Page 35 of Deadmen's Queen

“Paige, what if I was to… arrange something else? We could cancel the contract. I’ll find you somewhere to live. You can complete the school year, and then I’ll set you up wherever you want. London, maybe, near the galleries. With a studio. I could be your sponsor. You’d be away from her, and following your dream, and you wouldn’t need to do anything else. You’d be free from us.”

She stared at me for a moment. “Are you saying I wouldn’t need to be your Persephone any more?”

I nodded, fighting the urge to swallow the tightness in my throat. “You’d have everything you’d get by being Persephone, except you wouldn’t have to… perform your end of the contract.”

Paige stared at her plate. “What about Persephone though?”

“I guess we’d just find somebody else.” Over my dead fucking body. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role now. Not since Paige. We’d just have to work something out, and if it meant the club did badly this year, then fuck it. If I couldn’t have Paige as my Queen, then I didn’t want anyone else.

“Another woman,” she muttered under her breath.

“Yes.” Never.

She looked back up at me, eyes burning into mine. “You’d set me aside, just like that?”

“No, Paige. I’m giving you the chance to change your mind. To leave. You would go about your life, create the art you want to and I'd take care of everything else. You wouldn't have to see us again if you didn't want to.”

Her eyes dropped down to her plate again and for a moment, I thought she would refuse. Then she looked up at me, her eyes determined. “No,” she said firmly.

“What?”

She repeated herself, louder this time. “No,” she said. “I'm not running away anymore.”

I was taken aback by her sudden change in demeanour. “Paige, you're not—”

“Let me finish,” she cut me off. “I’ve spent all my life being controlled, but I chose this, and I will not break my promise. It's scary and it's not what I ever thought I'd do but... it's my choice. And I am so grateful for your offer, Bast, but I need to do this. Not just for the money but... for me.”

The relief flooded through me so intensely that it left me momentarily breathless. I could barely believe what I was hearing.

“You’re sure?” I asked quietly, needing reassurance.

“If I’m going to make myself a life next year, I need to know I won’t back down. I need to push myself, to find my limits, and you and Nate, and Tristan help me do that. I want to stay. I’m in, all the way.”

“All the way?” I asked. There was an underlying question in my voice, and she blushed as she held my gaze.

“All the way.”

Her declaration stirred something within me that was more potent than simple desire - it was an addictive cocktail of possession and pride. She was mine now. And she was choosing to be.

“Are you prepared to prove that?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I grinned. “Good. Then you agree to obey me, and do everything I say?”

She nodded, biting down on her lower lip, her eyes holding a spark they didn’t have before.

“Good. Now, slide your underwear off and pass them to me.”

“But... we're in public,” she hissed.

“I don’t care. Do it. Now.”

She hesitated and for a moment, I thought she might not go through with it, but she slipped her hands under the table, and shifted up, sliding them down her legs. She reached down, picking up the scrap of lace and passed them to me. I tucked them into my pocket.

“That’s my good little slut. Now, let’s eat before this food goes cold. I want to see a clean plate, princess.”

She took a deep breath, then turned and picked up her knife and fork. I picked up my own fork, too, but slipped my other hand under the table, laying it on her thigh. She tensed, her fork halfway to her lips.

---