Chapter 16 #2
“No.” My voice came out as a growl. “She needs to understand that her cooperation isn't optional.”
“I think she already understands that. As your advisor, I’m merely suggesting things that will make this easier for you.
She’s a person. A person you kidnapped. You took her away from her family.
And her fiancé. Imagine how she must feel being away from them, especially the man she was to marry.
He gave her that dress. Maybe that’s why she won’t take it off. ”
Rage flared hot and sudden in my chest.
Thayden—her fucking betrothed. He’d given her that dress.
The mere thought of him, and her holding on to that dress because he’d given it to her, heated my blood.
I’d been under the impression that Elariya didn’t exactly care for him. There was no doubt that she would have gone with me that night and given me more than just that kiss.
Their marriage arrangement appeared to be out of convenience, a necessity to save her family. Similar to what Dreynthor was trying to do to me.
Perhaps I’d been wrong about her and Arielle was right.
All I’d based my assumptions on was the conversation I’d overheard between Elariya and her cousin at the tavern, but if I were being honest, I hadn’t heard enough.
I also chose to act on what appealed to me most—a beautiful virgin I’d wanted to devour.
For all I knew, she probably wanted the experience of being with someone else before binding herself to Thayden. That didn’t mean she didn’t love him.
She’d known him all her life. Regardless of the curse, a lifetime of being around each other was enough to be attached.
I on the other hand, was someone she’d forget in twenty-two days.
And now she was defying me. For him.
No. That wasn’t going to happen. Not on my ship, not while she was in my care, not while she was mine.
“Meeting over.” I stood, darkness bleeding from my shadows. Instantly, Arielle and the others exchanged worried glances.
“Where are you going?” Arielle stuttered.
“My prisoner and I have matters to discuss.”
“Wolfe,” Garrick started, concern etched into his features. “Maybe it’s best you cool off for a few minutes. You may not want to frighten the girl any more than you have.”
“I know how to handle my own prisoner,” I snapped, darkness curling around my fingers. Elariya didn’t know the full meaning of what it felt like to be frightened yet. It was time she did.
The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as I walked out, tension and darkness following me like a procession.
No one dared stop me.
I left them behind without another word, marching down the corridor toward Elariya's chambers with shadows licking at my boots like hungry beasts eager to be unleashed.
If the little mage wanted to play this game, I would show her exactly what kind of monster she was dealing with.
The magical shackle binding her to me hummed against my consciousness, growing stronger the closer I got.
When I reached her room, I didn’t bother to wait for the wards to part or unlock the door. I just used the shadow’s Obscura and slipped through the wood like I had the night I stalked her bedroom. I remained there, invisible, while I looked around.
Sure enough, the food was all there. The dishes from yesterday remained covered like they were last night, and the tray of food Arielle brought her earlier sat next to it. The clothes were still fucking folded on the bed.
The beautiful mage lingered by the window, a living painting, framed in morning light and disdain. Her hair was in a messy bun, and that gods be damned dress slinked off her shoulders, exposing milky skin that begged to be tasted.
The moment she saw me materialize before her, she nearly jumped out of her skin. The scream that left her lips as she leapt back into the wall echoed through the chamber and rumbled in my chest.
She was about to smart-mouth me until she saw the shadows curling at my feet, then her skin turned as pale as the moon, and just as lovely.
I smiled at her and stepped right into her personal space, scaring her even more. She pressed against the wall so hard I almost thought it would hear her silent pleas to take her. Help her escape me. It might have, but like everything and everyone on board this vessel, it answered to me
“What do you want?” she stammered, breathing slowly in an attempt to steady her voice. It didn’t work. The mage reeked of fear, sharp and sour, as pungent as the sulphureous bogs of Elyndria that could kill you with a single breath.
“Really? You’re seriously asking me what I want?” I let my gaze rake over her. “I think you know what I want.”
Her eyes widened. Her entire face flushed, nearly as deep a shade as her hair.
“You pirate bastard. You will not touch me,” she cried, pushing further into the wall, clutching her arms over her chest like the terrified virgin she was. “I will never give myself to you.”
And that’s when I realized she thought I meant something else. The thing we never got to do the night I took her—fuck.
“Touch? How tame.” I chuckled, infuriating her even more. “I don’t touch. I fuck. And I wasn’t talking about fucking. Interesting, though, how you thought I was.”
I didn’t think it was possible that her skin could turn any redder than it was, but it did. This time out of embarrassment.
“Get away from me.” She tried to move, but I blocked her path with one arm, then braced the other above her head. I moved closer, close enough to kiss her again. The way I’d been dying to.
Fuck.
This fucking woman. I didn’t know what in the bleeding hells she’d done to me, but I couldn’t control my mind when I was around her. “Why the fuck aren’t you eating the food?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Humans need to eat.”
“Good thing I’m only half human, then.”
“Mages need to eat, too.”
“I don’t want your food,” she huffed.
