Chapter Fifteen #2
“I know. That is exactly the problem.” Rhael laughed, more to himself than to me. As if there was some kind of inside joke, I was not a part of even though I was the subject.
“I warned you when you came into that market, I would not be what you want.” I told him, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Yet here you still stand. Alive and treated well,” he mocked, standing so he now stood over me. Forcing me to look up at him. My eyes narrowed, this was a power play, a battle of wills.
“And here you are. Angry at the world, yet still expecting it to yield to you.” I laughed, the sound cold, I was used to this. A master thinking they hid things no one else would notice.
Rhael was harder to read than most, but there were some things, whispers lingering beneath the surface of his perfect facade that I could see peeking through. Like the crack of a curtain in the early morning sunrise.
“You mistake control for anger,” he said, looking down at me again, stepping closer until my chest was almost against his. The proximity makes my breath still in my chest.
“I doubt very much what happened last night was you in control,” I retorted, daring to challenge him about what I had heard. Looking around the state of the room, my eyes lingering on the smashed glass for good measure.
“You saw nothing,” Rhael warned, his face edging closer to mine. It was supposed to be a threat but instead it only tightened the coil of delicious tension that threatened to unravel in my stomach.
“I heard enough.” I smirked, leaning back slightly so I could keep eye contact. My hands trembled as I leant them onto the desk trying to steady myself.
“That is not relevant.” He snarled, turning away from me for a second looking out the window, scrubbing his hand down over his face. His body rigid, which sent a thrill through me. I was getting under his skin, good, he deserved it.
“Fine. Tell me then, oh great master. What is expected of me this time? In what capacity shall I serve you?” I mocked, bowing into a low curtsey not caring that at this angle he could see directly down the bust of my dress.
He had seen it all once before, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did in fact demand to see it again.
“You will sit by my right hand. You will speak only when addressed, you will not contradict me. You will not provoke him.” Rhael informed me turning back to face me once more, his chest rising and falling with physical effort.
“I am afraid I have a knack of provoking people.” I shrugged as I stated the obvious, letting out an overdramatic sigh.
“That is why I am warning you.” He said, his hands clenching at his side as he stepped forwards, only half a step, but enough for me to have to crane my neck to keep my eyes on his. I dare not look anywhere else.
“If I do?” I ask stepping towards him once more. Steadying myself as I prepared to challenge his sanity once more.
“The Dragon King values dominance, he respects strength, certainty. Any hint of instability, that I cannot even keep a human under control will be exploited,” Rhael whispered, his throat bobbed as he stood taller, looking down at me, those usually blank eyes now full of fire as he warned me of the dangerous man coming to his home on his own invitation.
“So, I am a decoration. A toy once again.” I frown, despite my ability to piss him off, he would always be my master. The man who held the invisible chains.
“You are proof that I am not isolated, you are to listen, to report to me anything that seems out of the ordinary, and when he tests me, you will be the one to calm me down.” Rhael explains his hand raising and for a split second I thought he was going to touch me, to run his hands down my cheek.
Before he could even bring it close enough, he lowered it again, letting out a steady slow breath which lingered between us.
“How will he test you?” I asked, my words slower now.
“By provoking me in only ways he knows. He will watch you, watch us, looking for a way inside your head.” Rhael explained seeing my breath rise and fall faster.
My mind was racing as I realised that the Dragon King would not be like Magnus.
It would be harder, whilst the Wolf King had just wanted to hear us, I now understood the Dragon King would want to watch.
“So, you expect me to sit and look pretty whilst he stares at me?” My eyes grew wider at this point. My hands trembling for an entirely different reason, fear joining the anger and other emotions running through my body.
“Yes,” he nodded the single syllable, the only answer he deemed necessary.
“And if he insults me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow crossing my arms over my chest.
“You will endure it,” he shrugged as he copied my tone from earlier, as if my comfort meant nothing.
“And if he touches me?” the words coming out more now as a demand. That was when I saw him shift, the dismissive look on his face changed to a flash of anger before I saw him fight to regain his control.
“He won’t,” Rhael growled, his hands clenching and unclenching as he looked me up and down. I stood a little taller, straightening my back as I tried to make myself take up more space. Almost showing him that, even if he did not think it, I was someone worthy of the dragon King's desire.
“How can you be certain?” I asked, flicking my hair behind my shoulder trying to keep the small wisps from my face.
“I will guarantee you here and now that he will not touch you or the alliance will be void. Consequences be damned.” He explained, his voice low as if the warning was meant for me as well as anyone else.
“You are asking a lot.” I warned him, although even before he spoke, I knew he did not care. Despite what I felt for Rhael it was clear I wasn’t worthy of him, at least not in his mind.
“I am giving orders, there is a difference.” He smirked as he copied my stance, puffing out his chest making him seem broader, bigger. A clear sign of his power and dominance.
“How can you be so different? Here, in your own home, when before you were not so rigid?” I asked him, throwing my hands in the air as a sign of exasperation.
Thankfully we were alone, if I had raised my arms when anyone else was present, they would have assumed I planned to strike the King. I was just thankful Rhael knew better, or at least I had hoped he did.
“That was Lycanthyr, this is Vaetharyn. You would do well to remember it,” he snapped a snarl lingering on his lips as I hit another nerve.
“So that night, it was just nothing?” I asked, finally getting the question out of my lips that had lingered in my throat for days. A weightlifting from me as I asked, but then the fear of his response settled in replacing it.
“It was necessary. Nothing more.” He explained and I felt my body go rigid, his words stung. Confirmation that I was nothing more than a toy for him to pick up and drop when he saw fit.
“So that is why you gave and took nothing in return?” I accused, my eyes stinging with unshed tears, as I stepped back only for Rhael to grip onto my wrist pulling me back and keeping me in place.
“That was intentional, attachment is weakness,” Rhael smiled, his hand finally moving, cupping my face in a move that almost felt loving, the first time he had willingly touched me, no other kings watching or listening.
Only I could not let myself believe it was genuine, some part of my brain believed this must still be a game.
“I’m a weakness?” I questioned, my voice weaker than I would have wanted, a whisper that lingered between us as his hand held onto my skin, heat spreading from my wrist up to my shoulder.
“No, you are a complication I cannot afford,” he whispered, his hands lingering on my face, his fingers stroking my cheek in a way that was almost more intimate than having him between my thighs.
“Yet you still use me as a pawn in your games.” I sighed, looking up at him letting that mask I wore fall just once, his hand on my cheek, as I ached to touch him too. If I leant up just a centimetre we would be kissing, instead he leant down his face barely touching mine.
“You do as you are told,” he smirked, his lips brushing against mine, so close almost teasing and despite my words I found myself wanting to melt against him. In some kind of sick twisted need for him to dominate me, to make me submit under him in ways I had once promised myself I never would.
“After all of this you expect me to trust you?” I whispered my response, leaning even closer to him. Daring him to take him a step further.
“Yes,” he said, stepping back, withdrawing all contact leaving me standing there feeling cold and vulnerable. I tried to straighten my posture, pulling back on the mask as if his closeness hadn't impacted me.
“Truly?” I asked, pulling at the fabric of my dress. Trying to busy my hands.
“Yes,” he repeated, turning his back on me, a clear indication that the meeting was over and I was dismissed. Cursing him inside my mind I turned back on him, stomping my feet as I pushed open the door not even bothering to look at the guards who awaited me.
I needed space, peace and quiet away from the bastard who had turned my world upside down.