here right now. I would have satisfied the itch I’d wanted to scratch since the moment I’d laid eyes on this woman. But now the itch dug at my skin…and made it bleed.
Minutes passed, and the silence with it. She stared at the fire like she was reading a book.
I stared at her like she was a marvelous painting.
It continued, the sound of the flames interrupting the quiet every few seconds.
“I apologize for last night.”
Her head slowly turned my way, and her green eyes caught the light perfectly, the question in her gaze.
“I dismissed Natalie from my service.”
After a few seconds of eye contact, she looked away again. “I hope that wasn’t for my benefit.”
“It wasn’t, but I want you to understand I’m unencumbered.”
“I think she would disagree.” She didn’t move an inch, but she managed to put more distance between us.
Natalie had made a mess for me—which was her obvious intention. “I don’t reciprocate her desires. She tried to sabotage our night because she wants me to herself, but I told her I’ll never belong to any woman.”
Calista fell into silence, her eyes on the fire again.
I stared at the side of her cheek, wanting something more from her, even her anger since it was passionate, just as passionate as the desire she’d shown last night, but now she seemed defeated. So frustrated that she’d slipped from my fingertips, my thoughts escaped as a whisper. “I want you.”
Her eyes flinched before they dropped into her lap. My words broke through the hard barrier, just a bit.
The bed sat behind her, unmade because she hadn’t let the maids in to tidy up. The white sheets were exposed, and there was an indent from where her body should be pressed into the mattress.
She whispered back to me. “I can’t…”
This was the same woman who had climbed the side of the castle to escape, who hadn’t hesitated to mount a dragon on her own and head to the skies. Can’t was simply impossible. “He no longer has power over you, but you continue to give it to him.”
Those words seemed to hook into her flesh because she turned to look at me.
“He marked your skin, but you choose to let those marks fester into scars. You want me, but you refuse me, which is exactly what he would want.”
Her emotions didn’t dance on the surface of her expression like they normally did. Now, they were tucked away, locked deep inside her chest so no one could see.
“Don’t fight me.” Even when I’d earned her kiss, it was restricted, only half of her heart in it, the other half somewhere on the outskirts.
“You don’t understand…” She looked away again.
I could have any woman I wanted. All I had to do was take a walk, and I’d find a partner suitable and willing. Too much time had already been invested in this acquisition, and no woman was worth this amount of effort. But something kept me there. Something made me fight. I didn’t know what. “Then help me understand.”
Her eyes dropped as she released a quiet sigh. “I told you there’d been no one else…”
“I know.” The one and only sexual experience she had was forced. Like I could ever forget.