I grinned down at her. “So, you plan to starve yourself?”
“Only the gods know what you may have put in the food.”
A hearty laugh rumbled in my chest. “Think I would poison you or cast a spell on you?” Obviously, she must have considered that.
“Who’s to say you didn’t?”
“I do.” I let my gaze drag down her frame, slowly enough to make her squirm. She was barely holding on to the edges of her courage as it unraveled with every passing second. “I would have no need for you if you were dead. Or spell-struck. So, eat the fucking food.”
“I’m. Not. Hungry.”
Fuuck! She must have really thought she was brave, facing me like this.
Foolish girl. I cradled her jaw, and the shadows licked across her skin like a lover’s tongue. Her breathing quickened and there was no use pretending she wasn’t afraid of me now.
“Ah, Ziyka,” I murmured. “You’re not nearly as afraid of me as you should be.”
I dragged my thumb across her bottom lip, slowly, deliberately. Her pulse jumped beneath my touch and something primal unfurled in my chest.
“You thought this was the worst of me?” My voice dipped low in a venomous whisper. “You haven’t seen anything yet. I’ve had decades of practice. I haven’t even begun to show you what I can become.”
The shadows rose with my mood, slithering up her throat like hungry dragons eager to taste her fear.
“Let me go, you asshole.” Her panic finally exploded and she shoved me.
I allowed her to. I had another lesson to teach her.
She ran just like I thought she would, but didn’t get far before my shackle took over. The invisible chain that linked her to me pulled her right back when I waved my hand.
To her surprise, she slammed back against my chest like a spring snapping into place.
Anyone else would have accepted they were vastly outdone and had no hope.
She did not.
Instead of yielding, the clever little thing grabbed the plate of fruit from the tray and hit me across my chest with it.
The plate cracked on impact, doing nothing at all to me. My body had seen all manners of battle. It was forged from war, so hitting me with a plate felt like being covered in feathers.
On seeing I wasn’t even fazed, Elariya grabbed the mug of juice and dosed me with it. As if that was supposed to do something different. Then she tried to run again.
I didn’t need to follow, and I was growing tired of this back-and-forth shit.
With a wave of my hand, the shackle brought her right back to me.
I froze the binding before she could crash into my chest again and levitated her into the air.
Elariya shrieked and kicked violently. I floated her to the opposite wall and pinned her there, forcing her arms and legs apart the way I would if I were feasting on her in my bed.
She was so terrified she couldn’t even breathe.
Slowly, I made my way over to her and gazed upon her trembling frame.
“You can’t run from me,” I taunted.
“You’re a crazy asshole.”
“Yes, I am.” I sounded like I took pride in the label she’d just christened me. It was certainly not the worst thing I’d been called. “With that being said, I wouldn’t fuck with me if I were you. You will eat the food that is given to you, and you will take off that dress.”
“Fuck off.” She groaned.
“Okay. Let’s do this the hard way, then.” Using my index finger, I drew a line through the air. Instantly, the lace fabric of her dress sliced down the middle, splitting open to expose the shift beneath, which did little to conceal the large swells of her breasts.
“Oh Gods!” she shrieked, trying to cover herself and failing because her arms were pinned.
“Pray tell, mage. And speak true. Is the dress dear to your heart because your betrothed gave it to you?” I was a fool to entertain forbidden desires, but my possessive nature forbade me.
She froze at the question; the only visible movement on her body was the rapid rise and fall of her chest. “No.”
I couldn’t tell if she was lying. And really, it didn’t matter. Nevertheless, I slashed the air with my finger again, faster this time, rendering the dress to scraps. The pieces fell from her body like flurries of snow.
She stared at the mess with her mouth wide open and her eyes gazing in disbelief. When she looked back at me, her fire had snuffed away again.
Each of our encounters stole a little more of her energy, even as she fought to rebuild her courage.
“Shall I keep going and strip you naked?” I tore a small line down the front of the shift.
She gasped, “No!”
“Are you sure? I’d love to see what I robbed myself of.” Through the magical connection of the shackle, I caressed her cheek and traced a line down to the start of her cleavage.
“No.” Her voice faltered with indecision, and her eyes filled with desire.
“You don’t sound so certain, Ziyka.”
“I’m certain.” She regained her former firmness.
I removed my touch and she released a haggard breath.
“Still think your betrothed is coming to save you?” I smiled, searching her eyes.
“You can count on it,” she snapped back.
My grin spread wide, feral, and unholy. “Ziyka, you’d better pray he doesn’t.
Pray to whatever gods and blessed mothers you still believe in that he doesn’t show his face in Galaythia.
He wouldn’t last two seconds with me. You belong to me now.
And I don’t take kindly to anyone trying to claim what’s mine. ”
“I’m not yours.”
“I crossed realms to find you. That makes you mine.”
I meant every word. And I also knew Thayden would come for her. It was just a matter of when.
When that day came, I’d welcome it and look forward to destroying him with a maddening song in my heart.