Chapter 41
41
ROMAN
“ H ow long are you going to sleep? Ugh, this is so boring. You know what, I don’t need you awake for this.” A woman's voice grates on my nerves, hammering nails into my already pounding head.
The rustle of clothing approaching has me cracking open my eyes.
I’m in my bedroom. My shoulders ache in time with my head, and I shift, only to find I’m tied to the fucking bed. What the hell is going on? The last thing I remember is holding Josephine in my arms.
The fire.
Bram’s house.
Fuck. Bram. He was still outside his burning house when Anastasia drugged me. What happened to him?
“Oh, you’re awake.” Anastasia crawls onto the bed beside me, disappointment dripping from her words.
“Sorry to ruin your plans,” I growl, pulling at the binds around my wrists again. I can’t feel them digging into my skin, but there’s no give at all. If I can’t use my hands, then I can’t access my magic.
Anastasia is wearing a virginal white nightgown. I’m not fooled. I glance out the window and see it’s still dark out. Either I haven’t been out that long, or I’ve been asleep for an entire day.
“Actually, I think this will be more fun.” She runs her hands down my chest.
I buck my body, knocking her hand away. “I’d prefer you keep your desperate talons off me.”
Anastasia’s head cocks to the side. “You think you’re so special because you have a curse and belong to one of the founding families.”
I bark out a laugh. “That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. Do you honestly think I want my curse?”
“Do you know what my family’s power is?” Anastasia ignores my question, her fingernail tapping against my chin. I snarl at her, ready to bite the fucking thing off.
“Persuasion.”
All the wealth of the Lexington family is owed to the fact that their magic can influence or persuade individuals. Especially those who haven’t guarded their minds against assault. It’s particularly easy to sway the thoughts of someone not firm in their own beliefs.
Motherfucker. That’s probably how she got the fucking key to my place. Some poor employee likely handed it over without realizing why.
Anastasia grabs my face in her hands, forcing me to look into her cold blue gaze. There’s no humanity staring back at me. Just a hunger for power, for prestige. “You will want me. You will desire me.” She brushes her thumb over my lip, and I rip my head away with a laugh.
“You think your sad magic can compel me to get turned on. To want you? Never.”
Anastasia straightens, sliding off the bed and grabbing something off the table. She unstoppers a bottle and sucks down a vial full of green liquid. She sets it down and picks up a second ampule.
“We’ll see how you’re feeling after a taste of this.” My eyes drift down to a small glass container of red liquid. I’m not overly familiar with potions and elixirs, so I don’t know what it is. I doubt it’s a truth serum or a laughter potion.
“What did you just take?”
Anastasia opens the bottle in her hand and dips her finger inside. She crawls back over to me, reaching for my mouth.
“You’re fucking kidding me.” I jerk my head away, but she straddles my body. I buck, and she laughs.
“Oh yeah, baby. I’m going to want you to fuck me just like that.”
“You’re revolting,” I snarl. She shoves her finger into my mouth, and I bite down.
“Fuck.” Anastasia yanks her hand away, holding it to her chest. Blood drips down from my bite, and she glares at me. “You’re going to make that up to me.”
“Next time, I’ll take the finger clean off.” There’s a bitter taste in my mouth from whatever potion she shoved in there. I spit and she flinches away. What the hell was that?
Anastasia shrugs. “We’ll see. You might just love me after I get done with you.” She’s still straddling me, and I’ve never been less hard in my life. As if I asked for a strip show, she slowly pulls at the hem of her nightshirt, smears of blood soaking into the white fabric. She lifts it overhead, exposing her completely naked body.
“I just gave you a little something to move things along. You’re a virile man. I doubt you need the help, especially when faced with this.” She drags her hands down her chest and then cups her breasts.
“And what did you take? Need a little something for your dried-up prune of a vagina?”
Anastasia ignores my taunt, her fingers working on the buttons of my shirt, one by one. “That was a fertility potion. Ensuring that your seed will take, and soon I’ll be growing your child.”
I gape at her and then look toward the door. “You’re disgusting.”
“Oh, please. We both know once I grind on your dick, you’ll be begging me to ride you.”
“Do you know what my curse is, you psycho? Even if I could feel touch, yours would repulse me, just as it does now.”
That stops her, her fingers poised on the last button of my shirt. “No matter. That’s what the potion is for anyway.”
Fuck. I have to get out of here. Anastasia shuffles back onto my thighs and runs her hand up my crotch. A frown creases her brow. “Why aren’t you hard?”
“Because you make my dick crawl back inside my body, you fucking rapist.”
I pull at the ties around my wrists. My ankles are tied so tightly I can’t move them at all.
“That’s not possible. The potion–”
“–obviously can’t combat how vile you are.”
Anastasia pouts and flutters her lashes. It’s clear that she’s used to crooking her finger and getting whatever she wants. And if that doesn’t work, she obviously drugs her targets and takes what hasn’t freely been given.
“Roman, don’t be so stubborn. We will make a powerful child. One to rule the next generation of Mystic Hollows.” She lowers her face until it hovers a mere inch over mine. Her breath is sour from the potion she drank, or maybe her rotten insides.
I smile up at her, and she squirms on top of me, obviously thinking I’ve changed my mind. I ram my head into her nose as hard as the short distance allows. Anastasia tumbles off me with a shriek, blood pissing from her nose.
“You bastard.” She looks like a primordial creature, her pale, naked skin covered in smears of blood and a sneer on her face.
She marches back to the bed and rips open the fly of my pants. “Fight all you want. I’m going to get what I deserve.”