Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
He takes me by the elbow and begins to walk with me. “Fine. We’ll go to our room. You seem to want a fight. We can do that in private.”
I dig my heels in, but he is so much bigger than I am. He simply hauls me along. “I am not trying to fight. I’m trying to be alone. I want my own room. You have enough rooms that I should be able to have my own.”
He turns on me, his face a mask of irritation. “Now you want your own room? Really? Just a couple of weeks ago we had far too much space. Now I’m encroaching on yours?”
A few weeks ago I thought life would be different. “It’s only for a little while.”
His brows make a curious V on his forehead. “What is that supposed to mean? Is this some shanimal thing?”
And I hate that. I push away from him. “I am not a shanimal. I am Kaja. If you cannot use my fucking name, then don’t talk to me.”
Yes, I learned how to curse, too. And it feels good.
His jaw hardens. “Kaja, do you want to explain what this is about?”
“I want to leave this place.”
He crowds me until my back is against the wall. The door to our room is so close. If I can reach it, perhaps I can bar his entry.
“Really? And where do you plan to go, consort? You don’t know how to drive. I doubt you could find your way around the house, much less the city. So, I have to assume you have a place in mind. Did I turn my back too soon? How have you been spending your days? Or, should I ask who you are spending your days with?”
He grinds the questions out of his mouth as though each word hurts to say it. I am very confused. “I have spent the days with your mother or Susan.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but now I have to wonder if you’ve met another vampire.” His eyes deepen to the rich green of the forest. I can feel his persuasion creeping in. He wants me. It rushes against my skin like a wave, but I am not believing it. He wants to fuck. It does not mean he wants me personally.
“I’m not meeting some other vampire.” I nearly spit the words at him. “I do not know if you have noticed, but they do not want to welcome me. I am the Beast, remember?”
It is what they called me when they weren’t laughing. They called me a beast, and humiliation washed over me. All I thought about as they took my picture was getting back into Dante’s arms.
It is dangerous to forget he does not really love me.
His face softens. “Kaja, they’re stupid. Is that what has you so prickly? It will be yesterday’s news in an hour or so. They’ll find someone else to pick on. In a few weeks, things will calm down, and we can take that trip we talked about.”
That is what he said weeks before. Our “trip” keeps getting put off. And I know my status as an outcast and a beast will not blow over. “No. I want to leave. I wish to leave this plane. I want to go back to the forests.”
“No.” He turns and walks into the front room of the apartment.
“What do you mean no?”
He walks toward the bedroom. “It means what I said. You’re not going anywhere. You’re my wife. You’ll stay with me. Now I’m done arguing with you. You can eat supper or go hungry, but you’re not going to leave.”
He dismisses me so utterly that I feel something nasty start to kick around my brain. I look at the apartment. It is so perfect. Perfect art. Perfect furniture. Perfect rug. Everything is in its place, and that is what Dante is trying to do with me. I have my place, and I am not to leave it.
I pick up the glass vase Dante claims is a masterwork and throw it across the room. It shatters when it hits the wall. Something about the destruction makes me feel satisfied. And it does what I intended. Dante turns, his eyes wide.
“What the fuck was that about?”
“You cannot keep me in a cage.” I can see plainly now that this grand place is exactly that—my new cage. This whole plane is a cage. Perhaps I could have handled it if he was here with me, but I have been forgotten. It is better to be alone than to languish here.
His hands clench into fists. “I have papers that say I can do anything I want with you, Kaja.”
And he thinks I am stupid. “I know all about your laws. You cannot keep me. You cannot make me your slave.”
“You’ve been talking to your tutor, love? Well, she’s a very smart vampire, but she is a peasant. The laws we have are there so we don’t look like barbarians, but I assure you no one is going to come between a royal and his consort. I haven’t been abusing you. No one is going to question my rights. Try going to the police. They’ll pat your head and bring you home to your…cage.”