Chapter 4 Enemy’s Touch #2
A man with laughter on his lips and a truth she hadn’t wanted to see. He’d never left scars anyone could see, but they were still there, buried beneath every flinch she tried to hide.
Caelen had taught her exactly what happened when she let someone close.
She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
She hadn’t fled her kingdom because of him. That came later. She fled because if she stayed…the kingdom would fall, a fact she’d known with marrow-deep certainty. So she ran, but not from him. From what was coming.
Jakobav’s command interrupted her thoughts. “You’ll stay until you can walk without bleeding,” he said, turning to the hearth. He tossed a log into the embers and stirred the fire to life again.
She swallowed, gulping down air that was too thick with the smell of him. Dangerous and masculine, it wrapped around her like a cloak.
Ella had to move, needed to get away from that smell as it clung too close, suffocating her. She pushed to her feet too fast, and heat surged through her skull, the room threatening to spin.
There was no way she was about to face-plant again.
Ella hated looking weak more than anything in the mortal realm.
Jakobav reached out, fast and unrelenting, his arm locking around her waist to steady her. She gasped, and they both froze. Her heart pounded, too loud and too long, as every instinct screamed: Move. Fight. Flee.
But she didn’t.
His jaw flexed, voice low, dangerously so. “I’ve already had you in my arms three times.” He said each word slowly. “When you were bleeding out, when you couldn’t crawl five steps, and now because you won’t stay down.”
He looked furious like he might do something violent, then he stepped back, eyes like stormglass.
“Next time, I won’t help you.”
Her pulse spiked, and she forced the words past her raw throat and spat them like venom.
“You sound like every man who has ever underestimated me. They all bled for it.”
A beat passed before he said, “Maybe I want to see what it takes to break you.”
Prince Jakobav stared her down.
Ella refused to be the one to break eye contact this time. Finally, he moved first, but instead of leaving, he lingered at her side.
“Stop running,” Jakobav demanded, voice deep and uncompromising.
Ella’s chin snapped up. “I thought you said I wasn’t a prisoner.”
Silence. He only stared her down, head tilting the slightest degree, gaze unreadable and unyielding.
“Well then,” she shot back, pulse racing, “I guess I’m free to go.”
She spun, but his hand closed around her wrist before she could take a step. He swung her back to face him, controlled and unshakable.
“I can’t let you do that.”
She shoved him, hard, and pain reverberated through her body. Bad idea. He didn’t budge. He might as well have been solid granite. His eyes stayed locked on hers, burning.
Her chest heaved, jaw clenching with anger because she didn’t actually want to leave yet. She couldn’t without finding what she came for. But the way he looked at her like he was daring her to fight, to fail, had every inch of her body itching to defy him.
Jakobav’s mouth curved, more threat than smile. “Would you rather rot in my dungeon or stay in my bedchamber?”
Ella stepped toward him, fists clenched. “I don’t think you’d like my response, Prince.”
He didn’t flinch. “Say the word. I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the dungeon.”
When she didn’t answer, he bent, reaching for her legs as if to make good on the threat.
“Okay!” Her hand shot out, stopping him. She stumbled back a step. “Okay, I prefer your chambers. But only until my body’s recovered. Then I’m getting the fuck out of here.”
His eyes lingered on her, unreadable, dangerous. Then, softer, darker: “We’ll see about that.”
Unbelievable.
She had come here to slip through shadows, steal what she needed, and vanish before anyone ever knew she’d been inside the castle.
Instead she had woken in the Prince’s private chambers, her enemy’s bed.
He was controlling, sadistic in his demeanor, and unbearably overbearing.
The entire situation was outrageous…and maybe, if she played it carefully, useful.
If she could win even a sliver of his trust, perhaps it would give her the chance to search for the relic she had risked everything to find.
Ella’s lips lifted in spite of herself, a little hum escaping.
“Hmm.”
Jakobav’s eyes narrowed. “What now?”
“I want to know the rules,” she said. “Where I’m allowed to go. What I’m allowed to do.” Her jaw tightened. “Not that I’m agreeing to be held captive.”
That earned a smirk from Jakobav.
She braced, praying he’d say something like I’ve never held anyone captive before.
His voice dropped. “This arrangement is a first for me as well. I’ve never had anyone sleep in my chambers before.”
Ella arched a brow. “You’re telling me you’ve never had a woman in your bed?”
His mouth turned darker. “Not one that mattered. And I said sleep in my chambers.” He leaned in, voice a razor-edged tease. “There has never been any sleeping.”
She refused to give him the satisfaction of a reply, but her flushed skin gave her away, warmth blooming where his eyes lingered.