29. Coerced
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Coerced
Wed me.
I searched the serious lines of his face. There was no subterfuge in his expression.
“You cannot be serious,” I choked out. I believed the conversation had ended after I shut his suggestion down when he mentioned this before. In pure Cassiel manner, he would have his way. “I am a redblood,” I stuttered.
“It is not lost on me, my little immortal,” he murmured. “Marry me.”
I gasped, rigid and staring up at him. His features had stiffened into seriousness.
“No!” I finally blurted.
“Yes.”
“It is not allowed.”
“I will decree a new law,” he claimed.
My jaw popped from how hard I gritted it. He was much too smug for my liking.
I could not fathom why I was so shocked. He had denied wanting to find the Resistance from the beginning.
“Do you never tire of your coercions?” I bit out.
He only shrugged. I didn’t enjoy the twitch of his lips.
“How could you suggest such a thing?” I began pacing from one end of the chamber to the other. I combed my fingers through my hair and whirled back, finding him leaning against the wall. Not a trace of guilt crossed his features. He’d stated what he wanted.
What were my options?
I spun on my heel, pacing to the other end of the chamber near the desk.
If I left with the Resistance, he would either follow me . . . or drag me away from them. I did not doubt he had the potential to make me his captive again.
The effigy.
The satchel remained where I left it on the chair’s surface. I shoved my hand in and grabbed the plush item.
“You will let me leave,” I announced, holding my chin up to meet his gaze with a threat of my own.
His smile faded.
“Now you don’t find it humorous.” I couldn’t hide the annoyance in my tone. Part of me was so incredibly frustrated with his obstinacy. The rest wrestled with the guilt of threatening him.
My hand trembled.
He took a single pace and stopped when my hand stiffened around the neck. If I broke his neck, he would lose consciousness. It would be fast, immediate. Better than if I injured anything else. He would be okay. I would be gone by the time he woke.
“Know if you do this, I will still find you.” The pulse in my ears drowned his words.
I wouldn’t be able to be gone from him long with the wraithling bond. My will wavered. I had not thought this through.
He straightened so suddenly that my hand spasmed. I squeezed the neck I had a grip on. The leather gave with a snap and bent back. I screamed, dropping the effigy quickly.
Cassiel continued to watch me, eyebrow raised.
Silence other than my ragged breaths.
“It no longer works,” he mused and approached. He scooped it off the floor and twisted the leg.
I winced, watching him yank at the effigy about, but nothing happened to him. Al had injected the item. Small little injections into the surface.
As I watched him, he walked to the desk and pulled open the drawer where the quills were. He pulled out a tinderbox. He tossed the effigy in the middle of the desk. With careful movements, he pulled out the steel and struck it against the quartz, angling it at the char cloth.
It blazed with a flame. He set aside the steel and took the effigy, placing it against the flame. The fabric and leather began to char, the edges curling into itself.
“Care to reconsider?” Cassiel tossed the effigy into the metal bin beside the desk. The crumpled parchment inside began to crackle. “It would be a shame if something happened to those mortals.”
“You would hold their lives hostage to force my hand?”
He simply watched me.
Leather crackled as the flames flicked upward. Smoke billowed from the can and filled the chamber with the scent.
He stared directly at me, patiently, with his head cocked. That blasted smirk on his lips.
“I must speak to Liadan.” I rounded the desk and stomped to the door. Before I reached it, he was in my path.
“You needn’t do anything for any male but me.”
He crowded against my chest. I stumbled back until I was flush against the wall. Cassiel cupped my chin. He leaned down and kissed me. Passionately. The press of his mouth was insistent against mine. His hands squeezed my waist. He broke away, keeping hold of my sides as he dropped to both knees.
“What are you doing?”
“Reminding you why you needn’t look elsewhere.”
He took hold of one ankle and drew his palm upward, taking the hem of my dress along with him.
Cool air chilled my skin as he exposed me.
Then he tugged my leg upwards by my ankle and pulled it over his shoulder.
The door braced my shoulders. I didn’t have a chance to fight his grip when he took my other leg and hooked it over the other.
“Cassiel,” I hissed, my hands shaking as my breathing elevated. I scrambled for balance and pressed my fingernails into the doorframe to keep myself upright.
I could not escape. Again, he used pleasure, this visceral need.
“Cas—” A gasp cut me off.
He speared me with his tongue, straight inside my sex. It more shocked me than anything else. Then he began to move it.
I shoved at his head, attempting to writhe away, but his hold on my legs kept me in place. I dug my fingers into his hair and squeezed the strands.
His tongue curled up, and this angle wrenched trembles from my limbs.
“Oh, dear,” I gasped. He flattened his tongue, pressing against the bud. My entire body seized, jolting to get closer to the swell.
Cassiel angled his head, and his chin began to move as he devoured me. The manner he did this without slicing me with his fangs was skill in itself. He plunged his tongue through the folds.
I could not stop the moans. They only heightened with each of his flicks. The pinnacle arrived, and I soared, a scream wrenching free. I bit my forearm to stifle my embarrassingly loud shouts.
He never failed to turn me into a bundle of sludge. The way he managed to work my limbs should be outlawed.
While I struggled to catch my breath, he dropped my legs, slowly lowering my feet to the ground.
My knees buckled, and I slapped my hands on his shoulders, straightening my legs with effort.
Cassiel stood smoothly and swiped his tongue across his damp lips, flashing fangs at me. A shiver wracked my frame.
“Amara!” Liadan shouted, his voice muffled by the slab between us. A thud vibrated the door. I startled away from it.
Cassiel’s features sharpened, and he reached for the handle, whipping it open. “Address her as Lady Draven,” Cassiel corrected.
My smile turned brittle. I stepped in front of Cassiel and faced Liadan. “We will be leaving with you to meet the Resistance.”
“Both of us,” Cassiel said pointedly, hand resting on my shoulder. As much as I tried to shake his hand off, he did not release me.
Liadan raised an eyebrow, and humor lifted the corner of his mouth. “Well then.” He cleared his throat, still eyeing the Warlord at my back. “We travel only at nightfall.”
“I will gather a valise for the travel. How many dawnlight rotations will we be on the road?”
“Around three,” he answered. “We do not travel while it is light out.”
“Very well.” I rounded Liadan, and he stepped back from me, hands raised as he smirked at Cassiel.
I reached the lounging area to find the man, Morak, and Archer speaking in low tones.
“Cassiel,” I said and turned back. My nose bumped into his chest. “Please refrain from slaughtering anyone. We need them.” I met his eyes pointedly. “And we have an agreement.”
Rather, he forced me into capitulating. I struggled to swallow, turning away from him.
His smile was unlike anything he had ever offered. He knows he has won—he’s cornered me.
I turned away before I collapsed with the lead that had taken up residence in my stomach.
I had just agreed to wed the Warlord.